Bengals Booth Podcast: Change Is Gonna Come

against the Baltimore Ravens. Coming up, you'll hear from four people. First, my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, as he analyzes the big switch, shares his opinion of Ryan Finlay, and looks back at what went wrong in the bengals fourteen point loss in London to the La Rams. You'll also hear from the two quarterbacks in the eye of the Hurricane, the twenty four year old Finlay and the thirty two year old Dalton.

And finally, we'll hear from an expert uniquely qualified to weigh in on a decision, a former NFL quarterback who is Andy Dalton's teammate for two seasons in Cincinnati, and a guy who was once in Ryan Finley's shoes when he was suddenly thrust into Tampa based starting lineup. As a rookie I am speaking of Bruce Gradkowski. All of

that is straight ahead. But first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or Podbean. It's the greatest thing since organizing one's Halloween candy. It's Halloween morning. My son is thirteen, and for the first time in his life, it does not sound like he is going to go trick or treating. That's sad for a couple

of reasons. Number one, he's growing up way too fast, and number two, I will miss seeing the organized piles of candy. That was my favorite part of Halloween as a kid, getting home, dumping the bag of candy onto the floor, and then organizing it in small piles, hoping for stacks of Reese's peanut buttercups and kit kats, and quickly discarding all mounds and almond joys due to the

dreaded presence of coconut. One of the true joys of childhood, parenthood and profitable dentistry the organized piles of Halloween candy. Now let's get to football. I was hired by the Bengals to be their radio announcer on May fourth, twenty eleven, less than a week after they selected Andy Dalton with a thirty fifth pick in the NFL Draft. I get the credit or blame, depending on how you feel about it,

for coining the nickname the red Rifle. When he's been healthy, Andy has been the starting quarterback for every game that I've called. I have the utmost respect for him as a player and as a person, in my opinion, and he never received enough credit for inheriting a team that went four and twelve the year before he got there and taking it to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. Additionally, he and his wife JJ have

been incredibly giving to families facing serious medical challenges. He is one of the classiest athletes I have ever had the pleasure of covering, so I'll admit it. I was shocked when I saw the news on Tuesday. I thought it might happen at some point, but didn't see it happening now. When I sat down for this week's conversation with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, I asked if he was shocked by the news as well. I'm not sure I was shocked, but I was definitely surprised. But we

talked about it before. I thought if they were going to make that move, the bye week would make sense to do it because you have the extra week of Ryan Filly working with the number one. He's had no reps with AJ Green, He's back, he's had no reps with Basically, he said, rests with Damian Willis, Stanley Morgan, guys like that reps, not with Tyler Boyd and guys that are gonna you know, had been playing uh earlier in the season with Andy Dalton and him getting all

those number one reps. So I think that was a big, big factor in the in the decision making process. And you know, it's it's tough for Andy Dalton, there's no question about I've said it a few times. I'm going to say it again. You know, I think that organizationally, as a group, they let Andy Dalton down more than he'd let the organization down. Lap Ryan was a fourth round draft pick. He had a passer rating of ninety

nine point three in the preseason. What do you think of him based on what he saw during training camp and in those preseason games In the beginning of training camp, I would scratch my head a little bit. Didn't look didn't look like well man. Fourth round pick so high on him. He wasn't playing real well, but took coaching point to change his footwork, and once he did that, I mean he took off and started playing really well. The thing I liked best about him as a warmer

offensive lineman is his ability to manipulate the pocket. He'll slap sidestep, he'll step up in the pocket, you know, climate at just the right time. It's almost like he has eyes in the back of his head, and those

are instincts that really can't coach. He has a tremendous feel for that kind of thing, and I think that was one of the big problems I think that they had with Andy, is that not just mobility, you know, getting out of pocket, extending, creating, but within the pocket, even the mobility wasn't there, and you know he was, you know, he's just basically a little bit shell shocked, you know. I think I think his clock had been

readjusted and wasn't showing any signs of changing that. And that's one of the big reasons I think they made the move to Ryan Finley to see if he can negotiate and manipulate the pocket a little bit better lap. The Bengals played Baltimore a couple of weeks ago and did not score an offensive touchdown until there was a minute in twenty eight seconds to go. How difficult is it going to be for a rookie quarterback to face that defense in his first NFL start? Coach Martindale, the

defensive coordinator is a blitz master. Finley is going to see blitzes that he never knew existed. He's going to see every blitz known to mankind. And a little over a year ago, the home opener on Thursday Night Football, Andy Dalton torched it, torched it. He and aj Green combined for three touchdown receptions in a quarter and a half or less than a quarter and a half, and Martindale wink blinked. You know, he didn't blitz anymore for a myriad of plays, A good number of plays hadn't

seen it before out of Baltimore. So I hope Andy can impart some of that knowledge, you know, Ryan Finley in terms of a pre snap reads a feel for it. But that I think that's Andy's biggest strength is really predicting blitzes based on what he sees pre snap. He's very hard to fool. He's seen everything Ryan Finley has not. That experienced level is going to be something that you can only get by taking snaps out on the football field.

Andy Dalton's not going to be able to drill a hole and pour Andy Dalton knowledge in the in Finley's head, but he's going to be, you know, helping him as much as he possibly can on that sideline. We'll see how it rolls. I went back and looked at every time the la Rams faced third and eight or longer in last week's game in London. They converted on four of six opportunities when it was third and eight or longer, with gains of twenty one, twenty three, twenty and forty.

That's unbelievable to me. Was it a lack of pass rush? Is that a bad scheme? How does that happen? I think it's everything. You know, the one that galls me the most. Third and ten from your own two yard line, you give up a twenty yard run. You've got to be kidding me, absolutely got to be kidding me. So I think all of it you know, I think everybody's looking at themselves during this bye week and looking at

the mirror and saying, man, what can we do. I mean a lot of times in the coverages there was terrible discipline in the back end of his own coverages. Guys were getting as were getting their eyes were being downhill looking at crossers and shallower routes while things behind him were developing. And you just can't have those kind of things. Because Dan, as we saw, it wasn't just they found a little opening in his own. They found

a cavern, they found the Grand Canyon. I mean sometimes when you look, there'd be nobody within ten yards of any direction of them, and it's like, how the hell can that be? You know, Cooper Cup lit him up, but a tea cup of coffee cup would have done the same thing. Didn't have to be Cooper Cup. I mean, there there was. It was so unbelievably wide open down the football field. Even one time when we were on a room well called the double team on Cup, Sean

Williams goes airborne too early. You know, he makes a contested catch. It was like it was it was amazing. But the one that the one that really really threw me was from your own two yard line. As a former lineman offensive lineman, I'm thinking, man, if you bust a twenty yard run on third and ten from your own two yard line, you gotta feel pretty damn good

about how the game's gonna unfold. According to our buddy Jay Morrison from The Athletic, the Bengals used two tight ends in a season high eighteen snaps against the Rams that matched their total in the previous three games combined. How much did multiple tight ends help the running game? I think it did help it. Guys talked to in the post game, you know, locker room show, we're saying

that they were having a hard time matching up. Initially they caught him in some nickel looks, you know, and with the with the big bodies, Michael Jordan was the extra lineman quote tight end you know on some of those occasions, and they they creased them a little bit. So the Rams, the Rams didn't expect it, and they caught them in some favorable matches matchups to run the football and even up the numbers game in the box

as such. Um. But then as the game war on, you know, now you're you're fighting from behind again, and if they could play with the lead, you know, have have a lead for doesn't have to be a huge lead, just a lead, things would be so different, you know, from them. They could continue to you know, run the football with multiple tight end looks and a lot of

these things. But man, you get down, you know, a score plus in the second half of football games in the National Football League, that becomes very difficult, particularly when your defense was hemorrhaging like they were, you know, and like we talked about on third and longs and things

that nature. So you know, as a play caller on both sides of the football, when you're having struggles like that, it's like the defense of coordinators thinking what do I call not only the best call for my defense, but to make sure that I helped the offense as much as I can, And the offensive coordin is thinking the same thing for the defense, you know, trying to play a complimentary football. When you get caught in that cross

are it's brutal. It's hard enough to make calls just for your side of the football, but when you have to try to factor in you know, both sides of the football that having their issues in certain areas. Man that's a tough time. It's a tough scenario to find the right play call. It really is. The Bengals did not make any trades before the Tuesday deadline. I do think there's a miskin reception that that means they blew

their chance to acquire extra draft picks. They can still do that in the offseason, and honestly, I think they will. Did they lose a chance to get maximum value? I honestly don't know the answer to that question. But do you think the current players appreciate the fact that there wasn't a fire sale. I do think they do appreciate that fact. But if I'm a current player, when Zach Taylor made the move that he made with Andy Dalton, that stignals to me it can happen to any of us.

That's the most significant move to make, changing out your starting quarterback, And past experiences tell me when they change out the starting quarterback, there's a couple of other shoes going to fall. They may they may have already decided to make other changes that haven't been announced yet in terms of lineups and personnel, in amount of playing time. Because man, if you if you do that at the

quarterback position. Nothing sacred. There's nothing that you you know, there's nothing, nothing that says that can't happen to me. So the message has been sent buckle it up, Buttercup, because you know you could be next. And there's nothing wrong with that part of it. So there weren't trade. So guys you know, are thinking, well, you know, there's nobody that's going to be taking my job by trade.

But when they made the move they made to me, you better go out and re earn your job during the bye week because every position's wide open if they made that move with the quarterback position. We get to spend some time every week with Zach Taylor working on his TV show and you tape a weekly segment for the radio pregame show with him. How do you think he's holding up? I think the Cordy Glenn thing is

wearing him out, you know. I think that's the that's the one variable that is I mean, it's football related, but it's not you know, x's and O is related, and that sort of thing. Am I making the right calls, my scheme property, all those kind of things that that's just a different dynamic and that that kind of thing and in handling the mine field of the media aspect of it, and um, the collective bargain agreement with the players associate aspect of it. It's is going to wear

you out. And I think that he handled he's handled it well, you know, but there's no way in my mind it hasn't had an impact on him. Um, but he's handled the injury part of it. And you know, Jonah Williams aj Green the eleventh pick of the draft, the fourth pick of the draft. When he came out best player on your team, you lose your left tackling before training camp starts, your best player of forty five minutes into training camp play. If you talked about ad nauseam,

I mean, that's that's that's brutal stuff. And he real handles it like you know, it's a blip on the screen. To me, my screen would be shattered. Man, I would have been like suicidal, you know. I mean, it's he's handled it very well. I think he's handled uh, you know, his media obligations with the fans, you know, admirably. What he's got to make sure of is you know, he's I think he still has the locker room. I don't think he's lost the locker room. But at some point

there has to be validation to what you're doing. And when I when I watch the offense now as opposed to what I saw in OTAs and training camp in Seattle, the Seattle game, like what happened to it? Where is it? You know? And I know there's obviously player issues with injury, but man, when I when I first watched that offense and AJ Green was involved, you know, in the OTAs in mini camp, I'm like, God, this is going to be unbelievable. I was watching Rams PARTD, you know, and

then against Seattle, same thing. Man, there was mister actually motion and quick slant short time like this is this is gonna be fun? You know, maybe he starts to run the ball. Now he can't run the ball, and a lot of stuff's gone away. The offense right now

is a shell of itself. And maybe with the bye week and getting some bodies back, you know, like Aj and then hopefully you know, not too far behind is John Ross and you know, the whole thing, the whole dynamic can change, you know, back to what they were a little bit. But you know, I'm gonna get some lineman back healthy as well. You know Andre Smith, John Miller Accord. He decides he wants to play. You know, if he goes out there, that big old son of

a gun is a moving condo. He can play. He just decide, has to decide he wants to play and contribute to me. I don't know. I don't know how you look at your teammates when they've been struggling as badly as they've been struggling at the left tackle position, and not once have you had said I'm stepping up, I'm gonna do something about it. Not once, not even close. I don't know how you look at teammates in the eye.

Now time to hear from the Bengals new starting quarterback Ryan Finley is six to four and a slender two hundred and seven pounds, so he is two inches taller and about fifteen pounds lighter than Andy Dalton. He was twenty five and fourteen as a starter at NC State, where he completed nearly sixty five percent of his passes, second best in school history to Philip Rivers. Now he gets an earlier than expected shot to show what he can do in the NFL. Ryan sat down with Lapping

Me to discuss his opportunity. Ryan, I imagine when you got the news it had to be kind of a shock. Yeah. Um, you know, I wasn't expecting it yesterday morning. But I'm excited for the opportunity. I guess, um the timing of it, with the bye week, you're having two full weeks to work with the Number ones, you know, get a rhythm and timing and reps with the Number ones. That seemed

to make a lot of sense in your mind. Does that give you a feeling of you know, cheez, At least I got a little more time to get ready for this. Yeah, that's huge for me, I think, and I think you nailed it. That's that's kind of how I view it in my mind, is uh, you know, just the more days to kind of get my mind or I get reps with with those guys that I haven't thrown too much. Um, you know, get with get with Trey and get snaps and so I think, you know, having a bye week is as big so I was.

I was thankful that it happened. At this time we're visiting with Ryan Finlay. You performed well in your preseason opportunities. You had a passer rating of ninety nine point three. Does that give you confidence going into your first regular season start? Yeah, it does, I think, Um, you know, that's just something I can look back on and have confidence in. And um, you know, I just did my best to execute football plays. And that's kind of that's

kind of the mindset I'm taking right now. So, um, you know, kind of simplify it and make it, don't make it as much as it is, and just kind of execute football plays and uh, cover it on third downs and you get into the red zone score points, and I think that's kind of where it all starts.

Baltimore is known to have every blitz known demand in their arsenal, and Andy Dalton has done a pretty good job of sorting it out, you know, seeing things almost like before they happen, pre snap, post snap, and making real good decisions that way. Obviously, you guys are good friends, You're both highly intelligent. You're gonna lean on his experiences

and his intelligence to help you prepare for this one. Yes, yes, uh, and he's obviously, and he's very good with that, um you know, being in the league for as long as he's been in and Alex is very good with that. Um. So you know, I'm gonna do my best. Uh if I need to, I'll look over to the silne and he can signal to me what we need to do

or something like that. But uh, you know, that's just something. UM, I'm not going to learn it until I just get thrown out there and I just, um, you know, get hit with live bullets and then i'll uh you know, Alex will coach off it and I'll be able to I'll be able to learn, you know. So I've confidenced my ability to pick it up. But it's one of those things where it's, uh, it's different watching it on film and then get out there and actually having to

having to do it. So, UM, that's definitely something that I'll be thinking about a lot over the you know, over the course of the week and preparing for Ryan. You strike me as someone who kind of follows the rookie playbook where you come in, you keep your mouth shut, you work hard, pay attention. Uh, you try to just let your actions do the talking as a quarterback? Can you do that now when you step into the starting role? Um,

I don't see why I'm not. Uh, you know, I think I've had Um, I've had practice with this type of situation in college, and I think I'm thankful for some of the experiences that I've had in college, so I can can lean back on that. But you know, like I said earlier, it's about just executing plays. Uh, And that's that's kind of how I see it. That's how I kind of visualize myself being out there, is

just um doing what the coaches asked. And at the ball, you know, it's a curl flat and that these things underneath the curling to the flat. So it's kind of just simplify it for me, and that's how I kind of get into a rhythm of a game. So that's what I hope to do. I guess as a follow up to that, how do you classify yourself as a leader. Are you a guy that leads by example? You guy that's a you know, an emotional rohra guy. Are you guy that's like, I'm gonna let my play speak for itself.

What type of leader or can we expect outa Ryan Finley? Um, I don't. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna define my leadership. I think, Uh. I think leadership is just when it's needed, it's given. Um and I think, Uh, it's it's a lot of times it's needed in a lot of different ways according to the circumstance in the situation. UM. But right now, I think, uh, like I said, you know, my my goal is to just play quarterback at a at a high level, and I think it starts with that.

UM and then um, you know everything else comes after that. But uh, with that being said, I think, you know, bringing energy uh and some juice and some competitive spirit is never a bad thing ever. So UM, that's kind of what I plan on doing. Just bring an energy UM and juice to practice and making it competitive um and then um and then after that just executing. We're visiting with Ryan Finley. There are rookie quarterbacks having a lot of success right now, from the number one overall

pick Kyler Murray right down to Gardner Minshew. Why do you think rookies are able to stay in and play well right away? I don't know. I think I don't know. They you know, they got their mind right, and um, they have confidence in themselves and you know, the stage wasn't too big for them, and they just kind of came in and had confidence in their innatabilities and kind

of just um, you know, I don't know. One thing is a former linement that impressed me about you right away is the eyes in the back of the head kind of thing where you'll slidestep, you'll climb the pocket. I mean, you manipulate the pocket exceptionally well. Is that something that you've always had? Is that just been an instinct thing from Jump Street even in high schools? Was something that developed over time? How did that? How that?

How does that occurred? I don't, I don't know. I think it's just uh, you know, it's just a part of my game that I have confidence in, uh and kind of just like you said, just kind of manipulating the pocket. Um, And that's kind of my game, you know. So my game is to kind of just you know, they have good pocket awareness and no when to take off and no when to be smart, and just kind of go through my progression and uh, you know, kind

of whatever the defense gives me, that's what I'm gonna take. So, uh, that's just kind of what I'm good at. I don't. I don't know. I think I've I've obviously worked on it a lot. Um, there's a lot of things you can do, but um, just you know, a lot of preparation, a lot of work over time. What are the next ten days going to be like for you? Are you going to be in front of that iPad studying non stop or will you just kind of follow a normal routine and trust what's worked for you before. Yeah, I

mean I've played in a lot of football games. Uh, and that's that's kind of the way I see it in my mind. And you know, I'll just I'll get into I'm sure I'll fall into it, maybe a slightly different routine than I've had, um the last you know, eight nine weeks, but um, not too different. You know, a lot of the same things will apply, and um, you know, probably watch the maybe a little bit more film,

but not not much more. I mean I think, uh, I think once you kind of get a there's a point where you know, you've watched plenty uh and then at the point you just gotta go out and you got to execute and you just gotta let your kind of let your body take over and just have the right mindset going in. So I know, you and Andy, you're great friends, and you're similar type guys, both extremely intelligent guys that the IQ in that quarterback room. This

is pretty staggering, There's no question about it. Do you plan on um over this next ten days when he's comfortable with it? Leaning on him? You guys watch tape together. And I'm not saying bore a hole in your head and have andy poorn knowledge into it or whatever, but do you do You anticipate and you'll be there for you. It's kind of like a tutor as such, to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. Um. Yeah, I mean, I trust me any any help, and he's

gonna give me. I'm gonna take And you know he's he's played this game at a high level for a long time. Um, And so I don't take that lightly at all. So, UM, you know, he's he's He's mentioned to me that he doesn't want our relationship to change and that meant a lot to me. And you know, I'm hopeful that uh, you know he will. I guess tutor me u is an interesting word, but I you know, I hope he does, and I hope he'll he'll help me,

and I'm sure you will. You mentioned the number of games you've played in college, and you know you're you're an experienced rookie as such. I mean, you've got a lot of snaps. Some of these record quarterbacks that are succeeding don't have the you know, the volume of players that you that you've had, and maybe even in different systems, being in two different places and adapting you, you know, to that the college game is filtering down in the NFL.

It's it's it's coming from the college to the NFL, not the NFL to college. And I think that's what's what's helping. If you noticed that, is that something that uh, with Zach's offense, there's some similarities to what you've done in college, and it's an easier transition. Um. Yeah, yeah, I guess just regarding um, my own college situation, UM, I think there's a lot of similarities with just um, you know, being an under center. That's thankful, really thankful

to just get under center work in college. That was that was huge for me U sending five motions and handing off jet sweeps and that kind of stuff. So that helped me a lot. For Zach's offense, and I think we'll just kind of continue to build on it. So there's definitely a lot of similarities with what I did. In college and what we're doing now now time to

hear from Andy Dalton. His tenure with the Bengals, at least so far, peaked in twenty fifteen, when he led the team to an eight no start and was in the MVP conversation before breaking his thumb when Cincinnati was ten and two and the number one seed in the AFC playoff race. That year, Andy led the conference in passer rating at one oh six point three, and after the season, his peers chose him as the thirty fifth best player in the league in the NFL Network's annual

Top one hundredth survey. Unfortunately, things have spiraled downhills since and for now he's a backup quarterback for the first time since high school. Lap and I were a I'm a group of reporters who spoke to Dalton in front of his locker on Wednesday. What have the last twenty four hours been? Like? Andy? Uh? Weird? Different? Uh, not what I was expecting. You know, it's um now how you thought the birthday was gonna go? Um, But you

know it's it's an unfortunate situation. You know, I don't agree with it, but um, I mean Jack's making the decisions and so, UM, I'm gonna do my part. I'm here, Um, and so I'm gonna help right now the best I can. Uh. He said he has to think about the future and the draft and uh, let's see what they have and Ryan and so, UM, that's what it came down to. You. You know, it's it's been voiced to me. I was in no reason. You know, I wasn't the reason for

the way the season has gone. It felt like I played well, and Um, you know I have done some things to keep this team together in this stretch. But he just feels like he's gotta figure out what they have. And Ryan, so many players in this locker room look to you as such a big leader here. Um, what did you say to your teammates when they found out

this news? Yeah, I UM talk to everybody in the in the team meeting today and just said, uh, you know, I don't agree with the decision, but you know, I'm here, I'm gonna do my part. I'm gonna be the same guy that that I've been since I've got here. You know, I've had been through a lot in the nine years that I've been here. I've done a lot for this city.

My heart has been in this in for this team, in for this city, and uh, I think a lot of people see that, and so, um, just letting everybody know that I'm I'm gonna be the same guy, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the situation that I'm in. But um, and it just kind of through the air. Obviously there's the awkwardness of Okay, do I say something to him? Do I not say something? Tune, do we talk to him, do we leave him alone? And just like,

let's just get that behind us. You know, if you want to say something to me, say something to me. If not, don't, It's fine. I'm gonna be okay. Because of the team's record, was there even a remote thought in your mind that they might do it just to shake things up? You know? I it's hard to say. Um, you know, I felt like there's a lot of things that I did well and gave us a chance to win some of these games, and so um, you know, and I've had a lot of conversations with Zach. You know,

he even said we've met after games. We've met on numerous occasions. I've been that that office way more than I've ever been in there and just trying to figure out what we can do, what I can do, and um, you know, obviously he wants to head a different direction. Try to you know, I don't did you tell him you don't agree? If I'm trying to talk him out of it. It's one of those things where he's not gonna bring it to me. It's already been decided. You know.

It's nothing I'm gonna say is going to change anything. He obviously felt like it was the best thing to do for this team, even though I don't agree with it. But um, yeah, I mean it's I don't think anything I could have said would have talked him out of it, for sure. Yeah, I think just because of the unknown

of everything. Um, I've had a lot of stability here, I've done a lot, and so to go through the stretch that we've gone through, as you know from a football standpoint, and then to have this happen, and it's one of those things you really have to For me, I really rely on my faith knowing that God has a plan for me and my family. And UM, it's easy to say when things are good, but if you're times like this, you really have to lean on that

and and trust and believe it. Given that the news happened that Zach told you before the deadline, was there any thought of I'd like to go somewhere else? They didn't communicate that with them at all. Yeah, I think that's an unfortunate thing. I mean, it happened three hours

before the trade deadline. You know, it's I wish it would have at least, you know, if he was thinking about it, at least let me try to see if I could end up somewhere else or you know, at least see if there is interest and possibly getting traded. At that point, the way it was all handled, there wasn't enough time to even um even have that happened. Did you put you push that in this offseason and to look to go somewhere else? You know. Right now,

I'm just focused on this year. Um. Obviously there's a lot to come in the next eight weeks and beyond um after this year, UM, I want to have an opportunity to play. I want to have an opportunity to be somewhere where I'm wanting and UM, you know, if that's here, great, If that's not, then um, you know, well we'll see. But right now it's not my focus. My focus is just you know, playing my role on

this team. Been great. Ryan said that you told him you won't want the relationship to be the same, don't want it to change whatsoever. And um, he's looking forward to, you know, trying to absorb all the knowledge you have with respect your football I que and seeing the game and seeing the field. Are you up for that? Yeah? I Ryan was one of the first people I reached out to just let him know, like, this has nothing

to do with Ryan. You know, Ryan and I have been close ever since he's been here, and we've built up a really good friendship. And um, so I don't want Ryan to think that I have any ill will towards him. He didn't do anything wrong. All he did was, you know, be here and show up and do things the right way. And they want to give him an opportunity and so, um, like I said, I'm gonna help him out. I've seen a lot of football, we have

a lot of division games coming up. I understand how all all these defensive play does and just their scheme and things. So I mean, I'll help him from that standpoint. Did you vote that frustration with with Duke or anybody in the front office, and not Zach. Well, I haven't had a chance to talk to Duke or anybody, but I know my agent was, um, you know, trying to figure out what we could do in those last you know,

remaining a couple hours before the trade deadline. With the way everything went down, I've heard richis and say even Zach said it to a certain extent, did you deserve a better faith here? Yeah. It's one of those things where I've had a lot of good, you know football years here. We've had a lot of good seasons. Can look back at all the playoff you know runs that we made the um just what we had to overcome

to get there, you know, to start a season eight. No, I've been on the other side of the too, and so I'd never envisioned it to kind of happen like this. I never thought that I'd be in this position, um, and so I wish it would have been different, absolutely, because when Zach got hired here, it's like I had a plan that we were gonna get this thing turned around, and we were gonna get this thing going, and obviously

that hasn't happened. There's been a lot of other things that have gone on that um probably you know, have have caused it to not be the way that that that we thought it was going to be and stuff that's been out of my control, and so that's unfortunate. But no, it's one of those things where I if this is the end here I which I don't know, I don't know what the future holes like I was saying, but um, now, this is not how I had envisioned

envisioned it. What was your conversation like with Heim, Yeah, it's AJ's been one of my closest friends since since we got here. Obvious we got here together. We've been through this whole thing together, and so you know, he's, like you said, he understands everything. He's AJ's got my back. You know, we're gonna be friends for the rest of our lives. So you know, it's it's tough to not have a guy like that out there when when you're going through all this, to not have your best player

on the field. But you know, like I said, has been very supportive of me. Andy was upset about the timing since it came so close to the trading deadline, and some people think he was treated poorly and that the Bengals owed it to him to make a deal. I have a few thoughts on that topic. Number One, Zach Taylor made the move now because it's the bye week, giving Ryan Finley extra time to work with the number one offense. That happened to be the same week as

the trade deadline. That was unfortunate timing. But more significantly, the only way it made sense for the Bengals to trade Dalton now is if there was a team really desperate for a quarterback that would pay maximum value. Who would that be? The Bears have been mentioned as a possible candidate, But are we sure the Bears are ready to punt Mitchell Trubisky the number two pick in the twenty seventeen draft for a quarterback who currently has a

lower passer rating. The Bears gave up four draft picks when they trade it up to draft Trubisky. Do you really think they were going to give up a high pick to trade for Dalton. If the Andy Dalton era is over in Cincinnati, there will be a bigger market to trade him in the off season. You would have to think almost any contender would want Andy as a backup quarterback, and there will likely be a few teams that would want him to compete to be their starter.

Andy is under contract for one more season, so it's not like the Bengals are about to lose him to free agency. If the Dalton era is over in Cincinnati, there will be plenty of time to trade him for a draft pick in the off season. Now time to hear from one more quarterback. In Eddie Dalton's NFL debut, he had to exit in the second quarter when he

injured his wrist against the Cleveland Browns. Enter back up Bruce Gradkowski, who rallied the Bengals to an opening day win by engineering a fourth quarter comeback that included the first touchdown catch of AJ Green's career. After a long NFL career that included stops with the Buccaneers, Rams, Browns, Raiders, Bengals, and Steelers, Gradkowski is doing some broadcasting these days for Serious NFL Radio and evaluating quarterback play for Pro Football Focus.

He is uniquely qualified to discuss what went down in Cincinnati this week, and Bruce joined lapping me on the Bengals Game Plan Show. I started our conversation by asking him his initial reaction to this week's news. You know I wasn't surprised just for the fact of where the team is at as a whole. You know, you see these teams going through changes and trying to rebuild and

do different things. And now if you're Cincinnati and the last few years haven't been the greatest, you have a new head coach, you really have to see where you're at as a football team. I mean, right now, I don't think it's as much on Andy Dalton as it is as much as where do they go for the future. You know, is Thinley a guy? Is he a viable guy? You know? Is Andy still part of the mix or not? I mean, you look at it, guys, and he's been sacked twenty nine times this year. He has twenty one

drop passes. And this is all from the Pro Football Focus grades that I do that I do with the guys, and you know, so it's not that he's getting much help out there. You know, he started with Mohammed Sanu, Jay Green, Marvin Jones, and now those weapons he has had in the past is diminished a little bit. And now when you're get in that position, as you as Andy doone is you try to do more. You try to take more on your plate, you try to squeeze

more and throws in there. You try to feel like you have to save the world on every single snap, and then it starts to catch up to you. And then you have, you know, a few mistakes here and there that you want to take back if you force football in the tight coverage and things of that sort, and then you have miscommunication on route. So it's a lot of things going on as you guys see weekend

and week out. And I think you have to start the quarterback position because right now you do have to see what do we even have behind Andy and where are we going for the future, because this is all in Zach Taylor's hands and he has to try to figure this out. Yeah, you make a bunch of excellent points there. To me, it's very simply every member of the organization, front office, coaching staff, and teammates have let

Andy Dalton down more than he's let them down. He as you know, I mean, the quarterback gets very little credit when it's going well and all the blame when it goes poorly. And for all the things you talked about, I mean, his supporting cast is nowhere near you know what it was. So you know, they're they're making a move, you know, and they're moving on. My thing is AJ Green if he comes back after the bye. Andy Dalton has not had AJ Green all. So incomes Ryan Finley.

He's got AJ Green right off the bat. And now you won't have an AJ Green for sixty snaps, but AJ Green for any snaps. That changes everything and you're not comparing apples to apples anymore. How tough would that be? You know, if you're in andy shoes and AJ comes back, John Ross, some of these guys start coming back from injury and you're not the guy, how tough would that be to deal with? Oh? That that's a tough tie to swallow because I look at look. I played with Andy.

I backed him up, and as a young guy coming in the league, he was ahead of the curve as far as understanding protection. I understand how he's blocking what the old lineman should do in the running backs and you know, navigating through hand singnals to the receivers to put the receivers in the proper routes to run. So you're not gonna get better than Dalton right now. I mean you're really not. I mean, you know, yes, maybe you want to see what Finley has, but I don't

expect much to change. I mean, you know, it's not like the play calling has been off the carter to either, so you know, you know, so a lot of things play play a part in this, and it's just it just thinks that, you know, Andy has to shoulders a load right now, and who knows. I mean maybe this just support a point that you know, when the dust settles,

they'll see what they have. But you know, you look around the league guys too, and it's hard to find a viable starting quarterback that you trust week in and week out. I've always felt like Andy was that guy you could trust. I mean, he's accurate, he's gonna go with the right place at the right time with the football. He's gonna put your offense and the good run past situations, you know, as as audibles are concerned. So it's hard.

I just feel like now you're taking a step back if you're the Bengals and they really need to figure out, you know, where do they go from here. Former Bengals quarterback Bruce Gradkowski is our guest. You studied Ryan Finley before the draft. What did you think? I like him? I actually did like him coming out because I felt like his timing and his rhythm, his footwork, he kind of had it already. You could tell he understood progressions

and just how your feet match up with throws. And I think that just put them ahead of the curve. I mean, you look at a guy like Drew Locke's, he's really not ready to play yet because of those things, the timing and the four. And I think for Finley it helped tremendously getting to watch Andy for how many weeks already and getting to learn from him because you learned so much by sitting back and watching. And I thought Finley had a pretty good preseas, didn't you know?

He made some plays that, you know, we're impressive. There's sometimes that maybe he held onto the ball too long or in the pocket awareness and you have to protect the football in the pocket. You see these young guys, I mean Gardner Minshew, he hasn't thrown many balls to put in harm's way, but when he takes sacks in the pocket, he's fumbling. You can count, you know, at least one fumball game Minshew's gonna have in the pocket.

Same thing with Kyle Allen, so these young guys have a tendencies and not realize the pressure that the pocket brings. It collapsed as fast guys around who swinging, who's sweeping at the football. So it's not easy. But as a whole, I liked Finley as a quarterback. I liked his feet, his footwork, his time and rhythm. I think he has the right type of accuracy and he has enough arm strength. So it'll be interesting to see what happens given this

opportunity tunity. So without aj Green, John Ross, two guys on the outside stretching the field, the Bengals were playing offense in a closet. They're in a box. You know, everybody's us. The line of scream is loaded up. Joe Mixon has more guys in the box they can block, and you know they're saying, yeah, we can cover your guys. We don't need extra people. We're gonna load up and

make you know, you throw it to beat us. And the major weapons are out and then and he's starting to get hit and and he's you know, there's not windows out there, and Andy's clock changes, and you know, people are like, oh, the dude shell shocked. What is it like as a quarterback. When you find yourself in that situation, you know, you're you're you're throwing, You're never able to transfer your weight, you know what, your mechanics start to suffer because of all that. We just you know,

just laid out there. What's it like? How how hard is it to fight through that? Yeah? No, it's it's real tough, because it happened to me in Oakland. You know, when I it took over for JaMarcus Russell, I kind of tended to you know, sling it from the back, back the foot and you can sling it side arm because you're always used to that pressure in your face and you're trying to just get the ball out without

taking a sack. So you're you're technique and on the metals go out the window because now you're just kind of trying to survive and trying to make the play the best you can. So it's hard. Then when you get a good clean pocket, you're sitting back there and you look like you're Auntie and throwing off your back foot when you have all this time. But that hasn't

necessarily been the case. I mean, like like I said, I mean, Andy's taking the most sacks so far this year has the most dropped passes, so things have definitely not been working in his favor. Now, look, you guys know a lot of you know, some of those sacks too, aren't just on the offensive line. You know a lot of things, playing the part with Andy holding the ball a little too long, did Andy drift too far outside? You know, the integrity of the pocket, or you know

that kind of stuff. But the majority is protected, being able to be protected, you know, running backs picking up their blitzes and knowing who to block. A lot of that goes into it. So I just think there's a lot right now in Cincinnati. I'm trying to digest it at all. I don't know how you guys are doing it. Not very well. I'm throwing from my mouth every night. No digestion, kind of whole heart. Questions for a former

Bengals quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski. You have been in Ryan Finley's shoes as a rookie in Tampa Bay back in two thousand and six. You took over during the season when Chris Simms got hurt. What advice would you give Ryan Finley? I think you just you just have to execute the offense, you know, I was given a few opportunities, you know, especially my first one in Tampa as a rookie. I started eleven games, and you know, I had a good preseason,

and then once the season started, I took over. I played a good shoot games, and then I started thinking too much. Now you're trying to be perfect. Now you're trying to please the coach. Oh, you know, what's what's Gruden want me to do? I know what I should do, But what's he want me to do? Instead of? You know, just trust yourself. I told I talked to Mason Rudolph before the Monday night football game and I told him, I said, look, man, if there's anything you could do,

just trust yourself. Trust yourself in between those white lines. Trust what you see out there. You can grate the film tomorrow, you could get coach tomorrow. But trust what you're seeing out there and just play decisive because the worst thing you can do is the quarterback is played indecisive. And I see that in a lot with young quarterbacks.

If you pick the wrong side and you weren't supposed to work that side, work the heck out of that side and just stick to it and just get after it and try to find a completion because you'll tend to try to flip to the other side. Now you're throwing a hitch late and it's going for a pick six the other way. So I think the most important thing is just trying to play decisive and trust your preparation throughout the week and trust what you see on Sunday.

Andy Dalton's future, you know, you just never know what right now. I asked Zach, is this a one game situation or is it? He goes no. You know, we're giving him the rest of the season. You got to give a young guy a chance. But there's always injury, there's always we know Andy Dalton's going to be ready to play. We know Andy Dalton be right in there if needed to play as a backup. He's a little disgruntled because of the timing of the bye week the

Bengals had. It was trade deadline time, and you know he was hoping that he might have had a little more time to see what kind of interesting might have been out there in the NFL for him. What do you think his future halts? I mean, obviously the guy belongs in the National Football League. Do you think he ends up going somewhere else and starting I'm not I don't know. I guess I'm asking to be a Southsayer. But what's your opinion? What do you think might happen

in the future. Yeah, I mean that Look, Andy Doan is a good young quarterback. I mean still he still has a lot of mouths on that arm. And you know, I was thinking about it and I was like, man, I mean, what about the Bears. What is the Bears traded off for him? I just think Andy's a reliable player. It's hard to find a quarterback you can trust that's going to be accurate, smart, make the right decisions, put your offense in good positions. And he is now he

needs the pieces around him. I mean, he's kind of Deshaun Wapton that's going to run around make plays and Patrick Mahomes. He needs the talent around him. That's why I thought Chicago might be a good spot. But you know, we'll see how it unfolds. But I know there will be definitely teams in the mix. He might be, you know, might end up being that guy like a Brian Hoyer was. Where you go to Cleveland, they bring you in to compete with the young guy and but he will have

an opportunity. Again, I just think Joan's too smart of a quarterback, He's too reliable. Who knows out there in Oakland if it's a good fit with John Gruden and him matching up in that system that Andy was a part of with Jay Gruden back in the day. So you just never know. But I think Andy has still a lot of good football left in him, and I hope mentally he's handling this the right way. He's a true professional, so I know he is. He's gonna support Finley.

But guys, you know, I mean, it's tough, man. It's tough when you get benched and now you're sitting on the sideline watching. It happened to me, you know, my rookie year. You asked me about, you know, advice for Finley because I took over for Chris Simms start eleven games, and then advice for Andy because in that same season I got bench for Tim Rote, you know, going into the twelfth Star. So you see both sides of it. So it's a world win, man. You got to handle

those ups and down. But lap you know that that's what this game's about all Thanks to Bruce Gradkowski, and that is going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment. Those five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horne, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast