Bengals Booth Podcast: Rise Up

he expects the Bengals to be a playoff team. My one on one player interview is with linebacker Joe Bacchi, who could play an important role down the stretch following a shoulder injury to Logan Wilson. Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the latest Bengals news, including the status of Joe Burrow's pinky finger and finally, in our Know the faux segment. I guarantee you will be entertained by one of the best radio announcers in the NFL, the legendary

boy to the forty nine Ers, Greg Popa. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play next Level Fantasy football game downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play. And 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

Dana O'Neill's book about the Big East. I graduated from Syracuse in the mid eighties and worked there for several years after college, meaning I was watching and covering Big East basketball when Patrick Ewing played for Georgetown and Chris Mullen played for Saint John's and Pearl Washington played for

the Qus. I could go on and on. I'm obviously biased, but I don't think there has ever been a better college basketball conference than the Big East from that era, and Dana O'Neill has done a wonderful job of describing what made it so special in her new book The Big East Inside the most entertaining and influential Conference in college basketball history. Reading it made me feel like I was back in my college dorm room, without the hangover

or dirty laundry. Now time for this week's guests, beginning with an NFL Network analyst who spent eleven years playing offensive line for the Cowboys Colts and Eagles. If you love the NFL, then I hope you follow Brian Baldinger on Twitter because Baldy's breakdowns are fantastic. Brian, this week, he took a look at four of Joe Burrows throws from the Chargers game that really highlight his pinpoint accuracy. Is that the thing that stands out the most when

you study Joe I think so. I mean, he could put the ball where he wants to put it, you know, whether it's against his own defense, whether it's you know, man, whether it's you know, a difficult out route to Tyler Boyd or Jamar Chase. I mean, he can put the ball pretty much where he wants to put it, with or without a bad finger. You know, it didn't seem to really bother him that much, to be honest with you,

But that's impressive. It's impressive value sees the field. It was a good quarterback duel on Sunday with him and Justin Herbert. You were an offensive lineman for eleven years in the NFL. How is the Bengals offensive line progressing in your opinion? Well, you know, they played the rookie tray Hill last week. You know, for Hopkins and so I think he's got a bright future. But you know, they you know, Riley Reef didn't play, and so you know they're down two starters. So now you're in your

depth a little bit. So you know, Isaiah Prince is a good player. I mean, he's probably a better third tight end than he is a starting tackle right now. And you know, the penalties heard him. They overcame some of them. But they had a lot of penalties on Sunday and that's something they didn't have against Pittsburgh the week before, you know, And so I thought they had played better than what they did last week. As a group, I thought they had played better. It took a while

to get the running game going. I thought that they would be a little bit better against the Chargers with that. But credit to Chargers, they played run defense really well on Sunday. NFL network analysts, probably in balding Er is our guest. Balding, I think you were the first national analyst to really point out how well the Bengals wide receivers have been blocking. How vital has that been to their success? Oh, it's huge. It's a big part, you know, because if you know you can get your five or

six yards between the tackles. But if you want the bigger games, the bigger runs, you need your wide receivers. You don't have to you know, you really don't have to knock guys down and you don't have to hold on to them, but you have to get yourself into position. And you know, if you're gonna run any kind of perimeter game, whether it's the hitch screens or all those kind of things, I mean, your wide receivers have to

block and they have to be good. They have to understand how to do it so that you know they're not flagged for illegal contact or pass interference. So there's a lot to it. It's not more, it's more a lot more than just get in front of guys. You know, then you've got to be you just gotta be careful. I saw Joe Mixon run over Jamar Chase against Pittsburgh, and you know, for Jamar you can't get rolled up. You know, you gotta do your signment, but you can't

get rolled up. So there's a lot that goes to it. Dan, It's more than just okay, he's your guy, that's your guy. You know, it's kind of how you do it. Is as much as if you can do it. Trey Hendrickson has had a sack in eight consecutive games. That's a new franchise record. On one of your recent breakdowns, you said everybody should watch him. Why if, first of all, he's got a multiple of moves. It's not just one move.

I mean he's got a good stab and speed to power he's got he's got an array of moves, he's got a plan. And then he plays with uh, you know, really just NonStop energy, you know, and he plays the game really hard, plays the game the right way, makes plays on the other side of the field. A lot of guys don't you know, care to do that, But he plays the game really, really hard. He plays a high volume of plays. I think he's got twenty five

sacks in the last twenty seven starts. Dan might be off by one or two there, but I mean it's it's it's it's a big number. So there's a consistency there, you know, I mean sacks or sacks. But you know, can you get the ball out, you can you get them down on third downs? Can you force a punt? Can you force a field goal versus you know, an extension of the drive and a touchdown. I mean, those things really come into play over the course of a game or a course of a season. Brian Baldinger is

our gast. You can and should follow him on Twitter at Baldy NFL. Brian, you did the Bengals preseason game at Washington this year, is the TV analyst, and you pointed out something that I have never noticed before. The behavior of the Bengals on their sideline. Why do you find that to be important? Well, yeah, it's it's an indicator that the team is pulling for each other, that the offense has got the defense excited and vice versa.

And so you constantly see Mike Hilton running up and down the sideline when Joe Mixon makes a ron or Jamar makes a catch, like they're pulling for each other, and it's you know, it's not like that everywhere, and it's been like that since preseason. It's still like that, even down twenty four nothing, you know, and you get the touchdown pass and the end zona T Higgins. I mean, you could see the excitement that they weren't down. They weren't, they weren't you know, this is the same old Bengals.

