Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Wold His Dreams Uh. Addition, as the Bengals look to extend their playoff hopes to the final week of the regular season with a win over the Denver Broncos. Coming up, I'll talk to Mike Hilton about his stellar play of late and the possibility of returning to the Bengals next year. Robert Weintraub writes
about the Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine and other outlets. Discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly from twenty twenty four, and in this week's Know the Foux Conversation, we'll get an in depth look at the Broncos from Beat reporter
Mike Cliss. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by kettering health the best care for the the best fans, Cattering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Hall of Fame recognition for an all time Bengals great. In twenty twenty two, the Pro Football Hall of Fame established the Awards of Excellence to recognize significant contributors to the game in behind the scenes roles, such as assistant coaches, equipment managers, and
PR directors. This year's class includes former Bengals offensive line coach Jim McNally. Jim held that role in Cincinnati from nineteen eighty to nineteen ninety four, meaning he was the O line coach for the bengals first two Super Bowl teams and the only O line coach that Anthony Munoz had in the NFL. He later returned to the Bengals as a consultant before retiring last year. This year's class will be honored at a luncheon in Canton next June. Now,
let's get to my first guest. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the national media says the Bengals
aren't willing to spend money in free agency. In the last five years, alone, Cincinnati has signed d J. Reeder, Trey Hendrickson, Chitdebeya, Wouje, Ted Karris, Alex Kappa, Orlando Brown Junior, and Mike Kasiki, among others, And when it comes to bang for the buck, it would be hard to top the signing of Mike Hilton, who's given the Bengals four great seasons for an average of six million dollars a year. I caught up with the Bengals five foot nine, one
hundred and eighty four pounds slot corner this week. Mike, You've got five tackles for loss in the last two weeks. Are you doing anything differently?
No, I'm just being myself, you know what I mean.
Louis utilizing me a lot more lately in when then when I had the opportunity to make the play, you know, once I get back there, that's all that's all I think about, is making that play.
For the season. You're up to twelve tackles for loss. That's tied for fifteenth in the league. The fourteen guys ahead of you are all defensive linemen or edge players. How significant is that stat to you?
That's big.
I bring a different, different type of play to the position, you know what I mean. Not a lot of guys my size can do what I do. And when I go out there, I just try to be a playmaker. And obviously having that type of stats, that's a good sign and I'm just trying to, you know, keep building.
My broadcast partner Dave Lapham says the TfL should be treated like sacks. It's a loss of down, it's a loss of yardage. They don't seem to get the same publicity, should.
They, I would believe so.
Obviously, you know, it's the difference between a handoff and the drop back. But if you're tackling the quarterback before you even hands the hands the ball out to the running back, I feel like should be considered a sack.
But you know, either way, I'm just happy to make the play.
The team gave up a season low six points last week. You made a reference after the game in the locker room that lou Ariromo has simplified things a little bit in what ways really just keeping.
Us out of multiple calls. I mean, officers are gonna move and we have to adjust. But sometimes he's just letting us play this one call where we're lining up playing fast and doing what we do, so it kind of slows everybody's thinking down and just let them react more and you know, putting themselves in position to make plays.
We're visiting with Mike Hilton. The defensive player of the game was the fifth play of the game, Von Bell forcing and recovering that fumble inside the one. Von was recently taken out of the starting lineup. He's playing on special teams now, kick coverage, punt return, doing what he can to contribute. What's your respect level for Von Bell?
I have a lot of straight of Vine. You know, he's a pros pro. He's always one of the first guys in here, one of the last leave. Obviously his roles diminished, but he hasn't had little whether who he is as a player. You know, he goes out there and competes, and obviously on Sunday he's still able to make big plays and game changing plays.
Gino Stone has an interception now in three straight. What stands out about his.
Play his range. Obviously he's able to go sideline.
And sideline the way he's able to track the ball and make plays on the ball. So he's been playing wells of late, you know, and as a corner where you got to a post safety like that, you feel a lot more comfortable.
You guys have kept your playoff chances alive by winning three straight games. As I look back over the season, I could pick out five plays that are really the difference between competing for the number one seed and being where you are right now. Is there a little bit of a what if in the back of your mind?
Oh yeah, definitely.
We know it's a field goal here, a stop here, one more drive by the offense there. It's little things that we know if we make that play, you know, our records totally different.
But the thing about it, we can't. We can't do it on it. We are where we are right.
Now and we're giving ourselves a chance, so things obviously have to fall our way. But if we go out and execute and do our job, you know, who knows what can happen.
What's Denver doing well on offense.
Running the ball or obviously running the ball well, putting bow nicks in good situations, second and short, third in short just make him, you know, play within hisself, not trying to not try to do too much.
So we're gonna have a good game plan for him. This weekend. We're gonna make a difficult for him.
Several weeks ago, Joe Burrow has asked about quarterbacks that he's been watching this year, and he brought up Bonet, which kind of surprised me. I didn't expect that to be somebody he would mention, what is it about Bonix that's impressed people around the league?
Oh, he's playing well in the Champagne system. He's moving outside the pocket. He's a better athlete than giving credit for, so he's extended plays, he's not turned over the ball, which is obviously a plus, and he's just keeping their offense in rhythm. So he's playing well and it's gonna be a good challenge for Saturday.
Visiting with Mike Hilton. This is the final year of the four year deal that you signed back in twenty twenty one. It's going to go down as one of the great free agent signings in Bengals history. What's next for you? Do you definitely want to keep playing?
Oh, definitely, I would. I actually love to be here. You know, I obviously know the nature of the business, so you never know. But I feel like I still have so much left in me and I can bring a lot of value to different teams. So we'll see how I'll season comes when that time arrives. But right now, focused on these guys and trying to get this win Saturday.
You're thirty, you're eight years in. You've accomplished a ton for playoff teams, a trip to the Super Bowl. Has reality exceeded your dreams?
Yeah? It has obviously.
Being undrafted, how far I've come, how hard I've worked to see myself reach this point.
It's a blessing.
And then to realize I'm still not done yet and I got a lot more ahead of me. It's the best thing in the world.
Man. I'm just trying to embrace it day by day.
Do you see football being in your future for many years to come? You strike me as somebody that could be a great coach.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, I definitely want to get into it after football. Obviously things change once I'm actually done, but you know, my plan is to get in the coach and then go from there.
Congratulations on great play of late, best of luck against the Broncos.
Thank you appreciate it.
Mike has fifth onund the team in tackles and second in tackles for loss three behind Trey Hendrick said. One of the best writers covering the Bengals so from his home near Atlanta. His name is Robert Weintraub, and he writes an excellent weekly column about the team for Cincinnati Magazine dot com. You can read it for free. Robert was in the Cincinnati area on business last week, so he took the opportunity to cover the game in person, and a few days later we caught up to discuss
this season and beyond. Robert, of the many things that have been written and said about Joe Burrow over the years, you are responsible for my all time favorite line. When he was drafted, you said that Joe has awesomeness oozing out of every poor He has obviously been awesome this year. Is Joe Burrow worthy of MVP consideration?
Yeah, somehow he's found a few more pores to be awesome out of. I didn't think that was possible. But he's got some kind of cleanser going on or skincare regimen that's obviously working. Yeah, I mean obviously, first and foremost. When MVP voters think to themselves, who's going to get it this year, they look to a one win loss record and that's you know, obviously what is working against Joe.
But I mean, given the fact of what he's been having to work with, and the offensive line and the defense and so many other conditions around him, it's hard for me to say he hasn't had an MVP level season. He's not going to win it. But I mean, if you put up his numbers, they're right alongside, you know, the Josh Allens and Lamar Jackson Jackson's and even the possibility of a dare i say, a running back or some other non quarterback position winning a Saquon Barkley. Perhaps
Burrows numbers are certainly in the same stratosphere. And just from a degree of difficulty standpoint, you know, it's funny.
I think if they had just flipped the results of the two Ravens games and pin one of those losses on Lamar's fumble there in overtime, and the Bengals just win those two, you know, the Bengals wouldn't be you know, dominating or having a huge win loss record season necessarily thirteen to four or whatever, but it would look just good enough, I think to maybe get Burrel a few extra votes there, and possibly even sneak out. The ward not going to happen, but he's certainly deserving in such
a shame. He had such a great season this year and the rest of the team really didn't live up to it.
They might not have an MVP winner, but they could have a Triple Crown winner. Jamar Chase leads the so called triple Crown categories as a receiver, catches, yards, and touchdowns. It's only been done four times since nineteen seventy. Is there anything in particular about his season that impresses you?
Well, First and foremost, you think back to how it started, with the whole contract, you know, Concher Tommes, and the fact he only had what ten catches for ninety seven yards over the first two weeks of the season pedestrian numbers. Maybe he was distracted, Maybe it's just the way the games went. It's hard to really get into his head necessarily.
But given the fact that he's had, he has this all world season going on, and that the numbers are so staggering when you kind of divided on a per game basis by thirteen instead of fifteen where we are now, they look even more impressive. He's just been so consistent
after those first two weeks. So you know, just this past game against Cleveland, when he didn't really do a ton through most of the game, and yet he pops up right at the end for a touchdown catch a long one just kind of puts the icing on the cake. He's really just you know, put everything together as everything we knew that he was capable of and has shown
already as a pro. I mean, hard to find a more finished product coming out of college ready to step onto an NFL field than Jamar Chase was, and yet he's still somehow almost exceeded expectations in that way. You know, when t Higgins has been out and missed a few games, they haven't lost a step offensively. Everybody knows that they're trying to get the ball to Chase at all times.
And still you know, he puts up such staggering numbers, and not only that, but you know, makes huge plays at huge times, as we saw against Dallas for example. You know, it's really just you know, we talked about how Burrow has also beness out of every pore. Not too far behind is Jamar Chase, and there's a reason the two of them have been you know, sort of connected in the mind's eye ever since their LSU days. They work so well together, and it's just it's a
joy to watch. Even in a season that's been disappointing in a lot of ways, you always get to watch Burrow to Chase and that's something special.
Despite the fact that he missed five games, t Higgins is putting up big numbers. He's tied his career high for touchdown catches this year. Joe has been vocal recently about expressing hope that Tea can be resigned after this season. It can be done. My question for you is should it be done?
Well, you know, I'm of two minds, and the reason why this is a fascinating sort of debate is that you can go either way with it and not be wrong. You know, obviously the team has a lot of needs, so you think to yourself, well, why spend more money on another receiver when you're going to obviously already spending a ton on Joe and you're gonna have to pay Jamar especially even more now after the season he's put up.
At the same time, though, you know, first of all, if you look at the free agent lists, you know it's tough to keep just trying to trying to buy a team out of the store. A. B. Higgins is by far the most you know, highly thought of free agent out there. It's not like there's a ton of
guys who are necessarily going to help the Bengals. They'll sign a few guys and they will certainly help, but they're all sort of you know, B two C plus players except for Tea out there really And another thing is that, first of all, Tea appears obviously to want to stay. He fired his agent, David Mulgetta, who's had a lot of difficult relations with the Bengals front office in the past, and you know, he's maing a lot of noises about, you know, wanted to stay with his
with his buddies, with his friends Burrow and Chase. And you know, there's a lot of guys around the league who can't wait to step up, get the big money and be the number one guy, you know, And I don't know if he's built like that. Maybe he doesn't want to go and you know, try and catch passes from Drake may or whoever and be you know, under
the spotlight constantly because of a huge contract. Maybe he's really happy playing with his buddies a little in the shadow of Jamar perhaps, but you know, there's nothing wrong with being in the shadow of such a great player like that, and he obviously they compliment each other so well. As you say, it's not like they can't resign them. You can argue whether it's you know, a proper roster building to put all your eggs in that basket so speak.
But the Bengals have an identity. They have a you know, explosive passing game that other teams fear and always have to prepare for. And even then they're putting up tons of points every week. As we're seeing in this capacity, you're going away from one of your best year, letting one of your best players walk out the door for basically nothing. You're sending a message to the locker room again that a player you've drafted and developed and have seen emerged as one of the top players in the
league is not going to be kept out. The team is in that sense not valued. And these things have a knock on effect. And I think in that sense it's because of everything that's going around behind the scenes with Burrows comments and the way everybody's been talking and the agent switch, and everything seems like it's all aligne
that everybody wants him to stay here. It makes a lot of sense, and the team is so built and identified around that triumvirate one five nine, so to speak, that you really have to think long and hard before you let a guy like that walk out the door.
There are some other free agents to be b J. Hill, Mike Hilton, Mike Kasicki, Joseph Osai and some others. Is there anybody on that list that you would like to see the Bengals bring back?
Well? I certainly think Mike Kasecki's proven himself to be an interesting combination player with the aforementioned Chase and Higgins, and he gives them a lot. He's not a blocking tight end in any capacity. He's really the slot receiver that they lost when Tyler Boyd left in a lot of ways, and I think he's only really scratch the
surface in some ways. With the amount of you know, attention you have to pay to the two wideouts, I think they can really build it even more of an offense using him down the seam and in certain you know, root combinations that they haven't really had a chance to do. Part of that is because of the offensive line play, various other rationales that we won't really dive into now necessarily, but I think he's been worth, you know, coming back,
and I think he wants to come back. And who wouldn't want to play with Joe Burrow after all, And I think that's certainly a guy that I think Cincinnati would like to bring back and and use in feature, even in different ways than they have already as one year. Obviously, Mike Hilton, He's been here a long time. He's a valuable player. He's one of the few guys you can point to and say, you know, he may have had some issues this year along with the entire defense, but
he hasn't really been at a position too much. He's been still a guy who is one of the few who can make splash plays, as they say, you know, around the pig skin circle, you know, tackles for losses in a good blitzer. I think it'd be hard to
let him leave. He might want to go play in Tennessee, given the success he always seems to have against the Titans, But I think in general, there's another guy who you know, would be similar to when they let Von Bell leave a couple of years ago and rude the day because of what he brought to the team, not just on the field, but just institutional knowledge. You know, BJ Hill is a case is interesting. You can certainly make a case either way. It would sort of depend on what
they could get him back in the fold. For I think they'd like to try and keep them. Obviously, the young players have only started to step forward at that position, and they still have a void there. You know, it's the kind of case where even if you look to next year and say, all right, Chris Jenkins is ready to step forward and you have a good run stuffer and McKinley Jackson, who are you know, rookies who are just sort of getting their feet into the deep end
of the pool. Now, if you let Hill leave, that still leaves you with a void there, and depending on who you bring in replaced him, that's gonna be tight. So I think in those cases, I think all three of those guys they would be interested in bringing back. I think the Bengals fandom would like to see them all back in stripes as well. Oh Si, you know comes Comsa again. You know he has never lived up to the billing. That what he was drafted and what
we thought we were getting. He's had moments and flashes. Unfortunately, it does seem like he'll always be remembered for that one penalty against Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship game, and it's it's a shame.
For the kid.
You feel bad for him, but he never really put that behind him in any way on the field. So again, you know, a lot of that depends on what other offers these guys will get. You know, we never thought Jermaine Pratt, for example, would come back to Cincinnati, and he wound up coming back, so for better or worse. Uh So we'll see if some of these guys who we think are headed out the door actually wind up getting offers elsewhere.
Robert, the Bengals have won three in a row. You were in attendance at Peyk Horse Stadium last week when they beat the Cleveland Browns. You've seen some positive signs on defense during this three game winning stream.
Yeah.
