Bengals Booth Podcast: Here We Go Again

at covering a team. Lap is knowledgeable, he is smart, he is funny, and he is definitely one of the world's great storytellers. Will hit all of the important topics going into the season opener every year. In Week one, Andy Dalton is kind enough to join me for a one on one interview. We'll discuss what it's like to play for a head coach who is only four and a half years older than he is, and I'll ask Andy to do something that he doesn't like to do. No,

I didn't ask him to cuss. It's something else he doesn't like to do. And in this week's No the Faux segment, we'll get the scoop on the Seahawks from their longtime radio voice former wide receiver Steve Rabel. All of that is straight ahead. But first, 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 invention since Triple A. No, not the top level of Minor League Baseball, although that's great too, I'm talking about the American Automobile Association. On Wednesday night, when I had a billion things to do, including putting together this podcast, my car wouldn't start in downtown Cincinnati. So I pulled the Triple A card out of my wallet, called the Trusty toll free number, and it didn't take long for a gentleman named Mark to come to the rescue.

It turned out I had a dead battery, and Marty replaced it in no time. I have been a Triple A member forever and I can't even count the number of times it's paid off. Now let's get to football. For the first time in seventeen years, the Bengals will have a new head coach on Sunday, as Zach Taylor makes his official debut. He's thirty six years old, making Zach the second youngest current head coach in the NFL, behind his former boss Sean McVay of the Rams, who

is still only thirty three. For what it's worth, Paul Brown coached his first pro football game in Cleveland at the age of thirty seven. It was actually the day before his thirty eighth birthday. Dave Lapham played for Paul Brown, and this Sunday he begins his thirty fourth year in the Bengals broadcast booth. We start this week's discussion by looking at the makeup of the Bengals fifty three man roster and surprises, in your opinion, not anything huge, Dan.

I mean, I remember we were talking on a podcast and said, you know, based on what I'm seeing, eleven defensive linemen deserve to make the team and only four linebackers, and that's kind of the way it shook down. I'm not shocked by that, particularly as fewer times you have three linebackers on the field in today's NFL seventy five eighty percent of the time, most teams are in three receiver formations are on war So it doesn't really surprise

me all that much with that configuration. You know, John Jerry was the Michael George Johnson of this football team. Agreed, you know, to go ahead and get way of come back and then they put Duga on the IR, which IR recall they can do now after the fifty three months. So if they need a guy at tackle later in the season, that doesn't surprise me at all. SOMJ. P Ryan, I think is a very good pickup. It's the Sooner

Sooner East, I guess. I mean running back rooms the same as when they're in college, mix and Anderson and p Ryan. Anderson rehabbing from the knee surgery obviously, but Samaj p Ryan played all four special teams for the Redskins, So Darren Simmons is happy about that that he's going to have, you know, an option there. I'm not sure how much of the offense p run will have you know, a grasp of, but special teams wise, I think he's going to be a factor in that opening day, you know,

as the third running back for sure. Let's talk about the Bengals offense. They hired Zach Taylor in large part for his ability to bring the Rams offense to Cincinnati. During the preseason, they kept it extremely vanilla. How much different is it going to be on Sunday. I think it will be a lot different. I think there'll be,

you know, tweaks to formations, tweaks to blocking patterns. I didn't see very sophisticated blocking patterns up front in the run game or protection wise, so I think they've kept a lot close to the vest, which is really smart to do. I remember after the first preseason game, coach and Rumo told me that Andy Reid came up and said, you guys are a pain in the neck to try to prepare for. We didn't know what to look at. We look at giants, we look at dolphins. What are

we look at? And then you didn't do anything. So that's their advantage. It's going to be the same thing for Pete Carroll offensively, what does he look at With Zach he says, you look at the dolphin as you look at the Rams. Obviously he's going to be a lot of Rams influence, but he's got other influences along the way. Same with lou and Rumo. You know, it's like I don't know exactly what they're going to do

until they spring it. And this is the only time they'll have that advantage that there's no tape on them, So they did a pretty good job of keeping things under wraps. The other I guess the flip side to that coin is the only time they've been working on it so far, and they've got this week of practice, but is in walkthroughs when nobody's around to see what's going on. So they really haven't gone and you know, practiced it against anybody. So will they be insane? Will

they be you know in cohesion? Will they be meshed up? Because sometimes if you put too much in, you know, you can hurt yourself. So there's that delicate balance. You know, how cute do you want to be? And you know, can it hurt us more than it fools them? And ultimately you just gotta go out. Like Paul Brown said, you know we can trick them. I get tired of tricking them. Just go out and block and tackle people. Will you go win a football game? That's what it

boils down to. Lap Over the last two years with Zach Taylor on the Rams coaching staff, Todd Gurley averaged nearly thirteen hundred yards rushing, seven hundred yards receiving, and twenty touchdowns. Those were his averages, not his two year totals. Do you expect Joe Mixon to approach those numbers in Zach Taylor's offense? I think, more importantly Joe expects it.

I do, and I think Joe does. I mean the thing that he talked about just the other day, not only running football, you know zas put an emphasis on that obviously, but he likes how Zach utilizes the running backs out of the backfield. I mean that's a that's a very big characteristic and trade that Joe has. It's very favorable. I mean, he catches the ball. You get him the ball in space when that big freight train gets moving, He's he's gonna make some people miss. He's

gonna get yards after catch. So it would not shock me to have him with a thousand yards rushing in two thousand, you know, scrimmage yards when you're throwing the yards pass. Would It would not stun me whatsoever. And uh you know, I mean he scored a bunch of touchdowns last year. I think he had eight rushing touchdowns

last year. So I mean if he if he fifteen to twenty, would be no shock to me whatsoever to see Joe mix and put up those kind of numbers telling you though the uh, the kind of secret weapon, hidden weapon as such, Giovanni Bernard in this offense, watch out for Giovanni Bernard. And then there recently acquired Samaj p Ryan, all two hundred and forty three pounds of him. He's the thunder and now he got a couple of

lightning strikes in Bernard and Mixing. If I had predicted at the start of training camp that Jake Della la Gala would make the fifty three man roster, what would you have said. I would have said that he's gonna have to light it up, you know in the exhibition games.

We saw him though, you know, right at the end of workouts the mandatory mini camp, do a job out there and watching him spend the football, it's like, man, looking at this guy with his measurables and I'm talking about his height at sixty seven and two hundred and forty pounds and be able to spin the ball like he did. It's like, hey, you've got something to work with there, you know, potentially, but you wouldn't think, oh,

this guy's gonna make such a statement. They're gonna have to keep three quarterbacks, he's gonna make the fifty three men roster and be deactivated. But he did it, and you know, credit to him. The one thing though, that that he definitely has to work on, and I think it was part of the part of what he was doing was trying to impress the coaches and the organization that he should make the team because of his arm. Everything was going down the field. I mean Charlie checked down.

He was not. He was the opposite of that. He had Ellis a couple of times in that last game against the Colts where one of them was a touchdown, another one was a big game. He was like five yards open, catching yards after catch would have been a big game, and he was trying to get it to the second and third level down the football field, showing off that arm strength time and time again. So that

was his mindset. So I think now that he's made it, he has to work on all the things necessary to be a complete quarterback in the National Football League and don't try to force things. If you try to force things against you know, and the guys that are starting in the National Football League as much as you did against guys he was playing against in the second half, fourth quarter of those football games. That'd be a different story, I think. Lap the Bengals have tried to fix the

offensive line. They've used their number one draft pick each of the last two drafts on an offensive lineman, and unfortunately, neither one of those guys will be in the starting lineup on Sunday. Is the line better or worse than a year ago? You know, I think it's I think it's. Looking at it, it's pretty much the same. You know. I do think Miller is an upgrade at the right guard position. I mean, I think that that kid is

a very very consistent performer. You've got to give Trey Hopkins a big tip of the cap, you know, if you're winning the job at the center position. And Michael Jordan's an unknown, but he has got huge upside potential. I mean, I guess that's why it's hard to put a mark on it with him in particular, because his

good is unbelievably good. He's so long and so powerful, and his bad can be bothersome though, because he's you know, he's young, and hopefully he won't the bad won't continue, you know, maybe a one time thing, and he works through it. And gets over it. You know, the left tackle position is a big question mark. You know, Corty Glenn, how much will he be able to play? You can't count on it for sixteen games. He hasn't been there

for sixteen games, even in the opener. If he's able to uh to suit up in the opener, I don't

know if I count on him for sixty minutes. You know, I got to get Andre Smith ready to play the tackle position, so you know that I get in my opinion, hopefully this group the offensive lines that I played on that were the better offensive lines, the sum total of the offensive line was better than the individual parts except for Anthony Munos, but I mean usually the sum total was a better component than each guy when you evaluate each guy, because you know, the offensive line is the

only It's like a bunch of three hundre pound June Taylor dancers. You have to be in total concert. You have to be helping each other, you have to be doing the same thing and understand, everybody has to be on the exact same page. So we'll see if this offensive line is that type of offensive line, and it could be. It could be. I don't think Jimmy Turner is not doing a whole bunch that is going to

confuse these guys. Now. They didn't show anything in the preseason, and they'll show more, obviously against the Seahawks in terms of blocking configurations and all that sort of thing. But I don't think it's going to be rocket science. I really don't. I think he's going to keep it pretty simple and just let guys go out and execute and see what they can put together. What new assistant coach really cut your eye in training camp? Oh, a bunch

of them, did. I think? You know, Jim Turnercott and eye with this simplistic approach that he was taken to it all and he's a rep guy, and you know, over and over and over and over again the same things. And I remember with Jimmy McNally, it started with our stance every access, then we did the duck walk, then we did you know, the other other drills, and the last practice for the Super Bowl started with our stands. You're got to work on your stands every practice, guys.

You know, shift your weight, don't tip that you're shifting your weight, but get get all your weight on the left side of your body to your right side. Is freed up. Shift it back to the right side of your body so your left side is freed up, and don't tip it by how much pressure you're putting it in your hand. Working on all from the stands all the way through, exact same thing every single day. And Jimmy Jimmy Turner funny, it's too Jimmy, Jimmy McNally and

Jimmy Turner. Jimmy Turner is doing the same type of thing with these guys. The repetition of it and the targets are simple. Everything fits. So I've been impressed with him, how he's worked with that offensive line. James Casey, been impressed with that guy. I think he's a hell of a tight end coach. And in talking to the tight ends, they said that he not only tells you what to do, he tells you what to avoid because he's been on the field. Don't think he can do this, don't think

he can take this shortcut. Don't don't assume anything here. I mean he's he's been there, done that. And so the tight ends have had consecutive coaches that have played in the National Football League for a duration. There's something you know significant there and I mean, I could go down the list, and that's I think Zach Taylor took his time and put together a staff that is really really good teachers, and they can all all get their points across, and they do it with enthusiasm, excitement, and

the guys are buying into it. I think I think every player is buying what the coach and staff is selling. I really do. Last year, the Bengals allowed nearly four hundred and fourteen yards a game, most enfranchise history, ranked last in the NFL. They gave up twenty eight point four points a game. Only two teams are worse, the Raiders and the Buccaneers. Will the defense be significantly better in your opinion? And if so, why, Yeah, it's the same.

It's the same scenario. The strength of the teams. The defensive line kept a loving of them. I mean, that's that's pretty oppressive. To keep eleven defensive lineman. It was meritocracy, just like everything. Um, you know, Damian Willis gets the

starting exposition because he was the best player. Didn't matter, So keep eleven defensive lineman, four linebackers because eleven defensive lineman played better than the other linebackers that they let go so you know, it's it's like players appreciate if you go out there and you put tape a good tape on your resume, it should benefit you. And I think they respect and appreciate, you know, the fact that

they've structured the team the way they have. In today's football, you know, how many times do you use three linebackers? That's the concern defensive line. Unbelievable back end, solid linebacker, big question marks. So we've seen it three years now. Linebacker has been picked on. They've been isolated and picked on over and over and over again. And in today's NFL with teams going seventy five three receivers or more, you know, you go Nickel and Dine no more than

two linebackers potentially, So it fits. I mean, and the thing that impresses me about the defensive lineman Dan, you have multiple guys that can do multiple things. Carl Lawson can be like Ah, like Ross Browner with us and others over the years, he can rush or drop. Hubbard has shown he can rush or drop. Willis has shown he can rush or drop. I mean, they have multiple guys that they can do multiple things with on their defensive line. To try to confuse pass protections, assignments. I

do I count him as a linebacker? Do I count him as a defensive lineman? What do I count him as in our protection? You know, all those kind of things offensive linemen have to start to think about. So I think I think that this group, potentially, you know, could hopefully play better. And the biggest reason is lou Anna Rumo. His whole scenario has been eliminate grayer, black and white. I'm simplifying. It's like too much grayer or

too much thinking. And I think that he's done a good job of that, and I think that's going to show up, and I think it's going to be the defense is going to be as good as their front and their back end allows it to be lap. The Bengals open the season at Century Link Field in Seattle, which has twice held the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium. We hear about that all the time, but take us to the line of scrimmage.

What does that mean? When you're playing, it means it means a bunch, There's no question about it. I mean, particularly if you're in if you're in a close football game, fourth quarter of a close football game, third and seven, you have to convert your you're down four points, you have to keep a drive going. And it's a din I mean, you can't hear a thing. If you look

at your teammate, you can see his mouth move. You can't hear one word in they're screaming, you know, they're they're screaming at the top of their lungs and it just looks like their minds. I mean, there's nothing happening. So it is disconcerting to an offensive lineman. For sure. Your only advantage is being able to hear the snap count and move on the snap count because the defensive

lineman doesn't know what the snap count is. When you have to give up that advantage and look and kind of move on the ball moves that your only advantage is taken away. So what the Bengals have done a big time job on, and it started even during way back in OTAs a silent snap count because they've known they've had the Seahawks for an opener for a long time and they've been working on in the meeting rooms, on the field, in the locker room, this silent snap count.

And there's a couple of different triggers they can use, and it's it's pretty cool what they're what they're going to try to do. And I'm thinking they may draw Seattle offside. How big would that be? If they draw the Seahawks off sides out there utilizing a silent snap counts of their advantage, that would be that would be bigger than big time. The Seahawks are number one in the NFL and running the ball last year they haveage one hundred and sixty yards a game. The Bengals are

twenty eighth. Then stopping the run, they gave up one thirty eight. It's that the biggest key on Sunday, it is, you know, and Dan, you look at it. Um they're only five teams in the NFL that threw the ball last year less than five hundred times, and Buffalo is one of them, Seattle's another, Miami's another, Arizona is another. Bengals play all of them, and then Tennessee is the fifth. So all those teams really emphasize the running game, and

you know, the Bengals play all all those teams. Only two teams in the NFL ran the ball more than five hundred times and that's a Baltimore and Seattle. So you play Baltimore twice, you play Seattle. They both emphasize the run. So looking at these opponents Arizona with this new quarterback, will they still emphasize the run? I think so with a rookie quarterback, you want to make sure

you get the running game on. He may be a weapon in the running game, and I don't know how much he's so small, but Miami's going to try to still pound it, you know, Seattle's obviously gonna Buffalo is obviously the Bengals have to be able to stop the run, and they have to be able to run the ball themselves. They have to win. They're playing all these teams an emphasize the running game to the extent that they had

last year and probably will this year. You have to be able to not get dominated in the running game and be one dimensional. You have to be able to be balanced and I mean try to outrush some of these people, you know, in terms of attempts inefficiency and see where it takes you. Russell Wilson is now the highest paid player in the NFL, average salary thirty five million dollars a year. He's obviously among the best scramblers in the league, but Seattle gave up fifty one sacks

last year. Could this be a big day for the Bengals pass rush. Yeah, I think, I think. You know Russell Wilson because of his scrambling ability, like you described, he thinks that you can't ever get him on the ground, So he is deeper in the shotgun and any other quarterback in the NFL because he's diminutive with the hype factor, so he wants to get separation from the line of

scrimment so he can see better. So he's got a deeper shotgun snap acceptance to the football, and he'll run around, he'll run around act there, and he'll he'll create and he'll he'll do all of his things that way. Um, So he does get trapped. And once once you know, once a certain amount of time is taken has taken

place on the clock. At that point there's an offensive lineman, you're okay, okay, man, you're on your own because you don't know where he's gonna run, you don't know how he's gonna you know, address the rest of the play. And you know, the unscripted unscripted plays is where Russell Wilson sometimes excels. Sometimes his unscripted plays end up being better than the play that was called. But sometimes he's

gonna get trapped too. So I mean, if he's getting sacked in three point five seconds, that's on the old line. But if he's running around for ten seconds back there and gets gets trapped, that's that's not on the old line. Seattle still has the reputation of being great on defense, but the legion of boom Era is officially over. It ended in Week four last year when Earl Thomas broke his leg and then flipped off Pete Carroll as he

was taken off the field on a cart. Thomas says in Baltimore, now, how good is Seattle's defense these days? And how will it challenge the Bengals on Sunday. I think it's good. You know, Seattle runs their stuff. You know Seattle, Pete Carroll and the defensive coaches aren't saying, you know, they are to an extent, but it's like, you know, you know what, no matter what the Bengals end up deciding to do, We're going to play Seattle Seahawk defense. We are going to do our stuff. And

they do that as well as anybody. No matter what you're trying to do against them, they're going to do their thing. And the other thing they do is retool as well as anybody. And Jadavian Clowney is the most recent example of it. This guy, when you add tackles, philoss and sacks together, he's number one in the NFL the last few years. His tackle floss is off the charts.

So everybody talks about him as an edge pass rusher and he's good, but man, nobody talks about how good he is disrupting the run and those We've talked about it all the time. You know, the quarterback sacks are so sexy. You know it's like quarterback steps up in the pocket and he's sack for a two yard loss and everybody goes, oh, that's great, a running backs hit for two yard loss. And he's like, yeah, you know,

second and twelve. I mean it's the same deal. It's the same situation that you're stressing the offense with and the defense performing. So Jadeveon Clowney is disruptor and you know he's going back to a four three defense, which

he was in college. He was a four three defensive end. Well, he was in a three man package down there in Houston, and Romeo Cornell did a great job of putting him in a two point stands, putting him in the A gap, and he'd get a lot of a lot of disruption in the A gap from two point two point outside. He'd line him up, say find the fish, find the weakest spot in the offensively, and go take advantage of it out of a two point stanch, you know. And so I don't think, I don't know if Seattle's going

to do that. That's not Seattle sting Seattle. I think we'll have him as a as a right defensive end going against whoever our left tackle is in that football game, and that's a matchup that you're gonna have to watch. The other thing that is a factor in that defense higher than the average bear, Bobby Wagner's a stud. Bobby Wagner, in my opinion, is the best linebacker in the NFL, because I mean, he's equally effective against the runner of the past. He can run laterally, he'll come downhill and

hit you. He had one hundred and thirty eight tackles for him last year, led them in tackles. He had a ninety eight yard interception return for a touchdown. I mean, the dude's a playmaker, so you know, and Nake try to keep him clean with those four down linemen. So yeah, there's still there's still plenty to worry about. I don't think the back end is anywhere near as good as

it was in the Legion of Boom and Doom. But there, you know, I think the front seven is still so good that it kind of uh, you know, puts some makeup on the on the blemish of the back end of that defense a little bit. When you say go find the fish, that's an expression for finding the weak link on the other team's line. We got to do that literally this weekend, going to see that. I got to go find some good fish, no question, I mean

I want to. Last time I was up there, I was watching him throw the I mean the guy that catches the fish, she's strong man, because those fish are sliming. Now, this dude is good. He must have more stick him on than Daniel Brentwood's head. You know, for him to just pluck the fish like he does, that's pretty impressive. I'm that guy. He knows what He's doing our broadcast on the Bengals Radio Network this Sunday begins at two thirty Eastern, and my fun Facts interview on the pregame

show will be with Bengals President Mike Brown. It is always a great conversation. The Bengals have not played in Seattle since two eleven, the seventh game of Andy Dalton's rookie year. That day, the Red Rifle led the Bengals to a thirty four to twelve win, part of a five game winning streak that season that helps Cincinnati make

the playoffs. And He's only other game against the Seahawks was a twenty seven, twenty four overtime win in two fifteen that saw the Bengals rally from a seventeen point deficit in the fourth quarter. Dalton will try to make it three and oh against Seattle on Sunday as he plays his first NFL game for a head coach other than Marvin Lewis. I talked to Andy about Zach Taylor and much more. Do you remember your initial reaction when you learned that the Rams young quarterbacks coach was going

to be your new head coach? I do. I was excited, you know, you've seen rumors a different thing that's going to happen. But you know, for me to it's my first time on our career to have an offensive coach and to know the background of Zach where he's been, and you know, just to have him that played the quarterback position everything, I was really excited about it. It seems to me you two guys have a lot in common. You're only four and a half years apart in age.

He was a highly successful quarterback although his career ended at Nebraska, your devoted family men. You both have kind of even keeled personalities. Did all of that stuff help you guys connect right off the bat? Yeah, for sure. I think we are similar in the way we just kind of carry ourselves and the way we live our life, and so it makes it easy to connect with people like that. And so yeah, I mean it's been great. Ever since he's been here, it's been fun to get

to know him more. And yeah, I'm just really looking forward to him being here for a long time. For visiting with Andy Dalton. You've had four offensive coordinators in your first eight seasons. Brian Callahan makes it five, and we just assume as fans that it's Andy. He'll be able to handle that. He's got such a great grasp of the xs and ohs. But how difficult is it and what's the most challenging part? Yeah, I mean it's

you're doing similar stuff. I mean the offense. It's like I said, it's a copycat league, and so there's similar things that I've done throughout my career. It's gonna be called completely different and to have three different terminologies in three years, I mean, it's just okay, you're interpreting. Okay, this is what I used to call it, this is what I'm calling it now, and just getting ready for it.

But yeah, it's it's fun to learn a new offense. Obviously, I'd like to be an assistant longer than just one year. But now it's been good. No sane person would suggest that AJ Green's injury was a good thing for the team. But did it accelerate the progress of some of the other receivers. Yeah, obviously, if you know, you never wanted an injury to happen, But it allowed other guys to

get reps that they wouldn't have gotten. So when AJ comes back, it'll be you know, we'll be that much farther ahead, because these guys will have played a lot, and so I definitely think that it's helped the development of some of these guys. You were drafted one year before Andrew Luck. What was your reaction to him retiring

at the age of twenty nine. You know, it's Andrew's obviously been through a lot with all the injuries that he's had, and at the end of the day, if you're not finding joy in the game of football, which I think is what he was saying, it's like he wasn't able to be himself. He wasn't able to live the life that he wanted to live. And so, you know, I'm happy for him that he's had that clarity and

he's had that peace with the decision. Obviously, it's going to be different having him as the quarterback for the for the Colts played against each other for a long time. Obviously every preseason we would end against each other and then played against him throughout the years. But um, you know, I'm just happy for him that he's got that piece with everything. I'm going to ask you to do something

you don't like to do. Brag about yourself. You've been a starting quarterback in the NFL for eight years, three time Pro Bowler. By the end of this year, you'll probably have the franchise record for completions. What are you proudest of so far? Yeah, I think anytime you can stay in one place for a long time, I think that's that's one thing. We've really established ourselves in Cincinnati from the time that we got here, and so this is a place that we wanted to be and we

wanted to be here for a long time. So I think the first and foremost to be able to, you know, have success enough to where you know you're going to be in the city of Cincinnati. I think that's that's one thing. There's been a lot of accomplishments that have gone on since I've been here. Obviously, like you said, the three the three Pro Bowls and different things. But

now I think just a lunge of a career. I mean, going into year nine now, you know, I want to keep playing for a while, so you know, hopefully we're kind in the middle stages of my career. A couple of questions about Seattle. They had two double digit sack guys last year. They traded front Frank Clark, Jaron Reid, is suspended. I thought, maybe you catch him in a good time when their pass rush isn't going to be great, and then last weekend they get Jadvan Clowney. How does

that impact you going into Week one. Yeah, he's a disruptive player, and you know, he had seen rumors about maybe Seattle trying to go after him, and then obviously it actually happened. It's just a guy that we had to prepare for. We have to know where he's at. He's so good. He's able to do things and and make plays that not a lot of guys can make. So for us, we just got to know where he's at. What makes Bobby Wagner so unique. He's got instincts. He

understands their defense really well. He's obviously been in that system for a long time. He is athletic. He really can do it all. He can play the run, he can recover, you know, getting the past lanes and all that kind of stuff. But I think it's just his knowledge of the game and knowledge of their system make him the player that he is. Last question, do you

like being an underdog? You know, I feel like I've been donna dog from a lot of my career and so now it's one of those things you you want to prove people wrong when you're not getting any attention any of that stuff. But frous, we're just worried about, you know, this one, getting getting a win for Seattle and we'll put ourselves in good position moving forward. My first year as the announcer was your first year as

the quarterback. Best of luck in year number nine, and thank you for all you and JJ have done for needy families in our community. Yeah, I appreciate it. And he could be going into Sunday's game without Cordy Glenn had left tackle. Glenn is still in concussion protocol, although Cordy was on the rehab field on Wednesday, which is the first step toward we turn into action. If he can't play in Seattle, Andre Smith will take his place.

Now time for this week's No the Faux segment, and this week Lap and I had the chance to visit with Seahawks radio voice Steve Rabel, a former wide receiver for the team. We started by asking Steve to discuss the Seahawks biggest storylines during training camp leading up to Game one. The biggest one, of course, is the one on just the other day, the trade for Jadevian Clowney.

You know a few of us kind of speculated on and there were people talking about it, but we just we we didn't believe that it would really come to pass, only because you know, the cost was going to be fairly high, and you know that late were you were you ready prepared to take on somebody like Clowney at that point in season. Well, now we find out that that John Schneider actually started to make contact back before

the draft, just to touch base on it. So what they did in one fell swoop is you know, I've been saying all through training camp, how are they going to replace the production of Frank Clark fourteen sacks counting the playoff last year, how are you going to replace that? Well they just did. Zicknions is healthy and he a career nine, ten eleven fact guy every year every season he's healthy. And now you get Clowney who's gotten what career twenty nine or thirty sacks in just three four seasons.

So I think I think we've taken care of that part of the equation and that now frees us up to do other things on defense instead of trying to trying to game plan how you're going to put pressure with guys that you know are just are just guys. They're not Pro bowlers like these two. And the thing about Clowney that a lot of people don't realize is his tackles. Philoss. I mean, when he sets the edge,

it's it's a tackle forloss a lot of times. He's one of four guys in the NFL that have over fifty tackles for loss in over twenty sacks since two sixteen. So this guy sets the edge in the in the running game and will be leebell edge rusher. And you couple him with Anzo, who's you know, going to have his first appearance. That's a that's a pretty good book end. And then in the middle you put Bobby wagner Man.

That's a Bermuter triangle potentially defense. Yeah, it's really interesting, laugh how this defense has changed from the Legion of Boom just a couple of years ago, focused so much as it was on the secondary and rightly so, you know, three out of four of the guys were Pro bowlers back there. Two of them almost certainly maybe three are going to end up in the Ring of Honor. Earl Kind of might have fingered his way out of a

out of that list, but that's story. But you know, the move now is back toward the middle of the field, and we've got this great trio of linebackers veteran guys and Bobby Wagner and kJ Wright and Michael Kendricks and some young guys behind them. They went specifically in the draft looking for who are the next guys who are going to step up when these guys are finally done playing, and they went and found those guys too. So the

defense has really kind of shifted a little bit. But the real key now is those Let's not forget the best down defensive line had all last season and then back the last couple of years. Jaren Reid is not going to play the first six weeks. He's been suspended right by the league. Very questionable, but he is a guy who really he had ten sacks last year from He's like Geno Atkins, I mean, he can make things

happen from that inside position. So when he comes back, and then poor A Ford, the guy who everybody was talking about at the end of training camp last year, has solidified himself at maybe five eleven and three hundred pounds and he's like trying to move a buick in the middle of the line. He is a good one too, so I'm really excited about our defense. We are talking to the voice of the Seahawks, Steve Rabel. Let's turn to offense for a second. How does rookie receiver dk

Metcalf looking I don't mean with his shirt off. Well, yeah, those guys when I was playing were defensive ends, and now he's a wide receiver. For heaven's sake, He's an unbelievable physical specimen. He's also a really smart, humble kid, and all he wants to do is get better and learn, and that's what he's done all during training camp until he kind of injured his knee a little bit and

had to undergo a procedure. Nobody's really said what it was, but kind of a cleanout procedure in his knee about fourteen days ago, two weeks ago, and Pete says he's very likely going to be ready to play on Sunday, which is a big deal. Now he might he won't play every snap on offense, and that's probably a good thing. But slowly get him in there, get him some playing time.

He's listed as a starter on the depth chart, but I got a feeling that Jeron Brown will probably start opposite Tyler Lockett, or if they start three wide receivers, then you might put DK in there. But he's been, he's been something, and he can get down field. He

actually runs routes better than anybody expected. You know, he worked with Jerry Sullivan out of the former coach at Arizona on running pass routes, you know, breaking down, getting out of his routes, but getting his head around, and he's much better at that than I think any of us thought he was going to be. And we all know he can run. He's a four three guy downfield at six to four and two hundred and twenty pounds

and one and a half percent body fat. Oh my god, I mean I can't even imagine I get one percent body fighting a little finger. But I mean, that's that's unbelievable. Really, it really is. Well, so the thing that I realized that the Seahawks, you know, were established that ground game. Obviously, one hundred and sixty yards a game last year led the league fifth in the league four point and to carry.

But when I looked at numbers. They ran the ball second most in the NFL behind Baltimore, who when they put Jackson at quarterback, they were pounding the ball. But those are the only two teams in the NFL that ran it over five hundred times. You know, for the season, they're dead last in past attempts, the second in the league in Rushes, dead last in past attempts. And with that said, Russell Wilson had the best year he's ever had. I guess I guess less was more for him with

that running game so established him. Yeah, exactly what it meant was he was so effective thirty five touchdown, seven interceptions. That ratio himself is great. If you're throwing the ball, you know, three four or five times, he's not right. And he also didn't run as much as he has in the past two straight weeks. He almost got his life taken off. Some guys would have been on ir and yet he's amazingly tossed. He really operates well in this offense. He operates well. He loves handing the ball

to Chris in the backfield. You got um pro Sites who was just coming back kind of really starting to look like he's he's the player we thought he was when they drafted him in the third round. But this is this is a good offense. And you know where it starts, slap and everybody will say this, who's ever been a part of football? It starts up front. And finally, we have an experienced veteran, a group of guys returning,

and they all understand the system. They're led by Dwayne Brown on the left end, left tackle side, and I think they're just as good as any offensive line in the game right now. A couple more questions for Seahawks voice Steve Rabel. I've got a thirteen year old son, Steve Russell Wilson is his favorite player in the NFL. Even though his dad works for the Bengals. He's not allowed to wear his number three Seahawks jersey this weekend. So what I'm going to say will be heresy to

my own son. But I want to ask this question. He was sacked fifty one times last year. We see him run around and make big plays when he buys extra time. But are there not just times, but numerous times where Russell Wilson holds onto it too long? Yeah, there are some of those times, and it's and it comes strictly from a guy trying to make a play. I mean, he comes from a guy who's so confident in his own ability. It also came at times when

it was a jail a jailbreak pass rush. And you know there are times when our rights coach Germaine Fetti can be had. Fast pass rushers, tough guys outside make it difficult on him. He's not got the best feat in the world. So at times Russ had to just as soon as he got the ball, turn and pull away. And it also came when guys miss blocks. Running backs miss blocks. You know, we the tight end maybe stay in for max protection and miss the block on a

blitzing linebacker. You know, those kind of things happen too. But Russ will tell you that probably seven or eight times out of ten, when he makes that wheel route out of the backfield, something good is going to happen. His receivers know where he's going. They practice it every single day. That okay, he's wheeling out. Here is where I need to be, There's where you need to be.

Here's how we need to get separation. So Russ has people to throw too, and then you also have that option is a great ability to run this preseason needed a great job getting out of bounds protecting himself. He slid down a couple of times and guys went flying or rented. Was preseason, after all, and they might take more shots obviously as the season starts. But most of the time he didn't wheel out and get us in trouble.

In third and long situations, it was always you know, it might have been first or second down, third down when they knew they had to convert. You didn't see nearly as much of that, you know. I think when I watch him on tape, he more than any quarterback that I think in the league does the greatest job of putting players between the rock and a hard place. They can't guess right he's on the edge, linebacker, do I drop coverage come after him? Do I stay back

and coverage is going to tuck it and go. He seems to leverage defensive backs with receivers the same way. He has them so many times between the rock and a hard place, and a receiver that he does that with as well as any is lock it. I mean lock it last year almost seventeen yards to catch and over nineteen yards to catch on third down. Four touchdown catches on third down. He is definitely his deep ball guy, isn't he? He really is, And you know it is

one of the big keys of this team. You know, we talked about how much they run the ball, and then they're going to run it again this time. Carson is going to get the ball twenty five times a game. Penny is going to get his share of runs. But what makes this offense really go? And then you know teams are not done. They can see film, they understand it.

But you keep pounding the football and guys keep coming up and playing a little bit closer to the line, a little bit closer, and then you have the run pass option and Russell rolls out and you watch Tyler Lockett and he has the greatest ability to cross the field and get into the olden area on the far side of the field on a deep sale route and Russell can put that ball on the money. Did it several times in preseason. We saw in a bunch last year. We are one of the best teams in the league.

Get explosive plays and they come specifically off of what was perhaps a short pass route or a run pass option, and Russell is able to find his guy downfield, because exactly what you said, you put the defense in such a bond should they come up as they drop back, and if they're all not on the same page, there's generally a big open spot in there someplace, and Russell has the vision to find it. Here in Cincinnati, we're

morning the final month of Marty Brenneman's broadcasting career. And of course Marty's signature call is and this one belongs to the reds Well. Steve Rabel's signature call when the Seahawks do something spectacular is holy Cutfish. Hopefully you'll have to save that for week two. That's going to do it for this edition of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean and if you have a minute, give

it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been great in five star ratings. Help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast.