Bengals Booth Podcast: Starting Over

the eight no Steelers. Coming up, Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the Bengals first in season positive COVID nineteen tests and what it could mean on the offensive line. Speaking of old line by one on one player interview is with Alex Redman, who could in an emergency have to move from guard to tackle. I'll find out the last time he played that position, and in our know the faux segment, we'll find out if there's actually a chance that Ben Roethlisberger won't play on Sunday when we

visit with Steelers pregame host Tim Bens. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the game 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 on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the leaf blower.

I don't have a huge yard, but it does feature a bunch of trees that shed leaves at the same rate that I lost hair between the ages of thirty and thirty five. As a result, raking leaves sucks, but blowing leaves away is great. It saves a ton of time, and it's actually kind of fun. Now, let's get to

football before we get to Dave Lapham. The Bengals made a roster move after we recorded our conversation that certainly fits a starting over theme of this episode, as they claimed former first round draft pick Tack McKinley off of waivers following his release early this week by the Atlanta Falcons. The forty nine Ers, Ravens and Browns also reportedly tried

to claim the fourth year pro. McKinley is a twenty five year old edge pass rusher who is the twenty sixth overall pick in the twenty seventeen NFL draft out of UCLA. He had six sacks as a rookie and seven in his second season before only having three and a half last year. If you look at his career Pro Football Focus ratings, they are almost identical to Carl

Lawson's numbers. This season, Tack reportedly showed up for the start of training camp in tremendous shape, only to suffer a groin injury in Week two, and he hasn't played that much since, but the Bengals are obviously hoping he can boost their pass rush for the second half of the season. Here's Trey Hopkins on the on office, adding Tach McKinley the front office. I mean it's obvious, it's

everywhere in the building. Gaysa's just hungry to win. Everyone in the building is bought in and turning this thing around and getting cusin anywhere it needs to be and providing and bringing excitement and fun back to the city and having fun winning games. McKinley will be a free agent at the end of the season, and due to COVID protocols, he won't make his Bengals debut until next week at the earliest. Now time for my midweek visit with Dave Lapham. All Right, we got news to cover.

Beginning with the COVID nineteen list, two Bengals players came off the list on Wednesday. McKenzie, Alexander and Jordan Evans they'll be good to go Sunday in Pittsburgh. Fred Johnson, Marcus Hunt, and Trey Wayne's remain on the list. Winston Rose was added to the list on Wednesday. Now, he's a practice squad guy, so I think he's only been

active for one game this season. Of those name's lap, I guess Fred Johnson is the one that is potentially the biggest concern since he started at right tackle in the most recent game against Tennessee, and that the guy that he started for, Bobby Hart, still isn't practicing at full speed. Yeah, Bobby Hart's got a strained MCL media collateral ligament of his knee and a sprain strain whatever you want to phrase it. There's first degree, second degree,

third degree tear. So what degree how significant is that sprain strain? Everybody heals differently. To think that Bobby would be able to play might be ambitious. You know this soon and if that's the case and Fred can't go, identity gets the opportunity out there at the right tackle position, and I know that they would feel better about that

at this point. Haven't seen him play against Tennessee. How would you like to have been in a situation where he's throwing out there against the Pittsburgh Steelers, hadn't taken an NFL snap yet. At least he's got his feet on the ground by going again the Tennessee Titans. And you know, people like Clowney. It was not you know, not chopped liver. So the fact that he showed up on tape and showed up the way they thought he would show up on tape, I think they would have,

you know, a little bit more confidence. But man talking about J. J. Watt and that scheme that Keith Butler utilizes so well, and that's been there so long, Dan, I mean, Keith Butler's been there a while. He was dick On Dick Lebo staff as an assistant. I mean he's running Lebo stuff. It's been you know, two plus decades. It's into the third decade almost of what they do there.

So they know what they're doing and they know how to do it, and they know when to do things, and the opposition doesn't have all that type of experience necessarily to combat it. So on a on a week by week basis, but ticul If you're not a division opponent. I think division opponents see it over and over twice a year every year. If you're not a division opponent, man, that's that's a tough thing to prepare against Baltimore and Pittsburgh both by rule, there's a chance that Fred Johnson

could be back, right, he tested positive last Thursday. You can come back after ten days, so he could return. The first day he could possibly be back would be Sunday morning, So it's possible. But for that to be the case, he would have to be asymptomatic. Otherwise that pushes the clock back. They're not going to tell us about that, so we won't know. And then you run into the whole situation where he wouldn't travel with the team to Pittsburgh. I guess he'd have to get there

on his own. So it seems unlikely, but if you're desperate enough, it's possible. Again, if he were asymptomatic and got there separately from the team, he could be activated for that game. Yeah. And if if that's the case, if he's asymptomatic, they probably already made all those travel arrangements, you know, and um, you know, but he's gonna he's tested every day. So that's the thing is you can test negative one day, in the very next day test positive.

