Bengals Booth Podcast: The Middle

But before I get to Jeff, it's a fun facts conversation with a player who has a really interesting personal history, Wide receiver and former child actor Trenton Irwin. 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 write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the dental hygienist.

I went to my dentist this week. Shout out to doctor Lenz, who is awesome, but occurred to me that the dental hygienist is one of the great unsung heroes in the working world. They scrape and clean, getting rid of all the plaque and tartar while we sit in that chair squirming. Then the dentist comes swooping in to perform a final inspection before providing his diagnosis. The hygienist is like a starting pitcher who gives you eight strong innings, and then the dentist is the closer who shuts the

door in the ninth. So thank you to all of the hard working dental hygienists out there. We appreciate your outstanding care and apologize for our bad breath. Now let's get to football. One of the regular features on our Bengals Radio Network pregame show is my weekly fun Facts interview where you get to know the person under the pad. This week's subject is a guy who is having an excellent training camp and has some very interesting stories to share.

Time for some fun facts with wide receiver Trent and Irwin from Glendale, California, not far from Los Angeles, and we've got all sorts of stuff to cover with you. Let's start with acting. You were a child actor, mostly in commercials for some well known companies like Nissan, Subway and Microsoft. How did you get started? You know, my dad actually loved acting, so it was sort of a family family business. I don't know what you call it, but we all went on auditions and I had a

blast with it. It actually was a cool experience to sort of express myself out there. You know, I was a shy kid, so it was you know, I learned a lot from that. Does child acting paywell, it actually did it did. I'm making you know, ten fifteen thousand from a commercial, so it was unbelievable. You know. It was expected that it might be a little bit of a college payment, but my college ended up being free,

so that's a blood. Did you ever act with anybody in a commercial that went on to a significant acting career. I don't think I could say yes to that. I've been in quite a few commercials, but I don't know if anyone really had to glow up from the commercial to theatrical era. I don't think there was anyone there. Do you have a favorite actor and if so, why

a favorite actor? Wow, that's tough. I might have to go with someone like like Denzel Washington or something, you know, just I feel like he never hit misses in a movie. That's my answer too. You can't go wrong with Denzel No, he never misses. We're doing fun facts with wide receiver Trenton Irwin. Let's turn to football. California is a big state, legendary high school football programs. At the end of your high school career, you had the most receptions of anybody

in state history. If that were me, I'd be incredibly proud of that, are you? Oh? Totally? It was. It was an honor, you know, I had. I had the opportunity to play four years there, and me and my teammates were great, But it was it was an honor, and it was just it was a fun experience. I mean, I remember high school like it was yesterday, so I can't complain that it was a good old days having fun, just backyard, you know, messing around pretty much. Did your

high school team ever have a running play? My senior year, we threw the ball a lot, we did, but you know, we made the playoffs second round and got knocked out by a team that could run the ball a little better than we could. So a number of college football powerhouse programs recruited you. You chose to play at Stanford, one of the most prestigious academic universities in the country.

Why did you choose Stanford? Man, it was really between ASCU and Stanford for the longest time because my high school buddy, who I also played with since seventh grade, went to ASDU and he was quarterbacks that quarterback receiver connection. But came down to it, you know, it's hard to pass up on Stanford. And I'm being honest, My mama really wanted me to go to Stanford. So Mama rules mom gave you some good advice. Was that quarterback Brady White.

That quarterback was Brady White, and that's still one of my best buds. I'm very thankful there. So I also broadcast University of since Sinnattie games, so I saw plenty of Brady White at Memphis and he went on to have a tremendous college career. Oh yeah, Now he did fantastic, as I knew was going to happen because it's just the type of person player that he is. All right, back to Stanford. What was the toughest course you took?

The toughest course. I took this one course on like air pollution and water pollution based off of how far the distance was, and it was it was brutal. I took it the first time. I think my first two tests, I got like twenty five and thirty percent, and I was I dropped out. And then the curve was super friendly. So a lot of my guys passed, and they passed with bees and season I was like, dang, all right, I gotta take this again. So I took it twice. It was very brutal, but it was it was humbling,

and it was it was inexperience. I'll just say that, and a great lesson. I'm grading on the curve. Yes, the curve can be friendly all the smokes. We're talking to Bengals wide receiver Trenton Irwin. Your freshman you were at Stanford. You guys went to the Rose Bowl. You wiped out Iowa forty five to sixteen. You had catch in the game. What do you remember most vividly about

getting to play in a Rose Bowl? Man? I mean, my whole family had been Michigan fans, so they always watched the Rose Bowl a lot there with that being, you know, but I think just going out there watching the jet go over the top of the stadium was unbelievable, and then it was it was just surreal, you know, it came. It was like a fairytale because it just kept piling on. We just kept really smacking them. But it was a fun game and it was, I mean

pretty cool to get that. My first year you had a catch in your final forty games at Stanford and then in the final regular season game. If you're seenior year, you tore your ACO or your MCO. Rather how disappointing or difficult was the timing of that. It's super tough, you know, it's super tough, and there's only so much you can handle. I mean, after an incident, what's done is done, and you got to bounce back from there. And I honestly think there was so much that I

learned from that experience. You know, I don't ever wish that upon me or anyone, but I think that it's a learning opportunity and if you take it as that, you can grow a lot. We're talking to wide receiver Trent irwind Or, sixteen for the Bengals. This is your third year with Cincinnati, mostly on the practice squad so far, but you did have your first career regular season catch last year in the Houston game. Did that give you a feeling of no matter what happens from here on out,

you made the NFL record Book. It was pretty awesome. That's always what we talk about. But I mean, it's I think it's a cool experience to try to get

it out in the mud. You know, you're out there with your boys and you're trying to grind and try to get more opportunities and make more plays with those, and it's you know, it's a fight every day, and it's a honor to have a sport and a job that you really go out there and compete every single day on the field, and it's you know, sometimes things go bad, sometimes things go great, but that's that's the

fact to compete in every single day. So I'm thrilled to have the job and have the opportunities when they come about, and just having fun with the day by day. A few more questions for Trent and Irwin. Were accustomed to seeing players swap jerseys after games, but your jersey collection goes well beyond that, correct, Oh, totally, I have.

I think I had like a hundred and ten jerseys and I wore them every day in middle school, in high school, and I've fallen off a little bit just because I feel weird wearing jerseys with people I play with. All right, what are some of the favorites in your collection? Oh? Man, I've got a Tom Brady at Michigan. That was always one of my favorites, and my dad loved Michigan. There I've got, I mean, I've got some. I've got Randy

Moss from like every team he was on. So I have a have a Yellow I don't even know if that's real, but I have a yellow Minnesota. I got a purple Minnesota. I got a New England. I have a Raiders Randy Moss. I mean, like, I have so many unique jerseys that it's you know, I wish I could still wear them, but I feel a little awkward with people who might actually be those people when I was young. And now Randy Moss's son, Thaddeus is your teammate. Does he know that you have this awesome collection of

jerseys of his dad. We have not had that conversation yet. We might need to, you know, scratch that one up and check it out, but he does not know yet. All Right, you've got long flowing blonde hair, are you aware of the fact that the ladies in the COVID testing trailer call you Tarzan. Yes, they called me Tarzan every day. Man, they're the best. They bring that energy, you know, so it's always cool to, you know, have that energy from people, and you know, I just gotta

rept the name. I guess you're having an excellent camp. It seems to me every day at training camp I write down a note. There he is again, number sixteen, making more catches. Do you feel like things have gone particularly well for you this training camp so far? I think they've gone great. You know. I've worked all offseason to try to get opportunities, and when opportunities come, I

try to make plays. And all I can do is have the best response after a play this good or bad, because sometimes I play this good, We'll get you too high, or to play this bad, I'll get you too low. So trying to have the right response after whatever the outcome is of the previous play that is most conducive for me having success in this play. This has been fun. I appreciate your time. Best of luck in twenty twenty one. Hey, I appreciate you always great. That's fun. Facts with Trent Irwin.

The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. The Bengals are basically midway through training camp. They've been practicing for about three weeks, and the regular season opener against the Vikings is roughly three weeks away. It's a good time to take stock of how the team looks at this point with Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Butch. Hobson all Right, Butch, I've come up with a series of topics for both of us to weigh in on

heading into the Washington game on Friday night. Topic number one, the biggest story of training camp is what's your answer? I'm actually more interested to hear you than me, and I will say, obviously it's you know Borrow, It's obviously is is on another planet when you're talking about him,

So we'll do something else. My opinion, how the defense, the defense is just surface the way they had drew it up on the board, when they drew this thing up in free agency and the draft, what they wanted these guys to do, I mean, day after day in practice and in the preseason game, in Tampa. These guys have just you know, the three three new cornerbacks, the Trey Hendrickson, the edge man, Logan Wilson has stepped in a middle linebacker. To me, that's been the stories of defense.

And I know early on Borrows struggled and maybe we were, you know, maybe the defense sucked the sin like the Red Sox did. But I think that they that was part of a big reason that borrow struggles were. He was playing at defense that was a helld a lot better than the one he had the year before. So to me, for my money, it's how this defense has come to show up. No coincidence that you worked sucked and Red Sox into the same sentence there. I agree

with you about the defense. I would say the secondary in particular Trey Wayne's should obey a wouge and Mike Hilton had been great. But it does an end there. Eli Apple was good before he tweaked his hamstring. Darius Phillips always seems to make plays. Jayalen Davis has been a nice or is having a nice camp. I was going to say has been a nice edition, but he was with the team for six games last year, but being used exclusively in the slot seems to be bringing

out the best in him. But since I need to have an answer that is different from yours, I will say that the biggest story of training camp is that Joe Burrow is mortal. He set the bar so ridiculously high that as he came back from a major injury I stupidly thought that he would look exactly the way he did the play before the injury in Washington. Just everything would be fine, no big deal. He's Joe Burrow. Well,

as it turns out, he's human. And it did take him some time, about a week that was it, and then he was Joe Burrow again. So I never really doubted that he was going to be Joe Burrow again. There was a little stretch where I thought it might take some time. It might be four games into the season, maybe be six games into the season. Now I don't fear that at all. I think he's going to be great from the opener against the Vikings, and you know, he's human, but he's not very much of a human.

What I liked is he is he told us that you know, he was very open, right I I joked with them later, I thought the key was your was your was your news conference where you let it all hang out and you talked it into uh and you talked it into reality. I thought it was really that was to me that that was and you're right, horny, I think that is the that that is a good storyline to me the most. But well, think alreay Man.

I'll take away from this camp is not any practice or any play or anything like that, but that those those fifteen minutes he stood up there and basically, you know, you could tell he was a guy searching and he didn't hide it, right, and think about the confidence that

that takes for a quarterback to acknowledge. Yeah, I'm uncomfortable right now, right, I don't like seeing bodies around my injured left b And then it was almost like that very day flip the switch, just like you said, getting it off his chest seemed to be a freeing moment and since then he has looked, for lack of a better word, normal, see the media. You can help it. Let's take credit. All right, We'll move on to topic

number two. Give me a player who has really impressed you and why you know, I would say just the rookie tackle Dante Smith, just because you've seen a lot of rookies come through who were much higher pedigree, who were drafted higher, and they haven't played like this. You know, he's come on and he's just been he's been great. You know. The only down thing is he at d hydrated. You know, he got de hydrated. Now that was effort he got, he got, he got. You got stood up

pretty well from from Larry. Oh, go ahead, horder, you can pronounce it. Oh, Joe. Know, he was having a nice, nice little run here and he was kind of tortured Dante and he had a rough day and then he sat out Wednesday because he was dehydrated and he may not play Thursday. So but that's really the only down, that's really only blip he's had. And I think the fact that you know, this is all through, all through the draft, you know, after they drafted him in the spring.

You know it was this guy, you know, we we we liked this guy because of his size. He's smart, and he's got the NFL dimensions, he's got the lap has talked about his arms, he's got those thirty five in arms, and you know it was just you just assumed he was going to be a project. Well, he's not a project. To me, it looks like he's pretty close to being in the opening day, uh, left guard, which is really that's that's something. So and he's a

nice and he's a he's a very earnest guy. I talked to his high school coach, spent some time talking to him, and you know, he's the first well this is what amazed me. His county and Georgie's right outside Augusta, Georgia, and he is the first player in that county's history to be drafted by the NFL. And you would just assume that, you know, football rich territory like that, because they do border you know, such towns as but James Brooks was from and actually where Trade, where Trey Hill

was from. The sixth round pick the center from Georgia. But no, nobody's he's like the first guy from his county drafted. And so an interesting guy, humble guy. And obviously Frank pollacka Frank poll loves him. He has been impressive, no question about it. I saw a little bit of his potential when he was at East Carolina competing against you see a couple of years ago. He was mostly

out last year, but a couple of years ago. I remember in my notes people saying that, you know he was a legit NFL pros Becton, he certainly looks like one. So far, my guy would be chitubey a Wouge. I mean, he has been fly paper during training camp, sticking to whoever he has been defending at practice. He basically is he's been what we like about Will Jackson the third at half the price. I mean, just tremendous coverage skills. I know it's just three weeks of practice, but hopefully

it carries over to the games. He was a second round draft pick by the Cowboys. If you go back and look at his PFF grades, they were great in two of his four NFL seasons. They were poor last year when he was playing hurt. But I think at seven million dollars a year for the next three years, that could turn out to be a tremendous steal. And then we heard Zach Taylor say he's one of the most impressive human beings that we've ever had in the building.

So really encouraged by chitube A Wouge. So far. Yeah, that's a good one, Dan, I know, talking to Stephen Nisovic, the Bengal spector of Pro Scout. I mean, he had scouted who's he coming out of Colorado and he had obviously, you know, looked at him a free agency and he said both times he surprised him about how you know, he knew he was a good player both both places when he was coming out of Colorado and from Dallas, and he both times he surprised them and how how

good he was. But he was a guy that they and you hit it right on the head about the money. He was a guy they zeroed in on immediately because they because they felt like exactly what you said, they could get a pretty good price for him. And that's exactly what Steve pointed out was his PF grades were very comparable to some big to corners her who who we're going to haul down a fifteen million a year, which was one of them was will bull Jackson, And

the PF grades were were almost the same. And it's amazing how guys get categorized and everything. But he is a he's an interesting guy as well. And that's another thing too that I guess I failed mentioned. All these guys bringing uh, they're they're they're confident, they're well spoken, their lead you know, their leaders from a wooz a to to to Mike Hilton to Hendrickson. These are guys

who were just impressive guys. Whose was telling me about how he he and Matrie Cooper started playing chess when they were in Dallas And what was they like the fact that you know, all these guys were into Madden and all this other stuff, you know, call of duty and and was it was a Fortnite Fortnite guy? Yeah, I remember because I remember bow Gats. Remember bow Gats would hit a double. He used to do the celebration

like That's how I know about Fortnite. And I certainly don't play it, but uh and he uh, and whose was saying it was kind of you know, he and Cooper were playing chess. I think you liked that because that that that knocked down some stereotypes, you know, and uh, he's he's a he's an interesting guy to talk to. Uh, smart guy and good to talk to. Good for the I mean, I wish, my god, I wish it was an open locker room because these guys are these guys

are terrific to talk to them. Yeah, totally agree. I wonder if he's seen the Queen's gambit that was very good.

I think he I think he has highly recommend I think I think I think I think Burrow is leading kind of a it's finely kind of funny because Woz came with this background and now and now Burrow has been playing chess with Daddy's moss, and so I think that's a little thing in the locker room right now, which is kind of which is you know, I don't think, you know, breaking into the business forty years ago, Hardy.

I don't think we thought it'd be a chessboard in an NFL locker room, But I think it's great ping pong table out chessboard. Yeah, all right, let's move on to our next topic, similar topic, but let's choose from somebody that's more on the roster bubble who has impressed you. You already set him. Oh, I didn't take this from me, but Davis Jamlin Davis is I mean really and he was having a good camp even before he went down to camp, and like touched every ball that came that

came out of the pocket. And really, when he talked about and this is kind of why I wrote about I kind of tried to compare him at Jamar Chase on their debuts. They were just trying to get Chase a touch number one fifth picker of draft, National champion. Hey, let's just get him a touch in space. You know, Davis needs a touch. He doesn't want one, he needs one,

and he gets two. And here's you know, and he said it, and in his news converse he said, look, I'm just trying to get on the same team, you know, two years in a row. That's all, you know, That's what his goal is. You know, Chase's goal is to be the rookie of the year. This guy is just trying to survive, make a life for himself, you know. And he and he, you know, he's been on I believe he's signed with the you know, he's bounced around.

He's I think he signed with the Dolphins, correct. Then then he moved on I can't remember where he moved on to now, but they ended up with in Cincinnati for the last no last year, and then because of the COVID protocols, he was never around until he actually had to check into the Steelers game because they had all those COVID protocol problems with their EBS plus injuries and Louie and Rumo said Davis had to introduce himself in the huddle. Basically played played like a career high

seventy percent of the snaps. So you know, you got a root for a guy like that who stands up there and says, look, I'm just trying to get to you know. You know, I just want to play for the same team two years in a row. I mean, that's a that's a great story. My guy is Trenton Irwin.

Every day at training camp, he does something that catches your eye, and he's this year's Auden Tate without as many spectacular catches that you know, everybody immediately tweets about another unbelievable play by Auden Tate like he's had in previous training camps. They're not necessarily spectacular by Trenton Irwin. But I'm thinking if you added up total receptions in training camp, I suspect he would be the leader. He's

certainly close. By the way you kind of carried over to the game with three catch for thirty five yards and a tackle and kickoff coverage. You'll probably get a chance to return a punt before camp is over. So it's been very fun to watch, took a took a hilacious shot and held on. Um. By the way hoarder you lead me, I think in my career tweets by a H, I think, uh, you've got a great uh. And I didn't realize this, but you're obviously a great home homework reveal. I guess he was a child actor.

I guess, which I'm anxious to hear about that, and I'll be looking for that. I guess that's that's coming up right. It's a matter of fact, you're not aware of this because of the way we're recording this podcast, but people listening will have already heard. Trenton Irwin discussed that in My Fun Facts interview with him. He was a child actor in commercials for big time companies Subway, Microsoft, Velveta Cheese, and he comes from a family of commercial actors.

His dad acted in commercials. Enjoyed it. It wasn't his wasn't what he did for a living, but he enjoyed it, so he got the whole family into it. Trenton said it paid well. He was making like ten to fifteen thousand bucks doing these commercials. As a kid. He thought it was going to be his college fund and then he went to Stanford for free as a college athlete. How about that? That's a dan Hord. There you go. I figured i'd plugged that. That's a good. Uh, that's

an excellent review of that. Now I don't have to listen to it, but I will very good. All right, let's move on to another topic. Early in camp, were you worried about Joe Burrow? And how do you feel? Now? Yeah, honestly I was, you know, you wonder. I guess I wasn't worried until like that last bad practice. Until then,

I'd been you know, I've been buying the buying it. Yeah, it was early, and it was you know, jeez, you just he wasn't even barely eight months removed from surgery, and I was trying to think back about how cash and looked and I'm not and I'm not sure the Casson was even doing stuff like that then at that point. I don't know. For some reason, I just remember Casson all of a sudden appearing in the third preseason game and looking like a combination of Brady and a Rod.

You know, so I can't I couldn't. I guess that maybe that's because of my my age. I'm failing my memory. But yeah, I was, I was, I was. I was.

It wasn't until that last practice though, when they were when it was really bad, I think, and I think it was bad enough where Joe really maybe maybe that was the practice where you know, he said I gotta get by, you know, I gotta do so because if you remember, I think it was that next day that he did the news conference and it was after that bad where it was pretty it was that same like forty eight hours or something and that and from what

apparently what he said was it was his idea. He went to the coaches and said, hey, I need more traffic in the I need more traffic in the pocket. So yeah, I was. I was okay until that last day, you know, and then I uh, but then when you know, when then. But I felt better even before he practiced. I felt better after he talked because I said, Okay, he's you know, he's you know, I thought, after I heard him talk, I said, he's gonna be okay. He knows what's going you know, you know what's going on.

You know, he's one of those guys if you listen to him you're ready to you know, you probably go follow him wherever he went. He's one of those guys, you know, I'm even if you're in the I mean, even if you're you know, I mean, even if you're in the media, you get that sense. So, uh yeah, I was a little it was that that last day, I mean a little concerned. I already shared my feelings on that topic. Yes, I was a little worried. Now I'm not worried whatsoever. So I'm very excited to see

him in year two of his NFL career. Would you play him in the final preseason game next week against the Miami Dolphins. Absolutely not. It's just too many We've seen it. We've seen too many weird things happen. Or you've been doing this thing. You've been doing these games, even doing the NFL since eleven every day, you know, I you know, it's it's I mean, it's it's I've seen some stuff that you wouldn't think you'd believed. Just

just get him to the gig. Just get him to the gig, you know, I mean I thought, you know, like I was telling you before he went on. The Bengals played Tom Brady in the year after his he tore his ACL and an O eight opener. He came back at oh nine and in his first game he was ten of fifteen, and then the next night they played. The next week, they played the Bengals in Foxborough, the famous game where he started, went four of eight, but it was won actually by a chad Ocho Sinko extra point.

So you can tell your grandkids that that. Anybody listening who saw that game can say that they saw a game started by Tom Brady won by a chad Ochocinco extra point. But he played in that one. So but that was, you know, for something I don't know. And Carson played once, famously played once. He played into the third quarter one time against Green Bay. But I just can't, I just I just it's a different league, it's a different time. Joe's a different guy. It was, you know,

it was No. I just think he did well without a preseason. He should have won the opener as a rookie without ever playing in the NFL. If the referee keeps the flag in his pocket. It's one of the great Burrows signature moments that Dwarfs might have. Anything that would have Dwarfs. Anything he did besides maybe winning the national championship. So I'm fine, get him to the gate September twelfth. Zimmer and Paul Gunther are going to be

a formidable enough. Don't throw in fortunate feet too. I have been joking for weeks or months that I would not allow him to attend any of the preseason games, much less playing them, you know, at lock him in his house and forbid him from coming to the stadium. But my resolve is weakening. Like you were saying earlier, he has a way of rallying you to his viewpoint, and clearly he wants to get out on the field again. So if they do it, I don't necessarily think it's

some mistake. I will be nervous. I hope they are. You know, a handful of the safest play calls in the history of football, handoffs, the screen passes something where it's virtually impossible to get hit. Like you're saying, strange things can happen. I feet can get tangled, stuff like that. But if he plays, I hope that the play calls are the safest ones that Zach Taylor has in his playbook.

Boomer almost sold me, and you were you were in here when you and lap and I had talked to Boomer, he was selling it pretty good about playing and uh, you know that that that kind of convinced me almost maybe he should. But you know, if we're just talking about a couple of handoffs in a screen, you know why bother so. But I understand where you guys are

coming from too. And I'm sure you know if he comes out and he has a bad first half against Minnesota because he didn't play, you know, you could say, well, he's not he's not very sharp. So I can see both. I think this is one of those forty where we both get an a in philosophy. That thought, if we were taking a philosophy course at the Hall of Languages in Syracuse, how would you describe the state of the

offensive line at this point? I think it's obviously it's evolving, as they say, and whenever you say evolving in sports, we get a little nervous. But I also think it's clearly in a new direction with Pollock. I mean, these guys have seemed to have bought into Frank Pollock, the offensive line coach who was here in twenty eighteen, got a great relationship with Joe Mixon, already and I think he can sense that. So while it is an evolving line, I also think it's one that has a direction. I

think it's trending up. I think I also think, you know, really, I don't think there are as many issues as people think there are. Yes, I think it's okay at center. I think the tackles have played very well. I think Joey Williams that quietly had had a good camp. I think, you know, if it if it hadn't been from barrowin for Jamar Chase, we probably would have talked little bit

about John Williams. I think he's looked all right. So I think they're going to be pretty good at the tackles and now they're going to just be and they have to figure out guard and that is not a obviously, that's not a minor thing. And I think they wish that they were fathering along with that, particularly with their

young auds. But I do think everybody feels like I think everybody who's been watching this thing has to feel like they're in a better situation now than they have been, just because of the way they have bought into Pollock. Frank Pollock should be at practice in a yellow hard hat and an orange vest with a big sign that says under construction over in that little corner where the offensive linemen do their drills, because that's what it is

right now, it's under construction. But I do think they have enough good players for Frank to be able to put a good enough line on the field. We're not trying to pretend that you know, this is the eighty one or eighty eight Bengals offensive line. It's not going to be that good. But I think the personnel is good enough to be solid. I agree with you that they're set at center and both tackles, and where center is concerned, I think they're too deep. I think Billy

Price has quietly had a pretty good camp. I think the tackles are going to be fine. I personally like Clinton Spain. I don't know if he's going to wind up in the starting lineup, but I think that he's a solid guard for what Frank Pollock wants to do. And out of the other guys Michael Jordan, Xavier Sue of, Philo Jackson, Carmen Deonte Smith, I think you're going to find a guard that'll do a decent enough job. So I'm cautiously optimistic that they're going to be okay. And

Frankly trust exactly. Frank's another guy. You listen to him talking and say, wow, guys, guys, an impressive guy. I you know, I think the fact that they love the fact that he played in the league, you know, and he had a head. He had a eight year back up with the forty nine ers, saw some things and you know, hung around long enough to play ninety games, and you know, and it was we've talked about. There are also other weapons at their disposal that go beyond

the offensive line. They can protect the offensive line. They have a man named Joe Mixon running the ball who looks like who He looks very He looks very good after missing the last ten years with a foot injury. They have a We've talked about the defense, how the defense is so much better. That's gonna help Joe Burrow. It's not gonna you know, he if he's not behind by ten points all the time, you know, he won't be dropping back as much. So, I mean, all these

things go together. It's just it's just not those guys up front. I mean, it is, a lot of it is, but I think they've done. They've done some major things to get it accomplished. They brought in a new guy to give him new direction. They signed a veteran tackle, they drafted a guard, Hi and Jackson Carmen they get They made their defense better, and they made the offensive line coach the run game coordinator. So to me, they've done a lot. They've done a lot of the things

they had to to improve things. All right, final topic, one or two things that you're interested in seeing on Friday in Washington. I'm interested to see how they bounced back, you know, can they handle because I think I think we can all say it was Saturday night damp was successful. You know, the defense was terrific twenty you know, and I know it's a preseason game and everybody and it's hard to get excited. It's hard to get excited about

a preseason game. You know. You you watch a backup tight end catch an eighteen yards seamball on backup defensive backs and suddenly you know, oh my god, we can't. Well, none of those people are gonna be playing in crunch time, so let's take it easy. So but yes, it's gonna be interesting to see how this team handles success. How do they come back? It's a it was a short week. They went back on the road. Be interested, and they're

gonna play a little bit more the starters. I don't think they're gonna play much more than they did a talleup, but I think they're gonna play more. They won't play more than a quarter, but I and what will be there?

My So I'm interested to see if they can put together the same kind of intensity and the same kind of and the same kind of efficiency that they had in Tampa and then and then beyond that, I'd like to see, you know, the offense, you know, not not turn it over obviously, and you know, I want to see Jane Davis get some hands and see if he can keep it up, See if Darius Hodge can keep it up, to see if really that's that's you know, can they can they keep it going? Can they can

they handle success? Get on the plane and do it again? All right? I got a couple of things. Number One, the Bengals are returning to the scene of the crime where Joe Burrow got hurt. So for as long as Washington's front four is in the game, can they handle that front four? So we're talking about four first round draft picks. The Washington football team drafted defensive lineman in the first round in twenty seventeen to eighteen, two thousand, nineteen,

two twenty. You talk about building a great front four, obviously, that's a good way of going about doing it. So we're talking Jonathan Allen who made the hit on Joe burrow Ton Payne. Both of those guys are Alabama guys, Montez Sweat, and then culminating with the second pick in last year's draft, Chase Young. Washington made the playoffs last year despite going through a bunch of quarterbacks because they had an excellent defense and played and allows you to

vision it only took seven wins to get in. But fourth and points allowed, second in passing yards allowed, sixth and sacks. While those guys are in the game, can the Bengals handle it? So that's one big thing I'll be looking to see on Friday. And then secondly is the Bengals pass rush legit. Four sacks, thirteen quarterback hits in the Tampa Bay game. I know you know a few of those came after the starters for both teams were out, but after having seventeen sacks as a team

last year and being last in the NFL. Just think of how much better this team will be if this pass rush, which looked really good in Tampa Bay, is legit. Yeah, I know, all great points. I mean, it'll be interesting to see how how Michael Jordan responds down there. He was obviously the h that's that's the guy that Alan

was working against. And I know Paul Danner Junior wrote a good story back in the spring from The Athletic about how Jordan has a you know, attacked act and he reshaped his body, seems to be in a good, good, good good spirits mentally, has had a lot of support from Barrow himself. So and I got a lot of I got a lot of hopes for Mike, and I know he's I'm much. I don't know how the lineup is going to unfold in uh, in Washington, but I think Frank, I think Frank has high hopes for him,

and I think that's an interesting one to watch. Will be interesting to see how Mike responds being back there. Man. Something about the date November twenty second, it's uh, that is uh. But I think also too, it's also you know, it just shows you Burrows resilience and just what they've got here in a franchise. Guy he's back and he's not playing. He's not playing Friday night, but he could. And that's, you know what a statement about him. A perfect way to end it. Butch, I appreciate your time.

This was fun. Let's do it again sometime soon, Hordy. As always and as I always say, have a good call. After beating Tampa Bay nineteen fourteen, the Bengals face another playoff team from last year, Washington, on Friday night at eight. When the Bengals faced Washington and the regular season last year, the football team was two and seven at the time. Washington finished seven and nine, which was good enough to

win the NFC East. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer, refresh 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 by cast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to the Bengals boot Podcast. H