10/29/25 - Bengals Game Plan

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And away we go a very pleasant, good evening, everybody. Greetings from Scoreboard Sports Bar thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane is the address in North Bend that you are listening to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy Here on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Dan Hord along with Ring of Honor inductee Dave Lapham.

Thank you very much, much appreciated folks.

We are going to be here for the next two hours tonight, getting you set for a Sunday's home game between the Bengals and the Chicago Bears. We will be joined momentarily by rookie linebacker Barrett Carter out of Clemson, who has already moved into the Bengals starting lineup. Two rookies starting at linebacker with Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight.

The future is now, I guess at the linebacker position, and Al Golden you know, made that call. He feels confident in both of these young players that they understand what he is trying to teach. They understand the techniques from fundamentals that he's trying to teach, as well as the assignments where to be, when to be there, how to get there, everything that goes along with it out.

In the football field.

And he feels like these young athletic linebackers will make his defensive football team faster, more athletic, and a bigger challenge for posing teams to block.

The Bengals looking to bounce back on Sunday from a bitterly disappointing loss last Sunday to the New York Jets. The Bengals led by ten at the end of the first quarter, eleven at the end of the second quarter, fifteen at the end of the third quarter. The lead kept getting bigger and then unfortunately at the end of the game, it slipped through their fingers and they lost by a point to a team that now has one win.

It was frustrating. I mean, you know, grind your teeth, grit your teeth kind of football game zero and seven football team, Like you said, you know, they've been in games. It's not like they were blown out seven times. They've been in football games. They're not a terrible football team. They're a solid football team. But they just had not figured out a way to close games out and get games in the victory column. But they did at pay Corps. They got in the victory calumn for the first time.

Other than the last two minutes of the game. How is your Ring of Honor Week spectacular?

It was really good.

It was tremendous, so much fun, and you know, the ones that I wanted to try to get to enjoy it as much as they possibly could, with the grandchildren, you know, because there they'll never forget that, They'll never forget coming to Cincinnati and spending time with everybody. A lot of people that they don't see. People came in from California, Arizona, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, fromont Connecticut, Maine.

There's no doubt.

Now, if I won the Masters, Yeah, and I had that green jacket, I'd be wearing it everywhere. I'd be showing up at McDonald's in my Master's jacket. Where is your ring of honor jacket?

Yeah, it's uh, it's tucked away in my closet, safe and sound. It really is. It's such an honor to get that jacket. A lot of work went into that bad boy.

No doubt.

When I take a look at it, it's like a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

You know, we're.

Poured out to get that jacket. So it is definitely definitely an honor, you know, to have my teammates and my family celebrated with me.

Was be on words.

All right, let's welcome our special guest tonight. We really have to thank them. Yes, kind of a crummy raw night, pretty long drive from pay Court Stadium, but it was one good guy and he was willing to do it a little bit. Let's welcome in number forty nine Bengals linebacker Barret Carter. Sir, all right, I guess I have to get this out of the way right off the bat. Last week's game was obviously disappointing. How do you personally put a game like that behind you?

Yeah, I mean, just being truthfully honest, even if we won that game, it would have been behind me already. So you gotta treat wins and losses the same. Now, I'm I'm such a competitor and I'm not even gonna like I'm hurt by that game. But you know, as a leader on this team, a growing leader on this team, like the guys are going to look to me to see how I respond, So I can't show up negative.

I guess the one question. I know I've been hit on social media, podcasting, all that sort of thing a lot of the fans.

How what is with tackling? What's going on?

Why is the team having difficulty tackling, making sure tackles in the open field, in space and getting people on the ground. What do you say to that, Barret?

Yeah, I mean it's the little things.

It's I promise y'all it's not a knock on our athleticism or our ability.

Right.

We have all the talent and all the athleticism in the world.

It's just it's the little things.

It's taking better angles, it's finishing up as being the second man in helping your brother finish that tackle. So it's just a little things like that. But you know we have what we need that building to correct the mistakes and you know, move on from these mistakes.

Sure, the guys on defense head of players only meeting on Monday, I wouldn't expect you to share any secrets or anything personal that came out of that meeting, But what what was the g Just what can you share?

Just that like, we know we're much better than you know what we're putting on film, and like we're we have we so we hold ourselves to such a high standard and you know we all can see that we haven't you know, hit like reached that standard in game yet. So it was just a just a meeting just to get us together and just hey, like we're all we got, we're all we got in this room where we were

Go have fun.

And that's been the message, just like this is the this is our childhood dreams that we're living, that we're getting to you know, do every single day and just you know, just go out there and have fun and play this game like like it's like it's your dream, which it is.

So that's all it was. Yeah, player only meetings. I've experienced those back in the playing days, and I think whenever we had them, it was because everybody cared, you know, and cared big time. Didn't want the season to you know, unfold in the wrong way. And you know, if we go off to a slow start, okay, let's let's let's meet. Let's talk this over. What do we need to do? How do we uh, how do we get on track?

That absolutely, Like like I said, like, we know what we've been putting on tape is not our identity, Like our standard is Santa Clair. And at the end of the year, we hope that we're gonna, you know, look up and you know we're gonna be under the confetti when when the time runs out, and now we know what what we've worked so hard every single day towards and we realize that we haven't accomplished that, but we're

Walk out with a w every Sunday.

You are eight games into your rookie season, basically halfway through the regular season of your rookie year. You're already starting started the last three games at linebacker. Did that starting role come quicker than you anticipated?

I mean, honestly, you did. I didn't.

My My my thing is like even when I wasn't the starter, I showed up every single day like I was a starter. So when I when I was told that I was being you know, thrust it into that position, like it didn't change anything for me, Like it didn't change my preparation or anything like that. So I don't I don't really know the answer to your quest. I guess I would say, yes, it did happen earlier than expected.

I couldn't even touch.

A few, and I was still have a smile on my face just knowing that the little version of myself is no proud so but I'm just trying to just go out there and just you know, do my part, do my one to eleven and you know, bring a w for for our fan base and for this team, and just just do my job every time.

Al Golden is a is a brilliant defensive mind. I mean, the guy has got extras and those dancing in his head all day long and all night long before. I think the only time where he shots that football bring down is when he goes to bed at night and tries to catch forty winks. But he really has done a great job. He's had some great defensive football teams over the years. Most recently is most recial accomplishment taking Notre Dame to the national championship with that defense that

First of all, fly around to the football and get the ball out. You know, our our message the whole season is plus two and just get the two turnout at least two turnovers. Get the ball back to our offense. You know, say, so they can go do what they do. But I actually can't say, like my favorite Al Golden quote because it has a little bit of language in it, but he basically just says like, you know, we're smart guys, but be problem solvers. Like if something is messed up,

Version of the Cup.

But he's just what I love about him is how calm he is on game days, Like he he truly allows us to play so free and just so clear minded, just knowing that, you know, if they do make a big player, if they do score whatever, we're gonna We're gonna come back to this online. We're not gonna freak out We're just gonna solve the problem so it doesn't happen again. So it's great that I get to play for a coach like that, and a coach truly cares

I know other expressions for messed up that you can't say on the radio.

It's probably a good idea.

Yeah.

Right.

For several years, Barrett, the Bengals had a really good linebacker pair in Jermaine Pratt and Logan Wilson. And now I feel like that's developing again with you and Demetrius Knight. Describe your relationship with Demetrius and how the two of you are building a bond at linebacker.

Yeah.

I was so iffy about d Night because if y'all didn't know, I went to Clemson and he went to South Carolina there to rival schools, so I was a little hesitant at first. But he's grown to be my brother for life. Truthfully, he's got me although he's gotten me better at football and just learning from him, he's gotten me closer in my faith, like with God, and you know that's that's that's already a brother. But you know,

Sounds good to me, how about that? Yes, sir.

So you've got a uh, you got a very very high football IQ. I mean you're a smart game where you have an over all football you have an overall IQ, but you have a very very high football IQ and al Golden has mentioned that to me in conversations, like, yeah, man, Eric gets he gets football at an extremely high level.

You know, I don't.

I don't have to worry about feeling like I've lost him. He's he's right with me, man, He's he's right on top of things.

Where did that come from? What coach? At what level?

Is the guy that introduced you to the game of football and got you so excited to learn the game of football like he learned it?

Yeah.

I mean I would say at first to hear him say that is crazy because how I felt every day during like OTA's like during May April May, I would go home just like wanting to pound my head against the wall.

I was just so.

Stressed out and I just felt like I was what's the term, like drinking.

Out of a fire hose. Oh yeah, I was just stressed, overwhelm, overwhelm everything.

Yeah, I would say, is my at first, as my high school coach, Bill Stewart, he just he I thought football is just about running and hitting people, Like I didn't know there was so much that went into it. And you know, being coached by him, he really just taught me like football is so much there's so much into it, Like you got to know the ins and outs as to why offenses do what they do and

All right, we are going to take a time out. When we come back.

We will hear from a Bengals scout on tonight's special guest linebacker Bared Carter.

We are live tonight.

At Scoreboards Sports Bar, he addressed thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane in North Bend.

You are listening to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented.

By bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty. You are listening to see the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by by Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy. Here on ESPN fifteen thirty. We are broadcasting live from the Scoreboards Sports Bar tonight. The address if you want to plug it into your GPS. Thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane in North Bend. This place looks like it would be awesome to watch a Bengals game, particularly a Bengals road game, if you can't

He's probably the best linebacker in the draft. He's super athletic. He can run, he can change direction, he can flip his hips, he can play sam linebacker, will linebackers. He was highly productive on special teams. He's a great kid. He's a leader. But the biggest thing he's gonna help us with day one is covering on third down. He's a phenomenal cover linebacker.

Andrew Johnson clearly a fan.

Yes, And you're doing a lot more than just covering people on third down. You're out there on almost every down along with your fellow rookie Dimitrius Knight. You talked about kind of feeling like you're drinking out of a fire hose during OTA's in training camp.

When did that change? When did you start.

To feel like, Okay, this is the stuff I've been doing my whole life.

I would say probably midway through fall camp. Okay, Like I have great veterans like Logan ob Joe, Shaka Muma was here, Like they just poured into us so much, and they made the transition so easy, so like, although I was struggling, like they just made the struggles so much better, like so much easier. So I would say, like like fall camp, that's when it started to slow down a little bit. And then I feel like I have a great grasp of it.

Now.

You do and you understand multiple positions.

The versatility that you provide al goal and I'm sure is extremely appreciative of. And like Johnson was talking about, you can play and Mike backer in the middle, you can play Sam over the tight end, strong side outside linebacker, will weak side outside linebacker away from the strength of the formation, away from the tight end, and you can

How prideful are you of that?

Extremely?

I feel like that's something that I've taken pride, taking pride in since high school. Like just being and a guy where you know, if they need me to go play offensive line, I probably couldn't play as good as our.

Guys, but.

Just being a guy that that can just do whatever to help the team, whatever the team needs. And you know, if the team needs me to go down and cover a tight end or do whatever, like right, I want to be the guy who can be put in that position just to help us win. So I've worn that bro with that, I've won that badge with pride for a long time, and I'm gonna I'm going to continue to do so.

It's all kind of amusing because back in your high school days, when they moved you from running back to linebacker, you were ready.

To quit the game.

Absolutely, Yeah, it was a it was a sad day in the Carter household.

I was.

I came home.

I can't remember if I cried or not, but I probably I was like mom of Dad, like I cannot do this. I'm done playing football. They're like, no, you're not. You're not done playing football. Like you're gonna that's that's where your coach moved you. You're gonna play it and then and I was like, oh, Then fast forward the next day. Literally the next day, I got my first scholarship offers, and I was like, Wow, okay, maybe maybe

What year was was that when you were asked to make the transition from my running back to linebacker?

And how good a running back were you? My man?

That was my freshman year of high school. And I mean, if you were to tell me, or if you were to ask me, I wouldn't say I was. I was pretty good at running yet, Yeah that's I was a running back and receiver. But I guess my deep my coach saw something. He saw something m linebacker, and I guess he was right. So shout out to Bill Stewart because he saw the vision. I did not see the vision at all.

I hear you at Clemson.

They let you play for one play and you scored a touchdown.

So your track record is good.

It's just it's always in me, like if we have great backs, we got you know, Chase, Samase Taj.

But I mean, hey, I.

Mean if I can be that emergency running back A I'm here, I'm here.

You're ready to ready to provide services always always, So a two part question when you played college football, who is the best football player? Who is the best athlete slash football player on your team? And who is the best athlete slash football player you played against.

On my team?

Who? Okay, I would say.

On my team. His name is Nate Wiggins. He's currently a corner for the Ravens. And you know, Nate has changed a lot since his college days. But you watched Nate in college.

He ate horrible.

He did not work out, he didn't do anything like that you're supposed to do.

I do that. What's the big deal? Hey name Nate.