I mean, that's that's that's over anyways. But it's just something that you see every week against Pittsburgh the week before it was really evident. But even when they come back last week with a chance to you know, take the lead in in late in the third quarter there, I mean, you could see you could see the defense pulling for the offense. And I just think that that matters, you know. I mean, it's not about just cheer leading. It's genuine excitement and pulling for each other. The Bengals

have mostly had good luck in terms of injuries. I'm knocking on wood as I say that, but Logan Wilson is going to be out for at least a couple of weeks now with a shoulder injury. How does that impact the Bengals? D Well, he's really you know, he's really emerged, you know, I mean the interceptions of the interceptions earlier in the year that he had, but you know, I mean he's just an every down player. You know, he's a very very instinctive player. He knows where the

ball is going, he knows how to get there. He makes a lot of tackles. Uh. He to me, he's been their quarterback of the defense. Now, they've had a lot of leaders on that side of the ball. Um, you know, Pratt will have to step up, and you know, they've got guys that can fill his shoes. But I think that you know, he's a guy that has really emerged, you know, early in his career right here as a guy that can lead a defense. And so there's a trick it down effect there. You're not going to be

as good with him not on the field. But I think I think they're they're capable of overcoming the loss, but it's it's a big loss because he's a very very good player. The forty nine ers are coming to town this week. They're six and six after losing in Seattle last Sunday. What are a couple of things that a team needs to do to beat San Francisco? Well, there, they want to run the ball. They've got a rookie

running back and Elijah Mitchell. Um. You know, prior to the last week's lost in Seattle, he carried the ball you know against the Rams, uh, you know, twenty seven times. I mean he's a volume carrier and don't be fooled by his size. He's got real power. I mean, you constantly see him pushed the pile and break tackles. He's good contact, balanced runner. So and they run a lot of stuff off the run game, a lot of play action, you know, do you get the ball down the field.

George Kittle had his best game that I can remember the last two years last week in the absence of Deebo Samuel. But if Debo plays, and I don't know if he's up this week or not, if he plays, you got to defend him as a receiver, and you have to defend him as a running back. I mean, he's uh he's run for four touchdowns in the last couple of weeks, and uh, they really they feed him. He's he's really a good player. He could he could

be a starting running back in this league. But as a wide receiver prior to last week, I think he led the league in yards you know after a reception. But uh that that those are things. And then defense, they play really hard. It's a lot more than just Nick Bosa. Like that group plays the game really hard. They're a little beat up in the secondary and Seattle made them pay for that. But they're front seven, they're

eight deep, and they come after you. As it stands, right now, the Bengals are the number six playoff seed in the AFC. Who do you consider to be the team to beat in the AFC right now? And do you view the Bengals as a legitimate playoff contender. Well, I don't think anybody's better than the Patriots right now. I mean, they prove that again on Monday Night against Buffalo in the way that they played, in the way

that they've been playing for the last seven weeks. So I think they're the cream the cream in the AFC. But it's it's wide open to me. I think the Bengals are a playoff team. I said that from the very beginning. It won't surprise me if they win the division. Obviously it's a very difficult division. Cleveland coming off their buy will give it their best shot. So I don't know that anybody can lay claim right now. Baltimore certainly has their struggles going on, has has Pittsburgh and Cincinnati,

you know, as you know, they've struggled here. They've been up and down, you know, and so it's everybody's division. But I expect the Bengals to be a playoff team. I think they're built to be a playoff team, and I think they're built to win a playoff team. Brian, I love bald these breakdowns. It's one of my favorite things on Twitter. Thanks so much for your time and keep up the great work. I appreciate you, Dan, thank you, thanks for having me. Good luck this week. Here's hoping

Brian's playoff forecast comes true. By and large, the Bengals have been one of the healthier teams in the NFL this year, but the one position group that's been hit hard by injuries is linebacker. Jordan Evans and to king Davis Gaither are both on injured reserve, and last week Marcus Bailey and Logan Wilson had to leave the game with shoulder injuries. Wilson is going to miss at least a few weeks. Second year pro Joe Bacchi stepped in and did a solid job against the Chargers. I spoke

to Joe this week. Joe, you took over a linebacker when Logan Wilson heard his shoulder last week and did very well. You had the third highest grade on defense according to Pro Football Focus. Do you feel like you showed your teammates and coaches that they can count on you? While Logan is out, I hope, So, I mean, obviously, Logan has been a great player this year. You know, he's been on a role, and I knew if my time ever come, you know, you gotta gotta take advantage.

Actually might not get another one. So you know, my opportunity came up, and you know, a tough circumstance with how Marcus and Logan both went down, and I just had to take advantage of it. So hopefully, you know, I gained the trust my teammates. I imagine we will see you in there quite a bit against the forty nine ers this week. A team that loses uses a lot of misdirection, a team that's got a great fullback and Kyle use Check, a team that's got a great

tight end and George Kittle. Is this an especially demanding matchup for a linebacker? This one is one of those games they try to get your eyes as a linebacker, you know, with all the pre snap motion and moving around. But you know, it's a good week of preparation. You know, we got smart players defensively. You know, I think it's gonna be a fun game. I think they're gonna try and make it physical, which is right up our alley, So I think I think we're ready for it. We're

talking to linebacker Joe Bacci. Last week, you got your most defensive snaps in a game, but you've been a key contributor on special teams all year. What's the key to earning the trust of special teams coordinator Darren Simmons. You gotta get on you know, his good side. He's gotta trust you because special teams means a lot, which is you know, totally right, and you know, just extra extra time with him, you know, asking them questions, being multiple,

being able to do different things. Um, just showing that he can trust you out there, because like I said, you know, he's been doing this for a long time. So if you can gain his trust, that's a good thing. This is your second NFL season. You spend time with the Saints and the Eagles a year ago as a rookie. What was the most eye opening thing about your first exposure to the NFL. You know, everyone kind of gets that initial you know, a wild moment of all right, yeah,

this guy's really good at football. You know, it's different than the college level. And you know, when I was down there with the Saints just going through camp. There was so much talent on that team from offensive defense, you know, guys like Drew Brees obviously, Cam Jordan, um, guys who've been doing it a long time. And they had a guy to Mario Davis who was in my position linebacker obviously, who's you know, had a hell of a career, so you know, he was a good guy

to look up to. Craig Robertson. It was another older VET, but there were just guys down there who have done it for a long time and that definitely opened my eye. What if anything changes for you this week in terms of your preparation with Logan Wilson out, nothing will change. Um. You know, like I said, you got to prepare every week like you're going to be the guy. And last week that happened to me and I had to be

ready to go. You know, no one's gonna you know, feel bad that, you know, I had to get thrown out there and didn't know everything. You know, I had to go out there. I had to own up to it. And you know, play football. You know, once you get back out there, it's like riding a bike and you know, you start playing football, start having fun with it and you know, I enjoyed it last week. You know, obviously I hope that Logan and Marcus are able to you know,

have a speedy recovery. But you know the meantime, I gotta go out there and I gotta play well. We're chatting with linebacker Joe Bacchi. You played college football at Michigan State, but you are an Ohio kid. You're from the Cleveland area. Is it exciting for you and your family to be playing close to home in the NFL? I think it's huge. You know, it's nice to have my parents come down for the games on the weekend only be a three and a half hour drive or

whatever it is. You know, it's huge. You know, just like college. They enjoyed coming to everything even when I was a little kid. You know, they went everywhere AU basketball, travel, baseball, whatever it was there and everything, and you know, it's nice to see this um, you know, go all the way to you know, my job really and you know, a professional football player and they're still able to come. So it's definitely a benefit. Based on your Twitter feed,

you are a very proud Spartans grad. What did the win over Michigan mean this year? You know that just describes Michigan State, you know, never giving up. You know, they were down whatever it was, might have been eleven, I can't remember exactly, but you know, just constantly staying with the staying with it and uh you know eventually coming through just being relentless. And that's a you know, coach Tucker's thing there right now. So that was a

great moment. But then Michigan did come back to win the Big Ten and now they've qualified for the four team playoff. To seeing Michigan in the top four make your skin crawl. It's definitely not something that you know, my skin enjoys, let's see. But you know that they're a hell of a football team if you actually watch them. Um, you know, I think they had a great game play against Ohio State. You know, like you said, I'm an

Ohio guy. I had one of my buddies, the G eight Ohio State, so I watched that game closely, and you know, Michigan was a better football team that day. And I still think, you know, they got a chance. Obviously they got Georgia, which a tough matchup, so you know, we'll see what they're made of. But you know, it's good to see the Big ten though, you know, a two spot in the playoffs, although you can route for the University of Cincinnati because defensive coordinator Mike Tressell had

the same job when you were playing at Michigan State. Yeah, you know, and Tressell was, you know, the best to me. You know, he was hard on me like my dad was growing up, and you know, I really appreciate it that when I was in college. And obviously he's doing a hell of a job here at Cincinnati. I also have ties with Bama. My girlfriend's older brother who was a Spartan under trustle at a point, Max Bola. He is the second year here with Bama, so you know,

I'm kind of tied between the two. I went to the national championship last year because of Alabama. You know, I got coach Trusts on the Cincinnati sidestyle. Definitely be a fun game to watch. You did a fantastic job last week. Best of luck this week, and I appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you. Joe tied for the team lead in tackles last week with nine. The Bengals Booth

Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. There free to play fantasy football game Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't Buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now time to discuss the latest Bengals news and Sunday's matchup against the Niners with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham lap It sounds like Trey Hopkins and Riley Reef will be

back this week. That's obviously good news if that's the way it plays out, But linebacker Logan Wilson is definitely out. We don't know about Marcus Bailey yet. How did Joe Bacchi do last week stepping in? And how big of a challenge is it to play linebacker against this opponent the forty nine ers. Yeah, the forty nine ers. Uh, they do a lot of things to try to, you know,

get you not trusting your eyes as such. Their whole thing is, you know, they just they try to ut out leverage you, out gap you with formations and motion and window dressing, and they try to get you to play cat and mouse a little bit and and guess you know, and I mean again, the legendary Paul Brown would say, we got him guessing. When you have the defense guessing, that puts us in a good position. So I mean that's that's kind of the mindset there. So yeah,

it'll be a challenge. I mean, these guys run the football very creatively. I think they've got a very big, athletic offensive lineman that are built to run the football that they utilize the tight end fullback package as well as anybody in the National Football League. U use check is really really good, can block, can run, can catch. Kittle is a dominantly physical specimen, you know, probably the

best blocking tight end in football. And he's a he's a great receiver as well because he's such a great blocker. So it's a snootful for any linebacker. And uh for Joe Bacchi to be technically his first start as such, you know, as a linebacker, it'll it'll be it'll be a challenge for sure, whether it's he or Bailey, very inexperienced Bailey obviously, and if if Bailey's still kind of licking his wound a little bit there, that could be

a tough deal. Because it's this is gonna um, You're gonna have to make quick reads and get downhill and be physical and so doing against this offensive football team. There's no question. Now time for Joe burrow pinky update. I feel like we should have a breaking news sound effect here. And Joe hurt his finger on the fifth play from scrimmage. Offensively last week before that, he was two for two for seventeen yards. After that, twenty two

for thirty eight. That's fifty eight percent, two hundred and eighty three yards, one touchdown, two picks. One of the interceptions was a perfectly thrown ball thirty one yards down field that could have been a seventy one yard touchdown, but Jamar Chase obviously bobbled it and it turned into an interception. With all of that in mind, how concerned

are you about the status of Joe Burrow's pinky finger. Yeah, to me, it's sometimes during the heat of the battle when you have the injury, and my experiences, adrenaline, you know, kind of eases a lot of concerns there. You know, you don't really know how badly you're hurt. Now it's going to be you know, hours, days, a few days. Uh,

their injury can change. I mean, there can be a lot more swelling at a lot of change in the injury, and then you have to decide how you're going to address it, you know, will you be able to throw I don't think he's going to do much practicing. This would got to be surprised. If he doesn't throw a football till Friday, that wouldn't surprise me at all, you know.

I think they want to treat it and get it in as good as shape as they possibly can, and the best way to do that is to is to not you know, exert it over and over and over again throwing a football. So yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting to see how how the whole thing, uh, how

the whole thing plays out, how it reacts. But that seventy one yard touchdown pass would have made him three to seventy one yards passing two touchdowns an interception instead of a quarterback grading at seventy, it would have been over one hundred, you know, like it's been. So the ripple effect that play was huge, obviously not just to Joe's stats, but to the outcome of the football game as well. Because it was nine nothing at that time.

That would have made a big If it's a big explosive play, get momentum and all that sort of thing. But yeah, it's it's going to be interesting that the thing that happens on a dislocation because I've dislocated fingers, I dislocated my elbow, it wants to Once it's subluxes and you have the collateral damage of this stretch or tear or partial tear of ligaments, tenants, whatever, it wants to continue to sublux it wants to go back out.

And that's that's the pain that he was feeling. That's the problem he was feeling without anything to help kind of support that from not happening. So I have a feeling that at this from during the course of the week here, he'll probably find a glove that will help that sum and you know, then you just have to get used to throwing, you know, with a glove. I

don't know how much he's done with that. I don't know if he's had to do a whole lot of that during the course of his career high school, college, when he was at Ohio State. Probably not much at LSU obviously, but throwing with a glove can be a little different. Although some quarter back swear by it they say they get a better grip on the football with the gloves. So everybody's you know, teaching their own. Everybody's different in that regard. But it's going to be interesting

to see what Joe Burrow comes up with. But I do think, really I think maybe, you know, the only guy of the injured players keeping everything crossed I can on a woozier. I mean, if Logan Wilson's the only guy that doesn't play, I'd be pretty good, you know, if they if they get all the walking wounded back. But like we've always talked about Dan, you know, being available at the start of the game and being available after you've taken twenty of thirty snaps in the game.

When you have an injury of some sort, can you exacerbate it? Can you reinjure it? Can all those things happen? Yeah, they can happen. So you just never know until you get out there and start playing. As I mentioned off the top, it looks like Hopkins and Reef will be back. Did Trey Hill and Isaiah Prince struggle pretty badly last week? Yeah? I think it was. I don't think the offensive line as a whole played very well. I thought it was one of their least effective efforts efforts of the season.

And you know, they just so happened to go up against a team that gave you a lot of different looks and personnel groupings and recognition and communication was a big deal. And it starts from that point person that center out in the offensive line, and there was some communication problems, there were some recognition problems, and obviously the Chargers realized that very very rapidly, so they started bringing more than they normally do, or not bringing more, but

blitzing more a higher percentage. They weren't bringing more than five people necessarily, but you'd come up in a configuration and uh, you know, eight guys could come, which five are coming and which ones aren't. And they did a good job of changing that up and testing the communication, the identification communication and adaptation of rules for a blitz pickups and past protections and that sort of thing, and they fell short as well as, uh, you know, penalties.

This team prides itself on lack of penalties. I mean, they're still first in the National Football League by by a wide margin. I mean, they've only got fifty penalties on the season. There's only two other teams that can that can make that claim um that have h fifty less than sixty penalties, and the Bengals have the fewest at fifty. And then they're number one in fewest penalty

yards generated against them too. And there's only a couple of teams that have less than six five hundred yards and penalty yards and the Bengals are sitting there at four hundred and twenty four. So they've done a good job in that regard. But last week, seven penalties, you know, two on the center, one on the right tackle, and you know, two holding penalties and illegal use of hands

to the face masks. Those those are brutal. You know, they took away good games, they took away significant plays, They put you off schedule when you were on schedule. So obviously they had their struggles. Let's stick with injuries. Trey Wayne's and Deonta Smith have been cleared to practice. The Bengals have three weeks to either activate them or rule them out for the rest of the year. Let's

talk about Trey Wayne specifically. He missed the first three games of the year due to a hamstring injury that he suffered in training camp. He played pretty well in his first game back against Jacksonville, and then he hurt the other hamstring in his second game back against Green Bay. So now he's missed seven in a row. Do you

expect him back this week? And can he help? That's a puzzling situation there, because he hasn't had a history of injuries, hamstring injuries in particular, and now he's got hamstring injuries in both areas, and it makes you wonder

a little bit when you pectoral hamstring, other hamstring. I don't know if you're taking whatever supplement you're taking, or maybe you should rethink what you're doing if there's been some sort of a change in that regards that's maybe altered the way your body's reacting to whatever it is. And I'm not saying he's doing anything at least, I'm just saying that sometimes bodies don't respond well to certain diet changes or additives or whatever supplements whatever guys do.

But with that said, if he's healthy, I think he can help, you know, I really do. I mean, I think the guy can help. And honestly, if he's been a pro, a pros pro, he's taken mental rep after mental rep, and he's kept up with everything they've done in terms of adjustments and problems they've had and how those problems have been rectified and all those sort of things. So hopefully, you know, it won't be like he's been in a closet somewhere and locked up and not understood

what's been going on through this whole process. So if he can go out there and get it done physically, he's a he's a talented guy. I mean, he can run, he's long, he's got I mean, they paid him a ton of money for a reason. And if he can, if he can get out there and remain healthy, that would that would be a big plus. Can particularly if if it was he is not injured. Is that foot injury isn't so severe that you know he might even be able to suit up and help some um, that

would be that would be a very big addition. I don't know. I don't know that they'd necessarily activate him. If a Woozier is showing signs of being totally ready, they may give him a little more practice time to adapt. But in a quote emergency situation, be good to have a guy that you paid a ton of money too, that you had a lot of confidence in if, in fact, you know, he's healthy, and I would think seven weeks, I mean, that's a good stretch to get your get

your hamstring right. So hopefully that's that wouldn't be an issue anymore. But as we know, though, the weather is going to start to change. It's as it's not supposed to be as cold on Sunday as it's been you know, in the early stages of the week here. But sometimes in that that cold, damp weather, it's tough for some of these you know, tightly muscled guys to get themselves loose. Here's a good stat courtesy of our friend Paul Dayner Junior from the Athletic in the Bengals seven wins, they

have five turnovers and they're five losses. They have fourteen turnovers. So for all the analysis that we do and everybody else does, is it as simple as when they take care of the ball, they win and when they don't they lose. Yeah, although they had you know, they had a minus turnover ratio in Baltimore and won by forty one twenty. There's always something that's like what there's there's you're always going to find, you know, an exception to

the rule. But in general, I mean in their last two losses they've had seven giveaways, seven turnovers, and two game stretch. It's going to be hard to beat anybody, and they didn't. They didn't beat them, So it is holding one of the football. Ball security is a big deal. And the thing that you know, I took notice of as I was looking through numbers in the early stages of preparation, forty nine ers have forced twenty five fumbles

number one in the National Football League. Twenty five fumbles in twelve games over to a game on an average basis. I mean, that's that's like, that's being aggressive in that area. Obviously, I mean some luck involved with all of that are bad luck for the players that are losing those footballs, but man, that's obviously a focus of attention. And have twenty five of them. They've only recovered eight, but you know, that's still a significant, significant number, and it puts them

in amongst the league leaders. In the league, they're tied for six with eight fumble recoveries. But man, twenty five fit the ground. Man that's better secure the pig because you know, lost a couple last week and both of them were very, very painful. So you're gonna have to don't anything worse than even Stephen in the turnover ratio. You're starting to play with fire a little bit. The forty nine ers were a super Bowl team two years ago.

Then they were injury plagued. Last year, three different guys started at quarterback. They went six and ten. I think people expected them to bounce back with a big year this year. They've had some more injury problems. They're six and six. How good are the forty nine ers this year? That's a that's a great You know, they on paper and they look like and when you watch you watch their scheme, their schemes offensively and defensively, you think this

is a football team that has some talent. It's pretty well put together. But man, it just hasn't like you said, Man, it hasn't parlayed. You know, they've four their six losses or by uh seven points or less, so they've been in a bunch of close games and haven't haven't really taken full advantage of it. I think I think Jimmy Garoppolo is a quandary. I mean, that guy, to me, he'll he'll he'll make some plays and then he'll play some games where it's like, yeah, Jimmy gi man, he

can he can get it done. And then he'll just look he'll look terrible. I mean you'll see him stare his target down. I mean just stare it down. And he tries to looks to me like sometimes he tries to keep everything between the numbers because I don't think he trusts his arm strength. To me, he doesn't like to go outside as much as most quarter about now. You we had a guy that we saw last week justin Herbert. I mean, he'd fired the heck out of it from the right sideline to the left side line

and not worry about it. But I think Jimmy g feels more comfortable, Uh look, looking in the middle of the football field between the numbers and making reads there and the ball's not in the air, you know, as much. And I think he has a pretty good understanding of the depth, perception and touch to put on the ball

over the linebackers in front of the state. He seems to want to throw the football in those u in those particular areas and uh, you know, I mean he's thrown into uh, he's thrown into coverage some you know. I mean he'll he hasn't. He hasn't been totally clean

in that regard. So I think I think he's the key to the football game, particularly if the Bengals can, Uh, if the Bengals can can get a lead and and uh impact the middle of the football field, and and uh make make Jimmy g throw the ball to the outside where he's not real comfortable. And and then if he does throw the ball in the middle of the football field into crowds, which he has done some, then

I think that's a that's a recipe for success. But the first thing they have to do is control the running game, or they may see Shanahan do what Belichick did, only throw it three times in a game. I mean, it would not shock me that it's happened before. I mean, the forty nine ers have won games where Jimmy Geeson owned the ball less than twenty times, you know, like seventeen times or something like that. If they get that running game going, that wouldn't have stunned me at all.

If they if they just keep trying to keep the Bengals in the meat grinder and keep Joe Burrow and all his explosive weapons on the Bengal sideline. Is Kyle Shanahan the best play designer slash play caller in the NFL. I think he's I think he's right there. I've heard too many people given that kind of praise that too many people that I respect have a pretty good knowledge and understanding of what's going on. I do think that his running attack is very, very creative. It's very very multiple,

it's very very diverse. There's physicality to it, there's a little deception to it, you know, there's a lot of a lot of window dressing to it. But the bottom line is he still wants to thump you, you know, he still wants to put it to you that way. And then I do think that that he does a great job. And you know, I've heard this for years about him that as far as creating plays that run his receivers open, he's as good as the resident the league.

Instead of the receiver having to make a great move on a route to create separation, he creates separation by formation, configuration, patterns of the routes and all that sort of thing, and guys just you know, will bust open. So yeah, he's he's obviously very very smart, football minded guy. He's

got a beautiful mind for the game of football. As they say, on defense, they have Nick Bosa twelve sacks, they got linebacker Fred Warner, first team All Pro last year, highest paid a linebacker in the NFL now, but their twentieth in points allowed. How good is their defense? Yeah, I know, it's like you look at it and Bosa Bosa is. It's interesting because to my recollection, Joe Burrow went west with Bosa to rehab Nick and Joey, you know Nick in particulars Nick just had his surgery as well,

so they're very they're very close. And Joey Bosa didn't play much in that football game at all. I mean, he went out with the concussion protocol and get cleared, but they just kept him out, you know, as a as a precaution more than anything that ended up didn't really need him. But yeah, Nick Bosa is a guy that is talented. They rush him from both edges. He's got some athletic versatility to him in that regard. I

think Armstead can be a dangerous guy. You know. Warner is a very, very athletic linebacker who seemed a lot you know, during the course of his career. It's it is all very interesting. You know. The thing about the forty niners, like we talked about earlier Dan the Bengals turnover issues. The Bengals are minus two, forty nine are minus four. I mean, they've only got one fewer giveaway than the Bengals, and they've got three fewer takeaways than

the Bengals. So that's been their problem in football games as well, is that turnover ratio. And they've they've gotten themselves penalized quite a bit. I mean, seventy three for seven hundred and eighty three yards as opposed to fifty for four and twenty four yards against the bengalsul mistakes in turn in the form of turnovers, penalties, mental areas, things of that nature have hurt the San Francisco forty nine ers is probably as much as any team in

the National Football League as well. I mean, you look at them defensively, their numbers say, I mean they're eighth in the NFL defensively, and first downs allowed ninth and third down conversion percentage allowed. They're sixth in yards allowed per game, tenth in yards allowed per play. They're tied for fourth in fewest passing yards allowed, they're eight and sacks per pass attempt. You know, like I said, they

forced twenty five fumbles and recovered eight of them. But then you look at it's all about points, and you know, maybe their offense has put them in bad field position. Special teams has put them in bad field position. So sometimes when you're just looking at paper and you don't have an understanding of the flow of you know, on a play by play basis of the team, some things

just don't add up, you know. And I will say though that the other thing is you have Bosa with twelve sacks and then you drop off the face of the earth to like three and a half I think is the next one. Yeah, Keys got three and a half and Armstead has got three. I mean, you know, you look at look at the Bengals. They've they've got Hendrickson with eleven and a half, Hubbard with seven and a half, Hill has four four and a half, Ogan

Joby has four and a half. I mean, they've got they've got a little bit more balanced in their pass rush instead of just you know, totally dependent on one guy. So yeah, it's all I can say is on a week to week basis in the NFL, though, it's all about matchups and that and that specific game and the early flow of the football game is going to have a big bearing on how this thing transpires, There's no

question about it. Last thing, the Bengals announced down Wednesday that Kay Adams from Good Morning Football and the NFL Network will be the ruler of the jungle this Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium. I love Good Morning Football. I think if you could bottle the chemistry between the host, you'd be a very wealthy person. Are you a good morning football guy? Absolutely every single morning? And so's my

wife Lynn. I mean we get up early, you know, we're early risals anyway, but we'll put that on, you know, right away as we're doing whatever we're doing and check it out. And she's become a huge Good Morning Football fan as survive from the from the start of it. I think that they're they're able to mix entertainment and

information about as well as anybody. I mean, it is just when you you really have to, you know, pay full attention and don't get two swept away with sometimes the way they delivered, because there is some good information in there. But boy, if you want to if you want to start smiling in the morning. That's a good show to watch too, because they feed off each other exceptionally well. And I do think that there is there's great,

great chemistry amongst amongst all of them. And even when they they'll you know, they'll bring in if they got ones off and they bring one in the other two or three will pick it up. And it just works. It just works no matter what three or four people are on the set for them, they do a heck of a job. I'm very impressed with what they do

every day. It's okay if you're listening open invitation. The home Radio Booth would welcome you on Sunday after you lead the Hooday chant prior to the game, come join your friends and fans, Dan and Dave and the Bengals Radio Booth, no question about it. K is Okay, more than okay, K is special. K. Last, but not least, it's time for this week's No the Faux segment as we check in with Greg Poppa, who joined Lapping Me

on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Greg graduated from Syracuse one year after I did and has become a legend in the San Francisco area At various points. He's called games for the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's, and Oakland Raiders before becoming the play by play voice of the San Francisco forty nine Ers. I've been fired. That's part of the deal, right, It's gonna beat we think,

so too. Looking forward to seeing you as well. So Greggy called the Super Bowl a couple of years ago as the voice of the forty nine Ers. Then San fran had a bunch of injuries last year, including one to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and the team went to went fell to six ten. I expected the forty nine Ers to bounce back in a big way this year and be one of the NFL's best teams. But that hasn't been the case. The six and six Why aren't they better?

I agree with you. I thought the roster actually was deeper Dan starting this season, that it was leaving Miami on ground. Talks day night in twenty twenty after the twenty nineteen year, injuries not quite as dramatic as the twenty twenty year, and the main injury obviously, losing Jimmy was bad, but you know, George Kittle and Nick Bosa, who's an absolute game wrecker, went out in Week two. But this year they lost Jason Burrett in the first game in Detroit. They lost for he mosted in that game.

They still got off to a two and oh start. They lost a home game against Green Bay that they probably should have won, a Seattle game. I think this is kind of the tipping point of the year. They controlled the Seattle home game in early October, and then Garoppolo got got hurt late at the first half of that game, couldn't play the second half and Trey Lance had to come in and they had some special teams mistakes.

They lost that game, and then Trey had to start the next game, and they lost that game in Arizona. And then they came out of the bye and they had a game against Indianapolis at home and it was just an absolutely we don't get rain at this time of the year in October, but it was one of those ridiculous rain storms we had. It adversely affected Jimmy. He didn't play well in that game. We lost that game on Sunday Night Football, And the next season was

kind at the crossroads. We were two and three going to Chicago and Jimmy played a great game, especially in the second half. We won that game. Deebo Samuel had a big game at a real bad game in Arizona the following week, and then they got hot. They won three in a row and they really re established the identity of the Super Bowl team day, which is heavy run game. We're talking forty four runs, two runs, thirty

nine runs in three straight games. And when you run the ball like that and pick up third downs at the clip, they were picking them up at about half. They were keeping the balls damn near forty minutes of the game, and the defense wasn't on the field much. They were fresh. They had three quality wins this game in Seattle. They were sloppy. They didn't have Deebo Samuel and they have Fred Warner. They turned the boat over too much. But they're kind of wildly inconsistent. But I

would say they are extremely capable. They are capable, maybe not quite to be at the level of that twenty nineteen team because they haven't had the bookend to rick this year with d Ford hardly playing, but they're still They're still capable and on any given Sunday they can beat anybody. If the NFL, But I think at any given Sunday they could lose any team in the NFL. Well, that sounds like a lot of teams in the NFL

this year. It's crazy, isn't it. It It really is. I mean in the AFC, twelve of the sixteen teams in the conference have a five hundred record or better. It is. It's just all bunched up. It's nuts. Kyle Shanahan, is he an offensive guru? Is he an offensive wizard? I mean, everybody talks about his running game, how he out leverages people, out gaps people with formations, motions, window dressing, all that sort of thing, and how he schemes wide receivers open

in his passing game. Is he a guru? A lot of question. He's Mike Shanahan's son, Dave, so he grew up. He was in diapers learning this stuff. And Mike who I called the Raiders games for twenty one years. So I saw a lot of him in the AFC West obviously, and he was a coach. When you were broadcasting against him or playing against him or coaching against him, you feared him. Mike was that good of a play designer and play caller Kyle has taken the Shanahan system, which

is that outside zone. Alex Gibs the on line coach going back years ago, and he's taken up to another level with free staff motion and the way they get the edge. They have a blocking scheme called eighteen zoro and nineteen zoro eighteen to the right, nineteen to the left, which was a toss sweep action. But they do it with two special players at fullback and tight end and they're the highest paid players at their positions in the history of the NFL. And use Check is now on

a second contract. You guys know him obviously well from Baltimore. Just a great player. He played so many different positions, and then he got George Kittle as well. The tight ends all block They get to the edge as well as any team in football, whether it's the pin and pull game, which a lot of teams are doing. But I'll tell you what they're doing, Dave. They're doing what I call positionless football. And we kind of saw this in basketball years ago with Miami and the Miami Heat.

And you know, Dan mentioned my association with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors took it to another level where you have like players of all the same size, and you can switch it all the forty nine ers when you take the five offensive linemen and the quarterback out of the equation. In some systems, the quarterbacks live in the run game, but take those six stationary players and

you go to the five eligibles. What Kyle has done is cross train running backs, tight ends, wide receivers where they're all capable of lining up at any position, whether it's the X, the Z. He calls the slot position the F, but that F could be a wide receiver when they go eleven person out free wide receivers, or it could be a fullback, or it could be a

tight end, or it could be anybody. So they cross train their players to play a multitude of position, so it's not just scheming like we're going to get to the edge and we're going to block this differently. But they also get especially in man teams. And then you're gonna see what DBO, Samuel, I think we'll come back and play. They have this package called the dead Pool

because DBO sounds like deadpool and this cool. And they motioned the Z wide receiver, which is what DEVO is, the flanker, the move guy, the jet sweeper, and all of a sudden he comes in the offensive backfield and he lines up as a running back and they run him. And sometimes he's a lead blocker. Sometimes he says the half back and he follows a lead blocker. Could be anybody. So yeah, Kyle has just gotten so sophisticated. And they do it with tempo, they do it with blocking schemes,

they do it all. But right now, what I think he's doing more than ever and Devo is the kind of a centerpiece of it all. Laugh is they've gone positionless football right now. Interesting. Yeah, our guest is Greg Papa, the voice of the forty nine ers. So San Francisco paid a hefty price in the offseason and move up

in the draft to select Trey Lance. Did they do it because Jimmy g can't stay healthy or because of his limitations as a player, Yes, and yes I mean they, I mean the Jimmy's the greatest guy in the world. You know he would fit in write with us on the quad in Syracuse. SE's Assault to the Earth guy from Chicago Land love the guy and he has one. When this team has had a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo they've wanted the very high percentage you could win the Super

Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo. But Jimmy makes an air or to a game that is befuddling, and he did it twice this last game. Threw an interception to Bobby Wagner that was just hard to understand. It was a second window throw. He was supposed to wait till George Kittle passed Bobby Wagner, and he didn't, and he threw Bobby Wagoner the ball. Then he threw one later in the game that was even worse, where George Kittle was completely covered with a thicket of Seattle defenders and he overthrew them.

He did it the week before when he threw one right to Harrison Smith. He turns the ball over a little bit too much and he frustrates Kyle in that regard. Now, all that being said, I would not anticipate Trey playing in this game, Dan, I mean maybe if they get into a down and distance goal line. I'm telling an extreme red zone, you know, third, fourth down, short yardage.

You could see them jump into what they called Bison personnel because he's North Dakota State, which is the Bisons, the program there, but they haven't done that really since he started the game in Arizona back got October the tenth, so I don't anticipate that. But they wanted to upgrade at that position. They really wanted to get Matthew Stafford. They were they were all in on Stafford. It's just Stafford wanted to go play and in LA he wanted

that lifestyle down there. So once they lost out on him, they were into Deshaun Watson a little bit, but that obviously went sideways in the offseason pretty quickly after that, so they moved on. But I they they felt like they had to upgrade to keep up with the rest of the league and in the quality of play. Now all that being said, you know, to make another basketball analogy, Trey is a one and done guy. He played one year of college football in one other game. He's a

long way away. He only had three hundred eighteen pass attempts last year at a lower level of college football. He's a smart guy, or work his ass off. He's in his iPad constantly, but he's not ready right now to take this team over. In my my concern would be if he's ready next year to do it, because he's got a lot to learn. And this is a ready may team to be a playoff team and to turn it over to a young quarterback. Now, your guy's different. He's just so skilled and so ready. And you know

he didn't play a lot either. But Trey's got some room to grow. So to answer your question, Jimmy gets hurt a lot, But Jimmy also hurts the team a little bit too much by throwing the ball to the wrong colored jerseys. Let's talk about the defensive side of things a little bit. You look, you look at some

of the numbers. Eighth in the NFL and first downs aloud, their ninth and third down conversion percentage defensively sixth, and total yards per game tenth and yards per play tied for fourth and fewest passing yards allowed eighth, and sacks per play. They forced twenty five fumbles. That's the stunning number. Twenty five fumbles force leads the NFL. Eight recoveries tied for six. Are the numbers are they? Are they true? Or is the defense playing like the numbers say? Or

how is the defense playing? They have some categories they're good, so they're not the twenty five forced fumble they they forced four fumbles. The other game is Day the Day in Seattle Day, but then they recovered two of them, so they've got twenty five force just eight recovered, so they they've had a lot of bad bounces on that. The one guy who's forced I think seven of them is Josh Norman, right, and in Chicago they have what they call the peanut punch and Charles Tillman punching the

ball out. I call it the Norman knockout is what he does here, and he's a deept at it, but really that's the one thing he does well. He has struggled. So one thing you have to factor in, Dave is the number of defensive pills defensive pass interference calls is alarmingly high and the reason that their offense and the running game has been able to cover for them. This is not the twenty nineteen forty nine Ers defensively. I think this is the twenty nineteen forty nine or running

game at some point. The pass he gave is a little bit inconsistent. They do miss Emmanuel Sanders off that Super Bowl team, but this is not a sledgehammer defense. That defense in twenty nineteen. That's what I called their pass rush group is what I call the gold Rush, which is when I first remembered forty nine or football, going back to the early seventies and John Brody and all those guys. There was a guy named Cedric Hardman

on their defensive line. You may have known him Dave Ye Greek player, and their pass rush the backdown was called the gold Rush. So I immediately dugged Nick Bos. D Ford is the two ends DeForrest Buckner who's now at Indianapolis Colts and Eric Armstead, the modern day version of the gold Rush. They don't have that gold rush right now. D Ford doesn't get on the field. He's hurt with a bad slow to heel persistent back problem. The Forrest bunk their place for the Colts. They have gotten.

They've moved Derek Armstead inside exclusively, and they've got DJ Jones number ninety three is a really good three technake up field penetrator, kind of plays more of a two eye, and then you've got the other end, whoever that may the hard and Key or Samson Abacam or Charles and Menehu or whoever. But it's not the same. Bos says better than he was at nineteen. Bosa is the best player. The two best players on the team, or Nick Bo said, Trent Williams on offense, the left tackle and then George.

But George Kettle's been hurt a lot this year, so it's not been a great defense. Fred Warner's not playing nearly as well as he played last year when he was All Pro Fred and they've had injuries in the second day, losing Jason Barrett George rn acl first game of the year was something they still have not overcome. And in this game, we're not going to have Emmanuel Moseley. He's out several weeks with a high ankle. So Dante Johnson I think will start at one corner, Josh Norman

at the other. Josh is a guy they attacked. The best guy clearly in that cornerback room is the slot guy, the nickelback, Kawan Williams. The safeties play well, Chakua's guitar Jimmy Ward and the new young guy telling who founda is a good player. And they play a lot of dime three safety three corner defenses day. But some of the numbers that tell the story, some of them miss leading because how much the offense has played keepaway with

the ball. This is not It's not the forty nine or defense at twenty nineteen, and I would say it's not a championship caliber defense, but it is capable where if the offense is staying true to their formula to being a good enough defense you can win with. That's going to do it for This episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game, downloaded now from

the App Store and Google Play. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast