Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast the right now. Addition, as we take an in depth blook if the Bengals chances of winning a third straight AFC North title with an annual guest on this podcast, Robert Windrab. Robert writes about the Bengals during the season for Cincinnati Magazine and prior to each season. He is among the writers featured in the FTN Football Almanac formerly known as the Football Outsiders Almanac.
If you're going to buy one preseason guide about the NFL, the Almanac is the one to buy. Plus, I'll talk to the star of the Bengals preseason opener, Tyson Anderson about having as many interceptions in one quarter against the Packers as he did in five years at the University of Toledo. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you 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. 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 Only Murders in
the Building. When Kay Adams joined me on this podcast recently, I mentioned in our conversation that I am a huge fan of Steve Martin that goes for just about anything Steve has ever done, including the TV show Only Murders in the Building that just started its third season on Hulu. It's a comedic look at three people who live in the same New York City apartment building investigating suspicious deaths, and the chemistry between Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena
Gomez is outstanding. My wife and I have just started season two and I don't want to give anything away, but I will share this The show features some of the best celebrity cameos of all time. Now let's get to my first guest. In this year's FTN Football Almanac, the voluminous data projects the Bengals to win ten point two games and gives them a thirty percent chance of
winning twelve or more. Those projections are about as good as any team in the NFL, and yet there's a team in their own division with better numbers, and it might not be the one you think. I discuss that and all things Bengals with the guy who wrote the chapter about the team in this year's edition, Robert Weintraub. Robert,
let's start with this shocker from this year's Almanac. While the Almanac projects the Bengals to be one of the best teams in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns are actually projected to have more wins and finish on top of the AFC North. Why the love for Cleveland.
Nobody has to give it to them, right? You know, I almost walked off the Almanac in protest when I saw that myself. Most of it is just a minor mathematical noise. You know, we play the season out one million times to arrive at these figures, and that obviously incorporates a wide, wide range of possibilities. So you know, that's not exactly the Almanac saying put all your money
on Cleveland to win the AFC North this year. What it is saying is that the projection system really likes it when you add players in the off season and improve upon perceived weaknesses. Like the Browns did on defense, and it doesn't like it when you lose starters like the Bengals did in their safeties for example. You know, that's probably just that is enough to swing it towards
the Browns. And obviously, with the Shawn Watson at quarterbacks, so much depends on him, and he's such an unknown quantity. A lot of that is taking on faith what the Browns have done sort of without Watson. So there's a bit of you know, quasi mathematics going on there, you should say. And really what's important is that if you look at the margins where the Bengals have, you know, in thirty percent of those seasons won twelve or more games.
You know, we talked about this last year and we wondered, you know, why why are the Bengals not Super Bowl favorites? Essentially, and I pointed out then the key is that, you know, for many years they were projected to have a strong percentage of seasons where they won five or fewer games, and hardly any when they were going to win twelve
or more. Now that's completely flipped and it's you know, much more likely that they win twelve or more be aka a Super Bowl contender than they are winning five or fewer. Obviously, the only way we can see that happening is if Joe Burrow hurts his calf again or some other body part. We don't want to go down that road and speak it into existence. But the point
is they're a very strong team. The Browns are good too, and I think we all know that the Ravens are good too, and they're projected to be right there in the mix as well. So much of this comes down to, you know, so many small and really unpredictable factors that to you know, take his gospel, and maybe this is heresy coming from somebody who wrote for the Almanac, but to take those numbers as gospel saying that the Browns are definitely going to win and the Bengals will be
in second. Really you shouldn't take it that way. They're all strong teams and they're all going to be in the mix, both in the AFC North and the greater AFC playoff picture.
Let me follow up on additions and subtractions for the Bengals. I think at the end of last year, many of us, maybe most of us, assume that Jermaine Pratt would be gone, but that von Bell would stay. It turned out to be the other way around. Are they better off the way it ultimately played off played out or no, I.
Mean better off. That's difficult to ascertain. You really have to ask lu Man and Rumo that question. I suppose. I think both provided obviously pros and cons to losing them. I think Pratt would have been a difficult player to replace, just for what he brings, and he's a really calm, sort of a sledgehammer in the Almanac. He plays very physical style that the Bengals don't have in a lot
of other positions. And if he had been replaced with, you know, some of the guys like a Keen Davis Gaither or the other reserve players that the Bengals have in linebacker, you're sacrificing, you know, just a physical presence and some weight really there. And he plays so well alongside Logan Wilson. That's something I think would have been
difficult for the Bengals to replace. Not that von Bell isn't difficult to replace, but they obviously already had a free agent, excuse me, a number one draft pick in Dax Hill sort of ready to go for Jesse Bates, and they realize, well, if Monan we can sort of double up on that, get another high premium draft pick in Jordan Battle, and you know, bring in Nick Scott kind of go with the numerical approach to replacing Vaughan, replacing his leadership and what he and Bates brought in
terms of communication and veteran savvy. It's difficult to quantify us, especially for a metrics based organization. I don't think anybody doubts that they will be missed, and that certainly early in the season, I think as well just where you'll see it probably more. And the idea is that they new kids grow into the jobs. They're obviously faster and a little bit more physical than Bits and Bell maybe
at this point in their careers. So you're sacrificing a little bit of that savvy for just pure athletic ability, and hopefully when the number, when the playoff crunch or the postseason crunch comes, those guys are ready to go and provide at least close to the same amount of you know, production that Bell and Bates game is.
Our guest is Robert win Traby writes regularly about the Bengals for Cincinnati magazine and wrote the Bengals chapter in the FTN Football Almanac this year. I want to go back to the draft because you wrote a very positive article on the digital pages of Cincinnati Magazine about the draft, and you actually have a unique perspective about Miles Murphy. You have been following him for years, correct.
Yeah, I mean following him sounds like I've been stalking him for years. I wouldn't say that's the case. I do live in the Atlanta area, and Miles, of course played down here, grew up down here, and you know, yes, so I've been watching him, and like all players who are great high school players, as Murphy was, I was very interested in where he would go to university and hope that he would not go to the University of
Georgia as so many others do down here. I just don't want to see Georgia roll up all the players who are five stars or from down here. And he didn't. He went to Clemson, and I think that was a good choice for him. And yet at the same time, maybe he would have benefited a little bit from George's ability to crank out incredible professional grade defensive linemen because I think Murphy did underachieve a bit at Clemson. There were various factors involved in that. They had some defensive
code changes there. The entire Clemson programs seemed to go through a bit of a you know, for there by their standards, a down cycle a little bit in Murphy's last couple of years there, his fellow lineman had some injuries and he was playing a little bit out of position then sometimes, so you know, there were some mitigating circumstances there, But there's no question that he has all the specs of a classic NFL defensive lineman, and not
just as a point. You know, we think so much about defensive ends in the NFL as just pure edge rushers and you know, the Trey Hendrickson type who just get after the passer. But really, what I think we'll see for Murphy, certainly in the beginning of his career, is more like what Sam Hubbard brought when he was just breaking into the league, which is really setting the
edge strong run defense. Even when he was not playing great against the pass it comes, and he was certainly a strong run defender, has a really good use of hands and is very quick in that sense against the run,
which is a sort of unheralded trait. I think we'll see him contribute in that sense, and he might come off the field on third downs and play the first couple down, spell Hendrickson a little bit, play against the run more as a rookie, and maybe into the second year and then really, you know, hopefully develop into the all round kind of edge player that a first round pick. And certainly that he has the qualities that he can evince in the NFL, no doubt about that.
Did their approach to the draft suggest anything to you?
Yeah, I write about this in the Almanac, and I think you see big picture that the Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs are really eyeing each other from across the Midwest there a little bit, and are sort of going and drafting and arranging their rosters with one eye on each other. We saw that when the Chiefs drafted a bunch of defensive players who were faster after getting really blown off the turf there by. The Bengals offense in twenty twenty one saw the effect of that last year,
especially in the championship game. Their their speed on defense really showed up against the Bengals and that AFC title game, I hate to bring up and every time I think about it, it makes me more angry. But the Chiefs give them credit. They played well defensively in that game, and I think in this sense he saw a little bit of the same thing. The Bengals really kind of drafted and went for more speed all the way through the lineup,
really especially on defense. The defense in large part because, of course, the offense is where all the money is about to be going when Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and t Higgins assumedly signed their big contracts, so they had to get younger, they had to get cheaper, and they really wanted to get faster on defense, and that I think really was a big part of their draft strategy and why they went after a lot of these guys on the defensive side of the ball who can
really run. DJ Turner obviously, and Murphy for a big guy, can really run. Battle is certainly no slow and Chase Brown has excellent speed as well. So I mean, that's that really seemed to me the overarching theme of the draft. Of course, you know in the war room they might not have been thinking that way at the time, but looked like that's what they were trying to do from a big picture perspective.
Robert Wintraub is our guest. You can follow him on Twitter at Rob Wine Rob w e i n The big offseason move was big landing six eight, three hundred and forty five pound or Lander Brown Junior to play left tackle. What does the data tell us about him, how good he is and the impact that a better offensive line will have on Joe Burrow in this offense.
Well, I hate to bring up the fact that Orlando Brown actually led the NFL in pressures allowed by our charting stats. Now, part of that is because he also played the most snaps I believe of any left tackle on the league, or maybe you a second, but you know so percentage wise that was not the case. But sheer counting numbers, he had more pressures allowed than anyone. That was also a factor. Bit of the way Kansas City plays, the Patrick Mahomes kind of running around schoolyard
style kind of allows for more pressures. At the same time, I think you'll see that, you know, the Bengals, the way they want to play Burrow, getting the ball out much faster, a much more rhythmic style of offense will help Brown He certainly wasn't that way in Baltimore either, when Lamar was kind of doing the same thing, kind of running around and you know, giving up a lot of pressures because of the time he spent in the
in the backfield looking for receivers. Burrow doesn't play that way at all, So I think you'll see that number come down. And what he does mainly is just kind of raise the talent floor to a place where it hasn't been before, certainly not in the last several years and certainly not in Joe Burrow's career here in Cincinnati. So that can only help. And you move Jonah Williams over to right tackle, and you know, dare I say it, maybe he's a better right tackle than he is a
left tackle. I mean, stranger things have happened. He played right tackle at Alabama. All the word out of training camp has been that he looks pretty natural over there. And then you know, if you settle that issue. Obviously, we know that the interior part of the line has been pretty much settled. Ted Carris with a great season
last year that was really kind of unheralded. Everybody loves him because of his personality, but I don't think he got the credit for being really strong against the past like he was obviously, you know, Alex Kappus, that's new standards for toughness and Cordy el Bolson looking to make that leap from year one to year two after starting
every game, you can only get better from there. I think right now you're looking at a team that you know, they went up from I think thirty first to sixteenth in our adjusted sack rate from twenty one to twenty two. Are they going to make another fifteen slot leap to
the number one spot in the NFL? Probably not, But if they can move up just into the top ten, I mean, you know, all we've ever wanted is Joe Burrow behind a top ten offensive line, right and even more important, if they can run the ball in that sort of same with that sort of same effectiveness, that just makes the offense even more dangerous. You know, we brought Joe Mixon back and a rookie behind him, and Chase Brown is sort of an unknown quantity to the
running game. Joe struggled a bit last year and what we call second level and open field yards. He wasn't breaking tackles very much, so it'll be incumbent upon the offensive line really to make the running game work more than it has in the past, necessarily, and I think
you have the talent to do so. And you know, barring injury, which obviously was their bulge at the end of the season last year, they're in as good a shape as they've been on the offensive line since, you know, the glory days maybe of Willie Anderson in there or there, I even go back to the Munos Montoya days. Let let's not go crazy, but they're certainly in a much better place than they've been in recent memory. And that's a good thing.
Well with Robert coming up, but first, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust pay Corp to help them recruity, engage and retained employees. Learn more at paycore dot com and 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. So you
talked about mixing and brown. You write in the Almanac that the Bengals are thin at running back and tight end. So let's move to tight end. Are you buying Irv Smith Junior as a viable replacement for Uzama and Hayden Hurst.
With all the money in my pockets, which is, you know, only about fifteen bucks right now, So maybe I'm not putting too much money on the line there. I mean,
obviously with Irv it's all about his health. I mean, he certainly has the talent to do so he can certainly be a viable replacement for as you say, Uzama and Hurst, both of whom's sort of you know, had similar careers as talented but not exactly productive tight ends, or they got paired with Joe Burrow, and Burrow got them both huge contracts at the end of his one year with both of those guys. So if as long as Eric can stay on the field, which he has not really been able to do in the past, I
don't see any reason why he wouldn't. It helps in a bit that the Bengals, you know, they really value tight ends schematically the way a lot of other teams do. They hardly ever play two tight ends, they hardly ever go with multi running backs either, which is part of the reason why I think that their strategy overall was sort of to, if not minimize, then you know, to sort of put those two positions on the back burner.
They play mostly three wide receivers, and they want those three wide receivers to win individual battles, and they play out of empty lot schematically speaking, more than almost any team in the league in all those factors. So you know, you don't need earth Smith to be a Kelsey or a Gronk kind of player. You just need him to be a guy like a Hearst or Nuzama who takes the pressure off up the middle of the field, who defenses have to honor and to make the occasional big play.
Let Joe Burrow do the rest. And there's no reason to think why. As long as he's healthy, the Bengals have something in him, No question he has the talent to do so.
So when the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow, you coined my favorite expression about him. He oozes awesomeness out of every pore except for his calf. As it turns out, right now, as you looked at the data from last year, does anything jump out about Joe Burrow's growth.
Yeah, you know, it's tough to ooze out your calf ports when you have the compressions leave on it, right. I think that was the problem there. It blocked his awesomeness. Yeah. Well, you know, we talked about it last year, which was that you were surprised that he had a difficult time in the red zone from an efficiency standpoint, And what jumped off the numbers this year was the his dramatic improvement in that area, which you know, we were hoping for all sort of knew he had it in him.
And then you know, this is Joe Burrow we're talking about. There's nothing he can't do. So it was just a matter of sort of getting the offense to kind of rally around him a little bit and make those red
zone efficiency plays. And they did so, and they were you know, something else that left off was that they were you know, not just top eight, I believe in red zone offense, but also on defense, and they were you know, top five and late and close situations both on offense and defense, and top three in the offense and third down percentage, you know, and they were extremely good in what we call situational football. The cliche, I know,
but it's true. And you know, we were talking about how small the differences between the Bengals and the Browns and the Ravens. Something that's been so critical to the Bengals success over the last couple of years has been there, you know, really excellent job in these critical situations, both
on both sides of the ball. And obviously with Burrow, you know, he's proven now that that's what his that's when he it really shines the most, is when you need it the most and when you need him to make plays, whether it's a big you know, touchdown, leading drive, or just getting a first down to kill the clock.
So now that he has that kind of red zone bugaboo out of his system, if it even was a problem, might just been one year sort of statistical non entity, but he only had that small sample size to draw up from, I think, you know, as long as he can keep up those kind of numbers in those important situations, we obviously know the talent that is surrounding him, they'll
make the big plays. The little plays that Burrow continues to make will spell the difference in keeping the team right at the top of the AFC Pact.
A couple more questions for Robert Weintraub, who writes about the Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine and wrote the Bengals chapter in the Football Almanac this year. The AFC is loaded. The quarterback gauntlet is incredible in the conference this year. So I assume that the team that somehow makes it through this gauntlet is going to do so by the most narrow margins imaginable. Is that basically what the data tells us.
Yeah, you know, they got to play us. Let's remember that that's certainly an important element in this tough as the schedule might look. When the other teams look at it and they have to play Cincinnati, that's not a good thing either. Now, I think that gets lost sometimes. And surprisingly enough, the schedule this year, and this is always sort of you know, what looks like a harder, soft schedule at the beginning of the year might never turn out to be that way by season's end. You
never know. That the league is full of surprises, and that's what makes it so compelling. But by our numbers, the Bengals schedule this year is pretty average, right in the middle of the pack. Their efficiency of their opponents is exactly zero. Meaning it's not positive. It's not negative. It's a very workable schedule. The schedule rotation, of course, brings you know, the NFC South at the NFC West and the AFC South, which at least on paper again
seems like a good thing. Of course, you have a very tough division and that's always going to be something that kind of is an anchor to the Bengals in comparison to other teams around the league. But that's just there across the bear. But you know, I don't think that the Bengals approach it that way. I think they look at every game like they got the best quarterback, or at least, you know, one of the best quarterbacks.
They don't worry about, you know, oh god, we have to face Trevor Lawrence this year, we have to you know, face Josh Allen again this year or whatever again. I think that mantra they got to play us. You know, it sounds it looks great on a T shirt, but it really is sort of an organizing principle of the team now. And think how far and how much that's
changed over the last couple of years. When you know, all we ever thought about was, oh, here comes you know the Steelers, we got to play the forty nine ers this year whatever. And now the shoes on the other foot and teams run the league think to themselves, oh, oh, we got to play Cincinnati. I mean that just that in itself, that kind of mindset. It's not really a metrics or an analytics thing necessarily, but it's great as a Bengals fan to know that that exists around the league.
All right, final thing for Robert Weintraub. I grew up in New York State. We got the New York City TV stations on cable, so I watched Mets games, Yankees games, Knicks games, Nets games, Rangers games, Devil's games, et cetera. You are doing something called the New York City one thousand. Now, we all like lists. I've never heard of anybody tackling a list included one thousand things on it. Explained the New York City one thousand.
Yeah, I guess the best way to explain it is not so temporary insanity. I just, you know, I started to think about it. I'm from New York too, in case people don't know from the city, and you know I except for the Bengals, I'm obviously a big New York sports fan as well, and I just got a big fan of history as well, both sports history and
sort of great New York and American history. And it's just I started thinking about all the incredible stuff that's been, you know, gone on through the years there, and I start thinking about the wide range not just the teams you mentioned, but all the boxing and horse racing and golf and tennis and everything else that goes down in New York. And for some wild, insane reason, I decided to not just make a list, but to write about
each one of these. So I have a sub stack, like so many other people in the media these days, called, as you said, the NYC one thousand, and you can go to that substack anytime and check it out. And you know, the sheer volume of games over the years.
You know, sports have been going on in New York City for about one hundred and forty years plus now, and I just, you know, I started at fifty, and then I went to one hundred very quickly, and that became five hundred very quickly, and then I wanted to, you know, include all these great athletes and names and people who go through there, who've gone through the city, even just for one off appearances like a Muhammad or you know Bill Russell in all time greats like that,
and right about those, and so very quickly it got to the one thousand, and I'm counted down. I'm somewhere in the eight hundreds now, so you can. It's all archived though, and sometime and probably about ten years, we'll get to number one. But the issue is that it all had to happen in sort of the New York City footprints, So it's not you know, Super Bowl three where the Jets won down in Miami, that doesn't count. It's got to happen in New York. So that's my
little you know, conceit with the whole thing. But there's even with that, there's more than enough teams and or I should say matches, events, games, fights, horse races to really make that list difficult to marrow down, surprising as it sounds, and you know, one of these days, before I shuffle up this mortal kill, I'll get to number one and share it with all of you. But the more people who check it out, I do think you'll be entertained and maybe learn a few things along the way.
Very entertaining based on the ones that I've read so far, and since you're in the eight hundreds, I'm guessing it's going to be quite a while before we get to a thirty nine year old Jimmy Connors in the nineteen ninety one US Open, which might be my favorite New York City area sports moment.
That's fascinating. Yeah, that's definitely high up on the list, and it sort of encompasses a lot of what New York sports is about. Electricity, personality, incredible, you know, display of athletic ability and that. You know, the way I rank these events is not just by you know, on
the court, field whatever. That's one category, but it's also you know, is it a Hall of Fame person, a Hall of Fame athlete involved, Is there you know, something that really meant something to history involved or was it just a one off it was important to New York itself? Obviously at Connors at the US Open kind of hits all those sweet spots along with others. There were some that were higher, and there were even some ten matches that might have been a little higher. But that's way
up on the list for sure. And you know, Jimbo, a Californian really came to encompass a lot of what New York City and New York City athletics and that personality is really all about. So he's made the list in a couple of other areas as well, So if you're not just a football fan, but a fan of any other sport, you can definitely find something to enjoy in the list, no doubt about it.
Highly recommend the Almanac again this year. Your chapters about the Bengals and the Browns are both outstanding. We look forward to your weekly articles about the Bengals on the digital pages of Cincinnati Magazine and I always appreciate your time this time of the year. Thanks so much, look forward to continuing to read the NYC one thousand.
Greatly appreciate it. Dan, have a great season, and give my love to your broadcast partner Dave Lapham as well.
You don't have to be a fan of New York City sports to enjoys Robert list of the top one thousand events. His writing is the fun part. If you're interested in check kicking it out, just search for NYC one thousand sub stack. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and side merchandise up for grabs.
Find both inside the Bengals App. Week two of the preseason takes the Bengals to Atlanta on Friday night, and while it sounds like the starters might get a few snaps, the backups will still see most of the action. That includes young players like second year safety Tyson Anderson, who had two interceptions in a span of about eight minutes in last week's loss to the Packers. I spoke to the twenty four year old this week. Tyson, you are
the star of the preseason opener last Friday night. You had two interceptions, including a forty three yard at pick six. It had to be thrilling for you. Could you sleep after the game?
H No, I ain't really sleep too much. I was just up and joining with my family. Honestly, we just kicked it out all night. Honestly, was just at the houses on each other company.
You're from the Toledo area, so you had a bunch of folks down for the game.
Yep. My dad, my mom, grandparents, sister, her friends and family friend was there too, so we had a lot of people.
You had two interceptions in the game. You had two interceptions in your career at Toledo. Was it bad luck at Toledo or is there something about the things you've learned here or the defense you're playing in now that helps explain that two interceptions in one half performance.
Yeah, I'll probably say Toledo just had a few dropped opportunities too. So just making the most of my opportunities when I have the ball hit my hands, just making sure I come down with it. That's more so been in my emphasis because I know I dropped a few at Toledo. And now obviously coach lou just putting us in in great situations in our dB coaches, Coach Chuck, coach coach Rob just giving us knowledge to go out there and play fast and make plays.
I'm glad you brought up lou Anroumo because after the game you were naturally bombarded by reporters and you kept saying time and time again, coach Anarumo puts us in great position to make plays. So what stands out about playing for him now for one year?
I mean he's just a players coach. The guys just rally around him. Like I said, he just always puts us in great positions, got up prefer of things we do defensively that kind of just a lot of stuff that we do to kind of throw quarterbacks off and throw offensive coordinators off, and we do a good job of protecting the end zone and things like that. So he for sure does a great job just switching it up, getting us in and out of calls. Uh, stuff like that.
We're visiting with safety Tyson Anderson. I'm sure a lot of people have seen the footage of your teammate Mike Thomas almost moved to tears after the game because he was so happy for you and so proud of you. What did that mean to you?
Oh? Yeah, man, I always tell everybody my family back home and I was going through all I was going through last year. He was always one dude I know I could always talk to, always could lean on, and it was always Mike. Whether I was me going and watch film with him, what I was him invited me to his house on Thanksgiving when my family was three hours away, and just kicking it with his family and his kids and stuff like that. So Mike, man, he
just a legend in my eyes. And then playing the game a long time, and no matter what in this league, you really don't meet too many people like him to kind of get back to the younger guys like he does, and just happy to be in influenced by just having a part of my life. For real.
You had a hamstring injury last year, so the last time that you played prior to last Friday night was the final preseason game last year. What did you miss about playing in football games last season?
Just the crowd, the reactions of the crowd, and then just that brotherhood. It just when you make plays and things like that, and your guys just celebrating with you, and just being out there that camaradie and just being with your brothers and just not want to make mistakes because you don't want to let the guy next to you.
Though you weren't able to practice for most of the year last year, you did get to at the very end of the season around playoff time. What did you do during your rookie year?
Honestly, just a lot of a lot of bodywork, obviously a lot of lot of resting, and then just sharpening up on understanding the playbook so cause I know, if I know the playbook, it allows me to play a lot faster, and that's kind of the things that I that I took on and just implement different things for my body, just chiropractic work, acupunctual massage, pilates and things like that, just to because last year, obviously I was shortened because of injury, and this year I'm just trying
to do everything I can just to stay healthy and stay available.
Do you feel like you're different physically from all the things you described.
Uh, for sure, just got a lot stronger, a lot more flexible. Those are the two biggest things.
We're talking to. Tyson Anderson. You're playing for a spot on the fifty three man roster this year. What do you think you need to show the coaches in order to earn one of those spots.
I'd probably just say just continue to just be myself, be humble, be accountable, just fly around. Just make all the players that come my way and and everything else will handle itself. That's all I can do is take care of me, control my controllables, and I'll go handle the rest.
One of those things that is controllable is your effort on special teams. And it looks like you are willing and available to do everything and anything that Darren Simmons asked you to do.
No, for sure, man, me and coach Simmons got a pre relationship. He's just trying to earn that trust, like it's all it's about. If he don't trust you, if the coaches don't trust you, there's no way you gonna be out there on the field. So just earn that trust that I can be in the right spot at the right time, knowing that I can do the right assignment when it need to be done, and knowing I can do that assignment properly with the right technique at all times. So that's what I'm trying to do.
Two great players and leaders at your position left at the end of the year, Jesse Bates and Von Bell. When that happened, did you look at a greater opportunity to contribute at the safety position this year?
Oh yeah, you for sure see that. And I'm so thankful for those guys, just like Mike Thomas, just an environment a lot to me as well, just the knowledge and they approach the game and just how they they were true pros. So just to watch that and sit back and just observe how they watch film observe how they were attentive in meetings, observed when they walked into meetings, observe all those things that made them great. Was just good. The good to see. So yeah, obviously I'm leaving for sure.
Somebody got to step up, and I've been grinding for a year or now to show them that show, the coaches show, everybody improves myself that I can be.
To God, you showed it in week one of the preseason. Best of luck in doing it again in Atlanta.
Thank you so much. We'll continue to stock days and get better.
That's Tyson Anderson. Friday's game in Atlanta kicks off at seven thirty and our pregame coverage on the Bengals Radio Network gets underway at six. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to
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