Bengals Booth Podcast: That's So Raven

the Bengals, Dolphins, Colts, and Titans. The Bengals wins over Miami and Indianapolis could come in very handy. On this episode of the podcast, you'll hear radio replays from the game, locker room interviews with several key players, and Dave Lapham will join me for postgame analysis. Plus, in this week's fun Facts Interview, I'll talk to rookie cornerback Darius Phillips on a wide variety of topics in hooting the two people in history he would most like to meet. I

think his answer will surprise you. All of that is straight ahead, But first, 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, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since caffeine. I've had an eventful weekend calling. You see basketball at home on Friday night, you see football in Orlando on Saturday night, and the Bengals game in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon. I

love it. It's what I dreamed of doing as a kid, and I kind of think of the challenge of getting from game to game is my own version of the Amazing Race. But I haven't had a lot of sleep, which is why caffeine is my drug of choice. Now, let's get to the game. With Joe Flacco missing practice all week with a hip injury, the Bengals knew they were like a face former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson.

In his first NFL start in three years at Louisville, Jackson passed for more than nine thousand yards and ran for more than four thousand yards, and his ability to run was the big concern. According to Bengals linebacker Hardy Nickerson, when you go up against the Lamar Jackson, you know Cam Newton. A guy like that, like a Mike Vick,

you always got to be ready for it. But even if they knew it was coming, the Bengals couldn't stop Jackson and the Ravens on their opening drive eleven plays, all runs, including five runs by the quarterback, for forty six yards. The end result an early seven nothing lead. Waits for the shotgun snap on second down and goal from the seven, Jackson hands it off Collins trying to bounce it wide toward the sideline. He will run toward the pylon and score a Baltimore touchdown. Man, I didn't

think that was gonna bounce well enough. Looked like the Bengals were in position, but they didn't set a strong enough edge. Montest Burford kind of barking at his guys, who's setting the edge defensively. Jackson finished the game with twenty seven carries for one hundred and seventeen yards, a new rushing record for a Ravens quarterback. Here's Vinny Ray. Most of us have seen him in college. You know

the highlights. But we saw a couple of games of him getting ready in the last couple of days in the preseason, and we see he's good. He's a good quarterback, goes through his reads and he is unbelievable quickness and as you see, I think his best qualities is toughness. So um good quarterback is gonna be a tough player to play against me. Is just what Bengals fans wanted

to hear. Baltimore's lead didn't last. Early in the second quarter, Andy Dalton hit Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon on back to back passes for twenty nine and twenty one yards, leading to a tying touchdown. Sam Hobbard in at fullback first in golf from the one they get it and he fights his way across the goal line. Touchdown, Bang goals as Joe Mixon plowed over Jefferson and took it into the end zone for the score. That was one of very few productive runs for the Bengals. Mixon finished

with fourteen yards on twelve carries. Giovanni Bernard had five yards on two carries. In the final two minutes of the half, the Ravens scored twice. A twenty eight yard field goal by Justin Tucker made a ten seven, then the Bengals punted it back to Baltimore with twenty two seconds left, and Jackson was able to scramble around for an eternity before throwing a twenty three yard pass to John Brown that put the Ravens within the long field goal range of Justin Tucker. Here's Marvin Lewis on the

defensive breakdown the field goal before halftime. He scrambles would come out of coverage. That's a huge play. You know, we can't do that. And you know they had a couple other opportunities there and you know where they had to end up punting it. But those are the things you got to learn. When you're playing a quarterback that runs, you gotta just you know, you gotta take care of

your job that the other guys chase the quarterback. Tucker drilled a fifty six yard field goal to end the half, his ninth in a row from fifty plus, and the Ravens head a thirteen seven lead. In the third quarter, Baltimore's twenty one year old quarterback finally made a rookie mistake. Jackson rolling to the right now, he wants to take off and run now he throws intersected by Sean Williams. Williams at the forty five of Baltimore the forty to the thirty five, and he will be tackled by Lamar

Jackson around the thirty three yard line. The Bengals capitalized on the great drive start to take their first lead of the day. Dalton, waiting for the shotgun snap catches at the nine, drop straight back through the flamental that is caught for a touchdown, hauled in by Matt Lengal, his second career touchdown catch, his first and a Bengals uniform.

Cincinnati has tied it pending the extra point. Randy Bullock made the pat to put the Bengals up fourteen thirteen, and here's legal and hauling in that touchdown catch with no defenders nearby, knew there was gonna be nobody there. I thought I might be getting the ball, but I didn't realize until after that. It was like a little ten yard bubble I had there. So I'm just glad I could catch it and fall down and score touchdown.

That was a thirty two yard touchdown drive, and the Bengals got great field position again on their next drive when the Ravens went for it on fourth and one in their own territory. On fourth down and one from the forty five yard line. Bengals crowd the middle, Jackson trying to knife left. I don't think he got it. The Bengals defense begins celebrating, and three and a half minutes later, the offense was celebrating thanks to John Ross.

Dalton fakes a handoff. He's gonna love it deep toward Ross in the end zone and it is a touchdown. A great catch for John Ross as he somehow maneuvered up and over Marlin Humphrey to reel in the twenty two yard TD How about that a contested catch by John Russ. It was not only a terrific contested catch, but Ross showed great awareness to get both feet down in bounds for his fourth touchdown on a total of eleven receptions. I saw where it like when I filled

the balls. I lived down and made sure I got both feet in, you know, before anything if he tried to drag me out or something like that. Because I caught it and he also had his hand on the boss, I wanted to make sure you know that I've definitely got my feet in, you know, so it'll be a touchdown.

Calb regardless, the Bengals had an eight point lead with five forty five left in the third quarter, plenty of time for Baltimore to stick with the running game, and that's what the Ravens did with the combination of Jackson and a two hundred and thirty eight pound undrafted rookie out of Rutgers named Gus Edwards. Second and three for the Ravens at the eleven yard line, tenth play of

the drive for Baltimore, Sneed goes in motion. It's a handoff to Edwards, breaking through tackles and taking it into the end zone for a piece of cake touchdown eleven yards for Gus Edwards. Hardy Nickerson Whift on an early tackle attempt. Edwards added a two point conversion run to tie the game at twenty one, and finished with one hundred and fifteen yards on seventeen sledgehammer carries. Most football fans have never heard of the guy, but Vinnie Ray

had no about him. I'm no about him since for a long time, since he was like in grade school. He's from New York City, so I've been known about him. He's a tough guy, runs hard, big guy. The game was tied going to the fourth quarter when the Ravens drove fifty five yards on ten runs and only two passes. It led to a twenty four yard field goal by

Tucker and a twenty four twenty one lead. The Bengals answered with a nice drive of their own, highlighted by a thirty two yard pass to Tyler Boyd on third and twelve, but the drive stalled at the Ravens thirty three and Randy Bullock is not justin Tucker. He missed a fifty five yard field goal wide right that would have tied the score. The offense put us in position to get to kick there, and we got to, you know, how to make the kick. That's part of it, you know,

and it's unfortunate that Randy missed a kick there. The Bengals had one more chance, getting the ball at their own ten yard line with two forty five to go. The situation was eerily similar to last New Year's Eve, when the Bengals got the ball at their own ten with two forty three to go and drove ninety yards to beat the Ravens on Andy Dalton's forty nine yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd, but with aj green out, the Ravens put two defenders on Boyd, and on fourth

and three, Dalton threw instead to Cody Kor. It hit him in the hands for what could have and probably should have been a first down, but Kor failed to make the catch and the Ravens ran out the clock for twenty four twenty one win. Here's Tyler Boyd. We got to win now. We can't. We can't, can't. We can't take no more loss. If we want to be great and we want to go to the postseason, then

we gotta win. In Marvin Lewis's first game since taking over defensive coordinator duties, the Ravens rushed for two hundred sixty five yards on fifty four carries, the most rushing yards the Bengals have given up in marvin sixteen years as head coach. Baltimore added one hundred and fifty passing yards for a grand total of four h three, but the Bengals did hold Baltimore to twenty four points, eight less than teams ravaging against Cincinnati going into the game.

Not exactly defensive dominance, but there was improvement with Marvin calling the shots. According to linebackers Hardy Nickerson and Vinny Ray, I think he did he did a good job today, you know, getting us the calls. We're coming to the sideline, we're talking about stuff where we're making adjustments, and then we're you know, the adjustments are working. So it's it's one of those things where I think he's he's going

to be more comfortable next week. But to not do this since when two thousand and two or something like that, and to come out on call plays, I thought he did a hell of a job. I love going out there and playing for him, you know, I know he's in the fight there with us. He's right there on the field, and so we gave all Vontes goes out there. He's not even one hundred percent going out there fighting

for every tooth and mail. Up next another rookie quarterback, number one overall draft pick, Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns. Now time to bring in my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for postgame analysis, and we begin with the Bengals getting run over. Gus Edwards had fifteen carries for sixty four yards on the season. Today he had seventeen four hundred and fifteen six point eight a carry seventeen yard long, and he had that touchdown run where he ran through everybody.

Lamar Jackson confidence with twenty seven rushes one hundred and seventeen yards four point three year carry twenty one yard average. They average four point nine per rush, fifty four rushes of the football twenty sixty five yards. They only ran at nineteen times. It was the opposite in the first game. They threw at fifty five and ran at twenty two. They just turned the tables and put the Bengals in

a meat grinder. Put that running game. And then on the other side, Bengals had sixteen carries for forty eight yards. You take away Andy Dalton's twenty yards scramble. Fifteen carries for twenty eight yards less than two yards a pop. Not going to beat anybody running the ball like that, particularly when the other team is rushing him down to your throat for two hundred and sixty five yards. So the difference in today's game was the running game. For

the first time in the Marvin Lewis era. Against Baltimore, he lost the game where he was plusing the turnover department. They were plus one and they had a fourth down stop, so two of the drives for the Ravens didn't end in a kick and that kept him in the game. If not for those getting short fields out of those,

the Bengals would have been in real trouble. So you know, there's miles to go before they arrest in terms of you know, staying in your gap, coming off the blocks, making tackles, and Jackson, even when he was in the pocket, bought time with his quick feet. You know, he doesn't see the field well. If you take away the running game and make him throw it, he's going to struggle. There's no question about it. Bengals couldn't do that today.

They didn't make him one dimensional. A team that's going to be able to make him one dimensional is He's going to have his issues. But you know, I think Joe Flacco is more of an NFL quarterback than he is right now. But boy, I would not hesitate to use him more in the wildcat and run the wildcat, not just in the red zone. I'd run the wildcat anywhere you want to run the wildcat, just to change the temple of the game as a as a as an offset to Joe Flacco what he does stand in

the pocket and throwing the ball down the field. Laugh, the Bengals are the first team to face Lamar Jackson as a starter at the NFL level. Was that a disadvantage for the Bengals? You know, I think that it was a little bit. Dan and I think Marty morning Wig, the offensive coordinator who had Michael Vick at Philadelphia, and Greg Roman, who basically is the assistant head coach and

coaches the tight ends. He had Colin Kaepernick with the forty nine ers, so they had an understanding, I think, of what to do with the infancy stages of Lamar Jackson. But the Bengals had stopped the run with any modicum of success, it might have been a whole different ball game because I'm not sure he could have executed the passing attack that they wanted executed. I mean, when he had to throw the football, he was holding the ball,

running around, creating, trying to create opportunities. He looked like Johnny Man's eldom. He had Texas A and m you know, just that's hard to pass protect for a guy like that. But he extended a lot of plays and he made plays when he had to. But I mean that running game was just was just dynamic, and you got to

tip your cap to them, for sure. And I think the Bengals knew that that was gonna what was gonna unfold, and I think they're probably bitterly disappointed that they didn't do a better job of making him one dimensional and have to throw the football. They had maybe three series after the first touchdown drive where oh, it looks like now they're gonna handle, But then the Ravens adjusted to

the adjustments and off they went again. Lap It was Marvin Lewis his first game since taking over as defensive coordinator for Terrell Austin. Did you see improvement with are in calling the defense. I think the biggest progress I saw were the guys I think felt more confident in what they were supposed to do and how they were

supposed to do it. I didn't see any personnel issues, running guys on and off the field like a fire drill, and you know, just barely getting guys in in time, and then you know, getting to the line of screams, not even getting lined up, looking at each other like you know, what's the call, what's the final verdict, and then boom, the ball snapped and you're on your heels.

I didn't see that. I thought, you know that the management part of that was a heck of a lot better managing personnel substitutions and getting calls in early enough where guys could communicate and all that. But man, they're going to do a much, much, light years better job beating blocks, getting off blocks, and tackling people. I mean, they're still horrendous tacklers on the defensive side of the football. When the Bengals beat Baltimore back in Week two, Aj

Green cut three touchdown passes. Tyler Eifford was still healthy back then. I kind of have the feeling that if Aj Green had played today, the Bengals might have won the game. But that's meaningless. He didn't, but clear they need him back to make a playoff run down the stretch. Yeah, there's no question. I mean, when AJ's in the game, the vertical passing game, you know, was there. I thought today for the most part, it was a horizontal passing game,

you know, just stretching it. I thought the Ravens stretched the field horizontally with their running game. The Mengals are trying to do with their passing game a little bit. They didn't. John Ross did make a good play on a deep ball. He found the football and Humphrey didn't. But you know that those were few and far between, and Tyler Boyd's finding out what it's like to be a primary target now in a passing game. And I

agree with you. I mean, you know, in that first game, every tight end had two catches and more in that football game. Ifford had a couple, Croft had a couple. You know, CJ. Zama had three. So that multiple tight end package was starting to really show not only running the football but throwing it. Now they're all on inje reserve. So with that particularly effort out and AJ Green out, this offense looks so much different than the offense played

Thursday night in Week two at Paul Brown Stadium. I mean AJ Green had three touchdown catches in less than seventeen minutes. You know, those first three catches were all touchdowns. And yeah, he's obviously he's the best player on that side of the football. When you're down your best player, you're gonna feel it. I don't know if Justin Tucker is the best player for the Baltimore Ravens, but he's

the best kicker in NFL history. Randy Bullock missed a fifty two yarder that could have tied it in the fourth quarter. You're not going to have a high percentage from fifty plus, at least most kickers don't, but justin Tucker does. He drilled a fifty six yarder at the end of the half. Those three points turn out to be the difference of the game. And in on that play, Jackson's buying time scrambling around back there. The Bengals drop

coverage thinking that Jackson's gonna be sacked. You can't drop coverage. I mean, you can't do that. You just can't leave your guy open. And maybe trying to go pressure the quarterback. That's not your job. Other people are pressing on the quarterback. Let them do their job. You stay with your job. And that path allowed it to be a fifty six yard fieldal opportunity, and Tucker, you know, made him pay. He was two for two from fifty and beyond. And uh the Bengals were oh for one and in a

three point game. That's that's the difference in the football game. But there there are a lot of a lot of reasons. You know, they lost the football game. The kicking game you know, being won. But I mean, to get out rushed like they got out rushed. I mean that's that's basically high school mispatches when you look at that kind of rushing, you know, or Alabama playing in Division two or something like that. At the collegiate level, you don't see that kind of disparity very often in the National

Football League. In today's NFL, teams don't run it fifty five times, you know, for two hundred and sixty five yards. But the Ravens did what they had to do. And I give him credit. I mean, the offensive line knew they had to run block the best they've ever done it, and they had a one two punch George Edwards. Who the heck is George Edwards sixty four yards rushing on the season. He stepped up and he had his coming

out party today, and uh as did Lamar Jackson. As a runner at the quarterback position, He's still far from being anywhere near polished as a pastor. Thanks Lap. Up next the Cleveland Browns, who had to buy this week, and we'll come to Paul Brown Stadium with a record of three six and one. We'll see if Hugh Jackson's knowledge of his former team helps the Bengals beat the

Browns for the eighth consecutive time. Now time for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads, in this case, the third of the Bengals three fifth round draft choices this year. Time for some fun facts with Bengals rookie Darius Phillips from Detroit, Michigan. From the heart of the city or from the suburbs the heart of the city, tell me a little bit about growing up in Detroit. Growing to Detroit's kind of

I'll say as a while, but it's kind of. It's really like depending on who you surrounds us off with. You know a lot of people branch off like going to high school, middle school, so you surround up with some people that want to want to do succeed in life, where he surrounds of some people that want it that don't. Luckily, you'll surrounded myself with with people that want that wanted to help me get to the next level and go

to college. For some of your favorite athletes going out, I was into basketball before I got into football, so I'd say Lebron James m Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook. Then when I got into football, probably switched over to like Calvin Johnson receivers. Now I played offense for I started playing defense, so it was mostly receivers. I didn't when you look at DBS. We're doing fun facts with Darius

Phillips and any brothers and sisters. Um, yes, I have one biological sister and I have um three guy sisters and two god brothers. So I have I'll say my immediate family is small, but my extended family is bid. Sounds took a big group rooting for you though. Yeah. Come, they come to almost every game. I think last week was the first game they missed. Talking to Darius Phillips, I went to Syracuse. My broadcasting partner, Davel Appam went

to Syracuse. You almost went to Syracuse, right, Yeah, that was actually my first, um, my first offer coming out, it was Syracuse. Uh, Wheely went to Robshaw and he was coaching the Tyrone week then he was coaching there. Then I guess the coaching staff at Syracuse got hired believe for the Bills. Correct, Moron went to the Bill. Yeah. So then when they went to the Bills, Um, they didn't pull my scholarship, but the coach coming in he didn't like contact me, So I just decommitted. You wound

up at Western Michigan instead in Callamazoo, Michigan. Was that a little bit of a culture shock going from Detroit, the heart of the city, to callama Zoo. Um. I want to say it was a coaching shock, just because I don't know Detroit wild. But I wasn't into like all of all of while stuff, So when I went down there, it was just I say, they were more friendlier. So that probably was more the most shocking thing that was friendly. People's friendly. As you mentioned you worldwide receiver.

You played wide receiver there your freshman year. Could you have made the NFL as a wide receiver? Me? Just because of me? I would say yeah, But Coach Fleck put me into the office several times telling me if I wanted to make to the NFL, I would have to switch. And eventually he made this decision and I couldn't be more happier. Now it certainly worked out well. But did you resisted at first making the switcher your

sophomore year to the the cornerback? Um? Y'all resisted? Um? Because when I first found out Donald sellerscar he was leaving. He was leaving. We had a spot opening. We was at a basketball game and he came to me and Toby. They was gonna switch me to the the corner, and I didn't want to do it. First day, I think it was winner conditioning. They hit me down there with the corner trying to backpedal. I couldn't do none of that, so they excused me back to the corner, I mean

the receiver. Then I would say, like a week later, sushed me back to the corner. When you were a junior in Western Michigan, you were a key member of a team that went thirteen at old and made it to the Cotton Bowl before losing to Wisconsin. Best four months of your life? Um? Yeah, I'll say it was the best for my months of my life. Um. Still keep in contact with a lot of them guys, and it was just we was just I'll said. The thing that was different from that team, we were just close family.

You know. The culture was we knew he was gonna go out and win. We knew we was everybody's gonna do the job, and we just got it done. You hold an NCAA record for return touchdowns with twelve, five kick returns, five pick sixes, a punt return, and a fumble return. It's got to be pretty cool to hold an all time college football record. Um, yeah, I think it's pretty pretty cool. But I don't. I don't really tell anybody, so I don't think nobody on the team. No,

I don't. I don't be going around just telling people that I do. But it's it's a compliment for me and myself and my family just knowing that I got a record in such a great game in Cuba football. You need me to go walk around the locker room right now and send your praises. People should know that that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just quiet, quiet person, So I don't really do that, all right. Darius Phillips doesn't

brag about himself, so I'll do it for him. You played in the MAC, but some of your biggest games happened when Western Michigan took on big name schools. One hundred yard kick return against USC, one hundred yard kick return against Chicken Stayed. Did you look at those games as an opportunity to prove what you could do? Whenever we played big schools, I always had a chip on my shoulder just because I didn't get the offers from the big schools. And just during the week we are

just here. Oh yeah, we're gonna, they're gonna, We're gonna blow them out that week because we was in the MAX. So I just took pride in and planning the MAC and going out and and showing that as talent in any conference, no matter what conference you're win. Darry she lost her mom far too soon before your senior year of college. How did you cope. I'll just say, just surrounding myself with my teammates saying and my family and France, you know, just them keeping their hands around me and

just trying to stay focused for her. My sister just had a niece and I mean a daughter, so my niece and just trying to be a positive road out of her life fan so show her it's different parts of life, just being in Detroit. So you're drafted by the Bengals in the fifth round this spring. Describe your

draft experience. It was tough coming into the draft. I mean the road to the draft just because I had bumps and bruises that was from the previous season, so I couldn't really do nothing at the combine, couldn't do nothing at the Singer Bowl. Then I finally got to UM I guess compete at the pro day and I went in there and did everything I can. Then got the call. All my family gets up in Klimuzoo, so we're all happy and celebrated that day. Then I just

went back to training. I guess like two or three days later is that phone call from the Bengals the altimat. It happened when I was downstairs in my rooms and everybody was upstairs, so and nobody really knew. I just went when they called me, I had just went upstairs and just turned the TV. There was already playing it. I just turned it up, and when it happened, everybody just surprised. They didn't know that I had talked to somebody. Now you pretended you didn't know already. Yeah, you went

upstairs and sat down. Were still later, So then when they called my name, it got loud and were just happy to celebrated a few more fun factor Darius phill Ups, You're not extremely wealthy yet, but for a young man right out of college, you're doing pretty well. Did you splur join anything, did you treat yourself to anything? After he signed to the Bengals. The only thing I would say, I treated myself too as the car UM. That's the only thing I already explores out of the car where

you get UM? I got a twenty eighteen challenging and well, everybody now telling me I'm gonna need something different for the winning up here, So I gotta see what I gotta do to get a different car or a different tire or something. If you could meet anybody in history, who would it be. I don't know, probably Thomas Jefferson, Thoma Jefferson, probably either him or elba Ostin, just to figure out how they how they minds were. Oh no, all right, you're off the hot seat. Appreciate the time,

best of luck the rest of the year. Thank you, appreciate it. And that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean and give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been great and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.