Bengals Booth Podcast: Welcome Back

will face in his first NFL start. A Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is changing the NFL, and Lapp will share some great stories about his friend and former teammate Jim Leclair, who passed away this week at the age of sixty nine. A locker room conversation is with wide receiver Alex Ericson. He'll share his impressions of his new starting quarterback, what aj Green's return will mean to the team whenever that happens, and I'll ask Alex if he should be the guy

pretending to be Lamar Jackson at practice this week. And in this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the lowdown on the Ravens from Baltimore reporter Luke Jones. All of that is straight ahead, but first, 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 Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.

It's the greatest thing since The Office. I did not regularly watch The Office when it was on TV, but I've been catching up on flights and in hotel rooms on Netflix, and well you already know this, but it's awesome. I just wish I had enough time to watch every episode, but with my current schedule, it's really hard. That's what she said. Now, let's get to football time for this week's conversation with Dave Lapham, and we kept it a little bit shorter this week because, as you will hear,

Lapp has been battling a pretty significant cold. One quick note, we recorded this on Wednesday before practice, when all signs pointed to the return of AJ Green. Then he reportedly experienced swelling in his ankle after a morning walkthrough and did not participate in practice. So as of now, aj status for Sunday's game is TBD. The Bengals could obviously use him as they looked for their first win of the season after an O and eighth start, a scenario

that Dave Lapham can identify with. As we mentioned before, you are on a team back in nineteen seventy eight that started O and eight. You beat Houston in week nine, twenty eight to thirteen. That Houston team went ten and six and made it to the AFC Championship Game that year. Do you remember how that win felt. I do remember that. It almost felt like a playoff win, you know. I mean it had that kind of that kind of a relief moment to it. You know, it's finally like all

this work finally paid off. You know, you can liken it to uh, you're a salesperson and you go two months without a sale and you're a straight commission salesman and the covers are getting there. You know, it's like you're not getting any you're not getting any any buzz for your work. There's no payback, and so it just it just felt like that. I remember how euphoric the

locker room was, you know, it was. It was a huge, huge relief that was a good football team that Houston Moor football team was a daring good football team, so you know, we knew just like this team. I mean there's a lot of similarities. I mean, we played Houston a lot, they played Baltimore a lot. There's a lot

of similarities there. So I mean, if they could, if the Bengals could knock off the Baltimore Ravens after they knocked off the undefeated New England Patriots, you got to think there's gonna be a little bit of Baltimore looking past the Cincinnati Bengals in this football game after what they did against New England's human nature, And if the Bengals can trap them, you know, load the trap and spring the trap on them, that would beat That would be a big, big win, a division win, because Dan

they're won in seven in the last eight division games. I mean, that's they got to start competing a little bit better than that in the division lap. We don't know if Andy Dalton will play quarterback again for the Bengals. If the Dalton era is over after eight and a half years, how should it be remembered? You know, I think the fans are going to have some mixed memories of it because of the lack of a playoff win, but boy, to go to the playoffs five straight times,

that's a franchise record. And you know, the average like ten wins a season during that time frame is as long a period of success as the franchise has ever enjoyed. So, I mean, Andy Dalton is responsible, a big should take a big shoulder a big part of that responsibility for that success. There's no question about it, Andy Dalton and AJ Green, that era was was prolific, you know, in the regular season from by club standards in terms of record.

But again, unfortunately, you know, not having a playoff here. If they just could have come up with, you know, with a playoff wins somewhere along that that five year stretch, it would be remembered, I think, a lot differently than it'll probably be remembered now, no question about it. It's been a trying first year for Zach Taylor, to say the least. Are there any really obvious lessons that you

think he can take from this year? You know, I know today's NFL and there's only so many things you can do by collective bargain agreement and protecting players and all that sort of thing. But I just think that. You know, I never saw nine on seven. You know, I never saw anything really really physical, you know, in training camp or practices, and I know once the season starts, you can't really do anything in practice. You can only have I think it's what seventeen padded practices for the season,

maybe one a week if you're lucky. But I think in training camp, and I'm not saying beat them to death. I'm not saying, old man, get off my long kind of stuff. You know, beat these guys up and go back to the old school way of doing it. But I think I think maybe just a little bit more physicality, because it seems like in the beginning, especially, they were almost surprised by the tempo and speed of the game and the physicality of the game in the early stages

of the season. Now you're just to it as the season wears on, and it's hard to practice harder as the season wears on. But maybe in the earlier stages of it, as you're getting ready for the regular season, because I mean I experienced it preseasons one. Speed, regular season ratcheted up, playoffs ratcheted up big time. And there's

no question I think everybody would agree with that. So while you're in that infancy stage of you know, the tempo and the physicality of it in the preseason, I think maybe a little bit more physicality in the practice to get them ready for the early stages of the regular seas and might be something to think about. But in today's football, you know, I understand how everybody's going.