I like to think the pregame pep talk I gave to the guys beforehand was a key element to it. I always wanted to jump in that circle and just hype everybody up. You know who doesn't want to do that. I don't want to get hit though, so it's a problem. Yeah, I mean it, certainly they've played better. I think you'd be inarguably, they say that they've played some pretty poor quarterbacks and offenses as well. Cooper rushed the best of them, and you know, while he's had some success, let's not
put him in the Peyton Manning category just yet. And obviously, you know dtr on this past Sunday was was pretty laughable, unfortunately for the kids. So you know that helps. But I do think that they're playing much freer. Even lou An or Rumos talked about simplifying matters, and the players themselves have said it's a lot easier for us to comprehend our assignments. At the moment, you could be safe in asking why that wasn't the case maybe earlier in
the season, especially with so many young players. I think there's a case to be made that lou An Arumo kind of brought in his very complicated style that he saw a lot of veteran players play very effectively over the last past couple of years and assumed or thought that some of the young guys would just step right in and learn it as well, and that proved not
to be the case. There was just so much hesitation, so many guys who were a step behind, bad angles, communications, breakdowns, things like that that are you know, not a real slight on a player's ability to play the position, but just you know, how you play as a team, and you know, so the Bengals never really had a bunch of superstar defensive players outside of Trey Hendrickson even when they were at their best and Jesse Bates. But what
they did was play together extremely well. Everybody knew their assignment and carried it out. And you really saw that fall off over the past you know, year and a half and I think they've gotten back to playing much more in that capacity over the past few weeks, and the young kids have stepped forward and played well. Chris jenkinses we talked about, seems like he's getting his feet
really underneath them. Jordan Battle, who you know, flashed a lot last year and then you know, was in the doghouse at the beginning of the year, but now is really showing again why they thought so highly of him. And even a player like Josh Newton who has you know, had to play because of injuries, and he's been you know, he's had his ups and downs like all young players, but he's played pretty well. Certainly the last couple of weeks he's been much more sticky in coverage than he
was in his first few games. So you know, there are some definite positives. It's just you think to yourself, if only this could have happened a little earlier in the season, things might be so much.
Different going forward. What are some of the priorities for being back in Super Bowl contention as soon as possible.
Well, I mean some of the things that we talked about obviously already is you know, prioritizing the money where you're going to spend next year's free agent dollars. They have to improve the pass rush to me first and foremost so much we talk about what we said about guys being you know, a step slow or out of position or not communicating. Well, a lot of that stuff gets erased when you have a good pass rush, and
we saw that just on Sunday against Cleveland. How you know, it didn't really even matter half the time who was breaking open deep down the field because Thompson Robinson just had no time to throw the ball half on half of his dropbacks, and that that really is a magic eraser in so many ways, and so much of this season has been lost because of the fact that other than Hendrickson, they're just not getting any rush on the quarterback consistently. So, you know, that would certainly be a
priority one A for me. The guard play on the offensive line obviously has to improve. They may want to move around and see what else they can find, both in the draft and the free agent market, but I think the interior of the offensive line and obviously the pass rush are you know, again on the line of scrimmage. We talked about it last offseasons to the point where it just got to be a cliche. They had to
fix the trenches. They still got to fix the trenches, and you know, until that gets sorted out, they're probably not going to be able to get back to that championship level.
The Bengals can keep their playoff hopes alive if they beat the Denver Broncos on Saturday. What are going to be some keys to coming away with a victory in that game.
Yeah, it's an interesting case because you have a team in Denver that likes to play defense, likes to run the ball, and when they don't do those things well,
especially run the ball, they they've had some struggles. They're actually, surprisingly enough, given the Bengals struggles in one score games, Denver is only one in five in one score games, I believe, So you know, it's a situation where they have a rookie quarterback they can only win in a certain circumscribed way, and their defensive pressure upfront they lead the NFL in sacks, and you know what they can
get in the back end. They have obviously an outstanding number one cornerback, Patrick Setan, but surprisingly enough, they are very low in terms of guarding the enemy number one wide receiver, both in DVOA the efficiency stat that were known for at FTN, and also in yards per game. So Jamar chase is the Ears are pricking up, no doubt about that. It's not a case obviously, where the teams don't just put their number one corner on the other team's number one wide out. It's not quite that simple.
But they do have good success against tight ends and the rest of the guys, but against wideouts and running backs they struggle. So the two chases Jamar and Brown should be part of the focal part of the offense. But the game will come down in a lot of ways to which team can establish themselves on the ground. I think the Broncos have come under a lot of fire locally in Denver for not staying with the run and blowing leads in that way. You saw that against
the Chargers especially, and obviously Cincinnati. You know they found some success with Chase Brown. It's inconsistent. It's not a
dominant part of their game and never will be. But against the top run defense, can they squeeze out enough yards to not have a scenario where Denver's playing just come totally against the pass and that you know, there's a possible weather factor as well there in Cincinnati, with rain and wind expected not necessarily known how severe it's going to be, But you can't expect to be able to just throw for you know, the three hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns like we come to expect
from Joe necessarily in this game. So as much of the ground attack can be worked out against Denver's tough run defense, that'll be an important part of the game.
Robert, I want to wrap things up by mentioning something that I look forward to receiving in my email inbox on a regular basis. It's called the NYC one thousand. For people who have no idea what I'm talking about, explain the NYC one thousand.
Uh, it's my tilting at Windmills. I guess you'd probably say it's a substack that I have which I am counting down the top one thousand sporting events in NYC New York City history. And that's the conceit of it is. It had to have happened in New York. And it's everything from football and basketball and baseball to tennis your favorite, and boxing and track and field and even the bicycle race from the nineteenth century thrown in there as well.
And it's just a way of, you know, kind of charting sports history which is so tied into New York obviously the capital sports for many many moons, if not necessarily at the present, and also just a way to throw in the rise and fall and rise again of so much of the city and so much of the country as well, and going to give a little history lesson alongside the sports stuff, which you know is certainly
the way to get people in. But I try and tuck in the occasional history lesson in other ways as well, And it's really just a it's a fun little project that's been going on for a while.
Now.
We're only up to about seven hundred and something. I think, you know, about a quarter of the way through. Not quite there yet, but you know, it's been going on for a while. But it's easy thing to catch up on. So yeah, you can just google NYC one thousand or Robert Wantrum and it'll come up, and you know, subscribe
and you'll get it in your inbox. I try and make it once a week Christmas in Milli Year's Eve, we may take a break, but otherwise it's a pretty steady thing two a week and you find out what kind of interesting games and boxing matches and tennis matches have been going on in NYC history, in which ones idem are the best?
And I improved that you do not have to be from New York City to enjoy the NYC one thousand. If you like great writing and great storytelling, check it out the NYC one thousand. Robert always great to catch up. Appreciate your time and happy holidays.
Yeah, Happy holladays to you, Dan, to everybody out there. Thanks so much.
You can check out the NYC one thousand for free. Just search for NYC one thousand substack. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best Care for the best Fans. Kettering Health is
the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. The Denver Broncos were Super Bowl champs in twenty fifteen, Peyton Manning's final season. They haven't made it to the playoffs in the eight years since, but at nine and six, the Broncos are on the verge of ending that drought, needing to win just one of their final two games to get in either at Cincinnati this week or at home against the Chiefs next week, and they've done it behind rookie quarterback
Bo Nix, the twelfth pick in this year's draft. In this week's No The Faux Segment, I spoke to long time Broncos reporter Mike Cliss. Mike, you've written this week about the Broncos making sure that they have proper prepared footballs for this game and the event of rain. Explain why that is newsworthy in Denver, Well.
Because they had a game in the rain against the Jets in the Meadowlands in Week four. It was the remnants of Hurricane Helene, and bow Knicks.
Could not grip the ball. It was so wet. It was it was It wasn't a rain. It was an in game rain. In other words, it wasn't before and left it soggy.
It drizzled and rained the whole game except for a period in the third quarter, and as it so happened, NICKX led the team out a touchdown drive and they won it ten to nine.
But otherwise he couldn't grip it.
He was minus seven yards passing in the first half. And so they later determined that the ball, you know, the balls were so wet they had they didn't scuff them up properly. They didn't think it was going to rain during the game, so they didn't have the right type of football in there.
They didn't have the right type of leather polish. So they're preparing for rain during the game this time.
They I know, at least two practices they had wet ball drills and so ball security is going to be real big and bowl ability to play in bad weather. He came from Oregon, so you would think he knows how to play in the rain. But he didn't play well that game. That was probably his worst game. But they think they rectify that by giving them better footballs this week.
Well, hopefully, now that they prepared for it, we won't get any rain. It'll turn out to be a nice afternoon here in Cincinnati. Let me follow up on bow Knicks, Mike. He was the sixth quarterback taking in the draft, but he's right up there with Jayden Daniels as a candidate for offensive Rookie of the year. What have you found most impressive about bow Knicks's play as a rookie?
Yeah, I would say Bowl the last few weeks has fallen behind Jayden Daniels got the big start there.
Jayden Daniels is going to be the rookie of the year.
I think uh Bowers, the tight end from the Raiders, probably finished second. Nicks will probably finish third. But what impresses you? Uh? Jeff Hopson wrote about it there for Bengals dot Com. He he talked to a coach that had him in Oregon last last year. Just so smart, gets rid of the ball so quick reach defenses. I mean, he's like a veteran out there. He's got Peyton Manning's mind. Maybe not Peyton Manning's accuracy, but he's got his mind.
And it doesn't have Peyton's ability to to anticipate to throw it open that Peyton did so well. But Bau has the mental, the cerebral part of the game down. You know, he's a coaches kid. He's very serious about it. He's uh, you know, he doesn't goo for around. He's not a goof around guy. He's all in, uh on football and preparing and watching film and knowing tendencies and attacking tendencies. Uh So that's that's the part.
Of the game.
And then on top of that, he's a lot faster than anyone thought coming out of college. Didn't hear that and all from all the draft necks how fast he is. But he is fast, and so he runs the ball well and some and and a lot of times his arm strength will surprise you. There are some times where it looks like he lacks arm strength. I don't know if that's footwork or or you know, probably the fundamentals of setting up that affects that. But there are times
when he really rips it. So uh, he's been good overall. His rook hadn't been perfect, but he's been a little I would he had. He had high expectations coming in because you knew he was going to start day one, but he's been a little better in that well.
Chatting with Mike Cliss, who covers the Broncos for nine News in Denver, let's talk about a couple of defensive topics. Beginning with cornerback Riley Moss. Looks like he's back after missing three games. How significant would that be for the Broncos.
I'd be pretty significant because he'll allow them to play more Manda Man.
And if you trust your Manda Man coverage, you can blitz more.
And against Joe Burrow.
Putting on pressure, putting on heat I think is paramount. It seems like, you know, you give Joe all day to throw, I mean your toast. And if you put heat on him though, and he's not the most elusive of quarterbacks in the pocket, if you put the heat on him, you know, he can Like any quarterback. He you know he's not an All Pro when there's someone
in his face. And so that's what the Broncos, that's the key to the game is the Broncos have to get pressure and having a second cornerback like Riley Moss who's not as good as Pat Sir Tam, but is more aggressive and plays with a fun, infectious.
Aggressive style of defense.
And so that's why I think one player can make a big difference here because they have not played well in his absence, giving up over twenty six points a game and ranking thirty first in the last in the NFL in yards allowed the last three games. So they put it this way, they better hope he's the difference.
Patrick Tartan is obviously well known, but there are a couple of guys having big years on the Denver defense that are not household names. Tell us a little bit about Nick Benito and Zach Allen.
Yep, you picked the right too. Benito is a third year guy from Oklahoma. The Broncos. By the way, George Payton, who got a lot.
Of guff from the general manager here, got a lot of guff because of the Russell Wilson trade, and rightly, oh you know, they gave up so many draft picks, first and second round draft picks for him and it didn't work out. But while he was handicapped in the draft, in the last a last pick of the second round in twenty twenty two, he got Nick Benito out of Oklahoma, and in twenty twenty three, the last pick in the
second round he got Marvin Bimms. They're a really good returner and a fine receiver who's now been playing some halfbacks. So those are two real good picks with the last pick in the second round twenty two and twenty three.
And Benito's just just speed.
He's a speed guy with some bend, so he's you know, it depends on the matchup. Last week, the Chargers had two fine offensive tackles and.
They locked them up.
Strengthwise, he can lock them up, but if he gets a little bit of a head start, watch out. And Zach Gallen has been tremendous as a three four defensive end time.
He plays a three technique a lot too. He's just been real stout.
He's one of those relentless motor guys kind of like Hendrickson on the inside as far as smarts and.
And can kind of read weaknesses.
He watches a lot of film, he knows how to attack certain blockers, and got a relentless motor and strong, and so he's been very good this year.
A couple more questions for Mike Cliss, who covers the Broncos for nine News in Denver. The Chiefs one on Christmas to clinch the number one seed. That gives Kansas City the ability to rest starters next week as they played the Broncos. Is that what Denver expects? Do they expect Kansas City to rest guys based on Kansas City's history? And if so, does that lessen the pressure on Saturday against Cincinnati.
Well, I don't know what the mindset will be against Cincinnati. I think first things first, you.
Gotta attack it like this is a winning in playoff game against the Bengals and give it all you got.
But yes, Andy Reid, I mean he's he's a.
Heck of a coach, and he's not gonna play Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelcey or Chris Jones who has a calf strain anyway, probably wasn't gonna play anyway, those three guys they're not at would not anticipate those guys playing in the finals, so a little bit of breathing room does He's a little bit of pressure, but you got to be careful about that.
It's not like the.
Preseason, the final preseason game where you rest your top twenty five guys because you got a ninety man roster. You know, you can only there's only fifty three guys and you got to uh so, so you're still gonna have fifteen of the twenty two starters play.
And Carson Wentz by the way, you know, I know.
His finer days were several several years ago, but the last time I checked, he was still capable.
So first thing first, you got to give it.
You got to sell out against the Bengals, and if that doesn't work out, it should work out against the Chiefs. But sometimes that's a dangerous proposition. I tell you, Dan, I covered that two thousand and eight Bronco team. It's the only team in history that's had a three game lead with three to go and.
Didn't make the playoffs.
And the Bronco at this current Bronco team had the same position, the same situation.
A week ago and one down, you know, the loss of the Chargers.
Now, let's see what happens to the Bengals, so you have to treat it like a must win.
Last thing, Mike, you mentioned the need to put pressure on Burrow. Are there any other big keys from Denver's perspective in your opinion?
Well, with the weather and with the weather, I would say, you.
Know, turnovers, ball security, bow had he only had two.
Picks through ten games.
From from game three to game twelve, he threw only two interceptions, ten touchdowns.
He was really good.
Then all of a sudden, there's there are two games there where he threw five through two and one game three in another and then last week they had Sean Payton really rained him in. As far as the it was a very conservative passing game, so you've got to open it up a little.
But you still can't turn the ball over.
It's kind of a fine line there. We'll see what Sean Payton does. You can't be too cautious in this game either, so you know the whole turnover, who can protect, who can hang on to the wet ball estimate. The rookie running backs had a little bit of fumble problems early in the season. Courtland Sutton has fumble problems once in a while, their top receiver.
Those guys got to hang on to the ball.
Week and a holiday week. I know you're busy. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us.
You got it.
The Bengals are a three and a half point favorite as they try to even their record at eight and eight and keep hope alive heading into the regular season finale at Pittsburgh. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Kettering Health is the official healthcare 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