Bengals Booth Podcast - Erase The Taste

against the three and three Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coming up an in depth conversation with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, including his thoughts on what's happened to the Bengals offense since Tyler Eifford went down and if the Bengals problems on defense are fixable. I'll chat with Carl Lawson about only having one sack so far this season after leading NFL rookies in that category last year. And this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll talk to Rick Stroud, who

covers the Bucks for the Tampa Bay Times. All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention

since the previous button on your TV remote. When watching TV, especially live sporting events, I like to check out an alternate channel during the commercial breaks, and the previous button makes it very easy to go back and forth between two different channels. Sure, it's not that hard to punch in the channel numbers, but the previous button makes it as easy as well the touch of a button. Now,

let's get to this week's game. When the Bengals hit the practice field on Wednesday, nearly one fourth of the roster made the injury list. Twelve out of fifty three players, ten didn't practice at all, including Vontes Perfect with a hip injury, Bobby Hart with a bad back, Drake Kirkpatrick with an achilles issue, and John Ross who continues to deal with a groin injury. The Bengals have a bye coming up after this week's game against Tampa Bay, and

it can't get here soon enough. Now time to bring in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham to review last week's to baccle at Kansas City and look ahead to Sunday's home game against the Bucks. Lap I'm going to turn the clock back to twenty fourteen in prime time on Monday Night Football, The New England Patriots got embarrassed at Kansas City forty one to fourteen, not quite as bad as forty five ten, but awfully close. The next week, Bill Belichick famously said, we're on to Cincinnati, and the

Patriots ended that season by winning the Super Bowl. I'm not saying the Bengals are going to win the Super Bowl, but how do they flush that Kansas City disaster down the drain? Marvin Lewis channels inner Bill Belichick and Andy Dalton channels his inner Tom Brady. I think that's two big reasons why they were able to move on to Cincinnati and be so successful. But you do have to compartmentalize.

I think, as I recall, Andy Dalton had his first three game losing streak ever in any sports endeavor youth, all the way up to the NFL when he lost three in a row here as the Cincinnati Bengal. He'd never had never happened to him before. So Andy Dalton historically has been able to put a bad performance aside and bounce back. And uh, you know, if it happens they lose two in a row, it doesn't happen more than that in a normal timeframe. So I think that

they are at home. It's an important football game. I think that they have to look at this football game as a crucial moment of the season. You know, you do you crumble or do you get up off the ground, dust yourself off and get back at it and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's a winnable football game. Obviously, they could go into the bye week at five and three, lick their wounds, get healed up for the stretch, and they're you know, they're tracking the ten and sixth season

right where they want to be. If not, now there are more questions then probably can be answered during a short time of a bye week. Lap Oar colleague Jeff Butch Hobson from Bengals dot Com had a great stat In fourteen quarters with Tyler Eiffort this year, the Bengals have scored one hundred and seventeen points without him, sixty seven points, a drop off of fifty points. I did

some research before the Kansas City game. In thirty six possessions with Tyler Eiffort healthy, not including Neil downs or possessions where the Bengals were not trying to score, they scored touchdowns on fourteen of thirty six drives. That's thirty nine percent of the time without him six touchdowns on thirty two drives nineteen percent. What has the Effort injury done to the Bengals offense? You know, I think you can look at it and say, what kind of defenses

were they playing against when Effort was playing. Baltimore's pretty darn good Carolina historically, pretty darn good. Atlanta you know, has been not this year. But I mean it's not like they were playing against you know, ge the football teams. They were playing against good defensive football teams. I think

it's it's exactly what we saw with Kansas City. You have two speeders because because the other factor is the John Ross factor in that Kansas City Sammy Watkins, you know, he can fly, he can stretch the football field, There's no doubt about it. They have speed on the perimeter. Hill was ridiculous. He's a joystick, you know, a video game. Those guys stretch it, and then you have Kelsey abusing it. With the aj Green John Ross, they could have stretched it,

Effort abusing it, and that's what they were doing. So now you lose Effort abusing it, and you lose John ross stretching it the threat of the deep ball. On the other side, it tilts coverages differently. You know, Tyler Boyd was starting to get double teamed as well as AJ Green. So I mean the whole dynamic changed when Tyler Eiffort was in the football game. Every snap he played, they went nickel defense. They went to a sub package.

They did not stay based defense. That tells you the defense's respect for Tyler Eifert was doing for them offensively and without him um and then Tyler Boyd down as well. I mean, CJ. Zami, you better put him in a bubble. I can't afford to lose that guy. You better make sure that he is protected. I would not put him in any contact drills in practice. I mean, you have to be very careful not to lose CJ. Zami. He's and CJ is capable. I mean, he's a big body

guy that can run. He's a threat. But when when they had all hands on deck, very healthy and making the defense defend the entire football field, they were they were dynamic. They were getting a lot of deep balls. Now they're playing in a closet. Now the defense is compressed, The defense is tighter, to the line of scrimmage. They're not they're not feeling threatened with the downfield ball as much. And uh, and then they can tilt the coverage to AJ because a couple of weapons down. So I think

it's Tyler Eiffert for sure. John Ross is another part of that equation. He may not be as big a catalyst or as big a part of the formulation, but he's a factor as well. And it's it's incredible. I mean, you know, you look at the Miami game. The offense scored thirteen points. The defense had two defensive touchdowns. So offensive you put thirteen on the board. You put twenty one on the board against Pittsburgh and ten on the

board against the Chiefs. That's the surprising one. Two hundred thirty nine yards, fifteen first downs and ten points against that defense. That's that's stunning. But the last three games they scored forty four points against Atlanta, they scored thirty seven to beat him, thirty seven thirty six. So it's not a lull. It's it's a lot longer than the lull. I mean, right now, it's hibernation. Offensively, it's not a lull.

They have to come out of it. Let's talk about the Bengals defense next to last in the NFL and yards allowed twenty eight and points allowed twenty sixth versus the run twenty nine versus the pass. Is it fixable after seven games? You know, as all coaches will tell you, Dan, everything's fixable, you know, But I mean, is an injury related you know you're down some people? Well yeah, but

everybody in the league. The Kents City Chiefs shut the Bengals offense down without Houston, their Pro Bowl uh linebacker and without Burry, their Pro Bowl safety. They're two best defensive players. The two Pro Bowl players that they lean on didn't play, didn't play a snap. So yeah, it's it's fixable, And it's it's you really have to focus on doing the little things, the minor details. You know. Sometimes when when it's going well, you have a Tennessee like,

oh man, yeah we're good. You know, everything's you start to handling success is difficult. You know, it's sometimes even more difficult than handling failure. And that's that's the reason, because it's like, man, yeah, I get some swagger, I feel good about myself right now. They can't. They can't feel good about anything. They have to just have laser focus, razor sharp focus and every little minute, minute shut detail.

They have to be all over because it seems like anytime anybody stumbles on any phase of it on any level. Up front, hitting the wrong gap, staying out, getting washed out of a pass rush lane, hitting the wrong gap in the run game, whatever it is. Same thing at the linebacker position, you're not in exactly where you should be on your drop. You know you're off a little bit, and there's a whole the quarterback finds it. In the secondary, you know you have some kind of a mistake or

miscommunication issue. Any time any of it happens, they're getting they're getting beaten, and it's happening at different levels of the of the defense at different times. And if we're the same guy, we're making the mistake over and over. You could replace them. It's an easy solution, but it's not. They're doing it collectively. There's I don't think there's anybody on that defensive football team who suits clean, who can look in the mirror and say, have I had, you know,

a perfect gear so far? Have I not screwed up? Now? Every single one of them, and you know this started on the offensive starting the Miami game. The two defensive scores were make up to hide imperfections, and it hid defensive imperfections as well. And now all of a sudden reality has hit them in the face with two really good opponents Pittsburgh Steelers in the Kansas City Chiefs. They got they gotta tighten it up. They gotta adopt the eyes, cross the t's in every single detail. No detail is

too small. Every single one of them is magnificently large. You mentioned injuries. Two weeks ago, with one eighteen left in the Pittsburgh game, the Bengals had a one point lead over the Steelers. They're on the verge of being five and one and the toast of the town. Now they're four and three and being ridiculed after getting embarrassed on primetime. How much of this decline is injury related? I think I think a lot of it is. You know, but in this league, everybody has to adjust and adapt.