You don't know this what this virus. All we know is what we don't know. I mean, people can couples can share a bed and not get each other infected, but they can go out and see a neighbor for fifteen minutes and neighbors infected. It just you just don't there's no handle on it. Everybody, everybody's metabolism, everybody is different how it responds to and handles the virus and exposure to it. So it's it's crazy, it really is.

You know. The Ben Roethlisberger situation. On the flip side of it, Dan in my mind, isn't really that big of a deal because he's contact tracing, so he's five days, he's got two knee injuries supposedly, so he's getting treatment every day. He's going down there to get treatment. That's what he'd be doing anyway, he'd be getting treatment in zoom meetings and chilling. He's assuming he doesn't test positive,

Assuming he doesn't test positive. But his locker was right next to McDonald's in the locker room, so obviously the contract contact tracing there was obvious and they obviously had to had to follow through on that. But again, this particular week, with his physical status and thirty eight years old and played as long as he has. You know

how Ben Roethlisberger is, he loves the drama. He'll go out there and show up like John Wayne and you know, loop out there and throw for whatever he's gonna throw for and however many touchdowns. That's just kind of the way he is. And his teammates know about it, and they joke about it. The coaches joke about it. That's Ben. Ben's definitely a drama. I'm not saying he's not tough. He's definitely tough, but he wants you to know about it. He wants he wants to be John Wayne. There's no

doubt about that. He looked like John Wayne when he was going to the locker room in Dallas before halftime. He had the same kind of strutted limp whatever you want to call it he did. Let's get back to the tackle situation for a minute, because you mentioned the possibility of a Chemodenagy starting at right tackle if Bobby Hart is still out and if Fred Johnson can't play, because of COVID nineteen. That's assuming that Jonah Williams is

back at left tackle. He was not back full go at practice on Wednesday, still doing stuff on the side. Zach Taylor sund it optimistic that he would be back, but I guess it's not guaranteed. Then what Yeah, Then then you've got a whole kettle of fish of it you got to fry there. I mean, I think I think Jonah will probably give it an effort. Stingers, though,

can be dicey. You know, it might be a deal where we'll see him with a neck brace on, you know, one of those rolls, neck rolls, not a brace as such, but a neck roll over the shoulder pad. But it is to try to limit the snap in the movement in your neck, you know, any kind of whiplash effect and all that sort of thing. That must have been how he got it. Or sometimes you get hit and it just pinches wrong, and that's literally what it does.

It pinches nerves, and nerves and nerve endings get agitated and aggravated, and pretty soon you have a burning sensation down your entire arm. Had him before stinger, you know, your whole arm burns and then boot. Everything's numb from from your your neck down to your fingernails is numb. It's weird, and sometimes it comes back really quickly. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time. His seems to

be a pretty significant one. So yeah, if he doesn't go now, Idenogy would play left tackle and they'd have to go to another I think right I would keep idenergy at left tackle. That's his natural spot. He's really good at that spot. He's comfortable at that spot. And now you're throwing things up there, you're gonna have to make multiple moves. Potentially, if you move Redmond out, you don't have to move. You know, Xavier Suaphilo is going

to be active from the from the injury reserve. Do you plug him in the right guard where he was before the injury? You know, do you go in a different direction. Now you're starting to shuffle, you know, just like a shuffle for Tennessee. You can't do any more of a shuffle than the line that was shuffled for Tennessee. And boy, they they stepped up and exceeded expectations for sure, being part of the performance that they were part of.

The first time the Bengals had to win against the team with a winning record since they beat the Miami Dolphins Week five and twenty eighteen. It's kind of crazy, and that and that revamped, restructured offensive line was a big, big reason why it really was as you meant, was activated off the injured list. They've got twenty one days now to decide if they're going to put him on the back on the active roster or if they were

to let him go whatever. But they've got twenty one days to make that decision, so he could be back this week. They also added O'Shea Duga to the practice squad. He was a tackle that was in training camp last year, looked okay in camp, then suffered a knee injury, and I'm not sure what he's done since, but at least he is a tackle who is back in the building. Yeah, a tackle that understands the offense. You know, he's been around it and he's had his moments. Sometimes he plays well.

Sometimes he looks a little bit like a statue, you know, in terms of his ability to move. But he is a big, powerful kid, There's no question about that. Yeah. So it's it's still definitely a shuffle in terms of offensive line play for sure, able body guys to go out there and man that tackle position. We'll see, we'll see as it unfolds. But uh, and not only not only the physical part of it, but there's a lot of a lot of things that you have to communicate.

And even on the road this with the with the COVID, the communication is going to be light years different. I mean, if they if they were going into Pittsburgh a normal situation, normal circumstances with guys that hadn't played much, and you're gonna have that crowd going nuts and they're playing the you know, playing the music they're blasting all the time, and you can't hear yourself think that would be brutal. But there's not gonna be any of that other than

the music playing. But there's not gonna be anything like that from a crowd standpoint that would inhibit any kind of communication. But that's going to have to be on point as part of the problem in Baltimore early on, looking at that at that tape for a second time a while back, to me, there was there were free runners between the tackles that shouldn't have been free runners.

So that is a sigment era you got a block from the inside out that would and there were a couple of them that would just flat out blown assignment.

And that's what the offensive line, whoever's in there, they to play a clean game in terms of no mental errors, no assignment mistakes, and then of course that they can do what they did against Tennessee, not giving up any sacks, not turning the football over, you know, not being stopped on downs they went for at one time on fourth down they complete a fourth and five of a great improvisational play between Barrow and t Higgins comes from the

sideline the middle of the field to keep that drive alive. So if they do those kind of things, you know that that'll be a big, big reason they could win a football game. But against Pittsburgh, man, you're talking about a massive challenge there to get all that done right on the road, at home, on the moon, anywhere, a team the Bengals have not been able to beat in

recent years. The Steelers have won the last ten meetings between these two teams, going back to the Andy Dalton broken thumb game back in twenty fifteen, even when the Steelers didn't have Ben Roethlisberger. Last year, they swept the Bengals. Now Ben is back, He's twenty five and seven in his career against Cincinnati, which is disgusting. This will beat Von Bell's ever Bengals Steelers game. Let's hear from the

Bengals safety. I don't know much about it. You know, I always watched it, so it's new to me now. You know. I was walking my dog day in the neighbor like saying, you know, it's a big game. I was like, yeah, I know, but he's like, it's different being a thingers. I'm like, what are you talking about. He's like, no, it's different, like hate. I just felt like it from him. I was like, man, this is tense.

I love it. It is intense. It is and he's right, we hate the Steelers, but it's a hatred rooted in jealousy because they have what we want. Six Super Bowl rings and a team that's eight no right now and Bengals overall against the Steelers thirty five and sixty six in franchise history, sixteen and thirty four at Pittsburgh lost more than two times as many as they've won. I gotta start turning that around. I gotta start turning that

around now and that's the thing. Then Mike Tomlin basically tied Marty Schottenheimer's record fourteen eight years to start a career without a losing season, well sweeping the Bengals last year. With those with that quarterback performance, the Pittsburgh steel A

defense basically one football games for them. They were crippled offense, so one of the worst offenses in the National Football League, and the Bengals know all about that, Pittsburgh steel A defense winning a couple of games against Cincinnati last year for sure. Carlos Dunlap is gone, but Sam Hubbard is back this week after missing the last three games with an elbow injury, and Sam says he'll be good to go on Sunday. I'm all in. I'm feeling good. I

trust it and felt good at practice yesterday. We got pads on today, participate off, feel good. I'm just getting ready to get the game planned down and go ahead and beat the Steelers. I guess, like when you heard it, you knew right away something was wrong. Was this about the timeline that you had in mind when they first told you what you did? Ah? Yeah, I mean you can see it on film. It was pretty gnarly injury, dislocated my elbow. Lap and I talked. He did the

same thing back in the day. It's not very pleasant, but uh, you know, pass back in. But three to four weeks it was kind of the timeline we set and yeah, we stuck to it and worked that well. Carl Lawson leads to the Bengals with three and a half sacks. When Sam Hubbard was out, it was very easy for opposing teams to give a little extra attention to Carl Lawson. That becomes much more difficult with ninety four on the field. It does. I mean, you can

slide the line Carl Lawson's way. Well, when you slide the line away from the other tackle, that tackle's got the other defensive end one on one and you have to feel comfortable at that matchup. Well, Sam Hubbard makes that comfort less comfortable. So, you know, I think he won't be in a situation like Gino is. I don't think he'll be a one armed paper hanger out there.

I think he'll be in a much much different dynamic in terms of what he's trying to get done, and he'll be wearing a big, you know, contraption to make sure that it doesn't hyper extend again, Barry Bonds elbow contraption that looking that kind of looking it's like a knee brace on your elbow exactly. It's like almost like

an alien leg or something on your elbow. Um, but you know he'll have to be wearing something like that, and I'm sure he's got most of his range of motion back and a good good bit of his strength and they wouldn't have him out there, so, um, it'll be good. But you know, if you're pass rushing at particularly a defensive end, you have to grab and pull and rip people, and it's a it's a it's a challenge. So if if your elbow isn't right, it can be a major, major challenge. So I think Sam will be

able to get it done and fight through it. And you need all the able bodies you possibly can out there. I mean, Ben Roethlisberg gets the ball out of his hand quickly anyway, So the more guys you can get up the football field in his face that much quicker, the better off you are. Carlsson does have thirteen quarterback hits this year. He's tied for sixth in the NFL

in that category. I was on a podcast last week as a guest where I was asked about the biggest priority for next year, and up until recently, I would have said, well, you got to continue to beef up the offensive line, and that remains true. But to me, the bigger need now, whether it's the draft or free agency, is a pass rusher. I agree with you, you know, and I think I think both lines of scrimmage need to be worked on for sure. This game is a

great example of it. Right now. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a plus twenty two sack ratio. They've got thirty two quarterback sacks, most in the National Football League. They've allowed ten, tied for second fewest. Plus twenty two is the best in the NFL. That plus twenty two sack ratio, you take away the ten, that ratio is tied for eighth best in the NFL in terms of sacks that other people might have gotten. So I mean, it's it's crazy.

And then and then you look at the Bengals. They're minus seventeen ratio, tied with Jacksonville, the worst in the National Football League. They've got eleven quarterback sacks, like you said, tied for twenty fifth, and they they've generated they've gotten allowed twenty eight, tied for second most in the league. So you know, right at the line of scrimmage, both lines of scrimmage, you know, pressuring in the quarterback and

protecting the quarterback. We were talking about upgrading the talent level on both sides of that football. There up front where games are won and lost, you know. I mean, you can have great players of skill positions, you can have tremendous linebackers and guys in the back end. If

you're deficient up front, you're a hurting unit. I know that the Steelers during the years that we've been doing the games together have almost always had one of the better offensive lines in the NFL, and their former O line coach, Mike Munchak, was a big reason in your opinion, has it dropped off much since he left for Denver? You know, they still have three Pro Bowl you know, talent level players to Castro, Pouncey and Villaneueva. I think

though Carl Lawson gives Villain a wave of trouble. He's so long, six foot eight in that low center of gravity that Lawson has. I remember Villain Auaver struggled with him the first time he went up against him, he had that real good body lean and he's able to still, you know, maintain a speed rush with that body lean, and villan Auaver was trying to like push him down on the back and having real problems with him. So I'm going to be interested to see that that matchup

a little bit. I don't think villan Auave is playing at the level that he was, but I think the Castro and Pouncy Pouncey had some injury issues last year. I still think they're playing pretty well. But overall, I'd say it's still a top ten offensive line, but at one time it was top five or maybe even better. I think it's maybe a little bit less, but still a pretty darn good unit. Pro Football Focus grades Pittsburgh Z line number nine in the NFL. So far this year.

They've got Alejandro villan Auava rated lower than both Jonah Williams and Bobby Hart for his play at tackle. Yeah, I think he has struggled a little bit more this year. And what he's doing is he's turning his shoulder pads to the sideline parallel, you know, and he's given a short corner. You know, he's really he's setting two vertically. You know, he's almost like dropped him back in on his set and then turning his shoulders, and he's so big, he's like a big house to try to run around.

But I do think, I do think Carl Lawson's going to give him some some issues to deal with, and hopefully on the other side of the line of scrimmage at the other end, Sam Hubbard will be doing the same thing. The Bengals back in action this week four twenty five, kickoff in Pittsburgh against the Steelers on Sunday. After the bye week. The Bengals hit the halfway point of the season with the record of two five and one.

It's the first break of the rookie year for a Joe Burrow and the other members of the Bengals rookie class. I asked Burrow if he is mentally and physically refreshed. Yeah, I am. Well. After about two days of no football last week, I was like, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do it the next three three days of my life? I didn't know what to do. I'd already watched all the shows I wanted to watch. I was getting super bored, so I don't know what I did kind of It's kind of a blur for me,

but I'm glad to be back. Which shows did you watch over the bye week? You didn't specified? So I watched Queen's Gambit. That was pretty good. Um started House. So there's a lot of seasons of House, so I'm gonna continue. I think I'm on season like two right now, maybe maybe the end of season one, I'm not sure. But that's a pretty good one. Pretty good. I was

too scared to watch that. My parents watched that show growing up, but I was too scared to watch it, so I was I would go upstairs and watch like my own show. But I'm starting that one now. What about House would have scared you? And I was scared of everything growing I still don't like scary movies. I don't like haunted houses or anything like that. But you know, I couldn't watch Harry Potter, what of the Rings House? I was like, strictly a SpongeBob did channel Nickelodeon kind

of guy. Not the Steelers Pass Rush, not the Steelers Pass Rush, and no, scared of everything as a kid, not afraid of anything as an adult. Yeah, hopefully, so hopefully he gets a good night's sleep before that Pittsburgh Steeler game. And he's not. He's not having dreams bad dreams about t. J. Watt and Bud Juprie and to It and Hayward and all those guys up up front, because that Pittsburgh Steeler defensive line is formidable. I never watched House. Was there something scary about House? I don't

feel like a doctor, right, he's a doctor. Yeah, that one. That one's a little a little interesting, little interesting twist. Although I'm trying to think of how old he would have been, you know. I mean, maybe he didn't even understand what what house was, what House was really about play, so he would have been really young. Yeah, maybe he thought it was something about scary an evil doctor, right, an evil doctor to get you in his house, and

all kinds of things can happen. I don't know. All right, Let's talk about Joe Burrow. He's completed sixty seven percent of his passes in the first half of his rookie year. He's thrown for two two hundred and seventy two yards on pace to set the all time NFL rookie record for passing yards in a season, as well as the Bengals record eleven touchdown passes, five picks, passer rating of ninety one point four. He's been special and there's no doubt.

And Dan, the thing that really impresses me is his fourth quarter numbers. He's completing seventy two percent. The only guy that's got a better completion percentage in the fourth quarter is Ben. Ben's completing eighty percent. But Joe Burrows number two. He's number three in yards one hundred and two yards in the fourth quarter, and he's thrown six touchdown passes, tied with Ben. They both got six touchdown passes.

Ben only has one interception, Joe has two in the fourth quarter, but Joe and Ben are both tied for fifth amongst others, tied for fifth in the National Football League with those six touchdown passes. So he's getting it done, you know. I mean, I'm really impressed with one of the games on the line. He's stepping up. And I do think that on a week by week basis, he is one of those guys that compartmentalizes things and he's already making plays that our own even with only an

eight game inventory. Well, So and So did this to us, and we were thinking about making this adjustment. So let's do that. I mean, he's already taking experiences that he's learned from games prior in the season and in this short a time frame, so he you know, he has an ability his mind. You know, the mental gymnastics to do that at such a young age is pretty impressive. And that's the thing I think that makes Pittsburgh so

good offensively and defensively. You got a guy who's thirty eight year old quarterback, and you got a coordinator's been with him for a while. You have a defensive coordining that's been there forever. A lot of defensive lineman been together a linebacker. So now it's a lot of times I don't even have to come into the sideline. They'll betel stay in the huddle. Remember Denver did this to us, you know, like three years ago. Remember we did this

is what we did. They make adjustin's like that, and then if it doesn't happen in the field, what happened in the sideline. The coaches and players will get together. Guys, remember three two years ago, so and so I was doing this to us, and here's what we did. Let's let's get that going. So that's where huge advantages. And you know, Joe Burrow's got eight games to draw from him,

he's already drawn thumb from it. But Ben Roethlisberger has seventeen NFL seasons to draw from, you know, And so it's just it pales in comparison from just a pure experience level, and experience breeds comfort level. There's no question about it. Burrow is the number one pick in the draft. He's living up to the hype. He's been fantastic. I don't think any Bengals fan would rather have anybody else.

And yet out in Los Angeles, Chargers fans are thinking, we've got maybe the best rookie of them all in Justin Herbert. He's been tremendous fifteen touchdown passes already, and right now in Miami they're going, we've got the best guy to a Tongo Violela has only started two games, but they've won them both and he had a passer rating over one twenty last week. I mean to have three guys coming to the league at the same time and get off too starts like this, it's mind boggling

to me. Do you have any theory for why guys are able to do this now when they weren't able to in the past. I think I think that it's the NFL has kind of adapted their schematic to the college game instead of the other way around. And I think because of that, these guys coming to the NFL with a very very you know, um, I already know this. They're very comfortable their mindsets. They're not they're not scared. They're not scared not the right word. They're not confused.

You know, they're not intimidated. They come to that into the NFL mini camps and it's like they're probably making recommendations like Joe is with the Bengals coaches, these other quarterbacks are with their coach as well. This is what worked with us in college when we were doing this these formations and trying to attack people this way. So it's it's real interesting. And you know, I guess I guess you go back to you know, el Way and

Kelly and guys like that. You know, some some years have been drafts where guys have jumped on it right away, but this is this is really unusual, and justin Herbert now is a freak. Joe Burrow, I remember at the combine asked him about obviously a big part of your game is from the neck up. He goes, Oh yeah, he goes, there are guys in this draft that can make me look like a you know, a child throwing

the football. And he's talking about Herbert. I mean that guy riffs the thing, big, strong guy, as fast as Burrow. But he's taller, probably thirty pounds heavier, equally good head of hair, equally good head of hair, and he has a good mind for the game. I think Joe's what separates Joe is that football, you know, intellect, that football IQ, but tongue of Valoa and Herbert. Now those guys, they're all there players as well. The Bengals Booth podcast is

presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now time for this week's one on one player interview. On Wednesday, I caught up with the only player on the offensive line in the Tennessee game who had started the week before, right guard Alex Redman. He earned an excellent overall grade of eighty four point eight from Pro Football Focus, the first time he has ever topped eighty in twenty eight career games.

Alex Dave Lapham said you were outstanding in the Tennessee game and his words, really knocking people around. Did you feel like it was the best of your five starts this year. I feel like it was. I feel like I came, you know, with the right attitude for this game and just yeah, settled in nice. You were the only offensive line starter in that game that had been in the previous week. How concerned were you about the makeup of the group going into that game. I'm not

gonna lie. When I heard that Mike was going down before the game, it was kind of like, oh, gosh, shilling. But you know, the just a testament to the to the guys that came in. It stepped up their hunger and their passion for this game. You know, they wanted it. They wanted it so bad, and I felt like it showed when we played at the Titans. We're chatting with Alex Redmond. Beating a five and one team with four new starters and the offensive line is pretty much unheard of.

Was that one of your most memorable experiences in football? I would say that was that was probably like the most anxious I've been probably before a game, Um, just because you know, the communication is so big with other offensive linemen just that Caromadie is huge. So the fact that we were able to do that on very little reps was I thought was pretty good. Mike Daniels was asked about the offensive line after the game and he singled out you and Quentin Spain for your physical play.

Spain's only been here for about a week. But do you like what you see? Oh yeah, Quintin is a is a dollar. I mean he was, He was super stout in that game. He came in and people I don't think people understand how incredibly hard it is to play in the NFL, and then second of all, to to not be in the building for longer than forty eight hours and then starting and then play very very well in the game. I mean, I feel like that was incredible. Getting back to Mike Daniels, it sounds like

he sees a little of himself in you. Is it reciprocal? Do you do feel the same way when you line up against Mike in practice? Going against Mike is like hitting a school bus. It is is incredible his leverage and his power that he plays with. So I mean, I feel like me and him bring a certain Uh, I don't know, just we we just love playing football, I feel like so, you know, I feel like other other people kind of see that in us. We just love the game. We love to be around each other,

you know, hitting on each other. And I feel like so me and him kind of had that same kind of attitude. We just want to be roughed and tumble and you know, have fun and mess people up. We're visiting with Alex Redman. You face the Steelers this week. They're number one in sacks, they're number one in quarterback hits about ten per game. How much of it is their scheme and how much of it is great individual talent? Well, obviously, you know they have great coaches. Then obviously those coaches

put them in the right positions and make plays. You get those same guys and then you not put them in the right positions and they're not going to make as many plays as they do. But you know, I feel like they do a good job just across the board, just you know, just doing a good job at their assignments. They're really they're Yeah, they're super good front. The tackle situation is interesting this week. Jonah Williams and Bobby Hart

didn't play against Tennessee. Fred Johnson tested positive for COVID nineteen. As we do this interview, we don't know their status for Sunday. If there's a need for somebody to switch from interior to tackle, are you that guy? Yeah? I mean, if it needs to go there, I feel like I could. I could play some tackle. But well, that's just, you know, a decision that the coaches are gonna make, and I'm gonna just have to follow through with How much tackle

have you played in your lifetime? I haven't played much tackle, but I feel like I feel like I could do a decent job. When was the last time. The last time I've played tackle was last year during practice? How about any game I probably played tackle? Maybe my sophomore year in high school. Well, I hope that streak doesn't end. I hope you're settled in at your usual guard spot. For everybody concerned, Let's wrap up with a thought on Joe Burrow halfway into his rookie year. Describe him in

a few words. He's poised, he's tough, and he's just an outstanding leader. He's steadfast. I feel like he just commands everyone to be there best because He's out there doing his best, so you don't want to let him down, all the people around you down. He kept him clean against Tennessee, no sacks. It's gonna be hard against Pittsburgh, but we know you're gonna give it your absolute best to try to do that again. Best of luck against

the Steelers and thanks for the time. Thanks. Redmond is currently graded as the forty second best guard in the NFL by Pro Football Focus, only one spot behind the Steelers five time Pro bowler David DeCastro and ten spots ahead of former Bengal Kevin Zeitler. DeCastro and Zeitler are both thirty years old, Redmond is still only twenty five. Now time for our Know the Faux segment and our expert this week is Tim Bens, a Pittsburgh sports columnist

and the host of the Steelers pregame show. He joined Lapping Me this week. I'm the Bengals Game Plan Show. Tim. I read a story I think this came out yesterday in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette suggesting that the Steelers should hold out Ben roth Burger this week. I am all for it. Is there any chance on God's green Earth that that happens. See, you're reading the wrong paper, Dan problem,

that's not going to happen correctly. Tell you that would never happen, Well, I mean they I doubt that they would ever hold him out just because he didn't practice. I would doubt that they would ever hold him out just for the NFL version of load management. Certainly not in a division game. Certainly not with the Ravens dipping at their heels and a Raven game right around the corner.

The only reason that I could see them holding him out would be if they got to Friday, maybe even to Saturday, and he said, you know what, I haven't gotten the right kind of treatment all week because of the COVID situations. But limited my knees are still bothering me, or my one knee or both knees, whichever report you want to believe, still bothering me from Dallas. That that's me would be the only reason why they would hold

him out. And I also don't think they were thrilled they saw on the limited exposure from Mason rutol Up in that one drive. And you know they try to get rid of Josh Dobbs once before and then decided they had to bring him back. It was better to bring him back, so I doubt it. I don't think they'd ever willingly play without Roethlisberger. I hear that, and Roethlisberger will be John Wayne. He'll be you know, he

loves the drama. He'll be got a couple of creaky knees, go out and throw for four hundred and four touchdown passes. That has been Ben Roethlisberger. He's got a new weapon. Claypool freakazoid six to four almost two hundred and forty pounds, runs four to four forty. I mean, tell us about this guy. What makes Claypool tick? Yeah, He's what I thought the Ravens were gonna get in Boykon, you know

when they take him out of Notre Dame. But just he's kind of better in every category, you know that bigger, faster, stronger, And he's also bigger, faster, stronger than anybody else the Steelers have. And he was really really good through the Browns game. Not quite as good the last couple weeks, and you've seen Juju start to emerge again. And that's not an accident. You know, Ben has been really good. I think the best part of Roethlisberger's game so far

this year is what he's doing pre snap. I mean, you can see him get up to the line of scrimmage and he's doing the Russell Crowe a beautiful mind thing. You know. He's got the tack board in front of him and he's seeing where the strings are going to connect, and he knows who's got what coverage. And I tell you, he's been really good pre snap and he's just been really good at diagnosed to where the tough recoverage is going to be and then he just goes somewhere else.

The Titans were the first team to really try to take away Claypool. First. They put Malcolm Butler and sometimes help over there wherever Claypool was, and that opened things up for Juju and he's kind of been rolling ever since. I'll be honest with the next step I think is him getting in sync more often with the Kay Johnson, who was very good as a rookie last year, and the two of them, they've tried to get in a

vibe and it just hasn't happened yet. They've been a step out of sink a lot and there have been some wasted throws between those two, if they ever hook up consistently, I think that's going to really open things up for two two because it's going to scare the other side and it's gonna relieve some of the pressure in Claypool too, who's going through some grown plains last couple of weeks. Sure, Steeler's pregame host Tim Benz is

our guest. Did. Last year's eight and eight season with Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph at quarterback changed the way that Steelers fans feel about Mike Tomlin. Yeah, for a while until he last he lost his last three games, and then it was back to this guy, I'll never get back to the super Bowl again. You know, I think he deserved and got a lot of credit for doing whatever he could coaching wise, scheme wise, the six days leading up to Sunday and then even on Sundays

themselves to get them to eight and five. And then, you know what, one thing has been an issue I've found and then Tomlin era is he's had a tough time in seasons getting the team back on track. Like those last three weeks are pretty bad. It's a fifty fifty game against the Bills. They kind of had to win, and they didn't, and they were coaching things along the

way in that game I didn't like. And then they looked really bad against the Jets too, even for the Steelers beat where they were they should have beaten that Jets team last year, and then they got housed by the Ravens backups the last week. So it just didn't look great for Tomlin, even though he was fantastic and how he was a steward for the team for the first thirteen weeks. And you know, we saw that when the season fell apart at seven two and one and

they missed the playoffs. And you know, there was a season between two Super Bowl years where they went nine and seven and lost a four some five hundred teams and had a five game losing streak. They kept him out of the playoffs like that. There have been times where Mike's had a hard time getting back on the rails, and so far this year it's been anything possible to keep it on the rails. He has in game management, in game adjustments or just weeked a week or something

needs to be tweaked. He's pressed a lot of the right buttons, and he's got my coach near Boone so far this year three weeks. One of the really great trades, recent trades, make off Fitzpatrick. I mean it ends up costing the Pittsburgh steel is the eighteenth pick in the first round. Do that all day, every day. Make off Fitzpatrick. Is just such an unbelievable playmaker. What do the coaches say about make of Fitzpatrick? What makes him so great? Instincts, athleticism, smarts,

That's what they talk about. I also think there's a bit of a fear present. It's not and read, but it's, you know, a watered down and read of there's a really good player in the middle of the field. I better make sure this is really really open before I uncourt this ball into the post. Like I think that exists.

In fact, I was so furious to say for all the splash plays he made last year, what Minka did that was more important than anything else for Steelers was that exact presence of being in the middle of the field. That not the plays that just making when the ball is coming in his direction. It's the plays that aren't

tried because he's there. I think that's been a that's been more noticeable to Steelers defense than anything, because like the last year, had five receptions, three of them were balls that bounced off of other players, targeted at other defensive backs, and he just sniffed it out once the play was botched by the receiver. You know, there's a fumble that they took back the other way where everybody

stopped after Javon Hargrave hit Jared Goff. You guys remember the play last year where Devin Bush did all the dirty work, made that great play to track down boyd stripped the ball was just sitting there and Minka picked it up and ran a back thirty five yards. Like those are the flukey plays that he made last year that he hasn't had as many of this year. But the presence still to be in the middle of the field and discourage quarterbacks from attack in the deep middle.

I think he can't put a price tag on that. A couple more questions for Steelers pregame host Tim Ben's. You mentioned Devin Bush. How badly do the Steelers miss him? They missed him. It's a little difficult to quantify how much better they would be if he were been playing, but it's it's easy to identify the teams seem more willing to run and the middle of the field has been very open. I don't know how much of that is just because Devin has gone or what I mean.

He has not been what Devin Waite has been for Tampa. He hasn't been Ryan tres here yet. But he's been good and he's athletic. And the exact play that hurt himself on against Cleveland, where he was streaking across the field to get to a running back who was open along the sidelines and a little flare out pattern it

was going to go for twenty five yards. If he didn't get there, he totally scaring the running back for the Browns's got a right in his field division because he closed so much ground so quickly that he dropped the ball. And when he dropped the ball, Demn sort of adjusted and that's how his view went out. But he's going a million miles an hour and he saw the athleticism coming to play, and that's the thing. Mass Man Spillane is more athletic than he gets credit for.

And he's been good. He's been better than what you had a right to expect. I'll be real interested to see how much Avery Williamson gets worked in this week and at least in the run game. How much he can help the Baltimore situation in Baltimore, you know, that's what they do. They're a funky kind of team to defend. That probably happens if Avery Williamson is in there. Anyway, I think that Avery Williamson might have helped more last week.

If this has been a non COVID environment, they could have gotten him up to speed and got him in grain to the defense against the Cowboys more often. The final question, and appreciate your carving all the time you have for us. Danny Smith. I have a lot of respect for him. He has to be going nuts. That had to be one of the worst special teams performances against Dallas that Steelers have had in quite a while. Yeah, and they've been good. I mean, there's a special team

to have been nice this year. Um Boswell has been fairly efficient, not as great as last year, but certainly way better than two years ago. The punting itself hadn't been good, but getting Jordan Barry back for coal Quit was an upgrade. I guess they kind of made a mistake there, but they revisited and I think I have the better puncher back now, But you're right. I mean

they gave up a trick play on a punt. They had a perfect angle pooch kick after the Cowboys got a penalty following a touchdown, so they tried to pin him deep and the kicker did everything he needed to do, and then the return guys fell all over the place, not to mention all the blocks that nearly happened, you know, and the pressure on the one extra point and I think made Boswell miss it, but like every place kick

was almost blocked. And what was going on there they was They've got two rookies with very minimal experience on either side of a long snapper, and DeMarcus Lawrence and Torone Crawford of the Cowboys just had a field day with it. And if you look at the film, you can see that it's more about Lawrence really than it is Crawford. He's pulling Dotson down and thrusting down on half an hour, and he's creating an alley for Crawford

to get through without making the leaping penalty. He probably leaped a little bit, but he without it making it's so obvious that the rest would call it so they've definitely you know, the Bengals are looking at that all day on their special teams real so if they can emulate that at all, it couldn't become an issue again for the Steelers this week. I was not surprised Tom Wood didn't kick the field goal. I mean, I thought

he probably is thinking Crawford may get this one. Yeah. Well, the reason I didn't like it though, is, well, at least one thing I would have done differently is if you're telling me that you don't have faith in your kicking game to execute the kick, I don't know how on God's green Earth, then you have confidence to run the ball in a fourth and one, who they haven't

been able to do that all day. You know, at that point you might as will just throw with Roethlisberger right and have five options running around the field because the clock's going to stop anywhere in the fourth down turn of possession, So why not throw it there? If

that's what you're thinking? Is and I don't know, I just I think the way the math would have worked out, And you know, the only thing that could have really killed him in that situation is that a bot text kind of thing where they've walked it and run it back the whole way, which I guess could have been the case, but boy, you're counting on a funky bounce

to football that way. True. Mike Tomlin will not hesitate to use Chris Boswell this week because he is perfect for life against the Bengals forty eight for forty eight between field goals and pats. Every week I watch him miss one until he plays the Bengals, and then he is the greatest kicker in the history of mankind. Not that I'm better. Tim Benz appreciate jazz always, but hey, great being on with you guys again. Anytime he ded

me him just a phone call away. Don't forget to tune into the Bengals pep Rally Show on Friday from three to six on ESPN fifteen third. I'll be broadcasting you see football on Friday night, so Lap will be joined by Wayne box Miller on Friday show. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Bud Light, Seltzer refreshed the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share.

A comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.