Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The feels good to be alive right about now. Addition,
Speaker 2: as the seven and six Bengals look to boost their
Speaker 2: playoff chances by beating the Vikings on Saturday at Paycorp Stadium,
Speaker 2: coming up, I'll talk to Chase brown about running twenty
Speaker 2: two miles an hour. Chris Rose from the NFL Network
Speaker 2: shares his thoughts on Jake Browning's remarkable rise, and in
Speaker 2: this week's No The Fox Conversation, we'll take an in
Speaker 2: depth look at the Vikings with Kevin Seaffert, who covers
Speaker 2: the team for ESPN. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
Speaker 2: to you by pay Corp, Proud to be the Bengals
Speaker 2: official HR software provider by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber
Speaker 2: Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to a
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Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
Speaker 2: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick remind me that
Speaker 2: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 2: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since crowd
Speaker 2: noise in the jungle. The Bengals have home field advantage
Speaker 2: on Saturday against the team that is about to use
Speaker 2: its fourth different starting quarterback. After Kirk Cousins tore his
Speaker 2: achilles in Week eight, rookie Jaren Hall started a game,
Speaker 2: Josh Dobbs started the next four, and now Nick Mullins
Speaker 2: is scheduled to be in there against Cincinnati. Additionally, the
Speaker 2: Vikings starting right tackle Brian O'Neill injured his ankle last week,
Speaker 2: left the stadium in a walking boot, and didn't practice
Speaker 2: on Tuesday or Wednesday. With those things in mind, Zach
Speaker 2: Taylor says Bengals fans can play a significant role on Saturday.
Speaker 3: If the person three seats down from you in the
Speaker 3: row can't hear you, then you're doing a good job, okay.
Speaker 3: And so that's essentially what quarterback's dealing with as he's
Speaker 3: trying to communicate with a tackle make a last second
Speaker 3: communication to the receiver. If they can't hear him, they
Speaker 3: can't make that check. And so it's critical in a
Speaker 3: December game like this with a team coming on the
Speaker 3: road against us that third downs in particular, that's where
Speaker 3: that's where you know, the communication is really stressed. But
Speaker 3: every down, so I do challenge our fans. We got
Speaker 3: outstanding fans to you know, drink one more drink and
Speaker 3: rush in the stadium and be as loud as you
Speaker 3: can humanly possibly be when Minnesota's offense is out there
Speaker 3: and help our guys. And and that's that is a
Speaker 3: critical element that we get this home field advantage. We're
Speaker 3: not playing on the road this week. If we were
Speaker 3: playing in Minnesota, it would be a real problem. And
Speaker 3: so Minnesota is here, Let's make a real problem for them.
Speaker 2: That's a call to action, Bengals fans. Zach Taylor wants
Speaker 2: you to be loud. I'm sure you'll make him proud.
Speaker 2: Now time for my first guest. Rookie Chase Brown is
Speaker 2: given the Bengals offense a turbo boost over the last
Speaker 2: two weeks. In the Jacksonville game, he had thirty one
Speaker 2: and fifteen yard runs and in the Colts game, he
Speaker 2: had a ten yard run, caught a screen pass for
Speaker 2: twenty five yards, and caught this screen pass for his
Speaker 2: first NFL touchdown. Rookie Chase Brown checks in for the
Speaker 2: first time at running back after nine carries for sixty
Speaker 2: one yards last week, they fake it to him. Now
Speaker 2: they screen it to him, all sorts of running room
Speaker 2: and balkers in front. He's flying to the thirty the twenty,
Speaker 2: the ten touch back makes a man miss.
Speaker 3: Half the five touchdown Bengals.
Speaker 4: Chase Brown showing his.
Speaker 2: Speed as he flies down.
Speaker 1: The field for the Bengals touchdown.
Speaker 2: I talked to Chase about that play and his rookie
Speaker 2: year this week. Chase, on your fifty four yard screen
Speaker 2: pass touchdown last week, you were timed at twenty two
Speaker 2: point zero.
Speaker 1: Five miles an hour.
Speaker 2: That's the second fastest time of need ball carrier in
Speaker 2: the NFL this year, behind only DK Metcalf of Seattle.
Speaker 2: You are ahead of the Cheetah Tyreek Hill, who has
Speaker 2: three of the top eight times. Did you think of
Speaker 2: yourself as one of the fastest people in the NFL
Speaker 2: before you saw that?
Speaker 5: Well, I always knew I could run, but there's an
Speaker 5: opportunity to open up. And I mean no, not initially,
Speaker 5: but I mean the numbers are there and it's pretty
Speaker 5: cool to reflect on.
Speaker 2: I tried an experiment this week. I set the cruise
Speaker 2: control on my car tot twenty two miles an hour.
Speaker 2: I stuck my head out the window to try to
Speaker 2: feel like what it must be like to run that fast?
Speaker 2: Is it God given for the product of hard work.
Speaker 5: My mom was a great athlete and my dad's a
Speaker 5: good athlete, So definitely have the genetics to back up
Speaker 5: a twenty two mile privor speed. But you know, maintaining
Speaker 5: that over time is you know, hard work and effort,
Speaker 5: and obviously I feel like there's so many areas I
Speaker 5: can improve, and you know that's what I'm focused on
Speaker 5: right now.
Speaker 2: We're chatting to Chase Brown. In the last two games,
Speaker 2: Joe Mixon has combined for two hundred and forty two
Speaker 2: rushing and receiving yards. You have one twenty one. It's
Speaker 2: kind of the classic thunder and lightning backfield. Do you
Speaker 2: guys feed off each other?
Speaker 5: I definitely feed off his energy, and you know, I
Speaker 5: think we both sparked the offense in different ways, so
Speaker 5: I think, you know, we combo each other well.
Speaker 2: After the game, you climbed into the stands to celebrate
Speaker 2: with some folks who had come down from your hometown
Speaker 2: in Canada.
Speaker 1: Who were they?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Those are those are my high school coaches from Canada,
Speaker 5: guys that introduced me to the game of football, and
Speaker 5: extremely grateful for the group of guys, especially making a
Speaker 5: trip out they did. They didn't have to do that,
Speaker 5: but you know, they're just showing their genuine interests in
Speaker 5: me and supporting me, and I'm just grateful that they
Speaker 5: were able to be there for that moment.
Speaker 2: We're chatting to Chase Brown. The coaches made it pretty
Speaker 2: clear coming out of the buy back in week eight
Speaker 2: that you were going to start getting more opportunities, and
Speaker 2: then you hurt your hand. I'm string at practice where
Speaker 2: you worried that your big chance had come and gone.
Speaker 5: You know, I have a a positive mindset, so you know,
Speaker 5: I knew that there's opportunity there. But you know, injury
Speaker 5: kind of helped me back, but I saw it as
Speaker 5: an opportunity to make sure I was ready to go
Speaker 5: mentally some as I got back, so you know, I
Speaker 5: prepared as if I was playing every single week, and
Speaker 5: you know that paid off.
Speaker 2: An NFL player's rookie year is a roller coaster ride.
Speaker 2: You are going through it with your twin brother, Sydney,
Speaker 2: who is playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. How much have
Speaker 2: you helped each other get through the roller coaster ride
Speaker 2: a year one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we just talk. It makes the process
Speaker 5: so much easier when you know you have a twin
Speaker 5: brother that's pretty much exactly like you, but you know,
Speaker 5: going through something similar to you. So to sharing our experiences,
Speaker 5: talking about the goods and the bads and ups and
Speaker 5: the downs, and you know, that's always that always helps.
Speaker 5: It's like a little therapy session any time I get
Speaker 5: on there.
Speaker 2: Jake Browning is not a rookie, but he's getting his
Speaker 2: first opportunity at roughly the same time as you are.
Speaker 2: What has he shown you over the past few weeks.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's he's a great leader, number one, But.
Speaker 4: Dudes, dialed in.
Speaker 5: He's playing really good football right now, and I mean
Speaker 5: him just being him as you know, helping us win
Speaker 5: games and you know, sparking the offense in different ways.
Speaker 5: And you know, I'm sure he learned a lot from
Speaker 5: you know, Joe Burrow throughout his time here, and you know,
Speaker 5: he's just ready to show who he is and make
Speaker 5: the most of this opportunity that's in front of him.
Speaker 2: You had an extremely heavy workload last year at Illinois
Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty eight attempts. That's roughly twenty seven
Speaker 2: a game. You had forty one carries in one game.
Speaker 2: You got nineteen so far this year. How fresh do
Speaker 2: you feel as a result.
Speaker 5: Pretty fresh, A lot more fresh than I did during
Speaker 5: the Illinois season. But you know, I kind of I
Speaker 5: took pride in them giving the ball seven times a game.
Speaker 5: They trusted me to make plays and get the ball
Speaker 5: in the end zone. So that's that was my job
Speaker 5: back then. Right now, it's just a little bit different.
Speaker 5: I'm a role player. I'm gonna do my role to
Speaker 5: the best my ability, and you don't do whatever I
Speaker 5: can help this team win.
Speaker 2: You've given the offense a huge jolt over the past
Speaker 2: couple of weeks. It's been fun to watch. Best of
Speaker 2: luck this week and going forward.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Let's go back to that GPS measurement of twenty two
Speaker 2: point zero five miles an hour, the second fastest for
Speaker 2: any ball carrier in the NFL this year. Jamar Chase
Speaker 2: is eleventh on the list. He hit twenty one point
Speaker 2: five four miles an hour when he caught a sixty
Speaker 2: three yard touchdown bomb from Joe Burrow in Arizona. And
Speaker 2: remember a couple of years ago against Kansas City, when
Speaker 2: Jamar caught a short pass and then ran away from
Speaker 2: about seven guys on a seventy two yard touchdown. He
Speaker 2: reached twenty one point seven four miles an hour on
Speaker 2: that one. In other words, not quite measuring up to
Speaker 2: Chase Brown's numb. Here's Jamar's reaction.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'm slow man.
Speaker 1: Have you ever crossed seen your numbers? I'm slow right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not lie.
Speaker 2: I just looked up the GPS from the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one Kansas City catch. It was twenty one point seven.
Speaker 1: Oh well, what he twenty one point eight? He was
Speaker 1: twenty two five?
Speaker 4: Oh damn, I'm slow, slow man, I'm slow.
Speaker 2: On the Kansas City play, you kind of had to start,
Speaker 2: you know, from a standing position almost, so it's harder
Speaker 2: to get up to twenty two.
Speaker 1: He was already moving when he caught the ball.
Speaker 4: You said I was twenty one?
Speaker 2: Was the other twenty one point seven and the other
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. This year against Arizona, twenty one point five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm slow, broke. You gotta love Jabbar. Chase.
Speaker 2: By the way, he needs twenty three catches in the
Speaker 2: final four games of the year to break TJ. Hushman's
Speaker 2: out of his team record of one hundred and twelve
Speaker 2: receptions in a single season. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
Speaker 2: brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the
Speaker 2: Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future Proof
Speaker 2: Fiber Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to
Speaker 2: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
Speaker 2: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
Speaker 2: provider of the Bengals. Saturday's game will be broadcast nationally
Speaker 2: on the NFL Network, and I caught up with one
Speaker 2: of the broadcasters on Wednesday. He is the host of
Speaker 2: NFL Game Day Highlights every Sunday on the NFL Network,
Speaker 2: and this Saturday he will do play by play of
Speaker 2: the Bengals Vikings game.
Speaker 1: It is great to visit with Chris Rose.
Speaker 2: Chris, we are always interested in getting the national perspective
Speaker 2: of the Cincinnati Bengals. Have you been wowed by what
Speaker 2: Jake Browning has done over the past couple of weeks?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, Dan, I don't think there's a question about it.
Speaker 7: We were all watching that Ravens Bengals game and when
Speaker 7: Joe Burrow couldn't throw the ball on the sidelines, we
Speaker 7: were like, Okay, we'll see the Bengals in twenty twenty four. Well,
Speaker 7: I guess joke's on everybody else, because the Bengals are
Speaker 7: playing great football.
Speaker 4: They're actually a.
Speaker 7: Very healthy team outside of the quarterback position, and I
Speaker 7: think they're one of those teams. It only feels like
Speaker 7: twenty teams in the AFC are at seven and six,
Speaker 7: and the Bengals are one of them. Hey, everybody's talking
Speaker 7: up Buffalo and that's the team you don't want to
Speaker 7: see in the playoffs. I think Brown can keep doing
Speaker 7: what he's doing. I have a feeling, based on Cincinnati's
Speaker 7: pedigree over the last couple of years, that it might
Speaker 7: be the Bengals that you do not want to face
Speaker 7: come mid January.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure as you have prepped to do play
Speaker 2: by play this week, you've learned a lot of things
Speaker 2: about the Bengals beyond the stars that maybe you didn't
Speaker 2: know from doing the highlights every Sunday. What stands out
Speaker 2: to you as you've learned more about this.
Speaker 7: Team, Well, I mean, listen, I knew that they were
Speaker 7: really young in the secondary right. We watch all the
Speaker 7: games together every Sunday as we get ready for our
Speaker 7: game day highlights and game day final shows, and it
Speaker 7: just seems like every time they're trotting out a rookie
Speaker 7: or a second year guy back there. Cameron Taylor Britt,
Speaker 7: who unfortunately is not going to play as he continues
Speaker 7: to be on IR, was a guy that the first
Speaker 7: half of the season we were like, Oh, that's one
Speaker 7: of those dudes who's making the huge leap. But DJ
Speaker 7: Turner has done a really nice job. Jordan Battle has
Speaker 7: now become a starter, so it feels like they've got
Speaker 7: their secondary for years to come. Chase Brown has added
Speaker 7: just a different element now that he's touched the ball
Speaker 7: the last two weeks. You know, he's one of those
Speaker 7: guys where you always hear rookies can't pass, block, and
Speaker 7: I understand with Joe Burrow in the injured cap the
Speaker 7: first month of the year, YU wouldn't want him back there.
Speaker 7: Then he got the hamstring injury, and then last week
Speaker 7: it looks like he was freaking shot out of a cannon.
Speaker 4: I mean, I have no idea.
Speaker 7: We all watched that screenplay early on, We're like, what
Speaker 7: the heck just happened there because nobody's you know, we
Speaker 7: all saw him at the combine. I think he ran
Speaker 7: like a four to four to three, which is a
Speaker 7: really good time, but it's not like DJ Turner's four
Speaker 7: to two six or something.
Speaker 4: But he just looked so much faster than everybody else.
Speaker 7: I was like, they got to get the ball to guy,
Speaker 7: and so I expect more of that to happen this weekend.
Speaker 2: Chris, you went to Miami University worked at Fox nineteen
Speaker 2: here in Cincinnati for a while back in the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 2: The Bengals were struggling at the time. What memories do
Speaker 2: you have of covering the Bengals back then?
Speaker 7: They were struggling, and I was struggling as I was
Speaker 7: learning to get into this business.
Speaker 4: So it was actually a perfect match.
Speaker 7: I remember when Shula was the coach, David Shula, and
Speaker 7: I want to say that one year they started out
Speaker 7: oh and eight or oh to nine or something like that,
Speaker 7: and they finally won a game. And here I am.
Speaker 7: I'm like I was. I was Greg Hord's sports producer
Speaker 7: and Kevin Fraser's sports producer, and so I had to
Speaker 7: go down to interview the coach afterward the next day
Speaker 7: and it's you know, there's a few writers in there
Speaker 7: and a couple of camera people, but it wasn't a
Speaker 7: very large contingent of media. And I'm thinking to myself, well,
Speaker 7: this is this is the day I can ask a
Speaker 7: good question or something. And I asked him something about out,
Speaker 7: well you have a win, but now you're like one
Speaker 7: in eight or one and nine, and he looked at
Speaker 7: me and he was like, can I enjoy this for
Speaker 7: one day? Can't we all just enjoy this for one day?
Speaker 7: And I was like, oh my god, So yeah, I
Speaker 7: got nailed. Back then I was like, don't try and
Speaker 7: be that tough guy. Just ask a legitimate question here,
Speaker 7: you moron.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Chris Rose.
Speaker 2: What do you think of the job that Duke Tobin
Speaker 2: has done in building the roster and Zach Taylor and
Speaker 2: his leadership of this franchise?
Speaker 4: Great? That's great.
Speaker 7: Now listen, did they did they end up in a
Speaker 7: fortune area where Joe Burrow was the quarterback that was
Speaker 7: available in twenty twenty? You know absolutely, You know, Kyler
Speaker 7: Murray's a good quarterback, but he's not Joe Burrow. Baker
Speaker 7: Mayfield two years earlier solid quarterback, but he's now on
Speaker 7: his fourth team. I mean, could the Browns have taken
Speaker 7: Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen with that, yes, absolutely, But
Speaker 7: the Bengals they picked the right one. Although Justin Herbert
Speaker 7: has been very good and Tua is going to make
Speaker 7: the playoffs this year. They picked the right one, and
Speaker 7: that's the centerpiece, right. You get that piece on and
Speaker 7: then the rest kind of falls into place. But their
Speaker 7: free agent signings have been I think pretty solid. The
Speaker 7: offensive line, although you know at times it's been a
Speaker 7: little leaky, is significantly improved over the first time we
Speaker 7: saw Joe Burrow in the playoffs. Trey Hendrickson has been
Speaker 7: nothing short of phenomenal. And you win in this league
Speaker 7: when you make great draft picks, not just with your
Speaker 7: first rounder. I mean, that's the one that gets all
Speaker 7: the press, but it's those guys in the third, fourth,
Speaker 7: and fifth rounds that are going to help you become champions.
Speaker 7: I mean, just follow the trail of the Kansas City
Speaker 7: Chiefs a year ago, particularly on the defensive side of
Speaker 7: the football, where they had guys in rounds two, three,
Speaker 7: and four, and even in seven playing significant roles as
Speaker 7: they ran all the way to the Super Bowl, and
Speaker 7: I think that Duke Tobin has done as good a
Speaker 7: job as any talent evaluator in the NFL.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the muddled pack of teams at seven and
Speaker 2: six in the AFC. The Bengals probably need to go
Speaker 2: three and one in their last four games. They've got
Speaker 2: the Vikings this week, then the Steelers, then the Chiefs,
Speaker 2: and finally a home game against the Cleveland Browns. What
Speaker 2: do you think of their chances of emerging from this
Speaker 2: pack of seven and six teams and getting in So.
Speaker 7: Don't Here's what I would I would advise all Bengals
Speaker 7: fans out there, don't do the whole schedule thing, like,
Speaker 7: don't try and figure out what every other team who's
Speaker 7: fighting for a walk, well, they're going to lose to them,
Speaker 7: and those guys are gonna beat that. That doesn't work.
Speaker 7: Just go back to Monday night for the proof. Right,
Speaker 7: The Tennessee Titans had not won a road game all year.
Speaker 7: They were without their best player on either side of
Speaker 7: the football, and Jeffrey Simmons, and they went down to
Speaker 7: Miami and one when they were down fourteen points with
Speaker 7: like three minutes to go. So just let's stop that
Speaker 7: right now. If you want to familiarize yourself with the
Speaker 7: tiebreaker scenario, go ahead and let me know how that
Speaker 7: goes for you. Because I have followed this sport for
Speaker 7: like forty five years and I've read it eighteen times
Speaker 7: in the last three days and I still can't figure
Speaker 7: it out. So just you know what, let's take a
Speaker 7: sports cliche, everybody. Let's take it one game at a time.
Speaker 7: We'll deal with this Saturday, whatever happens on Sunday, and
Speaker 7: then Monday night, we'll deal with it next week. So
Speaker 7: I mean, like, I hate cliches, but let's just do that.
Speaker 7: I think you have a really good shot this weekend.
Speaker 7: I know you got to play four winning teams over
Speaker 7: the last month, but everybody but Mahomes is a backup quarterback,
Speaker 7: So just roll with it. And by the way, ten
Speaker 7: and seven I don't think necessarily is the number because
Speaker 7: I think there's going to be more than three teams
Speaker 7: at ten and seven, and then we have to get
Speaker 7: into the full tiebreaker scenario that I can't explain to you.
Speaker 1: Dan.
Speaker 2: If you figure out the tiebreakers by Saturday, please let
Speaker 2: me know because I'm struggling with it as well, so
Speaker 2: you'll be calling Bengals Vikings this week. Like the Bengals,
Speaker 2: the Vikings are seven and six, They are doing it
Speaker 2: without Kirk Cousins and they have a winning record since
Speaker 2: he went down eight games into the season.
Speaker 1: How are they doing it?
Speaker 4: Defense?
Speaker 7: Ryan Flores took over as the defensive play caller from
Speaker 7: Ed Donna Tell and they are totally different than.
Speaker 4: A year ago.
Speaker 7: They lead the league in blitzes, they lead the league
Speaker 7: in three and fewer pass rushers. So what does that mean.
Speaker 7: You can't really get a grasp on what they're doing.
Speaker 7: They're all over the place. So Jake Browning one play
Speaker 7: might see six or seven bodies up at the line
Speaker 7: of scrimmage, and the next down he might see two,
Speaker 7: which makes it fun for that Minnesota defense. Ivan Pace,
Speaker 7: who of course grew up there in Cincinnati, went to
Speaker 7: Cole Rain and I will take him as a Miami
Speaker 7: red Hawk, even though he finished that last year with
Speaker 7: the Cincinnati Bearcats. He is a red Hawk at heart,
Speaker 7: and when I talk to him, I will let him
Speaker 7: know that is the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Speaker 7: I mean, he had an amazing stat line in that
Speaker 7: monumental three to nothing win over the Laws Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 7: We had thirteen tackles, a forced fumble, and a pick.
Speaker 7: We hadn't seen a rookie do that since the Texans
Speaker 7: coach Tamiko Ryans did it seventeen years ago, if my
Speaker 7: math is right. So they're just doing it with defense Offensively.
Speaker 7: Nick Mullens is the guy that can sling it a
Speaker 7: little bit.
Speaker 4: Now. He's no joke.
Speaker 7: He's got a decent arm, but he'll throw it to you.
Speaker 7: He's kind of like, you know, he went to Southern
Speaker 7: miss and of course the most famous player from there
Speaker 7: is Brett Farr. Just like Farm, He's going to throw
Speaker 7: it to you a couple times a game. It's just
Speaker 7: whether or not you're gonna catch it.
Speaker 2: So with those things in mind, give us a couple
Speaker 2: of keys to the Bengals getting out of pay Court
Speaker 2: Stadium on Saturday with a win.
Speaker 7: Well last week I talked to a good friend of
Speaker 7: mine who actually works for the Bengals this week and
Speaker 7: he reminded me he might even be on this right now.
Speaker 7: The zoom call that the Bengals did not give up
Speaker 7: a sack for the first time in their last forty
Speaker 7: three games, so If you do that against daneil Hunter
Speaker 7: and Crewe, that's that's a good deal. It's really important
Speaker 7: we look. Jake Browning has been great against like Blitz's.
Speaker 7: I just noticed his numbers. He's completing two thirds of
Speaker 7: his passes and has put up some pretty gaudy numbers.
Speaker 7: But you want to make it so that he's not
Speaker 7: getting a lot of pressure in his face. I would
Speaker 7: use Chase brown a ton. I'm a big fan of
Speaker 7: that kid. I know i'd like shiny new toys, but
Speaker 7: I think he's not just a different gear. He's like
Speaker 7: a different sports car that's been hanging out in the
Speaker 7: garage with the you know, the canvas over it for
Speaker 7: two months. So I would use him. And I think
Speaker 7: it's going to be really fun to see between Jamar,
Speaker 7: Chase and Justin Jefferson, which one of those two former
Speaker 7: great LSU teammates has the better day, because you better
Speaker 7: believe they both want to shine and outshine the other.
Speaker 2: Chris, this has been fun. Look forward to having you
Speaker 2: back in town on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your.
Speaker 7: Time, absolutely and day if you need it. I've got
Speaker 7: the entire tiebreaker scenario. It's right right down here somewhere
Speaker 7: in one of these pages. So I'm going to send
Speaker 7: all this to you. It's not sloppy or anything. We'll
Speaker 7: take care of it.
Speaker 1: Just summarize for me. Please just summarize.
Speaker 4: Yeah, in three words or less. It shouldn't be probab
Speaker 4: that'd be perfect. Thanks Dan.
Speaker 2: I'm still not sure that I have a total grasp
Speaker 2: of the playoff tiebreakers, but I know this thanks to
Speaker 2: my pal Jay Morrison, who covers the Bengals for Pro
Speaker 2: Football Network. There are three NFL games on Saturday. If
Speaker 2: the Bengals beat the Vikings, the Colts beat the Steelers,
Speaker 2: and the Lions beat the Broncos, and those are the
Speaker 2: teams that are favored to win, the Bengals would jump
Speaker 2: to the number six playoff seed in the AFC, and
Speaker 2: nothing that happens on Sunday would change that. Finally, it's
Speaker 2: time for this week's Know the Faux segment. The Minnesota
Speaker 2: Vikings were four and four when Kirk Cousins tore his achilles,
Speaker 2: and they're three and two since, including that three nothing
Speaker 2: win over the Raiders last week that was scoreless with
Speaker 2: two minutes to go. Kevin Seaffert covers the Vikings for ESPN.
Speaker 2: He joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals Game
Speaker 2: Plan Show this week and explained how the Vikings have
Speaker 2: managed to stay in playoff contention without their starting quarterback.
Speaker 6: Really their defense.
Speaker 8: Brian Flores has come in this season his first year
Speaker 8: of the defensive coordinator and has really engineered a one
Speaker 8: hundred and eighty degree turn in the way they play defense.
Speaker 8: From last season when they were a very passive, you know,
Speaker 8: too deep type, look to this year where they have
Speaker 8: essentially with the same players, become this like wild blitzing,
Speaker 8: mixing coverages, mixing positions, essentially using.
Speaker 6: Players at multiple positions at any given time.
Speaker 8: And really since the start, since about the third or
Speaker 8: the fourth week of the season, they've been a top
Speaker 8: five defense across the board. And so that's what you
Speaker 8: need when you lose your starting quarterback, and not only
Speaker 8: is your starting quarterback, but you lose your number two
Speaker 8: and your number.
Speaker 6: Three as well.
Speaker 8: And Josh Dobbs when he was playing for the Vikings
Speaker 8: was really their fourth and so usually those situations lead
Speaker 8: to a disaster. And one of the reasons the Vikings,
Speaker 8: the biggest reason that hasn't been a disaster for them
Speaker 8: has been their defense.
Speaker 9: What is it about the Vikings with close football games?
Speaker 9: When they win eleven by one score or less? You
Speaker 9: know last year that was a record, I think. And
Speaker 9: then they've only had one game the entire season that's
Speaker 9: been decided by fourteen points some more against at Green Bay.
Speaker 9: Every other game there was one by eight, but that's
Speaker 9: one score the only two point conversion. Eight points are less.
Speaker 9: I mean, the six games they've lost by a total
Speaker 9: of twenty three points. The games they've won has been
Speaker 9: a whole lot different. It's unbelievable how every single game
Speaker 9: unfolds to be like a one score game or less?
Speaker 9: What is it?
Speaker 8: And it's not great for the blood pressure of beat
Speaker 8: riders on dead that. But they have played thirty games
Speaker 8: since the start of when Kevin O'Connell became the coach.
Speaker 8: Last year, twenty three of them have been decided by
Speaker 8: one score games, so that, as you said, they are
Speaker 8: eleven and zero last year. This year there's six and
Speaker 8: six in the twelve games that have been one score and.
Speaker 6: Then obviously the Packers game that you mentioned.
Speaker 8: And so I'm kind of out of explanations. I don't
Speaker 8: think there's like a through line through all of these things.
Speaker 8: I think last year especially, they were really good playing
Speaker 8: fourth quarter situational football and so and they were they
Speaker 8: able to pull out a lot of games at the
Speaker 8: very end, either through game winning drives with Kirk Cousins
Speaker 8: or their defense maybe making an interception here and there.
Speaker 8: This year, it's been a little bit all over the map,
Speaker 8: and I think it's just kind of an extreme example
Speaker 8: of what we see across the league. I mean, my
Speaker 8: theory on the NFL is that every year there's a
Speaker 8: handful of really good teams, maybe three to five, a
Speaker 8: handful of really bad teams another three and five, and
Speaker 8: everybody else is in that middle, and vast majority.
Speaker 6: Is in that middle. And so they're kind of an
Speaker 6: extreme example.
Speaker 8: Of that, where they're not good enough to just, you know,
Speaker 8: especially this year, just reel off wins every time they're
Speaker 8: in these close games, but they are good enough to
Speaker 8: rarely get.
Speaker 6: Blown out either. And so maybe it's just kind of.
Speaker 8: A little bit of a microcosm of the larger, you know,
Speaker 8: relative lack of disparity that we.
Speaker 6: See in the NFL.
Speaker 8: That they find themselves in every game playing with an
Speaker 8: opponent not necessarily being better, but sometimes this year sometimes
Speaker 8: coming out ahead sometimes this year being behind, but I'm
Speaker 8: always very close and I expect more of that to
Speaker 8: come this weekend.
Speaker 2: Kevin Sefford covers the vikings for ESPN I do University
Speaker 2: of Cincinnati football game. So I can honestly say I
Speaker 2: am not surprised that Ivan Pace is having success at
Speaker 2: the NFL level. What stands out to you about his
Speaker 2: play as a rookie from Minnesota just you.
Speaker 6: Know, just so energetic.
Speaker 8: I mean, he from the from the beginning of train camp,
Speaker 8: he was just making splash plays.
Speaker 6: He would just you would just see.
Speaker 8: Him running sideline the sideline in at a at a
Speaker 8: rate that most of the guys weren't, especially when he
Speaker 8: was working on that second and third team, Uh, those second.
Speaker 6: And thirteen groups.
Speaker 8: And then you never but you never know when you're
Speaker 8: watching training camp what that means.
Speaker 6: Sometimes it's just.
Speaker 8: A guy that's really it hustles a lot, but the
Speaker 8: coaches don't see, you know, potential to actually be a
Speaker 8: contributor at the first team. And then all of a
Speaker 8: sudden he started, uh, you know, they'd have an inner
Speaker 8: squad scrimmage and he's working with the first team and
Speaker 8: the guy that they had penciled in to be the
Speaker 8: starters of the second team, and you think, oh, well,
Speaker 8: maybe they're just seeing what he can do, and then
Speaker 8: it just never stopped. They just he just kept showing
Speaker 8: up and whenever they would line up with their first team,
Speaker 8: he would be there.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 8: Brian Forlores's defense, I think has one of the things
Speaker 8: that's been really good is that he has found ways
Speaker 8: to maximize the skills of each guy, and so in
Speaker 8: some cases that means they play ten snaps one week
Speaker 8: and the next week they play fifty snaps. And so
Speaker 8: that's where Ivan was at least early in the year,
Speaker 8: like a lot of his playing time was based on
Speaker 8: what Flores and the defensive staff thought was best for
Speaker 8: that particular week. But then I think it was three
Speaker 8: weeks ago Jordan Hicks, their veteran middle linebacker, had a
Speaker 8: really serious leg injury, and so they had no choice
Speaker 8: but to put Ivan out there every play and put
Speaker 8: the green dot on his helmet and say, hey, be
Speaker 8: the captain of our middle defense. And he's really just
Speaker 8: taken the bull by the horns. And I think that
Speaker 8: the game he had last week in Vegas, where he
Speaker 8: had thirteen tackles in a sack and the game clinching
Speaker 8: interception was definitely his best of the year and probably
Speaker 8: a springboard of things to come.
Speaker 9: The Vikings has scored twenty six points in the first
Speaker 9: quarter in thirteen football games, two points per game. Why
Speaker 9: the slow starts, do you think?
Speaker 8: Well, early in the year they were on this crazy
Speaker 8: run of not only not scoring but turning the ball over.
Speaker 8: I think they had first half of the season. I
Speaker 8: think it was four games where they turned the ball
Speaker 8: opening over on the opening possession, and so they were
Speaker 8: just coming out and maybe it was too you know,
Speaker 8: overthinking their script a little bit. Maybe it was trying
Speaker 8: to be too fine or too aggressive in what they
Speaker 8: were projecting opponents to do.
Speaker 6: But they were just really rough in.
Speaker 8: The in the especially on those opening drives, and that's
Speaker 8: where you see a lot of teams really excel as
Speaker 8: if you have the whole week to play in your
Speaker 8: opening script and if nothing is gonna work the whole day,
Speaker 8: but that but that, but you know that one one
Speaker 8: drive will And so it was really wild and they
Speaker 8: went they just kind of, I think, try to simplify
Speaker 8: things a little bit, uh decided who they thought was,
Speaker 8: you know, should have the ball in their hands more often,
Speaker 8: and and and some other guys maybe a little less often,
Speaker 8: and got that straightened out. And so I think that
Speaker 8: the average you cited was probably broad down significantly by
Speaker 8: that run they had in the beginning of the year.
Speaker 6: So they've been a little bit better better.
Speaker 8: But in the past two weeks, both the Raiders and
Speaker 8: the Bears got the opening kickoff and ended up on
Speaker 8: these long, time consuming, not a slight productive, but time
Speaker 8: consuming drives.
Speaker 6: And the Vikings didn'tn't.
Speaker 8: Really have many plays in the first quarter of those
Speaker 8: two games either, and so it's been a combination of factors.
Speaker 8: But now they've I think, have gotten their turnover situation
Speaker 8: under control. They're a little bit more effective now in
Speaker 8: the first quarters.
Speaker 2: Kevin, My final question has to do with Nick Mullins,
Speaker 2: who will be the starting quarterback this week. Fourth starting
Speaker 2: quarterback of the year for the Vikings, first time in
Speaker 2: franchise history. Apparently they've started four in one season. Was
Speaker 2: this building or was this just the result of him
Speaker 2: having a good fourth quarter last week and the three
Speaker 2: nothing win in Vegas?
Speaker 6: Well, it was a common factors.
Speaker 8: Nick Mullens started the year at the Vikings number two
Speaker 8: quarterback and he and then he had a back injury
Speaker 8: that happened in practice and he went on injury reserve,
Speaker 8: And if that injury had not happened, he would have
Speaker 8: been the person who came in to replace Kirk Cousins
Speaker 8: when Cousins suffered the Achilles injury, but he wasn't available,
Speaker 8: so they went with a number three quarterback who got
Speaker 8: Jared Hollow at a concussion, and then finally to Josh Jobbs.
Speaker 8: And I think there was a belief all along that
Speaker 8: they would eventually work their way back to Mullens. But
Speaker 8: Dobbs had these great couple of games just to start
Speaker 8: off and build himself up some equity, but over time
Speaker 8: he started to have some struggles with turnovers and just
Speaker 8: really getting down the complicated nature of this offense. So
Speaker 8: maybe it had been building behind the scenes a little bit,
Speaker 8: but they you know, he came in against Vegas.
Speaker 6: And led the only scoring drive they had in the
Speaker 6: whole game.
Speaker 8: And so at this point, I don't know that Kevin O'Connell,
Speaker 8: the head coach, had much of a choice but to
Speaker 8: turn to Nick.
Speaker 6: But he also, like I you know this, he had
Speaker 6: a very cutting quote.
Speaker 8: Where he said, this is a week to week offense,
Speaker 8: We're going to decide every week what we're doing and
Speaker 8: who the people out there are going to be.
Speaker 6: That's doing it. And so I don't know that I
Speaker 6: feel confident that Nick.
Speaker 8: Mallins has started for the rest of the year, but
Speaker 8: he's definitely going to be the starter this weekend.
Speaker 9: Thanks for giving us all the time you've given us.
Speaker 9: My final question involves the tight end position. How good
Speaker 9: is Hawkinson been? The Bengals have given up more receptions
Speaker 9: and more receiving yards than any defense in the National
Speaker 9: Football League. In Hawkinson eighty five catches over eight hundred yards,
Speaker 9: five touchdowns receiving. How good is this dude?
Speaker 8: Well, he's really become the security blanket for all the
Speaker 8: Vikings quarterbacks, and for reasons that we haven't even talked
Speaker 8: about yet, but justin Jefferson missed seven seven games with
Speaker 8: a hamstring injury, most of last week with the after
Speaker 8: he got hit in the back there and suffered a
Speaker 8: chest injury. So Hokinson has sort of been the first
Speaker 8: choice of every quarterback that's played for the Vikings this
Speaker 8: year during the Jefferson time away, and so that's really
Speaker 8: where Hockinson has made a lot of his Hey, he
Speaker 8: has not been a great like downfield receiver per se
Speaker 8: or a run after the catch guy, but in terms
Speaker 8: of someone who knows how to find the little scene
Speaker 8: in the in the zone and pulling a seven yard
Speaker 8: catch on first and ten or a five yard catch
Speaker 8: on third and three.
Speaker 6: He's been outstanding at that.
Speaker 8: I think he has more catches or remember he's now
Speaker 8: ranked number two in the NFL amongst all tight ends.
Speaker 8: And so he's been very durable and very available and
Speaker 8: very much a security blanket for all of those guys.
Speaker 6: And so we'll see.
Speaker 8: How that, you know, how that plays out now that
Speaker 8: we expect Jefferson to be on the field for most
Speaker 8: of this game most is not all of this game Saturday,
Speaker 8: but he's always going to be there and he's always
Speaker 8: going to be a guy that those quarterbacks know can
Speaker 8: be a reliable gainer of yards.
Speaker 9: And you're right, he's number one in tight end receptions
Speaker 9: with eighty five and number one in tight end receptions
Speaker 9: on third down with twenty five. So he's been a.
Speaker 8: Beast, absolutely, And they traded for him last year from Detroit,
Speaker 8: gave up a second round pick, and then sign him
Speaker 8: to a huge contract extension, so he's a premium player
Speaker 8: at a premium value and they're getting their money's worth
Speaker 8: out of them This year.
Speaker 2: The Bengals are currently a three point favorite this week.
Speaker 2: Here's an invitation to join Dave Lapham and me for
Speaker 2: the Bengals pep Rally Show this week. We'll be at
Speaker 2: the Wings and Rings location in Union, Kentucky on Friday
Speaker 2: from three to six, and since it's the day before
Speaker 2: a game, we won't have a current player joining us
Speaker 2: this week. Our special guest will be the starting center
Speaker 2: on the nineteen eighty eight Super Bowl team, Bruce Gazerski.
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast