Hi again, everybody.
I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Everybody's Got a Hold on Hope addition, as the Bengals try to keep their playoff hopes alive by winning their third straight on Sunday versus Cleveland, coming up ten great minutes with one of my favorite NFL analysts, Greg Cosell. A one on one player interview this week is with Cam Taylor brid who says his confidence is back, and in our Know the Faux segment, Zach Jackson from The
Athletic discusses a rough year in Cleveland. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Nita's Baked Goods. For years, We've done many of our Bengals radio shows at local sports bars and restaurants, and we have quite a few fans who rarely miss
a show, including a lovely woman named Nita. The weight I've gained during my years as a Bengals broadcaster can be traced to her baked goods. Nita always brings brownies, cakes, cookies and other tasty treats for me, Dave Lapham, our engineer, Mike Mills, and whatever Bengals player joins us on the show. I think she distributes more cookies than the Girl Scouts. We did our final on location show this week with Mike Kasiki as a guest, and Nita added pumpkin and
pecan pies for the holidays. We truly appreciate all of the fans who come out to our shows. I have to give a special shout out to Nita, the official baker of the Bengals Radio Network. Now let's get to my first guest. It is always a highlight of the season to visit with the great Greg Cosel from NFL Films and the ESPN Matchup Show. Greg, Let's start with Jamar Chase, who's having a phenomenal season. When you watch him play this year and the way the Bengals are using him, what stands out to you.
Well, I think a number of things. I think he lines up in multiple locations within the formation, and I always think that's really important for a receiver, particularly when you get the third downs, because obviously defenses are looking at times bracket double whatever they choose to do. And because te Higgins hasn't played all season, that would be often the case this year that I would notice on film. So you want to move him around, you want to
use motion. They're not one of the top four or five motion teams in the league, but they're selective with it and they do a really nice job with it to create opportunities for Chase, not only with his motion but with motion by other players that dictate how the defense has to react and presents Chase if its zone, in particular, with opportunities. Obviously, if it's man, he can
beat man. I mean, I just remember a play from this week, obviously because I just watched the tape from this week, but the twenty nine yarder early in the game when they I think it was Herbert not Brown in the backfield and Herbert went in motion to make it a four strong look and it just created a one on one for Chase on the back side. And it was just a slant, but it's Chase, so you know you set that up, it's one on one. He's
phenomenal on after cat things like that. But overall, I'd say this, there may be no better quarterback receiver duo in the league. Working outside the numbers. They just kill you outside the numbers, and no matter what the coverage is, it becomes man to man outside the numbers, and that's where they are so effective. And you know Dan from so you know from doing the games that when Joe Burrows sees one on one outside the numbers, he's throwing the football.
And throwing it exactly where he wants to throw it. Let's talk about the year that Joe is having. Leads the NFL in yards by more than two hundred, he leads the NFL in touchdown passes. Greg how has he evolved from the guy you liked so much coming out of LSU.
I'll tell you what really stands out. Look, you know, we can talk about him forever obviously, and he has traits with you and I have spoken about, you know, both at the combine and when I've spoken to you doing podcasts. But I think the thing that really stands out to me is how comfortable a player he is when he moves, you know, because no one said he was a statue when he came out, but you didn't think of him as a guy that was going to
move around. Now, unfortunately, because of the nature of the old line through the years, he's probably had to move more than he's wanted to. But he's so comfortable when he moves, and there's chaos all around him, and he never seems hurry. He never seems for Netik. He always seems controlled and calculated. He has a tremendous knack for them sort of resetting his throwing platform and delivering the football.
He's done that this year. I don't chart it, but it seems to me he's done it this year more than he ever has. You may you know, you obviously see every play every week and you're you're closer to the team than I am. But it just seems to me as if he's done that more than ever and he's just so good at it, and it looks easy. I mean, it looks like it's effortless almost the way he moves to find a quieter spot to deliver the football.
Let's move to Chase Brown. He's got six straight games now with ninety or more scrimmage yards. What has he added to this offense?
