Speaker 1: Happy holidays everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast, the Welcome to Miami Bien then
Speaker 1: Nedasami Ami edition, as we preview Sunday's game against the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins at hard Rock Stadium. Coming up, you'll hear
Speaker 1: from AJ Green, who made an official this week he
Speaker 1: will not play a single snap in twenty nineteen. Aj
Speaker 1: discusses his injury, his contract, and his future. In my
Speaker 1: weekly midweek visit with Dave Lapham will discuss why he
Speaker 1: would have loved to block for Joe Mixon, his admiration
Speaker 1: for Dolphins qb Ryan Fitzpatrick, and we'll discuss the options
Speaker 1: the Bengals will have if they wind up with a
Speaker 1: number one pick in the draft. Finally, and this week's
Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll talk to Cameron Wolf, who
Speaker 1: covers the Dolphins for ESPN. He's had a challenging job
Speaker 1: just from bring names and faces this year, since the
Speaker 1: Dolphins have used the most players of any team in
Speaker 1: NFL history. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer. By subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since a good nugget.
Speaker 1: One of the things I try to do before every
Speaker 1: game that I broadcast is try to find some good
Speaker 1: nuggets of information about the players and coaches to work in.
Speaker 1: When appropriate, it might be an anecdote, an unusual stat
Speaker 1: maybe a funny quote, little things that I hope make
Speaker 1: the broadcast more entertaining. For example, this week, if there's time,
Speaker 1: I might bring up the fact that Dolphins quarterback Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick is the father of seven kids, and he had
Speaker 1: a great line about it in the offseason. He blames
Speaker 1: his off season weight gain on all of his kid's
Speaker 1: birthday cakes. Now let's get to football. This week, Geno
Speaker 1: Atkins was named to the Pro Bowl for the eighth time,
Speaker 1: that second most in Bengals history behind Hall of Famer
Speaker 1: Anthony Muno's who made it eleven times. AJ Green made
Speaker 1: it in each of his first seven seasons before the
Speaker 1: streak ended last year due to injury, and after missing
Speaker 1: the second half of last season, aj will miss all
Speaker 1: of this season due to the ankle injury he suffered
Speaker 1: in the first training camp practice aj saw a foot
Speaker 1: specialist in Green Bay this week to make sure that
Speaker 1: he is on course for a full recovery. Everything looks
Speaker 1: good for me. I just need it some more combromation
Speaker 1: and confirmed that, you know, just looking into my future,
Speaker 1: how would it, how would it be? And will be
Speaker 1: no lingering effect on that? Everything will be fine. So
Speaker 1: have you decided you won't play this year? Though? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I probably won't play this year. I think. Came to
Speaker 1: Just and he's like, it's best for me to just
Speaker 1: stick this year off, um, just to get this thing
Speaker 1: to heal, so, you know, and long running though. You know,
Speaker 1: for the next couple of years of my career, I
Speaker 1: would have no problem. So what do you think you
Speaker 1: need to show the Bengals or any other team at
Speaker 1: this point regarding your future that I need to show
Speaker 1: anybody anything. Everybody know what I can do when I'm
Speaker 1: on the field. I'm just having these last couple two
Speaker 1: years have been bad breaks. Um. That's one thing I
Speaker 1: can't control. I can control is you know how I prepared,
Speaker 1: and I know how I am on off the field,
Speaker 1: how I prepared, the work I put in on and
Speaker 1: off the field. So for me, Um, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of people think it's it's a lot of mental
Speaker 1: in this thing. I'm sad up. I don't you know.
Speaker 1: I don't get too high on myself. I never get
Speaker 1: too low on myself. I stayed the course. You know,
Speaker 1: you play this game long enough, stuff like this gonna happen.
Speaker 1: So um, that's for pushing me. Um. So what is
Speaker 1: your hope in terms of your future? Oh? We see,
Speaker 1: Like I said, my thing is not right now is
Speaker 1: just to get get healthy and get to hundred percent
Speaker 1: and then we go from there. I staying here your preference.
Speaker 1: It's also you know, it's always always I wanted to
Speaker 1: stay here a break every record here. Um. But also
Speaker 1: as a side of a business that you have to understand.
Speaker 1: M every great business have you got to make difficult decisions.
Speaker 1: And for me, I'm my own business, so I have
Speaker 1: to make decisions. I'm on my end as well. So
Speaker 1: you have said that you would understand being tagged if
Speaker 1: it happens. Yeah, of course, um, you know that's what
Speaker 1: the tag is eighteen me and so I'm not running
Speaker 1: away from that um so um um. But that also
Speaker 1: shows you know they're not committed. So and then in
Speaker 1: that circumstance, I have to protect myself. So the last
Speaker 1: time that you signed AJ, there was kind of you
Speaker 1: and Julio grouped together. Do you still feel like that
Speaker 1: is the bar in light of your injuries? Uh? You
Speaker 1: know for me, Man, I feel like me and Julio
Speaker 1: is saying, Uh, these last two years, I've been hurt,
Speaker 1: but everything else before that, I feel like we're naked
Speaker 1: at the guy who lives, a guy that you know
Speaker 1: I got the utmost respect. He did everything the right way.
Speaker 1: He'd been playing out his mind, UM, and you know
Speaker 1: he deserved everything he gets. UM. So it's an unbelievable receiver.
Speaker 1: But also I understand the value that I bring to
Speaker 1: this team and certainly if I was out on that
Speaker 1: field this year, we wouldn't be oneing or where we're
Speaker 1: at today, and everybody knows that. So I understand my
Speaker 1: value for the team, and UM, I think anybody everybody
Speaker 1: else understand how value I am to this team. But
Speaker 1: it's a midpoint that we have to meet at. UM.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that midpoint is, And like I said,
Speaker 1: we'll go from there. For a while, there it looked
Speaker 1: like you were tracking to come back, and then there
Speaker 1: was that practice where there was swelling. It seemed to
Speaker 1: be kind of like the setback. Is that accurate? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was just swallowing up a little bit. UM. For me,
Speaker 1: I was just trying to push, trying to push, trying
Speaker 1: to push, trying to push you get back, I never
Speaker 1: you know, we it was you know, for me, I
Speaker 1: wanted to get back so fast, so we skipping a
Speaker 1: little bit of the process, just trying to you know, build, build, build, bildum,
Speaker 1: trying to stack days to make sure how this thing responds. UM.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately it didn't respond to the way we wanted
Speaker 1: to UM. So now right now I'm just focused on
Speaker 1: this building it back and as close as getting there,
Speaker 1: I can run routes full speed now. Nothing no, no, really,
Speaker 1: no setbacks with that. Just just building the scrength right
Speaker 1: now and to get my range of motion back. It's
Speaker 1: the bigger thing. If the team was in playoff contention,
Speaker 1: would you try to play? That's that's tough still now
Speaker 1: where I need to be UM, Like I said from
Speaker 1: the beginning, you no matter we're going to a playoff,
Speaker 1: It's still have been a hard decision to make because
Speaker 1: I also know I'm not on the contract, and um,
Speaker 1: you know I can't go out there and put bath
Speaker 1: them out there. Um. So when you talk about your
Speaker 1: value to the franchise, your on field play speaks for itself.
Speaker 1: It seems like there's a good possibility that Andy won't
Speaker 1: be back next year. Are you that like the one
Speaker 1: icon left leading this group forward? Oh? We don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I can't. I wish I could look into the eacher
Speaker 1: and tell you what's gonna be for for both of us.
Speaker 1: But we've been here for the last nine years, did
Speaker 1: some great things. But you know, things happen, like I said,
Speaker 1: and he still got a lot of football left to play. Man,
Speaker 1: he can whatever happens wherever he goes, if he's here
Speaker 1: or not, he's gonna be unbelievable. Um. It's not a
Speaker 1: lot of quarterbacks that's done the stuff that he is
Speaker 1: done up to his career. And for me, you know,
Speaker 1: they got a franchise. I got a franchise. They can
Speaker 1: franchise me and I can be here for another year
Speaker 1: and or we get a deal done, or we don't
Speaker 1: get a deal gunning. But like I said, I'm prepared
Speaker 1: for anything. Um. Um, A pay Man got cut from
Speaker 1: the coats that opened a lot of eyes. Then anybody can.
Speaker 1: It's replaceable. So for me, like I said, I just
Speaker 1: roll with the punchers. Man um from the type of guy,
Speaker 1: just try to say very level head and then just
Speaker 1: whenever my time is is up, or my time is
Speaker 1: here or wherever it's I'll be ready to play football.
Speaker 1: What do you see as your value beyond the field?
Speaker 1: H For me, man, it's just what I bring to
Speaker 1: the table off the field. Man is my leadership. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a guy to lead by his ample. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you everything I got each week in and out,
Speaker 1: on and off the field. Here's my take on the situation,
Speaker 1: and this is strictly my opinion. If AJ Green truly
Speaker 1: wants to stay in Cincinnati, he'll reach a contract extension
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. The team has made it abundantly clear
Speaker 1: that they want him to stay, and the Bengals have
Speaker 1: almost always worked out deals with their top veterans. I
Speaker 1: would be surprised if another team makes a more generous offer.
Speaker 1: If aj has decided it's time to move on, I
Speaker 1: would expect the Bengals to use the franchise tag to
Speaker 1: retain his rights and then look to trade him, similar
Speaker 1: to what the Texans did with Jadeveon Clowney. Time to
Speaker 1: move on from that topic and turn to this week's
Speaker 1: midweek conversation with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. You had
Speaker 1: an interesting exchange with Joe Mick in the postgame interview
Speaker 1: last week where you said, as a former offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: you would have loved a block for him. Why because
Speaker 1: he finishes every run hard, and that's all you can
Speaker 1: ask for out of out of a running back. If
Speaker 1: your alignement is you know, if you're going to how
Speaker 1: to do all the dirty work, to everything you possibly
Speaker 1: can to make his life easier, you want him to
Speaker 1: reward you with full out, all out, one hundred percent effort.
Speaker 1: And Joe does that. And Joe I used to love
Speaker 1: running backs that had the emotion like him. It would
Speaker 1: get you going. You're you know, you feed off of
Speaker 1: each other, you know, you try to get some juice flown,
Speaker 1: and then he gets his role and then there's nothing
Speaker 1: better than as a lineman to think you have a
Speaker 1: decent block and you look up and you see the
Speaker 1: back numbers of the uniform jersey with the last name,
Speaker 1: so now you know it's the back, going in the
Speaker 1: right direction, and man, he's he's at the next level,
Speaker 1: He's at the second or third level. And it's a
Speaker 1: great feeling. I can't even describe it. And I think
Speaker 1: with Joe too, it's like, you don't have to do
Speaker 1: nature guy. You just have to make your guy declare something.
Speaker 1: The one thing you don't want to do if you're
Speaker 1: trying to block for Joe Mixon, it's just let your
Speaker 1: defensive lineman control you. You know, It's it's like who's
Speaker 1: gonna who's gonna make the other guy declare first? Who's
Speaker 1: gonna flinch? You know, And because all Joe needs is
Speaker 1: a definitive declaration of is he is he taking a side?
Speaker 1: I'm taking the other? I mean, Joe, you don't have
Speaker 1: to You don't have to blow a guy up. You
Speaker 1: don't have to pancake, and you don't have to walk
Speaker 1: him off the line of scrimmage five yards. You have
Speaker 1: to just give him a little and he'll get a
Speaker 1: lot out of it. So you know, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of guy that you know, I would love to block for.
Speaker 1: And you know the other thing about him is I
Speaker 1: appreciate he sticks his nose in there and blitz pick up.
Speaker 1: He's not a pretty boy, you know, It's like it's
Speaker 1: too good for me. I'm a runner, I'm nothing else.
