Bengals Booth Podcast: You Say It's Urgent

of your questions via Twitter. Plus two additional conversations. We'll hear from John Ross, who practiced for the first time since training camp began on Sunday, and I'll talk to a player on the roster bubble who says Thursday's final preseason game is, in his words, life changing. All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing

on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since Thermocell's patio shield mosquito repeller. There is no love on Earth that compares to the way mosquitos love me. In the summer, I am a living, breathing mosquito bite. Well, recently my wife purchased the Thermocell Patio Shield Mosquito Repeller, which claims to create a fifteen foot zone of protection on your patio or deck. It's easy to use, looks pretty cool, and there's no spray,

smoke or scent. We broke it out last night and I am mosquito bite free. So as if now it qualifies as a great invention, Let's get to football. As you probably know, football coaches can be pretty evasive when it comes to sharing information. For example, a head coach might hold a news conference and answer every question with we're onto Cincinnati, But it doesn't appear that Zach Taylor will follow that formula. On Sunday, he was asked if the Bengals had decided on a starting offensive line. He

said yes, and name the starters. Later, he was asked about the battle for roster spots and wide receiver and shared that undrafted rookie Damian Willis will start in the season opener at Seattle. That all qualifies as breaking news, and more or less demanded an immediate edition of the Bengals Booth podcast Lap We've called for an emergency podcast after rather extraordinary news conference from Zach Taylor on Sunday where he was as honest and as direct as an

NFL head coach can be. This was very unlike Marvin Lewis for the last sixteen years, where he didn't feel comfortable in sharing a lot of the information that Zach Taylor shared on Sunday. But let's start with the offensive line. When asked if he had decided who the guys are going to be to start up front against Seattle, he not only said yes, he laid it out and here is the group. Corty Glenn left tackle, rookie Michael Jordan, left guard, Trey Hopkins center not Billy Price, John Miller,

right guard, Bobby Hart right tackle. Your reaction, well, my initial reaction is hopefully Corty Glenn left tackle is in concussion protocol and what those situations, You never know it. It could be dicey, you could be up in the air. But I hope he's able to go at left tackle. If not, Andre Smith will get the knot out there at the left tackle position in Seattle. Tough place to open up as a left tackle not having a whole lot of snaps there, but that's way down the road.

I guess the thing about Michael Jordan Dan, his good is very, very good. I mean when you see when you see him at his best, his upside is monstrous. Now his bad is pretty bad too. I mean it's like, you know, it's worrisome, but and there's gonna be some some ups and downs that you're gonna have to deal

with with with a young player like that. But the fact is his upside is so high that I think that coach Jim Turner and everybody involved in the decision making just said, you know, we gotta, we gotta, let's roll with this guy. And he's physical, athletic. You know, this guy's massive. I mean he's big, thick, broad white, everywhere you can be big. He's big. And there's a thirty two inch vertical jump. That's some explosion. When you can get a body that size off the ground thirty

two inches and that's that's impressive. So arms along on doing the one arm punch that we talked about before that Jim Turner is employing and pass protections. His arm is looks like it's got seventy inches a length to it. The way he throws that thing out there and Stymi's people, so I can understand why they're going there. Any An, He's smart, you know, it's not like it's too big for him mentally, so I think they feel good about that.

And then Trey Hopkins at the center position, very intelligent himself. You know, he's been referred to as a football savant. You know, he understands why, not just what they're doing, but why they're doing what they're doing and how to do it the right way. And he's he's going to be great in terms of making calls and communicating with the young you know, rookie left tackle, not that Billy Price couldn't Billy's you know, same thing. Very smart, understands

the game and all that goes along with it. But just right now, whether it's due to Billy's you know, plan of phyciis that he's battling in his foot, or it's it's due to Trey hopkins excellence or consistency, I'll put it that way, because like we said, Trey's never gonna blow your way like oh man, he's overpowering, but he's not going to screw it up either. So you know what you're gonna get. He may be the most consistent player that they've had in the organization for the

you know, snaps that he's been out there. His peaks and valleys are not like, oh, what am I going to get? I know exactly what I'm going to get from him, whereas with Michael, you know, it's like, ooh, and what am I going to get? The good is going to be very good, but the bad might not be so great, obviously. So it's interesting that they get the nod and it speaks volumes to a lot of a lot of organizations, gives lip service to It's not you know how you got here, it's what you do

once you get here. Here you have a fourth round pick and a college free agent entering the NFL in that manner, and they're both starting lineman in the National

Football League. So it sends a message. Sends a message to not just those guys for being rewarded for their effort, but their teammates that you know, if you're out here thinking you've got a job and you're just taking it for granted and you're rolling your helmet out on the field of practice every day, you better pick it up, man, because somebody's going to replace you, especially when the undrafted guy is now starting in place of last year's first

round draft pick, no question about it. And you know, it's if you have some guys that are are, you know, kind of sitting back and cruising, and it's like, yeah, I'm good, nobody's good. You got you gotta every day, you gotta go out there and compete, compete for your job. And the other side of that is, you know, Billy Price and others, compete and get your job back. You know, if the decision has been made right now that these are the guys starting the Seattle game doesn't mean it's

it's locked and loaded for sixteen games. I'm not saying it's casting Jello, but I'm not saying it's casting the stone either, you know. I mean, it's I think it's like, we're gonna go this way. We feel like they've earned it, and over a long period of time of you know, OTAs and mini camps and training camp and you know, all those things, we feel like this is the way

we want to go. But I mean, there's no reason to assume the fetal position and give up on the fact that you couldn't have the job at some point in time. And the thing is in this league with injury, we talked about it many times. Every play one percent injury risk to every single player. So you're doing yourself and your team at disservice if you're not ready to jump in there, whatever the case may be, if it's due to injury or inconsistent or you know, not good

enough play. You get an opportunity, you better be ready yourself to take advantage of an opportunity. You're doing a disservice to everybody across the board. So I like that that message is being sent. Everybody work, everybody work to the best of your ability to work, and then let the chips fall as they may. But you know, don't take anything for granted. Don't coast, don't put it in cruise control. I've arrived. I'm the guy dangerous. They've already

set the precedent, They've shown what can happen. And I'm not saying that that happened to those guys. But if you're in that mindset and you think that that you know that I'm I'm good boy in this game. Never think you're good. Always realize there's somebody you know dying to take your job, talking about taking advantage of an opportunity.

Then there's Damian Willis, undrafted rookie wide receiver out of Troy, typically the kind of guy that's going to play a million snaps in the final preseason game, trying desperately to make the roster, even the practice squad. Well again being totally frank. On Sunday, Zach Taylor comes out and says he's going to get the final preseason game off. He's made the team right now, he is the starting X receiver in Week one in Seattle. And you know, all he does is he's a perfect example of what we

were just talking about. Go out there, give your best effort. Don't overthink it, you know, don't assume all these variables and start talking yourself out of things or into things or whatever. Just go out perform, know what you're doing, how you're supposed to do it, and do it the best your ability and let the chips fall as they may, you know, unfortunately for the organization, but fortunately for him. Aj Green got hurt forty five minutes into the first practice.

Aj Green will be the ex receiver if he wasn't injured, but he's injured, so somebody has to feel that that spot he went out and want it. God bless him. I mean, congratulations, that's one hell of a story and you know, everybody should take a look at that. John Ross basically hasn't taken us this Sunday as we're speaking at this practice. It's the first practice that John Ross is going to be involved in, so two theoretically, you know,

two starters haven't even participated. So that gave him an opening, but he gave everybody else an opening too. And he's the one that rose to the top. He said, I'm going to be the cream. I'm gonna rise to the top. And you know, you hear the other receivers talking about him, like when we talk to John Ross today, Dan he said,

this guy can do everything. And speaking of Damian Willis, speaking of Damian Willis that I can't believe that he's this talented and there was no buzz about him, absolutely no buzz about this this guy because he can do everything. That's from a you know, a guy in his position group that he's going to be competing against. You know now that now that Ross is back in the practice field,

but he respects him. I mean he's like, wow, look at this, guys and everybody respect him, including the coaches, and they made the decision he's not gonna play against the Colts and he's gonna line up out there in Seattle and get after the Seattle defense and that crowd noise and try to make some plays and help win a football game. And that's just in conversation with him. He played quarterback earlier in his career. He's played not only quarterback with a QUE, cornerback with a C. So

that's a good pedigree as a quarterback. He knows, you know, what he's trying to look at to decipher things. And then on the flip side, having played corner he knows techniques that are going to be employed against him. Now that he's a receiver and he can see read things and understand coverages, holes and coverages, he might be able to take advantage of how he can beat techniques. What guys did to him when he was playing cornerback that gave him problems in terms of releases off the line,

scrunge and those kind of things. So the fact that he understands coverages because of the quarterback and cornerback play, I think has helped him immensely in his transition too wide receiver position. I said to you after Zach Taylor's news conference, these where Patriots moves to me, where it's all about the meritocracy. The most deserving guy gets the position.

And I'm going to give some credit to Mike Brown and the Bengals upper management in giving Zach Taylor and his coaching staff the total green light to say, hey, you've got to coach these guys. You decide which guys are most deserving of the playing time. Absolutely, And I think I think that such a young head coach and a young coaching staff, I think they feel like, you know, what,

if the young guy deserves it, let's play him. I think, you know, Marvin, being a veteran coach with the vet more veteran coaching staff, trusted veteran players, it's like, you know, I'm not sure. I remember, you know, when I first came in the league, I didn't know this. I didn't know what I didn't know. Now I know, and you know, as a coach and I know players, I don't trust rookie players. But this younger coaching staff seems to not have as big an issue with that. And you know,

and that's a philosophy, that's a mindset. And I think that these young coaches adapt really well to coaching up these young players, and there's a it's all about bonding in relationships and trust and all those kind of things. And I think that that, you know, the veteran coaching staff didn't have the trust in the young players this group does. This group feels like age isn't an issue. I mean, if you're showing me that you can handle it, it's not too big for you. You're gonna play. I'm

gonna play you. So I think I think the combination of these young guys coming to take advantage of opportunities and being in the right mindset, the right approach, the right philosophical approach how to handle it all, and coaches that have the right mindset and philosophical approach to coaching him to handle those things. I think that's been a one plus one equals three synergistic type thing, you know, getting those guys ready for the roles that they have

to play. A. J. Green was in the locker room today for the first time in a while. He still got the boot on his ankle. He has one of those one legged scooters to get around and he didn't feel like talking to reporters yet. But what's your best guests at this point for what we're likely to see him? I would I would hope, and I guess, you know,

hope's probably the key word. That it might be the Pittsburgh game Week four, Week four, the Monday night game and to September Monday Night in Pittsburgh, because you know that's going to be a tough battle. And if you can get a guy like AJ green Back for a contest like that, that's literally getting a first round draft pick, a future Hall of Famer, all these things to give you a lift as you're getting ready for that game, and an offensive playmaker that you know has has really

done good things against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think that would be unbelievable. But if it's rushing it, you know, I think I think week five that could possibly be the the target p I think it's going to be in that area week four or week five. So but Aj is a is a quick healer. I understanding he's not feeling pain, which is a good sign. Not feeling pain at this point in time, So you know that he has always been ahead of ahead of the clock

in terms of his rehabilitation. I don't think this thing will be any any different. And it is. It's like he's such a such a genetic marvel and takes care of himself so well that recovery is going to be on the fast side. It's just the way he's built. Let's talk about the wide receiver position. Going into this final preseason game. There are now five locks, essentially A j Green, Tyler Boyd, John Ross, Alex Ericsson and now Damian Willis. What about Odd and Tate, Cody Core, Josh

Mallow and maybe somebody else. Yeah, I mean it's how many you're gonna keep six? Seven? You know, you think they're gonna keep six? Anyway? Will it be seven? And at that point definitely number seven and potentially number six. Then not only can be competing with the other receivers, they're competing with all the other guys that are battling for the last two or three roster spots. That's going to be determined by special teams as well as what you can do your position group in terms of snaps

provided to the organization, to the football team. Cody Core is probably the best special teams player of the group add and Tate is limited because of his foot speed, So I mean he'd have to do things that bigger

body guys do on special teams. He's kind of a tween or special teams guy, not fast enough, but not quite big enough because you know, I mean he has speed, that's not he can't be a gunner, but you know, is he big enough to handle some of the interior things that are done on punt coverage and punt return and those kind of things. So he's kind of finds himself in a conundrum there. But his ability to make contested catches, you know, translates to third down in red zone,

and those guys valuable. I mean, if you that's the money, that's those are the money areas, third downs, the money down red zones, the money zone and the football field. If you have a guy that can make serious contributions there like he can, it's it's it's a variable number of snaps. How many times are you in the red zone? You don't know, you're not gonna be guaranteed to be in the red zone three or four times every game,

you hope you are. How many third down opportunities you're gonna have you hope you have quite a few, and there's snaps there for sure, But does that offset the snaps of Cody core would give you on special teams and maybe an emergency receiver due to injury and so and then Malone. You know, Malone hasn't shown himself to be a special teams guy. And he's got some raw physical ability that's different than his speed is off the charts. He's got size, he's got speed. He's been inconsistent with

the catch. You know, Cody Cored will go block, Auden table go block. Malone has been a little bit more dicey in that area in terms of black So all of these things, you know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a tough decision. It's gonna be, you know, make a list of pros and cons and when when you weigh it out, how many snaps are these pros and cons equate to? And those are the guys will probably

make those roster spots. The tough thing is for Darren Simmons, there aren't as many snaps being provided to special teams from the linebacker positions there are with other teams around the league. So Roddy Anderson is going to be a potentially big special teams performer. He was going to play a lot more special teams you know, than he did last Thursday night. But he got on such a role in terms of catching, you know, run after catch. They wanted to see a little bit more of that. So Darren,

I think, backed off on his special team snaps. It could be the reverse against the Colts. He may play less snaps offensively, but get a real test by Darren Simmons to see if he can be a guy because he's going to be the fourth running back, maybe even you know, he'll be the fourth running back, but he's gonna have to play a lot of special teams. I feel that fourth running back, So the fourth running back, sixth wide receiver, deifth watchers. Where are these special team STAPs?

Who's fighting? That's what I mean. It's like they're not just competing with their position group. They're competing with the running back, They're competing with the the defensive back. They're competing with you know, maybe a defensive lineman that can like win, you know, whin's making the team and he's taking some special team snaps, So you're competing with all these guys for Darren Simmons, which is a big, big,

you know area. It's the all important third phase. Special teams wins and loses games for you, So all those snaps are vitally important. If they wind up signing somebody that gets released by another team, what position do you

think that guy will play? In my mind? Linebacker? You know, I mean I could see on marriage and you know, I'm not sure that you, you know, make the you might make the roster close to this defensively, but there's eleven defensive lineman I'd like to have on my football team. But you can't keep eleven or can't you eleven? Four linebackers? And you know you have to have more than four and ten defensive backs. That's how I do the twenty five.

I'm going in a perfect world, twenty five offense, twenty five defense, and three special teams for my fifties three man roster. Right now, if I'm going on merrit only most deserving, most deserving, eleven defensive linemen, four linebackers, ten defensive backs, now that'll that'll change. I'd have my I know everybody would know that's not my final roster. You know, I'd be I'm not all my linebackers obviously on the

fifty three a man roster, honoring this current roster. Potentially I'm gonna be looking for for for another one, maybe another two somewhere else. But and then make changes accordingly. You know that keep ten defensive linemen, maybe nine defensive backs or whatever, if you can find another linebacker or two that you think that Darren Simmons feels good about, you know, as well as lou Anna Rumo, because you

need to have somebody that can work with. Can he play defense for the way we play it, And does Darren Simmons feel like he can play special teams? Get some special team snaps? So yeah, I mean, I think I think that linebacker position um is going to be is going to be the one because in my mind, offensive line, no third tackles are going to be let go anywhere. And maybe there a team is really loaded and they have a fourth offensive tackle that is a

good player, but they try to trade. I mean, everybody wants, you know, if your number four is better than my number three. There's probably a few teams in the league that that is the case with and they try to make some sort of a trade. So I'd say that the linebacker position would probably be the one that they may be getting off the waiver wire somewhere. All right.

I announced on Twitter we were going to record an emergency podcast in light of today's news breaking developments, and I asked people that had questions to send them to me via Twitter. So we will take a few Twitter questions as well. This is from Jeff, and I'm going to paraphrase slightly. With the moves announced today, with undrafted free agents starting and young guys starting, should the fan

base feel optimistic about this coaching staff? You know, I guess, I guess on the raw, the raw look of oh my goodness, who are we playing? I mean, these guys, these guys don't have there's no fan fare here. You know, these guys aren't coming out of college. They weren't you know, everybody's making everybody's list. They weren't the guy as such. Well, you know, some guys slip through the cracks. A lot of guys, a lot of guys are in the Hall of Fame, like McK Tingelhoff. That's the guy that I

always come back to the Minnesota Vikings. The dude was, you know, seventeenth round pick or something. You know, Jim Langer with the Miami Dolphins, another center was not a high draft pick coming out of coming out of college. It's it's guys mature and develop at different times, and sometimes you're not in the right situation being in the right place at the right time that fits your skill set. It's all. Some of it is luck and timing, and

some guys, you know, an opportunity presents itself. Because in the Bengals case, where you've got these guys playing, the first round draft pick, Jonah Williams gets hurt before things even start. Aj Green gets hurt forty five minutes into the first practice of training camp. Two number one draft picks by the boards. Now you've got opportunity and the guys that seize the moment where you know later round draft picks or the undrafted guys. And it's not like

Tredy Hawkins. He's been here for a while and he's proved himself. They kept him as a restricted free agent, meaning he's going to make more than three million dollars this year, So it's not like they thought, well, this guy is questionable. He's a valuable part of this team. Absolutely. I remember when he came from University of Texas as a college free agent. I saw him play at Texas.

I thought, you know, hey, this guy played high school football Texas, went to University of Texas, Skins on the wall. You know, you know he can play. Paul Alexander saw something in me. Broke his leg. Paul Alexander said, we got to keep this guy around, keep learning the practice squad. You know, let's work with him. You know. Then, you know, it's like he's been through three offensive line coaches now and they all have agreed that this guy has something.

And what he has is, you know exactly what you're going to get out of him. He's got consistency. With the capitol C C on his chest isn't for captain on the on the jersey, It's for consistency, mister consistency, And that's what coaches love. And he's not going to let you down. So yeah, I mean, and Willis's you know, is a great story. Now. You know, I'm not saying that Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks are trembling in their boots saying, who Trey Hopkins is a starting center?

Damian Willis is the starting X receiver. Who man, we're in trouble now. But you know what, these guys earned their their opportunity, earned their position. And uh, you know these guys are NFL players. Am I saying their Pro Bowl players? I am not? Am I saying they belong on the field in the National Football League? I most certainly am, because they've earned it and they deserve it. I can think of a tenth round draft pick named Tim Krumer I worked out pretty well, no question about it.

I can think of twelfth round Bob Trump worked out pretty well. So I mean there's there's a lot of a lot of cases of of guys that you know, you miss on some. And I'll tell you what, getting Rodney Anderson in the sixth round that could be a nice steal for the Cincinnati Bengals organization as well. In this year's draft, Twitter question from Mark what's your level of confidence in this old line? I think this old line the one thing that it has is multiple guys

can play multiple positions. So the offensive line and you know, I'm saying, okay, people are going to be thinking, oh man, he's reaching now, are you kidding me? It is a plus that this offensive line can go into a game on a forty six man roster for game day and only have seven active and not have to activate eight or nine because of the fact that the two guys

that are playing that aren't in the starting lineup. If they have to, they can both play you know, three positions or more, maybe you know four or five line positions each of them. I mean, there's that position versatility, and Jim Turner has been working on that. I mean it has been a rotation in the preseason games. Every series it's another another mix and match another and he's trying to find the right chemistry. And you know, you can argue two ways. You can say a lineman, it

should work together. My philosophy has always been, like an offensive line, five components, four fingers in a thumb. You make a fish. You don't think about it, It It just involuntarily happens, you know, put the four fingers down and wrap the thumb. That's offensive line play. But in today's NFL, you know, you have to be able to adapt to different guys, and different guys are going to be playing

different position groups. You can't make the team now as a backup right guard, only a backup center, only a backup. You have to be. If you're a backup, you have to be a swing tackle, a swing guard being able to play them both, or a swing interior lineman being able to play center in both guards. So and they've got that. So I think in terms of that, I

feel good. But I do think that this offensive line is going to be playing a lot better at the end of the month of September than in the beginning of the month of September when they go to Seattle. I mean it's a group that has not taken a lot of snaps together, loud place, silent snap count. I mean,

all the things you're looking at. You say, man, this is a recipe for a boy, a bunch of false starts, a bunch of problems, and you know, or if you're laid off the ball, you know, your only advantage is gone. You're grabbing because they're already beaten you and you get holding pennys. There's all kinds of potential issues out there because it is you know, undrafted free agent center, fourth round rookie at left guard. You know, it's a Andre Smith is not taking a lot of snaps at the

left tackle position. So if he had to play if he had to play it. If you Corty Glenn can't make the dance, so well, if Corty Glenn does. If I'm the offensive line coach, and I know Jimmy's probably thinking the same thing, I'm not sure I can count on them to play the entire game at Seattle. I'm not sure I can count on to play sixteen games of the season because historically he's shown that he hasn't

done that. So that's where that position versatility and other guys being able to play left tackle and right guard. You know, whatever the case may be, We'll see how it unfolds. But you know, I know that as of right now, from what I've looked at, they got like three running plays in and three maybe four protections. They are as white as vanilla can be vanilla vanilla. So they're not showing anything that they're going to do it.

And you know, every but everybody can say that, but this group, I think is intentionally doing that because their biggest advantage is the only year where when they go into their season opener, Pete Carroll has no idea exactly what they're gonna do. He's looking at rams tape, he's looking at my Dolphins tape. He's looking at probably Texas A and M tape where everywhere Zax coached. He's looking at offensive tape to see what you know, it's going to be a pain in the next to prepare for him.

But Seattle will just run their stuff. You know, Seattle, it's not the defense that won Super Bowls for him. They're not that good. But they've got the best linebacker. Wagner is the best linebacker in football. In my opinion. That guy's is going to be somebody you really have to account for when you're blocking up front with the offensive line. He's unbelievable. But you know, we'll see. We'll see how they how they compete, We'll see what kind

of a game plan they put together. We'll see. I think we're going to see things we certainly have not seen in the preseason. That's for daunt Here. We've got a bunch of Twitter questions about the wide receiver position. We covered it earlier, except for the fact than I inadvertently left out Stanley Morgan and he's not out of it yet, the fact that he was hurt last week and missed Week three of the preseason, and at this point we don't know about his status for Week four

of the preseason. That obviously hurt his case. Yeah, no doubt about it. Just you know, ill timed in and that happens a lot. I mean, guys don't make the NFL because they got hurt at the wrong time and then never get a chance to work their way back into the mix with anybody. Really, it's kind of sad.

I see Stanley Morgan though, as worst case scenario, practice squad guy that will work his tailoff and be probably the best practice squad wide receiver you could ask for, and who knows there may be an opportunity for him

at some point in time during the season. And because they've shown that, you know, if there's injury or whatever the God forbid or whatever other case it may be, if you're showing that you should be promoted from the practice squad to the fifty three man roster based on the way you're working, Zach, and this coaching staff will do it. I mean, what they've done for this opener

proves that fact. So if I'm a practice squad player with the Cincinnati Bengals, if I'm an agent that i'm evaluating, should my client go to the Bengals practice squad or the Chicago Bears practice squad. I'm saying the Bengals are giving all these guys are fair shot. I think I think my guy might might be better off than Cincinnati. Twitter question John Jerry's quality of playing. John is uh, you know, not the not the same guy in terms of his footwork as he was in the earlier stages

of his career. He's a nine year player. He missed lat he sat out last year and its entirety, so you know, he's he's longer in the tooth. He's on the back nine. I don't know what hole he's potting out on, but he's on the back nine. So but but what he's got is uh experience intelligence. Uh. Jimmy Turner and and he have worked together prior to this in Miami, so he knows exactly what Jimmy wants. He can demonstrate techniques that Jimmy Turner's talking about because he's

done it before. Jimmy Turner can throw up tape of him playing for the Miami Dolphins. This is exactly how we want it done. And the guy that's doing it sitting right here in the room with you. Guys. You know John Jerry, and he's shown he can play guard. He's showing me complay tackles. So he's got position versatility. Am I saying he was the player he was when he was you know, three or four years in the league. No, But can he feel a role they're asking him to fill.

I think he can. We'll find out. All right, Let's cover one more topic, and that was Saturday's stunning announcement out of Indianapolis that Andrew Luck is retiring at the age of twenty nine. That really saddened me, not only because he's such a great player, but I just admire him so much personally. I admire the things he's done for children in Indianapolis, and it really made me sad that this endless run of injuries and rehab and he's healthy for a while and then he gets hurt again

was just ultimately too much for him. Yeah, he's a he's a very unique guy in the era of Twitter and social media. He has a flip phone, he doesn't have Twitter, but he has a kid's book club. You know, that's him, I think in a nutshell. You know, he's extremely intelligent. Stanford Grad that he is. I mean, he's got a Baul pedigree. Oliver Luck his dad played in the National Football League. I remember playing against him when he was with the Houston Oilers as a backup quarterback

down there. And you know, he's he's had a big career with NFL Europe. He was a major executive in that. He's going to be involved with the XFL. Now. Andrew Luck, you know, has traveled the world and he's going to travel it some more. You know, he was over in Europe when he's growing up, when his dad was running in NFL Europe, and soccer was you know, very very important to him as he was growing up as an athlete. So he is, he's so gifted. I mean, he's he's

a big dude. I remember walking by him the first time the Bengals played him in the preseason. He's like, you know, six four plus two hundred and forty pounds plus. I'm thinking, man, defensive mandas and linebackers going to have a hard time hauling this guy down. But and it's incrediblely you look at him, you think he's almost indestructible. But like he said, for the last four years, he was in constant pain, injury, pain, rehab, injury, pain, rehab, shoulder, ankle,

you know, different body parts. He was sacked, you know, more than anybody in the NFL. He's strong, more touchdown passes in his first six years of play than anybody in the league in the history of the NFL except

for Dan Marino. So, I mean, this guy, and part of it was his own fault because he held the ball so long, and he didn't have a very good offensive line to begin with a lot of his career, so a lot of his pain was self inflicted by his you know, mindset and his desire to be I'm going to tough it out and show I'm going to hold it to the last second and you know, just

stripe it in there and take the hit. He paid a price, so you know, nobody knows what it's like for him for the last four years of his life. And just watching him make that announcement and say, I just I just want a better quality of life than I've had the last four years, and unfortunately that can

include football for me anymore. I watched him say it and the expression on his face, I mean, he was crestfallen, you know, and watching him catch his emotions more than once during the course of his retirement speech, and you know, again having a flip phone, everybody's on the side, let's say, hey man, I'm here, you're retiring. Well, he was gonna do it, He's gonna make the announcement after the Bengals preseason game, but somebody in his inner circle let it out.

That's who should have been booed, no question, and that boy, he was really hurt by that one being booed that one because, like you said, Dan, I mean, he's given his heart and soul to Indianapolis. He said multiple times, this is home, Indianapolis, a great city, and you know, I've been adopted here and you know all of that, and then for him to get booed like that, and

you know, it's such a knee jerk reaction. And at that point, maybe there's five thousand people left in the stands, but they were booing him and it was loud, and you know, but you can't when they have time to think about it. You know that that's not how I don't think the city of Indianapolis is gonna feel about it when they have time to digest it. All right, you're rolling. This emergency podcast is complete. I appreciate your time,

my pleasure, sir. While AJ Green will definitely miss the start of the season, there is at least hope that John Ross will be back in action. He injured his hamstring in a walkthrough before the Bengals held their first training camp practice in Dayton, and finally was able to practice on Sunday. That gives John two weeks to get up to speed and two weeks for the coaching staff to determine if he can contribute in Week one against

the Seahawks. My colleague Wayne box Miller, host of the Bengals pre and postgame show and the Bengals Radio Network, went one on one with Ross, had his locker on Sunday. How does John Ross stayed calm? Because I know you chomping at the bid. I saw you worked out this summer very hard. But t j Ushmizana, But how do you stay calm knowing like man, I just I just want to get going. Yeah, that's the hard part for me. Man I stay in calm. It is just because I want to be so I want to be so great.

I want to I just want to do so much, you know, And I think that's why, you know, I tend to hurt myself a lot as I try to do so much. You know, you know, me being calm is the hardest thing for me. But um, you know, I just trying to stay honest about who I am, man, and trying to relax and you know, just let my game speak for yourself. Speaking of speaking for yourself, you

become like a touchdown maker. I think a lot of people thought you were only speed, but they didn't realize that in the red zone, you're just as effective as if you had an open field, right right. That's just my biggest thing. I mean, you know, I had to

find my you know, my position last year. You know, it was it was kind of up and down for me, you know, but once I realized that, you know, I come alive in the red zone, you know, I had to keep that alive and each and every game, you know, my main goals to getting end zone to help the team win. You do you feel a little um, I don't want to say pressure, but a little bit more responsibility with a j I don't to try to really

make sure you get back and just contribute. Yeah, man, I felt, you know, not even so much of this pressure. Just I'm just so anxious I felt. I felt the same way when you know when he's here, you know, um, you know, because it's just giving where I was drafted and giving you know, the expectations. You know, I just got so much expectations for myself and I haven't been

able to fulfill those jets, you know. So I'm working on that, and I'm you know, each and every day, I'm working on getting better and trying to bring something to my game that I didn't have the previous two years. And lastly, as you look at this year, you know, you get more comfortable every year, no matter what craft you're end talking about your comfort level just playing and with this offense and being in the system. Just less thinking.

You know, the more comfortable you get, the less thinking. Let's thinking you do the faster you play, you know. So that's kind of just my biggest thing right now. I'm trying to just relax and half fun, you know, and not go out there and think about how to catch the ball, how to run this route, how you know,

just go out there and half fun. Thanks Box. The final game of the preseason gets widely mocked because very few starters league wide we'll see action, but For players fighting for spots near the end of the roster, the final preseason game could determine if they have a job that pays six figures next week, or if a lifelong dream is coming to an end. I spoke to a Bengals player on Sunday who made it abundantly clear just how important Week four of the preseason is to him.

We're in the locker room and Bengals defensive lineman Andrew Brown. Through three preseason games so far, you've had more snaps on defense than anybody else on the team. Has that been a good thing? Hey? I think so. I would like to say that, Yeah, it's a lot of work. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of work. But you know what I'm built for. You know, I'm built the work hard, and I can honestly say, like it does feel like it's

starting to payoff. So can't speak too soon, though. You know, you got one more game ahead of me, and I'm focused on the Colts right now. It's gonna keep my head down, keep grinding, and like I told you earlier, you know, I just gotta say confident and consistent. You know, how important do you feel that fourth preseason game is for you personally, I'd say it's it's life changing group. I should say, this game right here is either do or die. Man. I'm definitely looking forward to it, you know,

I'm looking forward to it. We're talking to Andrew Brown. You had a sack in the preseason opener. So far, you've got seven quarterback pressures, which leads the team through three preseason games. What are your strengths as a pass rusher. Um, I would definitely say number one is my quickness. You know, I'm very quick. Uh got goospy. I'll probably say, um, my power as well. I'm quick and I'm powerful. So

those are my top two attributes. How far have you come in that department from your first day in Cincinnati until now? Man, I've come so long away, so long away, and I'm only climbing, like still gotta keep climbing. O my god. But I definitely see it. I feel a huge difference in myself, you know, and I'm proud of myself. We're talking to Andrew Brown. You got a new defensive line coach this year, and nikkis and spent nine years playing in the NFL, won a Super Bowl ring with

the Steelers, but still playing this decade. What impact has he had on you? Wo? Man, He's had a huge impact on me, man, you know, because the one thing that he preaches is just having honesty with one another and preaching brutal effects. And he's gonna let me know, you know, from doing good, I'm doing good. From doing bad, I'm doing base, Gonna coach me up in certain positions.

But also he's like he's a player's coach, So I feel a lot looser, you know, I feel like I can really move within the defense with him, Like I'm not so much worried about messing up. I'm just so so worried about, you know, focusing on my keys like he always tells us. And I love coach. I love that course. You're a high energy guy, very enthusiastic at practice. Makes me think you love the game of football? Is that the case? And why? And that is the case.

I've been playing this game so I was four years old. And how do you not like you've done something for so long in your life and you put so much time in working blood and sweat and tears into it, and when it finally comes to start paying dividends, you know you're doing something that you love to do and that you've done all your life, and hey, it's a blessing to be here. There are guys style that hang it said, it's a high paying job. I do it

because it's a high paying job. You just strike me as somebody that you enjoy practice, you enjoy everything about it, and sir, absolutely and more than more than that though. It's the ground like because with the grind comes success. So if you put the work in, hey, the right way, anything can happen. Last question for Andrew Brown. You didn't get to play last year due to injury. What did you miss the most? Man? What do I miss the most?

Just being out there with a group of guys that I live on four and contributing to the team, Like that's my main thing. Like it just sucks watching, you know, especially like when you're not having them with success in the game, it's like, dang, like I wish I was in there to help, you know what I'm saying. Like that's more so when I was missing the most. But now that I feel like I'm in the position of power now where I can't help my team, you know,

that's that means the world. It's been a great preseason so far, best of luck against the Colts. Thank you so much. So that's Andrew Brown that's going to do it for this edition of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on itune, Stitcher, google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean and if you have a minute, give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been great and five star ratings help

more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.