And I know even in the back in the day, Bill Walts when he had those great teams with the forty nine or forty nine er players, told me they never wore shoulder pads once training camp broke. They never had a padded practice and they went out there and kick some tail. So you know, you can you can find cases. You can be Perry Mason and find precedent cases for just about anything you want to make. But I do think that you know, not tackling. I'm not

saying tackle guys have one on one nutcracker drills. I'm not saying that kind of stuff. But I'm saying maybe just a little bit more thumb lap. We've got our fingers crossed that d aj Green will make his twenty nineteen debut this week. Aj missed seven of the last eight games last year, and the first eight this year, so he's basically missed a full season. The Bengals are one in fifteen in those games before he got hurt.

Last year, they were five in three. Can he make that much of a difference when he returns this year. I think he can. I mean, I think he's the king Domino. When AJ Green's out in the football field, it reconfigures coverage, Chilt's coverage differently. It's going to make life easier for Tyler Boyd. It's going to make life easier for everybody else. He's gonna draw double teams. There's going to be space for others to take advantage of.

He's going to empty the box out. There'll be one less guy in the box for the offensive line to worry about, Joe Mixon to worry about. Running lanes will improve. The ripple effect of AJ Green is huge, both up and down ripple effect. It's big big. I want to bring up something that your former teammate Chris Collinsworth said

on Sunday Night Football last week. He said, quote, this is one of those moments in time where we're going to think back in a few years and go remember the night that Lamar Jackson and the Ravens style of offense took apart the Patriots. We're going to be able to point to quarterbacks in the National Football League that got a chance because of this night. That was the end of the Collin's Worth quote. Is Lamar Jackson opening

the door for a different style of quarterback. It's not a real big door because not many people can run like Lamar Jackson. I mean, you know, if you can find guys they run a four, three five, they can play, you know, a quarterback well enough in the National Football League. That doesn't take long to call that role, you know. I mean, he is so unique. The dude, in my mind is a running back because he can make you miss in a short space and he can run away

from you. Who can throw a little bit. It's not a quarterback, you know, they can throw a real well, they can run a little bit. He's the reverse of the norm. And that guy is so rare. And the thing about him is is, you know, people are like, you know, do you think it'll last? I mean, how how long can he can he go? Because of his elusiveness, he doesn't take flush hits, you know, he makes he makes them glancing blows and he's smart enough. He'll go to the ground, he'll go out of bounce. He doesn't

lower his shoulder and try to run people over. He will run between the tackles. But he's clever enough to make it, you know, instead of just a direct hit right down the middle. I mentioned this a few times. Reminds me of James Brooks when I talk to him. You know, everybody's like JB. Everybody's like, how long are you gonna last? Running the way you run the football? He said, because man, I make it a glancing blow. If they take a direct hit at me, it's all

on me. It's my bad. God bless me with these abilities to make them glancing blows. And I'm gonna make every one of them. I can a glancing blow. And you know, Frank Or even with his running style, he has a way of right at the very end, just moving a little bit where it's not a direct smoke hit. It's more of a glancing blow. That's why he's last as long as he has. Plus, there's a lot of

luck involved. The Bengals face the most blitz happy defensive coordinator in the NFL on Sunday in Baltimore's Don Wink Martindale, a former UC assistant coach back in the Rick minter days. What is the formula for success for a rookie quarterback Ryan Finlay in his debut against that defense? Well, you know, all up the blitzpeeders, you know, I mean, because Wink Martindale is going to bring it. He's going to bring

one more than you can block. I mean he's brought it a little over fifty percent of the time on the season, he blitz the heck out of Brady. So if he blitzs the heck out of Brady, what is he going to do it? Or a rookie with his first NFL start, Gosh, it might be you know, sixty five percent of the time, and a lot of times he just has only two defensive linemen and two point stance.

