Bengals Booth Podcast: London Calling

to generate a running game. My locker room conversation this week is with punter Kevin Huber, who had one of the best games of his eleven year NFL career last week. We'll discuss that and if my recent induction into the UC Athletics Hall of Fame as a broadcaster has ruined it for guys like him who earned their way in with great athletic achievement. And in this week's No The Faux segment, we'll get the load down on the Rams from Gary Klein, who covers the team for the La Times.

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 thing since sleeper seats on an airplane. When the Bengals travel to London, many of the players will have sleeper seats, the so called bed in the sky where they can fully recline and get a good

night's sleep in order to hit the ground running. When the team arrives at six thirty five in the morning London time, that's still one thirty five at night back in Cincinnati. The time change makes for a challenging trip, but hopefully the players will be rested and ready thanks to those sleeper seats. Now let's get to my conversation with Dave Lapham, and we start in a familiar place.

The Bengals struggling running game last week against Jacksonville. Joe Mixon had ten carries for two yards and Giovanni Bernard had four carries for zero. Surely they can do and must do better, But how lap The Bengals are on a pace to rush for eight hundred and fifty yards this year. The lowest total in team history is ninety nine back in nineteen eighty two, and that was a strike season, when the Bengals only played nine games, what would be the first couple of things you would try

to get something going in the ground game. It is really quandry, a nightmare because let's let's just take the last football game Jacksonville. Watching some of that again, and the point of attack looks pretty good. Don't block the backside linebacker, you know he he's not cut off, crushes the play. Later front side's crushed. They have no opportunity at the lay and later a tight end misses his block.

You know, it's it's equal opportunity participation. It is the damndest thing I've ever seen in terms of they can't come up with a clean snap. You know, everybody involved, five offensive lineman, if there's tight end involved him, you know, wide receivers in the perimeter, every single person. I'd just like to see a handful of plays during the course of a game where every single person that has a

responsibility fulfills the responsibility. It has to be driving the coach is crazy because there are you know, if the play starts, you look at it, Oh got a shot, Oh no shot. Somebody totally misses, whiffs, goes the wrong way. They had people going the wrong way halfway through the season. That is inexcusable. The season is almost half over and you got guys going the wrong way, whether it be a running back, whether it be an offensive lineman, whatever

the case may be. Can't have it, can't have that kind of stuff. Now you start to think, is the focused starting to slip? You know, is that part of its starting to go away? You know, the old woe is me kind of thing. You just you just can't can't have it. But uh, you know again, they're they're trying to find their identity, struggling, and honestly, I really don't know what it can be, what it is, I

have no clue myself. I really don't know. And that's a that's a scary thing because right now they've rushed for three hundred and seventy two yards and they've given up thirteen hundred and twenty three. They've been out rushed by nine hundred and fifty one yards in seven games. That's an average of one hundred and thirty six yards a game. They've been out rushed by a football field and a quarter plus almost a football field and a half.

That is nuts. So they're averaging three point nine two point nine one am I talking about two point ninety carry the opposition five point two minus two point three is Nutso basically, when the opponent carries the ball twice, they have a first down. When the Bengals carry three times, they don't have a first down. You can't win football games that way. You just can't do it. I don't care if you got Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bill Walsh, you have a staff of Hall of famers, man, you

just can't. You can't win games that way. Lap The news broke Tuesday that the Falcons were trading former Bengals wide receiver Mohammed Sanu to the Patriots for a second round pick. Last week, Jacksonville got two number ones and a number four for Jalen Ramsey. The trade deadline is coming up next Tuesday. Do you think teams are reaching out to the Bengals about possible trades. I think they probably have made phone calls. That wouldn't shock me at all.

Bill Belichick and Mike Brown have a great relationship. I would be stunned if Bill Belichick did not call just to see if AJ Green might be available, depending on what Mike Brown wanted, but aj and Sneuer same same age, and they got a number two from Mohammed Sanu. The thing is, Mohammed Sanu hasn't been hurt recently AJ Green. So there's the question of you know, it's it's not necessarily age. It's like, oh, Willie be available, you know, to health concerns. He's also signed for one more year.

That helps, Yeah, definitely helps, definitely helps. So you know, look at what they got for Jalen Ramsey. I mean a Hall two, number ones and a number four. So I'm sure I don't think, you know, if Bill Belichick did talk to Mike Brown, I'm not sure it even gets to the point of, you know, what round picks. I think Mike probably politely said Bill, appreciate the interest, but now we're keeping AJ Green. He's our guy. We're going to keep AJ Green. We want him for years

to come, and that sort of thing. But I'm sure I'm sure teams are called. I'm sure teams are called about AJ Green, about Geno Adkins, you know, potentially Carlos Dunlap. Carlos Dunlap a couple of weeks to go in the locker room made it sound like he knew that people were calling, so his agent must have told him. He must have found out from teams that they have reached out to the Cincinnati Bengals and inquired about Carlos Dunlap for him to say that to the media, Oh, it's

a business. I know, it's a business. I'm sure they've called about you know, they probably have called about me. So he's heard something and that's not a shock. Um, those kind of calls happen all the time. But I just don't think, Um, you know, the Bengals will will be in the market, and I think if they weren't in the market, it might be tough to strike a deal because, let's face it, when they give their players second and third bites to the Apple, it's significant money.

And a lot of people here in bengaland think that the Bengals overvalue their veteran players. They think their guys are better than than other people think they are. So if that's the case, they probably asking way more than other people are willing to offer. And you know, it's it's tough to make deals at that point. But that Muhammed's a new deal is very interesting. I Mean, Patriots needed them and they gave up some value. I think. I think that's a good deal for for Atlanta to

get a second round pick. Now it'll basically be a third you know, New England second. It's like early three. Um, it's going to be so late after they win another super Bowl probably, but still that's that's a decent pick from Mohammed Sanu. The Bears are three and three. Mitchell Trubisky is averaging the fewest passing yards per game of any full time quarterback. I think there's any chance the

Bears reach out about Andy Dalton. They might, Yeah, I bet they reach out about you know, a few quarterbacks, and they may. They may realize that historically, again, the Bengals don't move players, particularly a quarterback, so they may reach out elsewhere. And there's going to be other quarterbacks around the league that probably fall into the same category. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, the performance he put on last week is like that's that's basically what you think Aaron

Rodgers might be able to do any given week. He's about the only guy in the league. You know, maybe maybe one other you know, maybe Mahomes can do that kind of thing, but there's there's no more than three of them walking the streets, so everybody else kind of falls into a category where they need a lot of support to put up, you know, significant numbers in the league for sure. Lapt the Bengals and seven start has the doomsayers talking about the nineteen nineties when things obviously

did not go well. But I want to go back to our first five years together in the Booth two eleven to two fifteen, when the Bengals went to the playoffs every year, and the reason why they did that, or probably the biggest reason, was that from two thousand and nine to twenty fourteen, they had six straight excellent drafts with at least three really good players every year. In two twelve, they drafted five really good ones and signed Vontz Berfect as an undrafted free agent. The two

fifteen draft was a disaster. CJ. Zama is the only guy left. The last five drafts really haven't been home runs. Injuries have been a factor. I guess my question is what happened? Why did they go from drafting so well to not doing nearly as well. Yeah, that's that's a great question, and I think I think it's just like like anything, if you as an organization let's face it, the Bengals theory, and there are other teams in the league that do. At Seattle, you can name off a

bunch of teams. They build through the draft and they're gonna they're gonna draft develop pertain. That's their mantra. And when you do that, when you live by their draft, you die by the draft. And they put their release every week. How many players the Bengals of draft that are still in the league, and it's like second usually, no, no worse than third, but it's usually in the top three.

So but that's still going back to those drafts where they had those consecutive you know, put the bat on the ball regularly, and some of those guys are still in the league. That shows you how good they were in selecting in those particular drafts the last few year. Talking about I'd like to see how many guys are still in the league, you know, I bet the numbers are down. And if you're not going to supplement it with you know, serious free agency intent or trades or whatever.

And your philosophy is draft developer tain, you are You're you're basically putting all your eggs in that one phase of building a roster. And when you have a situation like they had we've talked about with Setrica Boy and Fisher, set you back. I mean the left that left tackle position is again a microcosm of what's what's happened those two don't pan out. Um, we saw stetric away with the Jaguars and Fishers out of the game. Um. And and then trade for Corty Glenn and look what's going

on with the Corty Glenn fiasco. So that left tackle iss got, you know, like a black cloud hanging over it. Uh. And then and then you try to address it with the eleventh pick in the draft, and Jonah Williams rips or a rotator or a labor terraces labor before training camp even starts. So man, you're you're you even try to trade to solve that. You drafted three different guys

and Jonah william School still out. I'm not saying Jona Williams isn't going to be a great player for a decade, but this year they didn't won a football game, and he's not responsible for any of it, but they were hoping that he'd be at that left tackle position solidifying it. So yeah, it's you there's a lot of pressure to put your bat on the balls at a high, high percentage, high high ratio. If that's the way, that's the only way that you've decided you're going to try to build

your franchise. Part of that Cordy Glenn trade was moving backward in the first round. The Bengals had the number twelve pick. They went backward to select a Billy Price. And when you look at some of the guys they could have had at number twelve, Derwin James was the seventeenth pick in that draft. Layton vander ashe was the nineteenth pick in the draft. I remember how much the Bengals loved him going into that draft. Imagine what either of those guys would be doing for the Bengals. D Yeah,

you can. You can go back historically, you know, um on a lot of drafts and say that the what ifs and uh, you know, I was just thinking the other day when I was watching Lamar Jackson just tooled the Seattle Seahawks like he tooled the Bengals. I mean, Ozzie Knewsom said, enough, this guy's the first round pick. Can't let this guy slide out of the first round. He's the first round talent athletically, Ozzie Knewsom said, now,

I'm going to be the one. I mean, he went all the way to the end of the end of the draft in that first round. I bet there's a lot of franchises in the NFL right now they're saying, man, but the thing that they decided to do is a franchise is We're not going to try to fit him into something that doesn't work. We are going to say what he did at Louisville, we're implementing here and we're we're going that way. We're making sure that we set

him up to succeed, not to fail. And that's just a great organizational you know, decision on many levels by the Baltimore Ravens. And you know sometimes when you when you start drafting specifically for need and you're trying to say, can that guy translate from what he's doing in college to what we're doing here with our scheme it's similar, but could he translate the better way to go as the way Baltimore and others are doing now Arizona's you know, take what that guy did so well in college and

implemented in the National Football league. That's why these young quarterbacks are succeeding. Instead of trying to put a square peg in a round hole, They've got the same shapes and these these young guys are fitting a lot better and a lot more quickly. Getting back to Corty Glenn, is there a way out of this mess? Man? You know, if I'm a player in that locker room, that's a

that's a totally unnecessary distraction. And you know, if everything to happen rumored to be happened have happened last week, did um my understanding is he when he went out to practice, he didn't he didn't really feel like he should be going out to practice. But this independent doctor in pitts Berg said that you're cleared. So they said you got to go out there. And he went out there and Jim Turner said, and hit the two men Slett He put two hands on and walked away, and

you know, of course that started a beef. And then after practice on Wednesday, he went home, didn't hang around, go to the meetings, goes home and basically says, you know, you know, to a coach, Taylor just cut me. And of course you had just cut me. I'm gonna collect my ten eleven million and not have to do anything for it. They're not going to do that. Then he doesn't come the next day, so he's he's suspended. And I wonder if suspended with pay or suspended without pay.

It's all defined by the collective Bargaining Agreement. But and when you have any questions like, oh, just get rid of them, well you get just get rid of them. I mean there's a salary cap concerned. That's a salary cap hit of not seven figures eight figures, eight figure hit to your cap. And so now you're trying to figure out what the collective bargain agreement, what are the steps? If there are five steps, you can't go from one to five. You have to go one two throughout. You know,

can't go one to three. I mean you have to take it step by step in this process. So I'm not familiar enough with the collector Bargain Agreement to see if there are any things you can do to protect yourself as an organization or you know, in what Cordy Glenn can do on his behalf of the union as a player. But right now, the thing's a mess. It is just a country hot mess, and I don't know how it's gonna I don't know how it's gonna unfold

and unstore. But if I'm a teammate, and honestly, you know, when I watch the interaction between Cordy and his teammates, there is none there is none zero. So it's a you know, I think they decided the best thing to do is suspend them or you know, try to separate them from from the locker room, because it's not it's not an easy situation, and players are going to sympathize to some extent because CTE and you know, all concussions

are different. But Alex Erickson, he has a concussion. A few days later, he's catching four balls in the in the in the second quarter for ninety three yards and he's got you know, eight catches one hundred and thirty seven during the course of the game. And I'm not saying that his concussion is the same as Quartery Glens. I'm not trying to say that at all. They're all different, but I mean, you talk about North and South Pole,

that's a pretty good example right there. The team is off to London as the Bengals take on the defending NFC champion rams LA snapped to three game losing streak last Sunday, hammering the Falcons thirty seven to ten. Give me a scenario for the Bengals pulling off the shocker in London. Well, the easiest thing to think of is the Rams have to help. The Rams have to self destruct.

The Rams have to turn the ball over. The Bengals went minus four last week and lost a game that they had a ten to nine lead going into the fourth quarter, and have you know, three interceptions in the fourth quarter. They had a fumble I think in the third, but three interceptions in the four so you have a you have a three turnover quarter. That's the kind of thing the Rams are going to have to help with. Be at fumble, be an interception, be a you know,

some sort of misq like that. And the Bengals have to play a very clean game in that regard, because you know, looking at them right now, at fifteen giveaways, thirty first in the league. They're minus nine, that's thirtieth in the league. The flip, the script is gonna have to flip for the Bengals to compete with the Rams. The Rams are gonna have to be the generous ones, and the Bengals are gonna have to be the selfish

ones taking all those those extra possessions. And I think that the red zone defense has to stay the way it's been playing. I mean that they're doing a really good job in the red zone. They find themselves fourth in the NFL now red zone touchdown percentage allowed. They have two teams the Bengals are played, Arizona and Jacksonville both went one touchdown and six opportunities in the red zone. They did it twice two touchdowns in twelve red zone possessions.

I mean, you look at it. The Bengals defense has been in the red zone twenty seven times, thirtieth in the league. They've only a lot of eleven touchdowns, tied for eighth in the league. So they have really when the field's compressed, I don't have to worry about the ball going over their head, and the tricks and the gadget and the misdirection is less of an issue. Because the fields so compressed, they played pretty good. They play

a lot better defense. The other thing that has to continue to happen if the Bengals do turn it over on the Bengals fifteen giveaways, the defenses allowed five field goals fifteen points. That's unbelievablely good. I mean, that's that might be the best in the league. And one of the one of the turnovers, it was a pick six, so they had nothing to do with any of it. So say fourteen of the turnovers, fourteen turnovers they've allowed

fifteen points. Still pretty pretty damn strong. And if they if they continue to you know, play complimentary football that way, if the Bengals do have a mistake and they you know, don't let it turn into a big mistake, then they have a chance. They have a chance. Lap The Rams are averaging twenty seven points a game, tied for seventh in the NFL, so they're not exactly struggling, but it is down a little bit from thirty two points last year. And on they scored three points in the Super Bowl

laws to the Patriots. To what extent has the league caught up to the Rams offense? I think there's probably something to that. Defensive coordinators, you give them, you know, an opportunity, they're going to figure out a way to defend things. I think the other part of it is

forty percent of the offensive lines, New Sullivan, their center retired. Uh, they're left guard left in free agency and they have a new guy at the left guard position, Stafford or I think it was Stafford, the big left guard left in free agency. So uh, you know that's that's a that's a factor. You see how new pieces can can take take a while. And girly's not the girly of old. They say that that knee has had some sort of

a degeneration, whatever it is. So they're not they're not clicking with all the cylinders and the engine that they were clicking with when they were. You know, executing is such a high level, so I think the execution slips some. I think defensive coordinators have caught up some. And uh, I think the combination of it is is what you're talking about. They win their first three games three and oh, and then they lose three in a row. So the model of inconsistency there. But they did win. I mean

Tampa Bay hung fifty five points on them. I can't fathom that with Aaron Donald and following those guys, how they held. Did Jamis Winston hang fifty five on them? That's that's remarkable to me. They scored over forty you know, their offense wasn't the problem there. As I'm looking at their at their you know, their prior games, that one jumped out at me, like what fifty five to forty man Seattle thirty to twenty nine. You know, I can

see that, I guess a little bit. But that defense, I mean they gave up eighty five points in two weeks, eighty five points to Tampa Bay in Seattle in a two week stretch. Crazy in the National Football League. Crazy thanks lap. In that shocking fifty five to forty lost to Tampa Bay. Jamis Winston threw for three hundred eighty five yards and four touchdowns, but perhaps more significantly, the Buccaneers defense picked off three Jared Goff passes and recovered

one of his fumbles. One positive last week in the Bengals lost to Jacksonville was the play of the special teams. Brandon Wilson had a sixty one yard kickoff return and now has enough attempts to qualify as the NFL leader in kickoff return average. He's at thirty seven point four yards on nine attempts. And punter Kevin Huber was also outstanding, consistently pinning the Jags deep in their own territory. I spoke to the twenty fourteen pro bowler this week, keV.

Last Sunday was your one hundred and seventieth NFL game including playoffs. You averaged forty eight yards upon forty six yards net. Jacksonville started drives from the one, the three, and the nine. Was game number one, seventy one of your all time best personally, Yeah, that was up there. That was a good game all around. You know, they do a lot of Friday things on punt ross, so we had a lot of the I did a great job of protecting that. They do a lot of work

they you know, they change games up from week to week. Um, you know, then the gunners did a great job getting down to the make less plays, Um, keep a boy of the end zone. So it was all around, you know, good everybody, the entire punt team, you know, on the entire special teams inner for that matter. Um, you know, it was a big point of Vents just won the game. You know in that field position was a big key. So um, you know we did a good job executing that.

Or Visiting with Kevin Huber, this is your eleventh NFL season. Has punting changed and have you changed over the course

of eleven years. Yeah, punting is definitely changed. You know, it's uh, I think it's just looked at more and more as a weapon and uh the ability to control field position, um and really um, you know, eliminate returners because there's a lot of good returners right now, a lot of fast guys, so to uh, you know, I think the punt team has been used a lot to really rely on them for flipping the field, you know, controlling field position. UM. I think a lot more than

it was really looked at in the past. And I think it kind of shows that the quality of punners that are coming out now, they're they're getting better and better and they can hit the ball further with the control. So you know, it's just, you know, something's got to keep up with and uh, you know, I think I just kind of you know, I've been trying to do a good job of just seeing how things are changing adapt to it. You're thirty four. Sam Cook of the

Ravens is thirty seven. Dustin Colquitt of the Chiefs is thirty seven. Donnie Jones was punning last year at thirty eight. Why are punters lasting longer? UM, I think for that very reason I just talked about, is they are you know, they're seeing what it takes to play and they're doing what it takes. I think it's uh, you know, there's a lot more you know, lifting weights involved, just to get stronger to keep up with these young guys that are coming in a lot stronger than they having in

past years, you know. So I think that's one of the biggest things, is just strength of these younger guys coming out that we gotta do more, you know, to keep our jobs so they don't come in and uh, you know take take our job. We're visiting with Kevin Hubert for seven years, you were the holder on field goals and points. After from Mike Nugent, who has resurfaced in the NFL with the New England Patriots, have you guys been in touch and what was your reaction to

him getting that opportunity. Yeah, I was happy for him. Um, you know, I know Mike, Mike always stays in shape and stays ready to go, so it didn't surprise me one bit. Um. But yeah, I texted him by if I heard it happened to set tone congrats and uh, you know, tell me we seen him a couple of weeks, maybe maybe be able to come out meeting for Doner. I'm not sure what the rules are, but we'll see.

Knowing balid Chick, it's probably a no go. Kevin. You went to the playoffs in six of your first seven seasons with the Bengals, and the team is obviously struggling this year. As somebody who grew up here, how difficult is this for you? Um, you know, it's just you know, you know, being here for amount of years I've been here,

you know what it takes. You know, the time it takes, the effort it takes, the coaches and the players, um, you know, and it's just tough to be a part of it, just because you know how much efforts being put in, and you know, you feel for the guys that you know, all the coach that have you know, they're they're working their butts off to you know, to

try to get that first one the season. So you know, I think everybody's still everybody's still really dialed, and everybody's really you know, wanting to get that first one or all on the same page. We know we can get there. Um, we just gotta put all there for a game. Our buddy Dave Lapham was on a Bengals team that started a season O and eight, and he says he would send his son to take the garbage out to the curve because he was just he didn't even want to

see people at that point. Do you have some of the same things going on where maybe you and your wife are reluctant to go out to dinner or anything because of that. Not really, because luckily people really don't recognize me. I'm just your normal six foot one guy that you know. I'm no different than the rest of the guys at the restaurant, So I don't really had that issue. It's good to be the punter. I guess

this is your second trip to London. What stood out about the first, Well, it was a long trip to tie it's uh, you know, I think not knowing the first time, you know what was involved. It was a little bit shocked just to get used to the time change and shut a short period of time. Um, I think going back to the second time, you're kind of used to a nine note to expect, so there's really no you know, there's nothing to uh that's gonna catch off guards. So I think it'll be a lot of

easier the second time around. Can you sleep on a plane? You have movies downloaded? Do you have a good book ready to go? How are you going to deal with that? I'm gonna try to sleep just because the time change. You know, if you don't sleep, it's gonna be a rough weekend. So I think dooever I can get to sleep, and mean, I'll try to week up earlier than night to stry. I getting used to it, but um yeah, I think just try to get some sleep. If I'm if I turned the TV on, I'm not going to bed.

So all right. Last thing for Kevin Huber. You are a deserving member of the University of Cincinnati Athletics Hall of Fame. I was incredibly honored to be inducted last weekend. But have I cheapened it for guys like you that really earned their way into that Hall of fame? Oh? Absolutely not. You were more deserve than I was. Know You've definitely not. You definitely not cheaping it and h yeah,

congratulations on that. I feel much better now. Congratulations at a great game last week last week do it again in Webbley Stadium. I appreciate That's Kevin Huber website Pro Football Focus has Huber ranked is the eleventh be punter in the NFL this year. Now time for this week's Know the Faux interview as we do a deep dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent. After going eleven and five and Sean mcvay's first season and thirteen and three with a trip to the Super Bowl in his second, the

Rams have not been as dominant this year. They snapped a three game losing streak last Sunday with a thirty seven to ten win over Atlanta and bring a four and three record into Sunday's game. Gary Klein covers the Rams for the La Times and joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals Game Plan Show this week. I started our conversation by asking him what the rams biggest

issues have been to date. Well, the main issue, or at least the one that got all the attention coming into the season, of course, was a condition of Todd Gurley's left knee and how that would affect not only

Gurley but the entire Rams offense. There have also been some issues with the offensive line that have slowed down a unit that pretty much dominated the NFL over the last two seasons, So Gurley's condition and the way Sean McVay has limited his touches, the turnover in the offensive line, and also some injuries and also some injuries on defense have all played a role in the Rams struggling through that three game losing streak before finally winning last week.

So you think Stullivan obviously retires at the center position. Stafford goes in free agency, So your center and your left guard move on for different reasons. Do you think at this point, approaching mid season that the offensive line is starting to gel? And part B to that question is Andrew we are still playing at a at a decently high level or what's his play been like recently? The entire offensive line really, I think has struggled with consistency.

You mentioned the departures of Sullivan and Saffold. They were replaced by second year pros who had never started, and Brian Allen is playing center. Joe Noboom was playing left guard alongside Whitworth, but he suffered a knee injury. So in this last game, rookie David Edwards, who only played tackle in college, started at guard and did a pretty

good job. I think we'll have to see We're almost through the halfway point of the season, and you have to remember the Rams over the last two seasons were maybe the only NFL team that started the same five guys in every single game, and that was over the two seasons. So they've missed that, they've missed Staffold. In regard to Whitworth, he's still I think, you know, obviously

going strong. Playing at his age, but playing against with Art, not against, but with some younger teammates I think has put maybe some added pressure on him. And he's still performing at a high level, although I think it's fair to say that he has not been quite as dominant as he was earlier in his career. Garry Klein from the La Times is our guest, Can you explain how Tampa Bay scored fifty five points the Rams? Gary? Really? You know what they Tampa Bay came into that game,

and Jamis Winston played like the number one pick. I think, you know, people envisioned people in Tampa probably hoped for when they took him. He was He played phenomenally, really did a great job. Mike Evans was terrific, and the Rams had some defensive breakdown and Shaquille Barrett just went crazy and really terrorized that Rams offensive line on both ends of it. So Tampa Bay obviously played its best

game of the season. The Rams talked about that not being a trap game is if you will, but it really did sneak up on them and they happened to run into Jamis Winston on a bad day for the Rams. Eighteen sacks for the Rams by six different players. Usually eighteen sacks there's like eleven guys. They're blitz in corners, they're blitz and safeties. Matthews has six and real quick is injuries. He is he Matthews. Clay Matthews will be out at least I would think too. It will be

out this game for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if he also is out against the Steelers after the Rams come back from the buy. So they miss him, they missed his leadership, They missed those six sacks that would have probably grown had he remained healthy. But I think the addition and I'm sure we'll get this, the addition of Jalen Ramsey on the back end kind of open things up for that rush and we saw what happened just past week against the Falcon Dante Fowler had three sacks.

Aaron Donald a traditionally, even though he finishes with so many sacks at the end of each year, he's not a super fast starter. He's starting to heat up. So I think that rams pass rush again. With the addition of Ramsey, we're going to see a lot more action. I think a lot more pressure. Yeah, I think, you know, it was fifteen sacks out of three guys, with Matthew six. It's still you know, you don't take those sacks away, although he won't be adding to it. Fowler has five

after the three last week and a forced flumble. Donald has four. He had a sack and a forced flumble. I believe as well. So I mean with Ramsey, as everybody knows, I mean coverage pressure. It's like the hand fitting the gloves, you know, It's like one feeds off the other. So with Ramsey tightened up coverage, there's going to be more pressure possibilities. And with the pressure possibilities increasing, Ramsey's gonna eat two with big play potential that that trade.

How big was that trade? How excited was the locker room about getting Jalen Ramsey. I think players you know who knew him, and there are a few in that locker room. Blake Bortle's obviously played quarterback for the Jaguars. Dante Fowler was there before he joined the Rams in a trade deadline deal before last season, so they knew what they were getting and I think with the trade of Marcus Peters and with a keep to leeb On

injured reserve, it was a well needed shot for that defense. Now, the Rams gave up a lot with two number one picks and a fourth round pick, but they are confident that they're going to be able to sign Ramsey for the long term. And I think the way they look at it is there are not that many true lockdown cornerbacks in the NFL, and if you have the opportunity to get one, not only for the short term, but possibly for the long term, you've got to do that.

And I think he made an immediate impact against the Falcons, not only with his coverage of Julio Jones and the jawing back and forth, but also the forced fumble. I think more than anything, that showed the Rams that they have added a playmaker to a defense that was in need of one. A few more questions for Gary Klein, who covers the Rams for the LA Times. What was the reaction in LA when the Bengals hired Zach Taylor. Well, I think on some level it was not surprising, just

given that the Packers had hired Matt Lafleur. It was obvious that NFL teams are or were enamored with see Nickvey effect. Everyone was looking for the next Sean McVey. So I don't think it came as a real surprise to people in LA. I think that they looked at it as like, yeah, he's probably the next logical successor if this, if that what happened with Lafleur continues. So obviously the Bengals with Taylor have not gotten off to

a great start. But I know historical league, this isn't the first time, right, It's I think it's the seventh time this has happened, if I'm not mistaken from reading some of the stuff coming out of Cincinnati. But I think that the people who are in Los Angeles who know Zach Taylor, I think he's probably going to try and follow a similar kind of path that McVey laid out, and they seem to be rude for him and confidence that he'll he'll have some success once he gets that

culture kind of fully implemented. What do you think that the Sean McVay, I mean, it's been incredible the Sean McVay aura about him. What as as a media member, when you deal with Sean MCVAYH, what is the most impressive thing and what do you think that a guy

like Zach Taylor could have picked up from a Sean MCVAYH. Well, it struck me in the in the two years that I got to know Zach very similar to Sean in terms of communication, kind of oriented and all of us who've watched the NFL for a long time, I think we've seen a shift in the kinds of personalities of

coaches that are that are being successful. I mean, there's certainly some old school guys like Bill Pelichick that still get it done at the highest level, but I think some of these younger coaches, especially the ones that are geared words, you know, open communication as long as well

as football smarts. In a league that seems to be getting younger and younger and younger in terms of the turnover and players, I think those these guys can be successful, or at least Sean McVay proved that with a you know, a very very good football mind and those communication skills that he can win. And so I'm guessing the Bengals were looking for similar kinds of traits when they or they saw those when they spoke and interviewed to Zach Taylor. I'm the Packers, I'm sure saw the same thing with

Matt Lafleur, And so we'll see. It's funny you mentioned that because the story I'm writing for tomorrow or at least my notebook, kind of deals with the fact that the results are mixed so far, you know, with la Fleur six and one and Zach at oh and seven. We'll see how this plays out, not only over the end of this season, but it seasons to come common denominator for Sean McVay and now Lafloor are in Green Bay,

experienced defensive coordinator, been around the league. Both had been prior head coaches as defensive coordinators, you know, supporting those young coaches. Wade Phillips, what is he meant to Sean McVay, And obviously, you know up in Green Bay they followed the same type of pattern, having that experience, maybe more old school coaching philosophy like you're talking about in Wade Phillips and what they did up in Green Bay as well. What is Wade Phillips meant to Sean mcvay's success. I

think he shares a very big role in it. I think one of the reasons, though, is that Wade Phillips seems pretty open minded to new thinking. I mean, obviously he's got his systems, he's got his way of doing things, but it has struck me from the beginning that he welcomes the way that McVey operates. And you know, his son, West Phillips coached with mcveay in Washington, so he knew

about him. He knew about that. But I don't think you can underestimate the fact, as you point out, that McVay came in with a very experienced defensive coordinator and a very experienced and talented special teams guy in John Fossil. So the only thing that McVey the only thing, I don't want to say the only thing, because the head

coach obviously has innumerable responsibilities. But McVeigh could concentrate on what he knew best, which was the offense, and what he does best, which is communicate with people, not only his staff, but his players, and he got the players to respond, the coaches respond, and that's why as a writer it was so interesting to cover this last month because this is the first time that they were really going through some adversity with those three losses, and you

could tell there was a sigh of relief when they beat the Falcons because they think they've kind of got through that. We'll see if they can continue it through the rest of the season, but that was something new for Sean McVeigh and his young coaching career. I thanks to Gary Klein, and here's a quick reminder that if you are making the trip to London or live in the UK, we will be broadcasting the Bengals pep Rally Show from the Admiralt, the Bengals official Bar, on Friday

from five to eight London time. The show will then air in Cincinnati in its normal three to six time slot. Our guests will include the great Ken Anderson. So if you are in London for the game, we hope to see you on Friday at the Admiralty. It should be a fun night. That's going to do it for this edition of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe and if you have time, give it a rating or share a comment. Five star ratings

help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast