Bengals Booth Podcast: Walking To New Orleans

he returns to the Big Easy. I'll discuss criticism of the Bengals play calling with Dave Lapham and finally it's our No the Faux segment as we visit with the voice of the Saints, my Coss. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now here's a quick reminder.

You can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the chargrilled oysters at Drago's. One of my good friends in the broadcasting business is Todd Graffanini, the radio voice of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans. Todd was born and raised in New Orleans, and several years ago when I was visiting the city, he told me that I had to

try the chargrilled oysters at Drago's. When I told Todd I didn't really like oysters, he said, I don't care. It's the single best bite of food you'll have in the city. So out of respect for Todd, I took his advice and they are amazing. Plus they come with this sauce that you sop up with fresh bread, and that might be the best part. So if you are going to the game this week, take Todd's advice and get the chargrilled oysters at Dragos. I'm drooling just thinking

about it. Now. Let's look ahead to Sunday's game. Through five weeks, the Bengals offense has underperformed. Cincinnati is next to last in the league in yards per play and tied for sixteenth in scoring. The Bengals have scored twenty or fewer points in all three of their losses so what's the fix? I discussed it with one of the

best wideouts in team history this week. The Bengals have had many great receivers over the years, but nobody caught more passes in a single season than t J. Hushman Zada one hundred and twelve back in two thousand and seven, and the former Pro Bowl receiver joins us now TJ. Opposing defenses are trying to take away the deep ball from Cincinnati this year by playing two deep safeties all of the time, and it's been effective. What's the answer

to beating that coverage? Run the ball. Just run the ball, and not only will it open up the passing game, it's gonna make it easier for the offensive line the block in the passing situations because now they can't just rush up the field. Word about playing the pass, They got to kind of hold their gaps to play the run. So just run. You can run the ball effectively and get four to five yards a pop. They're gonna bring a safety down and like everybody does, you call two

to three plays at the line of scrimmage. If Joe Sings sees a single high, now we can throw it. If it's too high, just run the ball and hope you can get four to five yards. You have been watching Joe Burrow closely since his las few days. You've got a couple of daughters that have played softball there. What do you see when you watch Joe right now? I mean, he's still the same player. You gotta think

you have surgery in the preseason. Nobody really plays the preseason anymore, and so in essence, the first two to three games, he's just trying to find himself and get in the groove of playing football. But there's times also when you're watching them first couple of games, Joe's holding onto the ball because he wants to create the big play. And sometimes it's like, Okay, let me just check it down. Let me throw this hitch route, let me throw this five yard en route or whatever it mean. Let me

throw this drag route. So maybe later on down the game it opens up the stuff behind it. But there's at times you watched and he's held onto the ball and he gets sacked or he may get hit, and it's all the offensive line, and Joe knows part of that is on him. But he's trying to create the big play because he did that last year, and he created the big play after his record setting rookie year, Jamar Chase is getting double team down just about every route.

How do you get your star receiver the ball when that's the case. I mean it's simple, man, That's what I said earlier. If they're able to run the ball effectively, they're they're not going to be able to double them. And when he's not doubled, I mean, it sucks. You just gotta make when you're not double, you gotta make the play because when you start to get double, it's a badge of honor. You like, you really like that.

You're like, oh man, they really respect me. But then it becomes annoying, like Bruv playing me one on one. But that's a respect thing for him. But also, if T doesn't go down with that angle injury, te Higgins gonna kill there. You can't double everybody, and so when you have T Higgins, you have Tyler Boyd. Those guys can force that double team to come off chasing. If they don't. You see what you saw with the Miami Dolphins.

Te Higgins gets off and has a big game. And if they're willing to lose the game because you want to stop chasing going off and t does, and so be it. Let's talk about the third member of the Cincinnati three way, Tyler Boyd. When I watch eighty three, I see a lot of eighty four from back in the day. Great hands, really tough against the coverage over the middle, etc. This week, Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan said they feel they need to get Tyler Boyd involved more.

Do you agree, Yeah, anytime you can get the ball to other guys, it's gonna open up who you really want to get the ball to. And so yeah, Tyler boy we're similar in that respect. I think I probably talk a little more trash during the game and he does, unless the camera doesn't show it as much. But again, the Bengals, it's a dilemma because they have so many weapons. When when I was playing, it was Chad myself and we would run the ball. It was Chris Henry, but

we didn't really utilize our tight end. Reggie Kelly was in essence a sixth offensive linemen, whereas now they will utilize the tight end. So now it's more more mouths the feed, so to speak. They just got to figure out a way to make this work. The two and three. But each game has come down to the last possession of last kick, and so I'm not I'm not too much worried about them getting into the playoffs. I'm not

too much worried about them turning this around. They just got to figure out a way how to get big plays, keep Joe off his back, and they'll be fine. We are chatting with former Bengals wide receiver t J. Hushman Zada, now the co host of the Airing It Out podcast. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. The Bengals defense has given up five touchdowns in five games. When you watch this defense, do you consider to be one of the best in the NFL? They're very good.

Defense is very good. And you got to think about it is when you say who's the best out to me, when I think deep, when I think the Bengals nationally, people are gonna think Jesse Bates. Outside of that, it's like, as Sam Hubbard is it, Trey Hendrickson, The Bengals have a collective unit where they all can just really play. They built a team defensively that it doesn't just rely on one player having to get pressure on the quarterback or one dB having a shutter receiver down. They just

play collectively as a unit. But the defense they're doing this last year, it's not a secret. That's why I wanted to resign Jesse Base because I think he's very important to this team. But when you see who they drafted, it's like, h Jesse, you might not be here long. But it's a business one. But they were doing this last year, so it's not a surprise to me. It's not a surprise at all. They had to New Orleans

this week, a very loud place to play. The Saints are two and three under the new head coach Dennis Allen. Do you have a couple of keys that immediately come to mind when you look ahead to Sunday, man the Saints are gonna play really good defense. It's a reunion with Andy Dalton, so to speak, So you know, I'm sure he'll probably be under center for the Saints with

Jameis Winston still hurt. Keep your composure. That stadium is probably that Seattle Seahawks Kansas City Chiefs, so they're probably the three loud of stadiums that I can recall playing in. So you just gotta keep your composure. Make sure you know where Cam Jordan is every single play because he can wreck every play throughout the entire entirety of the game. And the Saints don't. They don't really double guys. If you watch them play defensively, they put Marshawn Laddimar on

your best guy and say beat him. They did it with Justin Jefferson. They didn't double him when they play the Bucks. They don't double Mike Evans. So maybe this can be a game Jamar can look at it and say, Dennis Allen doesn't double guys. He puts Marshawn Lattimore on him and say you got him. So maybe this will be a game that Chase can get off in. You mentioned Cam Jordan. You just had him on your podcast. Do you see that Cam Jordan versus Lall Collins matchup

possibly being the biggest matchup of the game. Yeah, no, disrespect to Collins. They're gonna have to make sure they give him help. Hearing there, Cam Jordan, he's just too good of a player, man, and you can't block him one on one. You have to account for him. You don't want a team's best players to beat you. And Leo Collins probably he can block him by himself. I don't even want to find out. I don't want to get that crowd into the game. I don't want to

get him into the game. I'm not letting your best player on that front seven beat me and s Cam Jordan. I got to take him out the game, all right. A couple more topics for T. J. Hushman Zada. What did you think of the white helmets and the white unis on Thursday Night football? Man? It was so clean. We've always had the white helmet in any equipment room even when I was playing, just could never wear it.

But nah, that was I got so many message that's that's probably the codest uniform in the league, that all white. No question, it was nice, real nice. Tell him to send me a jersey. I would definitely pass along the message. You did a really cool thing prior to the Super Bowl. You helped a range for an eighty six year old lifelong Bengals fan to get tickets to that game in Los Angeles against the Rams. What motivated you to do that?

Somebody sent that to me and I had already given my tickets to my uncle, and so I didn't have a way to get any more tickets and so, like I said, a friend of mine sent that to me, and I forget it was a Saturday. I do remember that it was a late Saturday night and I looked at the Instagram. He sent it via Instagram and I looked and I was just laying in the bed, and for some reason, I was like, you know what, let

me go back to this clip. So I went and watched it, and I was and I showed my wife, and my wife kind of got like sad about it. So I clicked on the link and I found the name and I just DMed her and I said, I'm gonna call you tomorrow, and then she DM me right back. But I went to sleep because it was like midnight here, so it's probably three o'clock and Cincinnati. I called her the next day. She didn't it was Lizzie. She didn't believe it was me. We talked. I was like, I'm

gonna try to get some tickets for you. I called the NFL. They said they'll try to help, and in the process, I called the Bengals and Alex Simons and so Alex was tremendous in helping me, because the NFL would have also helped but Alex was able to help me through the Bengals, and so I bought them two tickets.

A lot of times we kind of take for granted as players, the sands that come to the games, they want your autograph, they want a picture like who we excuse my language, that you want this from us, and you kind of take that for granted. And so I think that's the least we can do. At least, that was the least I can do. You supported me all the years that I played there. If I could help you and I was able to help you, I'm more than willing to do it. But this is the problem though.

Now everybody is like, hey, can I get tickets to this? Can I play? What do you mean I can't continue to do this now? Well, if they go back to the super Bowl, that's a different level. You can't just constantly be firing out. TJ helped me up with tickets. That is a different level. But I'm gonna be honest, I think in the next halful of years they got a chance to be a frequent visitor there. I really do. I couldn't agree with you more. And the Joe Burrow era,

I'm confident they're going to get back TJ. This has been great. Always appreciate your time and your insight. Continued success with the Airing It Out podcast and we look forward to catching up again sometime down the road. Thank you, I appreciate it. We'll give back in the w columnarth that we beat the Saints as this week. Trust and believe it. TJ certainly sounds confident. Here's hoping the Bengals

back it up on Sunday. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit kettering health dot org to learn more. Six games ago, Zach Taylor had the Bengals one defensive stop away from winning a

Super Bowl. This past Monday, a significant portion of the fan base question whether he should give up play calling duties that comes with the territory when you go for it on fourth and goal or try a couple of gadget plays inside the five yard line that don't work. This week, Joe Burrow was asked about the Bengals play calling.

Every play is designed to work if we execute it the right way right and so you can talk all you want about the play calling, but at the end of the day, players have to go on execute the play of the way it's supposed to be executed, and if we do that, the play is going to work. It's always tough in those situations because if you go for it on fourth down, you get it, you look like the smartest dude in the world. And you don't

get it, you know you're gonna take some heat. Those are the gambles that we face every single week in this profession. Didn't go our way this time. We've had several that have. As I've said in a couple of places this week, there is a statue dedicated to the Philly Special outside of the stadium and phil Adelphia up since it helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl, it did not work out quite so well for the Bengals

in Baltimore. I asked my broadcast partner Dave Lapham about play calling this week on the Bengals Game Plan show, call is executed properly, you get what you were hoping you were going to get. Look wise, everybody's like, oh my god, genius. It's called at the perfect time, the perfect play. Everybody goes crazy. So it's like the highest highs when it doesn't work, where you have a Simon Arrows up front and you have multiple defensive players penetrating

and that kills a shovel pass. If one penetrates, you're in trouble. Three penetrated, you're done, and put a fork in it. And it's like, well, that's the stupidest thing in the world. Well, in hindsight, you wouldn't do it, obviously if you knew that's the way it was going to turn out. But there's two responsibilities. There's the play call by the coach. Then there's the execution called by the players. And probably, you know, you could argue it

might have been better plays to call. You can definitely argue the execution had to be much better than it was on the on the Philly Special, you just had a great player make a great play. Marcus Peters drop coverage on Jamar Chase, just drop coverage on him to run at Tyler Boyd, and he cut on him so quickly Tyler Boyd couldn't even react to throw the ball away. You can throw it away. You're on a pocket. You're basically the quarterback. You're the passer the ball in your hand,

but you know it's the reverse pitch back. You're on a pocket. Throw it away, and now it's third down from the two yard line instead of the fourteen. But they get, you know, twelve back on third down on the third down play and try to shovel pass. I think two gadget plays in a four play sequence from the two yard line is probably are actually three plays because you weren't at the two yard line after the lost. But two gadgets in three play sequence is probably a

little a little over the top. And if I'm an offensive lineman in that situation, I don't come to the sideline, you know, complaining about the play call. I come to the sideline and find out what happened, why it didn't work. And on top of that, even more so, I say to my fellow offensive lineman, boys, we got to pick it up first and goal to two. We don't run the ball one time. They have no confidence in us

up front. They will not put the owners the responsibility on us getting pushed enough where we can gain two yards in three snaps. You know, not even thinking about the field goal potential. We have three downs to get two yards and they're not running the ball one time. We suck. We have to get better. We have to do a better job up front. That's what I would do. I would, I would, you know, call the group together

and say, we got to perform better. We have to get the confidence of our coaches and our teammates, you know. And that would be my reaction. I'd be upset that they didn't feel that they could um call a run play. I would I would feel like, what the what the hell got to be able to run the ball one time in that situation and obviously they didn't feel like

they could trust us to do it. That would be a reaction I might have as an offensive lineman, and I might ask the coaches about it a little bit, like you know, and you know, they would probably go back to the wall in this situation, third and one, fourth and one, it didn't work out. They could probably give you reasons why, and they the amount of time that they put into situational football going on in short

yard and stuff is extraordinary. And it's not just they don't just take a play out of the playbook, you know, extraneously and say I'm gonna throw that, I'm throwing that up against the here. It's it's all, it's all planned, and you know it's it's unfortunate because that you go on that a fifth team play drive, taking eight minutes off the clock and going over eighty yards and you've got squad dow shot of it. That is a killer.

That's a dagger. It's not only that you don't put points on the board, but what it does to your emotion, your psyche and all that stuff was Man, that's tough. Or from Lap a bit later in the podcast. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycorps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Sunday's game is going to be a homecoming of sorts for

what seems like half of the team. Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Tyler Shelvin, and L. L. Collins played at LSU and Chase is from the New Orleans area. Wide receiver Mike Thomas played at Southern Miss, which is less than two hours away, and then you have the former Saints on the Bengals roster, Von Bell, Trey Hendrickson, and Eli Apple. Apple is not going to get a warm reception on Sunday. After playfully getting into it with Saints fans on social

media earlier this year, I talked to him this week. Eli. The team is two and three. All three losses are on walkoff field goals. What kind of emotional toll does that take? It hurts hurt, especially as a defense. I feel like we were responsible for those because we've got to get off the field at the end of the game and closes better goals back to the Super Bowl and stuff like that. If you want to win big games, you gotta know how to close teams out. So that I

I saw it, that that met us for us. Despite that, I think we can all say that the defense has played great. You guys have not allowed an opposing offense to score more than twenty points yet no touchdowns allowed in the second half. What do you think the defense is doing best. We're a good bendal break defense. I feel like we've been great in a red zone, but we still have areas where we can clean up communication wise, So it's just got to concede the build. Personally, you

have not allowed a touchdown catch yet. How do you feel about your level of play right now? It's been solid. I think there's more opportunities to make plays. It's got to be aggressive and no one I can pick those chances to go get the ball. We're chatting with the Eliapple. Describe your relationship with Luanna Rumo. It's a great relationship. It's a great relationship. He's a great coach and well no we go away back, So he's just one of my favorite people to be around, you know, just a great,

genuine person. He has a lot of belief in you. How has that impacted your time here in Cincinnati? Oh, a big time, big time does a lot for my confidence and from the believe in me gives me the ability to go out and just kind of played my game. I want to go back a couple of weeks to the Thursday night game against Miami. Tyreek Hill issued a verbal challenge before the game. You did not respond. You let your play do the talking. He had one catch for seven yards when you were in coverage. How did

you feel about it? It is what it is. I mean, I'll take every week like that, like I ain't gotta have a receiver, same thing. I just in my head, I feel like that's how everybody you know views me. So that's just how it is. You play with that chipping your should regardless of who's saying whatever, who it is, you just gotta wake up and know you gotta go dominate. You didn't respond before the game, you didn't really respond much after the game. Does that represent a change? No,

it's about It's about the team. I'm more over. You know last year was what it was, But I know this year is about for me as a unit doing I can, you know, bring wins and that's all I'll care about. This Sunday, the Saints come at you with a receiving trio that's about as good as any in the NFL. Former NFL Offensive Player of the Year, Michael Thomas your former Buckeye's teammate Jarvis Landry, five time pro bowler, Chris Olave, first round pick out of Ohio State. He's

off to a great start. Is this one of the most formidable trios that you will face? No, certainly is every week is a new challenge. So it's got to get up and watch a film and be ready. You're heading back to New Orleans. You spent a couple of years there, played an NFC Championship game there. He got into it a little bit with Saints fans back in January, among other things. You took a shot at New Orleans food.

What kind of reception do you expect this week? It's always loud there, so I expect it to be rock here, and I just want to go in there with a great mentality to go out and dominate it. I love New Orleans food, just not your cup of tea. NA. It's great. It's a great food if that's what you like. They got everything, if you know, if you like that stuff. You're two and three, but you're just a game out of first place in the AFC North. How do you

look at the overall picture through five games? It's early. It's early, man, so so I keep going, keep chopping, appreciate your time as always, Thank you. Eli. Eli is a key member of a Bengals defense that is holding opposing quarterbacks to a seventy two point one passer rating that's fourth best in the NFL behind Buffalo Philadelphia. In San Francisco, this week's opponent, New Orleans is allowing a passer rating of ninety one point five. Now let's take

a look at the injury factor this week. Bengals left tackle Jonah Williams had to be helped off the field in the second quarter last Sunday night, but came back and played well in the second half. Jonah didn't practice on Wednesday, but hopes to play on Sunday. That's what I'm working for, you know. I dislocated my kneecap. So it's like a matter of trying to a just take it day by day and I'm intreatment all the time,

just trying to get it feeling good. So I knew on Sunday, you know how sore was it online day? It's pretty rough. Yeah, it's pretty rough. Take over for sure. Yeah. I mean on Sunday night football and a divisional opponent on the road. Like I just I felt like it had to be out there and it was non contacts buckled on me planning my foote weird kneecap slipped to the side of my leg came back and it felt

like buckley and which is usually a bad sign. But when the doctor was feeling it and said all them like important ligaments felt strong. Then I you know, that was a relief. So after that, it was just trying to, you know, see if I could play, and I felt like I could, and so that's what I did. Two former offensive lineman Dave Lapham and Joe Walter can relate.

Fortunately for him, it dislocated, and that's not fortunate, but I mean it could have been worried if dislocated and came back in sublocks that came back in, so it didn't do any damage collateral damage to ligaments, tendons and

all that. And have you ever dislocated anything. I just located my elbow and we're playing up in Green Bay and I go to cut off of big Mike McCoy, this big defensive tackle, a big load, and I'm scrambling and he falls on my arm and I got my him planted and so he just bends my arm the wrong way and pull him. It's just locates and I'm like on the ground, like and I can't get it

to go back in. You know, it didn't sublos. So they come out and they grab my thumb and pinky and they're like, we're gonna reduce it, you know, and they snapping the thumb and pinking. It doesn't go back. I'm like, and they said, give us one more shot. I say, that's it. One more shot, and and they got it to go back in to go to the sideline and they tape it up like a cast, you know, a sixty degree angle. Tiger comes up to me. You're playing, ain't you, I said, Tiger. I hadn't really thought about

it yet. Man, I just gotta, you know, repaired here. I gotta put back and play, I said, I'm not sure the way I gotta. I can't get in the stance and playing right guard. I'm not sure. Put your left hand down, damn it, you're playing. It puts me right back in there. But you're back up. That bad couldn't have gone I know, I know. It's it's like he was. He was out there for a couple of

three plays, and what's going very well. Tiger ran He ran me out there pretty quick, and it's it's like, but that's the key is if it doesn't start mine, uh, you know, stuck in the soft tissue or whatever, and did a little damage to that soft tissue stuff so it wouldn't sub block's back. You know, his slid I guess you know, you don't want it to happen for sure.

And the thing is that they told me we're gonna have to tape it up the rest of the year now, because you know, once it happens, it's gonna it's gonna dislocate easier. You know, if you're if you're in protect like I'm I'm trying to pass block like a one armed paperhanger. I'm trying to hit my record in the middle of the chest with one end right, and he's like just zering in on the one bad wing and

means just coming on that side, you know. And so it's like if you if I tried to jam, it might have dislocated on And so that's, Um, I admire the guy for doing what he did, and you know, going in there and sucking it up. Really, you know, because you're talking, you're talking about the foundation your legs. I mean, that's vitally important. I mean, like that's the first thing. Your hands and arms the second thing. But that is number one. And um, he still looked like

his book was pretty damn good. I mean, he's very aclemic kid out about that. Before we get to the Saints injuries and they are numerous. We remind you that the Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with all Ta Fiber. On Wednesday, the following players did not practice for New Orleans due to injuries.

Their top three receivers Michael Thomas, Chris o'lave and Jarvis Landry, along with four time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshawn Lattimore. Quarterback Jamis Winston, who missed the last two games with backend ankle injuries, was listed as a limited participant. We discussed the Saints injuries with their radio voice, My Costs, when he joined us on the Bengals Game Plan Show, but we started out by getting his thoughts on the Saints

Swiss army knife Taysom Hill. Last week, the former by U quarterback rushed for one hundred and twelve yards and three touchdowns through a twenty two yard touchdown pass, returned three kickoffs in place of the injured Deontay Hardy, and even recovered a fumble on the punt coverage team. On

a fake punt by Seattle. I thought one of the best lines that Tayson had was postgame when they were talking about him doing different things, and he just said, you know, I just work here, and that's really what he did, from returning kicks to recovering a fumble. I guess the biggest chance for us was that we had We had not seen him throw, we had not seen him really hand off much when he does his QP power right or left, which he did to Kamara which picked up a first down, and then of course the

pass and just running the ball in general. He has been so effective, but now there's a finally, there's kind of this new wrinkle where you really don't know what he's going to do back there, and so it was. It was truly amazing, especially when he started returning kick it off, because this is not a guy who is not unfamiliar with the injury category. He has spent most of his college career and pro career running into walls and continues to do so. It was it was an

extraordinary performance. He's a very humble, genuinely nice person who's just, you say, lays it out there. His body comes in like sixth of where it counts on the list. So Hill has got a sixty yard touchdown run one of his five touchdowns, tied for fourth most in the NFL rushing. And then on the flip side of it, of his twenty one carries, four are on third and one and he's converted every one of them. So they'll go to him to convert the short stuff, he'll bust the long stuff.

I mean, this, this guy is crazy. We were just talking earlier about the big play of the explosives. He's got a sixty yard touchdown run. You have four different receivers that have a reception of forty yards or more, but you've given up a sixty seven yard touchdown run, a sixty seven yard touchdown pass, a sixty eight yard return on an interception. I mean, how many explosives have the opponents gotten. You've got a lot of explosives going

offensively for the Saints. Hasn't been equally as big of an explosion by the opponent. Mostly that came in the last couple of weeks. Clearly last week was the worst that it has been. I think it was six explosives of thirty two or more and three of them were touchdowns. Blockett had a forty and a thirty two yarder, so last week was kind of the worst display of that.

The Saints have been pretty consistent. They've get a couple of really it's it's been taste them, taste them out of fifty seven yard touchdown run earlier this year, and then the sixty yarder, the two, eight and nine yard so a lot of the explosives other than Cambarts fifty four yarder, they haven't been in bunches. They've been just kind of here and there. And they've also been behind. They've been behind every game except for one where they

led Tampa three nothing at halftime. So they've they've thrown the ball more and lends itself to a few more bigger players. Plus twenty, But you're right about the problem. You can have all the plus twenties you want, but if you give up an equal amount of twenty pluses, you're in trouble. And we saw that last week with Seattle. The radio voice of the Saints, Mike Hassi, is our guest. Jamis Winston has missed the last couple of games with back and ankle injuries. I guess he was limited in

practice today. The Red rifle. Andy Dalton has started in his place, led the team to a victory last week. What's your best guess, Mike, who do you think will be the starting quarterback on Sunday? If I'm guessing and that's clearly what it is, I would say that's the Saint stick with Andy Dalton. He's doing exactly what this offense needs him to do, playing not conservative, but just

taking what the defense gives him. Jamis has not practiced in two full weeks, didn't practice in London, didn't practice last week. Limited again today. I just would he could, but I would think that will learn a little bit more this week. If he doesn't really practice tomorrow or Friday, he might build full Friday. But if he's limited again tomorrow.

The way Dalton has played, he's had the one interception in the one fumble, I would be surprised if they went with Jamis unless he was just back full steam ahead tomorrow and himself was not a concernment. If you asked me right now, whatever day this is Wednesday, I would say it'd be Andy Dalton. And he's got a history of not screwing it up. You know, there's no question, And I look at Winston. He's got four touchdowns, five interceptions, and all of them have occurred in the fourth quarter.

The good and the bad involved. Yeah, I mean it's crazy. Um what about the game is brutal for him? Yeah? Yeah. On defense, obviously, Cam Jordan is a star, a superstar. But Davenport on the other side, watching a little bit, he's impressed me. This kid. This kid's a legit player. And and but the guy that has been unbelievable to watch Warner Every every run, this guy's making the tackle.

He wears number twenty. What's the history of that that he's started at some level as a member of the secondary. I know he went to Ohio State, but I mean, every run play, this guy is involved in making the stop. He's unbelievable. He's a tackling machine. He has been, and I will say it's a surprise. He was his second round pick, but he didn't he was kind of banked up and we didn't his team at all really in training camp. So this has been the Blosian since the

start of the season. And he's got Damario Davis beside him. That helps a great deal. But he has just he's just been wherever the ball has been. He makes the right choice, makes the right lane, great in coverage, forces fumbles. You're right, he has been. I mean with forty seven tackles and most of them solo tackles. He's been a machine. Now, after you said, wow, did you guys see this coming, the answer to be no. He had a pretty solid rookie year, but because we didn't see much in training camp.

But it'd be hard to expect the explosion that we've seen. A concerning the Saints have, of course, is not Pete. It's behind Pete and how they will cover. You know your receivers, We're not. We're sure about Latimore to be surprised if he played Paulson, Adivo, Marcus May j T. Gray all limited. That's a pretty banged up defensive secondary right an aperture Warner has been exemplary thus far. The voice of the Saints, Mike Hassi, is our guests. There's

my final question, Mike. The Dome is a notoriously difficult place for opposing teams to play, considering the Burrow Chase Lsu connection and to a lesser extent, Lele Collins. Will it be less hostile than usual for the Bengals, I think it'll be less hostile early, very early, but once they kind of get into the game, I don't it was twenty there's a twenty nineteen season, the twenty twenty

championship game. LSU fans are a big part of Saint Sans and Saints LSU, and I there's I think it'll be a small factor early, but after that it'll be loud and anti borrow and anti gas. At least in my mind, just because of how important it is for

this football team, they'll pay their respects early. But other than that, when this game kicks off with teams two and three Saints trying to get the Saints plays so poorly at home, I think the crowd will will I won't say they won't turn, but they'll they'll be where they need to be. That's black and Gold. Faith. Appreciate your time. Thanks for carbon time for us. You've been outstanding. And my question is injuring the you mentioned injury and

the secondary beaten up. I'm looking at the injury report. Seven guys didn't practice, seven more limited, and the wide receiver corps seems to be, you know, decimated a little bit by injury as well. Is it is it equal to which is the most concerned wide receiver injury factor

or back end in the secondary injury factor. Well, I think someone told the Saints that there's some type of prize for the number of people on your Wednesday injury report because it grows from eleven the twelve it's fourteen now. To me, the bigger concern would be secondary. I think Jarvis Landry was very close to playing last week, I think, but Thomas is getting much closer. I don't think we'll see Deontay Hardy, but in the secondary, I'll be surprised

about Lattimore. I think the bigger concern is the secondary right now because somewhat because of Jamar Chase and Mike Thomas and Tyler Boyd and Te Higgins. So I think there's more concerned in the secondary because these receivers. Jarvis

didn't play lest week, Michael didn't play last week. We feel like they're closer to being ready, whereas I'm not quite sure because some of the secondary injuries are newer, and not having a Lattimore and not having we did that Marcus May last week, it puts a lot of pressure on that on those those safeties when you when they're they're starters. Now you're talking about backup, so I

would say the secondary is a bigger concern. Thanks to Mike cous And, here's an invitation to join us at the Wings and Rings location and Crest Few Hills, Kentucky for the Bengals pep Rally show this Friday from three to six. Cornerback Trade Flowers will join us in the final hour and we'll have plenty of giveaways throughout the show.

That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, presented by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals, They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber, and by Paycord, the official

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