Bengals Booth Podcast: Arizona

Hig and everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. The aerizone take Off Your Rainbow Shades addition, as the Bengals head to the desert looking for a badly needed win over the one in three Cardinals, coming up an in depth look at the Bengals offense as Joe Burrow, Tyler Boyd, Jonah Williams, and Brian Callahan discuss what's gone wrong in the first four weeks and

Dave pash Angles.

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In case you're wondering.

How old I am, well, let's just say I remain younger than George Clooney. The comparison ends there. In any case, if you have the Starbucks app, you get a birthday reward, a free food or drink item of your choice. So I went in and ordered the usual, a small coffee with skim milk. But when I tried to use my birthday reward, Nicholas, the guy behind the counter said, you're going to use it for a small coffee. You can

It's been a tough couple of weeks.

It's been a tough couple of weeks.

That's for sure. We're gonna get through it. We're gonna get through it. We got tough, resilient guys in there. We got mentally tough guys that have have been through a lot, so we know how to how to handle these situations. It's tough right now, but we're gonna get through it.

On Wednesday, Joe stress that his calf is improving along with his ability to move. That's welcome news to the coaching staff as they try to build a game plan around what he can and cannot do. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.

I mean, he's the only one that can tell you how how he feels and where he's at. It feels like he gets better every day. We talked to Joe about where he's at and how he feels and make sure we're doing the right things by him in the game plan process. But the hope is that he's getting better every every time he steps out there and feels more confident as he plays. I think that that's where his mind's that is too, is he feels better and plays better and start to get a little momentum back.

So far this season, the Bengals have tried to use a quick passing game with Joe staying in the pocket, but opponents know his limitations and are making that difficult by collapsing the pocket with their defensive line and then sending extra rushers when the Bengals are in obvious passing downs. It's made protecting Joe more challenging. According to Jonah Williams.

It's an added level of difficulty for sure, you know, the like I said, it's a tough play for the line because everyone knows what we're doing, they can bring the pressure that we want, and they also know where the quarterback is going to be. So it's kind of that perfect storm of issues. But if we're all perfect across the board, then we'll pick everything up and be fine.

A big part of Joe's brilliance when healthy is his ability to maneuver in the pocket or scramble left and right to extend plays that gives receivers more time to get open and results in the big plays that have been missing so.

Far this year.

Here are Tyler Boyd and Brian Callahan.

The way we win games the extends and we even we talk about it even on the sidelines and during games that we got to make a big play. We gotta we gotta, we gotta scrambled Jill, we gotta get open for him. And I mean we never really discussed that, and that was the only kind of difference I've seen him.

You know.

It's it's funny when you when you're watching other games, it's like all you can see is the quarterbacks running, like that's all you see. But that's a huge part of playing quarterback in the NFL. Is you can play on time, you can play with great accuracy, but there's always comes a moment in a game and a play where where that's part of playing quarterback and part of the really good ones that Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, that's part of their game. And that's

It's it's being it.

If you can run the ball well down there, and you can and you can create, that's what makes teams dangerous in the red zone. And the best ones usually have a trigger that that does that really well. And that's what Joe's done really well, and that's why we've been so good in the red zone.

The Bengals face the Cardinals this week, host Seattle next week, and then have their buye. I asked Burrow if his thought process is to find a way to win the next two games and then hopefully be fully recovered or close to it after the bye week.

We're just focused on one in this week. We've got to be one on O this week. Orry about next week when it comes, or about the bye week. When it comes. I'm laser focused on the day to day process right now, getting better.

Does it feel like a must win game to you guys.

In the locker room, Yes, we got to go in and get a win on the road. We haven't had a road win yet. We've prided ourselves on the road. We're playing a really good football team, good defense, good scheme. You know, we need it from our morale, we need it for the rankings, We needed for everything.

In the meantime, there are smart people on the Bengals coaching staff. They beat the Chiefs on the road in the AFC Championship Game two years ago and beat the Bills on the road in the playoffs last year. They are studying four weeks of tape and looking for the best formula for offensive success under challenging circumstances.

That's sort of how it goes sometimes. That's that's life in the NFL. And some of your best laid plans aren't always going to go the way you think they're going to go, and so it's up to us to find a way to adjust, do a better job putting guys in better positions and finding ways to improve. And you know, I think a lot of it improves If we handle a few third downs over the course of the season a little bit better than we have and we score seven points in the red zone when we've

Sunday's game starts at four to zero five Cincinnati time, and the Bengals are favored by three. The Cardinals are an interesting team. Starting quarterback Kyler Murray hasn't even practiced yet after a serious knee injury last December, and their best defensive player, Buddha Baker, is out with a hamstring injury.

Mike.

Arizona quarterback Joshua Dobbs is one of the good stories in the NFL this year. And you know him well, having been his teammate for several seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. What can you share with your teammates about trying to defend Joshua Dobbs.

I mean, he's a really good quarterback. Obviously, he might not have been his starter his whole career, but when he stepped in, he's won a lot of games for different teams, and you know, you just throw on the tape. He's real smart with his reeds, he's good with his legs outside the pocket, so he's gonna stand plays, and he's a guy that just really menages the game.

Will you obviously want to beat him on Sunday, but happy to see him get a chance in his seventh year in the NFL to finally be somebody's quarterback.

Oh yeah, definitely knowing Josh since he was drafted in Pittsburg. We spent three years together there and then we actually trained together an off season. So he's a Georgia guy, so we always had that connection too. So I'm just excited to see how far he's come, and you know, he's taking advantage of his great opportunity.

He was an aerospace engineering major, the rocket scientist. Is he super smart?

Yeah? Man, he's one of the more intelligent guys I ever member. Sitting down having a conversation with him, you know, it's definitely a good convo and he's a guy that you know, people really need to know.

We're chatting with Mike Kilton. You'll also be trying to tackle a former teammate, running back James Connor. You were with him in his Pro Bowl season with the Steelers. What do you respect about his game?

Oh?

Man, he has no quick mentality, He's he's a hard tackle, so we gotta get a lot of guys around the ball. He's great outside the backfield and no kitching passes, catching screen past his pass pro He just to do it all back and you know, I'm happy to see him throw where he's at.

So at the start of the season, some people said it looks like Arizona is tanking for the number one picking the draft. Well, somebody forgot to tell the Cardinals because they're playing well. They beat the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago, they give the forty nine ers a good game last week.

What stands out to you when you watch.

Them, they're just a whole fights to group. They played with a lot of energy, they played with a lot of chemistry, and it just shows you know how much they love being around and playing with each other. Obviously, it's you can say one game is easy, but nothing easy in this league, and we know we're gonna go go into their hostile environment and we got to find a way to get a win.

So it was an understandably quiet locker room after the game last week against Tennessee. Was that one of the more frustrating losses you've been a part of in your NFL career?

Yeah, for sure, No one who we are as a team. The performance we put out Sunday was far from far, far from our best, and you know, maybe that's the wake up call we needed, Like we're we're quartered away into the season. Things aren't going our way, but we have a chance to write the ship on Sunday and we we gotta find a way to go out to Arizona beat a tough opponent.

You're one of the leaders on this team. What's the message in the locker room about trying to get things turned around?

Urgency? It's enough of the we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll figure it out. We gotta figure it out now. You know, we already buried ourselves in the deep hole. So it's only one way for us to get out of it, and that's win games. So we gotta come together offensively, defensively, and special teams and just find ways to win.

You can't really look ahead in the NFL beyond the next game, But with Arizona on the road, Seattle at home, and then a bye week and then the next three do you think, man, if we can get to the buy at three and three and maybe Joe's calf makes significant improvement, is that in the back of your mind at all?

Yeah, it's definitely been thought about, but we can't thank that far ahead. Like I said, we got a tough point at Sunday and we're still working to get another win, and that's the important thing. We'll let future games come when that time comes. We just got to focus on Sunday and like I said, it be the tough Arizona team.

So when you're riding high, every show on TV is praising the Bengals talking about you, it's a super Bowl contender, and when you start one and three, it's the opposite.

Now you're the worst team in the world.

Do you shut that out completely or do you listen to a little bit of it and let it service motivation?

Now we shut it out obviously. You know we here through social media and stuff like that, but we know who we are in this locker room. We know what it takes to go on a run and start knocking out wins. We just got to go out there and execute better and just play play better as a whole and really show the NFL who we are as a team.

Appreciate your time, best of luck on Sunday. Thank you.

The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider. All to Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a New level and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals from the National perspective on the team. This week, I caught up with a former NFL offensive lineman who is a current NFL

A quarterback that can't move it all damn. And I remember last time I saw you was out of training camp. And I'll never forget asking Jamar about his quarterback. I mean, just you know, just out of concern, and Jamar, he kind of made our jaws drop. He goes, I because you were talking about, you know, Cleveland's Week one all that stuff.

He goes, I hope he doesn't play.

And you know, hindsight is what it is, Dan, but honestly, maybe he knew something.

The hope, obviously, is that Joe's mobility improves as his calf heels and the buy is a couple of weeks away. Are there tweaks you would like to see to the offense in the meantime?

Well, I mean, look, there are you know, they're a pass for a team.

I mean, you'd love to be able to run the ball better, you know, with your quarterback impaired like he is right now, you'd love to be able to run it better and play action pass.

But honestly, Dan.

I've seen him turns back to the defense once in the last two weeks like they're deathly. I mean, evidently they're definitely afraid that if anybody comes a blitz whatever, that he's not going to be able to get out of the way. But that one time they did do the play action pass, they got the ball down to Jamar Chase for forty three yards two weeks ago, and

Right now, Baldy, let's talk about Joe mix and he is on pace for a one thousand yard season. His yards per carry is above his career average. How does Joe look to you in year seven?

He looks good. Joe's good.

They popped out, you know, a bunch of runs early in that game. And like I said, it's against some really good defensive front. That's a good group. You saw him in the playoffs a couple of years ago. You know, there's they're about as talented as anybody. They're healthy right now. But you know, he pops some runs in there, and he looks good, like he's excellent. Let's pick up. He's a tough guy. He plays really hard. You know, you can throw the ball to Joe. There's really he's in

Right now, you did some bald these breakdowns after the Ram victory, shining the spotlight on a couple of the Bengals defensive leaders, including Logan Wilson. Logan signed a four year contract extension in the offseason. What stands out when you watch.

Him, well, I just think the way that him and Jermaine played together. Uh, you know, there's usually the last thing to come for a young linebacker. I think Logan is in his fourth year now, but I usually the last thing to come is just pass coverage, getting depth, being able to recognize formations, what they do out of those formations. I mean, he's got I think ten interceptions or something like that.

Da.

I mean, he's got you know, it's it's an uncanny amount for a young player, so he sees the whole field. I think him and Jermaine played really well together. I mean that's a I mean, look the defensive front. I think they gave up too many big plays last week to Tennessee, quite honestly, you know, and the and the touchdown run by by Henry you just can't give up. But overall, I think they played pretty good. And the linebackers are every down players. They never come off the field.

The other defensive player that you shine the spotlight on recently was Trey Hendrickson, who also got a contract extension in the offseason. What makes him one of the better pass rushers in the league.

Well, I think he plays with great effort.

I think he has, you know, an array of moves to beat elite tackles in his business, you know, so he can win one on once. You don't want to have to, you know, run a lot of twist stunts or or stunt or or or blitzes in order to get pressure in the quarterback. So he's been able to do that since he got here. He had the one great year in New Orleans. They signed him. The Saints didn't. I don't think they've ever replaced him since. But you know, he's a he's a talented player that plays to run

In the lou Anromo era, the Bengal run defense has typically been good, I believe, seventh in the NFL last year. As you noted, Derrek Henry had the big game last week for the Titans, and stopping the run has been a bit of a problem. Through the first four games. Is that a big concern or do you expect Lou to be able to fix it?

It's always a concern, Dan.

I don't think you can just go I mean, there's things you can always do to fix run. You go a five man defensive front, you can play your linebackers tight, and there's a lot of things you can do. You might give up other things in order to do that, but you'd like to. I mean, you have DJ, Reeder and BJ and you got the horses that you have. You'd love to be able to, you know, stop the

So we're basically twenty five percent of the way into the regular season, four games out of seventeen. The Ravens are three and one in the division. Brownson Steelers are two and two. The Bengals are one in three of those other three teams, Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, how do you have them shaping up right now?

Well, Pittsburgh's a mess, Dan, I mean, their offense has not come around yet. They were blown out by San Francisco. That they were blown out last week. The offense has not answered the bill. So that's to me like they've got I don't know what their fix is right now because they just changed right guards. They're trying to get the line right. The left tackle went down last week, so they're trying to get that right up front. Maybe

You know, that was an impressive performance.

Now, they've played against the backup rookie quarterback last last week, but they made them look like a backup rookie quarterback, you know, and not everybody does that. And so they did that, and they took control of the division. But I'm still waiting for, you know, the explosive plays to come from Baltimore. I haven't really seen that part of the offense yet, so you know, it's just a quarter of the way through it.

There's a lot to be played.

But Cleveland, if they get their quarterback back, the way they can play defense right now, Dan, and you saw it week one, the way they can play defense, They're gonna be a contender of this division throughout the season.

The Bengals head to Arizona on Sunday. The Cardinals are one in three. The one win a twelve point victor over the Cowboys. And we know how good Dallas has look so far this season. What are a couple of keys for the Bengals to go to Arizona and come back with a badly needed win.

Well, you can't like if you look at the roster, Dan, and I know you've already started. I mean, I'd be hard pressed for any analysts to tell me who their starters are in offense and defense. I mean, it's just that kind of a roster. But I think they're very well coach. I've watched it all four games so far, Dan, I knew Jonathan Gannon in Philadelphia. They're very well coached. They play very hard. You can't take them lightly. San

Of the game.

Next to you know, they're in a dog fight and it's twenty one sixteen late in the third quarter. So I mean that's San Francisco now. So Joshua Dobbs is he's getting a chance to play. And first of all, he's very mobile. He's gotten he's made a lot of big runs, like big runs, twenty thirty forty yard runs. He sees the field very very well. He's very smart, and he takes care of the football, hasn't turned it over.

That's that.

And then defensively, they they just play hard. They're young in some spots, but they blitz. They come at you from everywhere. And I mean the Dallas couldn't they couldn't score in the red zone against I mean, they were just lights out good. So I think they've played above their talent level to this point because they've been in every single game so far.

Our hope is that the Bengals give you reason for some great baldise breakdowns after the game. Always appreciate your time. Keep up the great work, Baldy.

Julia Trip.

Finally time for this week's Know the Faux Segment. Dave Pash calls NBA games in college football and college basketball games for ESPN and is also the Arizona Cardinals radio voice. He joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals Game Plan Show this week.

So, Dave, how about the Cardinals last year?

What was it?

Four and thirteen? I think? And there have been a lot of changes, obviously with respect to the roster, a young, energetic, enthusiastic coaching staff. Are they off to a better start than you had anticipated? Or did you see this coming? No?

I did not see this coming, Dave. I think when you look at the turnover on the roster, you know, a new GM, new coach, first time play caller on offense, first time played caller on defense. Nick rollis the decoordinator, just turned thirty a couple months ago. No Kyler Murray, no Buddha Baker to start the year. You know, I

Yeah, Josh Dobbs is one heck of a story. He's been in the league for six years, He's been with six different franchises. He had never started until the last two games of last season. Now he gets this chance without being in training camp with the Cardinals and he's playing great. What stands out most about his play.

Dan, I think it's overall his intelligence. You know, he just he understands what they're asking him to do. He understands the offense. He was with Drew Petsing and Cleveland last year before Petsing got the job here with the Cardinals, so you know, they identified him when it seemed like Cole McCoy just they felt he couldn't do it anymore. They decided to go away from him. They weren't ready

You know, I think a quarterback's best friend is a solid running game in James Connor and thirty three pounder. The Bengals are very familiar with this guy, having played in the division before, tied for third in the National Football League and yards rushing five point one yards per attempt, a couple of rushing touchdowns. I mean that running game has been impressive and that makes it a little bit easier for any quarterback, including Josh Dobbs. How impressive has that running game been?

Connor's been great. How they're kind of still looking for that number two? Keanton Ingram's been hurt. Their offensive line has done a great job. You consider you got really three and we've got a rookie right tackle Paris Johnson. You guys know well from playing Ohio State and being a Cincinnati guy, he's been great. And then your center and left harder journeyman. Yet they're finding a way to protect the quarterback. They're running the ball well, I think

Yeah.

Yeah, the voice of the Cardinals, Dave Pass is our guest. Let's talk about Kyler Murray tore his ACL in Week fourteen last year, so was mid December. He's eligible to practice at this point. Do you have any idea when he's expected to start practicing again?

Now, I wish I did, And if they know, they're not telling anybody, and I'm not sure they know because you know he it was the ACL, but it wasn't just that obviously that that's another thing that's been reported, and you know he, I think they want to be careful when they open that window. They want to make sure that, you know, in that twenty one day window when it starts, that you know he's gonna be ready to go during that timeframe. Otherwise you're stuck. So I'm

As a former alignman. I'm interested in checking out a matchup in the pits. Paris Johnson, Sam Hubbard, both local Cincinnati high school stars Princeton High School, mol Or High School. They both go to Ohio State. They're going mano a mano and a lot of us snaps obviously in this football I think, you know, the games were won and lost in the pits. It's always interesting to watch that that warfare up there. But that I think that's gonna be a real interesting one to watch.

Yeah, and if you look at Paris Johnson, I mean he's pretty much run the gauntlet, especially the last two weeks with Parsons and Bosa. Yeah, and he's done a great job.

You know, they.

Obviously moved around in the draft. They targeted him. You know, they had the third pick, they traded down, they traded back up. They wanted Paris Johnson. They feel like they need to build up the offensive and defensive lines. And you know, so far, so good. He's looked like he's been playing in the league for a long time.

How the heck is the team that was out has been outscored forty four to seven in the fourth quarter, been in every football game. I mean, it's finishing the game. Has that been a chronic problem? Or is it just one game put that way out of whack since it's only a four game stretch. How did that happen where they had such an imbalance in that fourth quarter.

Well, I think it's a couple of things. They had the lead in three of the four games, you know, going into the fourth quarter. And I think the bottom line is, you know, at some point when you're playing, you know, Saquon Barkley was healthy. Even though Daniel Jones does not looked good since that game, those are really good players. Washington has some talent obviously, and you know the Cardinals they don't have. I don't think the roster that's as good as those teams. You know, even Dallas

Our thanks to Dave Pash and here's a quick reminder to join lapp in me for the Bengals pep Rally Show on Friday from three to six at the Wings and Rings location at King's Mills. Our special guest in