Everybody is up into three point stance. Excuse me, everybody else is into two point stance, milling around and I'll have seven, eight, nine, ten, even eleven guys with the line of scrimmage and trying to identify who's coming and who's not. And you know they wait at the very last second until you call your final protection, and then they try to bring one more than you can block on the opposite side. It's it's very, very difficult. So

communication is going to be real big. When he changed his protections, which he's gonna have to do, Trey Hopkins is going to call a protection. He's gonna have to change it to have to be able to communicate that and his receivers is gonna have to be on the same page of him. Was side just blitzpeaters with routes And that's what A. J. Green and Andy Dalton did so well Thursday nine, a year ago when they made Don Wink Martin deal Blink and he stopped blitzen for

about thirty thirty five plays. They were killing him on side of just slants and quick slants and just blitzpeaters and beat him to death. Last thing, you lost a friend and a former teammate this week with the passing of former Pro Bowl linebacker Jim Leclair. When the Bengals named their top fifty retired players a couple of years ago in their fiftieth season, he checked in at number thirty three. Jim went back to North Dakota after his playing days. He became a mayor. What do you remember

most vividly about Jim Leclair. We were just talking about thumb. That's what I remember about Jim Mclair thump. I had my first quote episode, you know. Was it a concussion. I don't know if it was a concussion, but I know I saw a big flash of lights and I couldn't walk a straight line. And I remember and that was my very first practice at training camp. I was working with Stan Walters, the SS Walters Stanley Steamer out of Syracuse. I was playing guard, he was playing tackle.

We were running a little live drill against defensive linemen and linebacker are like a nine on seven type thing. And I came off a double team on the down linement and I tried to kind of like checking peekaboo a little bit where Jim Leclair was. That dude had the most fierce forearm I've ever felt. Man. He hit me square right in the forehead and shortened my neck, and I was, oh, I was buzzing long distance phone

call nobody on the other end. Man. And I come walking back to the staggering back to the hud a little bit and Stan LOOKSIMI goes, hey, one thing I gotta tell you, rook. He says, that guy fifty five, Jacques Leclair, don't be peeking for him. You gotta bring it. You can't come out that double team unless you bring it. Us I already I just figured that out. That dude

would hit you. And I remember. The big thing is they had Victor, the wrestling bear that traveled around to all the cities, and Jim Leclair was a heavyweight wrestling and Jim Leclair Russell's Victor and was shooting his leg you know, I mean, taking him down. I mean it was an unbelievable performance. And the handler or Victor called it off because Victor was undefeated and he was a little worried about Leclair and Victor. He got Victor down on his back and uh and Victor had this big,

long tongue. They muzzled him and they declawed him, but his tongue came out of there and wrapped around Jimmy's head. And it's like, oh, so, I said, what was the worst part of Victor goes? Man, that tongue stunk. That tongue stunk like a garbage truck man, he goes and I couldn't get that thing off my head. But I'm telling you, man, Jimmy Jimy Leclair would he would hit you in the running game, and played with him with

the Generals too. We both went to the Generals and what Michael's you know, named him captain to his defense, he was captain here. He was definitely a leader of men, big broad coat, hanger shoulders man and just a physical, physical football player who you know, brought it every single snap. And he and his wife Betty were pretty good friends

of Lennon. Are Lennon mine and we're both we're both grieving that one because I remember Betty telling us that this was a while back, that she kept having to reintroduce herself to Jim, which you know, it's heartbreaking when somebody'd been with your whole life, you know, the partner doesn't recognize you anymore. That has to be a tough thing to deal with. So I hope Jim's in a better place now. I know he is, and he's probably organizing a game of nine on seven up there as

we speak. Fourth round draft pick Ryan Finley will make his first NFL started quarterback this Sunday, and here's hoping he is as impressive as he was in the preseason. In the opener of Kansas City, Finley completed his first ten passes. The following week at Washington, he completed his first nine. Overall. In three preseason games, Ryan completed seventy three percent of his throws, with three touchdown passes, one I NT and a passer rating of ninety nine Think three.

Alex Riksson was on the receiving end of several of those preseason throws, and I spoke to the Bengals wide receiver this week. We are in the locker room with Bengals wide receiver Alex ericson how did you spend your bye weekend? Well, I went back to Sonny, Wisconsin and hung out with the family and spent some time to just being a dad and being a husband. I assume you're refreshed more physically or mentally. I'd say both pretty equal,

you know what. I think the mental size just as important as the physical side, and I'll be able to refresh and get away from it and come back just refocused and finished the season and the way we want to. For visiting with Alex Rikson's who You're back at it? This week? With Ryan Finley getting set to make his first NFL started quarterback, what stood out to you when

he played in the preseason. Yeah, Ryan's a competitor. He just got something about him that, you know, he makes plays when that doesn't look like there's gonna to play there. He's got good pocket presents and he does a good boss. We're excited for it. Um, you know, he's preparing hard.

This is our you know, this is our first week with really a new quarterback a long time, so it's a lot of it's different, and um, we just got to do our part to help him out with communicating and being in the right spots and just make sure he feels comfortable with us as receivers. He's twenty four, he was in college for six years. Do you think that makes a difference. Yeah, I think so another year the mature and figure figure yourself out and U So yeah,

I think that definitely definitely makes a difference. We don't know at this point if aj Green will be back, but it certainly looks promising for the other wide receivers. Describe what it means when he's out there. You know, he's our leader, he's our captain. Uh, He's a guy we've all leaned on since the first day we got here, and a guy that we've all watched and admired and really just so when he's out there, it's just, you know,

it's exciting. It's another obviously Hall of fame receiver out there, you know. So it's not like you're just getting a guy back. You know, you're getting You're getting the guy and a guy that's had a lot of success in this league over a long time. And so yeah, it's I think it's he's a vital part of this team and when he's out there definitely makes a difference. The

record obviously isn't good. He's coming back from an injury, gets a contract here, and I can imagine some wide receivers around the NFL or players in general that would shut it down. He has no intention of doing that. What does that mean to the other guys on the team. It means everything. It means he's here to fight with us through through the tough times and through the uncertain times, and knowing that he's putting all his his own agendas stuff away and just being a great teammate. And um,

this is the way he is. The type of guy he is. He he hates missing time, he hates missing practice, he hates missing one rep, you know, and you can tell by the way practice he'll be flying around, he'll be running more than anybody. And so we know what type of guy is and it just kills him not to be out there. So I'm not surprised that he wants to be out there and help us, help us get our first one. A few more questions for alex ericson you faced the Ravens. You played them three games ago.

This team blitzes as much as any team in the NFL. Does that impact your route running? Do you have to be more aware of a hot route or things like that? You know, I think it's just like you said, just being aware of the positions there and the leverages are in and you know idea and that you know when they're bringing the zero pressures that they're obviously gonna have one more than we can block, so you know the ball is gonna come out quicker and gotta be ready

for a fifty fifty play sometimes. And yeah, I think, as you know, throughout the game, you just you get a feel for what they're trying to do, and we know their aggressive defense, so we'll be aware of it and be ready to you know, make them pay. When we catch them in a blitz. The defense has to contend with Lamar Jackson, who is likely to shatter the NFL record for rushing yards back quarterback this year. He's

on a pace for nearly thirteen hundred. I was trying to think of how the defense could possibly prepare for the Lamar Jackson threat, and then it hit me, alex Erics great running quarterback in high school. Do you think the coaches would ever consider having you do some of Lamar Jackson stuff at practice? Can you do that when you're working on what you need to work on? Yeah, it's tough, obviously the amount of reps and the volume you're getting practice, so you know it's it's probably not likely,

but yeah, he's definitely. He's definitely a guy that is unique to prepare for. And his ability to run the football and his ability to make plays with the ball in his hands, and um, he's anique talent and you know, there's not been a ton of guys like him throughout the years of the NFL. And he's definitely put on a show. Last thing. Ravens quarterback Sam Cook claims to have thirteen versions of punts, a hook, a slice, a knuckler,

a high one line drive. Whatever. Are his punts more difficult to catch than other guys, Well, he just got a variation of punts and he hides, he hides his direction and where he's punding it by doing different variations. So it's it's always he's always hard to read. You can't just go back. There are always punting left. Just line up left and be ready to catch it. You know. You know, like I said, it might come end over end, it might come a liner, he might hang it up,

he might um. Yeah, So he definitely has a you know, he's one of the guys that has been doing this a long time and a guy that's really I probably changed a lot of punting in the NFL, the way guys are doing a whole bunch of different things with the ball now, and his control on the plus fifties short punts and his ability to pin us back there. So yeah, he's definitely a unique talent. It's always a challenge preparing for him, and you know, game day, you

never know what you're gonna get. Do you know? He was Zach Taylor's college teammate. He's that old. I think I remember reading that last thing we played him a few weeks ago. Uh yeah, that's that's pretty crazy. Appreciate your time, best luck this week, thank you, not time for this week's no. The faux interview is we do

a deep dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent. The storyline in Baltimore is that this might be the biggest trap game in NFL history, since the Ravens are coming off a win over the eight no Patriots before facing the O and eight Bengals. Baltimore is favored by ten and the Ravens have never lost when favored by double digits. They're thirty three and oh. Luke Jones covers the Baltimore Ravens and joined Lap and Wayne box Miller on the Bengals Game Plan Show. The first topic of conversation the

possibility of Baltimore taking the Bengals lightly. Yeah. I mean they said all the right things this week. I know, Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smiths, who is one of the elder statesmen on this team, basically said, look, we just were coming off two really good wins. But if we go and lay an egg on Sunday, what does it really mean? And I think recent history you guys know very well, save four a couple years ago that season opener in Cincinnati,

the Ravens haven't won there very often. I mean, it's been quite a while where the Bengals have really taken care of business at home against the Ravens. And I think the thing that helps them is also just a few weeks ago. Even though you look at the stat sheet from a yarded standpoint and look at the numbers, it was pretty heavy in favor of the Ravens, but it was a six point game, and certainly that that

opening kickoff return for the touchdown. You'd like to think from the Ravens perspective that the Bengals coming in and playing the Ravens tough on the scoreboard anyway, that should be a big enough reminder. But you guys know this is a crazy league and Cincinnati, despite its record, you

guys have been in a lot of close games. So I think a John Harball team, you know, a well coached football team like John Harball has year in and year out, the message is gonna be hit home many times over the course of this week, not to be taken anyone lightly, because you know this league can turn very quickly to your point on the yards Luke Florida

ninety seven yards for the Ravens Jordan fifty. That's the season low for the Ravens defense holding an offense to joining fifty yards the time of possession thirty nine minutes and forty two seconds to twenty minutes and eighteen seconds. They basically doubled them up in yards and double them up in time of possession. I mean it is basically double them up in yards and double them up in time of possession. I mean it is remarkable. The reason it was a one score game is because of the

unconventional score the kickoff return. It really wasn't. And the other thing I'll point out in that game, which I think you know, Bengals fans can maybe take a little bit of optimism with, is if you were calling that game, they did a nice job against mark Ingram and the Ravens between the tackles, running game for the first three quarters. It wasn't until that final quarter with the Ravens just kind of do what they did. They had I believe a nine minute drive in that fourth quarter ended in

a Justin Tucker field goal. But as I say, weekend and week out with this Ravens offense, whatever you try to do, whether you try to take away the between the tackle stuff, whether you try to take Lamar Jackson away on the edge, although people can try to do that and I haven't seen too many teams be successful there, or if you just try to load up the box and make Lamar's throw. There's a hidden cost to any

possible way you try to defend this offense. So as much as the Bengals did well between the tackles through the first three quarters, of course you see what Lamar Jackson did getting to the edge, and that's what just makes this offense so difficult to defend. But I'll say this, and this was a talking point with John Harball today, the Bengals have seen Lamar Jackson a couple times down.

I think that's kind of the great question around the league in the big picture, as you see him in this offense more and more, I equated to baseball, where you have that one hundred mile per hour pitcher who also has a nasty slider. First couple times to get up to the plate, you're not gonna have a chance. Maybe a couple more times through the order, maybe you get a little better idea. But I think that's going

to be a tall challenge for the Bengals. Well, let's hope you've done an approach to light coal from the Astrols did on and run he had this year in baseball? What about the Baltimore Faithful? Do they believe in Lamar Jackson? Now? Obviously there was a mixed emotion when he was drafted, and then last year, well he had some good games, it was just an aberration. Now he's playing at an MVP level for the most part. He had a couple of bad games against Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but the total

body of work this year has been impressive. Do people really think now that he can deliver the goods at that position? I really think. I think you're seeing more and more and more believers every single week. I think there's still concern about his style of play as far as sustainability, and more so probably from a health standpoint. Although as you guys know, we've seen somebody quarterbacks get injured from the pocket. I think it's just the balls in your hand. There's a risk to be injured on

any single play. I mean, we just know that about this game. But I think in terms of what he's doing. I think the intangibles. I think the fact that one of the big knocks on him last year was his ball security. He had at least one fumble in every single start. This year, he's been credited with four fumbles, but a couple of those are actually bad snaps. The quarterback just got credit for the fumble. He has not

lost the fumble. He's only thrown five interceptions, so he's making plays while also valuing the football in terms of ball security, and that's really rare for young quarterbacks. Even Baker Mayfield last year he was a toast to the league as a rookie quarterback. He still threw a lot of interceptions. So I think people are believing more and more.

And I'll just say this from an intangible standpoint, from an energy standpoint, this is as energetic and excited as this Stan base has been since the days of Ray Lewis and and Edgared. No disrespect to Joe Flacco or some other veterans boot one in recent years, but just the smart at the face of the franchise that Lamar is rapidly becoming. I just haven't seen that really with

the Ravens with any offensive player they've ever had. I mean, this has been a defense first down and it just he just got that vibe to him that remind you a little bit. I'm saying he's gonna be a Hall of Famer, but remind you a little bit of the way Ray Lewis and Ed Reid to oomanize the city way back when Luke, I agree with you that I think.

I think when you look at Jackson, there was a running back the Bengals had years ago, James Brooks under size running back, but he would make people miss in space and then you know, run away from He had that short space quickness. Jackson, even if you have him contained, he'll make you miss. And I said to James Brooks that said, you know your size, JB. Everybody's saying, man, you're gonna get destroyed. You're not gonna be able to last.

It's not a sustainable thing. He goes, look, the good Lord, bless me with this physical talent. If I take a flush hit, that's on me. And he would make every blow a glancing blow. He never got drill. He never get hit right down the middle, and you know it would always be like a partial shot. And that's what this kid can do and then he'll slide, he'll get

out of bounds. He's smart. I agree with you. I think his biggest danger, like any quarterback, you know, look what happened to Jacobi Wasset, you know, in the pocket, gets stepped on and you know, get knee injuries, ankle injuries, all that kind of thing. I think if he gets caught in a pile in the running game, or he gets caught in a pile, you know, in the pocket. But that's that's the same for any quarterback. I think

the sustainability thing, he's so athletic, I don't. I don't think that's gonna be a big, big part of the problem. I really don't. Yeah, I'm believing that more and more to the more I watch him play, and I've watched every single start, every single play going back to last November. The number of hard hits he's taken where you're holding your breath, you could probably count on a couple of hands. I mean a few in back that Cincinnati game a

few weeks ago. I thought a couple of those hits were some of the bigger hits he's taken all year. But the difference this year, he's sliding a little bit more. He's definitely showing more of a willingness to go out of bound. Last year there were times where he would lower his shoulder like Jim Round. It's just like, that's not what we want and unless you're playing in January.

But I think he just has that ability and he just he has this I don't know, his agility almost reminds you of a great point guard in basketball, where

he just he can find the little seaman. He's really slippery in addition to just being fast, and I mean, I guess you know, the critics could say it only takes one hit, and that's true, but I don't know, you think about it in terms of would you rather a quarterback standing in the pocket like a statue and someone crashes into his knee like happened to Joe Flacco four years ago and towards acl or you have this guy who's so quick, so tough to catch him, he's

so agile and change the direction where he can kind of dictate what kind of contact he's going to take, and to this point it's worked out really well for him. You know, you want to switch to defense before we let you go and talk about one guy I think has just really served you guys well as a first round pick is Humphrey the defensive back. He just seems to be a playmaker. Obviously, Ed Reid is the ultimate

playrker Rud. I mean, this guy holds his own at the defensive back position and just continues to play well. He Marlin Humphrey has played extremely well. I mean, if he's not in the Pro Bowl this year, and I think by Merritt, he probably could have made it last year, but wasn't a household name around the league. But I think with some of the big splash players you've seen

him make this year, that's changing. But I think what's been impressive with him is the Ravens lost Tavon Young, their slot cornerback, in August to a neck issue that required kurt that they've lost him for the year. They have Jimmy Smith back from the injury. Marcus Peters, who they picked up two weeks before the trade Deadvine is

their other outside corner. Humphreys actually been playing in the slot, which he had been an outside guy, and a big part of that has been him traveling with some of these number one receivers, which as you guys know, number one receivers playing the slot more and more it seems in recent years. But he's really kind of become their

inside corner. I mean he starts and he's only outside of her own base, which is very rare, but in that nickel and dime and quarter defense, he's kind of been playing that flot and he is just the playmaker and not just as a coverage guy, but he plays the run really well too. He's kind of like a he's almost like a hybrid safety, linebacker, corner, and he's definitely been their best defensive player. You know, I really

respect what they did. They've done offensively. You know, they had Greg Roman, who's worked with Kaeperner and Tyrod Taylor, you know, to institute an offense for Lamar Jackson to take advantage of. I mean, they supported him not only with personnel, but with the coach that knew how to utilize this kid's talents, not try to put a square peg in a round hole. And then defensively, what they've done. They got Brandon car Now, another defensive back who they

moved from corner to safety. They have him locking down tight ends in their sub packages. They now they just they'll blitch you like crazy. I mean when they played the Bengals the first time, they rushed five or more seventy five percent of the time on the sea and there in the high forty still rush five or more like forty six to forty eight percent. Against the Bengas was seventy five percent. And then they'll play man. They'll

lock you down in man coverage with that blitz. It used to be they had sugs and these pass rushers they've rushed for and play coverage on the back end. Now it's just the opposite now, I mean, Martindale's just blitz in his tail off for pressuring because he knows he has these guys in the back end they can lock down in coverage. Yeah, it really allows them to dictate to the offense what they want to do, because really they're two weaknesses and you just mentioned one. Whenever

there's the four man rush, they don't get home. And it's difficult to get home in the day and age because quarterbacks just get the ball out so quick. Andy Dalton did that for years against them. So their four man rush isn't what you'd like it to be. You don't have that sugs, you don't have Zadarius Smith like they did last year. And there are other weakness which

they've certainly improved because they've brought in Josh Bines and LJ. Ford, you know, someone very familiar to the AFC North, and those guys have stabilized things that inside linebacker, but they're not great coverage linebackers. So you're just mentioned it. With Brandon Carr, they put him in a safety Chuck Clark use of their strong safety they dropped down to play the mic. And they've played plenty of plays over the last few weeks where they don't have a single traditional linebacker.

With having Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce up front, they've they've been fined in the run game when they do that. So they're just they're multiple, they're very different, and the weaknesses that they do have, they seem to scheme as well as you can. Tom maybe not eliminate those weaknesses, but certainly alleviate them. I think as an organization, Ozzie Knewsom and now DaCosta and Harbaugh, they they've basically make their schemes fit their personnel, not the other way around.

You know what it's like, you can't You can't just say, look, i'm gonna take this guy and I'm gonna play make him do this even if it doesn't fit his talents. That's crazy. They always will adjust and shift. Like the great bum Philip said about Don Shula, he take his and and beat your arn. He could take a urin and beat his n because he would have adjust and adapt. I mean when he had Zonkin kick, you know, formation, you would big people run the heck out of it.

Dan Marino spread you out to throw the heck out of it. I mean, you have to be adaptable and adjust to things. And the Ravens organization offensively and defensively has done it as well as anybody. Yeah, they really have. And I think with John Harball specifically as much as what was the big criticism about him when he was hired, Well, he wasn't an offensive or defensive coordinator. Well right, that

doesn't that lend itself to being more flexible. I mean he doesn't have and he even talked about this recently, talked about this after they drafted Lamar Jackson. He didn't have an offensive he was married too, And yeah, they ran the West Coast offense for a number of years. Here. You know, from the time Gary Kubiak came in and that was Flacco's best regular season performance in twenty fourteen.

But it just kind of said, look, we can try to find the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, or here's this kid who has some really special traits and we love them at an athlete, we love him as a person. We think he's a winner. He's been successful at the collegiate level. Let's design something new, let's do

something different and play into his strengths. And hey, there's still a long way to go and time will tell whether Lamar Jackson leads the Ravens to a super Bowl, but being an MVP candidate in his first four year as a starter, there's certainly a lot a lot of growing confidence that he'll be able to do that. Maybe not this year, but at some point here in the

near future. Thanks to Luke Jones. And here's a quick reminder that if you listen to this podcast before Friday afternoon, we invite you to join us for the Bengals PEP Rally Show and Buffalo Wings and Rings the Beechmont location. This week's show is from two thirty to five thirty. That's a half hour earlier than usual, and our special guest in the final hour will be Bengals offensive lineman John Jerry. That's going to do it for this episode

of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if you have a minute, please give it a rating for share a comment. Those five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.