Speaker 1: You know, what do you do when you don't have
Speaker 1: the ball in your hands, you know, either running or
Speaker 1: catching it. I mean, that guy's so much It would
Speaker 1: be so much fun to block for screen pass this
Speaker 1: war because you know he's coming. You can probably feel
Speaker 1: the earth move when Joe's digging up the turf, you know.
Speaker 1: And as a blocker, he's an effort guy. He gets
Speaker 1: after it. So I think those are some of the
Speaker 1: reasons that we always used to like we were to
Speaker 1: ordain a running back, an unofficial member of the Hog
Speaker 1: fraternity when he passed protected well and blitz pickup, like
Speaker 1: we ordained you. We ordain you, you know, just as
Speaker 1: part of the part of the process. And Joe would
Speaker 1: have been a sixth lineman a lot of games Man
Speaker 1: the way he and Giovanni Bernard as well, both of
Speaker 1: those guys are really really good in blitz Pickup. I
Speaker 1: like the fact that he expressed childlike glee that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is willing to send him at Jersey. The thing
Speaker 1: about Joe is unbridled joy for the game for life.
Speaker 1: Joe is he's a fan of the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: he appreciates the game on a lot of levels, I think,
Speaker 1: and he appreciates greatness, and he appreciates, you know, somebody achieving,
Speaker 1: you know, at the highest level. And he wants to
Speaker 1: be the best. And you know, in talking with his
Speaker 1: running back coach, Coach Sheldon, he he wants to be coached.
Speaker 1: He wants to be hard coached, so you know every detail,
Speaker 1: where you point your toe, you know where your eyes
Speaker 1: is supposed to be. And Joe's gotta heavery respect for
Speaker 1: this new running back coach. And he says, every time
Speaker 1: I come out of his room, I feel like I've
Speaker 1: learned something. So there's a good dynamic going on there.
Speaker 1: What is wrong with lighting up with your quarterback under
Speaker 1: center on fourth and one and running a quarterback sneak?
Speaker 1: Not much that I can see, but I'm old school.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if Bill Belichick does it with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady as much as he does it with the Goat,
Speaker 1: everybody's greatest of all time and deservedly so there must
Speaker 1: be something to it. I know, as a lineman, you're
Speaker 1: certainly going off to hold your block as long you
Speaker 1: can come off the line of scrimmage. If you just
Speaker 1: win at that tenth of a second coming off the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, you don't have to really win big,
Speaker 1: just stalemate. A quarterback that's over six feet tall can
Speaker 1: just fall forward for you know them, I do. I
Speaker 1: do one thing. I'm not seeing much anymore on third
Speaker 1: and fourth and short and you don't see it. A
Speaker 1: whole lot of the goal ie need The guy's going
Speaker 1: up and over and I don't know if it's a
Speaker 1: player safety stuff. They're told not to anymore. Don't leave
Speaker 1: your feet when you're airborne. You're not in control of
Speaker 1: your body anymore. Other people can do damage to you.
Speaker 1: But on that fourth and a foot and Danny Shelton,
Speaker 1: to give him credit, he won. Block was missed at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and he won at that point,
Speaker 1: I mean up and over. I've seen so many guys
Speaker 1: do it. Hershall Walker was great at it. Walter Payton
Speaker 1: was great at it. You know a lot of guys
Speaker 1: over the years, and that that seems to be an
Speaker 1: art that isn't practiced anymore. They put the paints away
Speaker 1: on that one, I guess. So, yeah, there's there's a
Speaker 1: few things, I mean, but all I can say is
Speaker 1: it just from a mathematical standpoint, when you're back in
Speaker 1: the shotgun and you're coming, you know you do. You're
Speaker 1: able to come downhill in your vision, but you don't
Speaker 1: need a whole lot of vision, and that constricted an area.
Speaker 1: I think you're just trying to get to the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage as quickly as you can. And I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's that's my take on it. I understand there are
Speaker 1: other quarterback sneak, you know, going up under center. You
Speaker 1: don't have to run the quarterback sneak. You can hand
Speaker 1: it off and you can go up and over and
Speaker 1: all that, and you can still run play action pass
Speaker 1: and things off of it. But you do have to
Speaker 1: have faith that in your offensive line that they can
Speaker 1: come off the line of scrimmage and at least control
Speaker 1: and enough of your quarterback to to you know, take advantage.
Speaker 1: Let's talk defense. Over the last four weeks, the Bengals
Speaker 1: d is allowing an average of three hundred and eight
Speaker 1: yards per game. That would be sixth best in the
Speaker 1: NFL if they had that average over an entire season.
Speaker 1: Is this at all similar to the running game, where
Speaker 1: the new coaching staff kind of had to figure out
Speaker 1: what works for this group of players. I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot to be said for that. You know, coach
Speaker 1: Selton said that about Joe. You know, he'd never this
Speaker 1: is the first time he'd had a new running back
Speaker 1: coach in his career in the NFL and had the
Speaker 1: same guy in college, and now this has change. And
Speaker 1: I it is a factor. Um every time I went
Speaker 1: through a new staff and new offensive line coach and
Speaker 1: other position coaches. It's like you have to figure out
Speaker 1: what they expect of you, and they have to figure
Speaker 1: out what you can and can't do. And there's a
Speaker 1: process there. So it's not it's not overnight. U with
Speaker 1: with respect of the defense, it's they've they're not allowing
Speaker 1: chunks anymore. I mean, it's it's not over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. And something has to do with some
Speaker 1: of it has to do with who they played. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you play the forty nine ers, you know
Speaker 1: you play Baltimore twice. I mean you're you're playing teams
Speaker 1: that are at the cutting edge and executing at the
Speaker 1: highest level offensively, so you start getting carved up in
Speaker 1: some of those games in rapid fire. It's a blow
Speaker 1: to your confidence. And then you know, you get past
Speaker 1: that and you see, Okay, some of these offenses are immortal,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna if I'm in the right place, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to give up a chunk play. Because with
Speaker 1: some of these offenses, even when you're in the right place,
Speaker 1: the challenging, you miss a tackle. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: they're just so much better athletically. Now, now guys aren't
Speaker 1: at that level athletically, and you're in the right place
Speaker 1: and you're you're making a tackle. So I think I
Speaker 1: credit The hardest thing to do is when when you
Speaker 1: start off and it's all tumbling downhill, is to grab
Speaker 1: yourself by the bootstraps and collectively you pull yourself up
Speaker 1: out of the hole. I give the defense a lot
Speaker 1: of credit for that. I give the Running Game Coach
Speaker 1: Turner and everybody involved with the Running Game a lot
Speaker 1: of credit for that. And uh, you know that's just
Speaker 1: if they could figure out how to score points, you know,
Speaker 1: a few more points. You know, they're they're only scoring
Speaker 1: fifteen points a game. Miami's given up over thirty one.
