November 21, 2025 • 5 mins
Dan Hoard joins the program to look back at the loss in Pittsburgh and the matchup with the 9-2 Patriots, including the chance that Joe Burrow could return.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bengals back at it Sunday as they host the Patriots,
and here to talk about that with us is Dan Hord.
Of course, last week didn't go as the Bengals had hoped.
They lost in Pittsburgh and boy, the season. Now, you've
got to be a very high level optimist, Dan to
paint this as a rosy picture. Now, they're really behind
the eight ball, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah. I don't think anybody at this point is realistically
talking about the playoffs. You know, mathematically, sure it's possible,
but it's highly unlikely. So to me, what's left A
couple of things that are left. Number one, what young
players are going to be part of the defense going forward,
because that's the biggest area that needs to be fixed.
And number two, will Joe Burrow play and if so win?
(00:46):
Those are the two big questions.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, of course he returned to practice, I think on
Tuesday or Wednesday. It was a full go, as they say,
But that doesn't mean he's up to speed to play
in a game just yet. And I guess the other
factor there is Joe Burrow being what he is, is
probably pushing to get back into the game and get
into the fray and of course, the team has to
(01:09):
manage that, make sure he's completely ready, right sure.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
He has to be one hundred percent medically cleared to
begin with. That's the first step. And then secondly, obviously
the debate is should you have him come back if
the team is completely out of contention. He wants to play,
regardless of the Bengals record. My guess is that they
will probably allow him to play. I think there are
benefits of him coming back to play, but it's certainly
(01:35):
going to be a decision that is hotly debated if
they allow him to play with a substandard record.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, certainly last week with the Steelers game, that was
quite a turnaround from the first meeting when the Bengals
beat the Steelers in Cincinnati and had a nice offensive
performance with the first go around. This time, however, the
Steelers kind of shut them down. What demonstrably changed and
do you think from the first game to the second.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Two defensive touchdowns was the biggest difference. I mean, that
was a four point game last week with thirty seconds
to go in the third quarter, a pick six helped
swing it in Pittsburgh's direction, and then another defensive touchdown
in the fourth quarter put the game away. I don't
think many of us expected the Bengals to go to
Pittsburgh and score thirty three points like they did on
a Thursday night at fak Horse Stadium. I thought they
(02:25):
would get more than they did, score somewhere in the twenties.
But credit the Pittsburgh defense. You know, that's what's keeping
the Steelers afloat at this point. That's why they're in
first place. Their defense continue to make big plays when
they have to, and that's something the Bengals have not
been able to do this year.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Now, the Bengals defense certainly wouldn't say they had a
terrible day at Pittsburgh. Isn't a prolific offense anyway, as
you were just alluded to. But did you see some
marginal improvement from the defense overall or was it kind
of a wash?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I did? I think marginal is probably a good word.
Pittsburgh scored twenty points on offense, so you can live
with that. That would certainly be an improvement for the
Bengals this year. And really, they did a good job
of getting the Steelers into second and long and third
and long, and then they couldn't get the stop. There
were too many instances where it was say third and
eleven or third and seventeen, where Pittsburgh threw a short
(03:19):
pass and the Bengals did not come up get multiple
defensive players to the ball carrier and bring them down.
I mean, the video of the Pittsburgh tight end Darnell
Washington just trucking three Bengals defenders is going to be
seen over and over and over again on ESPN for
years to come. That's the type of stuff that absolutely
(03:40):
has to be fixed and eliminated or this defense is
not going to be good enough going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, and fairness, that dude is gargantuan. I mean, what
do they list him at these three bills?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Isn't he Yeah, he's three hundred plus pounds as a
tight end. But you know what, but see that's a
good point. So he's gigantic, he's strong, so you do
not get him down by shoving him around the shoulder.
The only chance you have of bringing a guy like
that down is hitting him low, and nobody did it
on that play. And tackling has been a problem for
(04:13):
this team all year. And as I said at the
beginning of our conversations, that's really what has to be
determined over the final seven games of the season what
players are going to make the fundamentally sound plays that
you can confidently say, all right, this guy should be
part of this defense next year and beyond.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Dan final thought about last week, of course, the incident
with Jamar Chase. He will not play this week after
spitting on Jalen Ramsey. So the Bengals got to deal
with that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Here, no doubt, and the punishment is one hundred percent deserved.
Nobody can excuse what Jamar Chase did. It's a mark
on his record that he's going to have to deal
with for years to come. People are going to mock
them about it. There will be signs at visiting stadiums
that comes with the territory when you do something like that.
I hope that an obscure who he's been for the
(05:02):
first four and a half years of his Bengals career,
because he has been a model Bengal on and off
the field, certainly one of the greatest players they've ever had.
And Jalen Ramsey is a noted agitator. He got aj
Green to throw punches when they competed against each other
years ago. He got under Jamar Chase's skin. I don't
know exactly how he does it, but he's got a
(05:24):
track record for doing it, and it's unfortunate that Jamar
took the bait and did what he did.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, and he's also very good, so that makes you
even more angry because you can't get open. We'll see
if the Bengals can get a win against the Patriots.
Have been one of the big stories here and the
first part of the season with the nine to two record.
Dan Horde will be on the call with Dave Lapham
Sunday here on WIMA. Dan As always appreciate you checking
in with us.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Thank Gott, good to chat with you.
Bengals back at it Sunday as they host the Patriots,
and here to talk about that with us is Dan Hord.
Of course, last week didn't go as the Bengals had hoped.
They lost in Pittsburgh and boy, the season. Now, you've
got to be a very high level optimist, Dan to
paint this as a rosy picture. Now, they're really behind
the eight ball, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah. I don't think anybody at this point is realistically
talking about the playoffs. You know, mathematically, sure it's possible,
but it's highly unlikely. So to me, what's left A
couple of things that are left. Number one, what young
players are going to be part of the defense going forward,
because that's the biggest area that needs to be fixed.
And number two, will Joe Burrow play and if so win?
(00:46):
Those are the two big questions.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, of course he returned to practice, I think on
Tuesday or Wednesday. It was a full go, as they say,
But that doesn't mean he's up to speed to play
in a game just yet. And I guess the other
factor there is Joe Burrow being what he is, is
probably pushing to get back into the game and get
into the fray and of course, the team has to
(01:09):
manage that, make sure he's completely ready, right sure.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
He has to be one hundred percent medically cleared to
begin with. That's the first step. And then secondly, obviously
the debate is should you have him come back if
the team is completely out of contention. He wants to play,
regardless of the Bengals record. My guess is that they
will probably allow him to play. I think there are
benefits of him coming back to play, but it's certainly
(01:35):
going to be a decision that is hotly debated if
they allow him to play with a substandard record.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, certainly last week with the Steelers game, that was
quite a turnaround from the first meeting when the Bengals
beat the Steelers in Cincinnati and had a nice offensive
performance with the first go around. This time, however, the
Steelers kind of shut them down. What demonstrably changed and
do you think from the first game to the second.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Two defensive touchdowns was the biggest difference. I mean, that
was a four point game last week with thirty seconds
to go in the third quarter, a pick six helped
swing it in Pittsburgh's direction, and then another defensive touchdown
in the fourth quarter put the game away. I don't
think many of us expected the Bengals to go to
Pittsburgh and score thirty three points like they did on
a Thursday night at fak Horse Stadium. I thought they
(02:25):
would get more than they did, score somewhere in the twenties.
But credit the Pittsburgh defense. You know, that's what's keeping
the Steelers afloat at this point. That's why they're in
first place. Their defense continue to make big plays when
they have to, and that's something the Bengals have not
been able to do this year.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Now, the Bengals defense certainly wouldn't say they had a
terrible day at Pittsburgh. Isn't a prolific offense anyway, as
you were just alluded to. But did you see some
marginal improvement from the defense overall or was it kind
of a wash?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I did? I think marginal is probably a good word.
Pittsburgh scored twenty points on offense, so you can live
with that. That would certainly be an improvement for the
Bengals this year. And really, they did a good job
of getting the Steelers into second and long and third
and long, and then they couldn't get the stop. There
were too many instances where it was say third and
eleven or third and seventeen, where Pittsburgh threw a short
(03:19):
pass and the Bengals did not come up get multiple
defensive players to the ball carrier and bring them down.
I mean, the video of the Pittsburgh tight end Darnell
Washington just trucking three Bengals defenders is going to be
seen over and over and over again on ESPN for
years to come. That's the type of stuff that absolutely
(03:40):
has to be fixed and eliminated or this defense is
not going to be good enough going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, and fairness, that dude is gargantuan. I mean, what
do they list him at these three bills?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Isn't he Yeah, he's three hundred plus pounds as a
tight end. But you know what, but see that's a
good point. So he's gigantic, he's strong, so you do
not get him down by shoving him around the shoulder.
The only chance you have of bringing a guy like
that down is hitting him low, and nobody did it
on that play. And tackling has been a problem for
(04:13):
this team all year. And as I said at the
beginning of our conversations, that's really what has to be
determined over the final seven games of the season what
players are going to make the fundamentally sound plays that
you can confidently say, all right, this guy should be
part of this defense next year and beyond.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Dan final thought about last week, of course, the incident
with Jamar Chase. He will not play this week after
spitting on Jalen Ramsey. So the Bengals got to deal
with that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Here, no doubt, and the punishment is one hundred percent deserved.
Nobody can excuse what Jamar Chase did. It's a mark
on his record that he's going to have to deal
with for years to come. People are going to mock
them about it. There will be signs at visiting stadiums
that comes with the territory when you do something like that.
I hope that an obscure who he's been for the
(05:02):
first four and a half years of his Bengals career,
because he has been a model Bengal on and off
the field, certainly one of the greatest players they've ever had.
And Jalen Ramsey is a noted agitator. He got aj
Green to throw punches when they competed against each other
years ago. He got under Jamar Chase's skin. I don't
know exactly how he does it, but he's got a
(05:24):
track record for doing it, and it's unfortunate that Jamar
took the bait and did what he did.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, and he's also very good, so that makes you
even more angry because you can't get open. We'll see
if the Bengals can get a win against the Patriots.
Have been one of the big stories here and the
first part of the season with the nine to two record.
Dan Horde will be on the call with Dave Lapham
Sunday here on WIMA. Dan As always appreciate you checking
in with us.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Thank Gott, good to chat with you.
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