Bengals Booth Podcast: Misunderstanding

Bengals Booth podcast, there must be some misunderstanding. Addition, as we look ahead to Sunday's game against the Patriots at Paul Brown Stadium, a matchup surrounded with controversy due to New England's admitted violation of an NFL rule involving a videographer with Patriots ties, Dave Lapham, and I will weigh in on the latest Bengals topics, including the team's red zone woes, the late season surge of Joe Mixon, and two of the game's all time grades who are coming

to town on Sunday, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. My locker room conversation this week is with defensive end Carl Lawson, who says, quote that sacking Tom Brady is an all time dream of mine. He'll get a chance on Sunday. And in this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the low down on the Patriots from the radio play by play announcer Bob Socie, who, like me, used to call baseball games for the minor league Patucket Red Sox.

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 Greaters. I had the unique privilege of going on a behind the scenes tour of Greater's ice cream factory this week. In celebration of the University of Cincinnati's two hundredth anniversary, Greaters will release a

limited edition flavor in January called Boldly Bearcat. It includes red velvet oreos, chocolate chips, and a sweet cream bass. I got to see and taste the magic that goes into making Greater's ice cream, and the attention to detail is amazing. Every pint is truly handcrafted. When it comes to ice cream, there is nothing greater than Greaters. Now

let's get to football. The Bengals host the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots this Sunday, and the big storylines this week could have been the likelihood that Tom Brady is coming to Cincinnati for the final time, or the mutual respect between Bill Belichick and the Brown family, But instead, both cities have been focused on a controversy that erupted last Sunday in Cleveland, when a videographer with Patriots ties was caught shooting footage of the Bengals coaching staff on

the sideline that is against NFL rules. My broadcast partner Dave Lapham caught wind of it and asked Zach Taylor to comment. At a Monday news conference, the Bengals head coach acknowledged that he was aware of an NFL investigation into the incident, but had no additional comment. The Patriots eventually admitted breaking the rule, but said it was an innocent mistake. Who you believe might come down to which

team you root for. At this point, there's not much more to say, at least until the NFL issues are ruling. So lap and I stuck to football. Let's talk about the Bengals red zone woes last week. Hindsight is always twenty twenty. But when you look back at a first in goal from the two where you didn't score a touchdown and you didn't get the ball to number twenty eight, do you think the coaches are saying, man, we should have taken our chances with Joe Mixon. You know, like

you said, hindsight twenty twenty. Pete Carroll is probably thinking the same thing to this day with beast mode. Marshawn Lynch, do you know, give a beast mode to football and don't throw the interception and beat the Patriots? I think you got it, And he admitted freely that yep, found another opportunity. I'd give it to Marshawn Lynch. I think act would do the same thing another opportunity. The only thing I can say is third down, they hammering him

in there, and uh, and didn't get it. Fourth down, barely got it. So he's thinking, man, it's tough sledding running the football. They're really they're really ganging up on us here. Pretty good. Maybe we take the thing we've worked on in the red zone, our best pass all week long, and we utilize it here from the two yard line. It might be the best down to throw it on, you know, thinking contrarian, and it didn't work out.

Cordy Glenn picked that that play to get beaten on, and you get beaten for a quarterback sack, and a quarterback sack, you know, from the two yard line dictates that you throw it the two remaining down. So it totally took them out of what they were hoping to do. But I just wonder if the difficulty they had. I mean, they picked up that fourth down by it by millimeters, so you know, maybe they're thinking ease. I'm not sure about hammering it up and up there, up in there

against the wall. But Joe Mixon was probably very frustrated, I can tell you the form alignement, very frustrated that the coaching staff didn't believe in us enough that we could get that done from the two yard line. But you didn't show him enough in the sequence earlier. So I guess you got nobody to blame but yourself. But yeah, long story, short run mixing. Well, speaking of Joe, he ran for one hundred and forty six yards last week.

He can now get to a thousand yards this season by averaging seventy yards over the final three games of the year. How much different is the Bengals running scheme now from what they were doing in the first say half of the season. Light years difference. And you know

they've talked about the trip to London. When they were traveling out there and coming back, they talked about changes that they wanted to make in Jim Turner was the lead force in that area, and they started doing things differently to block Aaron Donald, And they started fanning out on the backside and polands heightened around to lead up on linebackers like we've seen. They started doing those type

of things. And so now you're you know, you're your your man blocking and pulling, and you're I call it a pin and pull. You're you're pinning a couple of alignment and pulling other people around. Um instead of just area blocking. You know, your your two guys, you in the center, the garden center are responsible for the defensive

tackle on the linebacker. However they unfold and the guard and then the garden the tackle on the front side or responsible for a defensive tackle on a linebacker as well. So it's you know, it's it's duo football, two double teams working off defensive linement to get to the second level. And that wasn't was becoming, you know, pounding against the

Great Wall of China. Everybody had it figured out. Now you're angle blocking, you're pinning people, uh tight ends, wide receivers are doing a good job in the edge, pinning people lineman or pinning people when they blocked back and then pulling people and Trey Hopkins is a very very very strong puller at the center position. He played guard. He knows how to pull and how to block people.

And uh, they get good production out of a short toss where they pin and pull, you know, and they pull Miller and they pull Hopkins left side, they pull Jordan and they pull Hopkins, and Joe Mixon reads it out very very well and they're doing a good job and a lot of times they're you know, they're setting the edge, you know, with a pin and getting all the way to the outside with Joe Mixon and Dan the other thing that it does instead of a defensive

lineman knowing they're just going to come off and double team me. Now I'm getting hit from this side, I'm getting hit from that side. They're pulling in front of me. I mean, it gives you much more to think about and you can't be as as you know, forceful because

you only have one thing to worry about. Now you have to not be as aggressive, and it helps you in pass protection helps you in a lot of ways if you attack guys from all different angles and they're getting hit from everywhere instead of just knowing exactly what's coming. John Ross was back last week. He was in for

roughly half of the offensive snaps. His stats are modest to catch his twenty eight yards, but did his presence affect the defense and play a big role in the Bengals going for a season high four hundred and fifty one yards. I think so. I think. I think that the very first play was on the field, I wanted to see if there was a safety over the top, and there was. You know, he had a corner underneath

safety over the top. So I think honestly, Joe Mixon had a career high rushing of one hundred and forty six yards. The box wasn't as crowded. Why John Ross was back. So it not only helps other receivers, but it you know, it gives running lanes inside for Joe Mixon. The box gets emptied out a little bit more. You know. That's why they were talking about. You know, down there at the four yard line, they had played two safeties

high and they had the box unloaded. There were very few people in the box and that's why they went with the quarterback draw. You know, it's like, man, all we talked about for the first you know, half of the season is they were playing in a closet and everybody was the line of scrim at seven, eight, even nine guys in the box. So I do think I do think that John Ross factor was was real, and he played maybe half the snaps. I think he played

like thirty five snaps something like. That's fifty three percent of the offense, fifty three percenty offense. And I think they had seventy two snaps, so he probably had you know, thirty six or seven as thirty seven snaps. Two catches for twenty six twenty eight yards, so in one of them was a twenty yard or so, he you know, didn't have a It wasn't a big oh looking at stats, Wow, John Ross had a major impact, but on a snap

by snap basis, I think his presence benefited others. The youngest Bengal Michael Jordan, has taken every snap at left guard the last two games. He started four out of the first five, then he mostly watched for six. Now he's starting again evaluate his rookie season. I think that he learned a big lesson because in Pittsburgh the offensive line and have a very good game with eight quarterback sacks and uh Cameron Hayward, who he was blocking. He had two and a half of them, and you know,

I think he learned a lesson. Cameron Hayward said, welcome to the NFL, rookie and uh and took it to him. But with that said, he's and he was dinged up a little bit. He had a little bit of an injury to his legs. So he's recovered from that, and he's recovered mentally from what took place. And I credit him because you have two choices, roll over and play dead or fight back, and he fought back and he's

played well the last couple of games. Now. He is long, strong, he can move when they when he pulls, he can move. He's got a big body with big feet, and he gets puts, picks him up and puts them down out there. I mean, and and the thing that is impressive with guys that size going against smaller people, it's like, you know, an eighteen wheeler trying to change direction with the maserati when you're out there blocking smaller people, and that eighteen

wheel had changed his direction pretty well. He's got some ability, you know, athletic ability in space. So I think he's got a bright future. I think, you know, when he first started out, I think it was he didn't know what he didn't know. Now at least he knows what he didn't know, and now he's trying to figure out how to understand what he didn't know. And I think that's you know, his graph is going up. He's making big progress. Another rookie, Jermaine Pratt, was the Bengals leading tackler.

He had eight tackles, six solos. Is his graph going up? Should we should we be optimistic about Jermaine Pratt? I think he is improving. The one thing that I've noticed, though, is for a guy that played safety and now he's getting bigger and gone to linebacker, a lot of times when he's in coverage or even trying to make players in the running game out in space, he doesn't change direction really well. You know, he's a little stiff, you know, like he'll take him two or three steps. He'll run

by running backs that are cutting back or receivers. It's like, well, I thought, a guy that you know, had played the safety position may have a little bit quicker change of direction, a little bit more athletic ability than he's shown. And I don't know if it's if it's just, you know, he's being overly cautious or I don't know, or if physically he just that's not part of his repertoire. So we'll have to watch that a little bit more. But I do think I do think he's getting better. I

think repetition breeds comfort level. I think he is seeing things a little bit better, and I think he's making more plays. But I thought he'd be a little bit tighter coverage in space and be able to close on people a little bit more athletically than he's shown to this point. Maybe that's all going to come though. This will be the eighth and possibly last time the Bengals ever face Tom Brady. At age forty two, He's six

and one against the Bengals. It's completed sixty seven percent of his passes, fifteen touchdowns, three interceptions, passer rating of one oh seven point eight. The last time he came to Cincinnati, the Bengals won thirteen to six in the rain, but in the other six games against the Bengals of the Patriots have scored thirty four or more points in every single one. When you watch Tom Brady, what stands out everything about him, his poise, his demeanor, his physical

and mental presence of I'm in complete control. There's nothing I haven't seen, There's nothing you can do there's going to rattle me. I've seen every defensive concept known to man multiple times, and I'm ready. I'm prepared. You're right. The last time they were here, there was a you know, just a monsoon when they had the football and that broke I think it was fifty some odd street games where he had a touchdown pass and he that broke that streak the last time he was here in Cincinnati.

So maybe they can hold him without a touchdown pass again. You know, But watching him on tape a little bit this year, he at forty two. I don't care who you are. His skills have diminished. He's not he's still a good football player, but he's not what he was physically. And he's got Edelman and a bunch of other guys. He doesn't have a whole lot of weapons, so physically he's not capable of lifting everybody. And now they don't have enough weapons to lift him. So he's kind of

caught in almost the perfect storm. And uh, and they're struggling a little bit offensively. They're going to a lot of gadget plays, a lot of gimmick plays that are Josh mcdannel's doing a great job of calling him and calling him at the perfect time. And that's the key, is when you call them and and he's doing a great job of calling in the Patriots are executing them.

But Tom Brady is It'd be hard to pick who's more competitive, Bill Belichick or Tom Brady, and they're they're both like ubra ubra competitive and will do anything it takes to win a football game. And I've always said many times over the years here in Cincinnati, the reason we had a good decade in the eighties that that led to a couple of Super Bowls is some of our our best players or some of our best people,

you know, highlighted by Anthony Winios. And then you get Kenny Anderson, Boomer Sias in a quarterback, and you've got you know, the list can go on and on, Chris Collinsworth, Isaac Curtis and you know all these guys, um Tom Brady being the guy he is, the kind of guy he is when you're your best player is working his tail off to become even a better player, it lifts the whole boat. And Tom Brady works harder than anybody. First guy there, last guy to leave still after twenty

years of it. Um, you know, and there's a lot of reason to go home, Giselle. That's a good reason to go home with the beautiful children they have. But you know, it's it's like you, you say to yourself, look what Tom's doing? Am I doing enough? Man? I bet I better pick it up? And that's that's what he's brought to the organization for many, many, many years. The New England Patriots come to town with a little added motivation. This week they've lost two straight. People are

accusing them of being cheaters again. Do the Bengal stand a chance? Lap and if sell? How boy, what they have to do is they've been playing hard, but they haven't been playing smart enough. Haven't been making enough players and playing smart enough. And against the Patriots, you have to play smart because they take every mistake you make and rub your face in it and capitalize on it. And somehow their mistakes don't lead to tragedy and your

mistakes lead to huge misfortune. I mean, that's just the way they win. And they jump on you the slightest blip they're jumping on it. They're plus nineteen in the turnover department. You got to take care of the football if you can somehow force to turnover too. If you can finish plus in the turnover department like they did against the Cleveland Browns in the last game, the first time all year that they've done that, they have a

punchers chance if they don't. If they don't win the turnover margin, they give the Patriots extra possessions and minimize their own. It could be in big trouble. Because the Patriots are allowing less than thirteen points a game. The Bengals are scoring it just over fifteen points a game. So will the Bengals offense be able to do enough in terms of scoring to make it a competitive game against his Patriot defenses than one in the NFL and

points allowed the myriad of other things. Let's ignore the videotaping controversy for a second and discuss Bill Belichick's coaching ability. He's taking the Patriots to nine Super Bowls. He's won six. This is the seventeenth consecutive year the Patriots have won ten or more games. It's unbelievable. What makes him one of the greatest coaches in any sport of all time. Number One, they've been dominant. Number two, they have been

in a crappy division that they can dominate. So you know, every year the Dolphins have struggled, the Bills have had their issues, you know, the Jets have had their issues. I mean, it's been the best team in the NFL in the worst division. So they're gonna win close to ten games almost by default, so you know part of that, that's part of the reason. But with that said, he's a genius. He's a football menza and he has an

answer for every situation. In fact, he has multiple answers for every situation that arises during the course of a football game, and he will rotate in those answers freely and very wisely during the course of the game. Plus, and with that said, he surrounds himself with players that are versatile to be able to do all of those things and all those variances in situational football and have

the intelligence to comprehend it. So he has a big inventory of things to draw from, and he has smart enough players to be able to draw from a big inventory, and the players believe in what he's doing and he believes in his players and that trust is a big, big deal. And I didn't even mention his greatest achievement of all. He once went eleven and five as the

head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Belichick's all time record against the Bengals is fifteen and four, and believe it or not, there's little difference between his time in Cleveland and his time in New England. He was nine and two against the Bengals as the Brown's head coach, and

he's eight and two since arriving in New England. Now time for this week's locker room conversation as I visit with a third year defensive lineman who had the bengals only sack of Baker Mayfield last week and would love to get one this week against three time NFL MVP, four time Super Bowl MVP, and six time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady. We're in the locker room with

Karl Lawson. Over the last four weeks, opposing offenses are averaging less than fifteen points a game against the Bengals. Do you feel like the defense has turned a corner and has become a strength of the team. Yeah, I think we're definitely improving and we just need to keep keep on building and keep on working. Yeah we're not we want to be. A record shows that, but one thing you can't do is just regret. So we just gotta,

you know, keep on working. Anything stand out to you in particular during this stretch, I think just health health, health, and then just people just know and knowing the situation that the jobs on the line. Um, especially you know in this league is when you got a record that that we have. You know a lot of people are auditioning for not just um this team, but other teams around the league. So I'm bean this can end quick,

So people gotta be on the toes. We're talking to Carl loss and with Sam Hubbard out, you were in there for more than ninety percent of the snaps last week and started the game. How was that for you? It was good, It's really um. He does so many different things for our defense, so that allows other people to be who they are. UM. So, as you know, I had to fill in for him, and it was just you know, asked him on different tips and stuff at his position and things that he did. So UM,

I felt good. He does a lot of things and you did a lot of things. Last week, you drop back into coverage quite a bit. How's your comfort level on doing that? My comfort level is uny thing that would do a defense is good. I could be a great player anytime I'm out there in the field. Um you know, Um, yeah, there's no difference in you know what I gotta go out there and do. It's just everybody has a role on their defense, as you know what My role is mainly for a team issus just

go um and you know, pass rush situations. But I'm also excellent rundefender, so when my number is called, I'm able to do that. I'm talking to Carl Loss and you tore your ACL in October of last year. Do you even think about that anymore? Is it completely out of mind? Um? It was. It was kind of like, you know, in the first beginning of the season, and I had a hamstring, so it just adds a bunch

of stuff on. After the bye week, I really started to feel like myself again, So you know, I don't think about it coming into the bye week because I was like I had the hamstring on top of it coming off the ACL, so it's hard to move and a little a little slow out there and process stuff. But now I'm starting to get comfortable. Carl, you're known for your pass rushing ability. I happened to be walking behind you in the hallway a couple of days ago when you're on your way to lunch and you were

working on your pass rush moves. You're doing, like, you know, swim moves and stuff like that. Do you find yourself kind of unconsciously constantly working on your technique? Yeah, not just passion us anything that I have to do in football. I want to constantly work to get better because I mean, my goal is to be the best, no matter of the situation than I am. And now eventually over my career, I strive to be the best. And so I'm gonna

just keep working and do that. And so anytime I can walk around the corner or set an edge or you know, work on my coverage responsibility in my head, I'm gonna do that. And you know that's I'm gonna do a few more questions for Carl Lawson. You face the Patriots this week. Would sacking Brady be different from sacking anybody else? Oh? Yeah, it's definitely all the time

dream of mine. I mean, you know, he's the he's the goat for a reason, and definitely maybe if I get a sack on him, you know, it might rub off of me and help my game. So I mean that'd be an all the time dream to, you know, get a sack on Brady. But I mean it's honestly just honored to be on the field with him and play against him because he's you know, he's a constant pro. The way take here himself, the way he's consistent. You know, it's um, it's true blessing. You put a lot of

time and energy into maintaining your body. Do you have an added level of respect for a guy that seems to be obsessed with his Oh, I have a ton of respect for Tom Brady. I mean, he's done it for twenty years, and that's something I kind of want to kind of want to do. I don't I don't really plan on, like, um, not playing a long time.

I kind of see this these first four years, the early early stages in my career, and after that I want to play shoot like Cam waglong, like to like maybe thirty eight, you know, and that way I can you know, be in an all time SAT conversation. Last thing. You guys don't have a chance to go to the postseason this year, do you relish the opportunity to be a spoiler to try to hurt the Patriots or another team's playoff chances? No, for me, these even though I'm

not in the playoff. For me, it's taking these games and getting the experience to um to go into next year a better player. That's that's the main thing I get from it is just going out there and now I, you know, out there and getting these games in so I can get the experience so I can coming next year a better player and and get close close to my goals. So that's what I don't really care about spoiling anyways, you know, and I care about plans I

can get better. Appreciate your time, best of luck this week. Appreciate it. That's Carl Lawson. The Patriots are on the verge of wrapping up a playoff spot for the eleventh straight year. That would give Bill Belichick a new NFL record for consecutive playoff berths by a head coach. He

currently shares the record with Tony Dungee. But after an eight no start, the Patriots have sputtered a bit they've dropped three of their last five games, albeit to the other three first placed teams in the AFC Baltimore, Houston, and Kansas City. For more on the Patriots, the radio voice Bob Socy joined us for this week's No the Fox segment. Let's talk about the big story this week in both cities, and that is Spygate two point zero. I hate to even use the term, but how is

that playing New England. It's playing about as you would imagine, having spent a fair amount of time in these parts yourself, of course, and I do miss those days when we were together, able to get lunch once in a while in Boston. But obviously it's dominated the conversation here a

lot of different narratives. I will say that, you know, locally, it's been a very strong and a reaction somewhat mixed, but you know, the Patriots in a situation where you know, the past precedes them, and I think locally people are taking a somewhat waiting to the approach by and large, but nonetheless, you know, obviously it's a story that has gotten a lot of coverage and gotten a lot of play on the radio and as well in print and

on and on the world wide Web, Bob. I guess the thing that almost amazes everybody is when me and Jeanie was coach of the Jets, the Patriots got their you know thumb in advice about filming sidelines, filming signals, and even though this isn't a football operations as such, although they were doing a documentary as on a football operations guy and advance scout, he is a football operations guy. Is it just a case of the left hand not

knowing what the right hand is doing? Was Bill Belichick left out of the loop as to what this videographer might be doing from a responsibility standpoint when they were putting together this feature story they were doing. Yeah, and Dave, let me the first backtrack a bit and explain a couple of things about where I am and what I do. I am employed full time by the radio station. I do a lot of work though for Craft Sports Productions

and have for the last six seasons. This is my seventh year overall, pass into my second year of the team, started to do work on a part time basis for KST. Cash Sports Production is a pretty innovative wing of the Craft group and the Patriots organization. For example, a couple of years ago, out of Super Bowl fifty two, they put together twenty four hour network all week long in the Twin Cities. They're not done network. Last year they took a different approach and nonetheless provided a lot of

content as well that week. It's the kind of out of the box thinking that they have done with a lot of support from from the organization, and they have been running this to Your Job series. This is I believe, the second season of it. They have featured college scouts in the past, equipment people. Nancy Myers is the long time personnel assistant for the Patriots. She's been here for forty plus years. Did a piece on the trainers last week.

So they really make quite a commitment on this side of the organization, speaking of KSP, to try to give fans who really have an insatiable appetite like elsewhere for that kind of content, any peak behind the curtain, if you will. So that being said, and I have to admit that you know, I know a lot of the principles very well. Who right now are you know very much you know, concerned about this situation dealing with it?

Belichick spoke, I can't certainly certainly can't speak for Bill, but Bill just spoke a few minutes ago, and then this press conference again, I think, more adamantly even than in the last forty eight hours, made it clear. Uh and uh, you know, strongly pounded home the message that nobody from football Operations had anything to do with it.

I'm gonna quote one of my most respected counterparts from around the league and just say that, you know, when I've heard of it, and you know, as I followed it, I can only say that I can't believe anybody would you know, would they really be this dumb to do that? And I don't think so. I just yea and I and I understand that the bankals have every right um to react the way that they did and bring it to the league's attention. And I can't blame them. I

can't blame one of the questions from Cincinnati. I said earlier, the past precedes the team here and all those questions, you know, all the scrutiny you certainly warranted. You know.

My My standpoint though, is that you know, as I said earlier, it's waiting see and uh, you know, we we in this organization, those of us who cover this organization have certainly had the deal with a lot of situations over the last however many years, and uh, you know, this organization has continued to move forward, and as the football team goes, they compartmentalize it as well as anybody

possibly could. I think, you know, whether it was deflate Gate or any other you know, perceived controversy or real controversy in the past, this organization does a tremendous job. So they'll be focused and ready to go on Sunday, that's for sure. I guess As a follow up, I guess there just has to be better communication between the entities about NFL rules. I mean simple rules. You can't you can't video a sideline, so the the independent uh you know, worker as we are. I mean, I'm not

an employee of the Bengals. I'm an independent contractor in the video guys, an independent contractor. I guess there has to be a better education of the things you can and can't do. And you know, Bill, I I mean not just in Cincinnati, in New England, around the world, Bill Belichick is known as a guy that knows what kind of toilet paper they put them in the dispensers in the in the bathrooms, that he knows everything about everything, so everybody can't believe they wouldn't have any idea of

what's going on. But like you say, they are separate departments, are compartmentalized. But I think in his mind it's going to be like, man, we better have better communication from this point forward, because you just you just put me in a big time ringer. Well, I think absolutely, you

know that that's a valid point. I think the organization is as much admitted that through its statement, and I think that you know, there's there's no excuse for ignorance in many situations, and you know, perhaps this is one. I will say this. And Bill began his press conference by reiterating what he has said many times, whether the Patriots were preparing for the Bengals or he was simply asked a question about Paul Brown or Mike Brown, that

he has tremendous respect for the Brown family. And I've known that to be the case, for example, because I used to cover the Navy football team I called Naval Academy Football for sixteen years, and I remember one time during a game when I slipped up with a reference to Bill Walsh being the father of the West Coast

offense during a broadcast of Navy in Rutgers. This is back in the late nineties, and an old football coach at the Naval Academy stopped me the following week and gave me a thorough education on the real brain behind the West Coast offending to his mind, and that happened to be the late Sea Belichick. And I learned a lot about Paul Brown and Dick Gilman and you know, and that Paul Brown coaching tree and all the innovations that Bill Belichick has spoken at great length this week

and every other time I've heard him to discussed Paul Brown. Right, he has a lot of respect and I don't know how much weight that carries there in Cincinnati, but I think it's something that's really important to understand. Our guest is the radio voice of the Patrio. It's Bob Socy. Let's talk football a little bit. I've been listening to quite a bit of New England sports talk radio this week, and I was tremendously amused when I heard the following.

Somebody said, this is one of the hosts. The Patriots sucked this year. They're only going to win one playoff game. I mean, we would have a parade as soon as the Bengals win their next playoff game, hopefully it's not too far away. But is that kind of the mood that, yeah, they're they're still you know, they're they're good enough to win a playoff game. But that's it. Well, Dan, they were booted halftime. Granted they didn't have a very good

second quarters ten and two team. They've always shown great resilience and they did, in fact on the second half of that game, and they went off the field bowed by the fans of Cholette Stadium. It's the nature playing here. It's the nature of being as successful as the Patriots who've been for the last nineteen seasons, in particular, that the expectations are possible to meet, and anything short of a championship in the in the minds of some, as

foolish as it seems elsewhere, is a failure. And with this particular team, I think you have kind of a confluence of different things. Do you have the concern about this team in this moment in two nineteen and then attached to those concerns all I think warriors on the part of many about the future of the organization with a forty two year old quarterback who's not out of contract for next year, amid a lot of speculation about whether Tom Brady is going to continue playing, and if

he does, where he's going to play. So I think that's that's all the factor. You know, for years, I've heard, since I took over this position in two thousand and thirteen, that the window was closing. And I think, you know, this is a fan base, and it's in great part because of the media as well. We're spoiled, and we

have been spoiled. And you know, I'm of the mind that you know, this is something that we should appreciate every moment of and I often take for granted myself, but then they have to step back and remember what it was like when I was calling those Davy games and the myths we're losing thirty out of thirty three at one point, or however many bad minor league baseball teams I covered through the years when we first got to know each other by Bob watching this defense that

Bill Belichick has assembled this year. Now, granted, there's the thing that jumps out at me. He's got a lot of seven eight you know, year veterans had been with him a long time. They're versatile, they're smart. He trusts them, they trust him. I've never seen, honestly, I've never seen a group where all eleven guys are exactly where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there, doing

exactly what they're supposed to do. From a technique standpoint, it is in play so hard it is a true marvel. And as an offensive lineman, I'm looking at man, a guy wearing a number in the thirties is you know, or in the twenties is coming down and they're bringing him down in the box as a linebacker, and they're doing it on first down. It's their run defense. But they don't have you know, base personnel in there. All. My rule would be, okay, I'm not doing rules by

numbers that they're wearing in New Jersey. It's where they're lining up because safeties could be linebackers, linebackers could be defensive ends. I mean, they're so so diverse it is it must be hell to prepare for when you're an offensive player and an offensive coach to go against that unit. They're unbelievable. Yeah, Dave, and I think you really saw that to the first part of the schedule, in particular when they were facing teams that, granted them, are not

having good seasons. Frankly, they had a soft schedule early on, but made so especially because of the inexperience at the quarterback position they were facing. And I think you touched on a couple of key points, the experience of this team and the ten years of Devin mccordy, Patrick Chunk, who is one of those guys in the twenties or thirties, number twenty three, who's really been one of the first players I think in the league that has been that

hybrid safety slash line. He's a linebacker for the right far exactly pro pound pro. Poulet has been really the I think as tough as anybody in the league. Has been beat up a lot this year and hasn't been out there as much as we've seen him, but he's kind of a game changing player where you bring him into the box, he gives you the coverage ability against the tie and end or running back, but also as

a very solid tackler and a very physical player. And with him and mccordy, they've been together since both were drafted in Chung's case, I think O nine and Devin's case two thousand and ten, with but one exception, and that was when Chung was an Eagle for a season. There's great communication between those two safeties. John Harmon spend here since two thirteen. He's the third safety. He and

Devin mccordy go back to their days at Rutgers. Then you throw in guys like Jason mccordy, Devin's twin brother back for his sec eight year Dante Hide Tower, who's along with Devin mccordy, been a quarterback of that defense. They are always on the same page and they talk about communication and how important it is to them in this defense all the time. And they've they've benefited as

well from the return of Jamie Collins. He's been a different player in two thousand and nineteen than he was when they them away to the Browns in twenty sixteen. Still a freakish athlete, but I think he's had a more focused approach here now that he's been paid and also seeing what it was like to be on a winless football team, you know. And they just do such a great job of putting players in position where they're able to succeed and not in position where they're likely

to fail. So they don't ask players to do things and they're not capable of typically, and you look at a guy like Adam Butler for example, situational player up front, Danny Shelton, guy who's had a good season in the second year. They're getting contributions from everybody on the defensive side of the ball. Right. My final question for radio voice Bob Socie of the Patriots, Julian Edelman is having a tremendous year, but how mediocre has the play been

of the other receiving targets between wide receivers and tight ends. Dan, you're you're putting it kindly in the minds that you mentioned the fans in sports stock circles here, and I have to say it also starts and includes the guys a pump because as much continuity and cohesiveness as they've enjoyed defensively, it hasn't been their offensively either on the

line at the tight end positions. They're missing their fullback teams definitely haven't had a running game to help off set the lack of you know, their their their threats at receiver. So it started when they lost David Andrews as a center, and then as they win and the left tackle was out for a long time. This year, Jake Devlon, who was key last Yearly reinvented themselves became a power running team late in the season and that was really the springboard to success against Chargers and Chiefs

and the Ansty playoffs. But as you saw when they went out and they brought in Antonio Brown, they were searching. It's mack almost of desperation, and that's been a recurrent problem actually the last two years. When they went out and got Josh Board and initially in twenty and eighteen, it was a sign of the problems they've had on the outside of just lacking someone to affect coverage. And it's amplified now because you don't have Rob Gronkowski as

well as Edelman. When Gronkowski was here last year, he really struggled through the season physically and wasn't the same force in the passing offense for much of the year. But he still forced defensive coordinators to make that decision, you know, am I really going to write him off this week? Or am I going to have to play him the way we typically do? And dictate coverage around him.

And now what we're seeing a lot of lately is teams know that they can double Edelman and they don't run the risk of being being outside or having somebody else to be that quick outlet for Brady. And they're pressuring Brady a lot more and his numbers are dramatically

dipping when facing pressure. And the last week, in particular against Kansas City, I think we saw a lot of a lot of games and starts up brought with us with his own pressures and blitzes on Brady and with Edelman as this one guy that he truly seems to trust. You know, this offense has been hamstrung in a lot of ways. Finally, and appreciate carving all the time. I'm just did our special teams the all important third phase.

The Bengals three out of the four phases, they're in the top ten, and you know they're sixth in covering punts third and kickoff returns fifth and covering kickoffs the Patriots seventh, and kickoff coverage ninth and punt return ninth and punt coverage, plus they have four blocked punts. I think the matchup between the special teams coaches and the players that they coach, is going to be very interesting in this one, no doubt about it, Dave. And it's

interesting as well. In addition to the lines of Bill uttered today's press conference about Mike Brown, the next thing you talked about where the Bengals special teams. The Patriots have a punter and Jake Bailey who has become a weapon for them with Matthew Sladder and Justin Bethel in

particular at the gunner positions. Those are guys who have ten Pro Bowl appearances between them, and later has scored a touchdown on a block punt recovering and he's blocked a punt that's set up the Patriots for a touchdown as well, and he has been I think that the standard setter in the NFL at that position during his career as a Patriot. They haven't necessarily done well, of course, in the other phase of kicking, and that's where they're

place kickers. They're on their fourth the season, Nick Folk because of an early injury to Stephen Gostkowski, but I think in Folk they have confidence. He had an appendeck to me a couple of weeks ago, so he had a one week. Hiatus Kai forbass came in here against Houston Folk return last week. I think there's confidence that folks can at least steady them in that phase. But you touched on the block punts. That's four of them this year, franchise record for the team won away from

the Chiefs in nineteen ninety. And they've done it in different ways. They've done it up the middle, they've done it from the outside. John Jones is a guy that's an exceptional special teams player. JC Jackson as another who's developed into a special team's days. Belichick devotes probably more resources than anyone when it comes to the middle class of the roster and the little class of the salary cap.

When it comes to special teams and the scenario that he's criticized for frequently when they're going through rough patches as they are now, people wonder why aren't they devoting more to their offense. Why do they have all these guys like Nate Avenue, for example, a rugby player from Ohio State who's a course special team are and blocked upon last week to help turn things around a bit against the Chiefs. But that's Bill's philosophy. He sees it.

There's almost three equal phases of the game, and he's going to allocate resources to special teams like few others, if any others. And I think we've seen that this year. Like I said, the Bengals are terrific. He's noted that and it's always been that way our thanks to Bob Socie him. That's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if you have a minute, 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 Boot Podcast. M