Bengals Booth Podcast: Light of Day

rookie quarterback. Then Dave Lappham joins me for nearly forty minutes to discuss a wide variety of topics, including the offensive line, the rookie linebackers, and whether Aj Green should be covered in bubble wrap and kept on the sideline until the season begins on September thirteenth. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel

and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your own tablet or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the letter pad app. Do you need something on your phone to kill a little time? If you're stuck waiting for something or someone, I recommend letter Pad. It's a challenging game in which you have

to find hidden words. Here's how it works. You start with nine letters and have to find the words that relate to a specific topic. The longer you play, the harder it gets. So test your brain with letter Pad. It's free and it's fun. Now let's get to football. Under normal circumstances, during training camp, the locker room would be open for about an hour every day, giving reporters

the opportunity to interview the players. That's not the case this year due to the coronavirus, except for the one on one interviews that I've been doing for this podcast. Nearly every player interview who has been a zoom call with all of the local media. At some point in those zoom interviews, the subject will be asked about Joe Burrow, and I thought it would be illuminating to pick out

some of the most interesting responses. We start with von Bell, who has known Joe Burrow since twenty fifteen, when the safety was a junior at Ohio State and the quarterback was an incoming freshman that year. Burrow would occasionally practice against the starting defense with no protective jersey, and Bell says, he's come a long way since. I think you weren't even sliding back there, you like, he's now he was trying to do the truck stick, but now you know,

he's progressing the field way better. He knows what the defense had given him, he knows what he can take. He knows when to take the shot, he knows when not to. Sam Hubbard was one year ahead of Burrow at OSU, and the two became close friends as Buckeyes. Hubbard says that winning a national championship and the Heisman Trophy haven't gone on to Burrow's head. I think that's one of the most impressive things about him is he

hasn't changed at all. He's got the same mentality as he was a third string, you know, backup at Ohio State as a freshman, still fighting every day to you know, get on the field and make his name known. And he's takes that mentality and you know, the level headedness of where he's been to you know, to where he's at now. It became obvious toward the end of last season that the LSU quarterback was almost certainly going to

be selected number one overall in this year's draft. That meant Bengals wide receivers like John Ross were able to watch burrows record setting performances in the College Football Playoff knowing he was likely to be their next quarterback. That was definitely the biggest story. Every time you're watching the games, it's like, Joe Burrow has three hundred yards, twelve completions that have time, you know, four or five touchdowns and these are playoff games, you know, and it's like that's crazy,

you know. And just getting to work out with him in California before he was dragging and to see him now, it's like, it's good to see how how well he works the offense and how good he is where there's twenty fourth birthday coming up in December. Burrow is actually older than nineteen players on the Bengals roster, including Jesse Bates and Auden Tate. Here are the two of them on their new QB. You can just feel his presence in the room. You got that swagger about itself. You know,

he's young kids still. You know, he got a lot of proof. He has a lot to prove. You know. I was talking to my mom the other day and he's talking. She was talking about an interview he did or something like that about not being nervous. Have you guys ever seen him nervous? And I thought that was very funny, awesome that I have that type of He has that type of confidence in itself. So yeah, I

feel really good about Joe. He's been moving me around in the middle of field a little bit more than a lot of quarterbacks that have been experienced in this league. So um, you guys can expect a lot of good things coming out of Joe this year. Just like his natural swagger, you know, how you walk around and stuff like that, How he approached the huddle, how he comes into the huddle. You know, you don't come in like

a rookie. You come in almost like a vet. Like he's been number four, so you know, just that calmness that he has, you know, it's just everybody can feel it, so we'll make everybody else. The scouting report on Burrow coming out of LSU is that he threw the ball with great timing and accuracy, but didn't necessarily have a rocket for a throwing arm. Here's the player drafted in the second round to be one of his primary targets in the years to come. Tee Higgins. The first time

he threw the ball, he threw a bullet in. You know, it shocked me, but I called it. He throws he throws great balls, always where they need to be. He rarely throw that boss rarely, but it does happen. In one of the Bengals first practices in pads, Burrow was intercepted by veteran linebacker Josh Bines. Joe immediately responded by completing deep balls to Tyler Boyd, Mike Thomas, and c ju Zama. Then he approached Binds and picked his brain

about the interception. The thirty one year old linebacker hadn't seen that before, and not a rookie quarterback. I don't. I don't think I've had a rookie quarterback came up to me. You know, maybe I had a few veit seria there, but definitely not to do the quarterback. But you could tell he's hungry and wants to get better. And that's what I like about it. And as I think everybody's knowing that, especially offense, they're gravitating towards him because right now he has to lead the way for

this offense. And we're looking forward to it. That's the type of thing that earns the respect of his teammates. According to head coach Zach Taylor, you don't do it by walking in and open your mouth and saying a lot of things before you actually earn it. You had to do it through your leadership, you showing you know

exactly what to do when your numbers called. You do it through proving your toughness, you know, which which he hasn't quite had the opportunity to do yet with our guys because he hasn't he hasn't got knocked on his butt yet. Hits on Burrow are strictly off limits a training camp, and that's the first thing that offensive coordinator Brian Callahan mentioned when I asked what Burrow would miss by not having any preseason games getting hit for the

first time. That's usually that's usually a big part of it. Um. You know, all quarterbacks kind of have those little jitters. They don't get touched very often in practice. They don't feel a live rush, especially for a kid hasn't played NFL football, a rookie quarterback. Generally, that first time that rush comes live as the full speed is a little bit different than college. Now, he was playing against great

players in the secats. It's that's as close as you're going to ever get probably to NFL speed and tempo. But that first that first pass rush, that first hit, that first time they get jolted around, Uh, kind of reminds him that it's time to play football again. So you'd like that to happen obviously before the opener um, but that don't. We don't get that this year. Burrow isn't getting tackled at practice, but he does face a pass rush. The coaches blow the whistle to stop the

play if he would have been sacked. As a result, Joe's had plenty of opportunities to move around in a muddy pocket and also scramble left or right before making Tyler Boyd says that's one of Burrow's biggest strengths. Extended plays is the biggest key of um of keeping an office on the field. I mean, we really didn't have too much scramble throws and scrambled touchdowns last year was very limited. But I think I think that's that's that's the key of winning. Like you got the Russells, you

got um Lamar. Everybody scrambles around, try to make plays and and a lot of receivers to work and create separations. So I mean, Joe, I believe he's a great fit for a guy like that, not a utilize his ability in the pocket to maneuver and get away from Toddler so he can extend plays that we continue to move the ball. Burrow hasn't only impressed his teammates on the

practice field. Over the past few months, the rookie has used his large social media platform, including nearly four hundred thousand followers on Twitter, to speak out against racial injustice that resonated in the locker room. According to A J. Green, oh Man, that's what you want to see. You want to see that quarterback position step up because those are

guys that drive lead. And um, when you have guys like that stepping up at that young of an age and um reason, I really haven't shown anything in the NFL yet, it speaks volume, especially to the guys in the locker room. You want to rally behind guys like that who's speaking up um and being a you know, not an African American male man, being a white male. He's speaking up for you know what We're trying to create and when you have the guy like that, you

know you just want to rally behind him. Joe Burrow, He's not taking a snap in an NFL game. Man. There are sure to be ups and downs in his rookie season, much like there were in his first year at LSU, but he's done everything right so far. According to current Bengal and former Auburn Tiger c j Uzama, is an absolute piece. He's an animal out there. Um yeah, uh, you know, you see you see college, you see what's going on. You you watch him beat your alma mater

and and do so and convincing fashion. You're like, dang, this sucks, you know, But um, that just I mean, he's he's he's he's that guy. Man. He's making all the right reads. He's getting us in and out of the right protections and making all the right checks and certain checks that I didn't even know we could we

were allowed to check into. He's like, why not go out there and do this or come in here and do this or Um it's been a lot of fun, Honestly, it's been a lot of fun to um to build a relationship with him, build that chemistry with him, and see how how he operates and how he wants certain routes run on certain coverages, and um, it's he's He's he's the real deal. I'll say that Bengals fans certainly hope he's the real deal. They are counting on number

nine to put them on Cloud nine. Before we get to Dave Lapham, here's a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals pride to the next level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package from Prime Sport. The Bengals will be scrimmaging inside Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday night and will have live coverage. LAP and I will be joined by Marissa Contapelli from six to seven thirty on the radio at seven LW, online at seven

DWLW dot com, and on the iHeartRadio app. Following the Bengals practice on Friday, Lap and I discussed the latest Bengals news and answered the ask Lap questions that you submitted on Twitter. Lap On Friday, the Bengals were scheduled to practice at two fifty in the afternoon, They moved it up to eleven o'clock in the morning to try to beat the potential of bad weather. But before that happened, there was a team meeting in the morning. Everybody on

the roster with ownership. Mike Brown was present. The players requested on Thursday to meet with Mike Brown. He made that happen on Friday morning, and it sounds like it was a highly productive meeting for what's going on in this country. Yeah, you know, and Mike Brown has got an enormous amount of history. I think that the players

were very responsive to. I mean, Paul his dad obviously when he was with the Cleveland Browns, Bill Willis Hall of Fame defensive lineman, Marion Motley Hall of Fame fullback. These guys were some of the initial black football players in the National Football League. And he had one in college. He had one on his military team that he coached before he got to the All American Football Conference then

eventually the National Football League. But he brought them to the AAFC initially and then into the National Football League. That was like the Jackie Robinson of you know, professional football. So I think the players that didn't know that were duly impressed by that. And Mike Brown lived it. And Mike Brown has told me stories many times over the years about you know, as a young young child going to Cleveland Brown's training camp and with the players that

he adored and worshiped. His heroes were these guys, and he spent all kinds of time with them. So, you know, Mike Brown from the time he was hid or grasshopper and didn't see color, you know. And so I think I think that locker rooms, and not just NFL locker rooms, but locker rooms in general, are you know, just a great example of what society could be like in terms of it's a it's a meritocracy. It's not anything about color. It's not anything about religious you know, a preference, it's

not anything about sexual preferences. It's all it is is can you get the job done and help us achieve the goal. So we want to achieve as a group, as a team, all of us. It's a big melting pot and man if if some of that could pour out into the country and the world in general, be huge. We've heard from several players in recent days talking about these issues, Carlos dunlap Aj Green, Trey Hopkins. Today, it underscored to me how smart and how caring the guys

are in this locker room. I don't know if that's the case all over the place in the National Football League, but the Bengals are blessed to have really epathetic, smart and caring players. You're right, dan Um Trey Hopkins. I was going to ask him when he was done with his Zoom conference if he'd run for president, and the dude, the dude as sharp, sharp as attack, and they are. They're all educated guys. But the thing that is amazing

is um the experiences that they have. And I kind of heard from some of them when I was playing, particularly you know, in the National Football League. Vernon Holland became a really good friend of mine. I was the only white person he invited to one of his birthday parties, and I got a little taste of what it was like to be maybe the different color of everybody else. But they were all very welcoming and that that was a unique experience for him. That that was an eye opener, Um.

But to hear these guys talk about things that you take for granted that you never even thought about having to worry about, like with their children and telling their children make sure that you don't do anything that can be interpreted any other way, but the way that you're actually thinking, which is harmless, you know, because you know there's there's a dual standard here, unfortunately, and you have to have those difficult conversations and then have experienced them themselves.

I mean, I heard, you know, from a lot of guys, you know, Isaac Curtis, Kenny Riley, Vernon Holland teammates that became pretty good friends, and some of the experiences, and it's just that's what they're talking about now. And I

bet it is eye opening. I mean, Zach's not that old guy, really, And I bet Zach Taylor and other coaches and other people in the organization when they hear some of these stories that these guys, you know, had to had to go through with their families, with their loved ones, with their friends, it's it's it's mind boggling.

It's really an eye opener, for sure. When George Floyd was killed, Joe Burrow is one of the first prominent quarterbacks in the National Football League to tweet something about it. And I remember how thoughtful I was at the time, how thoughtful, what thought it was at the time. And one of the things that he said, very simply was this isn't politics, it's human rights. And he tweeted again this week on this subject and it really has resonated

inside of his own locker room. There's no doubt. I mean, I think that you know, you can have swagger, you know, because of your football accomplishments, and you know, swagger in a good way. Swagger, not in an obnoxious way, but the urned confidence swagger because you got some skins on the wall. You want a national championship, you won the Heisman Trophy, you want undefeated and so doing, you set records, you know, all these touchdowns and all all the things

that go along with it. Those are huge skins on the wall from a football standpoint. But but Joe Burrow what he did during his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, you know, for his community, you know, the food food banks there and just the amount of money the response over six hundred thousand dollars responded, you know, based on what he did. So you know, Joe is obviously this isn't the first time that he stepped up and said I care about everybody.

I care about you know, those less fortunate than me and those that are in more difficult situations than me, and all of a sudden, Now he becomes a leader in his teammates eyes, not just the leader in the huddle as a quarterback, but the leader of the organization, in the community, in the league, in the country, in the world. I mean, he takes on a mega leadership role. And I think he's up to it. I think he's up to it big time. I agree one hundred percent.

All right, let's turn to some training camp issues, and I want to start with one of the training camp battles that I expected to see, and that was Bobby Hart versus Fred Johnson at right tackle. But until Bobby briefly was nicked up and had to miss a practice, he had been getting virtually all of the reps with

the starters at right tackle. What happened to that petition? Yeah, and big Fred was kicked inside a little bit to guard, you know, because I you know, I think they're thinking, you know, is Fred's showing himself to be one of the five best. Well, if that's the case, see if you can play guard, see if you can play tackle.

And Fred's played a little bit of everywhere too. I mean, a lot of these guys have been, you know, required because again Michael Jordan, the birth of the child, and the injury, like you mentioned the calf injury to Bobby Hart A guy's there's been a little bit of musical chairs, but that's what you have to have. On game day. There's going to be seven, maybe eight at the most offensive linemen, So guys have to show the multiplicity in

their versatility of position ability, so you know it. Fred Fred's an interesting study because Fred against Cleveland showed in an NFL game against the NFL competition he could do it. But one game there's not a career make and he has to. He's like, in my mind, all the offensive lineman Dan, I watch him very inconsistent. Got to show consistency.

Have to show consistency as a group. All five guys have to play as a as a group to you and not have four do it and one, three do it and two and then then the next play the two that they're good and the other one of the other ones. All everybody has to have consistency. It can't

be big ups and downs. And Fred's had some really good showings and then he's had somewhere, you know, head scratcher showings, and and it's almost that way I'd say Trey Hopkins has probably been the most most consistent guy, um, you know, on a on a day by day basis, and you know it's everybody has to strive for that. And you know Bobby had I should say, Fred has to realize Bobby's played quite a few games in the NFL. Now, is he better than average NFL tackle? Some people think so,

some people don't. You know, I'm enjoys having nuts mounds don't. But what Fred has to do is Fred has to win it out right and honestly right now, I don't think the competition should be over and I don't think in my mind when I when I played, I was like every day I thought, man, I got to bring it. If you don't bring it, somebody's breathing down your neck. So Bobby has to realize Fred's breathing down his neck. Fred has to try to play as well as he can,

consistently as he can to capture it. And like we said earlier, I think the tiebreaker right now is it Bobby's smart. Bobby's like Trey in terms of football, you know, making calls and stuff. And that's a comforting feeling for a line coach when you get two guys out there that know every nuance of it, you know, and I don't think Fred's at that level in terms of the mental part of it. So unless he outright handles it physically, it's got to be knockout. That's that's what he's looking at,

I think. So we expect the starting OH line for the Chargers game to begin the season to be Jonah Williams left tackle, Michael Jordan left guard, Trey Hopkins center, Xavier sue Philo right guard, Bobby Hart right tackle. If that's the case, and again it could change, But if that's the case, who's the best backup interior guy and

who's the best backup tackle? I'd have to say that I'd probably think Fred would probably be that third tackle since he's you know, he played left tackling in Cleveland. He's battling Bobby at right tackle. Now. If he doesn't win one of those starting spots, you know, it would probably be Fred at the tackle position. Inside inside, Billy Price is the backup center. Is Billy Price the best backup guard? You know? That's that's a big question. What

about Alex Redmond. If Alex Redman is cleared at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, and he shows that that elbow is totally healed and that he can go out and perform. He's a starting caliber guard in the National Football League, So you know,

he starts to come into the mix. And I'm telling you, I'm not saying he's ready right now, but Kim Identagy, he's he's the guy once because of the Michael Jordan, you know, the birth of the child and Bobby Hart having the calf, other lineman had to move all over and Identagy, I'm watching him play guard. I'm watching him play tackle. He's just covering people up. He's got really good feet. He's taken great sets, you know, but again consistency. One time his jam is really good, next time it's not.

They're in his chest. You can't allow these defensive lineman in your chest of rabbing your shoulder pads or whatever. So you know, it's I'm not saying that he's there now, but I know he has feet, and I know he has intelligence because he's not like it's not too big for him. He's not in the huddle when they call a player looking at his centers tackle when he's playing guard, like what do I do And he's not doing that at the line of scrimmage when the audible or whatever.

So to me, he has some potential and I don't know how quickly it can be developed, but I think he does have potential. Tremendous left round, late round. Fine. You know, he looks like a second or third round guy the way he moves. I mean, he's right now. I know it's early stages, but Keema Dentogy, Dave Lapham's guy right now at Chima Dentogy. All right, Let's turn to the starting linebackers, and most days that's been Josh Bines and Jermaine Pratt. But there's been a ton of

mixing and matching going on at that position. Out of the three draft picks, Logan Wilson, A Keen, Davis Gaither and Marcus Bailey, have any stood out more than the others. They've all stood out, which is good. You know, I don't think there's been a front runner's like whoa, you know, he's like light years better than the others. But the all they're always advertising that's a good thing. Logan Wilson is and and Dan I'm going to obviously coat this

with the caveat that. Haven't tackled anybody yet, you know an opponent, haven't taken an opponent to the ground, haven't played an NFL snap yet, haven't gotten that NFL game where I'm telling you the adrenaline rush you your first NFL game, It's ridiculous. It's it's ridiculous. You feel like you can lift the stadium, but you got to make sure you can find it, you know. I mean, it's like you get you just have to. You have to make sure that you're not out of your mind because

your body is telling you. You know you can. You're a superhero. You can do anything, and but you have to you have to stay focused and make sure that you're doing the right things that you're supposed to be doing. And that's that's you know, when the truth will be told when they line up against the Chargers. M Are they taking the proper angles to pursuit are they Are

they getting people on the ground? Are they not breaking down on assignments so they where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there, and doing it how they're supposed to do it, all of those things. But looking at them, watching them run, watching them take proper angles in pursuit and doing some of these things. Looks like they're going to translate, you know, it looks like they're going to translate well, and all three of them,

you know. And obviously Bailey hasn't, you know, he had the injury. So but I think he might be close, but maybe not where the other two are at this point. But I know one guy that's salivating and drooling and everything that you can do is Darren Simmons. Because the last few years Dan linebacker special team snaps have been probably the fewest in the league from a position group standpoint, not anymore. If they can't run, it's hard to use them on special teams. And these guys can run. All right.

Let's talk about AJ Green. He's been back on the field after missing about a week with a sore ham string. He says he wants the reps at practice, he wants to play in the scrimmage on Sunday and the following Thursday. Should they play him, I think if the player is that adamant, I think they need to listen to him. I've heard his position coaches over the years say Aj is a rep guy. AJ himself said, I'm a REP guy. You know, some people don't need dress rehearsal and they're

ready for Opening night. Other guys need dress rehearsal plus to get ready for Opening night. And you have to know which you are. And AJ knows. AJ knows he's a REP guy, and I think he's gonna feel not

quite there if he doesn't get some reps. So whether it be in thump, which is everything's live except taking him to the ground, and that's that's fine, because they're gonna get their hands on him, you know, reroute them, bump and run, chuck them, all that kind of stuff, and they're gonna close on him, but not take him to the ground. He's gonna get hit, he's gonna get Joss all those good things. I think he needs that.

So wouldn't shock me if on Thursday night or Sunday night Sunday that he does some thump, maybe not full scrimmage, taking to the ground, and then on Thursday, if they expose him at all, it might be very little exposure on Thursday if he if he begs for it, because Zach Taylor would just help put him in moth balls and make sure he's ready for the thirteenth. You have

to listen to the player though, too. And um, you know, I think I think a j when when you have a player come out and say I asked him that in a zoom conference and he said, you know, would you be No, No, I need I need reps. That's reality.

He's realistic about his needs and his uh what he has to do to get ready for the opener act Accordingly, how about we tackle him into one of those bags they use for stunt men jumping off buildings, or put him in one of those big donut things, you know, let him, let him catch, let him catch it, and then just him inflated. Yeah, as soon as he catches it, it triggers something and inflates his big bubble, you know, and he's like, can't again hurt him, can't take him

to the ground hard. I'm game. The Bengals primary offensive grouping last year was three wide receivers in one tight end, and when we looked at the top three wide receivers this year, we all kind of assumed, all right, Aj Green clearly number one, Tyler Boy number two, and then interesting battle between te Higgins and John Ross perhaps to be the primary number three guy. Is Auden Tate their third best wide receiver. Man, I'll tell you the reps

he's putting up a training camp. He's he's making noise. But I don't think i'd have him, you know, as the number three receiver. But I would look and say, man, I might go big at times a six four t six four Tate six five. And we've seen Joe Burrow with Tate. I mean, he has a great feel for

where to put those contested catches. If you've got basically an NBA front court, you know, down the football field with these six foot to you know, five eleven to six one defensive backs, Man, I might want to go big. And if I go big, An He's shown it, Man he can and AJ climb the ladder. I mean AJ can do it. I'm I can't wait to see Aj Sky for one of those Joe Barrow big parabolo you know, contested catch deals. Tee Higgins is shown it can do

the same thing. So there's gonna be packages. There's gonna be times where it's like, yeah, Taylor, he fits in this, and you know, and the more reps he gets in training camp and delivers on him again, another guy when opportunity knocked, he stepped up. Alex Erickson took advantage of opportunities. That's what you have to do to stay in the league. The Mayde has been doing zoom calls with a couple of players a day on average, and everybody that they trot out in front of us gets asked about Joe

Burrow and they all gush with their praise. Has anything in particular caught your ear? The biggest thing that the teammates almost universally man leader. You know, he's got the swag, you know, and it's it's not being said like, you know, boy, you know this guy, he's a cocky sucker. You know, never heard cocky, never never earned confidence. That's what it is. And and because he's does he has skins on the wall,

there's no doubt about it. I mean, he's but he came in and and has handled everything the right way. He has such good people skills. You know, he's not He's not going to just walk into the room with his chest out and like, hey there's a new marshal in town and you guys are nothing. You know, it's not gonna He's not like that. And I think what what he does is brings out the best in everybody

and makes them feel confident in themselves. He kind of like just exude this earned confidence that's contagious, you know, and I think they talk about it all the time. Man, he came into that huddle and just took control of the huddle. Whoever, I don't know if it started with his dad or Zach whoever, whoever told him, and I'm sure he probably did the same thing at LSU, So it started long before here with the Bengals. That that is.

That's a fact though, Dan, particularly when you're on the road in a hostile environment, when your quarterback comes into the huddle like John Wayne, we're gonna kick some tail boys, and this is how we're gonna do it. It's like, yeah, you know, instead of coming in with eyes wide and let's go eighty three x, say on two, ready break, I mean, that's not going to cut it. So it's just it's just exuding that that confidence, that presence, And I think that's the biggest thing about him. He does

have a presence, he really does. I mean, Guys, he walks into the room, guys notice, guys gravitate toward him, and I think that's the thing almost every one of them. Man, he's taken control the huddle. He's like a ten year said he's going to play fifteen. A's gonna run in for fifteen already that dog and hunt right there. But

I think that's the biggest thing about him. We've heard, going back to the zoo zoom calls that the players and coaches did in lieu of OTAs and mini camps, that he had a tremendous command of the offense right away. And you know, I thought that was impressive, But then it really hit home for me how impressive that actually is when we were watching practice with former UC quarterback Tony Pike and he was talking about in his first NFL camp with Carolina, he was just hoping to be

able to spit out a play. It was so much more complicated. And for Joe Burrow to have all of this down and be able to make checks and changes at the line of scrimmage like he's been playing for five years is truly different from the norm, no question. And he's manipulating safeties with his eyes and his shoulders. You know, he's doing all these things that are you know,

danced graduate school stuff. You know, instead of just I'm gonna take make sure I don't fumble the snap and first thing I see, I'm going to throw to, you know, type of read. It reminds me of I had an opportunity to do an NFL game when Peyton Manning and Tom Morton were together early in Peyton Manning's career with the Indianapolis Colts, and Tom Moore said, I'm telling you, man early on, this kid was like what he's got, He's got such commands, such a football iq. He goes.

He made all of us better, he said, including me. It's like, you know, the smartest kid in the room. No coach, that's that's wrong. This is the way he goes. This kid now and he made me a better coach. I was more prepared. And he said, Peyton Manning lifted everything and everybody. And he said it got to the point where instead of me and stall in the offense said Peyton go do it. He said, Peyton would get up and I just kind of he said, I don't know what they were paying me to do. And I

think that's what Joe Burrow is about. Peyton Manning kind of re wrote preparation, you know, rewrote the first guy in, last guy to leave, and just you know, grind it, you know, learning how to be a grinder and loving

the grind. Joe Burrow is cut from that cloth, and I think that, you know, as he advances and even into his early in his rookie year, I'm not saying that he's ready to do what Peyton Manning was doing with Tom Moore right now, because he's going to see coverages and defensive configurations that he hasn't really seen yet. But you know, I mean, Tom Moore said Peyton Manning adjusted though so quickly. I think this kid's going to

do that, and I think fairly early on. The coach is going to have to try to figure out ways to keep him real interested and motivated like Tom Moore was, because the sucker is he's smart now, he definitely is. All right. I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit here. I want you to give me a random observation about a player a coach from training camp that you find interesting, and I'll give you an example

of what I'm talking about. When the defense takes the field for their reps in eleven on eleven drills, I've noticed that more often than not, Mike Daniels is usually the first guy that runs out there. He's three hundred and ten pounds, he's thirty one years old, He's been to the Pro Bowl, He's logged a great career, largely with the Green Bay Packers, and yet he shows his attitude and his enthusiasm by running out there and being

the first guy out there much of the time. So, has anything little and interesting caught your eye like that? Well to feed off of that, Gino Atkins has responded to it. In my opinion, Geno Atkins is killing it

in one on one pass rush. And Geno Atkins reached out to him because way back, Marshall Yonda, the legendary alignment for the Baltimore Ravens, went to Iowa, as did Daniels, and Marshall Yonder reached out to Daniels and Io grad and said, look, you have the same body type as Gino Atkins, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, and he's unbelievable and I play against the year blah

blah blah and um. So they kind of reached out to each other and they became you know, friendly, and and Gino would say, hey, you know why don't you come here? Why don't you come here? So now they're here, Now they've you know, they're together, and it feels so good. You know, it's like these two guys, you got a tandem of the same type of defensive tackle. Uh low, center of gravity, powerful, And I think Gino is he's hit the fountain of youth. I mean he'll he'll win

a pass rush, sprink back like Sam Hubbard. Gino last year could barely walk. I mean he was. He was playing way too many snaps. He played like seventy percent of the snaps. And I mean I thought that. I thought he was on the back nine, putting out on seventeen. Now, shoot, he's making the turn. He's looking like he's, you know, just get nine done and gonna play a solid back nine. I mean he's he's he's back. He's rejuvenated. And I

think it was an offseason to work. I think they are going to monitor or snaps, but I think Daniels and the enthusiast DJ reader Daniels, I think he's like, he's rejuvenated. It's a different Geno. I like it made the turn. Had a gatorade, had a hot dog, or a brought it's back on the card. Ready to play the tenth hole? Right up my alley. All right, Time for a new batch of ask Lap questions that were submitted by Bengals fans on Twitter. Our first question comes

from New Day Dusty. His question reads, where do you predict the offensive line ranks by the season's end, and if they can rank somewhere in the middle of the pack, how high is the offensive ceiling? Well here here on your observation. My hope is that they become, you know, an average offensive line, maybe even like a super Gift would be a cut above. But if they're just middle of the pack, which is good, I mean the middle

of the pack offensive line is a good unit. With the skill position players they have, they could be damn good, I mean really good. We talked about it before Joe Burrow won the Heisman. The Bengals had two quarterbacks won the NFL Heisman MVP Ken Anderson, Boomers Siason. They both had running games. You know, we had Pete Johnson with Kenny Anderson Boomersiason had Icky Woods and James Brooks. So you have to be balanced. You have to be able

to do both. And the offensive line has to win at the line of scrimmage, get a running game going help a rookie quarterback, so they don't come with all these exotic packages and blitzes and everything else. It minimizes what they can do because we can't get too small there pound than us, you know. And then you control the clock and you start to wear their defense out and the Bengals defense is rested. I mean, when you

can run the football, everybody benefits the entire team. The ripple effect is huge, so offensive line be able to run it, and then it's easier for you to pass block. If you're a third and seven or more man, it's a beast in the National Football League. So if they can get to middle of the pack or scoch better, they could be really good, really good. We talked about some of the individual offensive lineman earlier, but Steve oh has this question, how is O'Shea dogas playing in practice?

O'she Dugas is a big, strong, bodied guy, not tremendous mobility, struggling a little bit from a mobility stampoint. But I'm telling you that you can't bull Russ Duga. Oh Man, do Gas a load? He's a load. But the thing that there's more guys able to go position versatility than him, And I'm not sure if that's just physical or if

it's physical and mental. You know, he may not be, you know, as as sharp as some of the other guys in terms of comprehending and you know, entire schematics and packages where you can play anywhere in the offensive line. And I'm not really familiar with that side of it. But yeah, he's he belongs in an NFL camp, that's for sure. He is one big, powerful human being. The next question comes from our buddy, Man, have any of

the undrafted free agents stood out? Well, I'm not sure if they're undrafted before they came, but man, running back Patrick, I mean Patrick Patrick is a guy that had a big scrimmage, had the big run and had a good scrimmage, but he stacked a bunch of good practices together. You know, it hasn't just been a one hit wonder. You know, he's he's two hundred and thirty pounds and he's got some he can run, he's got some good feet, he's got a little making missibility, he's solid and blitz pickup

that I've seen. He catches the ball well. He played special teams at Florida State, he played special teams in the XFL, so he could help maybe Darren Simmons. He's kind of caught my eye. And it was not just you know that one run in the in the scrimmage that he had and another guy that's kind of stood out to me a little bit. With their problem at defensive tackle, Tupo opted out Glasgow who didn't pass his physical and then when you know it has to have surgery,

this kid Bledsoe from Oklahoma. You know, I start watching him a little bit. Yeah, man, he's kind of he's hanging in there, he's competing. You know, he's looking like there's a possibility there. They signed McKenzie, who you know, it was in the NFL camp as a guard. That's Regie McKenzie's son, by the way, he played at University of Tennessee, and they signed him just have you know,

training camp bodies. But I'm thinking, you know, could Bledsoe be another guy in the defensive tackle rotation if they decide to go, you know, with that many with four you know, we already talked about the three good ones, all Pro Bowl caliber guys, but Bledsoe is kind of an interesting guy. I'm gonna watch him a little bit more again. These next few practices and two scrimmages separate the men from the boys. Then Dan, I'm worthy on running back Jack Patrick number thirty one. He was Odd

and Tate's roommate for a while at Florida State. All Right, our next ask lap question comes from a celebrity Bengals fan of sorts, New York Times best selling author and former Sports Illustrated writer Lars Anderson, who happens to be a huge Bengals fan a good friend to Paul Brown. Here comes this question, what was the best game you saw Joe Burrow play last year? And why? Here it is as I'm going through my memory bank, it was the National Championship game. All right, blitz package early on

from Brent Vanables. Brent Vanibles, I sought Oklahoma. He's a hell of a defensive coordinator. He's a coordinator at Clemson, and Clemson's up seventeen seven. Borrow through a touchdown pass, but he's down ten points and this is the second quarter I'm watching. Burrow goes to the sideline and he's on the headset with Joe Brady and Poker face. You can't tell if he's losing by ten, winning by ten, or anything in between. And that's what I really liked

about burrows whole career. Aol issue, same face, Go put on the headset, make adjustments, keep sawing wood again. Joe Burrow's game is poised. No panic. It didn't panic, three yard touchdown run, two touchdown passes all of a sudden, It's twenty eight seventeen at the half, and then Clemson scores a touchdown two point conversion. It's twenty eight twenty five. They come back a little bit. Joe Burrow finishes two touchdown passes, forty two to twenty five, five touchdown passes,

one touchdown running, no gives. But at one point down seventeen seven to Clemson in the second quarter, you know, it's like man our protections, We're not picking up these blitz packages. A lesser man may have crumbled a little bit, but Joe Burrow stood tall, and he and Joe Brady made a just and they kicked Venable's packages right in the tail. And that was impressive to me in the biggest game of the year, to be able to do that, make the adjustments and then go and finish and finish

Big was massive. I'm gonna say the previous game against Oklahoma because when he threw seven touchdown passes in the first half, I needed a drool bucket to control myself. Next question, definitely, definitely all right. This question comes from Steve in Kenwood. Are the Bengals watching hard knocks to scout their Week one opponent the Chargers? I'm sure they are, but the uh, the Chargers and HBO and when the Bengals didn't Marvin Lewis and HBO and the Bengals. You

they have they have the option of editing everything. If there's anything on tape in the background or whatever that they don't want out there, it's on the on the editing floor does not make the broadcast. So I'm not sure that a whole hell of a lot is gonna gonna get there from a football scheme schematic standpoint a tip as such. Um, I think all the stuff that they show football stuff is very very you know, pattent,

go drill routine, warm up stuff. There's not gonna be a whole lot of things they're gonna They're gonna really show themselves, but you never know. They may they may who knows somebody screws up and you know, oh yeah, we'll take that out, but they don't. So it's worth watching. Plus it's it's also you know, you're getting in the understand what the coordinators, how they think a little bit um.

Maybe you already know them, maybe you don't. Any Any edge you can get in this competitive environment in the National Football League is worthwhile. This Bengals question comes from Bearcat Steve. How much will lack of crowd noise accelerate a rookie quarterbacks development? Yeah, that's that's an interesting question. I mean, I think that that the biggest thing that

the rookie quarterback you know, has to deal with. And in Joe Burrow's case at LSU, crowd noise wasn't that big a deal because everything was hand signals and everything was cards from the sideline. Now there aren't going to be cards from the sideline in the NFL or with the Bengals, but you know, it may be when you're in a noisy environment, it's all it's all signals, all hand signals and all that sort of thing. Now, Joe Burrow, I think with his poison maturity, like retiring, I think

he's going to be able to handle all that. But the crowd noise issue is a good question, and we've you know, Bross a couple of times. Will they allow will the league allow the home team to not just you know, run crowd noise like all thirty two teams in the NFL, whether you're home or away, you have a soundtrack and just running it. Or will they allow the home team an advantage of crazy crowd noise, you know, when the opposition has the football like there would be

in a sold out crowd. That's that hasn't been the term. And yet that hasn't as far as I know. There's no definitive answer to that. In the Bengals man going to Cleveland, going to Philadelphia, they can pump in all the noise that those crowds make Joe Burrow in the Bengals offense. Yeah, it's a factor, There's no question about

It's a good question. All Right, We've got a couple more questions, and our next one comes from our friend and a very talented reporter in our own right, Lindsay Patterson. I think this one's for the two of us, really your favorite call together. So we've been broadcasting the games for nine years together. What's your favorite call that we've had together. My favorite call was the Packers game in twenty thirteen. The Bengals went two and one with the victory.

It was back and forth thirty four thirty final. Bengs were the first team ever to win, leading by fourteen and trailing by sixteen in that football game. And it's thirty to fourteen in the second half, Cincinnati cuts the lead to thirty to twenty eight. Packers fumble. Our boy Terence Newman picks it up and goes fifty eight. I lost my cookies. Man. It was like the ball is out, the ball is out out. Oh man, he's oh, Terence

is got. I'm thinking, this is unbelievable. What and Aaron Rodgers was at his at his peak, and I'm thinking this is a huge win. This is unbelievable. And the Bengals had four turnofs. They couldn't get out of their own way. I mean, that's that's why how the Packers took the big lead on them, and then they mounted the comeback and they went it on a defensive turnover touchdown fumble recovery fifty eight yard johned by Terrence Newman. I remember that that game was fun because it was

back and forth. It was it was a hell of a game. I'm going to Christmas Eve two twelve, next to last game of the regular season. The Bengals go to Hines Field. If they win, they clinch a playoff spot, and they knock the dreaded hated Steelers out of the playoffs on their home field. Less than a minute to go, Roethlisberger tries to buy extra time and a typical Rothless Burger way, he's scrambling around. Finally, he throws downfield, intercepted

by Reggie Nelson, his nemesis. On the next play, Andy Dalton connects to aj Green to get them within field goal range, and Josh Brown delivers to give the Bengals their second consecutive playoff berth and a rare victory over the Steelers since we've been doing the games together. Yeah, I win in Pittsburgh is memorable. There is no question about that. Like you said, I went over Pittsburgh at all. Yeah, there's been there's been some fun games. I'll tell you.

We're a nice little playoff run. To start our little tenure here, we gotta get back on a like a nice little five year run again, A men to that. I also want to join Phil sapp as the only Bengals play by play announcer to call a playoff victory. Phil's had them all so far. I want to join that club. All right, here comes our final question. This one is from Thomas, directed specifically to you. Do you like I'm okay with Getta? You know, it's not like it's not like I gotta have Ghetta, but yeah, I'm

okay with it. I mean it's uh, there's not a whole lot of things I don't like, and uh, yeah, I like it as a breakfast food. I'm okay with it. I love Getta? Do you? And on one of the not really, although I'll eat it pretty much in any form. I like it in omelets. Yeah, I can eat it with cheese on it. But on one of our stops on our Wednesday night Game Plan shows last year, they had a Ghetta sub Do you remember that? And it was tremendous. It was that was that was as good

as Getta gets. Not healthy, but tasty, very very tasty. Don't forget. We'll have live coverage of Sunday Scrimmage from six to seven thirty on the radio at seven UNDERWLW, online at seven UNDERWLW dot com, and on the iHeartRadio app. That's going to do It for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals.

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.