Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The defense is the main reason why they lost. What's
the main reason why the defense was so bad.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Pass rush? I think defensive line in general, you know,
because they they stopped the run relatively well all things considered,
and I think that was what you were probably most
concerned about. When you considered Washington came into the game
running the well, and you had a team that had
the ball run them twice in two games pretty well,
(00:28):
and so you had your wondering, if this is going
to be another version of that, and Washington's going to
grind out two hundred plus rushing yards and that's going
to be why this thing goes wrong. Well, it wasn't
the case. There. They just never could win getting to
Jayden Daniels and they couldn't pressure him, they couldn't give
(00:48):
him his face, They couldn't even get him into a
third and middle, a third and three. It was. They
didn't have a single third and more than one until
the fourth. I mean, you can't live like that because
there was a very little chance to actually off and
(01:12):
that was partially because they just could not get near
Jayden Daniels and he was able to torch and I'm
standing there himself in the backfield. They just don't have
enough guys that win right now, not named Trey Henderson.
That's that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, And look, I know they play without b. J.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Hill and they play without Sheldon Rankins, and they're better
with those guys. But but if if we're gonna lean
on their returns, when whenever, whenever they come uh to
see results that are dramatically better, Man, I don't know
that I'm inspired by that.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Should I be?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I mean, it can't. It's gotta be a little better.
I mean, you you feel like you're down to, you know,
guys that you didn't even know if they were gonna
make the roster at one point. I mean that Carter
and J two are in there taking the vast majority.
You got Lawrence guy who just showed up on Tuesday.
You know, you're so at a certain point you expect
(02:11):
players to play above the level that they probably are.
That said, like, why are they so bad? Like there's
a lot of guys on that line. But this team
has been invested in whether we're including the edge position,
whether we're including all of these defensive tackles. They have
spent a lot of money. They have spent a lot
(02:32):
of draft capital on the defensive line, and for a
few injuries. No granted, I mean cam Sample, Miles Murphy
throw them in there too, and that and Jackson, McKinley, Jackson.
I mean, you've got a lot of guys that are hurt,
no question, but it can't look that back. It's that
bad where nobody is able to do absolutely pain.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
You've you've covered a lot of really interesting games, and
you've covered a lot of Cincinnati wins, and then you've
covered some real sobering and gut punch losses. And for
many of them, I ask you, what is the mood
like in the locker room afterward? What was late Monday
night like after that debacle?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
A lot of you know, disbelief. I think there was
a lot of people that were just stunned by the outcomes,
specifically on defense. I spent most of my time talking
to people on the defensive side of the ball after
that game, as you might imagine, and there was you know,
it's the frustration because I think they felt it.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Through two weeks they had been okay and certainly headed
the right direction. Kansas City was much better than all
the mistackles and stuff that happened in the opener against
New England, they got turnovers in Kansas City. It felt
like this group and the communications and and all that
stuff was was headed in the right direction, and for
(04:04):
it to, you know, not only go the wrong direction,
but somehow be.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Worse than anything we saw last year and really anytime
the Bengals have played this century, it's pretty startling. And
I think it's all kind of in a little bit
of a shell shocked disbelief of what went on out there.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I just I, you know, I brought this up to
a degree on your podcast this morning, the Growler. I
just human nature dictates to me that if you're an
offensive player, maybe not after one game, but if this
continues where terrific offensive performances are wasted, like it's at
some point that's going to create something not good. Whether
(04:49):
it's finger pointing, whether it's side eye, whether it's players
blatantly calling out some of their teammates, like that's that's good.
That's gonna lend itself to a not good dynamic. How
much should we worry about that?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, I think one more loss and you should worry
about all of the things that come with going four
or or falling out of contention. You're gonna get your
locker room blowout comes next, right, someone's gonna blow up,
and then you might get you might get your favorite,
you might get like a player's only me, Oh yeah, Meetings,
(05:22):
yeah love, that's gonna get them going and business decisions,
right like, that's that's how that's that goes. We're at
we're at spot three right now, and if you get
to a couple more losses you start talking about seven, eight, nine, ten,
they're not there yet. I mean right now, they're just
kind of feeling like they still can get back on
(05:42):
track and and all of that. But really it's a
situation where they just continue to go forward and feel
like everything's still gonna be okay and don't have to
go to the dark place just yet. Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
There's been a lot of discussion of Joe Burrow changing
his leadership style.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
What does that look like.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
An overblown headline? Maybe? I think there's I mean, I
think there's truth. I think there's truth to it. I mean,
he said it. I do think he needs to be
the one that is much more the voice of this team,
and and that some of the younger players or struggling
(06:30):
players or players lost turned because look this time, the
last couple of years, there's been a lot of guys
that have helped pull them out of adversity on this
team and they're not here anymore. Okay, you're DJ Reader
and Jesse Bates to any number of players that have left,
(06:52):
and we discuss them at nauseum this offseason, that that
core foundational group that they let walk out, the or
Tyler boy Chide be huse, all of these guys that
was part of the like all the culture talk that
we did for all those years, and they were such
a big part of that. So that's absence. Now you
(07:13):
turn it over to a new and different group of people.
Now there's plenty of good leaders. I'm sure they feel
like in there, but naturally that you know, Burrow needs
to be the one to pick up that slack that
those voices provided so often and whatever that is that
maybe is laughing a little bit more. So, Yeah, that
(07:34):
falls on him, and he needs to be more vocal.
He's got a pretty good feel for that and so
maybe he just needs to stretch himself out a little
bit that way. But let's be honest, these are run professionals.