Goes to the combine and runs a four to two. He blows out the combine and he can natural. He's a natural. He wastes up and it's out of his sleep and can guard anybody. But so I would say on my team, Nate Wiggins. But that I played against, oh Man, that's tough. I played against some some really some really good players. I'll say Leonora Sellers from South Carolina is really good. Carson Beck was really good. I'll say those two off the top of my head.

They were really good. Yeah.

So NFL players love to do jersey swaps after games. Will you try to do that with Clemson guys or linebackers? Have you prioritized who you would like to swap with?

So I actually did my first jersey swap this past game because we had a Clemson guy on the Jets payton page. So that was my first jersey swap. I didn't know what costs money, so I would not happy about that. But yeah, that did my first jersey slade. But I got my first jersey from Jordan Love after the Packers game, so it was cool just to I just went up and ask for this jersey. I didn't

Man cave in the basement. That's a good one.

I'm trying to just I'm gonna start just trying to build a collection now and just ask for jerseys and they say no. They say no, but that's that's the worst thing they can say.

So on draft day, how excited were you? How nervous were you? What was your family feeling? What was the day like when you when you woke up in one of the biggest days in anybody's life. Obviously if you're going, if you decide to decide to play football, what was it like for you? And when the Cincinnati Bengals did draft you, what was that like.

It's funny because I went at the Combine at a meeting with the Bengals and I walked out of that meeting when it ended, and I'm like, I am not going to the Bengals. I just felt like I just I don't I don't know if I did bad in the meeting, but obviously not. I'm here, but right, I just I just did not feel good, feel good about it. And then you know, the moment's leading up to the draft day was fine, like, but on actual draft day, most nervous I've ever been in my life. And like,

So who was on the other rine?

Was it Duke Tobin, was it Zach Taylor? Was it Al Golden? Was it all of them? Did they all? You know, give you a quick clow and congratulations? How did that work out?

So?

Is that called?

Then soon after Hodges called the linebacker coach, and then soon after that Al Golden called. So it was just like a little domino effect, just got like three three calls in a row. And then the first person who actually texted me is Logan Wilson. So that's why I like, after after everything, like, Logan is such an important important person me solely because of that, aside from the guy he is, like, he was the first person on the most important day of my life who texting me after I got so he's.

He'll he'll always have a have a special place in my heart for sure. Yeah, all right that we are going to take a time out.

When we come back, we will listen to a highlight and find out if Barrett saved the ball. After this highlight, you are listening to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light. We are live at Scoreboards Sports Bar in North Bend tonight, laugh and I are here until eight. Parrett Carter's here until seven. On ESPN fifteen thirty, Dan Orton, Dave Lapham back on the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by but Bite, along.

With our special guest. In the first hour.

Tonight, rookie linebacker Barrett Carter number forty nine out.

Of clemsonner Sir.

Barrett had a phenomenal career for the Tigers, three interceptions twenty one pass breakups while he was there, and we saw his past coverage skills in the Bengals second preseason game. Let's listen back, Mike, I think Barrett's having trouble. Looks all right, Barrett's having troubled hearing check one two? Can you hear that anything yet? I can speak really loudly. We gotta work It's back, okay, all right, that'd be a backdraft. You had three interceptions twenty one pass breakups

Let's go back and listen.

Twenty eight seconds remaining in the half.

Washington has a couple of timeouts. Hartman turns a little intercepted.

I want to get back as Barrett Carter, he's.

At the twenty and he gets tackled after intercepting Hartman with twenty seconds left in the half.

Man, how about that?

All right, So it's a preseason game.

It doesn't go down in the all time record book, but I'm thinking if I'm a player, and that's my second time in an NFL preseason game.

That's a big deal to me. Was it to you? And did you save the ball? Absolutely? I saved the ball.

It's the ball is actually sitting in the back of my truck right now, so I probably should have handled it with more and more. But that ball is gonna go. Like I said in my man cave, whenever I get a house, And now that was a special, special day, special moment. So now I got to get my first one in game in the regular season. But that that ball forever be saved.

Yeah, there's no question. Gotta save that bad boy. You're such a great athlete. How many sports did you play in high school? I mean football obviously, did you play basketball? Did you play baseball? Did you play soccer? Did you play lacrosse? What kind of sports were you into?

I played basketball.

I stopped playing my sophomore year because I had I had a talk with my trainer and he was like, let's be realistic.

You're six foot six to one on a good day.

You're starting to get looked at for football and you know you're not that good at basketball.

So like he was like, what are we doing here?

And so after that conversation, you know, hung up my basketball jersey and just just focused fully on football.

So I think I think it was the right decision.

I think right, and I think absolutely correct.

How young were you when you started working with a trainer? And were you one of these kids that was, you know, six in the morning you were working out before you went to school, that kind of thing.

I started with my trainer in the eighth grade, and no, I like it was up to the eighth grade. I was just wake up whenever, not really do anything. And you know, did I answer the question, but I forgot about.

Yeah, yeah, you started working with a trainer in the eighth grade. And yeah, but you weren't a crack.

Up done before school?

No, no, no, definitely not. I was more of a seven six seven pm, six, seven pm.

How you go?

So you obviously you mentioned that you have a relationship with your mother. You know, you were emotional after the draft and everything with your mom. How about the rest of your filming? How about your dad? How about do you have brothers and sisters? Yeah, I'm older sis.

Do you have an older sister?

So?

What what were you guys like? Did you guys are you close. Did how many years apart are you? So I'm twenty three seats, so.

It was six years apart, Si s party and those my mom, my dad, my sister. That those are my best friends. They're they are truly like my my rock, my foundation. Like why I do what I do, like just it's just to make them proud and like, those are my best friends. Like they're probably looking at my location right now, wondering what I'm doing. I'll probably call them after this and you know, fill them in. But

The Pangos face to pairs this week. Your family had Chicago roots, correctly.

Yes, we do a lot like that's I was born in Chicago, lived there for seven years, both parents from Chicago, sisters from Chicago. Like really, I would say seventy five percent of my whole family's from Chicago and still lives in Chicago. So I'm gonna have a lot of people at the game. It's gonna be really cool just to you know, play in front of the or play against the team that you know, I grew up rooting for. I know, I hate to say that, but grew up

So all the family that's coming down from Chicago to Cincinnati watch you play. Did you have to buy tickets or they buy in their own tickets? That was when I was a rookie.

It was like, oh man, yeah, yeah, So I told I got I got some of them tickets. But the rest, I don't think they're gonna be at like in the stadium, Like there's gonna be like tailgating Outside's cool, Thankfully, I only have to get like five or six tickets, but and the rest would be outside the stadium. So I'll have a lot of people there, but only like five.

