Hi and everybody. I'm Dan Board and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast, the Prayers for Damar edition, as we reflect on the life saving treatment that Damar Hamlin received on Monday night, and then look ahead to Sunday's game against Baltimore Coming up. Bengals long snapper cal Adamidas shares thoughts about his former high school and college teammate who is making progress at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Special Teams captain Michael Thomas describes how he and his teammates are dealing with their emotions as they prepare to return to action. Peter King from NBC Sports gives us the national perspective on what took place in Cincinnati on Monday night, and finally, in this week's Know the Fast segment will spend a few minutes with former Ravens wide
receiver Codrea Smile. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi game of its speeds, designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with all to Fiber. Now. Here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered. Write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the NFL's Emergency Action Plan and the dedicated professionals at pay Course Stadium who saved the life of Damar Hamlin. The NFL's Emergency Action Plan or EAP, is utilized in instances of
severe trauma. Every team in the league is required to rehearse it twice each year before the start of preseason games, then sixty minutes before every game, the medical professionals in attendance hold a meeting to go over everybody's assignment so that there is no confusion if an emergency takes place.
After all, every second counts. On average, there are roughly thirty medical staffers at every NFL game, including doctors, trainers, paramedics, and an airway management physician that's the person responsible for the emergency measures required to save a player who has stopped breathing. There is an ambulance parked close to the field at every stadium that includes cardiac life support equipment. Everything I just described proved to be crucial when Damar
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest. The EAP is comprehensive and everybody involved at pay Course Stadium followed it with speed and skill to restore Damar's heartbeat before he was transferred to the hospital. As I record this podcast on Thursday, there is encouraging news as Damar is awake and communicating with family members. His doctors say he has shown substantial
improvement in the last twenty four hours. Damar Hamlin is in his second year with the Buffalo Bills after being a four year starter at pitt Prior to that, he was ranked as one of the top defensive back recruits in the country while playing for Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School. In high school and college, one of his teammates was Bengals long snapper cal Adamidas. I talked to Cal about his friend. You were his high school and college teammate.
What would you like people to know about tomorrow? I think you know, a lot of what he's done through his career is kind of public knowledge now with you know, his his foundation and his toy drive and all that those different things. But you know, UM, just really with my experience, UM knowing Damar through high school and in college and he's just always, Um, although he's you know, in high school, he was our biggest recruit and you know, the star of our team. He was always a good dude.
And you know, I was a guy who was always fighting for playing time and uh, this is when I was still a tight end. And he you know, always treated everyone on that team the same way. And whether you had thirty offers or you know, we're helping out on the scout team. So I think that's a you know, an important thing to remember about him. And while you keep him in your prayers, could you tell from an early age that he was likely to realize this dream
of being an NFL player? Oh? Yeah, absolutely, I mean he uh, he definitely was just not only you know as extremely physically gifted, um, even at high school. Um, but you know had had a great work ethic always as well. And uh you know in high school he was always getting extra workouts and always working with two tents speed and agility, which is you know the guy that Aaron Donald trains with as well, and um, you
know he's constantly constantly worked with him. Um, and then you know even in college as well, Um, just the way he prepared for every game and uh, you know, took care of his body and I'm sure continues to take care of his body throughout his professional career so far. You know, he just knew he was he was a pro before he was a pro. Basically, the outpouring of support has been amazing. The last time I looked, more than six million dollars has been raised for his children's
toy drive. What is that showing you? What does that meant to you? You know, that's definitely the the uh, the silver lining of all this so far, as just seeing how many people you know, love dMar and care for him and just just that outpouring of support. It's been uh, you know, it's been a men's it's been
borderline overwhelming. You know, it's uh, and I can only imagine how how his family's feeling with just the roller coaster of emotions and uh, you know, just just pray that people keep supporting because you know it's uh, that's still still gonna be a battle for for some time, um from what I've heard, but UM, you know, if there's anyone that's gonna I think, is capable to you know, pull through and you know, be able to live the
rest of their life, the way they want to. I think that's gonna be DeMar So, you are a captain your last year at Pitt, he was a captain the year before. That's a player elected title at at Pitt. Was he a no brainer to be in that role? Yeah? I think so. I think everyone pretty much saw it coming that that he'd be one of our captains just uh, you know, for kind of the the reasons that um, you know I just mentioned with him, you know, just
being a weight room guy. Not only just a gifted player on the field with you know, great football IQ and and senses, but just um, just the way he prepares for every game. And that was always something that stuck out and you know, something that I learned from as well, being a year younger him, you know, through my time at Central Land at PIT. So it was definitely definitely a no brainer that that he was would
be one of our captains at pit. How emotional and difficult has this been for you having known him for as long as you have and been his teammate. Yeah, it's um, you know, to be quite frank, it's just uh, it's it's it's still things are still sinking in each day, and um, it is odd because you know, obviously, uh, I spent a lot of time with him, and you know,
it's it's weird. It's always uncomfortable, like get a ton of people reaching out to you, and uh, it's great, like you appreciate it, but also like just it can be uncomfortable at times, like you don't necessarily want to be the center of attention and a time like this, um and you just want to keep all the you know, the prayers and the love going towards him and his family, and you know, it's greatly appreciated all the support that you know, with people reaching out to me, my brother
who also played with him in high school, and all our high school teammates just getting back in touch with each other and supporting each other. But it's just it's just kind of too many emotions of process. Really appreciate sharing some thoughts on Damar and we're obviously all praying for his continued recovery and hope to get great news. Suit Absolutely thank you. Kalla schedule to join us on Friday for the Bengals pep Rally show at the Wings
and Rings location in Beckett Ridge. The show runs from three to six and Cal will be there in the final hour. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. The Bengals are not only a legitimate Super
Bowl contender, they're young. There are only two players on the active roster who are no longer in their twenties, backup quarterback Brandon Allen, who is thirty and special teams captain Michael Thomas, who is thirty two. Mike is in his eleventh NFL season, and I reached out to him this week to get his perspective on returning to the field on Sunday. Mike grabbing this conversation on Wednesday at about one thirty in the afternoon. How are you and
your teammates doing? Still processing everything? I think, you know, everybody's trying to get back to what it's normal to us since we, you know, have work to do. But there's no mistake, like there is no normal heels in normal. What happened it's not normal, and I think guys are
still processing it. But it's good to be back around each other and you know, joking in the locker room, you know, lifting weights and and and you know, it's probably more questions than answers at this point, but I think us doing being there together, I think that helps WIT moving forward. Could you sleep on Monday night? What you do on Tuesday? Yeah, there's absolutely no sleep. Man and wife talking. Thank god they were here, just so I can have somebody to go back to and be
with after the game. Just talking just put things in perspective as the first time in my career where I actually I had any type of thoughts of like and as what I'm doing right? You know, it's just worth it. As my wife and kids came from Houston for this game and they were in the stands. Yeah, Tuesday though filled with a lot of calls, a lot of trying to figure out what's happening. A lot of guys had questions.
I still had questions. I'm still processing everything, wrapped my hand, trying to wrap my head around of what we just experienced.
In my loving year career, I've never seen, heard of or experience anything like that um and accepting the fact that like, yeah, I was a little shit and not trying to brush you know what I'm saying, like like brush over that and trying to you know, a bunch of teammates hitting me up asking questions, and you know, I was trying to get answers, visiting constant communication with leadership or whether that's the NFLPA, and you know, as
an execuve committee member, I was still serving. I'm in even you know, I'm actively involved in experienced this, but still serving. I'm in serving the Bills players, you know. But it was in contact with a couple of those guys serving uh De mar Reese Smith actually flew down and we took a visit to the hospital. We met
with DeMar's family and they were appreciative of that. And I just think that I'm thankful that the Bengals organizations, the NFL, NFLPA were just providing so many resources to their family because they felt the love, they felt the support. So that's what about Tuesday looked like we're visiting that. Michael Thomas, what did this episode, this incident tell you about the NFL brotherhood. It's bigger than football, man, It's
bigger than competing. It's bigger than trying to win a Super Bowl or a conference championship or the Vision Championship. Like at the end of the day, nobody ever wants to see somebody injured, let alone fighting for their life from playing on the field. I've never again, never experienced nothing like then. And to see how we all came together once we saw what happened and realize that, nah, that's not no regular injury. There's something bigger than that.
Like I love the fact that we didn't have to talk about it, we didn't have to huddle. It's just instantly everybody like, nah, like this we're trying, we're trying to like come together, we're praying together. We we we've been together, we're fighting together because that's one of our brothers down there. And then to see instantly how the rest of our brothers across the league, in our membership
past present, came together. And then you saw it because you saw that, you saw how the rest of the world, how the rest of the US, how the rest of you know, sports world, just regular sittings, how they poured their love and started prayer. Like that's just how you know, Like this is way bigger than a sport of competition like this, somebody fighting for their live. This is a human you know what I'm saying. And that's that's we were. We were, I guess, force to recognize that in that moment.
And we you know, we don't normally live in that with football. That's normally I escape football being in this facility, and that's normally I escaped. And we were forced to like deal with something real at that point. But I just love the fact that we all there was no discussion needed, like we all just came together and did the right thing, the human thing, the brotherhood thing. Man, it just came together and was praying together. And because that was one of our brothers on the field fighting
for his life, the world is praying for Damar. Many of us are also praying for t Higgins. It was an unfortunate accident. It was a freak accident. I don't think anybody could reasonably think that he did anything wrong. And yet simply from being involved, many of us are just worried about his mental space. How will you and your teammates try to help Tea continue to ask him if he's all right, which it will be like paying
a little close attention. And I'm saying that with a smile and like a smirk because T's are naturally quiet, you know, individual he has a different personality and you know he's unique in that way. So to say, oh, well he's being quiet or he's being to himself like na, that's actually kind of normal, you know. So it's like nah, but spending a little bit extra time like saying what up going by checking on him and I think guys
are naturally doing that. Don't want to make it, you know, too crazy, want to keep some type of normal seeing it, but like just letting him know we're here from him, and clearly there was nothing menacing or you know, like malicious. There was nothing malicious or ill you know intended like play with T the more number. That was a football play.
That was just a and that to be honest, just for a second, that's kind of what shaking everybody too, because that was just a football play and that's what happened. And it's like so down we were gonna continue to like, you know, put our arms around tea and like brother, man, you know what I say, you are brother, We got you, like you know, you didn't do nothing wrong, the Bills all and so much love and support for everyone in
that Bills organization, the players, man. Like, we've been in constant conversation, communication and having conversations with them, your regards if you had a relationship with guys, even the ones we didn't. Everybody's still just been texting, hitting up, hitting each other up on social media, CoA and just let everybody letting each other know. No one you know what I'm saying. That was nobody's fault and we're still trying to understand what happened, you know. So it's as being
there for our brothers, being there for each other. Man. That's it. As a Bengals fan, I'm proud to have, proud to have Zach Taylor as our head coach. After seeing how he conducted himself, after seeing him go to the hospital to visit tomorrow that night. Does this incident
st a light on your head, coach? Absolutely? I Mean there's so many things you can try to a ways you can try to describe it and say, oh, this is the reason why he's such a great head coach, and this is the reason why he took that approach. You know, he's a former player, he understand like that aspect of it in the need to have a more humane and personally, you know, personable reaction to what's happening
out there. Or you know, he's just a great guy and he's just a great human being, or you know he's he's passing, he's a players Like that's just who Zach Taylor is. And he knew and understood the magnitude of everything where football did not matter in that moment. That was a son, that was an older brother, that was a teammate that was laying down, They're fighting for his life, and at that point football did not matter
no more. And he knew as a head coach, if I looked at as a leader of this organization, as this team to face whatever, it's my job if I got a team coming to my you know, my house, my stadium, that I stand up and say, like, nah, we care that every single person in here, you know, new came to compete. They're leaving out of here healthy and if they can't, I'm gonna make sure that I show y'all enough respect to come to y'all locker room
and say what do y'all want to do? Oh, he has to spend the night over here and y'all going back home. I'm gonna go I'm gonna treat like you one of my players. I'm gonna go see you know what I'm saying, Like, that's who Zach Taylor is. So there's nothing but respect. I mean, he had that most respect for him before, but that's just you know, adds on to who he is as you just know that in the immediate aftermath, the game is insignificant, but player
is going to continue on Sunday. It's an important game for the bank. You're taking on a division rival, you are still in Super Bowl contention. You know, how do you approach practicing and playing this way? I mean, again, Dan, with so many questions that we don't have answers too. At the end of the day, we know that life continues to go like this, sport continues to go, and all we can do is keep pressing forward and we're gonna find We're gonna find out what that looks like together.
We're gonna figure that out together. But at the end of the day, I think there's something to it of us, you know, whatever that looks like, doing it together and getting back to our routine. It allows us to not take our minds off of it, but just grow and go through that process together to try to find healing
in it. And if we have questions, I love the fact that this organization has provided so many resources, the NFLP, the NFL, They've provided so many resources for us to just even have open space to talk, like ask a question, even if we don't have to answer and ask a question, because I know y'all feeling that, and I think that allows us to move forward and get and prepare for these games. And again, yeah, we're experiencing on the field,
but shoot, everybody else was watching. They're experiencing it too. They got the same questions too, And we know that just because of our union and the calls we've had just in these last twenty four forty eight hours, and guys, guys are feeling the same thing around the league. So it's like, yeah, we got an important game, but nothing's more important than the more fighting for his life and us trying to figure out when what happened in two
like is he gonna be okay, we didn't get that. Oh, the guy got injured, but he walked off on his own. The guy had to get on the court, but he gave us a thumbs up. We haven't gotten that, and normally that's what gives guys a strength to keep fighting, to keep putting that, putting it on the line out there on the field. We haven't gotten it. So the prayers are going to continue to go. We just want to see him continue fight and be trending into a
positive direction when it comes to this healing. But our prayers they're going out for him, his family, and we're just gonna keep finding a way whatever that looks like. Together. I said at the beginning of the broadcast on Monday night that it didn't feel like just a playoff atmosphere. To me, it felt like a Super Bowl atmosphere. It felt like the Olympic opening ceremonies. And you guys came out and it looked like you were going to play
your absolute best game. I think by my math, that was the one and twenty fifth NFL game that you've played in. Had you experienced anything like that in the regular season? Like though, you, like you said, there, we approach and that's what I love about this team. We approach everything like, nah, it's just another game. We got to go through our process and be who we are and just do what we do. Guys knew what that can be. And I love the fact that everybody was
executing at a high level. Well, even if we gave up a play, there was something great either somebody you know, being physical coming off the ball, like making a play, making a block, like everybody kind of raised they level a little bit. And it definitely did have any electric feel. It definitely did have that Super Bowl type just level
of concentration, level of focused, level of execution. So for what is worth whatever it ends up being called a dress rehearsal by no no contest whatever, Like I think, I think we got the answers we wanted. I really appreciate your willingness to talk about this and your thoughtfulness. We are all thinking about you, guys. Obviously our prayers are mostly centered around tomorrow Hamlin, but we're thinking about all of you and we wish you all the best
going forward. Thank you, Dan, appreciate it Man that we're praying for his family too. Thank you for having me the Thos Booth Podcast. It's brought to you by pay. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorps to help them recruit, pay engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com. The NFL has not announced if the
Bengals game against Buffalo will be continued. The most likely scenario seems to be that the game will be declared no contest and that the Bengals and Bills will play one fewer game than everybody else. If that's the case, the Bengals would no longer have a shot at the number one seed in the AFC, but could still be the number two seed if they beat Baltimore and Buffalo loses to New England. That's a big deal because the number two seed gets a second home game if it
wins its playoff opener. If the Bengals Bills game is declared no contest and Buffalo beats New England on Sunday, then Cincinnati would be the AFC North champion and the number three seed in the AFC, regardless us of their game against the Ravens, because they would have a better winning percentage than Baltimore. If they're the number two seed, the Bengals would potentially host the Dolphins, Patriots, or Steelers.
If they're the number three seed, they would host the Ravens or the Chargers for the national perspective on last week's events, we turned to Peter King from NBC Sports. He's been covering the NFL for nearly forty years, beginning with a stint on the Bengals beat for the Cincinnati Inquirer back in nineteen eighty four. Peter, what did you think of how the NFL and the two teams handled the terrifying situation on Monday night. I don't know how
they could have handled it a lot better. The only thing they probably could have done is called the game a little bit sooner. But you know, I do think there was a there was consideration on behalf of the league that they wanted to talk to everybody involved. They wanted to talk to the union, they wanted to talk to the officials, they wanted to talk to the coaches. They wanted to talk internally about what not playing this
game means. I don't know enough Dan to say whether indeed somebody inside the league told both teams, although I doubt that this happened. We're picking up this game in five minutes. Zach Taylor basically denied it, you know, in his remarks to the press on Wednesday, so I certainly take him at his word, and so I think, Dan, I'm reminded of something when people would be critical of the fact that it took sixty six minutes from the time of the injury to the time that the game
was officially called. I think one thing I'm reminded of is in twenty twenty when there was a COVID crisis around the league and it was almost week to week when you wondered how many games we're going to get called, how many games would be played, wouldn't be played? All that. I'm just reminded of the fact that someone told me inside the league they're going to be multiple times this year where you're going to say, what are they doing?
And just keep in mind Roger Goodell likes to wait until either the last minute or until he's not going to make a decision until he has to, okay, And so that is when I think about that. I think about this situation. You're going to hear from everybody, and you're just going to sit there and you're gonna say, Okay, what's the best decision. And obviously I think you and I and most observers thought about a half hour into this.
As soon as I heard the three letters CPR. You know, you know, a guy's heart stopped, it's pretty hard to ask those players to continue to play after that. Zach Taylor showed great compassion in the way he interacted with Sean McDermott agreed. He went to the hospital that night to visit Tamar Hamlin. Joe Burrow led the Bengals captains to the other side of the stadium to visit with the Buffalo captains. What did you think of the leadership
displayed by those two guys in particular? Fantastic. I mean, you know, as crazy as it sounds, I almost get emotional when I think about both guys, And it was clear that they were the adults in the room. And you know what Sean McDermott said to Zach Taylor when Taylor walked across the field, and basically, Sean McDermott said, I belong with my player. I can't coach this game. That's basically all you needed to know about the kind
of person Sean McDermott is. And and for Zach Taylor, Zach Taylor's whole attitude was, Hey, listen, whatever you want, We're going to support. And I mean, I'm very oversimplifying but I don't know how you'd want two better men
leading your programs. Do you think the game should be completed? No, I don't think it will be completed, nor do I think it should be I think it is borderline cruel asking the Buffalo Bills to return to Cincinnati to play this game on the field where their teammate was felled and very nearly died. So I don't think it should be played, and I don't think it will be played. So let's get to the Bengals going into Sunday's game against Baltimore. They've won seventh straight, they were off to
a tremendous start on Monday night against the Bills. How do you think they stack up right now among the NFL's elite. I think, right now, at this moment, the two best teams in football or Cincinnati in San Francisco. Now, on a given day, Kansas City could beat him both by two touchdowns. You know, on a given day, Buffalo could beat him both. But I'm just saying that right now. To me, if I were one of those power rankings people, I would have San Francisco or Cincinnati as the number
one team in football. And I kind of feel for the Ravens. I honestly do I feel for the Ravens because it's clear that five weeks and two days ago, or however many days it's been now, that they did not think that Lamar Jackson's injury was going to end his season. And again, I don't know if he's going to play on Sunday or not, but it sure looks doubtful that he will play and without without Lamar Jackson on Sunday. It's not that I don't give him any chance.
I think it would be have to be an absolutely heroic performance by the running game of the Baltimore Ravens at also a defense that has at times really been able to be gouged this year for them to have a good chance to win. You might not be a power rankings person, but you are an MVP candidate rankings person, and you're a Football Morning in America column. You've had Joe Burrow a listed fourth, I believe for the last
few weeks. Why fourth? And were you looking at Monday's game as a possible opportunity for him to jump to the top of the list without any question? If Joe Burrow had been able to play sixty minutes in this game, or the game had been able to be finished and Cincinnati won the game. There's a chance I can't. It's
so hypothetical. I would need to see the game. But part of me would have been thinking, well, you know, he ended the season winning whatever would be, what nine in a row or don't I forget what it would be that they would have won at the end. Plus he would have ended the season with two of those wins being over two of the top four candidates for the MVP. And so I would have given significant consideration
to voting for Burrow. And again, look, I still have some thought to give, but my gut feeling is right now that, barring a major change this weekend, I'm probably going to vote for Patrick Mahomes number one. Now keep in mind this is a different year voting for the Most Valuable Player. In the past, the fifty media members who have been handed a ballot I happen to be one of them, have voted for one person for the Most Valuable Player, the Associated S, which is the keeper
of the Holy Grail. This year, change the rules for voting and they are going to have us vote for five people in order so the number one person on your list is going to get ten points. The number two person on your list is going to get five points. So there's a tremendous amount of importance given to the person who you have number one on your list. So it's going to be very hard for the person who
gets the magic. If one person gets you know, basically gets twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight first place votes, it's going to be very hard to beat that person. So look, I think as of now, mahomes as my leader in the clubhouse, and let's see what happens in week eighteen. We're visiting with Peter King from NBC Sports. The Bengals have some of the great young stars in the NFL right now, and Burrow and Jamar Chase and
Joe Mixon and others. Is there anybody on this team or anything about this team that you think has flown under the radar and deserves more attention? Louie and Rumo and I don't know what's going to happen in the postseason. NFL owners love to hire offensive coaches. Everybody wants to have the next Sean McVeagh, wants to hire the next
Sean McVeigh. But I do think there are some there would be some reason to really try to really do their best to in essence say that this year, maybe what we should do is we should consider the best coaches overall. Okay, and I think this year, I think it would be unjust if people like Demiko Ryan's of the forty nine Ers, Leslie Frasier the Buffalo Bills, lou An Arumo of the Cincinnati Bengals, if those guys don't get serious and significant consideration when head coaching opportunities are
available after the season. Peter, the Chiefs have been a Super Bowl contender since Patrick Mahomes became their starting quarterback. By and large throughout the Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay, they have been a Super Bowl contender just about every year. Do you see that in the future for the Bengals as long as Joe Burrows their quarterback. Yes, but I'll give you an asterisk. I think what has happened to
this team right now? I remember thirteen months ago or so, maybe a little bit longer, I was in Cincinnati and had an extended conversation with Mike Brown about about Burrow and about about his team basically, but a lot of
it was about Burrow. And you know, when I asked him about the reports that I considered quite frankly, pretty reliable that Miami would have traded five number one draft choices for the right to pick Joe Burrow or the equivalent of five number one draft choices, Mike Brown said, right, I mean literally, when that question came out of my mouth, the answer was, it would not have mattered what they offered. And look for everybody in Cincinnati, and I understand, I
lived there for five years. I covered the Bengals my last year there. I understand the feelings about the Brown family and all that, But you know, I do also understand that Mike Brown absolutely, totally, one hundred percent understands that in many ways, the only thing that matters is whether you've answered the question about your quarterback. If you
have a quarterback, you always have a chance. The big thing about Kansas City that is special is that they have a coach who's a metronome, you know, who just wakes up. This is his life, this is what he wants to do. He has trained a general manager in Brett Veach, to say, I want you to go out every year and use every opportunity to make us better.
And why do I mention that this year because before the trading deadline, when nobody was even thinking about it, the Kansas City Chiefs went out and stole Cadarius Tony, a top fifteen talent in the twenty twenty one draft, a receiver from Florida who happens to be a little bit of a blockhead, okay, but he's an incredible talent. Kansas City went out and got him. And you saw, you've seen a couple of times down the stretch, you know, most notably last week, Cadarius Tony was their most important
offensive weapon on the field. So, Kansas City, it isn't only Patrick Mahomes. It is the organization, the coach, the ethos that Andy Reid has built there in his one decade atop this team. And I just think that cannot be eliminated from consideration. And look, I forget what exactly the record is now, but Patrick Mahomes, now this is it's an amazing stat. Since the last game of the twenty seventeen season, which he started in Denver, you know,
against the Broncos. Since the last game of the twenty seventeen season, Patrick Mahomes has never lost a Division road game, and you'd have to add that up to figure out how many it is, but it's a lot. And that's an absolutely amazing thing to say, especially because that division's gotten a little bit better. Last thing for Peter King
Bengals versus Ravens Sunday at pay Corpse Stadium. At minimum, the Bengals are playing for the possibility of being the number two seed in the AFC and have the chance at hosting a couple of playoff games. Are you curious what it's going to look like on Sunday? I hadn't even thought of that until you said that, Dan, But
I'm very I am curious. I'm quite curious. In fact, I think the biggest there's no question the fans will come out and support this team that they have absolutely grown to love over the last two years, which is such a great thing. I mean, I was not in Cincinnati at a great time when I covered him. Anyway, they had had the incredible year to play San Francisco in the Super Bowl in Detroit, and whenever things got hot in Cincinnati and I was working at the Inquirer.
Then it's an incredible place to be a sports fan. But obviously there's been a lot of lean years, and I think the love of the Bengals has come back with a vengeance. It's wonderful to see. I think you're going to see incredible support for the Bengals on Sunday. I think you'll see them go out and play a really, really good game. And Dan, you know, there's this kind of cliche. I'm not exactly sure why, but it's just the way it's fallen that teams that lose the Super
Bowl tend to go down to slide the next year. Well, the Bengals have going in the opposite direction. They're better than when they lost the Super Bowl. And so I kind of look at this team right now and say, you know, as long as Joe Burrows healthy and they can be that attacking offensive team that they are and be a better defense than anybody gives them credit for. I don't know if anybody's going to beat them, but whoever does is going to be a damn good football team. Peter,
I always appreciate your time and your wisdom. Thanks so much for joining us. You're welcome, Dan, Hey listen, have a great time and enjoy the game. On Sunday, the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Finally, it's not for this week's No the Faux segment. Kagrey a Smile won a Super Bowl ring with the Ravens
and has spent several years on their broadcast team. He joined Dave Lapham and Wayne box Miller this week on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Are from an injury standpoint going into this football game against the Bengals. The injury reports or the estimated injury reports, because walkthroughs are pretty much what's going on now these days. As the season winds on, a lot of rest players, a lot of players who were categorized as rested a little illness. You
get Nick Boyle with a little bit of illness. But the one that you know jumps out at you is Lamar Jackson still is not practicing with the knee injury, and John Harbaugh has asked about it and didn't really want to address it very much. Is there any truth to the rumor that he's got a bone bruise on his patella. Wow. I mean that you're literally the first person that has mentioned something specific when it came to
the PCL injury. We know that they were saying it's a PCL injury, and that you know, first reports it's one to three weeks, which falls under a grade one sprain, and then it went into three to six week category, which is a grade two and depending upon how it continues to go, which is both we're at the full week mark now, it could very well be what you know, Um, you're saying, oh, we don't know. Here in Baltimore specifically, everybody's been, you know, trying to speculate and figure out
what exactly is the degree of the injury. But you know your your guess is as good as mine. We know this that he has not practiced and stepped on the practice field during any portion of the media viewing. So you know, we're right now looking at a game in which Lamar is going to be held out yet again. And obviously this team has made the playoffs, but you know, I guess his first time back is going to be playoff action, which I think it will be interesting to
see how it all unfolds. So you think he's definitely going to be held back. I guess the follow up question would be if it's not you know, that type of a situation with a more serious injury than initially thought. It's it's not a contractual thing. And you don't think he's playing a power play of any sort, do you? So for him, it doesn't seem like that's how he's wired in his DNA of you know, this is I mean, this would be like the ultimate holding out flash holding
in power planning. Um, I've never seen it. And you know, obviously you've had guys hold out for an entire year. You've had guys hold out for training camps. You've had you know, all sorts of things when it comes to you know, different strategies. But this is brand new, and I just, I just I don't see that being you know, you know, something that Lamar Jackson would do as far as you know who he is and his character, right, Yeah, you know Cosreys. The game against Pittsburgh obviously didn't go
the way the Ravens wanted. If you looked at one thing that they need to correct before they get to Cincinnati this Sunday, what would be the priority? The main priority would be defensively, like that final two four minutes of the game, that four minute offense of whatever team that they've faced has just gotten the advantage and edge
over this Ravens defense. And I think, you know, a necessary stop, an interception of fumble or force fumble was something that just seals the deal for a Ravens defense that's been playing really, really well. I think on the other side of the ball, it looks like it's gonna be Tyler Huntley again, not exactly sure. You know, it's interesting when you get a new quarterback and you see it every single time. Um, I guess purty out in and you know, San fran is kind of the exception
so far to the rule. But teams start to figure you out and adjust to your game and your play. And I think for Tyler, you know, there's an adjustment that's going on that you know, he's now going to have to readjust his game to how teams are playing them. Um, but I think he needs to play way better than what we saw against the Steelers. So yeah, there's there's
a lot of priorities to go up against. I think a Bengals team that's hitting its stride and and look in the part of the AFC representative from last year. They're they're looking very poised to be the AFC representative again and at worst AFC News Champions. So cocky, No surprise, John Harbaugh, he's an outstanding football coach. Everybody knows that he feels like he has to go old school football with particularly with what's going on at the quarterback position.
All of his special teams worst case scenario, tied for seventh or better. I mean, every single one is in the top seven all four categories. They're running the ball, they're stopping the run, they're dictating field position. I mean, the flying the ointment obviously is quarterback play. But they're still They're two and two in the four games that Huntley has played. Even with the struggles that he has
had this football team. I mean, John Harbaugh has built this team the way he wants to build it, hasn't he? He has, and you know, I think both he and general manager Erica Costa, you know, they they've hung their hat on Lamar Jackson and surrounding him with an offensive coordinator that likes to run the football and really feature Lamar's talents. But it's a tight end centric offense. That as of now, we we're seeing an offense that hasn't really gotten into its rhythm this year, and it's been
very inconsistent. So yes, John has done a fine job of you know, putting together a staff and all that, but it's not as guests from the outside looking in, it looks like, oh okay, well another typical rapis year. They hey, they made the playoffs. I've horrible and all that.
But I think the expectation here in Baltimore, especially with the generational talent the likes of Lamar Jackson, I think there was an expectation of more than what's actually being put out there on the field that's going to do it.
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