MOE like get it together. Right. I mean, you guys
are expected to go out there and play. You shouldn't
(07:54):
need Joe Burrow to come over and pat you on
the butt and tell you, hey, go play.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, you would think not, but you know, I mean
you would.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
You would also think you could tackle her sack Jayden
Daniels once and stop a rookie quarterback from averaging nearly
seven seven points per possession. And and that didn't. That
didn't happen either. That was that was frustrating. I I again,
I said this to you on your podcast today.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I I feel like, you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Know, the ease with which Washington scored and moved the
football maybe underscores this. It maybe makes this something that
it's not, I guess, but that the defense to you
look slow. And if the defense is slow, how does
the defense suddenly turn fast?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
This is this comes back to, you know, the same
thing that we spent a lot of time talking about
that they have rafted to create the next wave of
this defense that offsets the contracts of Burrow and Chase
of right. I mean, they they spent we would talk
(09:04):
about seven straight day one and Day two picks on
the defensive side of the ball, dating back to Joseph Osi, Right,
what did those guys give you on Monday? Nothing? Really,
I mean nothing, And so that's fine. Like, I don't
have a problem with the construction of and I'm specifically
(09:25):
speaking about a defensive line, but you can roll this
over to some other positions in different ways. I don't
have a problem with the of a bunch of veterans that, yeah,
maybe they're in their last year or two, they approach
thirty or whatever, but you have you have backfilled with
not just young players, but high pedigree draft picks, high
(09:49):
investment draft picks behind them. So if the regression or
the fall off begins, the young guy takes over and
eventually you move that forward. They're set up nicely that way.
But but you don't want the older guys to regress
and the younger guys to not develop at the same time.
And they're just you know, it's not really fair to
make those broad rush statements about Miles Murphy, who we
(10:12):
really haven't seen fully healthy this year, or Chris Jenkins
who played this first game, or McKinley Jackson hasn't played yet.
But there's a bunch of guys that were out there
and do it that they have invested draft picks in
and that is what kills you. You can't have that
much investment in young defensive players to offset your offensive
(10:35):
bills that just don't happen, that don't develop, They don't
contribute when you really need them because injuries have happened.
To me, that's so much of what comes back to
and where the plan has not connected and had them
in a point where they would have a game like
what Monday looked like.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You know, one of the and I'll let you run
after this.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
One of the most interesting things about football games is
there's this weird dynamic that if the offensive team decides
we want to put a tackle or an offensive lineman
on the field and allow him to catch a pass,
that the referee turns his microphone on and announces to
(11:16):
everybody in the stadium and watching at home, this player
is eligible, which certainly doesn't guaranteed that the ball is
going to come his way, but certainly alerts everyone to
the distinct possibility that it may happen. And yet, in
consecutive weeks, I have watched the team that is playing
the Bengals. Last week it was Kansas City. On Monday,
obviously it was the Washington Commanders. They throw a pass
(11:42):
near the goal line to alignman and he doesn't have
anybody in the same area code. And I'm kind of
wondering if, like, when they make that announcement, does anybody
on the sideline or in the huddle or up you know,
in the press box where the Bengals defensive coaches are
say to them themselves, Hey, this guy's eligible, so they
(12:02):
may throw a football to him.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah. I think I think maybe it's worth revisiting at
a meeting. It reminds me of.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
When I was when I was coaching my my daughter's
first grade baseball team, and we had a really big
breakthrough when we sat down at the beginning of one
practice and said.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Hey, does anybody got an outs made? Right? Like, raise
your hand, Hey, does anybody know how to get one?
Because but what this tackle Q now that he's been
declared eligible, does anybody know how to cover one? Right?
Maybe we should get back to the very basics of
understanding how it operates. I'm here for, mo. What I'm
(12:44):
here for is what is the longest streak of consecutive
games allowing a touchdown path to an offensive lineman? Shoot
for history? Okay, just let teams continue to try to
exploit this and see how.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Far and know yeah, I mean, if you're one of
the tackles on the Carolina Panthers, I mean you you're
not sleeping this week, right, you cannot wait to come
to work today to see what do they have in
the game plan for me? Are they going to be
multiple looks? Could I catch two passes? Perhaps?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Like it's it's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I'm just I'm really interested in that dynamic where the
player comes out onto the field and they announced everybody,
dude may catch a pass in so many words, and
yet when the other team throws a pass to them,
the Bengals look like they didn't think that was a possibility.
That's just interesting to Maybe they need me to come
down and when the scout team runs, you know, goal
(13:40):
line plays, somebody could pretend to be the official and go.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Hey, seventy one's eligible. Know what that means, guys, set
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
It feels like something that would fall under the per
that's right. I mean, I feel like that's kind of
it's really a part fut your job description. Don't forget.
One of the most fame was, uh Robert Hunt right. Uh,
(14:10):
who was with Miami at the time and caught it?
Did like a dive, but it didn't count. We did
like a crazy dive over the go on, well guard
for the Panthers. That guy's kinda feel like game plan
should be made for me. How many times are you
going to throw it to me? Is really the question?
So look out for him if there a I don't
know what the props are, but give me the give
(14:32):
me the props on a Hunt touchdown. I'll take that value.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, I'm trying to find out.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I'm trying to remember, did did Andy ever throw a
touchdown when he was here? To a like an Andrew
Whitworth or you know, an offensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I don't recall like Wit caught one.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I feel like Wit caught one, but I don't know
if it was from Andy. That's good, good investigation. We'll
have to Uh, we'll have to look at that, all right.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Well, fortunately they have internet access here at beat Ups
and so we'll we'll give it a look. I'll let
you get to work, Thank you as always, and we'll
see you next week.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Man, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Latter on