September 5, 2025 • 7 mins
Dan Hoard joined the program to preview the Bengals season opener at the Browns on Sunday.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sunday, the season kicks off for the Bengals and they
take on the Browns, And here to talk about it
with us is the voice of the Bengals, Dan Horde,
who looks forward to a new season. And of course
all we've talked about with the Bengals are not all
we've talked about, but a lot of what we have
talked about in this preseason is avoiding the slow start,
being ready to hit the ground running, whatever cliche or
(00:24):
metaphor you want to use, Dan, that's job one. Win
Week one. This is an important game, maybe more than
most season openers in that regard.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Right, Bengals coaches, players and fans are sick of slow starts,
as they should be. This will be year seven for
Zach Taylor. If you look at weeks one and two
of the season, in his first six years, they've got
one win and eleven losses. They've had to dig themselves
out of these holes year after year after year, and
to their credit, they've generally been able to do it.
(00:55):
But it's hard to do and if you get off
to these slow starts, you put yourself in a really
tough position to try to get home field advantage in
the playoffs or possibly even get the one buy that
goes to the best team in the AFC. So Cleveland
in Week one, jackson Ville in Week two. Two teams
coming off terrible seasons. Let's see if the Bengals can
(01:16):
capitalize and start to and out well.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The other part of the slow starts many times, in fairness,
I think has been the fact that Joe Burrow has
not been healthy for the offseason or the preseason for
a lot of this time. But this year very different.
He played for a number one a lot in the preseason,
looked very good. I would imagine everybody's confidence in Joe
(01:40):
right now is as high as it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
No doubt, this is the first time he's ever had
a normal preseason. Whether it was COVID, whether it was appendicitis,
whether it was him coming off a knee injury or
wrist injury. There was always something leading up to the
season that was problematic for Joe. Well, not this year.
And add to the fact that he had Jamar Chase
(02:04):
practicing in every preseason practice. T Higgins, Mike Gesicki, Chase Brown,
all of these great weapons that he had at his
disposal last year. Now he got the proper number of
reps with them during training camp and in those preseason
games that he played in. So I don't think there's
any question that the Bengals should be one of the
highest scoring teams in the NFL this year. The question,
(02:26):
obviously is will the defense be better? It doesn't have
to be top five, Todd, but I don't think it
can be bottom five like it was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
No doubt. We're talking Bengals with Dan hord here. What
about the Bengals offensive line? Sometimes, even though this offense
has been prolific in recent years, that pass protection has
been spotty, has been iffy. Will that be better?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We'll see. If you are a optimistic Bengals fan, you
look at the fact that they've got elite tackles in
Orlando Brown Junior and a Marius Mims. They've got a
solid center in Ted Carris. The question mark will be
the new guards, rookie Dylan Fairchild on the left side
and veteran Lucas Patrick on the right, at least to
begin the season. I think Dylan Fairchild has been extremely
(03:11):
impressive in training camp. In the two preseason games, Pro
Football Focus I believe had him graded as the fourth
or fifth best guard in the preseason, albeit in a
limited number of snaps. Lucas Patrick, on the other hand,
a bit more of a question mark. He battled some
injuries during training camp. He had a couple of noticeable
whiffs when he played in the preseason. So that's going
(03:32):
to be the one that I'll have my eye on
on Sunday. But I will say this, it can't be
any worse than the guards last year. Cordell Volson and
Alex Kappa really struggled at those two spots last year,
and the Bengals were still the sixth highest scoring team
in the league. So as much as people are wondering
(03:52):
about the two guards going into the season, I do
think they're almost sure to be better than the two
guys that played those positions last year.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Daniel hinted about the defense and needing to get better.
The Bengals did end up bringing back Trey Hendrickson for
what is likely his final season as a Bengal. They
drafted Shamar Stewart. There was some contract drama with him,
but he has been back or in camp for a
little while. Now. Those two are counting on them to
pressure the quarterback that's got to be the basis for
(04:22):
a defensive improvement. Here, get two guys that can rush
the quarterback to a high degree.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, and Shamar Stewart was very impressive during training camp.
I keep saying Todd that every day he did something
that made me go, WHOA. He's just one of those
guys that has athletic ability that is uncommon, even in
a sport where it seems like every team has somebody
like that. He stands out. He's Miles Garrett like in
terms of his quickness and explosiveness. And he didn't have
(04:53):
a lot of sex obviously at Texas A and M,
but he did a lot of other good things. And
I think you were going to see that right off
the bat when he takes the field for the Bengals
this week.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Where else do you think the defense could be improved?
Is it maybe better a run stopper or the back
end a little better of what's your overall feeling where
we could see an upgrade.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
They've drafted a lot of defensive players over the last
four years in the first, second, and third rounds, and
these are guys that every team in the NFL had
high grades on, and for whatever reason, they haven't played
all that much. By and large, I think lou Anarumo
was reluctant to trust rookies on defense, so guys that
(05:36):
they've been drafting and counting on are still unproven. That's
one of the reasons why they hired Al Golden to
be their defensive coordinator. He's been developing young guys at
Notre Dame for the last three years and has had
great defenses there. So let's see if some of these
high draft picks, the Miles Murphy's and DJ Turners, some
of these first, second and third round picks that they've
(05:58):
taken in the last few years, can get on the field,
have an impact and help them have a much better defense.
That's been the formula for the Kansas City Chiefs by
and large over the past several years. They've invested so
much in Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey and their great
offensive players that they've had to be good on defense
with young draft picks. And that's kind of the way
(06:20):
it goes in the salary cap. If you spend a
ton of money on one side of the ball, then
the other side has to be built with younger, cheaper players.
That's what the Bengals are trying to do and hopefully
Al Golden will develop these guys and it'll be a
formula for success in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well, of course, on Sunday it's the Bengals at the
Browns with the oldest quarterback in the league. Dan, What
are the keys to the Bengals opening with a win here?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
They can't let Cleveland run it down their throat. I
think we know what Joe Flacco can do at forty
years old. At this stage of his career. It's going
to be handed off, then play action and try to
throw deep. So the first thing you have to do
if the other team is going with that game plan
is prevent them from running the ball. The Bengals' biggest
(07:05):
addition as a free agent on defense was TJ Slater,
a slat and rather a big three hundred and thirty
pound interior defensive lineman who's been very good in his
NFL career at stopping the run. They've added speed at
linebacker and rookie Demetrius Knight. Stop Cleveland from running it
down your throat. Put Joe Flacco in some difficult situations
(07:25):
where you can rush them, force them into some bad throws.
If you can do that. I think the Bengals are
going to be successful in Week one for the first
time in four years.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, and Dan Horde will have the call along with
Dave Lapham here on WYM A Sunday kickoff from Cleveland
is at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
As always, we appreciate your input and hopefully next week
we're talking about trying to move to two and zero.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Let's hope. So it's been a while since we've done that.
This is the year
Sunday, the season kicks off for the Bengals and they
take on the Browns, And here to talk about it
with us is the voice of the Bengals, Dan Horde,
who looks forward to a new season. And of course
all we've talked about with the Bengals are not all
we've talked about, but a lot of what we have
talked about in this preseason is avoiding the slow start,
being ready to hit the ground running, whatever cliche or
(00:24):
metaphor you want to use, Dan, that's job one. Win
Week one. This is an important game, maybe more than
most season openers in that regard.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Right, Bengals coaches, players and fans are sick of slow starts,
as they should be. This will be year seven for
Zach Taylor. If you look at weeks one and two
of the season, in his first six years, they've got
one win and eleven losses. They've had to dig themselves
out of these holes year after year after year, and
to their credit, they've generally been able to do it.
(00:55):
But it's hard to do and if you get off
to these slow starts, you put yourself in a really
tough position to try to get home field advantage in
the playoffs or possibly even get the one buy that
goes to the best team in the AFC. So Cleveland
in Week one, jackson Ville in Week two. Two teams
coming off terrible seasons. Let's see if the Bengals can
(01:16):
capitalize and start to and out well.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The other part of the slow starts many times, in fairness,
I think has been the fact that Joe Burrow has
not been healthy for the offseason or the preseason for
a lot of this time. But this year very different.
He played for a number one a lot in the preseason,
looked very good. I would imagine everybody's confidence in Joe
(01:40):
right now is as high as it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
No doubt, this is the first time he's ever had
a normal preseason. Whether it was COVID, whether it was appendicitis,
whether it was him coming off a knee injury or
wrist injury. There was always something leading up to the
season that was problematic for Joe. Well, not this year.
And add to the fact that he had Jamar Chase
(02:04):
practicing in every preseason practice. T Higgins, Mike Gesicki, Chase Brown,
all of these great weapons that he had at his
disposal last year. Now he got the proper number of
reps with them during training camp and in those preseason
games that he played in. So I don't think there's
any question that the Bengals should be one of the
highest scoring teams in the NFL this year. The question,
(02:26):
obviously is will the defense be better? It doesn't have
to be top five, Todd, but I don't think it
can be bottom five like it was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
No doubt. We're talking Bengals with Dan hord here. What
about the Bengals offensive line? Sometimes, even though this offense
has been prolific in recent years, that pass protection has
been spotty, has been iffy. Will that be better?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We'll see. If you are a optimistic Bengals fan, you
look at the fact that they've got elite tackles in
Orlando Brown Junior and a Marius Mims. They've got a
solid center in Ted Carris. The question mark will be
the new guards, rookie Dylan Fairchild on the left side
and veteran Lucas Patrick on the right, at least to
begin the season. I think Dylan Fairchild has been extremely
(03:11):
impressive in training camp. In the two preseason games, Pro
Football Focus I believe had him graded as the fourth
or fifth best guard in the preseason, albeit in a
limited number of snaps. Lucas Patrick, on the other hand,
a bit more of a question mark. He battled some
injuries during training camp. He had a couple of noticeable
whiffs when he played in the preseason. So that's going
(03:32):
to be the one that I'll have my eye on
on Sunday. But I will say this, it can't be
any worse than the guards last year. Cordell Volson and
Alex Kappa really struggled at those two spots last year,
and the Bengals were still the sixth highest scoring team
in the league. So as much as people are wondering
(03:52):
about the two guards going into the season, I do
think they're almost sure to be better than the two
guys that played those positions last year.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Daniel hinted about the defense and needing to get better.
The Bengals did end up bringing back Trey Hendrickson for
what is likely his final season as a Bengal. They
drafted Shamar Stewart. There was some contract drama with him,
but he has been back or in camp for a
little while. Now. Those two are counting on them to
pressure the quarterback that's got to be the basis for
(04:22):
a defensive improvement. Here, get two guys that can rush
the quarterback to a high degree.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, and Shamar Stewart was very impressive during training camp.
I keep saying Todd that every day he did something
that made me go, WHOA. He's just one of those
guys that has athletic ability that is uncommon, even in
a sport where it seems like every team has somebody
like that. He stands out. He's Miles Garrett like in
terms of his quickness and explosiveness. And he didn't have
(04:53):
a lot of sex obviously at Texas A and M,
but he did a lot of other good things. And
I think you were going to see that right off
the bat when he takes the field for the Bengals
this week.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Where else do you think the defense could be improved?
Is it maybe better a run stopper or the back
end a little better of what's your overall feeling where
we could see an upgrade.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
They've drafted a lot of defensive players over the last
four years in the first, second, and third rounds, and
these are guys that every team in the NFL had
high grades on, and for whatever reason, they haven't played
all that much. By and large, I think lou Anarumo
was reluctant to trust rookies on defense, so guys that
(05:36):
they've been drafting and counting on are still unproven. That's
one of the reasons why they hired Al Golden to
be their defensive coordinator. He's been developing young guys at
Notre Dame for the last three years and has had
great defenses there. So let's see if some of these
high draft picks, the Miles Murphy's and DJ Turners, some
of these first, second and third round picks that they've
(05:58):
taken in the last few years, can get on the field,
have an impact and help them have a much better defense.
That's been the formula for the Kansas City Chiefs by
and large over the past several years. They've invested so
much in Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey and their great
offensive players that they've had to be good on defense
with young draft picks. And that's kind of the way
(06:20):
it goes in the salary cap. If you spend a
ton of money on one side of the ball, then
the other side has to be built with younger, cheaper players.
That's what the Bengals are trying to do and hopefully
Al Golden will develop these guys and it'll be a
formula for success in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well, of course, on Sunday it's the Bengals at the
Browns with the oldest quarterback in the league. Dan, What
are the keys to the Bengals opening with a win here?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
They can't let Cleveland run it down their throat. I
think we know what Joe Flacco can do at forty
years old. At this stage of his career. It's going
to be handed off, then play action and try to
throw deep. So the first thing you have to do
if the other team is going with that game plan
is prevent them from running the ball. The Bengals' biggest
(07:05):
addition as a free agent on defense was TJ Slater,
a slat and rather a big three hundred and thirty
pound interior defensive lineman who's been very good in his
NFL career at stopping the run. They've added speed at
linebacker and rookie Demetrius Knight. Stop Cleveland from running it
down your throat. Put Joe Flacco in some difficult situations
(07:25):
where you can rush them, force them into some bad throws.
If you can do that. I think the Bengals are
going to be successful in Week one for the first
time in four years.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, and Dan Horde will have the call along with
Dave Lapham here on WYM A Sunday kickoff from Cleveland
is at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
As always, we appreciate your input and hopefully next week
we're talking about trying to move to two and zero.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Let's hope. So it's been a while since we've done that.
This is the year
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