Bengals Podcast: Rule The World

the tape and explaining the xs and ohs. Greg co Sell from NFL Films and ESPN, I'll chat to Von Bell about facing Tom Brady, and we'll hear what Brady had to say about Joe Burrow when the Bengals quarterback was on his podcast. And finally, in this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll hear from Scott Smith, who covers the Bucks for Fox thirteen in Tampa. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust paycres to help them recruit,

pay engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com. Now 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Tom Mitts Christmas Trees. We got around to buying our tree a little bit later than usual this year, and when we tried to purchase one

close to home, the selection was pretty slim. After a quick search on the internet, we wound up going to Tom Mitts Christmas Trees in the Newport, Kentucky Business District and that will be our first stop in the years to come. Great selection, outstanding service, and a tradition that goes back several decades. We started late, but our tree looks great thanks to Tom Mitts Christmas Trees in Newport.

Now let's get to this week's game. The Bengals are tied for first in the AFC North and the Buccaneers are alone in first in the NFC South, but these are two very different first place teams. After an O and two start, the Bengals have won nine out of eleven After a two and o start, the Buccaneers have lost seven of eleven. Still, a six and seven record gives Tampa Bay a one game lead in its division over the Panthers and Falcons who are five and eight.

For more on the Bengals in the Bucks, I turned to one of the best in the business at watching the tape and sharing his insights. It is always a treat to talk football with my friend Greg co Sell from NFL Films and the NFL Matchup show on ESPN. You did a segment on the Bengals defense last week, Greg, where you talked about them as being too often overlooked. What stands out to you when you watch this group,

I would say a couple of things. Dan number one, I think they have better players than people give them credit for. They may not have that one player. You know what we think of with defenses. We think of guys who get a ton of sacks. Now. I know Hendrickson had I think around fourteen or fifteen sacks a year ago, although he's not really talked about as a sacker the way some others are, so he's not really mentioned that way. And more often than not, people talk

about corners. If you have a great corner and they don't have that one guy that you say, wow, that guy is a great corner. Usually, stacked linebackers are not discussed very much. When people talk about defenses, they probably should be talked about a little more because I think they're really valuable. And I think that the Bengals have one really good one in Logan Wilson, and another in Pratt, who I think is a really solid player. You know,

I think you're dealing with two guys who are really good. Now, obviously, when they go dying, which they do go dying, Pratt comes off the field. Wilson never comes off the field, and they you know, just like every team, they have different personnel packages based on nickle and dime. But I think someone like Sam Hubbard again, another guy who's not going to have fifteen sacks, but on this team and the way in which he's deployed, I think Sam Hubbard

is a really really good football player. And of course we know about Reader inside. I mean, you know, there's certain guys who are just really good players, who play roles that are important roles on teams that just may not put up stats and numbers that people take note of, but they're really good players. And I think lou and Aramo does not get enough credit either, because I think they do a really good job week to week being somewhat opponent specific in how they approach it, and I

think that doesn't get talked about enough either. LOUI has done a pretty remarkable job of confusing some great quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes. Are there any unique concepts or anything he is becoming known for as a defensive coordinator. You just hit it right on the head, I think, and the Mahomes one is obviously the one that's most visible. But I think he does that pretty much every week

in different ways. So it's not Hey, there's one thing that you know he's going to do Dan that you say, hey, that's a lou An Aramos thing. But I think he has a really good feel for opposing offenses, what their strengths are, how to get them into perhaps a limitation, and I think he does that really well on a week to week basis. I want to get back to DJ Reader for a second, because when he's been healthy this year, opponents have not been able to run on Cincinnati.

It's been black and white statistically. What does DJ Reader do for this group? As you know, you've been doing this a long time College football, NFL, stopping the run is not a sexy subject. People always think it's something wow they must be doing something amazing normally stopping the run, and Reader is really good at This has to do with your first level defenders, you know, depending on the nature of your defense. One gap, two gap, there's always

some of both, depending on whatever defense you play. But what readers really good at is controlling and displacing offensive lineman and that's essential in stopping the run. So again, it's not a sexy topic where you think, man, there's a great pass for right way. He just flew by that guy, you know, but he's really good at that.

And when your interior d lineman can do that kind of thing, it really allows your linebackers to play faster because now they don't have to wait and see what's happening. They can immediately react. And I think you're seeing that with Wilson. While he often gets big tackle totals, and but Reader is just really, really good at controlling and displacing offensive lineman. For chatting with Greg Cosell from the

NFL Matchup show on ESPN, Let's Turn to Offense. You sent me your notes about Joe Burrow prior to the twenty twenty draft, and you had him graded as the number one quarterback in that class, and it's turned out to be a good class. Is there anything about Burrow in year three that's even better than you thought it would be at this stage of his career. The short answer is no. But I think he's improved in certain areas that he's been forced to improve in because of

the nature of the team. I think this year he's gotten much better in understanding how to camouflage and compensate for some old line deficiencies. And I think great quarterbacks do that. You know, it's always easy to say when a quarterback gets sacked a lot that they have a bad old line, and you know, and we're not gonna lie here. We're not going to say that the Bengals have a great old line or that they had one

a year ago. But I think Burrow has developed sort of a more intuitive feel for how to deal with that, whether it's getting the ball out, whether it's being better with his calculated movement. Because Burrow is a sneaky athlete. And when I say sneak, I don't mean you know, he's necessarily going to run for a hundred yards, although we certainly can run for first downs if demanded. But just his ability to navigate the pocket, his ability to climb the pocket and find space, you know, a more

quiet spot to deliver the ball. And he's such a quiet player. That's a word that I heard from a quarterback coach who was a head coach of the league for a number of years, who I know well, and when he told me that years ago, it just really struck me. About quarterbacks, some seem even really good ones at times, can see very active in their movement. Burrow looks quiet in his movement, even when he's forced to move.

It never looks hurried or frenetic. It looks quiet. And I think he's gotten such a better feel for that as he's had to, because you know, look, let's be realistic. This has not been a great old line over the last couple of years, although I do think it's improved as this year has progressed, because you would know this better than I. But I think those five have played the pretty large majority of the snaps this year, have

they not? They have started every game together. Yeah, so, I mean, you know, I think there has been improvement. There's always some snaps where you know, they just certain guys get beaten. That happens, But I think you know, I think Burrow has developed a really good feel for that, and I think that's an improvement that he had to have, And because he's such a smart player and an intuitive player,

he's developed that. Early this year opponents were playing the Bengals pretty much the same way, a lot of two deep zones trying to take the deep ball away from Joe Burrow. Since week two they're averaging more than twenty seven points a game. What adjustments have they made to attack that better? In your opinion? You know, when teams look to take away deep you have to think of it this way. If you're going to play single high number one, a couple of things happen. One is you

give up seams number two. There's outside the numbers throws that will always be there because a single high safety is never going to get to make a play outside the numbers on a vertical type route. So and I think Burrow is an absolute master, maybe the best in the league at attacking one on ones outside the numbers. When he sees that, he throws it. Now, I don't know, and you may know this, I don't know how many of those are you know, checks at the line of scrimmage.

Or play calls. That's hard for me to know watching tape, but I do know that when he sees one on ones outside the numbers with Higgins or Chase, he throws it. And obviously Higgins a Chase are very very good. Even with split safety, depending on what you do with your combination route concepts, DAN, you can still throw one on one outside the numbers because if you can eat up the safety to that side with a route concept or combination route, you still get one on one outside the numbers.

But if you're gonna play split safety, there's one less defender underneath. Okay, it's a numbers game. Football is a numbers game. I learned that a long time ago from a veteran coach. So now you have if you're gonna rush for play split safety, you only have three underneath defenders, and that then becomes easier to attack underneath. And I think they do a really really good job. They're among the best in the league with what we call high

low concepts. They work between the numbers exceptionally well. So they eat up and underneath defender with a low route, whether it's the tight end, it could be the back, and then they run usually an inbreaking route behind that, and if you're in split safety, you can't really play that route, you know, you have to play a top down so the ball will be caught. And they do that with any number of receivers. They do it with Higgins. I saw them do it a few weeks ago before

it got hurt with Joe Mixon. I forget who the opponent was. Out of an empty set, which, by the way, I was going to ask you about this since the Steelers game when they had twenty empty sets, they've not been an empty very much, and I've been kind of surprised by that. Do you know have an answer for that, Brady Chance, not so much, except to say that they've had so much success running out of the shotgun now.

I mean, that's really become the key to the running game that I think they like having, you know, that threat to present to the defense, and it's cut down in the number of times that Joe's gone empty. That's a great point, because I think they knew that they had to become more sustaining with their run game, you know, because no matter how good burrowing the receivers are, it's hard to be one dimensional every week and really win when you start playing good defenses. And that's a great point.

You're probably right because they need to develop some kind of sustainability with the run game, and they've been doing that out of the shotguns, so obviously that demands a back in the backfield. So they face the Buccaneers this week. Tampa Bay is twenty eighth in the league and scoring, and it's not because Tom Brady is forty five years old. What problems are the Bucks having on offense? Well, they have a lot. I mean, and I say that honestly.

You know, you know everything I say is based on tape. You know, it's never anything more than that. This is a team with pretty significant offensive problems. Number One, they can't run the ball. Their first down run game is among the worst in the league. This is a team that has faced, on offense, the second most third downs of any team in the league. They face fifteen third downs per game. Dan that you don't want to be

in that situation. That's too many third downs on a weekly basis, because defense is normally normally have the tactical advantage when you're in third down unless you're in third, one, third, and two, and that's not the case with the Bucks, and quite honestly, Tom Brady has not played particularly well. He's very conscious of pressure. The old line has obviously been an ongoing issue. He's a pocket quarterback. He's not going to move, so he's become very aware of it,

very conscious of it. He falls away from a lot of throws. He's not a guy that's going to take sacks, so he gets rid of the ball for incompletions, you know, just because he won't get sacked. So this is an offense that has multiple issues right now. The only thing you can say, and it could happen any given week, is they do have talented, skilled players. So could any given week be the week that they hit some big play touchdowns. It could. I mean, for your guy's sake,

you hope it's not this week. But for the most part, when you watch that offense, it's they've got a number of issues that they're really struggling to work through. Defensively, on the other hand, they played pretty well. I think nine of the thirteen opponents have scored twenty or less in regulation. What do you think of the Bucks defense

and who stands out on that side of the ball. Yeah, they've had some issues in the secondary this year with injury, so that's you know again, I don't know what the situation is with you guys, with Higgins and Boyd obviously, but I mean if if, if everybody's healthy, it's a little bit of an issue for the Bucks because their secondaries had some concerns. I mean, this past week they started Delaney as their slot corner, which and I know they don't want to do that, so I don't know

if he's going to be the guy again. I'm pretty sure Dean got benched at halftime of the last game because he did not play in the second half, and I don't believe he was hurt. He was the one who gave up the stutter go to Ayuk on the final play of the first half for the forty nine ers, so I think he was benched. And he's been up and down this year. Davis is their best corner, their most consistent corner. You know, their pass rush can be

really good. Todd Bowles is a master of blitz concepts and he can hurt you any given week a blitz that you haven't quite seen. And they'll be working on that this week because Burrows incredibly smart, so Todd Bowles will want to show something that Joe has not seen on film. Now, Joe may be smart enough to recognize, hey, that's a different look. This guy's in a spot I haven't seen him before. That's an alert. We may you know, Joe's smart enough to know that, or he may not

know that. You never know. You know, even the great ones at times get get confused by something they haven't seen. But this defense is you know, last week they couldn't stop the run. They couldn't stop the run at all with the forty nine ers. So it's defensively they've also been really erratic as well. It's just been things have not worked for them this year really on either side of the ball with any kind of consistency. So the Bengals are looking for when number six in a row.

What are a few keys in your mind to Sunday's game anytime you're talking about the Bengals. Even though we talked about the run game, we know that the pass game kind of drives it more often than not. You know, Joe doesn't have to throw for three eighty for them to win. But but they're a passing football. I mean, even last week with everyone in the game with Taylor in the game, they both hit some big plays. Um,

you know, they're they're a throwing football team. They're gonna have to make plays in the pass game, and I think they can against this team. Now, the key is protection because again the Bucks can rush the quarterback and Bowls is a blitz defensive coach, so there is going to be pressure concepts that they have to deal with. So I think throwing the ball, they will have to throw it and they will have to make some big

plays there. And then defensively, And I want to mention one guy because I loved his tape coming out, But I think Cam Taylor BRIT's going to be a really good player. He's competitive, he's feisty, he's tough, he brings a swagger to your defense. You know, obviously a woozy you didn't want to lose him, but you know, Taylor brit is a really good player and he's going to be a starter there for quite some time. Bengals fans love it when I have you as a guest. I

always appreciate your time. Look forward to seeing you at the comb in Indianapolis. And thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks Dan, really appreciate it anytime. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.

Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. A major focus this week is the first and possibly only head to head meeting between twenty seven year old Joe Burrow and forty five year old Tom Brady. Brady has a podcast that he does with veteran broadcaster Jim Gray called Let's Go, and last year, just before the Super Bowl, they had Joe Burrow on as a guest. I think Joe's got some tools that I didn't quite have when I was his age. So super impressed by how he's

kind of coming to the league. In went to Cincinnati, which has been a tough place to play over the years, and two years into his career after a really tough injury last year, show a lot of mental and physical tough it's coming back and have an incredible season. So um, you know, I always love watching quarterbacks, and certainly young quarterbacks because I feel like, you know, there's certain ways to play the game, and to play the game at

a high level requires a huge commitment. I think Joe, even from when I saw him at LSU, you know, he makes that commitment. So it's a it's really a great thing for me to see as as you know, somebody who's played this game for a long time, so really happy for Joe and his team. Joe, when you hear those words from Tom, your reaction is, well, I don't know. I don't know if I can be in the conversation with this guy yet, but you know, I'm gonna work really hard to try, and I think we're

up to a great start. Tom Brady has been an NFL quarterback since Joe Burrow was four years old. Here's the Bengals QB on TB twelve. You gets the ball really fast. You know, he understands what he's looking at. Um. I think he epitomizes toughness at the quarterback position. He's a great leader. I mean, he's the greatest of all time for a reason. He's told package it's our fourteenth game of the season. You know, it's obviously, you know,

the greatest quarterback evers on the other side. But you know, we got a job to do too, and our job is gonna win. Get to ten and four and move on. And what does he think about the inevitable Brady Burrow comparisons? It is what it is. You don't really pay attention to it. He's Tom and I'm Joe. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by all to Fiber future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate

your connection with all too Fiber. Last year, in his twenty third NFL season, Tom Brady led the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes. But this year, behind a makeshift offensive line, Brady and the Bucks have struggled to score. They've only topped twenty two points once all year. Will the Bengals defense let's add to the Bucks offensive woes. I caught up with safety Von Bell this week. Vin, you have played at a very high level for six plus years now in the NFL, but this year you've

got four interceptions. You're tied for fourth on the league in that category. You're third on the Bengals and tackles right behind the linebackers. Do you feel like you're playing the best you've ever played in the NFL? I think so? What that it comes with this time in the league. You know, I'm really just growing as a young athlete in this league and just really just trying to progress year in the year out. So I think I'm hating the right direction. Let's go back to the interceptions for

a second. Four this year. You've had three previously including the playoffs, but going back to your Ohio State days, you had nine in three years. Are the four interceptions this year the product of the way you're being deployed by Lou and Rumo. For sure. You always trying to put the safeties in the best position to make plays. Hats all town, You know, we always want to make plays. Me and Jesse and I just want to be just energy for the defensive feed off of and I always

just want to make plays with each other. So, uh yeah, hats out there, just put me in a position to make plays. You've played ninety nine percent of the defensive snaps. You came out in a couple of the lopsided games,

but that's it. Of your various attributes, how high do you rank reliability and durability very high because I think when I first came in, just leaving my coach at the time, I always said the best availability is availability and just always just want to stay healthy and stay durable, stay in the weight room, just being healthy because yeah, put the armone out there because it's a tough war

and for those sixty minutes. But I always just want to be just available and just ready and durable because that's stickul to throughout the league. Were visiting the von Bell you mentioned Jesse Bates. You two guys form one of the best safety combos in the NFL. What do you enjoy about working with Jesse and do the two of you fit just extremely well together? Oh? Man, that's my guy, always thinking. I like, I want to make plays.

We always tell each other before every game as we go they go and just want to be the leaders, be the generals back there commanding things, and I just want guys to just always just play better and up to the standard when we back there and as everybody, just want to command everybody, to keep everybody accountable and just really just feeding off each other and really playing off each other. And that's what we do very well. Together.

The secondary lost one of the best cover corners in the league when chittabe Wuja towards a se all against Cleveland. And yet you've managed to win five games in a row since you've known n Eelie Apple for a long time Ohio State in New Orleans. Has he taken it

up a notch since Cheetah went down? Yes, because he's the oldest corner now and so better in presence these nas is a game, and you know he had to step it up even more because we had a lot of young guys in the room and it's really just the culture in our room and the standard that we have, and we always say, we're gonna need all these guys

in this room. That's what you're here for to be in his room, in his NFL locker room, because it's gonna be a time at a moment in place where we're gonna need somebody young guy, older guy, that doesn't matter. All hands on the deck. That's what we always talk and it's just really just the standing alone room. It just hats off to the coaches and hats off to the guys that's really taking the calum building in their job. So that's the biggest thing, and guys really take it serious,

never to care for one another. Rookie camp Taylor brid has moved into the starting lineup. His locker is next to yours. What do you like about the kid for Nebraska? He go fight and he always want a chance. He always want an opportunity and he's gonna make most of it. He always tell me, give me the call, go play for you. He gonna play hard, So I always I'll always count on him in my corner. He gonna throw his hat in there, he gonna throw his shoulder in there.

He'll give you all the guy and uh for those sixty minutes and um, you know, he just always want to make him play and um and I love that biom. He's fiery, a lot of energy and um he's just eager to make that play and keep on progression. This week in this league, week can and week out. He had to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers this Sunday. If I'm reck you faced Tom Brady once before in your career. He had a good game, three touchdown passes in the first quarter. What stood out about facing him

head to head? Oh man, he's got probably won't arguably the greatest quarter right to every bloody game. He's seen a lot he'd been in there for two decades, Uh, seeing a lot of coaches. You know, he played a lot of ball. He gonna know what you're in, like Lui said today, and uh, he's just go You gotta think of all the beaters that's gonna come off of that and they go run what he likes and um

so you always got to accept the challenge. That's what we're here for, to be the best of what we do, and we go play the best of what he does at this very moment. And um, you know, um so what what what? What an opportunity? What a challenge for the group? And I know guys are looking forward to it because we know we won't make plays on the ball for sure come from him. On this last tour, at the end of their game last week against San Francisco, it looked like a receiving line. I mean, one guy

after the other was approaching him. They're asking him to sign their jersey. I think a guy that intercepted him asked him and signed the ball. Do you anticipate something similar this week? If I get what I know, I'm gonna get one this week. I'm gonna manifest that. I'll probably just send him the mail. I'll probably send the mail. But but it's just it's greatness, and you gotta respect greatness. And uh man, that's what we're doing for like I said,

and he just wanted the greatest. Every probably put on the helmet and play that position. So you know, we're admired them from far, but at the end of the day, we gotta get the job done. A couple more questions for vine Bell. You famously have a first guy in the building work ethic, and your teammates greatly admire that. Do you need an alarm clock at this point or do you just naturally roll out of bed at five fifteen or five thirty whatever? It is not a long

it's always on. This naturally just always stays on. But I'm glad. I just beat along and always up so they give me a look cute to get out the door by that time. So, um man, just come here to work and um mans. I love it, love the process, um and just just love being in it. And uh because I always tell them it's a chef life because this thing goes by so fast. I was telling one of the rooks the other day, I said, I remember

when I was rooking. I came in now year seven, it's just blinking an eye, just having too much fun and building relationships and building brotherhoods. That's go last of lifetime. So really just enjoy the moment and stay in the moment and maximize the moment. You just turned twenty eighth this week. Happy birthday. By the way, you are still a young man, but you have a presence on this team. The young guys kind of look at you as the

wise sense. Do you enjoy that at times? But I also want to give my age away because you know that mark. They always try to I guess, let's scared all you're getting older but still young. Hard to upbeat it, and I take it on just as some more to

my plate. I accept it, just really just I always tell them I'm here to serve and trying to give all my knowledge from all the failure successes, trying to give it to the important until you so you'd be better than me and you take that next step, when you take that next that leap until your your next you know, progression in your career. So all want to feed into the young guys and always give him back. One of the best free agent acquisitions this franchise ever made.

Congratulations on another great season. Best of left the rest of the way. Thank you so much. The Steelers, Ravens, and Browns all have wins over Tampa Bay this year. We'll see if the Bengals can make at four for four for the AFC North. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals App. Now time for this

week's No The Faux segment. Scott Smith covers the Bucks for Fox thirteen in Tampa and he joined Dave Lappam and Wayne box Miller this week on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Here's Scott on where things stand for the six and seven Buccaneers. Well, I think getting to the playoffs is kind of the first hurdle that they need

to reach. I mean, this team has been so inconsistent this year, and while there is a bulk of that attention that's going to be directed toward the play of Brady, I mean, really, this is this is a comprehensive failure in terms of what this year has been. The consistency has just not been there. We have. You know, it started early on in the season when when pieces of

that offensive line started to go down. Now you only have one of the previous five starters from last year in their left tackle Downovan Smith, and he might be having his worst season yet as a pro. So I think it for Brady it starts up front, the confidence that he has in his offensive line. He's he's not one that's going to stay back there in the pocket and take a sack, and so I think he's maybe rushing things a little bit to avoid the sack, just

to make sure that he maintains his longevity. And when you when you do that, players are not receivers are not getting open. There's I think there's a lot of opportunities missed when he's not able to take a little bit longer of a drop, And so I think speeding the offensive plays up a little bit has hurt this team.

There's really there's no dynamic playmaker in this offense right now, which says a lot given this team had one of the best offenses in the league last year, but their production this year there, you know, aftercan about seventeen points a game, and last week against the forty nine ers, they were lucky to get one touchdown. It was a

bobbled catch in the end zone. So this has just been a struggle for Brady and this offense to find consistency, to find help, and even when guys are out there and playing, we have errant throws and drop balls and flags that are calling plays back. So it's just it's been a comprehensive lit down this year, especially offensively. Defensively,

it's a it's a little bit different story. But they seem to remain hopeful that they can find their winning ways of years past and turn something around here late in the season and grab a little bit of momentum. But at this point, getting to the playoffs is going to be still a hurdle for this team. You mentioned Donovan Smith. He's got more holding penalties than any other lineman in the National Football League, and honestly, watching tape, they're not calling all of them. This dude is a

holding machine. I mean he is grabbing people out there and he has been called you know frequently, but not as bad as it could be. You're exactly right, and he's a good player. I mean, it's just I guess it's one of those years worse got the ankle problem. But he'll probably go. He'll probably be able to go. Here's an interesting stat on Brady though. When Brady gets rid of the football in less than two and a half seconds, which is quick, he gets the ball out

quickly though he's a chuck and duck guy. He didn't want to get hit at forty five years old. When he gets it out in less than two and a half seconds, seventy eight percent completion percentage of eleven touchdowns when it's over two and a half seconds drops to fifty one percent in only three touchdowns Tom Brady, it's like, I'm not sure how much he trusts that offensive line and like you said, everything that's going on around him. But man, if he didn't get that ball out like pronto,

it's issues, isn't it? Yeah? It is. And he doesn't, obviously at forty five want to be taking sacks at this age. He didn't. He didn't come back to have a season ended with injury, so he's cognizant of that. And there are some young guys there there Their center is a second year guy and he's done an admirable job, but he's filling in for for a Pro Bowl center in Ryan Jensen, Robert Haynes. He's the guy that's filling in. You know, there there everybody, I mean, everybody's new, especially

now ye have right tackle. I mean, I don't believe actually Tristan Worfs is going to play this week. He was autter practice field today, kind of running around a little bit, but he's dealing with a high ankle sprain. He's been out two and a half weeks now. If you were to make it back in time for Sunday's game, I would be shocked. I think they would still wait another week with worth. So you're still looking at kind

of this. You know, Hodgepodge offensive line And to your point about Donovan Smith, he says that he is dealing with something. That's what he took reporters in the week. Now. He didn't give any more details. I'm not sure if that's an injury thing. If it's maybe one of those situations where he's saying, if you only knew what injury I'm playing through right now, then maybe you would understand why this is the case, he didn't. He didn't delve

into any of those details. But you know the issue is is he better than the guy that's behind him? And that point was brought up to Todd Holes today after practice and says, we're going with the guy that's going to give us the best shot to win. And Donovan Smith is that guy at left tackle right now, so they don't have a better option. If they did, they'd go there. Scott Smith, Fox thirteen Sports director joined

us live from Tampa Bay. You know, Scott, this defense, Devin White a guy that is as advertised, and you have one of our Cincinnati products and Mike eb was there, but do you think that this defense has the ability to stop an offense like to Cincinnati Bengers. Not if they're down for defensive backs, And that's kind of where they are right now. We're still Antoine Winfield, Junior Mike Edwards, Sean Murphy Bunting, and then cornerback Jamel Dean, all those

guys uncertain about their status for this week. So this defense has been been good. They've kept their team in

games this year, but they just haven't been consistent. And last week we saw against the forty nine ers a team that, really, especially at the back end, black discipline, and so without a fully healthy defense, I'm not sure exactly what you expect that lush shack Barrett edge rusher Earlier this year, they've kind of hobbled some pieces together with a second year outside linebacker on Joe Tryon Shoenca who hasn't really lived up to expectations, even the first

round draft pick. On the other side, they got Carl Nassib, a guy they kind of picked up the scrap heap, a guy that knew this defense because he had played for the Bucks previously. But they're not able to generate the rush up front, and even their interior defensive linemen are Beta Vea is doubtful for this week, and he's of course the big man in the middle. He's the guy that's gonna really help slow down the run, but

he's dealing with a calf strain from last week. So Ty Bowles saying today that he doubts that beat is going to be back for this game. So if they're fully healthy, then yeah, I'll put this fucks defense up against anybody. I'm not sure that they're in their ability to slow down a red hot Cincinnati Bengals offense right now,

but they're not fully healthy. And so this is what it feels like to me right now, because we may be seeing something more similar to what we saw last week when they visited San Francisco, that it could get out of hand and it could get ugly early. And this team is not a seam that really can fight from from behind them. They have to be front runners, in my opinion, to really give themselves a chance. And so we'll see, We'll see what happens in the opening

quarter of this game. Those first couple of drives I think could set the tenor for the game. Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be interest. The Bengals are seven and oh this year when they score first, so they want to play with the league, you know. And they're six and oh when they lead after the first quarter. So if they can jump out to an early start. I'll tell you these two linebackers though, Devin White and Lavante David, they've played every snap defensively. These guys can run. These

guys come downhill, they run to the football. That that's two very good linebackers. But if you're heard up front with via who's really good and on the back end. I mean, there's only so much you can do. But I'll tell you what, Todd Bowles fourteen different guys have at least a half a sack and Todd Bowles defense fourteen and the defensive lineman, linebackers, cornerbacks, safeties. I mean, it's ridiculous. He's bringing them from everywhere and he's the guy.

He's a guy like the offensive coaches. They say, all right, they're gonna make simple things look difficult, difficult things look simple. That's what Bowls does with all of his different looks and everything that he does. I have a lot of respect for him as a defensive coach. What do the players think about him in his defensive mind, Well, I think that they admire coach Bowls and I think you hit on it. As a defensive coordinator, he's one of

the best in the game. The problem is when that how that translator translates over as as a head coach, and when you're leading an entire room versus just um, you know, working on your defensive game plant. So he very much is still a defensive coordinator for this team. So Larry Foote kind of takes on a co defensive coordinator role for this team, but top Bles is still the defensive coordinator U. So he's oversight as head coach. Maybe not where it should be, UM, but he does.

He draws up obviously exotic flitzes and disguise looks, and you know, players on the defensive end love playing for him because it's going to give them an opportunity to fly off the edge or run a stunt up the middle. UM. And you know, with with teams that aren't wise to playing against Todd Goles defense, Uh, they can read haboc and they they've been able to get to the quarterback you know, you know, an ample amount of times this year. And they do it with a handful of different guys.

But yeah, the middle of that defense, LaMonte David Devin, why those are the two main stays. Those guys that remained healthy, they fly around. But if your defensive line is allowing you know, alignment to run free, that it doesn't really matter because you can't fill those holes. You can't stop that run. And that's part of the issue. So it's it's a total team thing. I mean, I know it's cliche, but this the team has stars on it, and those stars have certainly not played like stars this year,

and the fan base is frustrated. Everybody's searching for answers, and I think it's it's a lot more nuanced than one guy will one side of the ball. It's it's

all across the board that's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals, they're free to play with tickets and merchandise up for grabs by Paycord, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber future Proof

Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. 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. Thanks for listening to the Bengals boot Podcast.