Bengals Booth Podcast: Alive

answer the ask lap questions you submitted on Twitter. My one on one player interview is with Jonah Williams, who faces the challenge of trying to block NFL sack leader Myles Garrett. On Sunday, I'll preview the game with one of three quarterbacks who played for both the Bengals and the Browns, Bruce Gradkowski, and I'll also tell you who the other two quarterbacks were. And finally, it's our No the Faux segment, as we discussed the four and four

Cleveland Browns with long time Cleveland's sportswriter Tony Grossie. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick reminder that you can add the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing

since the Monday Night Football Manning Cast. Every Monday, I spend my evening doing prep work on the Bengals upcoming opponent, and the so called Manning Cast on ESPN two has proven to be the perfect background entertainment. If you haven't watched it yet, The Manning Cast is officially titled Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli, and it's an alternate broadcast of the Monday Night football game. It's basically like hanging out in their living room as the Manning brothers

and their guests watch the game. The football content is fine, but the best part is listening to Peyton and e Lie poke fun at each other. The guests this year have included a bunch of quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, Drew Breese, Bred Farv and most recently, Josh Allen. I've got my fingers crossed that will get a Joe Burrow appearance sometime soon. Now let's get to my guest list,

beginning with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap. Did the Jets provide a blueprint for the best way to attack the Bengals defense? I think that the Bengals can make adjustments to what they did. Dan. They gave a lot of space. You know, they retreated, and then when things start to go badly, when you're retreating, your instinct is to retreat more, you know, human nature instead of I'm not saying flight instead of fight, but I mean it's like the last thing you want to do is, oh

my gosh, this isn't working out. They're moving the ball. I gotta make sure they're don't throw it over my head. So you exacerbate the problem by dropping more a defense A coordinator who remained unnamed on this one, but he hit a cornerback that was you know, got beat in practice as training camp. So he kept giving space, giving space, giving space. Defensive corners up, kicks him in the button, pushes them up. The line of scrimmage goes, get up and press them, don't let them get a free release

on you reround him. You're doing the opposite of what you should be doing, and I think that's what ended up happening in this football game. It was almost like the human nature was the reverse of what you should be doing. You know, your natural reaction was almost like contrarian and because you know one thing, offensively, you want to create space. Defensively, you want a shrink space, and

the Bengals defensively, we're helping them create space. And it ended up kicking them in the butt and backfiring on them. And then compound that with the fact that they didn't, like Luna Rumo said, they block tackled, they didn't use their arms, they never wrapped up, and fifteen broken tackles in one football game. Over half of the offense came as a result of, you know, yards after catch because

the space provided, or yards after contact because of mistackles. So, speaking of lou Anna Rumo, he's done a phenomenal job this year. He's right up there with Team MVP almost through eight games. But I thought that they stayed with their defensive game plan too long and didn't adjust to what the Jets were doing. Is that fair? I mean, I'm no experts, certainly, yeah, And I guess part of it is my reaction would have been you know, shrink

the space, shrink the space. And maybe it was being said, but players just weren't doing it unless you're out in the field actually, you know, make that kind of correction. And then you look at the tape in gosh, it's even worse than I thought it was. And so it was just it was one of those scenarios where I think this is an oval simplification. But I thought out to look at it again that m lou wanted to

to muddy up the middle of the football field. For White, you know, did a lot of some zero stuff and all that, and he wanted to you know, make that like you know, rush hour traffic, not be able to sort it out. And what Lafleur did and what White executor was get it to perimeter, you know, to the short passes, the screens though a lot of a lot of routes that were to the outside, stay away from all that stuff in the middle. I thought they had a good game plan and they didn't have to adjust

their game plan. And the Bengals, you know, if they did adjust, took them obviously a little bit too long and then did not execute either the game plan or the adjustment to the game plan well enough. I mean the Jets made more plays. That's what it boiled down to. And how about White, not only the yards but the Philly special he catch us the two point conversion. I mean, the guy's going to have a statue at the stadium.

I mean after one game, he's I know one thing, He's not gonna be buying too many dinners or drinks in that town, which is good considering how much they cost to first quarter of the game, fourth and goal from the three after the Jesse Bates interception. I don't want a second guess just because it didn't work. But at the time, did you agree with going for it

or would you kick the field goal? Yeah? I probably would have put points on the board because of the fact that, all right, I already got I already took a hit, I already get staggers as they went right down the field in the first drive and scored. Then your defense makes a play and returns it a bunch of yards, and it's rare to get tack to the one yard line interception return. You know, it's almost amazing that he did. That's that's just an unbelievble hustle players.

It was a seven point play, as it turned out, But first and goal at the one you get knocked back, two straight downs, third down, your best receiver production wise in terms of yards and catches and touchdowns drops, the ball gets right in the chest at that point. It's like, it's a rocky start. Let's get something out of this. Let's get some points on the board, you know, and then and then okay, let's go attack again. But and

that's easy to say, hindsight is twenty twenty. But with all the things that went on before that, I think I would have been and we both agree, you know, you gotta got kick it, get the points. Yeah, I was with you at the time I take that field goal. I want to come away with something, avoid the risk of coming away with nothing. But it wasn't like I

felt that way ninety to ten. I felt that way, you know, fifty three to forty seven, right right, No, you're right, because in the competitive part of you is like, are you kidding me? This is embarrassing, this is ridiculous. It's the Jets, the only one, only one a game. We gotta we gotta let's get even steven right now, Let's establish something. I mean, I can see both ways. I can see a case for both ways, but I've