Speaker 1: Something's got to give. I mean, the number of points
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have given up. It's crazy because of their
Speaker 1: starting I mean, they were giving a forty fifty points
Speaker 1: a game is nuts. Something's going to give. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: Lap the Bengals faced the Dolphins and thirty seven year
Speaker 1: old quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick this week. He started for the
Speaker 1: Bengals back in two thousand and eight when Carson Palmer
Speaker 1: was hurt. Miami is the eighth team that he has
Speaker 1: started for that as an NFL record for quarterbacks. You
Speaker 1: love the guy, right, I do. And I'm probably prejudiced
Speaker 1: because my nephew, Brian, was a co captain with him
Speaker 1: at Harvard, and my nephew told me stories about him
Speaker 1: when he played at Harvard and everything about him. He's
Speaker 1: got every intangible you can have. His personnelity is so amazing.
Speaker 1: Intelligence level of humor is off the charts. Intelligence level
Speaker 1: period is off the charts. Intelligence of humor is off
Speaker 1: the charts. Everything is off the charts. He just he
Speaker 1: is one of those guys that you can't find yourself
Speaker 1: not gravitating toward, you know. And what he did with
Speaker 1: his young son at at the pressor when he had
Speaker 1: his son is going to be going to Harvard obviously
Speaker 1: three or a multiplication of two three digit numbers, and
Speaker 1: Son just immediately gave the arrans and they're all with
Speaker 1: their calculators in the press room and you know, of
Speaker 1: course it's right. Boom throws the microphone and off he goes.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's fits you in a nutshell, I think.
Speaker 1: But he is. My nephew told me there is never
Speaker 1: a bad day around Ryan Fitzpatrick. He always finds something
Speaker 1: good and positive to focus on, talk about, do whatever
Speaker 1: the case. Maybe. He is never negative and I remember
Speaker 1: all the quarterbacks in the quarterback room with him the
Speaker 1: same way. Totally supportive, never negative, and when he get
Speaker 1: his chance, he just he's a guy that he's because
Speaker 1: of his intelligence. He has confidence and nothing's too big
Speaker 1: for him. He fears nothing or no one, and he
Speaker 1: will rip it. He'll rip the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: Now he's going to give his player, his teammates champion.
Speaker 1: He's going to give the opponent chance as well. He
Speaker 1: doesn't care. He feels like, you know, for every mistake
Speaker 1: that might occur, he's gonna make four plays. That's his
Speaker 1: mindset and he'll live with that all day long, every
Speaker 1: day in the entire season, So with Ryan Fitzpatrick, you're
Speaker 1: never gonna You're never gonna find him in the huddle
Speaker 1: being guys am. He's aggressive, aggressive, everything is full speed ahead,
Speaker 1: and hell with the consequences. Let's just go get it.
Speaker 1: Let's just go and talk about, you know, damage control
Speaker 1: afterwards if we have to, but let's not talk about
Speaker 1: it beforehand. Miami had the worst three games start in
Speaker 1: NFL history. Lap They were outscored one thirty three to
Speaker 1: sixteen in the first three weeks. They started the euro
Speaker 1: in seven, but since then they've been respectable. They've gone
Speaker 1: three and four in their last seven games. What problems
Speaker 1: well the Dolphins present for the Bengals on Sunday is
Speaker 1: it is amazing. And you had in Game four there
Speaker 1: else going one hundred and sixty three to twenty six.
Speaker 1: They lost that game thirty to ten to the Chargers.
Speaker 1: It's mind boggling. They've let up thirty points and more,
Speaker 1: nine times, thirty five points and more, five times forty
Speaker 1: points or more. Three times. They won three football games
Speaker 1: and they've lost two games by a point. So you
Speaker 1: talk about up and down the graph, flying up and sinking,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's unbelievable, but I think the problems that
Speaker 1: they face a Bengal's face with the Miami Dolphins is
Speaker 1: just an attitude of throw cautions of the wind. And
Speaker 1: I think it's an organizational thing. I think Flora's the
Speaker 1: new head coaches. Let's you give me everything you got.
Speaker 1: I'm giving you everything you've got kind of thing. And
Speaker 1: we already talked about Ryan Fitzpatrick a little bit, but
Speaker 1: it's him. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been with eight football teams.
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick's made a ton of money in the National
Speaker 1: Football League and has never been the guy the franchises
Speaker 1: ordained guy. So he gets up, I'll guarantee you he
Speaker 1: gets up in front of his teammate in meeting rooms,
Speaker 1: in the locker room. Hey dudes, we're underdogs. I'm the
Speaker 1: consummate underdog. Let's just go play. I've carved a nice
Speaker 1: career out of just given everything I have with every
Speaker 1: every opportunity that's presented to me. There are tons of
Speaker 1: people walking the streets that would love to be doing
Speaker 1: what we're doing. Let's just go do it. Let's have
Speaker 1: fun doing it. I'm telling you, I think that attitude
Speaker 1: is probably part of the coaches are presenting to the players,
Speaker 1: and Ryan Fitzpatrick as the you know, is the soldier
Speaker 1: that's carrying that flag. And there's no question in my
Speaker 1: mind that he's the undisputed leader of that because his
Speaker 1: whole football career identifies it. And it's contagious, and I
Speaker 1: do think that. I mean, it's been musical chairs. You
Speaker 1: look at the personnel transactions, part of the press release
Speaker 1: that team sent out is usually you know, this is
Speaker 1: like voluminous, It's like you can't get through it. So
Speaker 1: it's it's it's been a you know, a merry go round.
Speaker 1: But there have been some consonants, obviously, the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and I think Ryan Fitzpatrick obviously, and there's others. I mean,
Speaker 1: Parker's playing at a high level. They have guys that
Speaker 1: are that are playing well. But I just think that
Speaker 1: the attitude of us against the world, we're underdogs and
Speaker 1: we love it. I think it's pervasive, and I think
Speaker 1: the Bengals are going to feel that down there. I
Speaker 1: think the Miami Dolphins are like in for that reason.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Miami Dolphins are going to overlook
Speaker 1: the Bengals and say, all we have to do is
Speaker 1: show up for this one. Because We've won three games,
Speaker 1: and you know, we've beaten teams the Bengals haven't even
Speaker 1: come close to, or whatever, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: I think they're just gonna stay with the same attitude,
Speaker 1: approach it like they do every week, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: give you our best and we're gonna be aggressive and
Speaker 1: see how the chips fall. The Bengals can clinch on Sunday. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: what they can clinch is the first pick in the draft.
Speaker 1: If they lose either of their last two games, they
Speaker 1: will go number one in next year's draft. Lap They've
Speaker 1: been there before four times in Bengals history. They have
Speaker 1: had the numb umber one pick in the draft, going
Speaker 1: backward Carson Palmer in two thousand and three to JOHNA.
Speaker 1: Carter nineteen ninety five, Big Daddy Dan Wilkinson nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 1: and then in nineteen eighty four they got the number
Speaker 1: one overall pick from Tampa Bay and then traded it
Speaker 1: after Steve Young signed with the USFL. They wound up
Speaker 1: getting two first round picks for the number one pick overall.
Speaker 1: Everybody is assuming they are going to take LSU quarterback
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner, Could it be a
Speaker 1: different quarterback, a different position like Chase Young or lo
Speaker 1: and behold, could they even trade down? What do you think?
Speaker 1: I think that the group involved has to do all
Speaker 1: their due diligence, and you know, there's no way they're
Speaker 1: not going to there there In my mind, I don't
Speaker 1: think they've decided anything yet, and you can't because you
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what's going to happen yet in terms
Speaker 1: of water. But if you do get the number one
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, all options are on the table.
Speaker 1: I mean, I would explore. I would make phone calls,
Speaker 1: I would accept every phone call. I would exhaust every
Speaker 1: possibility in terms of trade, in terms of uh, you know,
Speaker 1: player study, evaluating players, I would not make any assumption
Speaker 1: at this point in time. And you know, Joe Burrow, though,
Speaker 1: just won the Heisman Trophy and the biggest landside slide
Speaker 1: in the history of the Heisman Trophy and then gave
Speaker 1: an acceptance speech that everybody crying, and has raised over
Speaker 1: half a million dollars for food banks in his hometown,
Speaker 1: for the underprivilege and the people that are going hungry. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a more
Speaker 1: impactful Heisman Trophy winner. I mean, he wanted by a
Speaker 1: number that's crazy, and in so doing unselfishly, you know,
Speaker 1: better than the lives of a lot of people. I
Speaker 1: mean it's almost like, is this guy real? I mean,
Speaker 1: when's he gonna he'll ride into Cincinnati on his white horse.
Speaker 1: You know, he's a superhero already. So when you when
Speaker 1: you look at when you look at the intangibles, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow not just a football playing, which is the biggest thing.
Speaker 1: Can he play? But can he lead? Oh Man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got He's got a lot, a lot going on there.
Speaker 1: I thought the whole Heisman Trophy thing was interesting. The
Speaker 1: three quarterbacks were all transfers from big programs to big
Speaker 1: program you know. I mean, you got you got players
Speaker 1: going from Alabama to Oklahoma, Ohio State to LSU. You know,
Speaker 1: just I mean, I mean crazy stuff, Georgia to Ohio State.
Speaker 1: You know. And Joe Burrow is the third straight Heisman
Speaker 1: Trophy winner who transferred exactly exactly, Yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks from from Oklahoma both transferred, one from Texas
Speaker 1: Tech and and uh what the other one transferred from
Speaker 1: Texas and Texas AM that's where he was. Yeah, Kylin
Speaker 1: Murray comes from Texas A and M. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's like, okay, is it the right fit? Will
Speaker 1: the Bengals adapt their offense to Joe Burrow? What what
Speaker 1: was lacking with Joe Burrow Ohio State? That LSU said,
Speaker 1: Oh there are crazy look at this. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: funny sometimes, as the old saying goes, you know, you
Speaker 1: gotta end up in the right place at the right time,
Speaker 1: you know. Kenny Anderson often talks about if Van Brocklin
Speaker 1: had drafted him in Atlanta instead of the Bengals drafting
Speaker 1: him in Cincinnati, would you have had the same career?
Speaker 1: Who knows? You know, you don't. It's it's almost you
Speaker 1: can't you can't project it. So um, it's it. I
Speaker 1: think Joe Burrow obviously is as strong a candidate as you're.
Speaker 1: Everyone gonna want to see if if it's the first
Speaker 1: pick of the draft. Something simple like when he went
Speaker 1: up to Dane shook his hands at Ohio State before
Speaker 1: going up on stage. No bitterness, you know, Harbor, no
Speaker 1: ill will you know you guys improved me. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys improved me. I respect the decisions you made.
Speaker 1: But you respect the decisions I made. It's worked out
Speaker 1: for both of us. No hard feelings. Love you, coach.
Speaker 1: You gotta lovely kid like that. I mean, how easy
Speaker 1: would it be the coach a kid like that? You
Speaker 1: talk about ego in check and where it should be? Man,
Speaker 1: so many things. Ego in check, check dad, coach, football
Speaker 1: lifer check. Athletic ability, all state basketball player in high school,
Speaker 1: all state football player check. I mean, this guy is
Speaker 1: making defensive players in the SEC miss. I think people
Speaker 1: are under estimating his athletic ability, his ability to escape,
Speaker 1: make you miss, short space, quickness, speed, all of it. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's going to be interesting. I think
Speaker 1: he obviously presents a strong case, but you can't say
Speaker 1: you know, case concluded. You have to still have to
Speaker 1: do your due diligence and assemble your closing statement. He
Speaker 1: might have two games left, He's got at least one,
Speaker 1: no doubt, no doubt. And the thing I like about
Speaker 1: him is, I mean, his completion percentage ridiculous. It's almost
Speaker 1: like eighty percent. It's nuts. And in big games, in
Speaker 1: big games, you know, Conference championship game, lit it up,
Speaker 1: lit it up, let it up with his feet and
Speaker 1: a strolling arm. So you know, sometimes guys, a boy,
Speaker 1: you know what's going to happen when when it's a
Speaker 1: big game and it's all the marbles are on the line. Man,
Speaker 1: he's so far stepped up. Like you said, he has
Speaker 1: a couple more under the national spotlight. So he seems
Speaker 1: to me to be the kind of kid though, that
Speaker 1: embraces the big stage. He's not intimidated. It's almost like
Speaker 1: water rolling off a duck's back. This is what I wanted,
Speaker 1: and finally I've got what I wanted, and I'm not
Speaker 1: going to mess it up. Four of the last five
Speaker 1: number one overall picks in the NFL draft have been
Speaker 1: quarterbacks Jamis Winston, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: The one exception was Miles Garrett in twenty seventeen. Again,
Speaker 1: the Bengals clinched the number one overall spot if they
Speaker 1: lose one more game. Now, time for this week's Know
Speaker 1: the Faux segment as we take an in depth look
Speaker 1: at the bengals upcoming opponent. And this week we're joined
Speaker 1: by Cameron Wolfe, who covers the Dolphins for ESPN. He's
Speaker 1: had a difficult job of getting to know the guys
Speaker 1: he covers this year, since Miami has already used an
Speaker 1: NFL record eighty players, what has it been like to
Speaker 1: cover a team when on a weekly basis you're probably
Speaker 1: not even sure who Who's that? Who's that guy over there?
Speaker 1: It's the real men. Sometimes I have players in the
Speaker 1: locker room asking me who this guy y'all just picked
Speaker 1: up from from off waivers last week? He played at
Speaker 1: the University of Michigan. Uh, give him the whole bios. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: they tell me. Sometimes they don't. They just call each
Speaker 1: other numbers of the name that they don't recommend. That's crazy. Uh.
Speaker 1: Brian Flores has coached offense, defense, special teams. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's got a full indoctrination to the game of football.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, with what we're talking about, the number
Speaker 1: of players that he's had to deal with, I am
Speaker 1: legitimately thinking if I had to vote, I might vote
Speaker 1: for him for Coach of the Year. I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody has had to deal with as much crap as
Speaker 1: he had all year long. It's crazy diversity. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think this is easily the least talent at roster
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I think, you know, everything that he
Speaker 1: had to deal with from you know, trade a week
Speaker 1: before the season started up, their star left tackle trading away.
Speaker 1: They're they're you know, who's a Pro Bowl stay dummkop
Speaker 1: the Patrick Kenny still at least thing that will to
Speaker 1: deal with. And the fact they still got three wins,
Speaker 1: including one against the team that might win a division still,
Speaker 1: the Eagles. I think that is a credit to him
Speaker 1: and the staff. You know, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: go as far as which of the year because they're
Speaker 1: still three and eleven, but I do think that he
Speaker 1: does deserve credit for brigiding guys not to quit on
Speaker 1: them and maximizing the talent he had had from this rock.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Cameron Wilfer covers the Dolphins for ESPN.
Speaker 1: Everybody said from the beginning of the year that the
Speaker 1: Dolphins are tanking, and you know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: I even feel about that term. I think they are
Speaker 1: trying to acquire assets and it's worked. They've got three
Speaker 1: first round picks this year, a couple of seconds. They've
Speaker 1: got an extra first round pick next year. How is
Speaker 1: Miami reacting to the strategy they have used in trying
Speaker 1: to build assets. Yeah, I think that's early on. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of backlash about that, tanking words used,
Speaker 1: especially because they were losing games. I think it was
Speaker 1: one hundred and two to ten the first two contests.
Speaker 1: They started off and seven with one of the worst
Speaker 1: points there differentials in NFL history, So people were wondering
Speaker 1: just exactly how what this meaning for the game of football,
Speaker 1: and then I all kind of got eraised when they
Speaker 1: won some games. So I think overall that the past
Speaker 1: is still on point. They won't have the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick most likely that'll probably go to Cincinnati out
Speaker 1: there unless they win the last two games. But I
Speaker 1: do think that, you know, they've been selling hope to
Speaker 1: their fan base whole season that Hey, the hope is
Speaker 1: we're gonna have fourteen picks, the hope is we're gonna
Speaker 1: have three first round picks. The hope is that we're
Speaker 1: gonna eventually find our franchise quarterback. So once we get
Speaker 1: into off season mode, they're going to finally be to
Speaker 1: see some of the fruits of the hope they're selling.
Speaker 1: So I think the fan base has been on board
Speaker 1: because they believe that, you know, there'll be greener pastures
Speaker 1: once they get past this painful season. Speaking of a
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback traded for Rosen, Ryan Fitzpatrick is at the helm.
Speaker 1: I've known Ryan Fitzpatrick since his college days. My nephew
Speaker 1: and Ryan Fitzpatrick co captains at Harvard when they won
Speaker 1: the Harvard the Ivy League championship. So Fitzpatrick to me
Speaker 1: is a unique guy in a lot of ways, tangibly
Speaker 1: and intangibly. How big of an impact has he had
Speaker 1: on the football team in the organization and what's going
Speaker 1: on with Rosen is he is he dead man in
Speaker 1: the water. Yeah, that's a good phrase to put it.
Speaker 1: I think we kept Ryan Josh Rosen questions today and
Speaker 1: he put it, you know, as honest as yeah has
Speaker 1: since he's been here, and simply said that Fitch is
Speaker 1: best for us. Because all the people who say differently,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they'd have the same strength to
Speaker 1: say that in front of the group of guys. So
Speaker 1: I think he's essentially saying that the guys, the guys
Speaker 1: in the locker room no better quarterback, and he, as
Speaker 1: a coach, feel like it was right for him to
Speaker 1: put a guy out there who wasn't the best thing
Speaker 1: for them. So I think that Josh Rosen has played
Speaker 1: his last mat for the Dolfense. Unless that Patrick is hurt,
Speaker 1: I think they find a way to trade him in
Speaker 1: the off season. I just don't know if there's a
Speaker 1: future for Ends here in Miami. That being said, that
Speaker 1: Patrick has been, you know, the opposite of what Josh
Speaker 1: Rose has been to them. He's lifted this team. I
Speaker 1: talked to guys in the locker room regularly and they
Speaker 1: speak about how they played differently for fits. They play
Speaker 1: harder for him. He brings a different energy, he brings
Speaker 1: a different nasty and then some of those things you mentioned,
Speaker 1: the intangible. I just walked past the locker room and
Speaker 1: he's sitting around the lunch room eating with five offensive
Speaker 1: linement and two tight ends like that stuff that you
Speaker 1: can't teach, but those small things make an impact on
Speaker 1: the team, Like those are just the natural inclinations of
Speaker 1: who he is one of the guys. So that element
Speaker 1: has been I think extremely helpful for the Dolphins in
Speaker 1: this year when everybody he's trying to pull them apart
Speaker 1: about what they can't do while they're trying to lose
Speaker 1: that they've had a guy that's kind of excludes them together.
Speaker 1: And you know, especially all these you know, different pieces
Speaker 1: that are coming in and out. Do they feel like
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback doesn't necessarily have to play his rookie
Speaker 1: year because Fitzpatrick the way he has played, or do
Speaker 1: they look at Ryan Fitzpatrick is the perfect mentor for
Speaker 1: that first year quarterback and play him right away? Well,
Speaker 1: how do you think the organization's feeling about that that position.
Speaker 1: I think that you know, a lot of it's going
Speaker 1: to depend on Ryan. And I asked him just this
Speaker 1: about four minutes ago, and he's been really really trying
Speaker 1: to avoid the question. With twenty twenty, he has to
Speaker 1: decide if he wants to come back. You know, he's
Speaker 1: thirty seven years old, he's you know, played fifteen seasons.
Speaker 1: This is the first year he hasn't been with the family.
Speaker 1: He's got seven kids and as the wife that still
Speaker 1: live in Tampa. So you know, he has one more
Speaker 1: year in his contract and I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be about eight million dollars on that deal and about
Speaker 1: half of the guaranteed. So if he wants to come
Speaker 1: back spot shift, he's they're available for him, and I
Speaker 1: think he would be easy guy to at least open up.
Speaker 1: You know, training can't take in the early reps. But
Speaker 1: the question is does he want to come back and
Speaker 1: play another year? So if he does, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that Ryan Fitzpatrick and a quarterback, you have him come
Speaker 1: in and let him battling out if the Ricky wins school.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't, maybe you let Fits start until he's ready.
Speaker 1: And maybe in the case with Alabama quarterback to a
Speaker 1: tong of Viola, if he's injured, maybe you can you
Speaker 1: can ease him in by still playing Fits for most
Speaker 1: of the year. So I think they have a lot
Speaker 1: of different options there, but I think the one person
Speaker 1: may not be one of those options. It's Josh Rosy.
Speaker 1: Cameron Wolf covers the Dolphins for ESPN. The Dolphins have
Speaker 1: given up fifty four sacks, far and away number one
Speaker 1: in the NFL. They've used ten different offensive line combinations
Speaker 1: this season. How big of a mess is the offensive line?
Speaker 1: It's a huge mess. I wrote this last week after
Speaker 1: the game. I think they may need to find four
Speaker 1: new starting offensive linemen and not probably a generous you
Speaker 1: know estimate. You know, it could end up being five
Speaker 1: at the ends of the rebuild. Um there's just not
Speaker 1: a lot there. You know, they drafted a rookie in
Speaker 1: the third round and Michael Dieter this year, and he's
Speaker 1: been in and out of the starting lineup with struggles.
Speaker 1: They've got a you know, a kind of a journeyman
Speaker 1: veterans in there who probably are in the last year
Speaker 1: with a team. Um, there just hasn't been any continuity.
Speaker 1: They were doing a three man guard rotation last week,
Speaker 1: UM just because neither none of the guards were playing well.
Speaker 1: So they just figured, hey, we'll just keep swapping them
Speaker 1: out and see if something sick. So, yeah, it's it's been.
Speaker 1: It's been quite an ordeal. I'm actually surprised that Ryan
Speaker 1: Pitpatchers has survived the season with all the hits that
Speaker 1: he's taken. UM. But you know, I think that that
Speaker 1: offensive line is gonna be a priority priority two behind quarterback,
Speaker 1: and it's something that draft multiple times and free at
Speaker 1: the end of draft. Like you guys said, fifty four
Speaker 1: sacks most allowed in the NFL, have only generated eighteen
Speaker 1: fewest in the NFL. The mind the minus thirty six
Speaker 1: sack ratio. The Bengals are next worst at minus twenty.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins are almost doubled out at minus thirty six.
Speaker 1: Can't protect, can't pass rush. I mean it's been problems
Speaker 1: with Stremmage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah, that's that's the game
Speaker 1: of football. I think that's the essence of it. You know,
Speaker 1: this team really struggles in the trenches. You know, their
Speaker 1: front seven, they don't have any talent up there. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of journeyment players. Um, they drafted Christian
Speaker 1: Wilkins in the first round, but he's an interior interior rusher.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really generate much pass rush. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that that's something that, you know, to rebuild this
Speaker 1: team the right way, they're gonna have to spend multiple
Speaker 1: years rebuilding both sides of those trenches. They need two
Speaker 1: edge rushers, they need more offensive linemen, they need a
Speaker 1: couple interior seasons linemen as well. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of knees on this team, and that's why they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to use all their team picks and one hundred
Speaker 1: plus a million of cats based effectively. Because this team
Speaker 1: isn't close. They're far away away from being a consider
Speaker 1: the Dolphins did not have a Pro bowler when the
Speaker 1: rosters came out yesterday, but two of the guys they
Speaker 1: traded away this year, made it make a Fitzpatrick and
Speaker 1: Laramy Tunsil in retrospect, those guys aren't old. Why did
Speaker 1: they feel the need to trade away two of their
Speaker 1: recent high picks just to get more high picks? That
Speaker 1: was two of them were puzzling, you know, moves the season.
Speaker 1: I think for me, the biggest, the biggest one, the
Speaker 1: most puzzling one is to make a Fitzpatrick one because
Speaker 1: he's a player who was their first round pick just
Speaker 1: a year ago twenty eight team. So he you know,
Speaker 1: you had him under contract for three three more years
Speaker 1: plus a fifth year option for pretty cheap because you've
Speaker 1: already played the signing bonus. He's a guy who he's
Speaker 1: a really talented player. I think he's got five interceptions
Speaker 1: this year playing free safety. And the issue there was,
Speaker 1: you know, Brian Fluoris wanted to put him in a
Speaker 1: position where he was playing more in the box, playing
Speaker 1: a more linebacker position and make a fit. Patrick just
Speaker 1: wanted to say and one spot dearly through safety. So
Speaker 1: the Steelers put him back there and we're seeing what
Speaker 1: he could do there. So I would think they were
Speaker 1: at that trade if he acts them and gave them
Speaker 1: a true serum. I think it was a situation where
Speaker 1: Minka wasn't a real saying about how he was being used,
Speaker 1: and it's often said, hey, we're just gonna move on
Speaker 1: and cut our losses and get the best we can.
Speaker 1: So I think they thought the Steelers were gonna be
Speaker 1: worse than they were, so that they thought that pick
Speaker 1: was gonna end up being the top ten or top
Speaker 1: ten team pick. And now it looks like the Steelers
Speaker 1: maybe a playoff team, so that pick might be in
Speaker 1: the twenties. Um, so that that trade for sure is
Speaker 1: looking like you know that they didn't they didn't. They
Speaker 1: didn't think that one foils through and Laramie Counsel trade.
Speaker 1: You know. I think they just saw the draft capital
Speaker 1: was too muchs have passed up. You know, they got
Speaker 1: two first round picks and a second round pick for
Speaker 1: Laramie Counsel and did so that's a boot, that's a
Speaker 1: quarterback ransom. So they might still do that one again
Speaker 1: because those picks give them a certain level of AMMO
Speaker 1: and flexibility that most teams don't have. Um, But now
Speaker 1: you've got to go find another Laramie Counsel because that's
Speaker 1: one of the spots that are now open on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, So maybe they do it the Patriot way
Speaker 1: and find a way to go, you know, Chiefer, and
Speaker 1: still a bunch of different spots. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of question marks that are going into the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty off season, maybe even more question marks than they
Speaker 1: had this time last year. Brian Flores speaking of the
Speaker 1: Patriot Way, heavily influenced obviously by Bill Belichick. I'm curious
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and three, Marvin Lewis's first year
Speaker 1: as a head coach, he brought in to Kio Spikes
Speaker 1: to his office and talked about what he envisioned for
Speaker 1: the future. And they just finished the two and fourteen
Speaker 1: season to Kio Spikes wasn't really all that on board,
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis decides to move them. Do you think that
Speaker 1: might have happened with Minca Fitzpatrick and Brian Flores? And
Speaker 1: now in retrospect, Marvin Lewis has one of the biggest
Speaker 1: mistakes I made was moving to Kio Spikes. Do you
Speaker 1: think that Brian Flores may be in that situation with
Speaker 1: Minca Fitzpatrick. Yeah, I think eventually he could be, especially
Speaker 1: that Nika has a lot of seasons like the one
Speaker 1: he had this year. I think, you know, that's the
Speaker 1: first year head coach, and he has made some mistakes,
Speaker 1: and I think, in my opinion, that's one of them
Speaker 1: where he may have been too stubborn and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: you've got to do this my way versus you know,
Speaker 1: being a little bit more flexible to when the player
Speaker 1: wanted to do. So, you know, I think there should
Speaker 1: have been a little bit more compromise there, and you know,
Speaker 1: there wasn't and Brian Flores was very adamant we acted.
Speaker 1: You know that this wasn't a new process makeup. Patrick
Speaker 1: had expressed, you know, some frustration throughout the offseason on
Speaker 1: not really having a steady position, having to play five
Speaker 1: or six different spots, and he was effective gets play,
Speaker 1: and you know, Brian Flores just said, hey, we think
Speaker 1: this is the best thing for the team, and he
Speaker 1: stayed steady with that. So I think, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: Maybe when he looks back and said, hey, I could
Speaker 1: have been a little less subborn, I could have been
Speaker 1: a little bit more flexible, and that could have been
Speaker 1: a position that we didn't have to solve in the future.
Speaker 1: But now they you know, it's done and they've got
Speaker 1: to move on, and you know, hopefully they can get
Speaker 1: a player that you know, plays like makea Fitzpatrick thanks
Speaker 1: to wespn's Cameron Wolf, and that's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done
Speaker 1: so already, don't forget to subscribe, and please give it
Speaker 1: ating or share a comment. Five star ratings help more
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Boot Podcast