Yeah, I think he fits really well in what they are because essentially they want to run the ball. They're not just you know, drop back and throw it. But I think he fits in the sense that he's a determined, urgent, decisive downhill runner Dan. I mean, he's got burst, he's got velocity, there's a physical presence to him. He finishes runs, but he can generate some explosive runs because he does
have that speed if memory serves me correctly. Not that this is the way you judge backs, but I think he was in the four to four range when he came out of Illinois, So you know he's not he's not a plotter, and you know he's sort of grown into being the feature back. He's got good size. They pretty much stay downhill with him because that's what he
does best. And and by the way, I don't think their old line is overly athletics, so I think it makes sense to have that kind of run game where you you just have them fire off the ball instead of trying to get outside. But you know, I think he's He's just a good player and in the context of this offense, and obviously Burrow and Chase will be there. You know, I doubt Chase they're gonna let him walk. We'll see what happens, but I would doubt that very much.
And we'll see what happens with the other receiver situation with Higgins. But they're going to be a really good passing team as long as Burrow and Chas are there, and I think Brown fits that really well.
We are chatting with a great Greg co Cell. We saw each other at the combine and discussed the Marius Mims before the Bengals selected him. How is he doing as a rookie in your opinion?
I think through a good part of the season he was very inconsistent, And by inconsistent, I know that's a word that's cliched, but where he'd have some good snaps and some poor snaps. But I've noticed I think over the last couple of weeks. This week I noticed it in particular, and he played against some pretty good players in Key and Landry. These are not poor players on Tennessee. People might think, oh, Tennessee's a bad team, but those are not poor players. I think he's getting better. I
think he's playing with better balance. I think he's playing with better body control. I think his feet are under him more. I don't know if that's just coaching. I don't know if that's experience, but I think he's over the last couple of weeks, has looked like a better player, like the kind of player I think a lot of people thought he could be, because there are a lot of people, as you well know, that knew that he needed experience and coaching and time, but thought that he
potentially could be the best tackle in the draft. And I'm not going to sit here and say that's what he is because I don't think the tape shows that yet necessarily.
But I think he's improved over time.
The Bengals have a couple of guys that I thought were playing extremely well before they suffered season ending injuries, Dax Hill making the switch to outside corner and rookie tight end Eric Al.
What did you think of those two?
Yeah, well, I remember we talked about Dax Hill and you had mentioned to me at the combine that you thought they would make that move, and I thought he played well. And he's got the size, he's got the speed, he's got the movement, you know, and obviously at corner it's different. You don't have to be someone who dissects the way you do it safety and I think that as you and I discussed, you know, the coaching staff felt that his strength wasn't dissecting things in front of him.
So at corner you don't have to do that. You can just play to your athletic traits. And he's a high level athlete. I mean, you saw that when I did him coming out of Michigan. You could just see how athletic he is. And he's got good size. So that's a loss. All is a really intriguing guy, and it's a shame because he's another guy that has really good athletic traits. I think he's a three level dimension.
In the past game, he can run the seam, he can run those you know, some vertical routes, intermediate routes. I'm real anxious to see where his career goes. You know, he'll be there next year obviously, you know, so many of these tight ends in college, as you know, they don't catch a lot of balls. I mean, I remember George Kittle, I think caught twenty one and twenty two balls in his last two years at Iowa, and he's
turned out to be okay in the NFL. So and obviously Eric All played at Iowa in his last year after transferring, So you know, so a lot of these tight ends don't necessarily have big numbers coming out of college. But I think he has a chance to be you know, I don't want to sit here and say volume receivers if next year he's going to catch ninety balls, but I think that he's He's a really good prospect who has a chance to be a good player.
What do you consider to be some of the biggest issues they've had on defense this year?
I think two things stand out to me. Lack of pass rush, lack of consistent pass rush. I mean, Henderson's a really good player, but they don't really get a ton of pressure on the quarterback they have an all season, and that changes everything about your defense. If you can't pressure the quarterback, it's hard to play defense in this league. And I think the corner position has been up and down, and so those two things, you know, there's probably no
two worse combinations than that right there. Inability to pressure the quarterback and kind of inconsistent corner play. And you know, we know Taylor Britt was binged and then played. We know that Turner's out, you know, been hurt. They're having to play Newton, who I'm sure before the season as a rookie they didn't expect him to be playing meaningful snaps. You know, look, he only played in dining this week.
But all of a sudden, Marco Wilson's out there. You know, I didn't even realize they signed him, you know, So you know, it's you start reaching the bottom of the barrel, and it's it's just been hard.
If you can't run the.
Quarterback with any kind of meaningful pressure and your corner play is not what you really need it to be, your defense is going to suffer.
The Browns are coming to town this week. They are going with Dorian Thompson Robinson at quarterback instead of Jamis Winston. What are going to be some of the case for Cincinnati to complete a regular season sweep of the Browns, Well, he's a quarterback.
That you have to make sure you keep him in the pocket. And they know this. This is not a profound statement. You know, he's a guy at this point in his career that's not going to see it really well. And so when he doesn't see it well, he's going to look to run. And he's very very athletic and he can do that. So however you choose to do it, there's multiple ways in which you can attempt to keep a quarterback in the pocket. Maybe they'll use a spy.
Certainly Davis Gather who's now basically a full time player since Wilson's out for the year.
He's a very athletic kid. They could use him as a spy.
They could, you know, try to create that mush rush that everybody talks about. There's multiple ways to do it, but you can't let him be you with his legs. You must make him sit in the pocket, read it out and deliver the football.
Greg, this is always a treat for me. I really appreciate your time. Happy holidays and thanks for joining us.
Oh thanks Dan, It's always a pleasure.
As Greg mentioned when I asked him about the Bengals defense, the play of the cornerbacks has been up and down this year, and that's certainly true of Cam Taylor Britt, who is expected to be one of the bengals best defensive players going into the season. The good news is that his play is trending up and I discuss that and more with the Bengals twenty five year old corner.
Cam.
You've got two interceptions in the last three games, including the pick six in the Pittsburgh game. You've given up twenty six or fewer receiving yards in all three of those games. How has this stretch impacted how you feel about your season?
And honestly, it's just giving my confidence back.
Honestly, when it all comes down to it, I believe you know, everybody saw the I would say downfall of the stretch in the beginning of the season, and.
They were by my side, you know, everybody in the building.
You know, it was kind of pushed me to you know, just you know, just home back in, you know, with yourself and your craft, and you know, just don't think too big on a lot of things, you know, And uh, I believe in this position, uh you confidence is your biggest thing, you know, and when you don't have that, and when you don't believe in yourself. I believe that's when you you know, you see things different and not
like you did before. You know, so I really, you know, I just found that that happiness back on the field again. You know, uh, you know, just doing my job to the best of my ability. You know, just make sure it's not no nothing bad for the team.
I think a lot of us would have said there's a geese and chance he goes to the Pro Bowl this year. Prior to this season. From a technical standpoint, what went wrong in your play I think.
I was just you know, wanted to play plays. You know.
I feel like, yes, I watched enough film, but I was in the backfield. Doesn't the quarterback's not thrown to you at the end of the day. You may know where the spot may be and everything, but they don't have to run that route.
Yes, his concepts and.
Everything, but yeah, you're playing against players, you know now late in the season, not the playbook.
We're chatting with Cam Taylor Brett. I asked cornerbacks coach Chuck Burks about you recently. Here's what he said, quote, I don't have a lack of faith or a lack of confidence in Cam I know he wants to be great. I know it's important to him, and I know the team is important to him. At any point, did you wonder if coaches or teammates were starting to lose a little faith?
Not a bit, Honestly, I got calls, texts from everyone in the building just telling me, you know that everything was gonna be fine. You know, like I said, home, back in with yourself and then fire your piece, you know again, go back to your why. Troy Henderson we had a great conversation and he was basically just telling me, you know, at the end of the day, man, but with your highs and your lows, you have to be the same.
It doesn't matter.
You can't let your eyes you know, you get the big head and everything about you know last year or you know, the things that you've done before, because you know, you still got to go out and do it every day.
And Monday, we saw Dax Hill walk through the locker room, first time we've seen him since he had his ACL surgery. He seemed to be in great spirits. He even joked about trying to practice this week. What did he show you in the five games he played this year at your position?
Outside corner man.
Honestly, the versatility that he has and then and what he could do transferring basically over to corner.
Is not easy.
Uh well, I think I'm fifth year now playing corner, sixth year a belizo man. He did it in a couple of months, you know, And it's not easy, Like I said, to be on that island, you're not You're not in the back of the defense, you know, seeing everything you know from afar, you up close and personal. And and I really you know, he head on to that that spot, you know, uh and did it well.
You know, I feel like tough lays. You know, he he know he wants back.
He could have picked the ball a couple of times, but man, I know he's gonna get those back.
The other starting outside corner on the opposite side of you now is rookie Josh fig Newton. What advice do you have for Josh as he gets this opportunity at this stage of his career.
Had opportunity is everything, and it's all about what you do with it.
I was benched before you know, the season, as everyone knows, and uh, I didn't. I didn't use my opportunity to the best of my ability, and I didn't put my best for forward and it showed and I had to sit and be a great teammate. And I believe you know, with him seeing that, you know, uh is anybody can you know be you know, put on the bench. It doesn't matter what year you are in or anything. You know,
you can't have the big head. Always stay the same, Just stay green, you know, no matter what year you're in or you know, always you know, just taking notes, you know, always even though you know the events, still say notes.
You know, something like that.
You've had three years now practice regularly against Jamar Chase. He leads the NFL and catches yards and touchdowns. How would you describe the season he's having.
That's a historical season for him.
Man, I'm glad I can see it up close and personal every weekend. We talked about that in the dB room and uh, you know just how he uh he kind of breaks down, you know DB's throughout the whole game and you can see their confidence, you know, just try to It's kind of wears a way throughout the first quarter and then second then you see halftime after that is like they don't even want to play anymore. And uh, he goes and breaks the fifth yard, you know, touchdown.
But you know, just seeing things like that, you know, I'm glad I get to be right there because it's something great to see.
Do you ever feel sorry for a dB on another team that has to cover?
Yeah, most definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah, I watched him and Tea all the time when there on the field. I don't really, yeah, I don't. Yeah, I watched most of the guys, you know, the receivers. I want to see the matchups and everything. See how they are they're playing against him. Uh, you know they're gonna put hands on him or if they did it, you know, how did he catch his ball? But uh, most definitely, Uh see DB's you know, start the wave it off, you know, I throw out through the white flat.
He faced the Browns this week. They've got a great corner, Denzel Ward. What do you think of Denzel?
He's a great corner, like you just said, Man, he's proven that since he's been in this league. Uh, and that's really what I can say about him. You know, his instincts is great. He's he's played against us will you know throughout the years as I've been here, and it's uphill you know, Uh, I think jamr Anti, Yeah, both of those.
Guys, you know, uh, and critical moments in the games.
You know.
So it's gonna be gonna be great matchups. You know, I look forward to it, you know, but I feel like we got.
To The Browns announced this week they're switching quarterbacks. Jameis Winston is gonna come off the bench, story and Thompson Robinson will start. I imagine in your mind you've been gearing up for the likelihood that you're gonna face Jens Jamis. How much does that change your response abilities this week?
Really?
You know, we just knew Jamis was going to you know, take more downfield. But with Dorian most definitely, they're going to you know, make sure that no, we win the game.
You know, he doesn't lose the game.
You know, where he's going to keep it, you know, uh, the ball away from Joe, you know, just so they can maintain the ball most of the time, so they're going to run it.
You know.
Uh, it's Cleveland. We've we've played them multiple times, you know, since I've been well, I think that's six times playing him now. Yeah, so you know we're very familiar with the Judge's schemes, so you know he's going to be uh.
I a good game.
Two picks in the last three weeks ago, get another on Sunday.
And I can't wait. I need it what it's worth.
According to Pro Football Focus, Cam has had three of his four highest graded games of the season over the last three weeks. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by All to Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best Fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
provider of the Bengals. A hot topic for many Bengals fans this week and football fans in general, has been Joe Burrow's sideline rant. Near the end of last week's win over Tennessee. With a victory in hand, Joe let loose with a profanity laced tirade to head coach Zach Taylor about the four turnovers and fourteen penalties that the Bengals got away with. The two of them discussed it with reporters on Wednesday.
He was just trying to tell me to be happy with the win. And I appreciate that about him because I can get lost, and just like everybody can, you get lost in the adversity of the season. You get you can't take winning for granted. And I've tried to get better at that, and you know, Zach tries to help me get better at that shape that about him, and it's tough for me sometimes I can probably do a better job of keeping my emotions in checking that situation.
Like I said, it wasn't directed it. Zacher was just a frustrating It's just a display of frustration of the day that I had, that we had as an offense and how sloppy it was. And you know, we've had those discussions in house and talked about what needs to be better and what was great too.
He's got an edge to him that is what makes him who he is and I don't want to change that for one second because who he is and what makes him tick is what makes Joe Burrow different from everybody else in this planet.
And so.
You know, we're together a lot more than any member of my family. And so again it's I love working with him every single day.
Love the edge. It's about him.
It's not always perfect between us when we're out there dealing with moments, but that's part of the competitive fire that he's got that I love and wouldn't change a thing about him. And anytime something flares up, we move on and we're quick capass it. But that's when you've got a great player who man winning and doing it the right way is the most important thing to him. That's the best thing you can have from a leader in your football team that doesn't accept anything that's below
standard at any moment from anybody. And and you know you're begging. There's teams around the league begging for someone to have that standard, and we've got it, and so you've got to embrace that and keep letting him and lead the way for us.
Just last week, Burrow referred to his relationship with coach Taylor and the Bengals offensive staff as a quote match made in heaven, but many people interpreted Joe's visible frustration last Sunday as a sign of friction between quarterback and coach. Furthermore, I've seen a ton of fans on social media say that Burrow's fiery side is a fit with his coaches calm demeanor. I asked coach Taylor about that this week.
I can't tell people what to think about what they see from my demeanor. I know why I act the way I act. It's the only way I know how to be. In certain moments, I act certain ways, But during a game, the only way I know how to lead is through calm and try to try to it's for myself sometimes as a play caller and managing a team and trying to get the message across, but that's
all I know how to do. So if I try to change my demeanor for what I think people want to see from me or a head coach, then I'm gonna fail because that's just not what's gotten me here at this point in my life. And part of my journey is just just doing it the way that I've done it and proud of the way that you know, I've done it here for six years the way that I wanted to do it. And we've had success, we've had tough times, and I'm going to continue just to
be me. And that would be my message to everybody. You know, don't change who you are. Everyone on our team. You know, there's moments where we can interpret things differently, but you gotta be true to who you are and will always work through it. And I think that's what's been so great about our coaching staff is we got a lot of really good people that know how to manage the players, know how to manage each other, know
who they are. They're confident in themselves as a man and as a coach, and it's a lot of us to weather a lot of stuff.
You know who else had a calm sideline demeanor, Paul Brown. You can certainly second guess Zach on his coaching decisions. That's fair game. But the idea that he has to yell and scream in order to motivate professional athletes seem silly to me. Now time for this week's Know the Faux segment. After winning eleven games and going to the playoffs last year, the Cleveland Browns have lost eleven games
so far this year with three games to go. The big trade for Deshaun Watson has proven to be a disaster, and Zach Jackson, who covers the team for the Athletic says it's time for major changes. He joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals game plan show the.
Front office has wrecked the ship. It just has, and Deshaun Watson is a huge part of that. He's not the only disappointing player this season. He's not the only bad contract going forward with There a lot of so there's no easy fix. There's no sense in putting blame, although that's what we do. It's going to take a multi level look at where they are this this current blow up will have Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward, which current versions didn't have. This was not supposed to be
this way, but it's an aging offensive line. It's absolutely zero at the quarterback position. There's questions at premium positions like left tackle, lionbacker, running back. You know, I don't know what Nick Chubb's future is, so yeah, I just don't think you could possibly let this front office make this round of decisions. But this ownership group is capable of a lot, so we will see what happens. I'm not making any proclema other than man, this is this is really bad.
You know, it's quite amazing, Zach. I look at I look at this roster and the personnel. Granted quarterback, you know, it hasn't happened at the quarterback position. Huge misses there, but athleticism in speed. I mean, I'm looking at you know, a guy like Miles Garrett, short space quickness, athletic as anybody can run. I'm looking at you know, linebackers, at least one of them can run at the in the back end, a lot of guys can run. Judy can run. You got a tight end when healthy that can run
in Juco. I mean, there's there's talent on this football team. There's as much athleticism and speed in a lot of areas. A lot of pieces on this football team is most a lot of teams in the National Football League. But I mean the quarterback play is everybody knows has been I mean Horrific's probably not strong enough.
I guess, yeah, that's right. I mean, in less than seven starts, they didn't reach two hundred yards passing twenty points, right, and maybe a little bit would have been different even if you just steel one of those wins. But this was not a good enough scene, you know, And they got older in the offseason preparing for this, like until they had to ship off Amari Cooper and Zadarias Smith. This was the most expensive roster in NFL history that was by design, like this was the all in year.
So when you miss on the all in year, their consequences and there's a bunch of dead money comes up. Jerry Judy has been a completely different player in recent weeks. There are some promising young guys. A lot of them aren't healthy right now, which is part of the problem, but that's why they are where they are. They're going to just let the third string quarterback play see what
they can get. They're going to let some other young guys play a linebacker at safety and try to salvage something out of this season because it's just been wholly disappointed.
Zach Jackson covers the Browns for The Athletic. He can follow him on ex at Akron Jackson. Let's talk about the quarterback change this week. Dorian Thompson Robinson is in, Jameis Winston is out. I kind of interpret that as it's the right thing to do because you need to know what you've got in DTR, but not necessarily the thing that gives the Browns the best chance to win.
Do you feel the same.
Way, Yeah, I think that's a fair interpretation. I mean, it was time, you know, and Jamis, who can still throw a beautiful ball and does throw beautiful ball. Sometimes he's just thrown too many to the other and he doesn't have a contract for next year. Dtr is under contract for two years. You have to let him play. He's a great kid. He's a backup quarterback, right you drafted him to be a backup quarterback. So he will come in the game. He will be prepared, he will
bring some mobility, will bring obviously a different look. He's not going to shuck it down the field like Jamis. They're just praying he doesn't shuck it right to the other team like Jamis does. So he's not been real good at that either. But they're hoping with the preparation and the emphasis on just don't turn it over, that it'll be safer. And as you know, the Bengals defense has been a little leaky. So you know, I expect
Dorian to give a fair rep presentation of himself. I expect the Browns to give a fair representation of themselves. But what they've put out there in many areas has just been not consistently good. And then obviously the lack of production from the quarterback position in the offense has sunk them here. I mean the last two games, guys, the defense has got three and outs on four of
the first five possessions. Like they're showing up prepared, they're showing up inspired, trying to win the field position game, trying to create some energy, and then one bad thing happens, one penalty, one turnover, and the damn breaks quickly.
So I guess a follow up question that that would be, is their finger pointing going on? I mean, is there? And not necessarily are they going to do it publicly? But people that are in the know, like you that cover the team on a daily basis, you know, and other people have you noticed, you know, defense saying, man, if the offense would just give us something, I mean, we're playing a lot of us to win some football games here. Is there any of that going on?
There is lap, But the truth is, I mean, the easiest way to point the fingers to the guy that's no longer there to Sean, right, and so it's never one person, one thing good or bad. Right, But yeah, it's just been miserable. They've lost three straight. They've turned it over. James had multiple interceptions and all three of those they had their high moment, they beat the Steelers
in the snow. Jerry Judy taking this leap from I think he was like one hundred and fifth in the NFL and receiving in mid October, and a few weeks ago they left Enver, he was about five right, So
that is one of the few positives. But other than that, if you're playing out the string, and then eventually you got to make a string of decisions on who's making the calls, which contracts you want to continue to invest in, and which ones you need to say, Hey, we're probably at least a year away from being a competitive team in the hell of a competitive division.
For years, the offensive line was tremendous. Did it just get old? What happened?
Well, Watson was holding the ball to me, that's for sure. But they've had a rotating cast of characters in both tackles. Now Conkland has come back and solidified right tackle, but they've really had a carousel at left tackle. They have guys who are getting old and make a bunch of money, but they've played better and those guys have been durable. I mean, Buttonio might be in the Hall of Fame someday. Why Teller might go back to the Pro Bowl. You know,
Ethan Poschik is as solid as they come. But I would just sum it up like this. Guys like Jack Conklin's had major injuries in his career. When he's played, he's played at a super high level. I mean he's playing at a super high level right now at right tackle. But they owe almost twenty million for next year. He's over thirty, he has the injury history they probably can't
afford to keep. And when they go to Jack Conklin and said you want to take a pay cut, the answer has to be no, I want to go play for a competent team. So that's just kind of the corner they've painted themselves in here.
So they've given up fifty eight sacks, which is most in the National Football League. Is because the quarterbacks have held the ball too long? Is the offensive line breaking down? When you kind of think of the ratio, you know, of those fifty eight sacks, where does the blade mostly lye? And now with Thompson Robinson and his feet and legs and how he can extend and create, do you expect that problem to be alleviated.
Some Yeah, that number jumps out at you doesn't elapse, it sure does. Yeah, you know, I would say a lot of it is just the product of losing all the time, right, And I think that's probably why they're they're sacks by their defense is not as high as they would like it to be, despite their pressure rates being good, despite heading Miles Garrett. Yeah, early on they were just holding the ball too much and they were always losing in the fourth quarter. The defenses were just
kind of teeing off. So, yeah, they've had stripped sacks. They've had everything pre smat penalties have been a problem. Everything you can do to consistently put yourself in third and eight or certain fifty they've done a little bit of, and there was some fourth quarter magic from Jamis against the Ravens and the Steelers, and other than that, it's kind of been the same story. Turnover leads to bad things. Trailing in the fourth quarter leads the worst.
Thing, Zach. My final question has to do with Jameis Winston. I think anybody watching Hard Knocks loves the guy. Yeah, he's great TV. Nobody gives a better pregame speech. Have we discovered once and for all that he is a backup quarterback, somebody that you're happy to throw in there for three or four games. But that's who he is.
Yeah, I mean I wrote that a couple of weeks ago. Dan, Like, if you think that Jamis still has the magic and can make any throw that almost anybody in this league can make your right. And if you think Jamis, given the chance, is just going to throw to the other team more times than you can summit, you're right. So you know, he's a fastball thrower, He's a fast honker.
He's great. I mean, I'm not even ruling him out coming back given the situation here, but he had he had overplayed his welcome here and he had an opportunity here.
He really hadn't had a chance to play an extended period in the end fell in four years and he got it, and he had the two big moments and he just crashed with eight interceptions in three weeks including you know, he has a five hundred yard passing game right on national TV sets the record, has a chance to really make it a game to remember and really make a statement on national TV. Grows two picks in the fourth quarter of the Brown leaves the game.
So we talked about you know the quarterback playing obviously, interceptions, Cleveland has thrown eighteen, they've only gotten four. They're minus fourteen in interceptions alone minus two and fumbles minus sixteen. Overall, they've thrown eighteen touchdown passes as a team and have eighteen interceptions. The opponent's thrown twenty touchdown passes and only four interceptions. Yeah, plus sixty plus sixteen. I mean does it ball down to that? Is it that simple?
Yeah?
Not?
In the award is having a phenomenal year lap and he's dropped about six interceptions, so you see why he sends the award. And now Jamar Chase, right, he plays defense. But yeah, no, like that just been the story, the big turnover, the big sack, the big mistake in the big moment, all year long, usually those things even out right, you guys have seen it all year long, and these one point games, in these wild games, right, every one of those plays seems to have swung against the Browns
except in those two games. And some of it's your own doing. Some of it's to strips back when you're not paying attention, some of it's not seeing the linebacker in the middle of the field, and all of a sudden, the Broncos are running the other way. So yeah, it's just it's been that kind of year. But Denzel's been phenomenal, Miles has been Miles, and you know, Miles turns twenty
nine next week. I think he's under contract for two years, like you would love to have him, and he can win games for you, right, But they're going to have to make a decision at some point because this is not a team that's going to be competitive in twenty twenty five. There's just no pass to it. They gave up three first round picks for Deshaun Watson and he stuck this franchise.
Thanks to Zach Jackson, and that's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official HR software by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
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