Bengals Booth Podcast: Gratitude

who will start in his place this week. My one on one player interview this week is with c ju Zama, who knows all about rehab after tearing his achilles in week two. He looks forward to pushing and being pushed by Joe Burrow in the months to come. And in our Know the Faux segment, we'll get the scoop on the three and seven Giants from Jordan Ranan, who covers the team for ESPN. 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. Stitch your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since essential and frontline workers. On a previous podcast, I mentioned that during the COVID nineteen pandemic, I've tried to keep two words in mind,

careful and hopeful. And on this Thanksgiving I'm adding grateful to our everyday heroes who have been there for us during this crisis. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, police, firefighters and other first responders, teachers, grocery store employees, delivery people, news broadcasters. The list goes on and on. Thank you, and here's hoping that the end of this pandemic is in sight. Now let's get to my key Day conversation with Dave Lapham lapter Ryan Finlay. Era might have been

short lived. At eight am on Wednesday, Mike Gara Folo from the NFL Network broke the news that the Bengals starting quarterback on Sunday will be third stringer Brandon Allen instead of Ryan Finley. Dak Taylor would not confirm that when asked about it on Wednesday, but in any case, Brandon Allen just brought it from the practice squad where he has been all year. He started three games for Denver last year, winning one with a passer rating of

sixty eight point three. He's had very few practice reps this year, but he was with the Rams in two seventeen and two eighteen, so he knows Zach Taylor's offense. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. Part of the reason we signed Brandon is because he's he's got some familiarity. He's played. I played two games in Denver last year for three games stretching and won one of them. Hein't been out

for a little bit. He's got a good way about it, and so he really was, you know, kind of our COVID quarterback in the stantus with the guy that we had to kind of have in the building and keep keep bringing along to start. And he's done a really nice job for what everything he's been asked to do. But yeah, I mean he's even the same boat, really is Ryan, though. I mean, either one of them got a ton of reps as a season has gone along, and that's just the nature of being a back of quarterback.

If Brandon Allen is in fact the starter on Sunday, what do you think that means. I think it means that the coaches have you know, a strong comfort level with him. Zach Taylor has some experience with him. Brian Callahan knows him, likes him, likes his approach. And that's about as big as anything I think is which which guy do you think the team is going to rally around most? Which guy has the more it factor in his personality that is going to lift everybody and make

everybody player play to a higher level. I think I think those are all considerations, and those three starts in Denver. He beat the Cleveland Browns twenty six to ten. Minnesota's up by four points. He takes on a drive late in the football game, a back shoulder passed to his tight end, goes off to tight ends face mask. I

should have won that football game. And then they went to Buffalo and as you know, Dan, Buffalo with that crowd, that's a tough place to play, didn't win that one, but one and two should have gone and could have gone two and one. So move the football had some success, and I think the feeling is that he understands the offense and understands what defenses are trying to do to take away his offense. Maybe at a little bit higher level.

Than Ryan Finley. Right now, some people are making a big deal out of the fact that he's on the practice squad, and Ryan Finley was on the roster this year. That is virtually insignificant because the rules have changed to

allow you to bring up practice squad guys every week. Anyway, it might have simply been a matter of the Bengals saying, hey, we think other NFL teams are more likely to try to take away Ryan Finley if they had a high draft grade on him last year, if he were on the practice squad, then they are likely to take away Brandon Ellen. I agree with you, Dan, and look at look at the guy that's come off the practice squad in their last three games. That's given them a boosting

their offensive line. Spain. You know, as you said, the rules and everything are so different this season. He lines up a left guard against Tennessee. They win the football game, they don't give up his tack, they don't turn the football over. And he goes against the Pittsburgh Steelers at right tackle. It quits himself very well. And then last week, of course, against Washington, he goes and plays the right guard position, you know very well. So where would they

be without Quentin Spain, you know. And he's been coming off the practice squad for for three games and now they've activated them to the to the roster. But that's another good example of this year is different. There's no question about it. Twenty twenty is different and every way it can be. I want to get back to quintin Spain and just a little bit, but first I want to talk about Joe Burrow. The loss of Joe was

obviously a gut punch to everybody in the organization. He is expected to make a full recovery and return to action next year, although it might not be in time for Week one. He's been at the stadium this week in typical Joe Burrow fashion. He's been lifting the spirits of his teammates instead of the other way around. C j Uzama Torres Achilles back in Week two, so he is likely to rehab went Burrow in the offseason. Listen to what he had to say about seeing Burrow in

the training room today. I saw him in there and he seems high spirited, and he was asking a bunch of questions about like hey, can I do this? Hey can I do this? He can if I try to flex this right now? Is that? Can I? Is that okay? The trainer Nick was like yes, Like does that not hurt? And he's like, no, fels it feels a lot better

already today. And I was doing the rest of my rehab and finishing up and Nick came, you know, to to help me out, and he was like that guy as a beast, Like that's insane that he's his pain tients has to be ridiculous for that. UM. So hearing that, you know itself, I'm like, yo, hold up, let's crank up my my rehab real quick. Man, Like come on, like, what are we doing here? I don't feel anything either, come on, push me a little harder. UM. But no, I think I think it'll be. I think it's good.

You know, obviously traveling restrictions, I'm gonna be pretty much planned here, um throughout the entire off season, which I'm fine with. UM. And now, yeah, that's another kind of person I can, you know, work out with train with UM. I have my quarterback here, so when he's on his feet, you know, I'm gonna say, hey, you got it's time to throw a buddy, like let's let's go. And and I know he's gonna be as eager to get back

out there. So yeah, I think, you know it's that's the probably the only positive of of of of his injuries. You know, I get to rehab with with you know, with my guy Lap, we are doctors. But I have no doubt that Burrow is going to attack rehab as much as humanly possible and be back as soon as possible.

I agree with you. I did see CJ going into his rehab Tuesday morning before he walked in there into the locker room, and and he was walking well then, and he told me he's a good week two weeks ahead of schedule as of right now, So that could continue to progress in a positive way, and to have a rehab partner is significant. And I do think you're right. I think Joe Burrow not only a five star recruit,

but a five star rehab guy. He's gonna be one of those guys that attacks it and the thing that you're gonna have to be careful of with him sometimes you can do too much, So there's that balancing act. They're not gonna have to light a firecrack or a cherry bomban to Joe Burrow to get him to work. They're gonna have to put a harness on him to pull him back, I think a little bit to make sure that he doesn't overdo it, particularly in the early stages and have a setback. That's the worst word you

can hear during a rehab process. As all he experienced a setback. I don't want to hear that. So there is there is a point of diminishing returns, and I think he's smart enough to understand that and figure it out. But I agree with you. I think I think, if anything, he's going to come back early, and he's going to come back ready. And you can't compare injuries, but Carson Palmer toward the a c L MCL and dislocated as patella and he did it in January in a playoff game,

and he played in the third preseason game. That following preseason in August, he played in the Pro Bowl and one MVP. So you know, if that's a good If that's a barometer, Joe Barrow should be in pretty good shape. The thing about it, too, Dan, is he's young, He's in tremendous condition, so the healing process should be pretty darn strong. Another comparison is Houston quarterback to Sean Watson. He tore his acl almost at the exact same point

in his rookie year November of his rookie year. He was back in time to start the season opener the next season and went to the Pro Bowl that year and the following year. I just want to say, you know, prayers out the Joe Joe Burrow and his family and and just him and his team. Uh, Cincinnati being was I mean, that's just a tough situation. I watched the play and it was just fast emotion and you know that just kind of pitched things in perspective where you know it can be any play. Um, so you just

gotta be grateful for the position. But you know, some of my best wishes and prayers out to him and his family and if he got any questions. You know, I dealt with the same thing my rookie year around similar time, UM, you know, kind of November ish. Um. You know, he can always reach out to me and I can reach out to him. So yeah, prayers out

to him. Uh, you know, hopefully speedy recovery. But I would just say, you know, when I came back, it was just definitely making sure that I was, you know, a UM and I was really really comfortable, especially at this level where everything is flying around. UM. But you know, once you're out there, you just gotta play. You just gotta play fourth throttle. You know, that's the that's the

part of the game. You kind of know what situation is going to happen and um, you know, for me, where my situation when I did it in practice, I didn't know it was gonna happen, and it happened. And when I came back, I was still you know, I would kind of started off, you know, let's sake you. But once out there, the first couple of plays, you know, I was just like, hey, I gotta cut it loose. It's not then I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna be a bard in for the team and then for myself too.

I'm gonna be able to play, you know, my full potential. What does Joe Burrow lose from missing the last six games of this season and the offseason program, Yeah, obviously loses those those reps. And I was excited to see the rematch against Pittsburgh in Baltimore because Joe Burrow always learns from his mistakes. He doesn't make the same mistake twice. I think that's a big thing that has has put him on a straight up, up, up arrow in terms

of his career. Is he is a he's a quick learner, a quick study, and it doesn't fall into any bad habits and make make mistakes over and over and over again. So he was disappointed in his performance after both of those football games. And you know how much of a hindery is. He's probably gonna grind even more before those football games. And I was looking forward to the to the rematches both you know, in Cincinnati, one of them on Monday night, one of them to finish the season

and see how far he has progressed. So I think that's a little bit of a disappointment. I'm sure it's a disappointment to him. And then all the reps, I mean, every rep that you accumulate is a positive, you know, in your rookie year. Now he did get ten ten

games or reps in, there's no question. And he got those ten games or reps in in the crazy year of twenty twenty, whether we're no OTAs, no mini camps, all those kind of things, which he'll miss probably this year as well, coming up, so he's at least got a track record showing I can't perform at a high level without that. But it would have been good for him to have an offseason of you know, working with his teammates, Mini camps, OTA's training camp, preseason games. How

much of that will he be able to experience. That's that's the big question. That's the that's the million dollar question right now. But he has shown that he can perform extremely well even void of all that. It hurts the receiving corps too, right, they won't have all those offseason reps to work on timing, no doubt about it. It's it's you know, guys like Tylert Boyd, you know, and others Tee Hagens. I mean, they've found a nice little rhythm and with Joe Burrow, but you can always

improve on it. And then other receivers that are just in the infancy stages of that, it will hurt them, there's no doubt in And so how much will it retard the development of Joe Burrow? I think he is so special in so many areas that it will be hurtful, but not absolutely devastating in terms of his development. People have been playing the blame game since Joe's injury. Some say the Bengals should have played a veteran quarterback early this year behind a shaky offensive line. Others say they

shouldn't have passed so much. The most common criticism is that the Bengals have neglected their offensive line for too long. And that's what I want to discuss because the biggest problem, at least in my view, that has hampered this franchise isn't that they've neglected the offensive line. It's that there are many attempts to fix it have not worked out. Three of their five number one draft picks before Joe Burrow were offensive lineman Cedrico boy Heat, Billy Price, and

Jonah Williams. Only one of those guys is starting right now. They traded for Cordy Glenn, which was the equivalent of signing an expensive free agent. He had three years left on his huge deal. This would have been the final year of that, but he's out of the NFL. They

signed Xavier Suaphilo prior to this season. He got injured in Week one, So not only has the line continued to struggle, but other positions have suffered because they've used high draft picks on the old line that haven't necessarily panned out. So I guess the bottom line is they've got to do a deep dive into what's gone wrong and how to fix it going forward. Agreed with every

single word of your analysis there. When the Bengals went to five straight playoffs club record, they hit it in the draft pick after pick after pick, you know, not just first round, but but all rounds, multiple rounds. But when you miss in that first rounder, like they have the ones you've described, when you miss on those, it's painful.

There's a huge ripple effect, and there's ripple effect for years, not just that draft year, but if it doesn't pan out, you know, and a lot of times first round, first round picks don't really perform up to what you'd expect in the first year. By year two or three, there are an integral part of the football team and that is gone. That hasn't happened with a lot of these guys.

So the ripple effect is like you said, like you say, not only did the position that those guys were drafted in either stay flat or decline because of the ineffectiveness of the play of that pick, but other positions that you could have made a pick at aren't improved either. So when you missed with a pick that high, the ripple effect is tremendous, and it's tremendous for a number of years. And I think that's what the Bengals are still trying to steady themselves from at this point in time.

And yeah, whatever, whatever the process is, you need to take it apart, examine every portion of it, reassemble it, and go from there. So they're likely to have a really high pick in the draft. Right now, they're number three in the draft order. We keep going back and forth in recent weeks when we've discussed this, do you need a pass rush you're a defensive lineman. Do you need an offensive lineman? In light of the Joe Burrow injury? Do you think best offensive lineman on the board now

becomes the most likely scenario. I think if the best offensive lineman on the board is better than the best pass rusher on the board, boom, make it right that you make that pick, because I do think they're equally. You know, the needs are astronomical in both areas. So I think you know, if the if the tackle from Oregon, for example, is better than whoever they've got as the

best pass rusher on their board. At the third pick of the draft, you go with this six foot six in strand and forty pound behemoth that's athletic, and you know they project to be a superhero and and everything that goes along with it. So yeah, I would have no problem if they went with offensive. If they had the third pick in the draft and they went in

that direction, I'd have no issue with it whatsoever. I want to get back to Clinton Spain, who you brought up earlier, because that's really the one offensive line move in recent months that's worked out extremely well. He's twenty nine years old. He was a free agent in October after being let go by buff Back in twenty sixteen, Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the number five guard overall in the NFL. His rankings have never been

that high in his other seasons. But do you think they found a starting guard, a good starting guard that's going to be here for a few years. I think I think they've they've found something for sure. Dan. I mean he came into the league. He calls himself, you know, mister undrafted, because he entered the drafting he would be a very high pick, maybe even a first round pick, and went undrafted. So he had a chip on his shoulder as big as a two by four massive chip,

and he's used it to his advantage. And I like everything about the guy. I mean, he's massive, you know, six five, three hundred and thirty pounds plus depending on what he has for pregame meal. And he's one of those guys that has an edge to him. You know, he's got that that streak about him where you have to he's you know, he's probably a heck of a guy off the football field, but on the football field,

and I'm aware of what you have to do. You have to flip the switch and you have to become somebody that you can't be walking the streets, you know. I mean, it's a that's the way you have to play the game, and he plays it that way. The other thing about him is not just his mindset and his physicality in the edge that he brings to the football team, the toughness he is unbelievably football to wear. He sees the big picture. He's not a tunnel vision guy.

It's not like, Okay, well they have me playing left guard against Tennessee, so I'm going to just understand that left guard. He sees the entire defense. He understands how the offense is trying to attack it with blocking schemes up front, and he just if he pulls, he knows the center is blocking back, the tackles blocking down, the back is feeling. He knows what's going on. If he pulls, you know, it's not just I'm gonna pull. I'm gonna hit this guy. What else is happening when I pull?

Who's got my guy? If this guy that I'm supposed to block stunts, who else do I get? I mean, he gets football. He is fall aware, and I think that Dad has allowed him to play left guard, right tackle, and right guard in his three games with the Cincinnati Bengals to date. He is one of the big picture guys. And to boot, he can play. So he gives your position versatility and that's tremendously valuable. Instead of carrying eight offensive line with Quentin Spain, you can carry seven, instead

of carrying nine, you can carry eight. I mean, it just gives you that that dimension where he's shown he can play both guards in both tackles. I don't know about center, but he's shown he can play the guarden tackle position on either side. For most of his NFL career, he's been a left guard. That's obviously the spot that Michael Jordan is playing in Cincinnati and the Bengals had high hopes that Michael would take a big step forward this year in his second year in the NFL and

eventually be a really good guard. Where do you see him at this stage of his development? Unfortunately, still a little too inconsistent. You know, you can tape where it's like WHOA. I mean, he did some things against the Indianapolis Colts. He had a much better day against Cameron Hayward this year. Even though it didn't go well for the team, his individual matchup was light years better than it was his rookie year where he was just decimated

by Cam Hayward and it basically got him benched. You know, sit back and look for a little while and uh and and readdress everything. So, I mean, there are there are games like that, and then there are times where you know, he just he lapses a little bit and doesn't doesn't play to that level. So I think, just like any young player, you have to realize that it can't be just some of the time it has to

be all the time. You have to You have to be very very consistent with your approach and your execution to it. And nobody feels worse about Joe Burrow's injury. I can tell you for a fact in Michael Jordan and one of the things that you know you can you can claim. I mean, he got bear hugged defensive tackle, bear hugged and walk him back defensive tackle is not a hold like that either. I mean you could have called who cares about a penalty? Though if the end resulted,

your quarterback gets his niche shredded. And at that point the reason happened is Michael's pad level is too high and he's a big, strapping, strong, long guy. Got to keep the pad level down. That's that's a big factor for him when he has issues. In my mind, it's because that's one of the biggest things is his pad levels too high, so he has to consistently work to play at a lower level. All right, let's turn to

the final six weeks. Whether it is Brandon Allen or Ryan Finley at quarterback, chances are the Bengals are not going to be scoring thirty points a game, So to win games from here on in, the defense is going to have to play great. It's currently twenty second in the NFL and points allowed twenty seven points per game. Here is safety Jesse Bates with Joe being hurt. Yes, we're going to have an opportunity at the quarterback spot for you know, whether it's Finley or whoever it is,

you know, to make an impact. But the standard for the defense just has to raise sometimes more with you know that that part being out um, and it's something that's not you know, a secret um, something that we gotta address in the room. Um. You know, we're gonna win games because our defense. Uh, these next couple of weeks, so very excited for the challenge. Lap This week they faced the Giants. Giants are not a good offensive team. Their thirtieth in scoring, their thirtieth in yards. They are

next to last in sacks allowed per passing play. This is an opportunity, at least in the first game post Joe Burrow, for the defense to carry the Bengals to a win. It is and uh, you know Jones is a turnover machine. You know, in twenty three starts, he's got like thirty five giveaways. In terms of lost fumbles and interceptions. You fumbled the ball eighteen times last year

and lost eleven of them. So that's you know that, that's if a guy has a reputation for that kind of thing, you have to try to separate them from the football and others. That One of the biggest things that the defense has to work on DAN is forcing fumbles. They've only forced four fewist in the NFL. They've recovered one,

tied for fewest in the National Football League. So the suddenness fumbles occur when a player is, you know, protecting the ball, but he sees somebody and he's trying to protect the ball from one guy and incomes another puts his helmet right in the ball and he never sees him coming, and the suddenness of that is too much for the player to counter. So the banks are gonna

have to do more of that type of thing. One guy set it up, another guy come in for the kill shot to course to cost the turnover, and they're gonna have to do a lot more of that. They're gonna have to separate players from the football, whether it's separating from an incompletion, separating for a ball that goes airborne, like the you know, tip interception off of Marcus Hunt's face mask, or a tip ball at the line of scrimmage from a defensive lineman, or not just in defense,

but special teams. You know, the defense and special teams have to think not only special teams establishing field position, but score. You know, maybe get a return, take a return back to the house, punt or kickoff return. Maybe you force a fumble on a return of the opposition, give a short field. Defensively, force a FuMB will get a short field, get an interception, get a pick six, pick the phone, bump, and score. You know you don't you don't necessarily play every snap to try to do that,

because it'll distort what you're really trying to do. You have to make sure you do your job, but try to try to get more involved from a gang perspective, more guys involved in around the football. As the old saying goes, and I believe in a one hundred thousand

percent you see it over and over again. When you run to the football as a defensive football team, good things happen, and they're gonna have to create some good things and make good things happen to you know, the worst thing that you can have happen is whoever is a quarterback, even Joe Burrow, not starters own five yard line, ten yard line, inside the twenty and have to drive long field. You have to give them positive feel position

and put the other team on the long field. You have to play long field for the opposition, short field for your football team. However that occurs, you're gonna have to do everything you possibly can to support who's playing quarterback, because even with the excellence of Joe Burrower quarterback, the team was two seven and one. Did you play a lot of Thanksgiving Day football in your childhood? I did. Out in the front lawn. We were yeah, we were

doing that left and right. I have two brothers, had a lot of boys in the neighborhood, and we played. We played a quite a bit of football. We played tackle football without pads, you know, out an old daggers field man. We'd all but we go to Daggers Field and appropriately named mister Dagger had a big farm and he let us, he let us use a part of it to play all kinds of sports you know out there, and uh it was great, man. Those are great memories,

all right. Well, I hope you have a fantastic Thanksiving day. My best to lend in your family. Crush that meal, all right? I will you do the same, Dan to Peg and yours and uh and I'm telling you, let's have the happiest Thanksgiving we've ever had because this year, this year is crazy, it's different, but there's still a lot of things to be thankful for in families. First and foremost, you too, see your Dan. 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 interview. This week, I caught up with tight ends CJ Uzama. We heard a small snippet of that interview earlier. CJ caught Joe burrows first NFL touchdown pass in Week two against Cleveland before suffering a season ending injury the same night. CJ, it's been a little bit more than two months since you

tore your achilles. How are your spirits and what are you able to do in terms of rehab At this point, spirits are where they are for you know, considering I have an injury and I'm not able to be out there with the boys and you know, helping the team fight for for wins. Uh. So yeah, it's it's it is where it is with that. But in terms of rehab, I think I'm pretty ahead of schedule. I I'm out of the boot. I'm walking a fair amount. I just got a puppy, so I'm walking him a lot. And

that's good rehab, they said. So it's it's good that he's kind of a handful. Um. And then yeah, I'm doing pool workouts and a bunch of different exercises. I actually have a call with the doctor here in two three weeks just so he can kind of see and monitor a session. And I've talked to him a little bit and um, yeah the trainers, and he seemed very optimistic about you know, the direction I'm headed headed in and how kind of a head of schedule I am. What kind of puppy and what could you name him

or her? Um? So I got a um, a Saint bridudal Um, and I got him because he's hypologenic, and I named him apa um. And I'm actually gonna get him a little brother or sister or a brother or sister soon because I'm gonna adopt one as well, just just so he has kind of, uh, you know, someone someone to hang out with while I'm out doing where you haven't working out. Was the Uzama family a dog family? Did you have dogs growing up? No? I didn't have

one dog. I didn't have a pet. I had well, I had like a turtle, um, and some fish and that was it. That was that was all I had growing up. My parents are really you know, keen on not no having no hair in the house and no fur and all the stuff. So, um, first, first, like pet that I'm having to actual actually take care of, take care of. And um, he's been good so far, he's been good. He's growing like crazy, but he's been really good. I'm sure you will enjoy it. We're visiting

with c J Uzama. Back in your rookie year, CJ, you were teammates with Leon Hall, who tore his achilles twice and made a complete comeback both times. Do you draw inspiration from him or anybody else that's overcome this injury? Yeah, I mean, looking looking at it now, Um, you know Katie is battling this as well. And like you said, um, Leon with his and um Nick, you know, the our training staff is great. Nick was like, You're You're going

to be completely fine. Like this is back in the day, this is something that you know, people were more worried about because of what they were doing. But um, with with what what's been going on in modern you'll be fine.

You'll be completely fine. So um and then even seeing you know, I'm a huge Chelsea fan, so even seeing some of the players last year, uh, you know had this had a similar injury, and I'm I watched him on the pitch tonight or today, um in the Champions League, so one of them, one of them was out there and he actually scored a goal. So yeah, I'm I'm completely okay with with how how the process is going, and I'm expected to be one hundred and ten percent.

But by the time I come out of this, sadly, you are joined on the injured list this week by Joe Burrow. You are always positive, but how hard did that one hit you? Yeah? That that hurts? You know that that hurts because of kind of the person that he is off off the bat and the leader that he is. And you can tell he's I mean, it's obvious he's a leader because we voted him Kats and

and and he's a rookie, you know. So, Um that that definitely, you know, kind of is gut rich and and you know hurts to see obviously, no matter what, it hurts to see one of your guys go down. But to see it's your quarterback, to see it's Joe, to see it's a leader and a captain of your team. Um, all those things and the severity of it. You know that that that definitely is a gut punch. Um. And you know not being there is even ten times worse.

You Now, I'm watching this on TV and I'm just like, man, I just want to, you know, give him some love, show him some love, and and watching the guys one by one go up to him and tap him on the head and say, you know, you know, say the praying for him and things like that. Um, you know that's what it's all about. But yeah, definitely that that's that's a tough one. I don't know how COVID restrictions could impact this, CJ, but do you envision the possibility

of you and Joe helping to push each other through rehab? Oh? I think today I saw him in there, and um, he seems high spirited and and he was asking a bunch of questions about like, hey, can I do this? Hey? Can I do this? Hey? Can if I try to flex this right now? Is that? Can I? Is that okay? And the trainer Nick was like yes, like does that not hurt? And he's like it feels it feels a

lot better already today. And I was doing the rest of my rehab and finishing up and Nick came, you know, to to help me out, and he was like that as a beast, Like that's insane that he's his pain talents has to be ridiculous for that. UM. So hearing that, you know itself, I'm like, yo, hold up, let's crank up my my rehab real quick, man, Like come on, like, what are we doing here? I don't feel anything either, Come on, push me a little harder. UM, But no,

I think I think it'll be. I think it's good. You know, obviously traveling restrictions. I'm gonna be pretty much planted here throughout the entire all season, which I'm fine with. UM. And now, yeah, that's another kind of person. I can you know, work out with train with UM. I have my quarterback here, so when he's on his feet, you know I'm gonna say, hey, you got it's time to throw buddy, like let's let's go. And and I know he's gonna be as eager to get back out there.

So yeah, I think, you know, it's that's the probably the only positive of of of of his injuries, you know, I get to rehab with with you know, with my guy. A couple more questions for c. J Uzama. Immediately after your injury, you're back in the building going through team meetings, much to the surprise of your buddy Giovanni Bernard. Why

has that been so important to you? Yeah, and I think you know, it's been tougher now with all these things that are going on and you know, zoom when not to zoom um when we're on you know, when people can come into building, it's it's it's it's crazy. But yeah, I don't know. I just thinking about our team and how really we're a young team, you know when I think about it, and especially at the tight end position, I'm the oldest guy in there, which is

super weird to me. Still, Um, I just feel like it's good to you know, let everyone know that one I'm gonna I'm back next year, like I expect to make a full recovery, So I want to know everything that's going on, but to just give any guidance to anybody that has a question or um, you know, just make my presence known, say something going. You know. The toughest part is not being able to, you know, congratulate someone when they make a good play or something right.

So I'm watching film, I'm seeing catches that are made, I'm going up to people. I'm texting people like, hey, I saw you, but I was I was nice, I see you out and things like that. So, um, you know it is these are these are guys that you know, I spend majority of my life with. I don't my parents. I get to like see for Thanksgiving, maybe your Christmas things like that, but other than that, I'm planted here and you know, um, these are my brothers, so I

I have that connection with them. I want to be a part of you know, any success that we have and you know, all the failures that we have. I'm a part of this team and I kind of just want everyone to know that, you know, I'm here if

they knew anything. Last things for c j Uzama, I know you would rather be playing, but the injury has given you some time that you otherwise wouldn't have, allowing you, among other things, to make an appearance recently on the London Is Blue podcast for fans of Chelsea's Premier League soccer club. Tell me about that opportunity. That was Honestly,

that was it was awesome. They had reached out to me, um a while ago too, actually, and we just weren't able to ever, you know, get on schedule with it, and um, yeah, being able to talk about Chelsea and um, you know, get in touch with people that love Chelsea as much as I do and want to go over

and watch matches, and it was awesome. Um, you know those guys are you know, Nick, Brandon, Dan, They're They're all awesome guys and and you know they're like, hey, if we can get you back on the show, I'm like, hey, I'll definitely be back, um with you know, hopefully traveling permitted and rehab permitted. I can go over to a match with them, and uh, it was. It was good. It was good answer that we had, and um, I was probably one of my you know, one of my

favorite interviews. I've had too many with you to to to count, but um, no offense taken. It was it was, it was. It was fun to be able to kind of talk talk soccer as well. You know, talking about football is something that I love doing because you know, I've been doing it since I was six, But being able to talk about another sport that I have, you know, great admiration for is something that I'll always enjoy. Well, look out for Leicester City because my beloved Foxes are

looking really good this year. They are looking hey, they are looking good. I'd say it's between for me right now, it's between Chelsea Leicester and then I don't want to I don't want to say this team at all, but Tottenham is also putting on a strong campaign, so we'll see how it finishes. Great to catch up with you, CJ. Continued good fortune with the rehab and we look forward to seeing you back on the field soon. Awesome, Thank you very much. Now time for our know the faux segment.

The New York Giants are three and seven. That means they're a half game better than the Bengals, but it also means they're only a half game behind the first place Eagles in the NFC East. Jordan Ranan covers the Giants for ESPN and joined Lap and Wayne box Miller this week on the Bengals game Plan shown that, Yeah, the three and seven, I got two and or other right in the middle of that division, Yes, sir, right, you know everybody's got three. Yeah, I think about it.

You put him in like the you know, the AFC North, they're like their season's over exactly basically. Yeah, I looked at the you know, the conference, and I said, eleven of the twelve teams outside of that division would be in first place if they were in the NFC East.

To put that in perspective, that's just crazy. Since very twenty twenty though, that's it's very apropole, right, there's no doubt speak speaking of appropole, this team has been in, you know, outside the San Francisco forty nine Er game and maybe the end of the Steeler game, they've been in every game that they played. Yeah, I mean that's the one thing you look at this team and I think that's why people and I'm on board with this as well. You see progress from Joe Judge and new

first year head coach and the program he's building. I mean, they not only have they've been in all their games, they really should have one. And then I'm not somebody sitting there and say, you know, it makes excuses that you should win, but they blew two games big time, like you know, games that they absolutely should have won. So yeah, the Giants could have easily be five and five right now. I mean I don't I don't think that's out of the question easily. You know, four and

six definitely should be like their minimum. So yeah, this is a team that has sown good flashes. I mean, they're not explosive offensively. I think right now, as it stands, there's two teams that have scored less points than them, and that is the Bears and the Jets. But yet the Giants have still managed to stay in a bunch of games and lead a lot of games late and now they claim they're just finally figuring out how to win games and how to finish. And that's the difference

here in these last few weeks. And that speaks to the Giants defense. I think a lot of people think that the Giants may have the best defense in the NFC East overall. I mean, they're sixth in the league and rushing and they're only allowing four yards to carry, which is eighth best in the league. So you know, they stopped the run and then kind of go from there. And is it that is their defense? Uh, you know, keeping them in a lot of football games. Yeah, I

mean their defense has been consistently competitive. And for a while I was on the board with you know, well, teams that could pass the ball and slinging around the yard could still be very successful against and the half. They have some awards on defense, They have trouble in the slot, they have trouble with their second cornerback, and you know, the reality is this is gonna be like their fifth I think this is their fifth backup quarterback

they're basically playing this year. But so you're thought, okay, whence they start playing some real quarterbacks, they'll get torn apart. But then they went against Tom Brady and they held their own. Tom Brady was a short set whole first set. Yeah, Carson Wentz even though I know he's he's been shaky, flash bad this year. You know, they did a really good job against him in the in their last game. So yeah, the defense has managed to go from a unit that has been really bad the last couple of

years too. Okay, they're about middle of the road now somewhere around there. They're really good against the run, but if you want to exploit them, you can have some success against the pass. And really that's gonna be the question here. Can the Bengals be successful in the pass game. They have a lot of receivers that can that are you know, it's a good match up against some of

the Giants cornerbacks and defensive backs. But can they take advantage of that with Brandon Allen at quarterback and you know, with the Giants, you know, feeling better about themselves lately. You know, when I look at the game against the Philadelphia Eagles and you had thirteen quarterback hits and Leonard Williams had five of those. Going up against a quarterback that doesn't have the experience this coming week, I gotta believe that that's an area that they're really going to

be paying attention to. Yeah, I mean, look, that's where the Giants. The Giants don't have a great pass rusher, right, they don't have an age rusher that's going to scare you. Where they can have some success. They're best passers, probably Leonard Williams. So the Eagles problem this year has been at the guard position, you know, up the middle, and so that's where they were able to exploit Philadelphia. You know, that's where they did the match up here for the Giants.

They could probably have some success there as well. So Leonard Williams is kind of the guy as the pass rusher. He leads the team with five sacks that you need to keep an eye on because he's the only one in there. But it's not like they have multiple guys. He's the only one in there on that interior that's really good to threaten you and scare you in regards to pass rushing. Like they're good against the run, they're

stout against the running. There. Leonard Williams is the guy as the pass rusher from the interior that if you're the Bengals, you say, okay, we need to make sure if we could limit this guy and we could stop this guy. And Leonard Williams, to be quite honest, he's been a guy who's been up and down most of his career. He hasn't been consistently dominant even though he's been a He was a really high pick by the Jets.

If if they can limit him either, they should be able to have to get Brand down enough time if he's able to read the defense correctly. And that's another thing the Giants has done really well. Patrick Graham, he was with the Dolphins last year. He knows Joe Judge. For New England, he has done a really good job and the Giants has done a really good job. They bring they're gonna show Brand all and looks that he's probably never seen before. Yeah, I mean, they're gonna show

him every look. You can imagine. That's what they do anyway on a regular basis. They're extremely multiple. They're gonna show everything and try to confuse the heck out of him. Yeah, he's got that New England pedigree three to four base. But they'll morph into just about everything and anything, and from one week to the next they look like a different,

very different football team, a different scheme and philosophy. One thing that's not shy about admitting that either there yea their defense that is they're gonna do whatever is the best matchup for that week. They're totally matchup base right right, And that's you have to have versatile players, smart players, just like the Patriots over the years have had players that can you know, morph into different responsibilities and roles, and that's what they're starting to do a good job

of With the New York Giants. One thing that is very obvious. Last year minus seventeen in the turnover department, I mean, they just gave games away worse than the National Football This year, it's dead even, you know, the fifteen takes fifteen gives. They're protecting the football better, and I'm looking at their defense. They've forced sixteen fumbles, tied for second most in the league, and they've recovered seven

of them, tied for seven. At the Bengals, on the other hand, they've only forced four fumbles, dead last in the league, only recovered one, tied for the fewer. So the Giants are showing themselves to be a lot more sudden, you know, and really separating people from the football. Has that been real elevinant? Yeah? You know what's funny, you mentioned those numbers, and I didn't even realize they're at even because the Giants early in the sevey, Daniel Jones

was turning it over like nothing. Early in the season like that kind of been hismo for most of the time. He's the starter. But these past two weeks, Daniel Jones. He started now twenty one games. He has three games that he hasn't committed a turnover. Two of them have been the last two weeks. The Giants force five turnovers against Washington two games ago, and I think we're plus two last week, so they're basically plus seven in the

last two weeks alone. So they were minus seven up until two weeks two games ago, not two weeks ago because they're coming up a bye week, right, So this is really this has really been the difference. If they can limit those turnovers, that's when this Giant seemed they can they can win games if Daniel Jones is the one committing the turnovers, because, like you said, the defense they do enough to confuse the opponent that they're able

to commit turnovers. They've been able to force a lot of fumbles, and they've also been able to, you know, create looks where they're defensive bats get opportunities to make plays. And that's you know, again back to that New England point of view. If you look back at the history of Bill Belichick in New England, where obviously Joe Judge comes from, right, look at their positive and negatives in turnovers.

I mean in fumbles alone. Yep. I mean it's incredible how many more fumbles, and that's part of what they teach, right, I mean, the fumbles that they cause compared to the fumbles that they give up is just incredible in their favor, and this Giant seems sort of morphed into that as well, as long as they could keep Daniel Jones from fumbling the football and turning it over himself. To put an

exclamation point on what you're talking about. Last year, he started thirteen games, fumbled at eighteen times, led the league, lost eleven of the crazy number. Yeah, lost eleven of them, had twelve interceptions, had twenty three giveaways in thirteen games. That's to turnover machine. And then you add this year's

numbers to us. Now it's twenty three total games, has twenty five fumbles, lost fifteen of them, and he's also got twenty one interceptions, thirty six turnovers in twenty three games. Like you said, the last couple of weeks, it's gotten better. But man, he's given teams a lot of opportunity. But in talking about him, he's the leading rusher by well

over one hundred yards. Jones. Yeah, So I mean, what the heck's going on there, And I guess that eleven on eleven him running the football eleven on eleven football becomes difficult for defenses. I guess yeah. There's a few reasons for that. Number one is he's sneaky fast. Okay, yeah, he's a really good athlete, and teams don't think he's gonna pull it on that you know, read option, yep, and he has and he turned it into some really

big plays. So you have to be disciplined when you play against this Giants offense because he is a threat running the football. But part of the reason I think it's been such a success is because nobody was really expecting to see it much. Right. The Giants has stay Quon Barkley. He was their running game. But then they lose sta Quon Barkley. They're they're kind of, you know,

going through running backs. They can't settle on one. You know, Davante Freeman was there starting running back for a couple weeks, Dean Lewis was getting a lot of playing time. But now they've finally settled in. Now Wayne Goldman is that guy. He's going to be their main ball carrier in this game. So he's had success in recently, so even though he might not be the leading rusher on the team, he's

the guy you have to stop as a rusher. And then Daniel Jones is a guy you have to be disciplined because if you don't, if you sleep on him, he can turn that into a big play. And it's been a big part of the Giants offense. They've needed to find ways to make explosive place because when you look at if you're the Bengals and you enter this game, you say, well, everyting Ram's a pretty good tight end when he's at a down year. He's not a great player.

Stirling Separate quality player, Golden Tate quality player. But at the end of his career running back No. One on the Giants, Wayne Goldman's their main guy. But he doesn't. They don't have that guy that scares opposing defensive coordinators and keeps them up at night. So the Giants have to have to find ways to make explosive place. One of the ways they found was, hey, let's get Day Jones in a you know, read option, have him keep the ball and we can make big plays out of that.

And it's worked. It's really it's definitely worked, as you could tell by those numbers. YEA. Our guests Jordan ran on from ESPN Covers the Giant, said, you know, do you know, um, if people were surprised about his speed.

I mean, obviously you guys scouted him and looked at the things that he did well, But do you think the league was pretty much sleeping on his speed because the couple of those runs, I know, he had a think a thirty plus yard run against the Eagles and then the big run against eight Yeah, eighty, and I think people were like, wait a minute, I didn't know

this guy had that in the quality box. Yeah. No, you know what, I don't think anybody really knew he had this because you look at like the next gen speeds. I mean he's at the twenty two miles per hour and twenty two miles per hour. I mean you're talking about like what cornerbacks, and there's very few guys. I mean thinkwa Berkley barely hit twenty two miles per hour

very often. It had to do number one. Well, I understand in part it was because you have to get a really long running start, Like, no, guys don't hit twenty two miles four in ten in a ten yards stretch, right sure, but still for him to get to those speeds, I was surprised. And I knew he was a good athlete, So I mean, yes, you kind of realized he was a good athlete, but you didn't realize when he gets a running start and full speed and gets going that he can kind of kick it up to that gear.

And what's funny about that is, in a way is maybe he didn't know it either. He didn't realize faster. And then that's when the turm, you know, the turf monster came out and I play against the Eagles where he kind of you know, even he had a laugh about it afterwards, because you know he that was one right in front of the whole nation to see if himTo this fall on his face, but they also saw

and I think that should have opened dies. That's why the Eagles, if you're the Eagles, you should be you should be slapping yourself like to let it happen again after that happen to you the first time, and you saw how fast he was right then in this last game to allow him for run for a touchdown, he should have run for another touchdown if it was a callback for penalty. Sometimes you run faster than you can, right, he took him to the ground. I guess I do

it all the time in my head. I'm running. Really, I hear you, and I see it on like a video camera, like, oh my god, I'm old and slow? Is that I hear you? A question would be with the read option, has he done a good job of RPO, you know, putting the passion to a little play action off of that, off of that read option, have an RPO? Yeah, you know, that's a wrinkle we haven't seen very often, but just coming. And you bring up a good point.

I'm sitting here thinking, all right, at some point you have to figure that's when they're going to whip it out, right, Yea, So it's coming. It's just a matter of when. At this point in my mind, okay, you know he's already. Once teams start really playing it and show that they're keying on it, that when I think we're gonna see. Okay, here's the wrinkle of him actually throwing off. You get the linebacker to freeze or you know, come or you know his eyes to come and and charge in and

then that's when you can hit a big play. Down that middle of the field. So at some point I do expect them to to play off it. And uh, you know this week coming off to bye week, that's a that could be a prime spot to do it. Don't forget to tune into 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, refresh

the game. 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.