Or six in the in the stadium. That's cool, all right.

We need to take another time out when we come back. We'll hear from head coach Zach Taylor on why Barrett Carter moved into the Bengals starting lineup.

This is the Bengals Game Plan Show.

We are presented by bud Light Live from Scoreboards Sports Bar on ESPN fifteen thirty Welcome back to the Bengals Game Plan Show, presented by bud Light. Easy to do, it's easy to enjoy.

We are live.

It's Scoreboard Sports Bar.

He address thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane in North Bend, not too far from the Indiana state line. I'm delighted to have Barrett Carter with us as our special guest for another fifteen minutes or so, and then Lap and I will be here until eight o'clock tonight.

Thank you to all the Bengals fans so with us this evening. Greatly appreciate that.

Special shout out to Nita, who is out Dunner soon, the official K three chef of the Bengals radio network. One of why we have gained ten pounds already tonight.

Thank you so much. Nit. All right.

A few weeks ago, the Bengals changed their starting lineup on defense, inserting Barrett Carter and moving Logan Wilson to a more situational role here as head coach Zach Taylor on making that decision.

Yeah, I think he's a physical player. I think he's really good in coverage. I think he's got leadership traits. Again, these are not things that are reflection, a poor reflection somebody else's. Is just what I see as his high end trades. And so I think all that matters and just continue to give an opportunity for that to flourish. But again, I just think the more opportunity he's going to get, the quicker he's going to reach his potential.

You have publicly expressed your admiration for how Logan Wilson has handled this.

Yeah, he's He's a true definition of a pro. Like, our relationship has not changed, you know. He told me, he told me from the jump, like I'm still here for you, like, regardless of you know what the situation is, like, I'm still here for you, like, still lean on me and still ask me questions because you know, our ultimate goal is to try to get wins for this team. And so he's really he's just been so helpful. Like he I say it all the time, like my the

I would say the uh let's get back to the upcoming game for a little bit against the Chicago Bears. We talked about them some, and but let's focus in on Caleb Williams the quarterback.

Big, good sized quarterback, long.

Arm, powerful arm, can put the ball on the money, very accurate, and it thrills it with great velocity, a lot of RPMs. He's got a wide receiver corps that is significant. I mean, they've got a lot of talent that wide receiver corps. He's got tight ends, you can throw the football too. They have running backs to run the football effectively. How big a challenge is this Chicago Bear defense for you guys offense.

Yeah, you know, it's a big challenge. You know, they have literally playmakers at every single position and that that can hurt you if you're you know, not on your p's and q So it's going to be a great matchup for us, you know, and it starts with Caleb Like he he's one of the he's one of the best in the business. And he's already he's we're the same age and he's super young. So he's a dynamic athlete. You know, he can hurt you with his legs and

They also have a very creative coach and play caller in Ben Johnson. He was the hot available coach last year when he was the offensive coordinated with the Lions and did a lot of trick plays and stuff like that in Detroit. How challenging is the stuff that you're seeing them do from a schematics standpoint.

Yeah, they definitely question or they make you question your eyes for sure, because if they're not in the right spot, then you know, all the eye candy is gonna is gonna you know, it's gonna get you going in the wrong direction. So for us, just have to trust what you see, folks on doing your job and you know

To the football.

What about the AFC North, Let's talk about the division a little bit, A very physical division. You're used to physicality, used to physical football. You played in high school and college and very physical nature, very physical way. You've already had Division games under your belt. You know what it's like. You've got to buckle that chin strap, man, double chin strap, and buckle it up tight. What do you think about the AFC North? Has it lived up to its billing?

I would say for sure?

And me personally as a player, like I take pride in being physical. And you know, I've been told since a young kid, like be the hammer not the nail. That's still like the same mindset now. So just having a couple as North games already, like you can definitely tell that like physicality is a is the common theme between all four teams. So I was I was actually hope when I got drafted to an AFC North team, just because I love playing physical.

I love, you know, getting my nose.

Dirty, whatever the term is, right, I take part in playing physical and you know, being the hammer not the nail. So I'm glad that I'm here, and I'm glad that I get to, you know, face great opponents every week who embrace that same challenge.

All Right, we need to take our final break.

When we come back, we will play America's favorite game show we call it Know Your School. You go five questions about friends, and you need to get at least three rights three out of five to be declared a winner.

There you go, We'll see all right. Back to Barrett in just a moment.

This is the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy on ESPN fifteen thirty Welcome back to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light. We are live tonight at Scoreboards Sports Bar at thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane in North Bend. Barrett Carter's with us for just a few more minutes, and that means it is time to play America's favorite game show.

We call it Know Your School.

I've come up with five questions about Clemson University. You must get at least three rights to be declared a winner. Are you ready? That's ready as I'll ever be an honest answer Question number one. One of the most famous trophies in sports, is named for a former Clemson coach who led the Tigers to an undefeated season in nineteen hundred. What is the last name of that coach. One of the most famous trophies in sports, the Blank Trophy nineteen

College football. I was about to say Lombardi. All right, so the college helps college hint helps. It really doesn't help. But I do I don't know. I do not know John Marty, John W. Heisman. Okay, that was a warm up. Okay. Question number two.

Clemson's head coach is a two time national championship winner. Your coach, Dabos Sweeney. What is Dabbo's real first name?

William Boom?

There you go, killed that one man. That took a tenth of a second.

Question number three, This one might be tough. The most famous building on campus is a three story brick building with a clock tower over Hillman Hall.

Boom, All right, you redeemed yourself.

It could even get the question finished. I mean bonus points here.

Now it's Tilman Hall. That is correct.

Question number four, what is the name of the main library on the Clemson campus?

Cooper?

Oh, yeah, we have a student athlete, not just ath but your student athlete.

I never went there. That's fine, and you should know that. I think so far this year only Ivy leaguer andre Yosibosh got that question right.

So about it.

You're a intellectual company graduate, four time academical acc.

I remember some four oh gpa kind of stuff. Four o gpa.

All right, one more question, just to see if you can go four for five. Name the former Clemson defensive tackle nicknamed for a kitchen appliance. Who is the hungary, the heaviest, heaviest player ever to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl.

I know, I know, William the Refrigerator.

Yeah, baby, William the refrigerated story.

All right, you know your school and you will never forget that. John Heisman, Yeah, coach Hemson in the early nineteen hundred.

Four for five. That's not too badd did both both the peries.

Didn't he have a brother? I think that played at Clemson as well. I think he did. I think he had a brother who played there too. That was one big dude man.

Listed at three point thirty. He had to be fifty pounds heavier than that.

Our defensive players, you know, in the Super Bowl when you got to be three eighty. If he's a pound man, he's gotta be three eighty.

Unbelievable. What a horse big.

Guy athletic though athletic for guys show big quick feet.

Quick feet a team that was built by Duke Tobin's dad.

Yeah, Bill Tobin did it.

Yep, all right, Barrett Carter, we can't thank you enough for making the track out here to a scoreboard sports bar.

We greatly appreciate it all. Thanks for having me a great game on Sunday with friends and family and attendance and kick your childhood team's rear end. Yes, sir, yes, sir. All right, let's hear it for Barret Carter.

S we go.

All right. We still have plenty to come on the show.

We're going to let Barrett take off, but we've got about an hour left.

When we come back, we'll be.

Talking about the Joe Flacco situation. He's been awesome since being picked up by the Bengals, but will he be able to play this Sunday against the Bears. He's dealing with a shoulder issue, so we'll talk about that next. This is the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Bengals game Plan presented by bud Light on the first Star Logistics Bengals Radio Network brought to you by bud Light, blood Light, Easy to Bring, Easy to enjoy, pay Corps. Pay Corp Is proud to be the official HR software provider of US Cincinnati Bengals. Kettering Hill Best Care for the Best Fans, Kettling Hill, Official healthcare provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. This is Cincinnati's esp In fifteen thirty, the official home of the Bengals.

Dave Lapham back on the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light.

We are live at.

Scoreboards Sports Bar.

The address is thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane here in North Bend as we get you set for Sunday's game at pay Corps Stadium between the Bengals and the Chicago Bears. Thanks to our engineer Mike Mills for setting everything up tonight. Thanks to Tarren Bland back in the studio. Thank you to Nicky from the Bengals. It's been handling the giveaways and other step tonight.

Here you go.

Thank you to the gals who are here tonight. Thank you to the butt Light girls. We've got the full staff helping us out with the Bengals Game Plan Show tonight.

So over the last few weeks.

Joe Flacco has become one of the most popular guys in town.

And for good reason.

He's played brilliantly so far for Cincinnati, seven touchdown passes, no picks, passer rating over one hundred. He was only sacked once last week in the loss to the New York Jets, but unfortunately, on that one sack, he landed on his shoulder and it resulted in an ac joint sprain. That is an injury to the ligaments that connect the toller bone to the shoulder blade. So his status for Sunday is a little bit up in the air. He did not practice today. Let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor.

He wants to play in the game, and so kudos him. Man, he's been here three weeks. He wants to play. He's speaking formed, but told me, we'll have to work through the week to see if that's that's able to do that. It's a throwing shoulder, it's painful, but I mean, call a guy who wants to do that, wants to get out there and play with something like that.

Credit to him.

So we'll go through the week and see what it ends up and have Jake ready to go to and just see how it plays out for him to come in, and it would be easy to make a decision that there's no way I'm playing, you know, I just I've got an AC joint. We got a bye week next week. Let's just let this think. Heel up and that has not been the communication he's given to me at all. Now,

That's what he does.

That certainly goes along with me.

Lap.

You had that injury during your playing career. How hard would it be for a quarterback to play with an AC joints?

Brand?

Yeah, I mean the AC joint. It's no joke.

It's we're you're clavical, you know, meets your shoulder blade as such. And for a quarterback. Now, I don't know how bad his separations. I had a separated shoulder landed on my elbow in a goal line sequence against the Chargers and jammed it up and separated, you know, kind of the clavicle pulled, pulled away from the shoulder blade a little bit and there was a gap there you could.

Put your finger throw. I could put my finger into.

The gap and go all the way down in there, which was stupid to do, but I was doing. I don't know why I did it, Curiosity, I guess.

But he.

Hopefully his isn't that wide open. Hopefully his clavicle is pretty intact and he's got more of a bruise, you know, going on. If that's the case, I think he plays, I would not be It would not shock me whatsoever if Joe Flacco's out there throwing the football, so how much will it hinder his accuracy? Because that that's what he has been so amazing, getting the ball out of his hands so quickly, and the accuracy with which he's done it, and of velocity he's throwing the football. His

In the three games that he's played for the Bengals, his time to throw is right up there near the top in the NFL. If he can't play this week, Jake Browning has watched him for three weeks. Do you think that's one of the things that Jake would try to do better than he had done in the three games he started.

Yeah, you know, Jake, I think that Joe for whatever reason, it's it's a little bit later in the season. They've played more reps together. Uh, they've kind of bonded a little bit. The offensive line's pass protected fairly decently for Joe, and he said it. He's given the offensive line a lot of kudos, a lot of bouquets, verbal bouquets, and uh, and it's well earned and well deserved. They've they've done a pretty good job of keeping Joe Flacco upright and

He may do pretty well. I mean he may. He may, I think.

Execute the Bengals offense fairly, uh, fairly decently. He knows what he's doing. He's a very smart guy, very bright quarterback. He's got really good football IQ. He can throw the football, he can do, he can do a lot of things. His teammates like him. They respond to him. It's not like, huh, jeez, we've got Jake Browning, Oh my god, we're in trouble.

It's not. It's not anything like that.

So I hope that if Joe's out for an extended period of time, Jake Browning lights it up. I hope he goes out and puts together a big winning streak and they get it right back on the hunt.

How much his Flacco helped the line between how quickly he throws the ball and knowing where he's going to be because he's not running around back there. He's dropping back into the pocket, maybe inching up if need be, but typically.

Not running around from sideline to sideline.

Good point, Dan, I mean, he is, He's not a statue, but he's not what you consider an upperly mobile quarterback either, but you mentioned something that he does very well. He will climb the pocket and he's got a little escapability in the pocket. He's got a little lateral movement, he's got his feet are still fairly quick. So I think I think the offensive.

Line likes blocking for Joe Flacco.

Some of the guys that I've talked to have mentioned that very thing that you know, he's really easy to block for. Because the biggest reason is the other thing you said, you know your football is they know where he's going to be. It's not like, Jeez, can I if he takes an outside rush, do I have to turn him back inside? Can I take him to the outside? Where's the quarterback setting up? Where's he going to be?

All right, let's move to another topic.

And you alluded to this early in the show, something you've been hearing with your work in podcasting, social media, et cetera. The mistackles, Yeah, it was glaring last week. For the season, the Bengals have more than eighty no team, no other team in the league has more than sixty five, so it's been an issue. Let's hear from linebacker Dimitrius Knight on that topic, trying to improve in the area of getting people on the ground.

Here's Demetrius, and this is the NFL. It's not just your cake walk. This isn't you know, backyard football. This isn't rec league football. Those guys in the opposite side are also paid, just like we're paid. We're paid to get them on the ground. They're paid to make us miss. And some of those times you may be in bad position, you may have your feet tangled up, you may slip on the turf and whatnot or grass. But at the end of the day, it just comes down to relying

Know you can make.

Master or matter. Rather as he just described, mastering the basics.

I think it is. I think I mean, eighty tackles is a lot. I mean ten a game. That's that's just waiting way too many, way too many.

Uh.

And it's it's killing. It's killing the football team. I think that is the biggest, single reason reason that the Bengals are where they are record wise. I think it's a compound or a compounding nature of two things. Not stopping the run. Why aren't you stopping the run? Well more so than not hitting the right gaps and being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. That aspect of it is not great, but it's good enough.

The Bengals are playing a lot of young guys on defense. I want to ask you a question that I asked Al Golden earlier this week.

How long does it.

Take to know if a guy can really play in the NFL? A year, a couple of years, do you know right away? I mean typically how long does it take?

That's a great question. Again, Dan, you know your football, you know, and it's like when I played played with teammates that you know right away.

Oh, this dude's a player.

I mean, he knows exactly what he's doing, why he's doing it, where he's supposed to be, when he's supposed to be there, why he's supposed to be doing what he's doing. I mean, this guy is a football savant man. This guy's you know, football Menza. His football intelligence is off the charts. He's got everything you need physically to be a dominant football player. Hey, this guy, this guy is a natural. I mean, he's gonna be playing right away and making an impact right away. Those are easy.

You know, there's no there's.

No formula that you can you can utilize on guys on a on an individual by individual basis that will give you a computer printout sheet and tell you exactly what you can anticipate from a guy. Uh, from a career standpoint.

The Bengals and Bears this Sunday coming up next, we all had two Chicago for an inside look at this week's opponent. You're listening to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light, live from.

The Scoreboards Sports Bar on.

ESPN fifteen thirty.

Dead.

Holden Dave lap I'm back in the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light.

We are live tonight.

At Scoreboards Sports Bar here in North Bend. We appreciate the Bengals fans who are with us on location and to all of you listening on the radio. It's the Bengals and Bears this Sunday at pay Corpse Stadium and it's time for this week's No the Faux segment. Time to get the lowdown on this week's opponent. And to do that, we welcome in the great radio voice of the Bears, in his twenty fifth year calling their games, our friend Jeff Joniac. Jeff, welcome to the Bengals radio network.

How are you, my man?

I'm doing great, gentlemen, how we feeling it? And if I did the math correct and maybe Dave can fix this for me, eight hundred and nine Bengals games in the booth and on the field, is that correct?

That's actually a little low laugh. Did his one thousandth game earlier this year between playing and broadcast?

Yeah, between you might have yeah, you might you might have missed some of the playing games or whatever, or playoff games as broadcast. But yeah, it's over a thousand, which is mind boggling.

Jeff. I don't know. I can't I can't believe it. I don't know. I don't know where all the time went. Thousand games.

That's scary. In fairness to you, Jeff.

That math was done by our friend and colleague Jay Morrison, who covers the Bengals, and I think he may have included preseason games.

I think so.

Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, if.

You were just a regular season that would account for the difference.

Yeah, regardless, tip of the caps to you, and congratulations down the Ring of honor. I've had many times to visit with you, and that is that's some kind of performance right there, and that's the love of the game. So I respect that. I talked to your old roommate today, Kenny, and we had him on our podcast and it was an awesome, awesome conversation.

He's just terrible, isn't He might be the worst guest I've ever had in my life.

He's unclear, he is. He is phenomenal.

I mean, I roomed with the guy for ten years and I don't think I've ever known a better human being, a better football player, or a better human being than Kenny Anderson.

The guy is. He's a gem man. He's one of a kind. And appreciate your kind work. Jeff, you got it.

You earned it, my friend.

Thank you.

All right, let's talk about your team, the Chicago Bears. Jayden Daniels was so good last year and Drake may has been so good this year that some people at least have questioned whether the Bears got the right guy when they picked Caleb Williams number one overall last year. How good has Caleb been this year?

Well, he's definitely making progress. And you know, I can look at statistics many different ways, as we all can. Ron Rivera, my good friend and former Bears linebacker and former head coach, in a couple of spots that figures lie in Liar's figure. But I'm going to go with the positives and Caleb when you look at key situational football, whether it be first down performance, what he does on third down, what's he done in the fourth quarter of games.

I hear that.

What about the Chicago Bears in general, you know, it seems like they've had their moments where they're playing pretty darn good football. I think it's a solid football team, and then they've had all the moments where you know, it's been a struggle, and I guess I don't know. I don't know exactly what the anticipation was organizationally for the season for the Chicago Bears.

I don't know if they're living up to it or whether.

They're not, or you know, just right right in the middle of all of those expectations in terms of how they performed. What is it about the Chicago Bears why? I guess consistency or inconsistency might be the best way to put it. What's the reason for the inconsistency do you think, Jeff?

You know, and a lot of self inflicted wounds. I mean, that would really sum up some of their losses here Detroit was the exception that was just a steam rolling walked into a hornet's nest there. But the penalties, you know, they're one of the highest penalized teams in the NFL. The false start they've got the most in the NFL. Those pre snapped things will drive any any coach crazy, particularly an offensive coordinator. Who is the head coach in

The Boys the Bears. Jeff Jonieki is our guest. The Bears have sixteen takeaways. They are number one in the NFL in turnover ratio. How are they doing it? How are they getting that many takeaways on defense?

Well, they're they're rallying to the ball, and you know, it's a feeding frenzy when it starts to happen. They did not have one last week, and that that was a to teal reason for the defeat. They were living on that and they were turning those into points. I think they have fifty points off takeaways. You know, I

Yeah, you're you're hitting on the physicality that in my mind. I mean when I think Chicago Bears, I think dip butk is. I think, you know, just stoning people. I think, you know, Walter Payton running people over and uh, you know, putting cleek marks up their chest and their face mask as he runs them over. You know, I just think about Top Bears, the Chicago Bears, I mean monsters are the Midway. Have they got that mentality? Does this group

Is this group of guys are they up to the task?

Yeah?

I mean they want to be. And I you know, it's funny you brought that up because I've been banging that drum for years. I don't know, call me a meathead, I don't know what you want to call me, but I guess I'm romanticizing the same thing of but just peering over a guy on the ground after blasting him and Mike Singletary and his eyes in that eighty five defense in the sixty three championship team, those teams from the forties. You know, I always feel that you should

Totally agree with that.

Jeff ben Johnson was the coach that every team with a vacancy last year wanted to hire ye, how did the Bears come out on top in that derby to come away with Ben Johnson?

In his first introduction, he simply said I want this job, and it was over get it. As soon as he said I want this job, he got that job. And he made it clear before I even uttered a single question in the interview, I want this job, and that passion connected and it didn't hurt that he's very well paid in addition, but he was going to get that no matter where you go. But the Bears dipped into their vault and they paid what they believe was the

Yeah, I mean, Ben Johnson, Dennis I would think, I agree. I mean, they got to have some kind of a plan. What what are you expecting? What is the media expecting? What do you think you're gonna see? How to the Chicago Bears all season long? What's gonna be their staple? What's gonna be the thing they hang their hat on? No matter what, the Chicago Bears will be.

This physical and violent, that's what they want to be. They want to if you're if you're gonna get into a fight, you know, and you're gonna win that fight and you're gonna leave Chicago, or they're gonna you're gonna feel that game and you want to feel them when you watch and turn on the tape and you know that you're gonna be in for a long sixts no matter what the outcome. I think that's kind of the notion and all three phases, not just uh, not just defense,

Jeff can't thank you enough for joining us tonight. It's always great to chat with you, and we look forward to seeing you in Cincinnati on Sunday.

All right, appreciate it. We'll be looking forward to seeing you guys. Take care of a good night, good show.

Safe travels, Safe travels, my man.

That is our friend, Jeff Joniat, the great voice up the Chicago Bears. We're going to take a time out. Coming up next, what happened in the player's only defensive meeting the Bengals held on Monday.

We'll discuss that next.

This is the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by Bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty.

I think someone needs to step up and lead the group. That's what I'm waiting to see someone step up and lead the group and take some accountability over there and get this thingle in the right way.

For the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by Bud Light. That was an exasperated Zach Taylor immediately after the last week's loss to the Jets, where the defense gave up three straight touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati lost the game thirty nine to thirty eight. The guys on defense got the message. The veteran leaders on defense, guys like bj Hill, Logan Wilson, Trey Hendrickson, called for a

Of course they take it to heart and okay, it was hard for them to sleep and whatnot, but they came in, they challenged us, and they take accountability for everything, just as we all take accountability for everything that we put on film. So it's it's a group effort. There's gonna be no blame game, no pointing fingers, nothing right. But we do have leaders on this defail.

Remember any players only meetings back in the day Latin.

I do. Yeah, was involved in a couple three of them.

And you know, the the good thing is when you do have players conduct players only meeting, it shows.

That they care.

You know, It's like they're not happy with what's going on. It's not like, hey, you know, and water rolling off my back. I don't care. I'm getting my paycheck. I'm just gonna go home and you know, work through things. Make sure I don't try not to get injured, get through a season, get another vested season in retirement, you know, get a year under your belt.

You're one of a four year contract. They're not. It's not like that with this group.

They're they're they want to be good, they want to have a good season, and they're trying to make sure that they don't waste any time in turning it around, you know, redirect the bus as such and get it, get it moving in the right direction, and win some football games. Don't want to waste any more opportunities to win games. The season's not that long. You're you're halfway through it. You don't have any games to waste right now. It can't happen.

Had the Bengals won a game they scored thirty eight points in against the team that did not have a victory heading into the game, they would be even in the win column in the AFC North for first place.

Crazy.

Crazy, it is because they're not playing. They're playing like crap. You know, they're not playing well, and they know they're not playing well. And that's you know that defensively, Yeah, and that's and that's uber frustrating. I mean, you know, people think that professional athletes are spoiled brats and they

Steelers play the Colts this week. Colts have the best record in the AFC at seven and one. The Ravens expect to have Lamar Jackson back. They play tomorrow night at Miami. Miami is not very good, but Thursday night road games almost by definition, are really hard for the road team, and they are the road team. So again, if the Bengals can beat the Bears at home this Sunday, it's a very good chance they're going to be even in the win column with the Pittsburgh Steelers for first place.

Yeah, I mean, they could definitely get it done. It is not easy to play on Thursday night, and Tua has the ability to play well. He's not playing very well right now, but he has lit it up in games in his career in the National Football League. The guy can put together big numbers. He can he can score points, throw the football when he's right, when he's seeing the field, when he's reading the progression properly, getting the ball out of his hand quickly. Who is good

Better beat the Bears.

Gotta beat the Bears. Definitely.

All right, we're gonna take a time out. Coming up next.

The Bears, of course, have a new head coach and Ben Jonson and Zach Taylor knows him extremely well. That story is coming up next, it says The Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, Live from Scoreboards Sports Bar, thirty seven eighty three Shady Lane in North Bend on ESPN fifteen thirty. Welcome back to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy Too in July here on ESPN fifteen thirty. We appreciate the Bengals fans came

Court and Walnut.

Their special guest on Friday afternoon in the final hour of that show will be Bengals defensive lineman Chris Jenkins.

Yes, he will join us from five to six to show us from three to six.

All right, it's the Bengals and Bears this Sunday at pay Corps Stadium. Bears have a new head coach and Ben Johnson. Last year he was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. And last year he had a play called stumblebum where their quarterback Jared Goff intentionally fell down. Running back Sjamir Gibbs dove on to the ground as if he was recovering the fumble. Ben Goff hopped to his feet and threw a touchdown pass. That's the type

Incredibly smart. I mean, this is no surprise where he's at his career, the job he's doing. Anyone who's ever interacted with him and worked with him would see this coming. You know, one of the easily one of the smartest people I've ever been around, great outside the box thinker. He's worked his way up the hard way. You know, when he got to Detroit, he had to work up from even though he was way overqualified for where he started.

That's just where you do.

And he just kept turning the trust of people and working all his way all the way up through the ranks, did it all the hard way, did a great job at every level. He's been at tight end coach to coordinator to now the head coach, and so I'm not surprised at all the job that Ben has done.

So last year in Detroit, ben Johnson's offense, he was again the offensive coordinator, led the NFL in scoring more than thirty two points a game, led the NFL in total yards more than four hundred per game. Crazy, The Lions aren't there yet. They're middle of the pack, their fifteenth in the NFL in scoring twenty four points a game. But what has impressed you over the years with what he's done in Detroit and what he's doing so far in chicag Go about Ben Johnson?

Yeah, I think like Zach is talking about and now there's a reference about him, his creativity. He's not afraid to try anything. You know that what he does with did with Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions is a

Of the play.

And he's been fortunate, I think in his career in that he has had very very bright football players with high football i Q it's not to say that he's not a great coach.

He is.

I think that that he takes football to the next level. I at him as almost a young Bill Walsh. Bill Walsh was like this when we had Bill Walsh early on in our days with the Cincinnati Bengals on that on Paul Brown's staff. He was willing to try anything, and he'd tested in practice against Chuck Steadley and our defensive players and see, you know, if it had any merit, and if it did, he would tweak it and fine tune it and get it ready and polish it and

So, as we said earlier, we don't know at this point, if Joe Flacko will be the starting quarterback on Sunday. If it's not him, it would be Jake Browning. Sean Clifford from Saint Xavier High School would become the backup if Joe Flacco can't play and Jake Browning starts the game, regardless of who the quarterback is. One thing that I am hopeful of and makes me think that the Bengals would have a chance to pull it out even if Jake Browning is in there is how well they've run

You know your football, Dan, I mean, balance is the key. I mean, and the Bengals are starting to run the ball better, starting to run the ball more effectively. I think Samaj p Ryan ran hard. My god, did he run hard.

You know.

He took advantage of every opportunity, every carry that he was given. He finished it. And man, he was high knee action running through people, broke a lot of tackles. I think Chase Brown is a gifted running back. I think he can do everything. He can run the football, he can change direction, people bounce off him with broken tackles as well, and he can make a miss a little dipsy do as well. They can run it, they can catch it out of the backfield, they run good

Bengals have a new offensive line coaching Scott Peters. His techniques are very different from the norm. I imagine it probably took some time for that to start, the muscle memory to kick in, for this stuff to start to feel natural. How much do you think their growth under him is fueling the improved play up front?

Another good call, Dan, you know what you're looking at. I mean, I think it's I think it's everything. I think that I don't think they ever like. I don't believe in this guy. I don't like anything he's doing. But until you can go out and test it and try it under the you know, the lights as such, full go and and then you can make an evaluation

He he is.

He does have some some interesting fundamentals and techniques. They're they're a little bit different than the norm. He's kind of a you know, a path, a trend center. Yeah, going down his own path coaching in the National Football League, and I think Ted Carris is a guy that really believes in what he's teaching. And as a result, Ted Carriss the leader of that offensive line, and the rest of the guys will follow suit.

All Right, we need to take our final time out coming up. When we come back when the offense is good and the defense is bad or vice versa, how do you keep a team from pointing fingers? We'll discuss that next. This is the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty. Fullman to the Bengals Game Blend Show presented by bud Light. Thanks so much for tuning in. We want to thank our engineer, Mike Mills. Thank you Mike coming out and setting everything up right.

Magic.

Thanks to Tarren Bland back in the studio. Thanks to the ben Gals, we appreciate them. Thanks to the butt Light girls as well. She just loved moments ago, but maybe she's listening in the car. Thank you to Nida Yes who went above and she always does.

She's amazing.

But the bake goods are crazy tonight. I don't know if I'm strong enough to carry what she has given us.

It's a few pounds.

It's gonna put on a few pounds, that's for sure. Right.

And most of all, thank you to the Bengals fans for being here. We greatly appreciate each and every week.

You guys make the show, no question.

So last Sunday was rough. The Bengals scored thirty eight points and did not win. After the game, Jamar Chase was interviewed by a bunch of reporters, myself included. He didn't say anything negative about the defense, but sometimes it's what you don't say. Yeah, right, and you could feel it. You could feel his frustration. Yeah, not only for this game, but that several times that had happened last year. Sure, the offense performed really well and the defense just had

Here's what he had to say.

I reminded our guys, you know it wasn't too long ago when we were the ones that weren't playing up to our standard, and we got to be there to support our team because it's a team game, so it can't do it without everybody.

And as frustrating as.

It might be, and it was very frustrating to lose the game, it's a team effort and where you know, and it's always gonna be the case in football, so we just need some group to step up if somebody's not playing well or not it didn't have a good performance day.

It's it's a team that makes this happen.

So our guys are fully embraced of the defense and the players on that side of the ball because it's gonna take all of us to do it.

It's the ultimate team game. But it's hard when one side is doing well and the other side is doing poorly.

It really is, you know, and you sometimes frustrations can boil over, and that's that's what happens from time to time. And you know, I can remember situations where offensively for us, everything is clicking. It's like, oh man, this is almost too easy. What's going what's going on here? And the defense is a stiff man.

They just can't.

They can't stop anything. And you know it's like at halftime, you're come on, man, well you get we get off the field on third down once, when you make them punt the foot ball once, come.

On, let's go. And you know you can the team.

The team can fall apart, the team can become splintered, divided, and I think Zach Taylor and his coaching staff's acutely aware of that. And I'm not gonna let it happen.

I'm glad that Scott Peters pointed out to his guys and this is true. Just remember earlier this year. Yeah, I mean go back to Week one. Wasn't the offense wasn't good. The defense won the.

Game exactly period.

And that's It's a team game. Like you said earlier, Dan, it's the ultimate team sport. You have twenty two moving parts every single play.

That's a lot.

That's a lot of things going on at the same time that if any one of them breaks down or goes wrong, it can be a problem that affects the whole system.

All right, I will not be with you on Friday afternoon. I am off to Salt Lake City.

Yes, sir, see, if I'll see.

If the Mighty Bearcats can win their eighth in a row.

About it? Can you conroll.

No Bearcats currently seventeenth in the country and a two hi for first place in the Big Twelve.

Nice?

And when I see you on Sunday in the press box in our booth, I might be a little sleepy.

Just so you know, I'll bring a pillow. I bet, so just bring.

A lot of coffee or allow me allow me to have a massive mug of coffee because I might need it.

I bet. I bet.

You know what nobody calls a game better than that. No, nobody does. Nobody does.

Thank you.

And the city of Cincinnati is so fortunate to have you calling games to them at the collegiate and professional level. And I am so fortunate to have you as apartment.

Thank you, my friend.

I'm gonna sound really good this weekend when the Bearcats and Bengals both win.

Yes, I love it. Let's do it, all right, let's do it.

That's gonna do it for our show tonight.

Thanks again to everybody listening and to everybody here at Scoreboard Sports Bar. You've been listening to the Bengals Game Plan Show presented by bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty.

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