Bengals Booth Podcast: Get Back Up

This week's one on one player interview is with the highest graded safety in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus, Jesse Bates and at Our Know the Faust segment, Mike Wells, who covers the Colts for ESPN, makes a prediction of sorts that is bound to annoy Bengals fans. The Bengals

Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game and here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Archie Manning sending encouraging texts to Joe Burrow on a weekly basis.

Burrow shared that nugget with reporters this week. Apparently, Joe struck up a friendship with the legendary quarterback and father of Peyton and Eli when he attended the Manning Passing Academy in college. In this week, after Burrow had the worst game of his young career against Baltimore, Archie texted him, told Joe to keep his head up and shared that in Eli's rookie year, he had a game with a zero passer rating against Baltimore. I looked it up and

Archie wasn't exaggerating. In Eli's fourth NFL start, he went four for eighteen with twenty seven yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a zero passer rating in a thirty seven to fourteen loss to the Ravens. In other words, it happens to the best of them, especially as rookies. Thank you, Archie Matting for the reminder. Now time to bring in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. Lab It's Wednesday, and I think Joe Burrow just got hit again by a blitzing

Baltimore Raven. Baltimore had seven sacks in that game. Burrow leads the NFL with twenty two through five games. I want to start with your specialty offensive line play. How much of that performance, that rough performance for Joe Burrow was on the old line. Part of it, you know,

good part of it. But when you're looking at what happened in that football game, which was a total collapse against the Blitz, everybody suits dirty offensive line, quarterback, you know, holding the football too long, trying to make too much happen, receivers not getting any separation, backs and tight ends not doing a good enough job when they were assigned. You know,

people in Blitz pickup. But the the disconcerting thing to me is when you know it's a simple inside linebacker five yards off the line of scrimmage and he's a free runner because of an assignment error. I mean, you know, physical things one thing, but the mental part of it at this stage, that's that's that's troubling to me, you know, And all the way back to peewee football, basically you're always taught block from the inside out, protect quarterbacks from

the inside out. The shortest distance to the quarterback is right up the gut. Make him come off the edge. You know, and we'll take our chances. Then at that point, if there's a free runner there a lot of times it's on the quarterback. He has to make them missing and create an extent or get the ball out before the guy gets there. So to have those those kind of mental errors and simple, simple blitzes, that's not good. That's not good at all. The NFL keeps quarterback hits

as a statistic. I'm not sure it's perfectly accurate. When I go back and look, it might be off by one or two. But here's what the NFL says for the first five games of the Joe Burrow era, hit six times in Week one, seven in Week two, eighteen in Week three, five, and week four fifteen in week five. That adds up to fifty one hits. That's an average

of about ten hits per game. It's a cautionary tale, particularly as the Bengals get ready to take on the Indianapolis Colts, because we all remember what happened with Andrew Luck a year ago. He retired at the age of twenty nine. He still had sixty million dollars coming and yet he walked away. And here's why. Torn cartilage and two ribs, a partially torn abdomen, a lacerated kidney, at least one concussion, a torn labram in his throwing shoulder,

and calf and ankle injuries. Earlier today, Colt's head coach Frank Reich was asked about that difficult balance that you go through as a head coach when you have a young quarterback who has the ability to extend plays and make people miss and obviously has a lot of talent, but you're trying to protect that guy as well. Yes, Mark's win James, and you know you get behind, you know, you get behind in the game or the guy that you drafted is an elite pest and that's why he

was drafting you. That's why he's your quarterback, and that's what he's good at doing so and part and part of developing is you gotta take your lumps um. But then, as you say, there is a fine balance, I mean, you know you're going to get hit and so that's that's just a week by week coaching decision. You know, play by play that you got to you gotta weigh how it's going in game, and there is I think there are times where you pull back a little bit

and protect the guy. Um. But then there's other times where you know, you just gotta gotta take your lumps and you gotta go, you gotta work through it. It being around Andrew Luck at all towards the end there change your view of that and the idea of taking their lumps and things like that. We place a very high priority. I'm sure that angles due too, but on protecting the quarterback. And you know that's that involves everybody.

That's not just not just the quarterbacks, not just the offensive lines, the whole offensive units and coaching staff, includes the play caller, it includes everything, and so it takes the total commitment to it. And then it opously the quarterbacks has to perform and get the ball out and know the right protection calls. Um. That's all part of

the equation of learning and grow. When Andrew Luck shocked the football world with his retirement announcement last year, he cited the soul crushing cycle of injury and rehab and here was the quote. The only way I see out is to no longer play football. It has taken my joy of this game away. Now. Obviously Joe Burrows nowhere close to that. Hopefully it'll never come to that. And I'm not suggesting it will, but that's what you got

to try to prevent. Oh, there's no doubt. And when you think about it, Andrew Luck bigger, stronger, faster, six four two forty and you know, and can run better than Joe. So you got you got you know, mega QB at the quarterback position instead of Megatron Megatron QB or whatever. I mean, he's he's a robot QB. He's exactly what you would want physically, yet he sustained all

these injuries. And that's what's amazing to me right now is it's in the early stages, but Joe Burrows tracking for well over seventy sacks on one hundred and sixty plus hits. Man, that's not sustainable. And right now, when I watch him sometimes it's like Gumby. He is so flexible. It's almost like he has no bones. He's all cartilage. His whole body's cartilage. You know, he just kind of

like rolls with the punches. Andrew Luck was, you know, kind of a thick, strong dude, and man, when you get hit, there's not a whole lot of give their flexibility. I don't know, maybe Joe's built a little bit better to take the abuse and the punishment. But nobody can sustain taking the abuse and punishment that he's taken right now. So and to have a guy who love the game of football like Andrew Luck, I mean loves the game of football. I mean his dad football quarterback, ran a league,

you know, in charge of the NFL Europe. Everything he grew up around the game. He is a football savant. For him to say, can't do it, man, that cycle getting hurt, rehabbing, getting hurt and rehab it all the time, it's just taken away, you know, every every other good part of life's that's a bad way to live in. He's a brilliant guy as well, so he knows you could do something else, you know, It's not like football is the only thing that he can do. Joe Burrows

the same way. I mean, Joe's a smart guy, but he absolutely loves football. And like you said, it's far from you know, the Andrew Luck situation. But man, you don't want to do anything to even get him in the same neighborhood as what Andrew Luck was thinking about.

And on the opposite side of the field. This week, you have thirty eight year old Philip Rivers, who might be probably is the least mobile quarterback in professional football, and yet he has only been sacked four times this year, only been sacked four times, throwing five interceptions, because I think he's a lot of times he tries to get

the ball out really quickly, too quick. Yeah, I think sometimes maybe he's you know, he's trying to protect not trying to protect his offensive line from numbers, but he knows, I want to get it out so I can prevent getting blown up totally. You know, I might, I might take a glancing blow or a pull up shot or something like that. Sometimes it's too quick, Sometimes it's way too long. Like the check down that he threw for

the pick six against the Browns. He was in the pocket forever, but the safety that he threw, h he could have just climbed the pocket. And he doesn't like, he doesn't like moving off his spot. And that's going to be a key in this football game if the Bengals can somehow get him off his spot and you know, make him throw the ball sooner than he wants to. Uh. Five interceptions, four touchdown passes. That's not that's not your

typical Philip Rivers ratio. I mean back when he was he was really getting it done in uh in twenty eighteen. Thirty two touchdowns, twelve picks. You know, that's that's more like the Philip Rivers that people want to think about. Last week, before his gruesome ankle injury, Dak Prescott caught a touchdown pass, meaning he has one more TD catch

this year than AJ Green. A rough start to the twenty twenty season hit an unimaginable low for aj in Baltimore last week, where he looked loss and the only pass throwing his way, and then spent the second half of the game on the bench voicing his frustration, apparently with a reported hamstring injury. The day after the game, Zach Taylor was asked five questions in a news conference about the seven time pro bowler. I have edited those

questions and Zach's answers together. Is it AJ Green's left hamstring, the same one he aggravated training camp? Yeah, it's the same string. Zach, Did you talk to Ajo about maybe a sense of frustration more than just the injury that heast mentioned? Anything to you today about that? If you had a conversation with him, I mean I'll keep all those conversations private, but we talked to our players every week,

and I feel really good about where everything's at. That you said you feel good about the conversations that you have with your players. Does that include Aj after after yesterday? Yes, I mean it looked like we haven't talked to him yet. It looked like he was very frustrated with his role and then his rotation. I mean is did you did you see the video? Do you have any comments on what we said on the sideline? No comments? Is that

when you look at AJ's numbers off catapult during practice? Um, do you has there been any inclination that he hasn't been able to go full go during games? When you look at the numbers that you've been seeing that Joey's looking at off catapult? I know, comment several one word answers. Not the typical way that Zach Taylor address his questions from the media, particularly about Aj Green. Yeah, very very ei Yeah, very effusive, usual normally with Aja, and very

tertius A good word. So when you heard that, what was your reaction? Uh? Not happy, you know, obviously frustrated. So there was some sort of frustration that went on in that football game, and Zach decided to keep it all in the house, which is the norm. But I you know two things on that play. I don't think AJ saw the football. I don't think he did, but he did see the interception and when he saw the interception, he ran away from contact. And you just hate to see,

you know, that, that type of situation. So whatever it is, that's bothering AJ if he feels like, if he's trying to play football not to get hurt. Can't play that way. You just can't play fearful of injury and trying to avoid or prevent injury while you're playing the game. It's impossible. You just have to go play as hard as you can. As soon as you're not playing at that level, that's when you do get hurt. So it's an interesting dynamic

that's going on. I mean, I don't, I don't. Obviously we don't have the facts, all the facts that are taking place. Hard to draw conclusions. But the eye in the sky don't lie, and what you're seeing on tape is not Aj Green. It's just not. Zach Taylor said on Wednesday that AJ would not practice on Wednesday, but made it sound like that's not uncommon for him at this stage of his career. He said he would practice on Thursday and that he thought he would be okay.

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens on Sunday. They've got John Ross waiting in the wings. He's been a healthy scratch. Well he was ill last week, but probably would have been a healthy scratch anyway. Is this the week that that aj takes a seat if his hamstring is tender at all, and John Ross gets another shot potentially, you know, if if his hamstring is causing issues, there's a there's a chance that could be the case. And you know John Ross obviously one thing

he can do is run and stretch a field. Um, Now the question is will he catch the football? You know, that's that's the inconsistency in his game. It's not his speed's not insistent. He's fast every time he runs, but catching the football on a high percentage basis has been where he's had his issues. So yeah, it's very interesting. You know, you look at the two position groups they're going into the season. Stars you know, a star on the forehead of this position. Defensive line decimated by injury

wide receiver. What's going on there. It's a different it's a different group, a different animal. You know, John Ross hasn't panned out. Aj hasn't panned out. Now it's those the strengths of the football team anymore. Those two position groups makes you scratch your head and wonder. I've never seen ull. Last year it was left tackle, left tackle. They played five of them, which is crazy for one spot, one position, defensive tackle. It's like seven count and counting

this year after only five football games. Come on, man, it's crazy. Going back. Prior to training camp, the defensive lineman began dropping for the Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan Glasgow failed as physical, Josh Tupo opted out due to coronavirus. Then, once training camp began, Ronelle Wren suffered a season ending quadriceps injury. Gino Atkins got hurt. Thankful he's back from

his shoulder injury. Mike Daniels is on the injured list now with an elbow injury, and now most recently, DJ Reader, the great defensive tackle signed as a free agent this offseason. We'll miss the rest of the year with a quad injury. Here's his teammate, Christian Covington, you know, he's a heart and sold his defensive line heart and sold his defense. Really one of the key guys on this team, so you know, the loser guy like him is it's hard. You know, I was able to talk to him after

the game, obviously talked to him today. You know, he's feeling good, he's optimistic. He you know, he has faith and you know, this defense, this team, so we gotta just, uh, we gotta pick it up now, we gotta just uh, we gotta we have to feel you know, filling the spot that you know that he played with the team, and uh what we can honestly, I mean, can you quantify how big of a loss is, especially given the already lack of bodies on that line. You know, it's

a big loss. M I can't lie. But at the same time, you know, this is this is the NFL. You know, we play a violin sport. This is you know, this is a hard league to be able to compete with and nobody ever is gonna be one hundred percent healthy. So it's it's that old time you know, that old time saying that goes with being in this league. You know, it's the next man up mentality. So it's a it's a matter of fact right now. It's it is what it is. We pray for this brother, we love him,

We send our best to him. We know he's gonna be great. He's gonna come back healthier, stronger than ever. But at the same time, you know, we have a job to do right now, and that's to be able to pick it up and you know, keep battling, keep going. This one hurts. The Bengals made DJ Reader the highest paid nose tackle in the NFL when they signed him in the offseason to a four year, fifty three million dollar deal. Obviously, a big signing bonus was part of that.

He's making twenty two point two five million dollars this year. Done after five games. Sad. You know, um lose the secondary, he lose the defensive tackle. You lose two defensive tackles. Your big signings in free agency, three multimillion dollar deals, not participating at this point in time. Wren and Reader same injury tendon that attaches quad to the knee. They have,

they have surgery exactly the same injury. It's crazy, just absolutely crazy, and uh, it's mind boggling when you when you think about it again, what would have been the strength position wise, position group wise, and the team is decimated. It's a shell of itself to nobody's fault other than injury, which you can't control, and it's just eating that position

group alive. DJ Reader large man six three three twenty five pounds, depending on whether he had his sugary cereal that morning, but in any case, you know, the Bengals clearly went out and got him because they've been so bad at stopping the run over the past couple of years. And while that's been up and down so far this year, that wasn't his fault. He's doing his job in that area. He was giving it all he's got. I mean, he is a he's a you know, one hundred percent effort guy.

There's no doubt about that, you know, and that that that's the thing is the guys that you paid millions of dollars to, you know, and Carlos is on a third extension or a third contract of his career. Guys that you're paying big money to, you know, like Reader, like Carlos, like you know Daniels. Now Reader and Daniels are down due to injury. But those are the guys that the organization. If I'm spending that kind of money, I'm saying, give it, give me something, give it to me.

I'm not mad at Covington. I traded for Covington and you know he's he's giving me everything he's got. Yeah, you can't ask for anything more from it. But some of these guys that you're paying the big money to, Carlos Agent, I mean, it's an organization. You have to think this man, start giving me something, Start giving me some sort of return on the investment. You know, that's only fair. And one of those guys is Geno Atkins.

They worked him back in as a pass rush here last week, but the role is going to have to increase with DJ Reader out. It is. He probably played twenty five percent of the snaps and he came out of it well, which is good. But yeah, you need needs somebody to really push the inside of the pocket and pass rush and then and then play the run stuff the run. Gino can do that. And uh, you know, Sam Hubbard looked to me like he dislocated his elbow.

I think Sam Hubbard's probably on the shelf for multiple weeks. It's it's not just a one week thing with Sam Hubbard and I've dislocated my elbow. I know what that feels. Oh my god, not good, good, not good, not good at all. All right, I get real quick. The trainer came out, Mark Pollins came out, and the referee he sees that my arms going the wrong way. It just was going the wrong way. Mike McCoy, big defense attack Green Bay just rolls on it and cut blocking me

and it keeps out. I'm so the referee, Tuney says, you know, stay honest. I'm not going anywhere. The trainer comes out. He looks, oh god, stick cover what you want to hear from the trainer. I'm like, Marv, give me a doctor, for God's sake. Doctor grabs my thumb and Pinky tries to snap it back into place. Doesn't fall in you guys, give me one one more shot. That's it. Second time went into place and they tape it up sixty degree angle. Tiger looks at me Dan

and goes, you're playing, aren't you? I said, I hadn't really thought about that. I can't get in the right hand of stance. He goes, put your left hand down, then sends me back in the game. Wow, I know it's a different game. Different again. The Bengals had a new guy at practice on Wednesday, defensive lineman Xavier Williams. He's a six year VET and he won a Super Bowl ring last year as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. He's only played in one game so far

this year. That was as a member of the Patriots. And Xavier Williams was picked up earlier this week due to all the injuries the Bengals have suffered on their defensive line. So he's practicing on Wednesday, he's going to

be playing on Sunday. And earlier this week, defensive coordinator lou An A. Rumo remembered an incidant, an incident or an instance, I should say from his days as a defensive backs coach with the Miami Dolphins, where the Dolphins picked up a cornerback during the week late in the year and had to throw him out there we claim him. Like week fourteen, the GM comes to my office as all right, this guy's starting this week. I said, okay, great,

no problem. He doesn't. He doesn't for whatever reason, missed the flight, get screwed up on Tuesday. The first time I meet the guy is Wednesday, during period six of practice, I shake his hand, I say get in the huddle, and I stood behind him and he played sixty five plays in the game on Sunday. So if a corner can do it, I got it's got to get in an A or a B gap. He can do it too. We'll get him. We'll get him. We'll get him ready taking on the double team and that does and change

no matter where you're at. So you know, we'll make sure we uh and I'm oversimplified and obviously, but we'll make shore when he's in the game that we're doing things that he can do. How tough will that be for a defensive tackle? I think I don't think it'll be that tough for him. I really don't, you know. I do think, like you know, Luke said, you don't want to oversimplify it, but I mean, honestly, you're you are hitting gaps or two gaping, are do whatever whatever's

whatever's asked. And he's obviously had exposure to Spagnolo, you know, with Kansas City, Belichick with New England Patriots. I mean, he brings some unique experiences with him. So, um, I think I think he's going to be fine. I don't think. I don't think you'll see him hitting wrong gaps. Are you know, making the mental errors. I think with his experience in the league, within with the teams that he's

been with, accumulating that experience. Last week, the Baltimore Ravens blitzed on fifty nine percent of Joe burrows drop backs. They like Moore did, they got prep're on forty seven percent of his drop backs. So he was under pressure eighteen times twelve on blitzes during the game, seven sacks and when he was under pressure, Joe Burrow is three for nine for fifteen yards. It was obviously a tough day.

It made me ask this question if Bengals defensive coordinator lou Anna Romo, why doesn't everybody blitz like Baltimore does. They do a fantastic job with their their pressure package, and you know, the different multiple looks that you give it. But yes, it is a little bit tay, let's just do that. And well if you don't get home. Sometimes there's some guys running free behind those guys, but they never get to get it off, you know, so that that rush can really cover up for a lot of them,

you know. And again not that they make mistakes. I'm not suggesting that. I'm just saying that sometimes if you don't have the same type of guys up front that are getting there, you know, it can be challenging on the back end guys. So if you look at the five games the Bengals have played so far, Joe Burrow has been blitzed on twenty seven percent of the snaps. No blitz seventy three percent of the snaps. Is that blitz percentage are about to go up for everybody, even

though that's the way that Baltimore would normally do it. Yeah, I mean, you got to think Eberflus is a great example. He's not a heavy blitz guy. But when you see the level that it got home, the level that affected the play, maybe you say, I do have you know, I have some packages. I had a couple of three

packages that I haven't really emphasized all that much. Maybe I introduce him because well, the one thing you don't want to do is say, all right, we're gonna do what Baltimore does and we don't have the personnel that Baltimore does. We're still going to do it Baltimore does. And you have to you have to pretty much as a coach and a coordinator, you know, kind of work your schematic around what you have for people instead of

the other way around. You can't say we're doing this no matter what, I'm force feeding you in square peg and a round hole and it doesn't work out that way. But there are packages that lend itself to your talent in personnel that you can incorporate. So I wouldn't be surprised if ebra Flus brings those and sees which one are most effective. And that's what Martin Deal did such

a great job of. Once they started a once it hit home, they saw it until they were you know, give me some semblance of stopping it, and maybe I'll stop blitzen. You're not stopping at all. I'm going to keep doing it, and that's the way it's going to be. So I do think, and Joe Burrow said it himself. When you're a rookie quarterback, you face a higher blitz percentage with almost every team you face, So I think

he's expecting it for sure. According to Pro Football Focus, when Joe Burrow has not been pressured, he's one oh five for one forty four. That's seventy three percent completion percentage, four touchdowns, one pick. Passer rating of ninety seven point nine. Pretty good when he's under pressure. Thirty for sixty three it's under fifty percent, two touchdowns, two picks, passer rating of fifty nine point eight. Now, those numbers are dramatic,

but not that unusual. Very few quarterbacks have great statistics when they're under pressure. But based on that, if I'm a defensive coordinator, I'm trying to apply pressure. Yeah, And I think those Baltimore numbers really affected because it's a fairly small sample size. You know, four or five games into the season. When you have a horrific day like the entire offense did against Baltimore, it can distort those

numbers pretty well. And it did. I mean not to say that he has not had his struggles with pressure before, but nothing like what happened last Sunday in Baltimore. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now

time for this week's one on one player conversation. As Jim Neighbors used to sing before the Indie five hundred, Bengal safety Jesse Bates is about to be back holmag Yeah, in indian Jesse is from Fort Wayne, a couple of hours away from Indianapolis, and he's looking forward to returning to the Hoosier State on Sunday. Jesse, the website Pro Football Focus has you graded as the number one safety in the NFL so far this season, and it's not close.

In fact, there's a bigger gap between you and the second rated safety than there is between the first guy and the second guy at any other position. Were you aware of your high grade and how do you feel about the way you've been playing. Yeah, so I'm very aware. I have a group chat with my mom and my sister, my family, and they put everything, whether it's the good the bad, they put it off in there. So yes, I'm very aware of that, and I think I've played

very well up until now. I think I had a little fall off, a little humble humbleness game and Week two against the Browns where I missed up a lot of tackles I felt like I could have made. I'm capable of making. But you know, it's only it's only been what five games, I think it is. We have eleven games left and you know that a lot can happen in that eleven week span. So my only focus is it only it only makes me better. It shows me what I'm capable of and what my potential is.

And I just want to continue to show that. We're chatting to Jesse Bates. You've broken up seven passes already this season, which suggests that you're playing fast. Is that a product of experience? Do you recognize where the ball is going faster? Yeah, it's just better preparation, you know, expecting what to you know, see on Sundays. I think Rob has done a really good job of doing that

the first two years. But it's just me, you know, growing up and being able to you know, hear the same things and see the same things and just see how the quarterback is going through its progression and stuff like that. And I mean it also helps, um, you know, with Joe Borough being here, he doesn't really good job of looking people off in the middle of the field.

So I got a lot of work with that. Um. You know, in a short two weeks, two training camp weeks that we had, defensive coordinator lou Ana Romo says that you're tackling has improved this year. How does a guy who's been in the NFL for a couple of years yet better as a tackling The main thing for me was strength, you know, coming in here, I think I was around like one nine two hundred and if my weight would drop as the weeks will go. And I think this offseason I really focused on you know,

the quarantine did me very well. That's what I've been telling people. I was able to just stay at home in Fort Wayne, Indiana and train with one of one of my high school trainers that's been training me since high school, and Lawrence Barnett, who did a really good job of having a play set for me and what exactly the goals were this offseason. So I didn't run for the first maybe two months or something like that. I got up to like two fifteen. I was a

little bit too heavy, you know. We we we found a really good plan and it worked out. I think that's been the biggest key for me in tackling this year. Jesse, You've got a new tag team partner at safety this year, and Von Bell. He's a couple of years older. He basically has twice as much NFL experience as you do.

What impact has he had on you. Like I said, you know, you see my preparation improves throughout the years, and you know, you see, von He's come from a really good football team, a really good organization where I'm sure their preparation was very good. You know, he's seen a lot of good things in his first four five years in the NFL. So, you know, being able to just ask questions, being humble enough, and you know, building that relationship with him where I can ask questions and

you know, and prepare the same. Vanna is a little bit more early bird type of guy, but but we still talk while we're at work. For sure. The team lost defensive tackle Dj Reader this week for the rest of the year. He's obviously an outstanding player, but it seems like he had a huge impact as a leader in a very short period of time. Was that the case and if so, how Yeah? Absolutely? DJ got paid a lot of money in the offseason for a reason. He does. He's kind of like me. He doesn't really

say much. You know, he's not a very right, right, right guy, but he makes it know him that he's there, and you know, if you turn on the tape, you'll always see DJ making plays. Even if he's not making a tackle, he's always in the right position and knocking the liner screams back. So that'll be a huge blow

for us on defense for sure. He faced the Colts this week in thirty eight year old quarterback Philip Rivers sixth dollar time in passing yard, sixth dollar time in touchdown passes, but he does have five interceptions so far this year. How important is it this week to make a play on the ball if and when he makes a mistake, It's very important. I feel like we've we've had a lot of opportunities to get turnovers and we

haven't capitalized on it. Even myself, I think some of those PPUs that I've had could be interceptions, and that's something that I'm gonna continue to improve on and we need to improve on as a defense, because that's what this game is all about, the turnover ratio. And you know, the more turnovers we have, our offense has more opportunities to score the ball as well. So, yes, Philip, Philip is a Hall of Famer, but yes, hopefully we can get some you know, some interceptions off them. This week,

we're chatting with Jesse Bates. Rivers is in his seventeenth year, he's played more than two hundred and thirty games. Is it possible to confuse Philip Rivers at this point? It's gonna be very hard to trick them. But I think one thing you can do that that mess with the quarterbacks that are a little older. They don't really move. We're not going to play a Lamar Jackson this week, so you know, being able to hopefully bring some pressures to him, get them off the spot a little bit,

well that's up with some of his accuracy. So I'm very excited to go home and playing in uh in the Lucas Oil Stadium for sure. Yeah, it's a homecoming for you. You are from Fort Wayne, that's about two hours north of Indie. How big of a deal is this? It's a it's a huge deal. Um, you know, it's another week obviously, but I think it's a really big deal, you know, going back to my home state, um and playing in that in that stadium. I think the last time I played in it was went the state my

sophomore year in high school. Uh, you know, obviously we did the combine there or whatever. But yeah, it's it's uh, it sucks that I can't have all my family at the game, uh, due to the COVID stuff like that. Um So, you know Grandma's will will be at home watching the game for sure, but my mom and other family members will be there for sure. How did that high school game go? Um Man, We're not gonna talk about that. I'm pretty sure we got whooped by I

think Lawrence North or whatever it is. They had a lot of talent theories. Hopefully Sunday will go better. Appreciate the time. Congratulations on a great first five games, sir, Thank you. I have another question about Philip Rivers that I didn't ask Jesse Bates. What do you think has been harder for the veteran quarterback learning the Colts offense after sixteen years with the Chargers, or remembering the birthdays

of his nine kids. For more on Rivers and the Colts, it's time for Our Know the Faux segment, and this week Mike Wells, who covers the Colts for ESPN, joined Day of Lapham and Me on the Bengals Game Plan Show. This week, the one, three and one Bengals head to Indianapolis to take on the three and two Colts. Time for Our Know the faux segment and to learn more about the Colts. Who welcome in Mike Wells, who covers

the team for ESPN in Indianapolis. Mike, I've been reading newspapers and websites about the Colts since the beginning of the week. There have been a lot of questions about whether Philip Rivers should be yanked from the starting lineup. How shaky has Philip Rivers been? Well, First off, anytime I hear a record about a team, an opposing team that says one, three and one, automatically think of hockey or that's how rare of highs are in the NFL.

But back back to your question about Philip Rivers, the reality is, I mean, you're talking about a thirty eight year old quarterback who you know, had twenty three turnovers last season and in the coach two losses. He was a big part of that. I mean, he had two interceptions in Week one again Jacksonville. Then he had two interceptions including that pick six and a intentional brownie safety

against Cleveland last weekend, responsible for nine points. I wasn't a math major in college, but the coach while I lost by nine points to the Bengals and Rivers were responsible for those nine points. The more Philip Rivers struggles, the questions are going to continue with them if the coach were to go ahead at bench Philip Rivers. You know, after just five weeks in the NFL season, that is a complete sign that they made a bad decision in

signing Rivers to that twenty five million dollars contract. Last freak. So Mike is the offensive line working in concert with Philip Rivers? Is he trying to get rid of the ball too quickly? I mean he's got five interceptions in the offensive line, you know, or I should say the Indianapolis Colts only giving up five sacks and he's got five interceptions. Is he trying to protect them getting the ball too quickly? Sometimes it's just a matter of you know,

Rivers making bad decisions. I mean where he's locked in on the receiver and got rid of the ball. I mean last week and you play you guys know Miles Garrett very well from AFC North, I mean wondered premier pass rushers and the Colts did not have started an attack. We had six sons though they Rivers had to get rid of the football last week, as Garrett was a carrot,

a terror out there in the football field. But Rivers can't he That's been one of his flaws, and what's been an incredible sixteen plus year career is that he makes some bad decisions with the football. But when you're a team like the Colts that has deal with so many injuries and you have to make smart decisions because you have to give you your football team a chance to score as many times as possible. But when Rivers

is doing it, it's just not a good thing. And the more interceptions meaning five interceptions right now, compare they're just four touchdowns that Rivers continue to pile up. The more the heat and the pressure is going to be on Rivers and the Colts on Chammers. Longer can he you remain the turning quarterback. We're talking to Mike Wels, who covers the Colts for ESPN. You mentioned the left tackle Anthony Costanzo didn't play last week. I guess it's

a rib injury for him. Darius Leonard, arguably one of the top two or three linebackers in the NFL, didn't play last week because of a groin injury. The head coach, Frank Reich, has been a little bit evasive so far about whether they'll be back this week. But what do you think do you have a best guess on those two guys? See Bagels fans are gonna come after me. They're gonna they're gonna try to come after me when

I give this answer. Is nothing personal Cincinnati fans. I would say that's about any team that has a losing record and the culture playing a team that probably they should beat. But when I was at practice earlier today, Costanzo was back out there. There was no site, no site,

a sign of Darius Leonard. If I'm the Colts, they played at Bengals this week and then they have their buy, there's zero, zero reason for putting Darius, I mean Darius Leonard and Anthony Costanzo out there because I think whether they have Leonard and Costanzo or not, they should be able to beat the Bengals. And I say that as being very impressed and what I've seen from Joe Burrow

so far as the season. But if the Coats belader a playoffs team, they should beat a rebuilding Cincinnati Bengals team. So it's going to be up in the air. I would not be surprised if Casanzo played this week because he was out there in a practice field. But with a guy like Leonard a groin injury, we all know groin injuries if you tweak it can linger on for a long long time. There's a lot of football enough to be played. If Leonard misses this week, he's essentially

having three weeks off with the growing injury. He can get healthy after the buy against the Lions. So again, Bengals fans, is nothing personal, but I don't think I don't think the Coats need Darius Lennon or Anthony Gosanzo to beat Cincinnati this weekend. Let's go to the other side of the ball for a second. De Forest Buckner, big trade, give up what I think it was the thirteenth pick in the first round to get the Forest Buckner?

Has he been playing as advertising? Statistically looks pretty good? How's it looking? You know what? I think he's been better than what his stats say. I don't have the stats right in front of me, but he is. He's causing teams to have to pay attention to him, which is allowing you know, the ages wonder justin Houston to be able to make plays still and on the back end. The coata I think they had six or seven interceptions already this season, so fortion turnovers and yells, yeah, I'm

short changing the coach nine interceptions. So it's kind of a trickle down effect. Bucklers may not be having the stats they're gonna have everybody screaming and say, oh yeah, this guy dominated, but he's causing quarterbacks to get rid of the ball quicker, which is allowing the deep, the back end players to defense the backs to be able

to make plays and you know, forced turnovers. ESPN Colt reporter Mike Wells is our guest that coach defense number one in yards allowed, number two and points allowed, number one in interceptions. As we were just talking about, it's not chock full of Pro bowlers. It's not like the Ravens in that respect. Why are these guys so freaking good on defense? You know, it starts with the defense. The coordinator, Matt even Flus, he has a model of you know, you played through the whistle. You know, most

people play until they hear whistle. The coach defense, they played through the whistle. They and they're always trying to strip the ball and they don't want it to be all about one player. It's not about it. It's not just about Darius Leonard or the Ford Buckner's. It is a whole complete unit. You know, if one unit is playing well, it should help the other two units. So if the D line is playing good, the linebackers and the defensive backs should be able to thrive all of it.

So that's It's that motto of hey always attacked the football, played through the whistle. I mean aggressive it as fast as possible, because I mean, I look at the Forest bucking. I think he should be a power forward on an NBA team. He said, he's six seven clock in the middle of the lane, the middle of the line of scrimmage, and he's helping everybody out on that unit. Matt Ebraflush

he was a defensive coordinator at Missouri. I was doing big twelve games at the time, and I remember Gary Pinkel, the head coach of Missouri, said, I have a kid that's coaching my defense that is going to be have a future that you won't believe in football. I said, you mean like at the professional level. He gets, oh yeah, he said, this kid is destined. And it was Ebraflus and his whole thing. When he was at Missouri was do a few things as well as we possibly can.

Keep it simple, and they keep it simple where they can. They know what they're doing, and they play fast. They're confident, and man, I'll tell you what, he had those guys flying around the field. It seems like he's doing the same thing with the Colts, and that's exactly what it is. He's like, yeah, it's not it's all about trying to do too much. It's like, keep it simple, just keep it simple, and the simple things we do, we have to be the best set it. And that's evil. Plus

is you know mind frame. I mean you talked to Mattie Bifus. He's kind of just kind of blow whatever. But his his his tenacity and getting things making a perfect making everything perfection is over the top, and that's what you'd like to see at the coordinator Mike Wells is our guest. The Colts have had their share of injuries, including Marlon Mack there, one thousand yard rusher from last

year but waiting in the wings. Second round draft pick Jonathan Taylor, sixth leading rusher in college football history, despite only being at Wisconsin for three years. He was the second round draft pick this year. How much of the offense now is going through Jonathan Taylor. It's Jonathan Taylor's show, and unfortunately that's a lot to put on Jonathan Taylor's

is his plate, you know. He I think he's realized pretty quickly that, you know, this is not Wisconsin where you can try to stretch a run out and hopefully turned the corner. He's realizing that if he sees a slight trease, he has to turn and turn up field and get through it because defensive players are a lot. He's not facing a Rutgers decense. He's facing legit NFL players. But I think, you know, with Marlin Matt going down and it kind of put a lot that he had

to put out there. I think it would be better for Taylor if Mac not, if Mack had not torn his achilles. But Nathan Taylor's gonna be funny. He's already had one hundred yard rushing game. So they're going to continue. They're going to continue to feature him as much as possible because as much as we talk about Philip Rivers or a t Y Hilton in the passing year, the Colts want to be a run first football team and to be a run first football team. It's all about

Jonathan Taylor. We talked about how opportunistic the secondary is. With nine interceptions leads the league. They get two pick sixes, which also leads the league, and they've returned the kickoff one hundred and one yards for a touchdown, so three returns is tied to the league league with Baltimore and the Bengals just played the Ravens last week seeing how

opportunistic they were. But this special teams for Indianapolis, Man, I'm telling you they're They're eighth in the NFL and punt returns their tenth covering punts second and kickoff returns eleventh covering kickoffs. I mean, they're special teams have dictated fuel position all year, it seems like it is. And as the keeping them. They want to get Philip Rivers a short field to work with and then a Rigaberto Sanchez of the punter. He does an incredible job being

able to pin teams down. They probably their hat on

special teams. They want to be able to shorten the field for the thirty eight year old quarterback and they want to they know their defense is so good that if they can get a team inside the team, it's gonna be hard for a team to go ninety plus yards the score touchdown against will And speaking of special teams, Adam Vinari will go down as one of the greatest kickers of all time, but he was brutal last year for the Colts, made less than seventy percent of his

field goals miss six pats. What has rookie Rodrigo blank and Shift done for the Colts confidence in their kicking game. Well, I'll tell you that. I gotta say this. You know, I'm forty three years old and you know, times to change because I remember talking to Blanket Shift, Blanket Ship early on and we were asking him about hobbies and what he likes to do when he's not playing football. He puts legos together. He puts lego together. That's what

my nine year old son used to do. He legos together, and Blanketship says, you know, he's like, I like to build legos. And we asked the special teams accordinated about that. He goes and listen. As long as he makes kicks, that's all the game. And that's the thing. You know, last year was a disaster for the coach. Kicking game Adam Mina Tarry as great as he was during his future Hall of Fame career, he costs him so many

games and blanketship. He's the air parent. I mean, you talk about a guy that made all two hundred extra points kicks when he was at the University of Georgian, if I'm not mistaken, maybe only his thirteen shield goals in his four year career. So you're playing in the toughest conference in college football. So he's NFL ready. I mean, he's gonna have some missus as we've seen from him and a number of other kicker in the league. But he's definitely putting, you know, making life easy for him.

And I think he leads the NFL and scoring two fifty six points. I believe, Yeah, he does fifty six points fifteen out of seventeen field goals. Is fifteen field goals lead the league. Is fifty six points lead the league. You're right on, Mike, Is there a guy that's kind of flying under the radar? I mean, as a guy that's been playing real well that has not gotten as much media hype as maybe he should have gotten. For the Colts, a player or two tight end mo Ali

Cox I know Bengal fan. Bengals fans are like who is that? They're probably looking at Google and the first thing that's gonn pop up with basketball probably is a VCU college basketball soccer smart. Ali Cox is a former VCU college basketball player. Hadn't played football since who like the youth, but he's a he leads a coult as far as tight end goal, as far as receiving yards

and catches go. I mean, he's using his athleticism. He's taking him time to learn the game, but he's he's definitely moved into that role and he is a legit passing threat for Philip Rivers in the in the offense because Rivers and Frank Wright love the tight ends in his offense, seventeen point six yards per catch, two touchdown catches he got along of forty five. He has been. He has been a big time target real long obviously. Huh oh yeah yeah, he's I'm not a guy that

played a power forward and played above the ram. So he's one of those one of the Philip Rivers says, go up and get a big boy goal. Snatched the ball out of the air like right rebound, Ali Cox will go do it. For a final look ahead to Sunday's game. Joined Lap and Wayne box Miller for the Bengals pep Rally Show Friday from three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by

bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the game and if you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast