Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast, the like one of us edition. As I talk to the delightful k Adams about her connection to Bengals fans, Dave Lapham joins me to review Wednesday's joint practice with the Packers, and finally, I'll chat with an undrafted wide receiver from just up the road at Miami University who will take the field for the first time in an NFL game on Friday night, Mac Hippenhammer.
The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Hokah running shoes. I'm a recreational runner.
I run in order to be able to eat and drink without gaining too much weight. I don't know who said it first, but I have embraced the motto that I'm playing for the tie.
Well.
Over the years, I've tried just about every running shoe on the market, and recently I purchased my first pair of Hokahs. Now here's the catch. I don't use them for running, but I love them for walking and standing around. When my first guest on this podcast, Ky Adams, saw me wearing a pair, she raved about them as well and used the term marshmallow like to describe the cushioning. So if you have a job that requires you to be on your feet for long periods of time, Hokahs
are comfortable, cushioned, and light weight. Now let's get to Kay Adams, who visited training camp this week for a live edition of her TV show Up and Atoms, which airs weekdays at eleven am on fan Duel TV. If you don't get that channel, you can find a ton of clips from the show on YouTube. After Ka interviewed players and coaches on Monday, she sat down with me for a one on one conversation. All Right, Kay, you didn't grow up in Cincinnati. From Chicago. You don't live
in Cincinnati. I live in LA But Bengals fans think that you're one of us. Yeah, what's the origin story? How did that happen?
I mean, I lived in New York for over a decade and between there's also but I saw something in this team that made a lot of sense to start rooting for them. When everyone was excited about Ben Roethlisberger's last year as a Steeler, and everyone was talking up Lamar and everyone was mentioning the Bills and every other team in the AFC except for the Bengals. It just
didn't make sense to me. With Joe Burrow following the injury, knowing what he was on the college level, a champion, a sort of a strange cat who I still haven't met and want to get to know. The talent was there, Who's bringing his wide receiver of course over from LSU.
It made too much sense.
And then all of a sudden, nobody on the national level ever spoke about the Bengals for the longest time unless it was something that was critical, And this fan base sort of pulled me in, so I you know, it's not that I was driving here, it was that I was being magnetically pulled by this amazing fan base that really won me over because they weren't saying we deserve it, and they weren't expecting the.
Sky to fall.
And Jets fans, over the years, it's mostly enjoying the present moment as it was happening, and that's what I think willed them to the Super Bowl that year that I said they'd go deep into the playoffs.
Bengals fans feel like they don't get enough respect from the national media. Are they right?
Look at last year, ninety percent of sports media picked the Bills to win. A lot of strange things happened last year between the Bills and the Bengals, but they came out on top. And you know, I think the Bengals last year, from the inside of locker room, were growing a little bit frustrated, but also feeling themselves, which I don't like. I'm glad that borrowad is over.
No one's talking about it. I haven't heard the words while I've been here.
I haven't seen it in the media, And it seems like a lot of the teams in the AFC are now joined against a common foe named the Jets, who are out of nowhere getting all of the hype. Of course, they're stacked and they're built to go to the Super Bowl. But I think you know those comments that coach Sean Payton made as the head coach of the Broncos, Now that is a sentiment that I think is echoing and permeating through the AFC.
What are the Jets? Give me a break?
And I think it allows teams like the Bills, like the Bengals, like the Ravens, your division foe, to sort of get in the lab work on what needs to be worked on. And I'll say that just being here today and talking to the DJ readers of the world, Sam Hubbard, it's business as as usual. Jamar Ches, young player, just twenty three. But I keep asking what's unique about this camp? After facing so much adversity after a Super Bowl loss. Nobody seems to have the thing where they're
cursed or there. We can't get there. We're not going to cash in on this. Everyone's really positive and doing their own work to be better as a whole.
So anytime you post something on social media that's Bengals related, the response from the fan base is unbelievable. How would you describe that exchange you have?
Would it's just the best fan base. I don't know how else to describe it. I think there's other fan bases that have been through it. The Vikings, my hometown Bears fans are you know, every time I've post something nice about the Bengals, I get the opposite end too from everybody in Chicago, and I'm excited for them. But there's something special about this squad. I love what Elizabeth
Blackburn has done. She inspires me, so she sort of pulls me in as far as my interest and my attractiveness to the organization and the culture change that she sort of evolutionized, I'd say over the past several seasons
to make it even better experience for the fans. You just love to see it because it's why I love the NFL, and the blink of a hat, you could have an NFL team go from nothing to the Super Bowl, or go from being hopeless to making a twenty seventeen eight championship run like the Jaguars.
Di it. It can happen.
It takes a lot of work behind the scenes, but I will always root for it when that happens.
That was twenty twenty one for the Bengal Yeah, four wins the year before Super Bowl in twenty twenty one, you were the ruler of the jungle for one of the games that year, and you dove in head first. You're hanging out at Bengal Jim's tailgate, You're having cocktails with Bengals fans before the game. What about that experience?
What do I remember?
Yeah?
I mean do you remember? I mean way beyond what you expected.
It was as welcoming as the social media response is. I think there's a little bit of no one talked about us, but there was reasons to be talked about, which is the most frustrating thing. Wait, we have a great quarterback. Wait, we have really dynamic receiving options. We have a coach that we believe in, Zach Taylor, coach lou This is the sixth best defense in total scoring last year, and nobody talks about it. It's on heralded now.
Seventy five percent of that secondary has been overhauled. There's a lot of changes, and there are certainly question marks, but just the lack of being talked about motivates the team. I hope the Bengals stay in that mindset and as far as this season is again nationally, I don't think many people are talking about what this team can do.
How did you refer to Burrow as an interesting cat? Was that your expression?
I've ready met him.
I'm just going to keep saying I've never met I've met his family members, I've met his lovely girlfriend, I've met all sorts of people near and dear to him, his favorite wide receiver from back in college. Of course, he's a bit of a mystery. He's so good at keeping things separate. It is a wild thing for him to play in the super Bowl, where you know, I'm having Sam Hubber tell me like jay Z was right there, and Justin Bieber was right there, but Joe's like, I
don't care. He truly is the coolest, most interesting cat around.
So when you see the footage of him hopping on one foot on day two of training camp, what went through your brain.
I was on the phone with my producer Matthew Hamilton when we were lively going through the all of the drama of it, and we of course noticed he had a sleeve on his caps like, why is that they're wise that there?
Should they put them out here? Whyse?
And it just seems to me a strange blessing in disguise. I thought what I was watching over and over again, is him put a little weight on that foot when he was hopping onto the cart and I right away said, okay, I like this. And then to hear things like al Jamar Chase come out and say get your rest, to hear the confidence of this locker room, even after dealing
with so much adversity and saying we've got you. I sort of think Joe at this point, after missing a rookie season, after dealing with injuries that have kept him sideline at times, that he wanted to build more chemistry.
With his guys out there.
He's probably a really hard player to get off the field and stay off the field. I'm sure you know people have to protect him from coming back too early. I think those were the words that Jamar Chase was trying to, you know, to tell everybody.
We've got you.
You get better through the Browns, through the Ravens, through Monday night football with the Rams, We've got you.
So Chris collins Worth on your show, which the Bengals to win the Super Bowl, and one of the biggest reasons why was Burrow finally has a healthy training camp. He can get in all those reps that he hasn't been able to get. It's almost almost felt like a little bit of a jinx.
He's a curse. It's the Chris Collinsworth curse. He doesn't say.
I will say this about Chris Collinsworth. I think when you are from the team and then you are on something like Sunday Night Football, you almost talk about the other teams a little more to you know. I'm from Chicago, and I think that's why Bears fans think I hate them, because I don't talk about them very much because I'm from there, and I you know, I don't want to make any sort of perception or appearance that I favor them, or that I know them even better than other teams
or whatever. So I think Chris collins is a bit of a victim of that, a little bit of him trying to be objective and maybe over correcting.
That in some way.
But I had no idea that Bengals fans felt this way about Chris. And then he came on my show and he cursed everything. Collins Worthworth pff around here, I mean, drive down there. I'll throw Greater's ice cream raspberry snowballs at the office.
Now, now it sounds like It's kind of like coaching your kid in youth sports. You know you don't want to favor your own kid, right, that's similar.
There's something like that going on. But I mean, Chris had a great point. If you look at the numbers, and they do bear out, they're not super fun if you're a Bengals fan to see Joe Burrow the first four weeks, first eight weeks of the season versus the last half has hotter last halfs his numbers really all across the board. I wouldn't say slow starts, but certainly takes.
A bit of a warm up period.
That could be for a ton of reasons, of course, but is it chemistry. Would it hurt for him to be out there right now? No, of course not. But it's also not the worst thing that Trevor Simeon's getting some getting some love and refs out there, and he's one of the better backups.
I think everybody loves Joe Burrow for obvious reasons. Chase Higgins mix and you know, they're great star players on this team. But you referenced some of the guys that you talked to while you were here for training camp. Is there a Bengal or a couple of Bengals that you think this guy deserves a lot more attention then he gets.
I'm really excited about the offensive line. I think maybe I think it's obviously a huge question mark, but we're seeing Jonah, who could have been more disgruntled than he was for a moment, now saying all right, I'm good, I'm fine. Orlando Brown's here, a very versatile player who feels very comfortable in position that he's in, in a veteran with championship pedigree coming into the building, and I
think that offensive line should be much improved. I actually think it's the best one that Joe Burrow's played with, and so that's always the low hanging fruit for poking at this team. You're gonna hurt Joe Burrow, You're gonna let him get hit and sacked. I think it should be stronger out the gates, and it's been in previous years. That should help all around. Joe Mixon. I think top five year, no question, it should be available for him
to go out there and get that. And I just think that one of the things that's flying under the radar is that you know there's always going to be salary cap issues on any team, especially a championship caliber team, and trying to keep everybody in the building.
It's not possible. Dan. So the fact that.
Even if the t Higgins thing doesn't work out, just the fact that he is showing up. That says a lot about Joe. It says a lot about everybody in the locker room. It says a lot about Zach Taylor. And you know, guys like Jamar Chase are watching that. Jamar Chase is seeing, Hey, I'm going to deal with that next year. I'm going to deal with my business. And I'm seeing how a guy like Tea sort of handles that. You have the same thing. Obviously they paid
Logan Wilson. I loved seeing Tea say congratulations, I'm happy for you, fully knowing we don't know what's ahead, we don't know what the future is. So them being able to as an organization sort of handle what.
Could be.
Rapid and wide ranging disgruntlement among these players like a Jonah, it sort of gets nipped in the butt, and that is teamwork that takes everybody.
So if the Bengals are the team to beat in the AFC North, who do you think is their biggest competition this year Baltimore, Cleveland or Pittsburgh.
Collinsworth was really selling me on Cleveland, but I don't talk about Cleveland. So I'm going to say the Ravens their Week two opponent, because you can't deny it. They build themselves little super team. I think if the world wasn't enamored and solely focused on the Jets, the Ravens would be the story of the off season. Wow, who else? What would it be if you took the Jets stand off the table? What's the story of the NFL right now?
It's not on the homes. They're good, they're boring, they're set. Lah.
It's the Ravens.
It's them bringing an Odell. Odell is always a headlining act. All of a sudden, he's not only because Aaron now is in the AFC.
And in New York.
He said in an interview on Monday that had he stayed healthy in that Super Bowl two years ago, the Rams would have won forty two seventeen. Really, we've had fifteen catches for two hundred and fifty yards. That was his quote.
See, but I didn't even see me. I didn't even see that because they're really flying. They really are flying under the radar and they're trying to build and they've got a couple of great running backs as well. I mean, Lamar has to stay healthy, but I think he's got a little something to prove. And they went through They just had a bizarre year last year. They always have weird injuries that keep them sidelined, but there was this
some soullessness going on. There were just weird things energetically that you were seeing on the sideline harbor, and you know at halftime that I forget which game it was Hamilton that they sort of were. Their vibe was so off the Ravens. I forget which game it was, but you could just tell this is not the team that you're used to. So if they can get back, I would say they're that definitely the toughest competition.
Don't sleep on the.
Steelers though, either They're never going to lose a season, and I think they're on the way up. They and they down the stretch one a ton of games, so if they pick up where they left off, you can't sleep on Talmlant.
It's a gauntlet of a division, all right.
Wild Card topics. Do you have any hidden talents.
Oh man, I know Morse code really?
Yes, awesome.
That's so weird.
My grandmother in Poland made me learn it in case the Soviets came.
Back and took over Poland and I was sucking to forest somewhere. I literally know Morse code.
Yeah, that is true.
I haven't exercised that ever, but if I'm ever in a bad spot, I'm surviving the zombie apocalypse, all right.
So some people can do sos, but you're you're well beyond that.
Correct.
That's awesome. Who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport? And why, oh my.
Gosh, in any sport, I would say, I'm just going to go. The first game that popped in my head was Matt Fote. I think he's why I fell in love with the NFL, because there was so little to root for and he was so fun and electric and I was on my couch jumping up and down when he Obviously Devin Hester too, but I got more of Matt Forte, and he was so involved in changing the complexion of what the whole offense looked in any game
that he played. So Matt Forte off the field, on the field was sort of the person who got me into loving the NFL on the level that I did.
The greatest former two lane play NFL history cam sample from very good.
We got a shout out about Camp samp.
I think Sam Hubbard today gave him a really nice shout out for how he's looked at camps. We're excited to see what sample looks like in the NFL.
Having a very good camp.
All right.
Final one, If you could meet anybody in history, I hate these questions athlete entertainer. Who would that person be? Mine? Is Steve Martin?
By the way, is it really we were.
Just talking about Steve Marron. Stay tuned, you'll know why we were talking about Steve Martin. Bengals fans just a couple of days. Julia Louis Dreyfuss I would say loved Seinfeld.
I think she's brilliant.
She's so understated and makes such a big impact in the community around her, and.
I just love her. I would love it.
I'd get nervous if I met her. I've met a lot of people and I've definitely heard parts of it, but I think I'd get nervous to meet her.
Yeah, Oh, I'd be a babbling idiot. Around Steve Martin.
Yeah, it's okay.
People want to meet like Taylor Swift. I've met her. She's lovely, but there was no freak out about it.
I think.
I changed my answer. Colleene Bennis, get out of here, Joe Burrow.
I have to meet Joe Burrow. What's it going to take Dan, he's one room away.
Let's you know, let's see if we can get him to drop.
Yeah, him to heal up. That's what I keep saying. They won't let me talk to him, but I keep saying, I'm going to let him. I'm gonna let him heal up. That's my That was my pr spintch like he wants to talk to me, but I said, you need to. We need to be on ice buddy, get back on the training table.
We're so happy to have you back in Cincinnati. You are my wife's favorite NFL broadcaster. Myself included your way above.
Damn.
I will get you your forehead signed bobblehead.
You promised this, okay, And you said I heard graters called you this morning.
They reached out to me to see if I could smuggle you in some ice cream.
Isn't that hard?
Things?
I will say this.
I was here for my ruler of the Jungle game and this is all business here at training camp. It is all hands on deck. Everyone's super focused and it's great to see and it's great to see you.
Dan, you too, and tell your wife I love her.
And say hi, you got it. Some TV personalities are inherently likable. There's a hard to define it factor that just jumps off the screen. Kay Adams has it. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets inside, merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app and by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
With more than one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Last year, the Bengals held two joint practices with the La Rams before their final preseason game. The first one went well. The second one featured the Aaron Donald hillmet swinging incident. Bengals safety Nick Scott was with the Rams last year.
It was pretty wild.
I mean, I to this day, I joke around like I don't know who the guy or girl was that sat down and said, hey, let's have a Super Bowl rematch three months after it happened, and hopefully everything comes out peaceful. We kind of knew that gonna happen.
The Bengals and Packers did not meet in the Super Bowl last year, but sure enough, tempers flared when they held their joint practice on Wednesday. First, Packers left guard Elton Jenkins got into it with Jermaine Pratt and b J Hill, leading to a massive scrum. Later, Jenkins and DJ Readers squared off and the Packers pulled their offensive linemen out of practice. Here's Sam Hubbard on the brew.
Haha, Yeah, it happened, So I don't think we need to make a big deal out of it. We're professionals and everybody's very competitive, and sometimes it happens.
Is it almost something you expect when two teams get together and when they eat like this, You guys haven't seen another team yet.
Yeah, it's also kind of fun at units each side. You know, you rally with your teammates and come back in the locker room and you're a united front going against another jersey for the first time of the year. It's not all bad as long as everyone's you know, no need to throw a punch to helm and break your hand or something like that.
We don't want to be smarter than that, but it's football.
There was no clear winner in the skirmish, but both defenses came out on top, and wednesday's practice Reider blew up the Packers running game. Trey Hendrickson had a sack, came off the field for a few snaps, and then immediately had another sack after returning, and Mike Helton had the only takeaway for either side as he jumped around the red zone and likely would have had a long pick six. When asked about the Bengals defense, head coach Zach Taylor invented a new word, veterany.
You know, it's they're just I think probably the underrated portion of our defense is how smart they are. They can make adjustments at the drop of a hat because they've played together for so many years. They're all so smart. It's really frustrating as a play calling often sometimes when you practice against the same team over and over and over and they do such a good job in so many areas, and they're so smart, and we feel like we have the same thing on offense. We feel like
we've got a really smart football team. But you asked specifically about the defense, and that's what stands. Not only are they talented, and not only do they have great chemistry together and they understand what Lou and the position coaches want from them, but they are all really smart.
I mean, really, there's great players in this league that you know, maybe maybe don't have both the talent, and I don't know, I can't speak to anybody specifically, but I know our guys are really really football smart.
As for the Bengals offense, it's sputtered against Green Bay's D with Trevor Simmy and Jake Browning alternating at quarterback. Of course, things likely would have been better if Joe Burrow were healthy and he was in attendance On Wednesday, as Joe attended practice for the first time since injuring his calf thirteen days earlier. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.
We had talked about it this morning, him coming out if he felt like it, and he decided he wanted to. So I looked over there and he was standing right next to me.
He was great.
It's good to have him.
What's the biggest impact of having Joe out there watching?
It's always nice to have his presence out there, you know. I think it's good for guys to see him out. I mean, he's been rehabbing quite a bit. He's doing a good job, and they have him out at practice is always beneficial. Guys like seeing him too, you know. I think he's everybody excited to have him out standing around watching.
So I'm sure this process has been hard for him just being out. Are generally think this practice in particular is one he would want it to be out for.
Oh, he's an elite competitor, so any chance he gets to go against somebody else, Yeah, he you know, I'm sure it's frustrating for him the standing and have to watch, but that's what it is, and you know he's going to have to swallow that frustration and he'll be ready for when it's time to be ready.
The hope remains that Joe will be ready for the season opener at Cleveland, which is almost exactly one month away. I spoke to Dave Lapham after the joint practice and we started with the struggles that the Bengals had on offense.
The Packers, I think are a pretty good defensive unit. They ran significant blitz packages for this stage of training camp, very significant really, but I don't think it was any surprise to the coaches. But there were some assignmenters. I saw some free runners made things difficult in the quarterback.
I mean, the quarterbacks are having all they can handle just you know, trying to get the ball to the right spots at the right time, and when there's free runners in their face, I mean, it's it's very frustrating probably to try to execute. Obviously, and as a play caller, I'm sure Brian Callahan had his moments where it's like, mayah, this is like swimming up hill. They get they got humbled a little bit offensively and more than a little
bit really. I mean, I think Green Bay, obviously, you know, ruled the day as far as making it tough for the Bengals to move the football. So that's not always bad, you know, it's it's particularly early in camp to get to get humbled and realize that you get miles to go before you rest, get back to the drawing board and get get things corrected. But again we've talked about it more than once. Number nine puts the ball in
spots that not many do. That's what makes him a top ten should have been top five player in the NFL, has voted on by the players. But when when he when he's operating and and uh, you know, deciphering getting the ball out and putting it in very very good spots.
It's a it's a much different dynamic. I mean is the key is in the National Football League especially, but any level of quarterback put the ball where your receiver can turn into a running back and make yards have to catch instead of making them stop or reach behind or whatever the case may be, and you don't have to restart. That's it's a totally different dynamics. So there's there's a lot of things. Protection for the quarterback has to be, you know, really good. You got to pick
up the blitzers, you got to solidify the pocket. I thought, defensively in the red zone, Jordan Love can spin it, and he can spin it from he drops two different angles to throw the football. I thought accuracy might have been a little bit of his issue, you know, coming out not the most accurate, but you look pretty pretty accurate today. And he threw the ball through the ball pretty well. He can spin it. He's got some RPMs,
I mean first round pick. But I thought defensively, particularly when it was the move at drill, neither team you don't get any points, you know, red zone seven on seven red zone, Packers had a little bit better success than the Bengals did in that regard. Overall, I'd say the Packers, you know, won the day, but it wasn't. It wasn't a total domination, a total like you know, stick ahead in the sand and don't bring it back out.
It wasn't anything like.
That, particularly for the Bengals defense. The Packers offense I think probably had more successful plays than the Bengals offense, But the Bengals defense had plenty of good moments throughout the practice.
No question.
And you know, the the Green Bay Packers get some young skill guys, I mean young quarterback who has been working behind a future Hall of Famer. I don't think that's done anything but help them get ready to assume his his role this year and succeed in it. And over the last two drafts they've drafted six receivers and two tight ends that are all good weapons, and so
it's a challenge out there. And then there's always, you know, not only the fact that it's like we talked about, if they faced configurations and formations, they hadn't seen lots packages, they hadn't seen fronts, they hadn't seen alignments in the back end.
I mean, it's a.
Totally different ballgame than they've been working against, throwing different people with different skills, and all of a sudden, your comfort zone is gone. It's so much different. It's it's it's game time out there.
You know.
It's it's very very very very similar to breaking a huddle, come to the line of scrimmage and it's it's game time. The difference is you haven't game planned, you know, for for the Green Bay Pack or so you know that that's a factor as well, although saying can be said for them they didn't. They didn't game plan against the
Cincinnati Bengals either, so that's a wash. But as far as getting ready for to play in an NFL game, you feel much more confident and comfortable going into those games when you've had a week of game planning.
We saw Joe Burrow out on the practice field for the first time since suffering his calf injury. He obviously didn't practice, but he was out there watching the action, communicating with his teammates and communicating with the coaching staff. Should we look at that as a positive? Do you take any meaning from his presence on the field today.
You know, I think being the competitive that he is, I mean, you could just imagine what's going through his head. I'm sure he's like, I want to be out there so badly with my teammates, taking these reps, getting ready, working against the quality defensive football team that's well coached, has great talent in their personnel. This would be sharpening me for the game against the Cleveland Browns up in Cleveland, and you know I can't do it, but I want
to be out there. And you know, the good point was being made where he hadn't seen exactly what the Green Bay package were presenting either. And it's not like he hasn't seen just about everything under the sun. He has at this point in time of his career, and he has incredible recall about it all. You can spit it back out for you exactly where people are aligned right away. But it's good to see it again. You know, it's not like he knows the Bengals defense cold. He's
worked against it now for years. It's sophisticated. Lou has a lot of looks, but he's seen it all. But now Green Bay coming with some different blitz packages and some different personnel groupings and personnel within those groupings. So I'm sure he wanted to see it hands on instead of just watching tape. He probably wanted to test himself. All right, where would I go? Now? He's not out there just lollygagging around, you know, waving of the crowd.
Joe Burrow's out there taking mental reps. He's out there listening to the play that's called. And there's no the you know, one of the periods, there's no scripting the plays. Whatsever It's just call it and run it, you know, and try to stay on the football field and move the ball drill. And I'm sure he was there here in the play call looking at the defense. What would I do? What would be my progression of reads? If in fact I were under center? Would I look for?
What I look to audibilize out of this? Because you know, this is not a good look to run this play into you go through all those mental gymnastics, and I think that, in my mind was as big reason as any for him to be out there, just to go through the mental exercise and you know, sharpened that football IQ as best he can.
What would a joint practice be without a fight or fights plural? In this case, there was a big skirmish that broke out and then a little one after that number seventy four. The great left guard for the Packers, Elgie Jenkins, was involved in both. It looked like in the first he and BJ Hill were going at it. Prap might have been involved in that one. The second time around it was Jenkins and DJ Reader, and the
Packers pulled Jenkins out at that point. But uh, no, matter what you try to do in these joint practices, the intensity is much higher than it is when you're competing against your teammates, and it gets feisty.
It does get feisty, and uh you know, I mean during the course of training camp and even in OTAs we've seen Ted Carriss and DJ Reader get into it, you know, And I mean it's it's just a competitive environment that that that's that's without you know, shoulder pads and helmets, on it, and it didn't turn into a fight. It was just you know, extracurricular pushing back and forth and challenging each other and uh and and getting a little heated.
But DJ Reader is a man, and so is uh.
The Green Bay Packers have a man at the guard position, and neither one of them wants to give an inch, you know, their egos won't let them do that. And and DJ Hill is feisty too. I mean, it's it's it's a hot day, it's a humid day. I'm sure there were some things going on that it built up and built up on a snap by snap basis and boiled over. And the fact that it was both of the interior run stuffers going against a pretty good run blocker.
You know that.
Number one teammate was defended another teammate and number two in the initial fight didn't appreciate what was going on. I guess in terms of maybe a little extra pushing after the whistle, whatever the case may be. But you're right, it seems like what is a training camp practice against an NFL opponent without a scuffle.
As such.
DJ Reader didn't hold back, but asked about his tussle with Elton Jenkins calling the two time pro bowler a jag that does not stand for judge Advocate Generals like the old TV show. In this case, it means just a guy. The Bengals Boot Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. The Bengals open the preseason on Friday night at seven, and for the rookies,
it will be a night they will never forget. Many of those rookies need to shine in the preseason games to earn a spot on the roster or the sixteen man practice squad. And I spoke to one of those rookies this week.
One of the.
Bengals rookie wide receivers played just up the road for the Miami RedHawks. We're talking to Mac Hippenhammer, who will wear the number fourteen in the preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers. Mac, what's it going to mean to you to charge out of that tunnel as an NFL player in the opener against Green Bay?
It's gonna be really surreal. I will say that.
I mean I think this is an opportunity that a lot of people like can't really imagine, and I think for me, it's just it's surreal and just being able to take that in and understand what's around me and what I'm really walking out to.
So it'd be it'd be pretty cool.
You're from Fort Wayne, Indiana. What kind of rooting section are you going to have?
Oh, that's that's a good question.
Probably mom and dad, my sister, maybe a couple of other relatives, but fairly small, but I think there'll be some family attendance.
He went to the same high school as Jesse Bates. I believe you overlapped for one year in high school. Are you and Jesse friendly and have you been in contact since you signed with Cincinnati.
Yeah, so, like Jesse was like my best friend in high school.
As soon as I like signed with the Bengals, he reached out immediately, was hey, like, I still got my place there if you need somewhere to stay, like, I got you. So it's kind of it's it's all love, and he congratulated me on the opportunity.
It was just, you know, it was it was a good talking to him.
Since he missed him by a year, but it was it was really good to talk to him about it.
We're chatting with Mac kipping Hammer, rookie wide receiver out of Miami University. You spent the last three years with the RedHawks, but you started your college career playing football and baseball at Penn State. You were starting outfielder for the Niitney Lions. Why did you give up baseball and do you miss it?
At one time, I was super passionate about baseball, and you know, coming out of high school, like my dad always said, play both of them as long as you can.
I obviously kind of took that to the heart.
So, you know, coming out of high school, I was really passionate about both, and I think it got to the point where I was like, I can't do this for I can't do this forever and kind of have to pick one. And I feel like my ceiling was a bit higher, and you know, football, so I kind of think that was the route I took. And then my last year at Miami, you know, I didn't do so well, so I was like, Okay, it's time to hang it up.
But like the thing is with.
That, like if you want to be a really good baseball player, Like I always say, like swinging the bats like one of the hardest things to do, and like for me to be able to achieve like the highest level of baseball, I would have had it done a year I would have I would have had to do it.
Like year round.
So it was kind of like, Okay, I'm at that point. Well let's let's put all the tokens in where you know my ceilings.
Highers, your last year of baseball might not have been great, but your last year of football at Miami was last year nine touchdown catches, including a thirty six yard TD against the UC Bearcats in the Battle for the Victory ball at pay Court Stadium. What were some of the highlights of your college experience at Miami.
One of the best experiences top ten moments of my life was probably going to the Bahamas ball That was probably regardless of the result, that was probably like the most amazing experience. Just being able to go to Atlantis for a week with like your best friends and just you know, go down slides and you know, I'm not a gambler, but some of them were in the casino, but just like and knowing that was my last time with those guys that it made it all the more special.
So I think that was probably one of the best experiences at Miami.
Why'd you like to sign with the Bengals as a college free agent?
Really kind of my opportunities were very limited, and I came in for I think it was like the rookie mini camp, I believe, which they kind of do it differently.
It was only like it's.
Only one day, so you know, I wasn't really expecting much out of that. And then you know, kind of like twenty minutes after the workout on my agent calls said, hey, Bengals are gonna sign and so I was like, okay, let's you know, this is it now?
So I knew the opportunity was gonna come.
So it happened to be this one, and you know, I just kind of hopped on it, and you know, here we are.
So you are now part of the best wide receiver group in the NFL. Jamar Chase, Tyler bowayde T Higgins, and others. Let me get your thoughts on the Big three. Beginning with Jamar what stands out about him.
Well he does really well was make contested catches look.
Really easy, and it's just like, like I looked to the guy next to me, I'm like, how how does that happen? But what I did realize is he's very strong, Like in everything he does is row, you know, catching down field and making people miss.
He's very sturdy overall.
T Higgins t was probably the one like I watched the most just because, like, I've never seen somebody move like that at his height. He runs his routes like he's like five ten, which blows my mind. But he's very very I would say fast too, and not only just because you know he's got long strives, but he's like legit fast.
So it's amazing what he can do. And I always trying to take from his game. Tyler Boyd.
I think what he does really well is make every route look the same, and he's very crafty. He's obviously been doing this a really long time so and obviously
we play the same position. So it's fun watching him because you know, I try to take after him, and you know, in the slot rule and the way he kind of runs his routes with confidence, like he knows he's gonna get open and some of the situations he gets and I'm like, I don't know how I would have got open in there, but he makes every route look the same, and you know it's exciting.
Best of luck and thanks for the time.
Thank you very much.
That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by pay Core, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber, and by
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