You know, you watched the New England Patriots win a football game without Gronkowski. You know he's not available, then is They're outstanding rookie running back Michelle gets dinged up and he's out in the game, they go to White, they go to whoever, they go to Edelman, they find ways. You have to uh. You know, if if your your first plan of attack is eliminated, you have to have a plan B, a plan C, a plan all the way to Z. In the league, you really do offensively

and defensively. And I think that's maybe maybe the Bengals have to work a little bit harder. I'm not saying they didn't have a plan B and C, but maybe a little bit more time could have, should have or whatever, in hindsight been devoted to them because they came upon them quickly, you know, and uh, and now they have

to adjust on the fly. I think the bye week is coming at a good time for the physical part of it because of the injuries, guys looking their wounds and healing up, and for the coaches to really go back and do the self evaluation and say, here's what they did to us when when this happened, we didn't react quickly enough with a plan B or C. And let's do this down the stretch in the season instead of what we did in the first half. So I think it's going to be a twofold plus heal up, rest,

and heal up. For the players do their rehab, and for the coaches sit back, take a good, long, hard look at what they did, how they did it, and make adjustments Accordingly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have the worst pass defense of all time. They are giving up nearly three hundred twenty eight yards per game. Quarterbacks are completing seventy five percent of their passes against the Bucks. The passer rating against Tampa Bay is one twenty five

point eight. If you're the Bengals, why even run this week? You to scratch your head and wonder. Tampa Bay has given up eighteen touchdown passes, most in the NFL. They only have one interception, tied for feuis in the league, and they have no yard return on that interception, the worst in the league. So why why run the football? Well, the Bengals thought that the Kansas City Chiefs defense was a sieve, and everybody did. The Kansas City was tracking to give up the most yards in the history of

the National Football League. They gave up tune in thirty nine against the Bengals and only ten points. So you can take nothing for granted on a week to week basis in this league. And I still maintain no matter who you're playing against, you do have to have some kind of modicum of balance, you know, you have to if the defensive line doesn't have to respect the running

game at all and can tee off. And Mark Duffner now the defensive coordinator, he's got a couple of weeks under his belt now and he can come up with some more creative designs with blitz packages. Put his stamp on it. It's gonna it'll probably be different. The Kansas City Chiefs through a coverage at AJ Green that he hadn't seen on tape or anybody had seen on tape

from the Kansas City Chiefs all season long. You know, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mark Duffner in particular, Mark Duffnin wants to beat the Bengals and he's going to try to do it by showing a new wrinkle something that has not been on tape yet, and not just probably for AJ Green, but also in trying to confuse Andy Dalton. So take nothing for granted. And if you can pound the rock and anchor them, that's the best way to beat the football team. Then you can abuse

them through the air. If you ask avid football fans to name the number one passing attack in the NFL, I'm guessing they would say New Orleans, maybe Kansas City, possibly Pittsburgh, Atlanta. It's actually Tampa Bay. Three hundred sixty four yards per game, including eight completions of forty yards or more. They've only played six games. What do the Bengals have to do on defense? Can't give up the explosive play. They have four different receivers with the reception

of fifty yards or more. Evans has one for fifty one, Humphreys for fifty one, Howard has a seventy five yard touchdown catch. Jackson has a seventy five yard touchdown catch. The thing is, explosive plays buy a bunch of different people. Five different receivers have twenty more catches, four different have three or more touchdowns, and four different have three hundred yards or more receiving the tight ends. They have two good tight ends. Out of that tight end group, thirty catches,

four hundred and fifty two yards five touchdowns. They combine twelve touchdowns last year. Bottom line is the Bengals have to be on their a game. They have to be on point because just like Kansas City. Tampa Bay attacks the entire football field. I mean, Fitzpatrick and Winston, they are both. They're not prejudicial. Wherever the reed takes them, that's where they're going with the football. They're not trying

to force things. So you have to be assignment sound, be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, and you can't. You can't. You have to minimize your mental mistakes because they will take advantage of it. And they have such athletic people at the receiver position. Evan's big and strong. You know, Jackson runs as fast as anybody. They can. They can hit, hit you, beat, beat you deep, hit you hard, and they've done it

to a lot of people. All right, last thing, the Bengals face the Tampa Bay Bucks, and the Buck's original coach, John McKay had some of the greatest one liners in coaching history. He was asked about his team execution, he said, I'm all for it. He was. He also said, after one game, we didn't tackle well, but we made up for it by not blocking. So here's my question for you, who is the funniest coach you were ever around? Has to be Sam White, you know, Sam, Sam could have

done stand up comedy. I think, I mean, the guy he is so naturally funny, and he is so quick. His mind is so quick. He can make a joke out of anything. He can. He can come up with a with a one liner or take it in a direction where it's like, man, how how does your mind work? How do you make that association um and come up with what you come up with? I mean he was. He was hilarious and a real high level, you know, sophisticated level of humor. It could be you know, just

flat out normal funny, real sarcastic funny. He was something else. And you talk to guys that played with him, you know, during his career, I think every one of them, you know, Bob Johnson, Bob Trumpy, Kenny, and you go through all the all the guys that played with Sam White, I think every one of them would say that he might be as funny a guy, you know, as it's ever been around, the guy that people would not think about with sarcastic humor. Though Paul brown Man, he was. He

was funny. The guy could, The guy could. His sarcasm dripped with about as much real sharp needle to it than I've ever been around he could. He could crush you in a sentence with his sarcasm. He was a funny guy. And speaking of Paul Brown, the NFL celebrates its one hundred season next year, and the league recently announced that an all time team will be selected, along with a list of the ten greatest coaches, and Paul Brown should be a lock to be on that list.

One of the mysteries of the Bengal season to date is the lack of a dominant pass rush. Geno Atkins has six sacks and Carlos Dunlap has five, so they're on pace for double digit seasons, but as a team, the Bengals are tied for twentieth in the NFL with just fifteen sacks. Carl Lawson led NFL rookies with eight and a half last year, but only has one sack through seven games. I talked to Carl at his locker on Wednesday. How bad did you get held on Sunday night?

It was ridiculous. I mean, I think it was a hold in. It was a buck in the back, so, I mean, but I don't know, cause it's becoming a water year, which you just gonna keep working. I was among Benny that would have predicted a double digit sack here for you. This year. It could still happen, But have you been frustrated that they haven't come as rapidly as they came last year? I mean, of course, but I mean then again, the same snap counts last year.

It's just I feel like there's a bunch of varying factors. But I can't and I've as I've reviewed the film. I don't think it's from a lack of just you know, winning, you know, the one on ones that to take. It's a bunch of variables applying to it. But the thing I can't do is I can't sit there and hang my head. I gotta even though you know the natural thing is to want to do that, I just gotta keep pushing, keep fighting, and you never know what happened. So I'm just keep taking it one day at a

time and just gotta keep working. Sacks are very black and white stat they don't necessarily measure pressure. According to the website Pro Football Focus, you are still among the defensive lineman getting the most consistent pressure in the NFL. Do you feel that way? Honestly? I mean, that's cool and all, but I've always lose the model of sacks and you know, sacks get stacks, sacks or what you know, change the games. And yeah, everybody, of course, people are

gonna see the pressure. But at the end of the day, when they're talking about the conversation how good this guy is, they're gonna that's what you're gonna be measured there. So I'm not gonna sit there and let a stat like pressure, you know, be like a pad on the bag. I don't take it as such. And I just need to continue to keep working and go out there and go out there and just you know, produce when I get

my opportunity. But I know my time will come. I know I'm there's no there's no short of confidence that would be a great player in this league when you know when that time time is to hit. Two weeks ago, you guys are about a minute and twenty seconds away from being five and one. And the toast of the town Steelers game ended poorly. Last Sunday night was a rough one, and now people are questioning how good this team is. How about internally, what's the feeling in the

locker room internally? I think, you know, we really need to just you know, regathering and regrouping and to get through the Bobwiek because of lot of things. You know, injury bug is a hit. It's like somebody threw a grenade in the tight end room. But you know, it's just you know, I've I've dealt with little stuff this year myself, but it's just you know, get just get this win and then going to the Bybwiek. That's so,

that's the main goal. Carl has been in for two hundred and twenty five defensive snaps this year, forty four percent of the Bengals total, which is slightly up from forty two percent last year, and although he is clearly not satisfied with it, Pro Football Focus has him ranked number eight in the NFL among edge rushers in generating pressure. Now time for this week's No The Faux segment and

to learn more about the Buccaneers. Rick Stroud, who covers the team for the Tampa Bay Times, joined Lapping Me on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Rick, thanks so much for coming out of the showton I greatly appreciate your time. Let's start with a key injury for the Buccaneers. They lost a bit of linebacker Kwon Alexander. Head coach Dirk Cutter called him the heart and soul of the defense, maybe even the team. How big a blow is that on the field, And what are the Bucks going to

do to replace him? Well, yeah, it's enormous. I mean they've been bad on defense pretty much all year. He actually had maybe his best half of football before he tore his ACL you know, when he was a rookie, they were six and six under Lovey Smith and he ended up being suspended before games for Pegs and they lost all four. So, you know, he's a very valuable player.

I don't think you can really replace him. First, say they're going to put a dairy A Taylor who's the linebacker, has played a lot of positions at the mic, linebacker Lavante David, who's a Pro Bowl player, will will fall the place. He's gonna wear that green helmet and have the communicator. But it's given me very hard to try to, you know, fill that boy. They're gonna have to do

it with everybody. You know, in the typical cliche, everybody else has to play a little larger because Kuan, you know, was a guy that's really sidelined the sideline and it just brings that fire in passion as you need as a leader of the defense. Well, who's going to play that strong side outside linebacker? You got your backup is on ir with a knee injury. They signed Kevin Minter. Who do you think is gonna line up at that other the strong side outside linebacker spot. Yeah, when they

go based defense, it'll be DeVante Bond. I mean, he's the guy that's been here for a couple of years. He was injured in training camp. They reached an injury settlement. The timing was kind of good for the Bucks and that they had a couple of players that were eligible to resign with them because they've been out for six weeks and was one of them. Now he's only had you know, really one week of practice, so but he's

played before. Um, not exactly a frontline guy. But you know, when teams are in three receivers or three wide or more, you're you're you know, you're a nickel sixty six percent of the time. But that's who will start there for sure. What Gerald McCoy missed last week because of a calf, didn't practice today with the calf. You've already missed your shortstop, Alexandra a middle linebacker. If your catcher's out, you know you want to be strong up the middle in baseball,

defensively end football. If you if McCoy didn't go and Alexander doesn't go, man, that's that's a big blow up the middle, isn't it. Yeah, you're losing. You're right, exactly right. You build that defense that way, and you know they they've gotten a little fortunate. Um, I guess if you want to call it that that um, you know, bo Allen has come back off an injury. Vita Vea, who was their first round pick out of Washington, he's only

played in three games. It's sort of the equivalent of him playing now preseason, so this would be like his first game instead of the you know, sixth game or seventh game of the year. But um, you know those are those are two guys that did a nice job. They actually had their best game rushing the passer against the Browns. I may say more about the Browns, but they did have five sacked and Jason Pierre Paul has

just been phenomenal. I mean he's coming here after being traded by the Giants and has six sacks already in six games, and lots of tackles and and just sort of been another guy that's been the emotional, sort of an emotional leader for them on defense. We are visiting with Rick Stroud from the Tampa Bay Times. The Buccaneers are number one in the NFL and passing yards next

to last in rushing yards. Why such an imbalance, Well, I think if you really look at it, the first couple of games when Fitzpatrick was playing, they got up on teams really fast, and you know in those situations, you know, they just didn't have the ball very much. They didn't have many rushing attempts. And then in a couple of games, particularly Chicago, they got behind the early by five pets downs they weren't able to run it. So it's sort of been not by design to buy

the same token. I mean, if you look at their weapons, the way they want to attack you is through the air, because you know, you've got Mike Evans and you know Cameron Braid and O. J. Howard a tight end, and Sean Jackson got off to a great start, Chris Godwin

is playing really really well. Adam Humphries comes and plays in the slot, so they have so many receivers, which is why they leave the NFL in passing that they want to get the ball in their playmaker's hands, and a lot of times the best way to do that is to throw it. It's interesting not just the yard but the first downs. Twenty four first downs rushing fewest in the NFL, one hundred and eleven first down passing

most in the NFL. That eighty seven differential between first downs on the ground and in the air, biggest differential in the NFL. So, I mean, they are definitely and I guess for the reasons you said, and most importantly I agree with you. I think the weaponry. I mean, it's the Bengals. It's going to be an interesting matchup for me because the Bengals have had their tight end position decimated, so you know, they get questions there. They've

had their linebacker position decimated, questions there. Tampa Bay's got their linebacker position decimated, questions there. The only plus Tampa is tight ends, and that matchup, in the all important matchup in today's NFL, tight end on linebacker. Everything's hurt and except the Tampa Bay tight ends. Do you think that that could be a big advantage in this game. Oh,

I think so. I mean, you know, those matchups are tough, um even against you know, the front line players that are that are on the field, let alone guys that are hurt. So you know, whether you try to man, I mean, you've got O. J. Howard is sick sick two hundred and what like forty five pounds, and you know Cameron Braid is six to five. And these guys can really go up and catch the ball. I mean,

they have good ball skills, their red zone weapons. You know when you sprint, when they spread out and they go empty, which is quite a bit. You know, you can play zone if you want to, but if you go man to man, it's gonna be somebody's gonna be you know, they're gonna find the right guy. And that's what they've been doing. I mean, they're on a historic pace and go for over seven thousand yards this year.

So we'll see if they can keep that up. With the way the rules have sort of morphed in favor of the passing game, and Jamis Winston and of course Finzpatrick have you know, thrown for over seventy percent. It's really something to watch when they get it going now, They've not finished drives, they've they've hurt themselves in the red zone. They've been their own worst enemy there. And on defense, they're not taking the ball away and Cincinnati has.

So you know, those are the things that would help the Bengals is their ability to get turnovers. A couple more questions for Rick Stroud, who covers the Bucks to the Tampa Bay Times two years ago, the Bucks look like a team on the rise nine and seven and Jamis Winston's second year picked to be on hard knocks,

Why have they regressed in your opinion? Well, I think they over the Skis that year in part because of the hard knocks, and you know, really they didn't draft any defensive players per se on the defensive line really for about four years. Jason Light neglected that side. So he went out and completely rebuilt this defensive line with Bo Allen and Vinny Curry, who's hurt. You know, the guys I mentioned with Vita Vea and JPP. So you know, they just weren't good enough on defense, and it showed.

That's why Mike Smith is no longer here in part of the n't have any players. But you know, since then you know, Jamis got hurt. Last year he missed three games with an injury, he played three he probably shouldn't have played in, and this year he was suspended the first three. So they've just not had the kind of continuity at the quarterback position or really the defensive

personnel to make them a complete football team. Mark Jeffner, one of my all time favorite people linebacker coach up here with the Bengals before you know, earlier in his career, takes over for Mike Smith. That had to be a tough decision for sure, for Dirk Cutter. I know they're very close friends. But it looked like Mike was very aggressive and a lot of blitzing and get burned. Looked

like against Cleveland. Mark Duffner decided to let's calm it down, Let's play shell coverage, a lot of too deep safety, you know, let's play coverage and three men rush drop eight, four men rush drop seven and make them go on sustained drives. And it seemed to have worked out. Is that the way it looked to you, guys, And do you think you're gonna you're gonna see more of that and less aggressiveness and all out getting after its stuff. Yeah, I think that's exactly what he did. He tried to

simplify things. They got a very young secondary. They're playing three rookies, which is hard to do, as you know, you can't get those guys experienced. So Carlton Davis and m. J. Stewart and Jordan Whitehead back there, they wanted to make sure they didn't turn guys free, and that's what they had been doing. They'd been turning receivers just absolutely loose.

So they played a lot more covered to shell. What they did well was on third down they got off the field, you know, when they got him in third and longs. Then they came after him a few times. They did get the five stack, four man rush got home. So duff is great. I mean, he's seen so much in this game. He's really embraced this challenge. The players love him, as you know, he's got nicknames for all of them. He helped recruit most of them. So he's

been awesome. And then I think the guys are excited to play for him. You know one thing about Mark Duffner. Every day is a good day. I don't care what the weather is, I don't care what kind of problems. Every day is a good day when you're around Mark Dufter. That guy's the most positive guy I've ever met. He's awesome, and I think that was something they needed. And nothing against Mike Smith, but you know they're they're playing hard for Duff and they really do enjoy him, all right.

Thanks to Rick Strout, and that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated, and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast