Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Don't Give Up Onus Baby addition, as the Bengals try to keep their playoff hopes alive as they host the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers. Coming up, I'll go one on one with Evan McPherson as he tries to break out of his first slump
since high school. ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates joins me to discuss the season to date, what the Bengals should be looking for in next year's draft, and this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll find out why the Steelers are in first place from their radio voice Rob King.
The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by kettering o Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the Syracuse sportscasting tradition. During the bye week, I have the opportunity to visit my alma mater, Syracuse University, and it was a powerful reminder of how unbelievably fortunate I am to be part of s u's sportscasting fraternity. It was started by Marty Glickman in the nineteen thirties. After Marty started calling New York Knicks games, he became a mentor to a ball boy who wanted to get
into broadcasting named Marv Albert. Marv eventually followed his lead and also went to Syracuse, and that started a tradition that continues to this day and the list of Syracuse sportscasting grads includes Abcostas, Mike Tarico, Sean McDonough, Iron Eagle, Beth Mowens, Dave Lapham, and many others. Simply put, attending Syracuse turned my childhood broadcasting dreams into a reality. Now let's get to my first guest. The Bengals field goal
unit is lined up and ready to go. At thirty three yard try to win the game for Evan McPherson, fifth round draft pick rookie out of Florida. Clark Harris, thirteenth year pro, will snap it back to Kevin Huber, thirteenth year pro. The snap, the put down, the swing of the leg, the kick on its way.
He good.
The Bengals win it.
On the final playoff overtime, Evan McPherson poist it onto the shoulders of his teammates, has Cincinnati pulls it out twenty seven to twenty four.
From the first game of his rookie year, Evan McPherson has been well money Mack. He's nineteen for nineteen in the postseason. He's made seven game winners, including two in the playoffs, and he's drilled field goals from fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, and fifty nine yards. But this year Evan has struggled, missing a game winning try in overtime against Baltimore and hooking a pair of fourth quarter kicks against the Chargers that would have given the Bengals
the lead. I talked to the twenty five year old this week about trying to get back on track. Evan, you have been remarkably consistent in your NFL career, and you started off great this year, making nine out of your first ten. Since then, you've struggled a bit. You've gone six for eleven. Have you been able to pinpoint anything specific, No.
Not to this point.
In my head, I'm kicking about as good as I have and I think I've expressed that hitting the ball really well, just not putting the ball where it needs to go. So it's just continue to trust what I do in practice in preparation for the game, and just carry that over because like I said, I feel like I'm kicking well in practice, kicking well in pregame, and
for whatever reason, it's not translating. But it's just keep the trust and know that eventually my body will figure it out and I'll start start getting on the roll again.
Seems like your last few misses have been left. Is it easier to fix when you're missing in one direction than if you were missing both ways?
Yeah, I think for a right foot a kicker, it's probably easier to fix a miss to the right.
And I've always been a right miss guy.
I've never missed left, and to be honest, I mean I can't pinpoint again like the exact reason why I'm missing left. I'll maybe tugging it a little more than I have been. But yeah, it's just kind of interesting that all my misses this year have been left rather than right.
It would be human nature for confidence to waiver a little bit. Has any doubt started to creep in?
No, I wouldn't say so. Like I said, I got great teammates around that believe in me. I got great coaches that believe in me. And I've got a great family and friends just surrounding me and pouring confidence into me.
Even though, like you know.
Sometimes I will say, the devil will try to creep into your mind and get get a hold of you. But you just got to trust in God and know that he's going to pull you out of any tough times. And they say there's a peak to every valley, right, there's a there's a mountaintop up there somewhere.
We just got to climb the mountain and just keep trusting.
We haven't seen you experience anything like this in the NFL. How about before that, did you ever have a stretch in college or even high school where, for whatever reason, it just took a little while to get it back.
Yeah, for sure.
I feel like high school was that time where I struggled.
My senior year.
I went like nine to eighteen my senior year on field goals, which we attempted like a lot.
I attempted like four or five.
Over sixty and then all the other ones were like fifty plus. But definitely struggled with my senior year of high school. And then I feel like I turned it around and had a really good freshman, sophomore, and junior year. So, like I said, I feel like even when you're struggling, I feel like you learn the most from those moments and you get mentally tougher from those times, and so I feel like coming out of it, we're going to be better than ever.
We're visiting with Devin McPherson. You've had four holders in the last three years. I know you well enough to know you're not going to blame anything on a holder, But how big are the differences from one person to the next.
It's just understanding what each other like and getting building trust and just so that I don't have to think about any other situation other than kicking the ball, you know, I think that's the main thing as a kicker is like, you don't have to worry about if the snap's going to be good, or if the hole is going to be on the spot, or if you're gonna have the correct lean on the ball and the laces are going to.
Be facing straight out.
I feel like a kicker doesn't want to have to worry about those things. And when you don't have to, and all you think about is going out there and hitting the best wall you can, I feel like you aren't a good place. But all four guys that I've had, I mean, obviously Kevin and Clark were a well oiled machine.
They rarely messed up.
But after them, I mean, everybody that we brought in has adapted really well, really fast, and.
Has really done a great job.
Justin Tucker is widely considered to be the greatest kicker of all time. He's got the same number of misses that you have so far this year. In a roundabout way or a weird way, is it kind of reassuring to know that that guy is going through it this year?
I mean, I feel like everybody goes through it at some point in their career. I feel like you try to focus on yourself for the most part. Of course, you look at the guys around you, But I feel like you can get so caught up looking around you that you're not focusing on yourself. And so I feel like maybe that's what I've been doing a little bit too much, And so I feel like from here on out, it's just kind of staying in my lane, not worrying about anybody else but this team and what we're doing.
Did the buy come at a good time just to get away and relax.
Oh, fantastic time. Me and my wife and daughter we went back home, were obviously from the same hometown, so you got both families, and my wife's family has a place on the mountain on the river and no cell service whatsoever, And so talk about just fantastic and like you said, coming at the right time, It probably couldn't come at a better time. Just to kind of sit back, relax and just enjoy family. It was fantastic, And to play a little golf and just get a little mental release.
And I feel like it just rejuvenates your spirit to finish the season strong.
I have no doubt that you were going to kick a game winning field goal sometime soon. Do you want that opportunity more than ever, just because some of the recentness is.
Yeah, of course, like I mean, that opportunity is always a special one to get out there and to win the game, and you know, it sucks that we haven't been able to come through recently in those opportunities.
But you know, I feel like.
Coming up, like I said, I feel like bye week, we've kind of reset and come into it like a new season and we're just going to treat it as that and just attack every opportunity that we get. And we know the games coming up are really important, so we're just gonna be uh locked in and ready for those.
I look forward to asking you about the game winner as soon as it happens, hopefully on Sunday against the Steelers.
Appreciate your time, Yeah, thank you, appreciate it.
I've seen a few people suggest that the Bengals should bring in somebody to compete with McPherson or even cut him. My response is, don't cut him, fix him. Evan is one of the players on the team who has proven to be elite at his position. The last thing they should do is let him go to another team, make a tiny adjustment and become mister reliable again. That will happen hopefully this Sunday against Pittsburgh. ESPN NFL analyst Field
Yates has a unique background. He spent six years assisting the scouting and coaching staffs of the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots before getting into broadcasting. He joined me this week to discuss the Bengals struggles so far this year and what it's going to take to make a playoff push. Our guest this week is ESPN football analyst Field Yates, among other things, a fantasy football expert.
Leading to this question, Field, is Jamar Chase having one of the great wide receiver fantasy football seasons of all time?
He sure is up there. I'll tell you what. He's a whole hot in three and let's call it a half season into his NFL career. But we came into the season saying to ourselves there was so much wide receiver depth across the league, and it felt like, because of the contract situation, it wasn't totally clear where Jamar would rank amongst those wide receivers. But the uncertainty surrounding would he be there in Week one? Would he not? Well? Instead, he has been the best wide receiver in the NFL
by a significant margin. Not just the NFL's receiver in terms of well, he's got the triple Crown threat on right now, but also the number one score in fantasy football wide receiver as well. In recent weeks, he has also reminded us that in a single game, there is no player who is more explosive than Jamar Chase. So he has been a joy to having a fantasy football roster this season, that much is for sure.
All right, let's get to the team in general. Four and seven through eleven games. What do you make of the Bengals so far in twenty twenty four.
Yeah, nothing revelatory about this, but this is the Kuda would have should a team right now in the NFL. I know that you can't do this, but you flip a few of those games and next thing you know, we're talking about a team was challenging for the AFC North title. That's not how the football had, not how football works, not how the NFL works. Bengals fans have been around long enough to know exactly that, But situational
football has been unkind to this team. You know, I know the offense would never pin things publicly entirely against the defense, but one side of the offense, one side of the ball, has held up its end of the bargain much more than the other side of the ball has this year. And while you know the playoff chances
might be low, they're not gone completely. And perhaps this bi week will be one that we look back upon and say that was the flashball moment for the defense to get things going, and the special teams for that matter. But it just feels like a comprehensive sixty minute game has been very elusive from all sides of the football so far from the team this season, and they have
really no margin for error going forward. They must take care of business, and of course starts this upcoming Sunday against Pittsburgh.
To make the playoffs, it probably is going to require a five to one finish, maybe six, And oher does Joe Burrow make that possible?
He does with the way he's playing right now. And I know that we don't hand out the MVP award after two weeks or eight weeks or twelve weeks, but you know, at least if you're putting together a potential ballot, Joe Burrow is on that ballots, and he's been so impressive with the usual suspect traits right, the accuracy down the field underneath intermedia throws has been great. I still think he is the best in pocket navigator in the
entire NFL. His capacity to buy himself an extra half second by himself a little bit more time and space. And he is a good athlete. Obviously he can do some damage with his legs, but he's so smart about finding ways to buy himself a bit extra time in the pocket that rather than scramble for eight yards, he might turn it into an eighteen or twenty eight yard throw down the field. He has been nothing short of
remarkable this year. He's playing maybe the best football of his career, which is saying a lot for a guy that started the Super Bowl early on in his career. But Joe has been brilliant. You hate to see a season like this go away, so that increases the urgency required not just this Sunday, but the rest of the season, because I agree it's going to take at least five and one to get into the playoffs. Now for Cincinnati, the.
ESPN's field Gates is our guest, do you have an NFL scouting background. You're heavily involved in ESPN's coverage of the draft. Let's talk about this year's draft class for Cincinnati. Amarus Mims is starting the right tackle, Chris Jenkins is playing more than fifty percent of the defensive snaps. Eric All looked terrific before he suffered his knee injury. How good do you think this year's class is panning out for Cincinnati?
Yeah, I'd say this has been a solid start for them. You know, the All injury was such a bummer, just because you know, unfortunately, if there was kind of a red flag for him coming into the NFL, it was a health the durability a guy who missed much of his last season in college because of that back issue. God do is he talented? It looks just so effortless when he moves on the field. And well, you know, with Cincinnati, they play probably the heaviest tight end rotation
alongside the Steelers and the entire NFL. So he wasn't going to be a full time player for them on an every snap basis. But you know, those first two picks, and I'll say this is that you know, it's great when you can hit on guys in the fifth, sixth, seventh round and you find yourself a Chase Brown has become a really meaningful contributor out of the sixth round
at one point. But I really truly believe that the best way to build your roster up is to hit on those first and second round picks, because those are and nothing is a one hundred percent certainty, but those are the best bets in the NFL. Right, It's not some big surprise that you look at the best players in this Bengals roster and it's guys like Joe Burrow the first overall pick, and Jamar Chase the fifth overall pick,
and the list goes on throughout the league. So to see a mary Is playing right tackle at a steady level is not a major surprise. The talent was never a question mark for him. It was just a matter of how quickly he get up the speed. Well, the Trent Brown injury opens up the door for Marius Mims to not just play, but need to play and do so on a high level. He's such an impressive athlete, such an incredibly large human when he puts it all together.
His snaps snaps in college were as good as any offensive tackle in the draft last year, and I've been impressed the Trial by Fire as treated them. I think pretty well all things considered.
Field looking ahead, is there a position group or are there position groups that you think the Bengals need to target in twenty twenty five, Yeah.
I mean it's all going to be defense, right. I mean, we can talk about the guard play, and that's something that I think certainly is of note and can be addressed. But you know, at some point you just have to
sort of rebalance the equation a little bit. And when your offense plays like it does, and we'll see what happens with a couple of notable free agents this offseason, but with the offense playing as well as it has, you have to say to yourself, like it's almost a responsible to just try on defense, throw a bunch of resources that way and see what you might be able to come up with. I think the draft class has aligned decently with some of their needs on the defensive
side of the ball. Defensive tackle class looks very very deep in the NFL Draft this upcoming year, and they could use a few more players in the middle of that defense to team to build out the depth. You know, Chris Jenkins, as you mentioned, going to be a big part of this defense for a long time. But he's a certain type of player, right. This isn't some massive, overwhelming,
three hundred and twenty five pound defensive tackle. Needs some continued added girth there in the middle of that defense, and then you know, I would just say complimentary pass rushers, more corners, more corners, more corners. Safety play has kind of been up and down this season for Cincinnati, so anybody in that back end certainly is a prospect. Note in this upcoming cycle.
The first place Steelers are coming to town this Sunday. They've got a record of eight and three. What are some of the biggest keys for the Bengals to get a badly needed win over Pittsburgh.
I'll tell you what this team has an identity to. It's Pittsburgh does. So it's don't be caught off guard. I'll start there, and you better tackle. This is a Pittsburgh team that wants to run the football and do so right between the tackle. They want to ride Naji Harris as much as they possibly can. It was actually Jalen Warren who was more effective in their last game against the Browns. He's a good, very good sort of
lightning quick act. But Najee Harris for much of this year has kind of been the guy that they have tried to run this offense through. And you know, I know what Pittsburgh is probably thinking right now, and we're playing Cincinnati. His offense has been incredible, lights out. We've got a great defense. But the defense is good. But you know, another way to be a great defensive team against Pitts against Cincinnati is to just not let them
on the field. So Pittsburgh, I'm sure wants to control the line of scrimmage, find ways to wear down that Cincinnati defense and not allow Joe and the two wide receivers especially to do their thing on offense. They're very well coached on special teams as well, Danny Smith. Their
special team's coach always has a wrinkle or two. The team the opponent has to be, you know, mindful of as we know, last game was in part decideed by miss kicks, and while those weren't block kicks, you know, the operation has to be smooth against the team that has been as effective in terms of blocking field goals as any in the NFL. Under Danny Smith's guidance. So it's a good team. It's a balanced team, not super explosive on offense, but defensively very very sound. That you
have depths of rushers, you know, obviously TJ. Watt being the one that you have to pay the most attention to. But if you can find a way to play this game more on your terms as the Bengals, you got a really good chance because I don't think Pittsburgh is the kind of team that's built to play or run a race offensive and they want to find a way to grind things out, almost a first to twenty type of game.
I think a lot of football fans wondered if Russell Wilson had anything left in the tag considering his play in recent years. How has he performed for Pittsburgh.
I think he's been solid, And I think the thing with Russ this year and specifically since he took over his starter, as he is playing within the confines of what the rasking him to do. You know, this last game is not a toss away, but you know, the snow obviously impacted it, but for the most part it was you know, it wants you to get a lot of guys involved. George Pickens will be the most targeted Steelers wide receiver, but they go deep at tight end.
They got a handful of wide receivers that play meaningful snaps for them. They have two backs. They are looking for ways to ease the burden off of Russell Wilson because they don't need him to throw for three hundred yards in two touchdowns most weeks. But the accuracy down the field has been a strength of Russ's. He is unafraid to just sort of let his wide receivers do
their thing down the field. He is, you know, sort of known, I'm not the King, but you know, a prominent moon ball thrower where he just lets whether it's you know, most often George Pickens or maybe even Van Jefferson occasionally, very occasionally Mike Williams, who was acquired a few weeks ago in a trade. So don't be surprised if the Steelers try their shots down the field against this Bengals defense that you know, as we talked about, has been leaky in the secondary for a lot of this year.
Field. Let me wrap up by asking you about the other football team in town, the Cincinnati Bearcats. They've got some draftable players on the roster this year, most notably tight end Joe Royer, defensive tackle Dante Corleone, offensive lineman Luke Candra. All three of those guys are local Cincinnati kids as well. What do you think of their draft prospects going forward?
Yeah, A sort of Joe only because he's probably surprised me. I think he's surprised everybody, maybe even the Bearcats program his first year there had I think it was four catches in his first three seasons of college all of Ohio State, comes home, goes to a program that's going to allow him to talent maximize, and all he's done is actually, I don't know if he's gotten there yet, but the last check he was knocking on the door of Travis Kelcey's single season tight end receiving record in
terms of catches at the program. So that's a pretty darn good company right there for Joe Royer. Incredible athlete, He was a big time recruit, as you well know, four star recruit going to Columbus. Great to see him
get his opportunity to shine. If he does come out, I think he ends up being maybe a late Day two or early Day three pick in a good tight end class, Dante the Godfather, mister reliable, the kind of guy that I think you know what you're going to get out of him in a process that's very fickle and funny, you don't always get what you think you
are getting. I think Dante corle owns the kind of guy that a defensive coordator signs off on a GM says, I know I'm getting a steady, dependable or your force. And then Luke kind of in that same bab you know guys put a ton of football both Louisville and obviously in Cincinnati, has kind of seen it all as
a blocker. Mister reliable, steady, tough, instinctive, not a dominant athlete, but the kind of guy who I do think ends up going somewhere you know, day three and has a chance to stick around as a depth level guard of the NFL field.
Love picking your brain as ahweys really appreciate your time. Keep up the great work and thanks.
Thanks ch having on. As always, The.
Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta 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. Before I moved to Cincinnati nearly thirty years ago, I was the sports
director of a TV station in Syracuse, New York. When I left that job, the guy who replaced me was raw King, who eventually moved from Syracuse to Pittsburgh. Well, this year, Rob became the radio voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Small world huh, and he joined me this week for our nother faux segment.
Rob.
The Steelers are eight and three. They've got the third best record in the AFC, behind Kansas City and Buffalo. I'm not sure many people saw that coming. I certainly didn't. In what ways has this season been a surprise to you?
Oh, that's a great question, Dan, I think that you know, I think I'm not quite as surprised. I was a little mystified that people weren't picking the students to have a better record. I think part of that was because the schedule is so murderous, and let's be honest, did murderous part of the schedule is really begun after their
bye week. The schedule looks softer now, of course, it looks softer than it really was, because Chargers were better than people thought, and the Broncos were better than people thought. The Commanders were better than people thought they were going to be. But you know, when you look at this team year ago getting into the playoffs, you know they got there because at the end of the year they
got reasonable quarterback played from Mason Rudolph. Prior to that, the quarterback position had been a real problem for this year as they were really struggling. And you know, when you upgrade that position, and I think they upgraded it with you know, significantly with Russell Wilson and also with Justin Fields. My expectation was, why wouldn't that make you a better team?
You know?
And then and then they also went out in the offseason and they signed Patrick Queen and Deshaun Elliott, two players of course we know from being in the Baltimore Ravens. They traded for Dante Jackson, the cornerback from Carolina, leaving a whole receiver, but improving your team speed on defense drafting Peyton Wilson at the middle linebacker position, so I really thought this was going to be a better team. Maybe, you know, perhaps not a better record because of the
schedule was so difficult, but a better team. So I'm not really that surprised. I think Dan I was more surprised that people didn't see that didn't see that, you know what an upgrade in the quarterback position would mean, because at the end of the year last year, they needed to win three games to get into the playoffs, and they did it with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, and
he provided an upgrade to what they'd had before. So based on really mostly the quarterback position, but also those key additions as well, I felt like this years were a better team Heading into this season.
I think maybe some people wondered whether Russell Wilson was going to be an upgrade, even over Mason Rudolph. He's thirty five years old, he hadn't played particularly well in recent seasons, although maybe he played better than people realized. But since taking over as the starter for the Steelers, the team is four and one. He's thrown seven touchdown passes and only has a couple of picks. How would you describe his play?
I think it's been solid and I think that solid is a big upgrade. He's careful of the football. Of course, Kenny Pickert was careful to the football too, but he just wasn't making a lot of plays now again, whether that was play designed and coordinator or quarterback, you know. I think that was another big addition for the team was getting Arthur Smith, a very well respected offensive coordinator, to come in and run this offense.
Russell, I think has been very solid.
And I think that there are a couple of Steelers, elder Statesman Steelers, who probably had a little extra motivation, a little bit of a chip on their shoulders. One was Connor Hayward or a bigger pardon of the Cameron Hayward, the fine defensive tackle, outstanding players we all know who you know could wind up in Canton when his season
is over. But he had a down year last year, get nagging injuries, and his contract was up, and there were those in Pittsburgh who questioned rather vocally whether he should be brought back or not. And I and the Steelers brought a back and he's having a fine season. He's having to bounce back season, he's healthy. And I think the same was true with Russell. Wilson, you know,
traded to Denver. Obviously, the massive trade the first year was just a catastrophe he's had, which is no longer to the best of my knowledge, even in the NFL. I don't believe in any coaching capacity.
And then you know.
Last year, you know, with his head coach Sean Payton just pulled the plug on him. You look at his numbers and they were solid numbers. You know, the quarterback rating was very good, to touchdown interception racetio was very good. The team had a winning record in Denver under Russell Wilson. So I think that those things, that sort of stability, I think that might be the key word. And he's provided stability to this offense, sort of a known commodity
of what you can and cannot do. The ability to be more aggressive, whether it is coaching and other aspects going for it. Do you bring a blitz on fourth down? Do you take a risk here or there knowing that your margin for error might be a little greater than it's been in years past because you have a proven quarterback. So I think all those things again, you know, I think that's part of the Russell Wilson equation. You know.
To answer your question, I think it's been, you know, very stolid quarterback play, much like we saw through much of his career in Seattle, especially the latter half, where you know he's not you know, he's not gonna throw for five thousand yards and the offense doesn't require that. But he knows how to win, knows how to move the ball, knows how to put points in the board.
We are visiting with the voice of the Steelers, Rob King. Over the last few years, the Steelers offensive line hasn't been particularly good. They're starting a couple of rookies this year and a second year player as well. Has it been a significant upgrade.
That's a great question, Dan. I think it's I think you can see that it will be. It's certainly upgraded to center position. Zach Frazers having an outstanding season at at center. You know, they they drafted Troy Futanu at right tackle in the first round this year. He was expected to be the starter. He was injured very early on. We haven't seen him. James Daniels was one of their better and certainly most experienced, a young veteran right guard. He was a guy they were kind of counting on
he was injured. They put in Mason McCormick. It was a unit that when we were watching them up in camp, we were thinking, well, it's this is ten or eleven deep, and what a wonderful position that's that is to be in in the NFL because they just don't make that many good offensive linemen.
It's hard to find a.
Team that goes you know, some teams don't have five good starters, much less six, seven or eight. And then injuries started to happen. They've they've lost a lot of players to injuries along that offensive line. The Bengals will have no sympathy with that. With the injuries they've had on the back end of their defense, no one's going to be crying any any tears for this year there's
injury was I think that it's it's solidifying. The expectation would be if you told me you're going to start a second year right tackle who's extremely young, and you're going to be starting a first year right guard and first year center, then I think that all in all, it's been solid and hopefully the arrow is pointing up for those guys in terms of improvement as well.
Chris Boswell leads the NFL with thirty one field goals. For sake of comparison, he's got more than twice as many as Evan McPherson, who's made fifteen. How critical has Boswell been to this eight and three start?
Well, Absolutely critical, Dan, And you know he's had two games in which he's six for six with field goals and this year has won both those games and didn't score touchdown either time. So without that happening for you, you're not winning games, including the win over the Ravens.
And not to bring up a sore spot for the Bengals, but think about McPherson's you know, extra pointed or a field goal attempt in overtime that wins that game for Cincinnati and what a different position that puts them in going to this week. Just you know, five and six is a huge difference in the AFC over four and seven. He has been one of their best players. He was the AFC Defensive Player of the Month in both September
and October. Without him, they are not in this position because the formula, and again this ties back in with the Russell Wilson conversation and some of the other improvements they've made around the roster, but we all know how important the quarterback position is. You know, there is there was very little margin for error for the Steelers in the last couple of years. Nine to two in one
score games. That's a very difficult pace to maintain. I give Mike tom On a lot of credit for coaching the team to victories and managing their way through victories, and I think there's a you know, Chris Boswell has been a huge part of that. I think that they'll need a little bit less of that with Russell Wilson at quarterback, the ability to maybe score some more points. But no question, they don't make the playoffs last year and they're not eight and three this year without Chris Boswell.
The Steelers defense has been excellent as always, their fourth in the NFL and points allowed, but I was a little bit surprised when I looked at the stats and saw that they didn't have many sacks this year. Their tied for twenty second in the NFL with twenty five sacks as a team. What are they doing well on defense to limit opposing offenses to such a low number in terms of.
Scoring, well, I think, and you're right, Dan, I think that that is something that raises an eyebrow, especially in light of what happened on Thursday night in Cleveland during the loss. So I think that one of the things that's been beneficial is that even though they're not getting a lot of sacks, they are getting a lot of pressure. You know, Patrick Queen was one of the key guys they picked up, and I was extremely interested to see how they would use a middle linebacker of his varied skills.
He can blitz the passer, he can drop into coverage, he can cover running backs, he can cover linebackers. He's a sidelined to sideline player with great speed. A terrific signing by the Steelers. Well, they've almost blitzed him. I mean they've almost never blitzed him all season. They've been able to drop seven. So they're not getting sacks, they are getting some pressure. They're dropping seven. Dante Jackson, on the other side, has added speed to the to the
cornerback position. You know, I was always a fan of Deshaan Elliott as a safety when he played with Baltimore, and now that I've seen him every day, I'm even a bigger fan. I think he is one of the unsung heroes in the defense. He is just a really, really good football player. So they added to the overall team speed. They're dropping seven and getting enough pressure on quarterbacks that they don't have to bring a lot of blitzes.
You know, the Steelers played the Giants earlier. In the Giants blitz a lot, and they get after the quarterback a lot, but it makes them susceptible to giving up big plays. The Steelers have been able to drop seven get enough pressure on now. They didn't get enough pressure on Jamis Winston on Thursday night in the snow in Cleveland to affect the outcome of that game. That's not something we're used to seeing with the Steelers. We're used to seeing them get more pressure from the quarterback and
have that positive outcome from the defense. As far as putting pressure on forcing the other team to make mistakes, coming up with stripsacks, coming up with sacks, what have you, coming up with a fluttering ball that gets intercepted. We haven't seen that as much this year, and I think that that's it. You know, it's going to need to be a factor. I think on Sunday against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, all.
Right, final thing for the voice of the Steelers, Rob King. The Bengals, as you know, are scoring a lot of points, but they are giving up just as many. What do you think some of the keys to the game are going to be from the Steelers perspective.
I think that obviously you have to limit You have to limit those guys on the outside. I mean, Chase and Higgins are you know what a formidable one two punch. I don't think there's a better one two punch in the league than those two guys. And I think Dante Jackson will help you know, you have Joey Porter Junior on one side and Dante Jackson the other that will
help you. Know, Brown, especially over the last three games, it's one hundred and thirty one plus yards per game from scrimmage for him, he's a guy who can run the ball and beat you also out of the backfield. So I think that they're going to have to do a good job, you know, trying to contain those guys. Again, you have to understand that Joe Burrow and that team
is probably going to score some points on you. So if that happens, even if you limit them somewhat, what does that mean then you have to do offensively.
Well.
It begins to me with stopping Hendrickson, you know, I mean, he's got what eleven and a half and the next guy is hvered with two.
That's a wide drop off.
They were facing a similar scenario in Cleveland against Miles Garrett, and Miles Garrett had a phenomenon and was a huge factor in Cleveland upsetting the Steelers. So I think that stopping Hendrickson has to be a big key as well. I mean, there are others, but I think limiting what those guys can do, the skill guys offensively and making sure that your quarterback stays up bright and Hendrickson doesn't get home repeatedly, I think those would be the biggest keys.
Rob appreciate the time, appreciate the insight, and I'm looking forward to the reunion of former WTVH five sports anchors on Sunday at pay Corp Stadium.
Hey, you know, I'm very happy to say that one of the two of us was recently awarded a prestigious award from the New House School in Syracuse, and that guy lives. But one guy, the guy who won that award, I'm not going to go to it. He lives a little further west than the guy who didn't work well.
I'll say this. We are very lucky to do what we do for a living and it's great to make great friends over the years like you. So look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Thank you, d I appreciate it.
Hi, thanks to Rob King and that's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta 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. 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. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.