seen particularly the way their first three downs went. Now you expect to rise from the ashes and make something you know, really good happen. You know, I mean the odds say, I guess if you do analytics, if you have three bad players or oh it's you augs, you gonna have four in a row as opposed to have one good one, probably favoring the one good one. I

don't know. You can analytic to death. All I know is the Bengals took a shot to the mouth when they went down the field and scored their first points of the season in the first quarter. They were so confident they wanted to toss instead of deferring. This so we want the ball because we feel so good about our game plan. We want the ball. They went right down the field and scored. It's like, whoo man. Now now it's like you get pushed off your spot here

a little bit. You got to rebalance, recompose. So those are the reasons I would have done it. And they still had an eleven point leading the fourth quarter, so it's not like that decided the game. But still thought it was worth discussing all right. So far this year, the Bengals have scored fifty eight points in the second quarter, sixty five points in the third quarter, seventy points in the fourth quarter, but only twenty four in the first quarter.

That's an average of three points a game. Now, part of that is they've won all these coin tosses and they defers, so they've got fewer drives the first quarter then the other ones. But why do you think the offense keeps starting slow? That's a million dollar question, you know, it really is. I just I don't know. It's almost like you think about it so much. You know, it starts to be a trend after like your third game, you know, for a game or two, it's like, oh, well,

you know it'll turn around. Now getting into the halfway point of the season and still an issue. So not it starts to take on a life of its own, and you really start to press and to try to maybe do too much or I don't know, I really can't explain it. You're trying to do too much as a play caller. You're trying to do too much, to be too perfect in your execution instead of just going

out and relaxing and playing football. I mean, it has taken on a life of its own, just like scoring in the final two minutes of the second quarter is taken on a life of its own, and coming right out in the first drive in the third quarter and scoring like six out of eight games in both cases. There that's taken on a life of its own. So there's a negative life of its own, then a couple of positive life of its owns um but boy, if they could get that sword away, It's it's hard playing

from behind, you know, in the national football again. And even though they haven't scored in the first quarter every every game, or if scored been the other team has scored first, probably more than them every in most games, they've been able to bounce back. I mean they've been able to you know. It hasn't necessarily been the biggest reason they lost the football game, but it's a reason. I think it's a factor. I think it's a factor for sure. Let's talk about the Browns. They're four and four.

Baker Mayfield is playing with the left shoulder injury that will eventually require surgery. Kareem Hunt is out right dackle Jack Conklin is an excellent player. He's going to miss this week's game. Now they've got Odell Beckham junior and senior drama going on in Cleveland. How did the Browns look to you right now? And what are some of the keys to beating them? Yeah, I mean they're still

they're still a physical football team. You watch you watch them on tape and you think, how does this football team not won more games? Because their offensive line is very good, their defensive line is very good. I mean just in the running the football alone, they have the best differential in the National Football League. They've outrushed their opponent by seventy six point three yards, best in the league.

Their number one rushing it, the number one in yards per while they're rushing it, they're the third and stopping the run, and their second in yards per stopping the run. That's that's exactly what you want. They're a plus one point seven per attempt. That's one. Now, that's first in the National Football League as well. When you can run the ball and stop the run like that, I don't care what level of football you're talking about, you should

be a winning football team. Now they're minustering in the turnover department, which is which is probably a little bit perplexing. The biggest thing is that their lack of takeaways, Dan, that's stunned me. Only five takeaways, tied for the second fewest in the league. You know, they've only got eight eight giveaways. That's not terrible, but being minus three with just the five takeaways, they've only recovered two fumbles, tied for the second fewest in the National Football League as well.

So you know, you can always find a reason why they are what they are. But when you look at their personnel and you look at the way they've executed as a result they having that personnel, and they've had some injury issues. Chubb has been hurt, Hunt's been hurt. They haven't had their one two punch at the running back position together for a whole lot of snaps. They've got a tanement defensive ends that's as good as there is in the league. I mean, they've got players. They've

got players. So the Bengals are gonna have to play at a very high level to get this thing taken care of. And I think you know, when you look at it, the Bengals are in such a good situation because they've won two division games. If they can win this one, they have Basically, they have their net three division games at home, three in a row at home, and then they have to go up to Cleveland the end of the season. But if they can take care of business on the division games at home and start

five at all. And I'm getting way ahead of myself, but I mean, if you can win this home division game and your first two division games in the second half of the season or at home, man, that that's pretty high Cotton. That's you know, that's that's why you won in Pittsburgh and in Baltimore to put yourself in this position now you have to capitalize and finalize. Is stopping the run far and away the number one key

this week? I think it is. I think I think, you know, being competitive with their run game in terms of running it and stopping the run, they're the best in the league in my opinion, you know, combined. That's I think that's the core of what the Bengal is going to have to be competitive in those areas to win this football game. I don't think they can get you know, just rush for seventy yards against the Cleveland Browns and give up one hundred forty and think they're

gonna win the football game. I just I don't I don't see that being the case. I see that that rush differential as being a factor. The Bengal is gonna have to you know, narrow that margin. They can't be out rushed by seventy six plus yards like everybody else has been on an average basis. Myles Garrett leads to the the NFL and sacks. I think we all know that. I was surprised to see he's tied for second on the Browns and tackles. So he's doing the job in

the run game as well. When you watch that guy on tape, what jumps out freak, I mean, so explosive, and I think he's even more effective. Probably two of his ten sacks have come from inside. But man, he's so explosive and they twist and stunt with them, and he's man, he hits gaps and you know, he just he just overpowers people. He grabs two, you know, and he's just so effective inside. That's big. Fred Fred Johnson

gave up a you know, a sack last year. That was he lined up over Fred at Fred playing in a right guard position, lined up a defensive tackle, blew up the field sack Joe stripped him, recovered the fumble, I mean all of it. He got the he got the triple dip ice cream cone, the sacks, stripped, fumble and fumble recovery. They have a short field and they score big, big play in that football game. If I'm a guard and I think I think they were going

to say, let's challenge the guards a little bit. Match up wise, I think we may see Garrett inside, maybe even more than people think potentially. But he's he's the son of a gun on the edge too though. And like you said, Dan, he and Clowney, Clowney to Clowney said, such a good solid edge in the running game. Garrett's doing it as well. I mean, they're they're just a

very very sound football team. In Clowney. Remember we saw Clowney when we beat Tennessee, when Quentin Spain was his first game with this historic you know, doesn't even know the names and faces the guys in the huddle. He goes out there and plays the heck of a game. Clowney was in again. Clowney to me looked like look back nine ish. Now he's got juice. Now, now he's got a guy that you know, a duo, A tandem guy.

He's playing with a lot more juice than he played with when we saw him last when Tennessee came here to Cincinnati in that game. Not what I wanted to hear. I pointed the lap signal into the sky above Paul Brown Stadium this morning. So I've got some asked lap questions that were submitted via Twitter. This one comes from Chris. Every player and coach knew the Jets was a potential trap game or a letdown game, and your experience what

causes a team to still come out flat? Man? Chris, let me you give me an opportunity to talk about something to happen in our Super Bowl team in nineteen eighty one, first time we went to the Super Bowl. This is unbelievable when I thought back to it, because I thought the circumstances were pretty close. We're five and two. We go to play the New Orleans Stain. It's one and six down in New Orleans Forest. Greg's like man, trap, tr ap, big trap until he was blue in the face.

We go down there, Saints spank us seventeen to seven. I'll guarantee you all week, guys, I'm telling you they're gonna come out. They're embarrassed. They're embarrassed by the Patriot. This is gonna be a physical football game. You can talk to you blue in the face until you get out there and feel the trap and squeeze on you. You know you Sometimes you have to learn the lesson the hard way. And what did we do? Okay, well, you can go one of two ays. You can fold

your tent or respond. That was the last game in October. Then we had the November to remember. Dan and I looked all the games up. November first against the Oilers in Cincinnati, thirty four, twenty one, thirteen point win. We go out to San Diego on November eighth, beat him forty to seventeen, and everybody's like, oh the freezer ball man, if you guys have played, we pumped them by twenty three points in their place. We're better than the San

Diego charges now the Er charges. But then on the fifteenth the Rams come to town, Jack Youngblood and the second Fearsome forcemen as such, Fred Dryer, all these guys. We beat them twenty four to ten. Then the Denver Broncos come, Oh wait, I mean just to hell of a football team. It's when the Broncos. With the Broncos, we've beat him thirty eight twenty one, beat him by seventeen.

Then we go to Cleveland on the twenty ninth. Five games in the month of November, the way that calendar worked out, on the twenty ninth of November, beat Cleveland forty one twenty one. The closest anybody came was thirteen points in a five game sweep of good football teams. Every one of these teams was a playoff contender. Then all of a sudden, yeah, we are as good as

we thought we are. This I'm not saying this football team is going to go on a five game winning streak or four game and winning streak or whatever and go to the Super Bowl. But what I'm saying is, don't let one stub your toe where you broke your toe, or don't let it break your toe. Stub your toe, don't let it break your toe. On recover, you know, all your goals is still ahead of you, particularly with

respect to the division. You can bounce back against a division opponent, sweep the division in the first part of it, be three and all at the break at the bye week in the division in great shape. Like we said two out of the last year at home, this big game, stop your toe, don't break your talent. I like that. This question comes from r as have you ever seen

players come to the podium together to answer questions? No, now, I shouldn't say that, because you know, when they have the big games that are network televised playoffs and all that, they'll have teammates out there together because of just the timing of it and all that. But they're not out there necessarily, you know, as one to answer questions. It's like they'll they'll be peppered questions just trying to get

a sheer volume people out there. This is a situation where let's go out there and show united from we all believe in each other, we believe in the football team, and let's approach it that way. I thought that was that was a great idea. And I don't know who the idea it was, but all three of them should take a bow, I think for that. I think their teammates appreciated it. I know as a former player I did, and they all representing themselves and their football team very well.

I thought it was a very very positive statement and I think it kind of it eased the fracture was. It wasn't as bad a break of the bone. You know, after losing that football game. The way they handled it, they stopped the damage. You know, they basically stuck the finger in the dike and stopped the leaking of the damn. I thought it was a good move. I agree, I thought it was great. This question comes from John in a season where the Bengals have been incredibly healthy so far,

I'm knocking on something that sounds like wood. Should the Bengals have made moves at the trade deadline to position themselves for a playoff push. You know, you heard about all these potential deals that we're going to be made, and just a very very few of them are made. It's just hard. It's hard. It's hard to make deals that benefit both football teams enough where they both feel comfortable enough to do it. We don't know how many

deals they kicked the tires on. We don't know how many deals they got into big discussions on, but none to materialize. I have no problem with the fact that they didn't make any trades. Now, I hope and I think there's number one focus still is signed. Jesse Bates.

You know, I think their mindsets take care of their own and even and now that they didn't make any of these trades and have to mess with any salary cap deal scenarios in the in so doing, they know still exactly what they were going to be looking at you at the conclusion of the season and for future seasons on. So you know, maybe maybe the deal will come together for Jesse Bates before the end of the year, who knows, But I think that would still be my

first priority. You know, when you have when you have a teammate like Mike Hilton, a conclusion of a press or say, signed Jesse Bates, it's powerful stuff. You know, those kind of things mean something, I think, and that would be my number one priority now is getting number thirty signed, followed closely by Larry Ogan Joby absolutely. Next question from governor chief, how do you think the defense will respond after an abysmal performance last week. I think

they'll respond big time. I think that I think this one is gonna be a cage match. I mean, I think it's gonna be like MMA. It's it's gonna be a very very physical football game. It's a division rivalry. Cleveland Cincinnati are always physical football games with what's at stake now, and I mean the sports psychologists could have a field day. Bengals have the big win in Baltimore and they get full of themselves and they, you know,

don't listen to everybody about the trap game deal. They go down to go up to the Jets and lose that football game, how are they going to respond? I mean, they had more to lose than the Jets obviously in that football game, and they'd lost it in the Jets one to Cleveland coming off a brutally physically tough football game, Pittsburgh Steelers lose five in the division by five in the division game, what's their mindset going to be? Like?

I think both of them are going to come into this football game dan angry, upset, disappointed, wanting to make restitution. I think it's going to be really physical, particularly at the onset. And then then what you have to do is, all right, you get over that phase of it and now you get into the snap by snap grind of the game. But keep that intense and new level high. And I think that's what we're going to see out of the Bengals. We're not going to see that intensity

level sag like it's sag in New York. This question comes from Willie, not Cunningham. Ken Hakima Dentagy be the first guard off the bench once he's activated to the fifty three manuster, assuming that happens. I want if that's Big Williamerson asking that old line question, Big will it wouldn't surprise me if But he has to be physically ready, and thing that he's fighting, like we talked about before right now, is not just getting ready physically for football.

I mean, he hasn't had any contact so and he hasn't taken all the reps at OTA's Mini Camps training camp that all the other linemen took with Frank Pollock and his new new technique's new footwork and all that thing. So he's he's trying to catch up in a very very short time for him of thousands of reps that

the other guys are taken. So it's not easy. And he hasn't played a lot of football in the National Football League, So you throw all that into the mix, and it's like, I don't know if you want to rush it necessarily, because that could be kind of productive and it could be a confidence buster in some way. Shape or for him. But he's got talent, and if it looks like he's ready to play, I'd see how well he can play. I really would. I'd find out.

Another offensive line question comes from man, can you see Trey Hill getting snaps at center? Potentially? But I think I think the one thing that that Trey Hill has shown, unfortunately, is when a problem happens, he kind of loses his mind. You know, it happened to him, you know, in Baltimore, and he only lasted a couple of snaps before Frank said, all right, look this, you're gonna have to sit back down and chill a little bit. And then he did,

and he came back. He played some lights, some snaps. But the one thing you can't have happen is the center who makes all the calls and everything that goes along with it. Trey Hopkins does an unbelievable job, super intelligent and doesn't never lose his you know, he's like he's always got his he knows the responsibility, so he's not gonna lose his mind. As such. Tray shown that can happen to the young rookie, so that that would

be a concern of mine. That's somebody that I've I've got play in the center position that kind of orchestrates, you know, everybody's movements based on his calls. He would be a very clear minded, clearhead and all that sort of thing. So physically, yeah, I think he could. Mentally, maybe a little work to do there. The final two questions come from Bengal super fan and podcaster Zim Zim's

a good dude. Here's the first question. With last week's injury to Carmen and the uncertainty of hopkins knee, coupled with the fact that the Bengals are likely to have a couple of extra draft picks next year, how do you justify not adding interior line help at the deadline? Well, I think that Carmen's injury was not anywhere near as

bad as people thought, you know, at that point. And I think that they're at this point in time trying to develop a guy that they've added to the interior line to improve it and to make it make it a better unit inside. So I don't think they necessarily want to give up on Carmen at this point in time. Now, I know you're thinking because of injury, but again, the injury is not as severe as as initially could have been. So I think that's a that's a factor. And again, interior,

really good interior offensive lineman. People don't just give him up. I mean it's he's say, yeah, yeah, I want to trade for an interior offensive linement. Well, I don't want to give you mine. You can't give me enough for what I think the value of my interior offensive lineman is. I remember that, Uh, Mike McCormick divulged to me that when I played center to finish out a season, I think it was a nineteen eighty season. I think I had to play Blair Bush Tours knee up and I

had to play the last six games at center. And Mike McCormick was our line coach. And then he went to fill Ladelphia, and uh, and he said that they trying to work at trade to go to Philadelphia, and the Bengals wanted a first or second undraft pick for and obviously, you know, like eight years in the league or whatever. Debtok, Mike goes, hey, I love you and everything,

but that that wasn't gonna happen. Those are the kind of things though, the people like somebody's uh trash is another person's treasure kind of thing, you know, in terms of what the values are. So that's why a lot of those deals don't come together, you know that quickly. It's like, now, man, that's unrealistic. I mean, yeah, I like the guy. I think he's a good player of it. Heck, I don't want to leverage my you know, my franchises future.

So it's it's a lot easier than it sounds. And that's why thirty two teams all to talk about the trade deadline and what less than a handful of deals happened. If I'm the Bengals back in the day, I would have held out for Ricky Williams like package for day of Lapham. I want your entire draft or I'm not giving lap up all right, Second and final question from Zim what position would Dan play? I assume he means me in today's soft NFL. Well, the thing about Dan

Horde is he's sneaky athletic. You got to you got to realize that he's very sneaky athletic. Plus, though nobody is more intelligent than Dan Horde. Dan Horde could I would I would have him somewhere on the field, you know, he's gonna have a green dot on his helmet wherever he is because I want to communicate with him, because I know what I communicate will be communicated to everybody

else precisely. And uh so I would put Dan Horde in a position safety something like that where he has to he has to direct traffic and uh and take care take care of business. That way, I trust the man's mind as well as his body. I appreciate that very much, reiterating that that is in the soft NFL because you don't want Dan Horde trying to hit anybody. I can promise you that lap. Thank you kindly, pleasure

as alis my pleasure, Damn the man. Great questions from zim Hu Day, who co hosts the Orange is the New Black podcast with Ace Boogey. I look forward to being their guest this week. Up next my one on one visit with offensive lineman Jonah Williams, who faces the challenge of trying to block Myles Garrett on Sunday, John, I want to start with something three of your teammates did after the loss to the Jets last week. Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon and Jessee Bates chose to address the media

in Unison. What should we take from that? I mean, I think that that says a lot about our team and the connectedness that we're showing. And it's important that when we win, we acknowledge that we want as a team, and when we lose, we lose as a team. So there's no pointing fingers. It's just accountability as a unit. I thought after they had been embarrassed the week before by the Patriots, the Jets played violently on both sides of the ball last week. Did you notice a little

extra juice while you were trying to block those guys? Yeah, they were playing hard, but it's the NFL. You know, we expect everyone to play hard every week, so you know, they post challenges and we just didn't do enough to win. You did score thirty one points. That's the third straight week you've topped thirty all on the road. What do you think is clicking right now that maybe wasn't quite

there early in the year. I just think that we're we've been together more, we've practiced together more, we've played together more. So I think that we're really starting to gel as a unit. And it's also the progression of the offense. You know, schematically, teams are adjusting to something, so we have to have good responses to that, and I think we've been doing a good job, and you know, for the rest of the season, it's going to be important that we continue to put up a lot of points.

We're visiting with Jonah Williams. A key play and last week's game was the interception by the Jets with about four and a half minutes to go. It's a screen to Jamar Chase. The right side of the line goes to the right faking a run. You and Quinton Spain peel out to the left. You're gonna block for Jamar and it looks like if Shack Lawson doesn't tip and intercept the pass, that's going to be a huge game. Is that the way it looked on tape? Yeah, I

mean I think that it. You know, the play call made sense with that defense, and you know, if if we executed just a little bit better, I think it would would have been a big game or a big play, and unfortunately it was, you know, it just didn't work out that way. Sometimes the other guys make plays too. Joe Burrow has been sacked twenty times this year, but ten came in the first two games. You've only given up ten in the last six. What's been the key

to protecting him so well? If light well, I think I mean any sacks or too many sacks. So I think it's been better, but there's a lot to there's a lot to clean up. You know. It's it's similar to what I said in terms of why the offense is scoring. I think that you know, we're working together, working together better as an OH line and as an

offense as a whole. Everyone's on the same page, and you know Joe's making good decisions with the ball, and you know we're just doing a better job of protecting. So we've play a lot of good D lines coming up the rest of the year, and it's going to be important for us to, you know, player best game. Every week. We're visiting the Jonah Williams because you were selected three drafts ago. I'm not sure that people realize how young you still are. You don't turn twenty four

for about two weeks. You're eleven months younger than Joe Burrow. Do you feel like you're still early in your NFL learning curve? I do. I don't look at that as a disadvantage, though. I just think that, you know, I have room to grow, and that's that's why I'm still here, you know, That's why I'm That's why I'm here at practice, working every day, and it's it's just a continue to get better and you know, hopefully have a long career

ahead of me. So you face the Browns this week, and that means you will be matched up against the NFL sack leader Miles Garrett. He's also tied for second on the Browns and tackles so far this year, so he's doing a great job against the run as well. You faced him last year. What's the out. I mean, he's a he's a phenomenal football player, and I think that that's obvious to anyone who watches him. Um, you know, he's he's quick, he's powerful, he has a good arsenal

of moves at his disposal. So it's it's on me and on the rest of the line to use great technique and you know, to just do what we can to to control them and neutralize him. And I think that that's gonna be one of the big keys of the game. Watching their last game, I thought it was striking how wide he lines up, he's almost even with the slot receivers as opposed to write over you what challenges does that present? I mean it gives him a running started, kind of a full head of steam by

the time he actually gets to engage me. Um. You know, but it also opens up lanes in the run game. And you know, so there's there's advantages and disadvantages to everything in football. UM, so we just have to take advantage of that. Um. It is a unique alignment. Last week was disappointing, no question, but you are five and three if the season ended today, he a playoff team.

Evaluate this team through eight games. I think that we've shown a lot of really good stuff that makes me excited and that you know, makes us believe that we can be a playoff team. It's just a matter of execution, because I think we saw this past week that you know, no matter how talented we are, how you know, how many good wins we have, any team can show up and take it to us on the weekend. And so I think that we know we have the ability to be a really good team and to be a playoff team.

We just have to continue to prove that. Um. You know, for the rest of these games. Last question for Jonah Williams the bias coming up after this game? Anything fun planned? Um, just you know, recovering the body. Maybe it's some good food and and hang out and relax a little bit. But I'm I'm having a hard time thinking about that with these next four or five days in front of me, you know, so I'll be excited about when it comes understandable.

Beat the Browns. First, enjoy the break. Second, appreciate your time. Best of lut this week. Thank you for having but one it's worth. The Bengals offensive line is currently tied for eighth in past blocking efficiency according to Pro Football Focus. Tampa Bay is number one, Indianapolis is dead last. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free

to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the season, with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app stores. Now. Now time to bring in a former Bengals quarterback who is currently an analyst for Pro Football Focus and for Sirius XM NFL Radio. The perfect person to preview this week's game

between the Bengals and the Browns. Is one of only three quarterbacks to play for both franchises, Bruce Gradkowski, and I'm going to name the other two at the end of this inner view, so people have to stay tuned until the very end. Bruce, Let's start with Joe Burrow. He's a little bit more than one year into his NFL career. What do you find extraordinary about what he's

been able to do so far? Well, thanks for having me, Dan, and I just think Burrow what's so special and unique about him is what he brings in that locker room and just the leader he is, the mentality he has, and of course he has all the ability on the field, but I'll tell you when anytime I've been around him,

he makes me a believer. And I knew the Bengals made some good pieces and acquisitions this offseason, but to watch how they're planning so far this year, watch how Joe Burrows playing, It's just really a compliment to him in his leadership and his mentality of what is resonate throughout that locker room. And that's what I have a lot of respect for, is how he approaches the game, his toughness, his mentality, and it's fun to watch. The Bengals have top thirty points in each of their last

three games. The franchise record for consecutive games with thirty plus is four, so theoretically they can tie that this week against Cleveland. What stands out when you watch the Bengals offense right now? You know the thing that's unique and that I was kind of pulling up numbers from our PF data Burrow verse man and man. Last year his PF passing grade was seventy nine point three. In this year, verse man a man, his passing grade is ninety four point two. So I think Burrow's doing a

great job. But you also have to look at his counterpart in Jamar Chase and what these two do well together. Jamar Chase on third down has two hundred and seventy two yards. This was before last week, and you know, second behind Justin Jefferson, and that just shows you know, Burrows third down grade as well, how that got better from last year to this year. And so just watching

how Burrow continues to get better. Last year they opened up the offense, he was executing a ton of different concepts and now this year he's one year more experienced in it. They're giving him some flexibility at the line of scrimmage. And when you have a quarterback that could do those type of things, he's gonna put your offense in a downhill play. Is Jamar even better as a

rookie than you thought he would be? You know, he really is, especially the things we're hearing, you know, coming out of Bengals camp about drop passes and stuff like that. But then you know, it goes back to you know, even quarterbacks when we studied these college guys or first year in the NFL, we're talking about, oh they're inaccurate, or or receiver dropping football, Oh he can't catch. Well, there's so much on their plate as a young player,

you're trying to learn an offense. You're trying to know where to line up and what to do and get used to the speed of game, to the speed of the game. Then all of a sudden, the ball hits you in the hands. Here, Oh, shoot, that's right, I gotta catch it too, you know. So there's so much going on, and so to watch Jamar Chase in his progress so far from training camp till now, and what he's doing is very special. And I'll tell you what. Against the Ravens, I was impressed with his yards after

the catch. I mean, this guy's this guy's tough and physical and explosive. I didn't know he could get away like that, and that's what was cool to see. And I think the more Jamar Chase does it, the more he's building his own confidence and be like, Wow, this is the NFL. I can dominate here. And it's pretty cool to see what he's doing. Already, we're talking to former Bengals quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. Let's talk about the Browns. A lot of people looked at Cleveland as a Super

Bowl contender going into the season. I'm sure many people still do. But they're four and four so far. What stands out about Cleveland so far this year? You know, it's it's tough, you know, I know Mayfield going through this shoulder injury. I had a shoulder injury similar college that I had to play through times, and you know, it's not easy, and I know it's his non throwing shorter, but it's still something you're thinking about, something that kind

of makes you a little hesitant. But Mayfield has to play cleaner football. And I think too when you look at the Browns, you know their playmakers have to step up. I know last week Jarvis Landry, you know, had to fumble and to keep position. He dropped a pass another time. And your leaders, your captains, that's when they have to make plays. Because this division, the AFC North, you know, it's tough, man and so if you have an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it. If you have

a throw that's open, you gotta hit it. If you have a pass that should be caught, you got to catch it. And you can't turn the football over and that bit. You know, the Browns last week against the Steelers. But this is a competitive division. A lot of games still left in the season. So you know, if you're the Browns, you stuff to be optimistic in that sense. But you're coming in and gonna face a good, you know, Bengals football team, and the Bengals coming off, you know,

a tough loss against New York. They're ready to rebound. So this is gonna be primetime football you know to watch, So it's gonna be an exciting game. Odell Beckham Junior's dad basically called out Baker Mayfield this week by posting video that showed times that Odell was open and didn't get the ball. How do you think that plays in

an NFL locker room? You know, it's tough. I mean, I want to say, doesn't carry a lot of weight, you know, because these guys communicate on a daily basis, so you know, it could be something that hopefully they joke around with one another to lighten the mood and like come on, man, tell your dad to call me if he has an issue or you know, something like that, or let's get your dad on FaceTime and talk to him.

But you know, I witnessed it last week as I was great in the game and Mayfield through a pass down the middle of the field to Obj. It was a little overthrow own and you know, the safety kind of was creeping over too, so kind of look like, what were you throwing me into here? And why would you leave it high and towards the safety And the way ob J got up after the round kind of gave a little stair back to Mayfield kind of had me intrigued, like, ah, yeah, I think there's a lot

of emotions going on when you're winning. You could slide this stuff under the rug. But when things get tough, you know, you know, this is when things come to light. How can you manage these situations? Kevin Stefanski, how does he do during this time? He did a phenomenal job last year during COVID. How do you continue bring the guys together. It's easy to lead during good times when you're winning, everything's gravy. But when you face some adversity,

that's when you know the real testament stands out. And as a receiver, Dan look, I mean the great, the greatest of the great. They want the football, you know, because the receivers they want to be a part of the game and help the team. So I apre obj and wanting the ball, wanting to help. But he's got to do his job. He's got to run better routes, he's got to be in the right spot, and then when he is open, yeah, Mayfield has to hit it.

So it's not just one guy's problem. Everyone plays a part in it, and they just can't seem to get in a rhythm. First, Kretkowski is our gas, all right. The Bengals are five and three, the Browns are four and four. This week's games at Paul Brown Stadium. What are a couple of keys in your mind? You know, it's turnovers. Turnovers stand out to me. You know, who's

going to protect the football. But also up front, I mean, I think you have to stop the run if you're the Bengals, because that's what the Browns are gonna want to do. They you want to take some stuff off of Mayfield's played. Hope played better when you're running the football. So the Browns are gonna come off the bus trying to establish that run, getting back to what they're good at, what they're used to doing, and try to establish the

ground game in a sense like that. And I think, you know, as far as the Bengals defensively, Joe Burrow, you know, Burrow did a great job last week through three quarters. Same thing defensively, it was that fourth quarter. It's kind of like a mountdown in a sense. I think the Bengals just had to put a fourth quarter game together, play clean football in Burrow just being Burrow, kind of like that guy behind you in that photo.

Remember we played the Browns in Cleveland. Don't goes down to a little hand injury or wrist and we come back to win. But a lot of good times. But I think I think the Bengals. I would love to see the Bengals rebound here because I think it would show a testament to their team character and that they are a good, tough football team. Hey, it happens you lose a game you shouldn't. Now you just have to bounce back. Well, you reference that game in Cleveland where

you were the hero the opener in twenty eleven. You threw AJ Green's first career touchdown catch to win that game. That's one trivia question. It's time to answer the other. Do you know the other two quarterbacks to play for both the Bengals and the Browns? Man, it doesn't come to mind right now, you know? Should I know? This is this one that a probably should know right now? Not really? The other two quarterbacks to play for both

the Bengals and the Browns are Jason Campbell and Todd Philcox. Gradkowski, Campbell and Philcox, the Big Three. Bruce, It's always great to visit with you. Thanks so much for your time. Keep up the good work. Yeah, thanks, Dan, you good luck. This week, Bruce became a high school football coach in his hometown of Toledo. This year and took Saint Francis de Sales to the Division two playoffs before losing to

second seeded Avon. Finally, it's time to take an in depth look at the Browns with longtime Cleveland sportswriter Tony Grossi, who joined Lappinbe on the Bengals Game Plan show on Wednesday night. We started by asking Tony for his take on the Odell Beckham junior situation, after the former Pro Bowl wide receiver was told not to come to practice on Wednesday afternoon. Well, first of all, I think it's safe to say that the Bengals won't have to worry

about defending Odell on Sunday. So no way can I see him reconciling the situation and playing in Sunday's game. More likely, I see them separating somehow. The means must be, you know, kind of negotiated. I don't think the Browns want to release O'Dell still pay him eight million dollars and have him, you know, join a contending team that

the Browns make face somewhere down the line. So it's very possible, in my opinion, that we can see almost a Deshaun Watson situation here where the Browns pay Backham the rest of the year not to play. Wow, that's unreal. So he would be on the commissioner's list as such. Not No, I don't think any list. It's just that they won't give him his release. There there, you know, he's guaranteed his salary as a vested veteran even if

they would release him. And I don't see it being a situation where he could play with them again whether he wants to or not. So just game day and active for the rest of the year. Like Deshaun Watson with Houston. Wow. Yeah, paying him to go away, that's pretty good, pretty good gig if you can find it. I guess that's unbelievable at any rate. So so he's he's going to be. He didn't practice today, and of course they they said quote shoulder injury or whatever, but

I mean shoulder problem. But it's obviously the personal issues that he's dealing with. Fifteen other players were on the Wednesday injury report in varying degrees. Uh. Seven others didn't practice at all. Six practice limited too on the injury report, including Baker Mayfield. You know, practice bowl. How severe are a lot of these injuries I mean, I know, you play the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're always licking your wounds when you're done. How severe are some of these injuries? Now?

These are all legit. Uh, they've they've been beat up for about I don't know, three four five weeks, and it's gonna stay with him, uh, the whole year. They don't have a bye week until December, and that they've they've been beat up, there's no doubt. I mean, now you mentioned Odell, he's got a legit shoulder injury in addition to this mass and all of the all of the injuries listed are fairly legit. They've played with him.

You probably know Banker situation. He's got a totally torn left laborum and also a very small chip fracture in his uh humorous bone, and he's playing with that wearing a tight harness to keep the shoulder from popping out even without contact. So are banged up, and it's it's partly the reason they're four for him. So it is partly the reason. Tony Grossi from eight fifty ESPN Cleveland

is our guest. Let me follow up on Baker Mayfield Tony, because he's played great against Cincinnati the six times he's played the Bengals, and last year with Kevin Stefanski coaching him, he was so great at those rollouts and just using the running game to create wide open lanes or in the in the passing game. Have they had to curtail that stuff because of the bad shoulder. Are they reluctant to have him rolling out and potentially exposing himself to

hits to the shoulder. This will be a good test to that, because they surely limited him against Pittsburgh. But as you guys know, it's tough for quarterbacks to get on the edge. Against Pittsburgh, they played that wide defensive front, and yeah, it's just it's just tough to begin with. But clearly they had two fourth and one quarterback sneak possibilities and they didn't use the stake because they don't

want to further injure him. So I do think he's more limited now and we'll see if they get him out on the edge. That's where he's more effective. To be able to see the field, even if you're only seeing half of it. When you do that, when he's in the pocket, it's very difficult for him to connect. You see him sailing the ball high down the middle on a lot of throws this year. So Nick Chubb is now back. I guess we won't see Hunt it doesn't look like but Chubb is back the offensive line. Conklin.

Is he going to try to play with a big brace, a big contraption or no, he's out indefinitely. He's so he's not gonna have surgery, but he's out indefinitely. They haven't. They haven't cleared him out yet at this point. I guess are they going to put him in into reserve. That's to be determined by the end of the week. But they turned it a multiple week injury. So who goes for him? Is that Hants or is it Hudson? Now it'll be blank Hants, who's kind of emerged as

their new sixth man. You know, they also have Chris Hobbard out, who was their sixth man. He's on ir right. So Hants has emerged as that guy who will fill in. He's skilled in at left tackle, he's skilled in at right tackle, and now he's the starter at right tackle. Uh, indefinitely. So the offensive line this the Cleveland Brown team, number one in the league, rushing number one in the league

rushing touchdowns. You know, they just they pound people expect even you know, with Hants at the at the right tackle position, that's not going to alter their mindset. I mean, their whole offense is built around pounding the football, averaging over one hundred and sixty yards in the ground. Do you expect the same type of thing this week? Oh yeah,

that's their bread and butter. And they were even to do They were even able to do that against Denver with Chubb and hunt out, you know, with his number three de Ernest Johnson the third back. So it's all based on the offensive line, and Hants has been steadily improving under you know, Bill Callahan, the offensive line coach, is known for improving players alonger they're playing for him,

and Blake Hants is one of those. So I don't expect that to change, especially when you consider that Baker is restricted now playing with a tight harness, and and you know, knowing that shoulder has already been rehindred once already. How bad is Will's ankle injury and Trader's knee? How bad are those guys? Well, Trader is one of those guys who hardly ever practices, but hasn't missed a snap in four years. He's always going to have a legit knee injury on the injury list. The other one, Wills

has probably survived the worst. He played when he probably shouldn't have during the initial stages of that ankle injury. He admitted that. But now he's much better after he missed two games, so he's closer to normal. A couple more questions for Tony Gross, who covers the Cleveland Browns for the Land on Demand dot Com. I'm looking at Miles Garrett stats. He's got two more sacks than anybody else in the NFL. He's got five more quarterback hits

than anybody in the NFL. I kind of knew that, but then I see he's tied for second on the team and tackles. That tells me he's playing the running game great. Has he taken his game to the next level this year? I think so, although he is missing the element of strip sacks. Yeah. Last year he had four strips in four straight games. I think one was on Burrow early on. He hasn't done that, and of course he lost the band again last week in a

type game. It wasn't able to affect that game. Um, he is collecting the sacks and he's a great player, don't you know. Don't get me wrong, but it seems every time he and TJ Water on the field together, TJ has the better game. So in terms of Clowney, jadeveon, clowney, ankle, knee, hip, I mean, that's that's pretty extensive. All all three of

those are listed in Um. You know, he missed practice. Uh, but he seems to be watching him as compared to when I saw him play last year when he was with Tennessee against the Bengals and watching him on tape, this year, he seems to have more juice. I mean, is it because he's playing with a great player or what? What? What is his status physically, do you think? Yeah, he's got the hat trick of injuries right now, and again

they're all legit. Um. Uh. Yeah. He started the year, the training camp, the preseason in a very happy state, basically because he started camp healthy for the first time in like three years. In his opinion, he had missed. He had missed training camps for the last three years of rehabbing injuries from the previous year. This year he started healthy, which made him happy. He liked the vibe here. He liked, you know, not being the number one guy, the batman, but being the robin to Garrett. Uh, and

he knew the Browns should contend. Uh, he is when he's on the field, Uh, he's pretty pretty well. You know, he's he's best against the run and he had two tackles for loss against Pittsburgh on running plays. That's that's vintage Clowney there. But when he's on the field, he does help make Garrett more effective because they can't double everybody. Both teams chipped and used tight ends on Garrett. Um, he would wrecked a little more pass rush numbers out

of clowning. But he's he's having a better year than Like he said that, you remember last year and maybe even the year before that. So what about Denzel Ward? How bad is the hamstring with Denzel Ward? I think he returned to practice today. I think I think he was limited on their report, which was improvement because he missed the last game. And usually with Denzel Ward, when he has a hamstring that forces in the miss a game, it's usually multiple games. So I wasn't We'll see if

he gets into the game. It's going to be literally a questionable situation, but the fact that he was at practice and limited today was encouraging. So we'll see how that one goes. And finally, Tony and thanks for all your time. How big of a blow was losing the rookie from Notre Dame A woosue Cora. That guy is a freak. He does some freak is stuff to tape and I saw on him. I'm telling you what if he was in there with Clowney and Garrett, Are you kidding me? What was he? How big an addition was

that dude? Yeah, well that's that's what they envisioned. Would you just expressed? And he was based how like a hybrid. He looks like a quarterback. He's so short and he wears a quarterback number two twenty eighth, so it's weird. But he's very quick. He was going to be the quick guy to help him defend Lamar Jackson. You know, Kyler Murray. They got some of those guys on their

schedule homes. But and he was coming along really well as the weak side linebacker and uh and and had gotten to the point where he was on the field for three downs rather than just special packages. They loved the way he was developing and the impact he was having, So yeah, that was a blow. He'll be back in a couple of weeks, I believe, and it's not I don't think he's not done for the year, but he

is on IR all right. Thanks to Tony Grossie. And here's a quick reminder to join lapping me for the Bengals pep Rally show this Friday from two thirty to five thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store

and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.