CINCINNATI -- The Bengals are fresh from their first win of the season after turning back the Carolina Panthers, 34-24, Sunday in Charlotte. The running game with Chase Brown and Zack Moss has given a new dimension to the Joe Burrow offense. Meanwhile, the Bengals need to find a way to contain Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens rushing attack. Cam Taylor-Britt has had a rough couple of weeks. What will it take for the top corner to bounce back? Jay Morrison of SI.com BengalsTalk.com joins Trags to discuss.
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Welcome to CLNS Media's Cincinnati Sports Studio, your ultimate hub for everything sports in the Queen City! We bring you in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and breaking news covering your beloved Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. As passionate fans ourselves, we understand the heartbeat of the Cincy sports community and aim to keep you ahead of the game with accurate and timely information!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hey everybody, it is drags Mike Petralia back with the latest installment of the
00:03jungle war podcast brought to you by the great folks at prize picks and CLNS media.
00:09My pleasure to welcome back to the pod for the first time in a couple of weeks,
00:13Jay Morrison.
00:14He is now covering the Bengals and the NFL for si.com.
00:19Bengals talk.com.
00:21He is now a colleague of James Rapine and also does as he normally does great work with
00:29Paul Daner Jr. on the growler podcast.
00:32Jay, how are you doing?
00:33Doing great.
00:34Really looking forward to this new endeavor with James and writing for Bengals talk.com.
00:40We've known James for a number of years.
00:42He's a great guy.
00:43I'm really looking forward to being a colleague of his and looking forward to
00:47maybe doing some different things, writing some different types of stories.
00:51It's going to be experimental for a little bit.
00:52I'd love to hear feedback from people.
00:54What do you want to hear?
00:55What do you want to read more of?
00:56What do you want to see more of?
00:57I'm open.
00:58I want to give the people what they want.
01:01That is awesome.
01:02And you know what, Jay?
01:03You know where you can get that feedback?
01:05On the YouTube page, youtube.com slash at jungle.
01:09We're a pod.
01:10Leave your comments, folks.
01:11You heard Jay.
01:13What do you think?
01:14What do you want to see from Jay?
01:16Maybe new and different on the Bengals talk.com site that maybe you haven't seen from Jay in
01:22the past.
01:23No one.
01:24And I mean, no one does a better statistical analytical breakdown of all the numbers regarding
01:31the Bengals and the NFL than Jay does.
01:34Jay, one number that I think Bengal fans were very pleased with was 34 dash 24.
01:40Sunday, the final score of the Bengals first win of 2024.
01:44I guess your biggest takeaways from that game.
01:47I don't know if people were more pleased or relieved with that win.
01:51I think a lot of air there.
01:53You can't be picky, but I think people were hoping that would be a little more convincing
01:56of a win.
01:57But my biggest takeaway, honestly, was the offensive line and just, you know, fourth
02:04time in the borough era.
02:05He hasn't been sacked.
02:06That's that's notable the way they ran the ball.
02:09Yes, Chase Brown is explosive and Zach Moss is a good runner, but that would there were
02:14holes and third and goal and they run the ball.
02:18They never do that down there.
02:20It's always pass.
02:22And Zach even said yesterday, if he left it up to Joe, Joe would have passed it in that
02:26situation.
02:26He called run.
02:27Joe stayed in the play.
02:29They plow it in for a touchdown.
02:31It was just it was a big step forward for that off.
02:34And it's not like the offensive line has been bad.
02:36They've been pretty good this year, but it was still notable and notable for one gigantic
02:41reason, which is the first career start of Amarius Mims.
02:44We saw him get his feet wet in the Washington game after Trent Brown went down, but to see
02:48him out there for a full game, he made that one mistake again that he made when he gave
02:53up the sack against Washington where he oversets too far to his right, gets beat on an inside
02:57move.
02:59It ended up being a sack against Washington.
03:01It ended up being an interception against Carolina.
03:04But those are kind of the growing pains that you have to live with with a young guy.
03:09I think even Joe Burrow kind of called it not called him out, but mentioned him by name
03:13without being asked about him in the postgame press conference that shows you where his
03:18head and where his confidence is with Amarius Mims.
03:20So that was my biggest takeaway is just how well that group played.
03:25You and I were in the locker room on Monday for the postmortem after a first Bengals win.
03:31And we had the chance to talk to Chase Brown.
03:33And I asked him, how good did it feel to finally be able to finish off drives running the ball
03:40in the low red zone?
03:41And the smile came across his face and said, yeah, it feels really good.
03:45We know we can do it now.
03:47And to me, that confidence is one of the biggest things that the Bengals are going to need
03:52going forward, knowing that, yeah, of course they can throw the ball in.
03:56And technically that swing pass, that swing play to Zach Moss right before halftime, that
04:02was a pass play, but it kind of worked a little bit like a run play.
04:06But the two runs by Chase Brown, low red zone, it demonstrates to the Bengals, to themselves,
04:12they can run the ball in.
04:14Yeah, down there, which is crucial.
04:16And not just run it into the end zone from the low red zone, but you have to be able
04:22to run the ball in the red zone anywhere.
04:23You can't just let the defense know you'll be sitting back there passing all the time.
04:27And I do.
04:27I think that's a big thing.
04:29And the other thing with Chase Brown in this offensive line is he hasn't broken one yet.
04:34He feels like he's so close every time he touches it.
04:36It just feels like there's that one little burst.
04:39But in spite of that, even though he hasn't broke the long one,
04:43he leads the NFL right now in yards per carry.
04:46I mean, he's just, he's getting chunk runs.
04:50He hasn't hit the 30, 40, 50, 70 touchdown.
04:53Nothing like that that really inflates an average.
04:56These are 12, 15, I think he had a 20-yard run on Sunday.
05:03That's big.
05:04That's what they've been looking for.
05:06That's why they moved on from Joe Mixon.
05:08You weren't getting that from Mixon.
05:09And that's the dynamic.
05:12Yeah, it's great if he can break one.
05:13And like he almost did early in that game, just got tripped up.
05:16And you get that long touchdown, the big highlight reel.
05:18But to do it over and over and over again and always be a threat for a double-digit run,
05:23that's what they've been missing.
05:25Yes.
05:2515 carries, 80 yards for Chase Brown.
05:28That's a 5.3 average and the two TDs.
05:3115 carries, 51 yards for Zach Moss, 3.4.
05:35And Burrow had the one carry for 10 yards.
05:3831 carries, 141 yards, 4.5 yards a pop.
05:44That is sustainable.
05:45And if you do that over the course of the season, I think Zach mentioned this.
05:49I think Joe Burrow last week mentioned it after the game.
05:52I think he mentioned it.
05:53Then if you can do that, you really like or going to like where the Bengals offense winds up.
05:59Yeah, absolutely.
06:02These defenses are going to play back and they're not going to let T.
06:05Higgins and Jamar Chase beat them deep.
06:07And if you can punish them underneath with the run game, that's what the whole point
06:13of having two backs back there with the explosive ability is.
06:16And I went and I looked.
06:17And the last time the Bengals had two backs with at least 15 carries in a game, it's been a decade.
06:23It was 2014, a game with Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard.
06:27So the snap count was closer to 60-40 for Zach Moss.
06:34But the carry load, 15 each, that's ideal.
06:38That's what they want to see moving forward.
06:40Yeah, and that's why, you know, when you say who's going to be the lead back,
06:43well, it's going to depend game to game, maybe even situation to situation within a game.
06:49And I think that's good by those guys.
06:53That Jamar Chase play to me is an all-timer.
06:56And, you know, I said this to Skinny after the game on our Jungle Roar, Skinny Bengals
07:02post-game pod, when Jamar Chase got to the sideline and he housed everybody
07:09and ran it into the end zone for 63 yards, I had definite 2021 Baltimore Ravens vibes
07:15in Baltimore when Jamar outran the defense.
07:19That kind of play to me is a sign, hey, maybe, just maybe, you get the run game going,
07:26there is going to be a chance for some explosives in the passing game as well.
07:30And you've got, you know, an extraordinary receiver and athlete in Jamar Chase to be
07:37able to carry that out.
07:38Yeah, it kind of reminded me, because the Baltimore one was a little different.
07:45The Kansas City one, where he caught that short pass and just ran away from everybody.
07:48That was that one too.
07:50And it was different because that was across the middle of the field.
07:52This was down the sideline.
07:53But you're right.
07:54I mean, explosive plays don't mean throwing over the top of the defense.
07:58You get a guy like that who can break a tackle or two and be gone.
08:00That's huge.
08:01And again, that play goes back to the offensive line.
08:05Burrow had all kinds of time to throw on that play.
08:08And he was able to kind of sit there and pat the ball and wait for Jamar to come all the
08:12way across the formation and then hit him instead of right out of the break.
08:16And that way he was already moving away from a bunch of the defenders.
08:19And then he breaks three tackles and he's gone.
08:22And what I love about that play too is early in that game, you see Joe Burrow limping around.
08:28It's like, oh, geez, he got stepped on.
08:30He was in a lot of pain.
08:31Mike Hilton is down on the field.
08:33It looks bad.
08:34He goes out on that Jamar touchdown.
08:37Joe Burrow sprints down the field, jumps and does kind of the awkward hug, in-air hug.
08:43And it's like, well, obviously he feels good now.
08:44He can do that.
08:45And if you watch it, Mike Hilton is chasing Jamar Chase down the sidelines.
08:49Like, well, I guess Mike feels good too.
08:51That play just made, I think, a lot of Bengals fans feel good for multiple reasons.
09:51I'll tell you another play that really made a lot of Bengals themselves feel great
10:20was Chris Jenkins Jr., the stop on Chuba Hubbard at the goal line, fourth and one,
10:26to watch the whole Bengal sideline explode in jubilation.
10:31I sensed, being in that press box, being in that stadium, that they needed that boost of energy.
10:38The way the first three weeks had gone, the way some even self-doubt, I think, was starting to
10:44creep in, they needed to play like that.
10:47You could tell from that moment on, even though Carolina tied the game twice, 7-7 and 14-14,
10:54you could tell the Bengals were going to have a little more juice in the tank on Sunday.
10:59Yeah.
11:00I thought it actually would be more of a catalyst than it was.
11:03I mean, Chuba Hubbard still had over 100 yards.
11:06They ran the ball on them.
11:08I won't say at will, but very successfully.
11:11I did.
11:11I thought as soon as that goal line stand, I was with you.
11:14I was like, oh, there's the turning point.
11:16That's what they've been waiting to see.
11:17And it was huge in the fact that it saved seven points.
11:20And that game would have felt totally different if Carolina goes down against points on the
11:23first drive.
11:24But it is.
11:26Anytime you can get a goal line stand like that.
11:28And this wasn't working their way closer.
11:31I mean, they started first and goal at the two, and there was only one pass.
11:34A great play by Dax Hill to break up the pass.
11:36The other three were run stops, just stoning the back right up the middle.
11:41And you mentioned it, Chris Jenkins.
11:43I thought he quietly played a really impressive game and they need that.
11:48He's kind of thought of as more of a three tech, a pass rushing guy in there.
11:53But if he can play the run like that and he only played 22 snaps, they were kind of feeling
11:58him out and seeing how he would react with the club on his hand.
12:02I think he's going to have a much, much bigger role against Baltimore.
12:07Number one, you need it because of the nature of that offense.
12:10But number two, I think he proved he can handle it.
12:12And this wasn't his debut.
12:13He played against Washington, but this one was significant.
12:17And 22 snaps, I wouldn't be surprised to see him be around 50 or so against the Ravens.
12:22And B.J. Hill warmed up before the game on Sunday, did not go,
12:27was not active again for a second straight week, just like Sheldon Rankins.
12:31And while Rankins, I think, will probably be out for a little while,
12:34at least a couple more weeks, I'm guessing here.
12:37But just kind of reading the tea leaves from Zach Taylor on Monday,
12:41I think B.J. Hill is going to make a run of it Sunday.
12:44And I think if they get B.J. Hill back and Chris Jenkins Jr. plays the way he can play,
12:50and you're looking at Miles Murphy either this week or next week,
12:54whenever they decide that he's ready to go, those are three big players along that
13:01defensive line that could contribute and really give the Bengals a different defensive look.
13:06Yeah, absolutely.
13:07And just getting Murphy back is going to let them give Sam Hubbard some time off.
13:14And he's playing through an injury.
13:15He's not 100%.
13:16He played 79% of the snaps Sunday in Carolina.
13:19You don't want that.
13:20If you can get Murphy back and kind of get Sam down in the 50-55 range, that would be ideal.
13:25I don't know about Rankins.
13:26I mean, they didn't put him in IR.
13:29So that's a minimum four game.
13:31He's already missed two.
13:32So I would think at the time, maybe still now, they felt good about him in week six at the Giants.
13:40And Zach did say they'd get those guys out there and see.
13:43But he hasn't even been on the rehab field.
13:44B.J.'s been on the rehab field.
13:46He's been doing three game workouts.
13:47And so I would expect B.J. to play this week.
13:51But Rankins, I think not this week.
13:53But I think there's a good chance he could play in week six.
13:55Otherwise, you didn't really need the roster spot.
13:58But it still would be odd to have a guy miss four weeks when they could have just put him on IR.
14:04Also, let's talk about the negative.
14:07The biggest negative that I think Bengal fans saw on Sunday was pretty obvious to everybody.
14:12Cam Taylor-Britt did not have a good game.
14:15And Zach Taylor used the term on Monday, not up to his standard.
14:19He's looking forward to Cam Taylor-Britt bouncing back.
14:23When Lou Annarumo spoke to us on Monday, he had the same type of comments about Cam saying,
14:31look, if he's not playing well, we're going to put somebody else in there.
14:35And it wasn't necessarily in Lou's point of view.
14:40It wasn't a benching because he still played the rest of the game.
14:44It's just that he had to get other guys in there that he thought could do a better job
14:49and get Cam off the field.
14:51And maybe give him some different perspective and reassess things.
14:56What were your general takeaways on Cam Taylor-Britt on Sunday?
15:01Well, the first is that he took it the right way.
15:03Lou talked about it.
15:04He came up and gave him a hug walking off the field, said that's never going to happen again.
15:08So he wasn't saying, why'd you pull me?
15:10He knew it wasn't his best game.
15:12The second thing is Cam's not a five, six-year veteran, but he has a track record.
15:19And we've not seen that before.
15:21And so I do, I tend to think it's more of a one-off.
15:25And it's a luxury if a guy is having a game like that.
15:28And you can go and get a DJ Turner who played really well in Cam's spot.
15:34I just want, I think guys don't just lose, guys Cam's age, don't just lose their skills
15:40overnight.
15:41I think this is in his head.
15:43I think the comments about Xavier Worthy leading into the Kansas City game,
15:46Zach Taylor was not happy about those and talked to him.
15:49The comments about Washington and the college offense, he does it again the exact following
15:53week.
15:54He said he wouldn't take those back in the immediate aftermath of the Washington loss.
16:00But seeing how those blew up and how those were taken outside the building,
16:07how they were taken inside the building with Zach Taylor, again, addressing him and saying,
16:11you can't be doing this.
16:13I think it was in his head.
16:14And I think he was trying to go out and prove something and maybe get out of his lane and
16:19try to do-
16:20Use technique.
16:21Yes, and do too much.
16:23And it affected him.
16:25And it's a great lesson to learn for a young, you have a want to, not want to, the worst
16:30game of your career.
16:31Your team still wins.
16:33Your coach still believes in you.
16:34I still think Lou starts him this week.
16:37So I just, I think it was, it was some, it's not something that's necessary, but it can
16:42be a growing moment and something to, a learning experience that, like Lou said, say less,
16:51do more.
16:52That's always the best way to go.
16:54But I don't want Cam to like totally clam up and not talk to us because he's terrific.
16:58And I don't think he was like, oh, here's a soundbite.
17:00These guys are going to like this.
17:02He was just being honest and he was kind of taken back about how those comments were taken.
17:07So I think he'll be a little more cautious about what he says going forward.
17:10In his defense, and this is where a lot of fans watching our podcasts and whether they
17:16watch the growler or they watch jungle war, they watch James Rapine's podcast, which is
17:23very, very popular.
17:25You know, a lot of fans think that we in the media sometimes take things out either out
17:31of context or blow them up too big.
17:34And I do think Cam talking about the college offense.
17:39When he said nice college offense, I think that was interpreted to mean it's an insignificant
17:47offense that really you don't see in the NFL level.
17:50Well, you don't see it at the NFL level that much.
17:54And what you saw Jaden Daniels do is, you know, very much, very akin to what a lot of
18:01college offenses do.
18:03And the quarterback play was very similar to the way a lot of college quarterbacks play.
18:07And that's what he was trying to say without sliding Jaden Daniels and Cliff Kingsbury.
18:14He was trying to compliment Jaden Daniels and Kingsbury in saying they've got him in
18:21a system where he feels comfortable.
18:23It looks that way on tape.
18:25Instead, nice college offense is the takeaway you get from that quote.
18:29Well, he did say they don't ask him to do too much before he said that.
18:32So that was kind of a little bit of a dig where, you know, and that's what you want
18:36to do with young quarterback.
18:37Keep it simple for him.
18:39And even then, Jay.
18:40Yeah.
18:41Even then, if he says they don't ask him to do that much.
18:47Yeah, that's a slight.
18:48I agree with you.
18:49But what he's trying to say is they have put him in a position where he can excel and it
18:55came out wrong is what I, in my defense, my very poor defense attorney, Cam Taylor Brett.
19:03He's a big boy.
19:04He's in the NFL.
19:05He can speak for himself.
19:07I get all of that, but that's just my interpretation.
19:10Yeah.
19:10And if you go back and if people think that you're trying to bait these players to say
19:16something like that, I think the commercial, the question was, what have you seen from
19:20Jaden Daniels?
19:22That's not beta.
19:23That's a standard question to ask a defensive player.
19:26What have you seen from the opposing quarterback?
19:28And it was the same thing with Xavier Worthy.
19:30He's a rookie.
19:30He's a new guy in this league.
19:32And it was like, you know, what have you seen from him?
19:34And Cam says, he's just a fast guy.
19:35You get your hands on him.
19:36That one was far worse.
19:39And then he goes out and gets beat for a touchdown early in that game.
19:42So, and I think that's where it starts kind of getting in your head a little bit.
19:44He did redeem himself with an incredible interception after that.
19:47But yeah, I just think he needs to maybe choose his words a little more wisely.
19:54And I fully expect him to stand there in front of his locker tomorrow and talk to us and
19:58not, not be cliche and short answers, but, but be a little more measured in his responses.
20:04Well, it was interesting, Jay, and I'm sure you noted this.
20:07Zach Taylor mentioning that I'm quote unquote, I'm sure you'll hear from Cam later this week
20:14talking about that.
20:15To me, it's a message that, yeah, he, they've spoken with Cam Taylor Britt.
20:20They don't expect him to clam up and hide.
20:22They expect him to keep addressing us in the media because that's an important part
20:27of communication during the week.
20:29Just don't be disrespectful to the opposition.
20:33That's the way I took it.
20:34Mike Petraglia, Trags here, host of the Jungle Roar and Code Red's podcast on CLNS Media.
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22:02You know who has a nice little running offense, to paraphrase Cam Tiller, Baltimore Ravens.
22:09Sunday night, Derek Henry, 24 carries, 199 yards.
22:14It would have been 200 on the button if he doesn't fumble a ball into the end zone in
22:20the fourth quarter.
22:21I found that kind of ironic and hilarious.
22:23Of course, he had the 87-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage Sunday night
22:28and their 35-10 win over Buffalo.
22:31Lamar Jackson, six carries, 54 yards.
22:35And Justice Hill, he is quietly becoming a terrific secondary back in their rushing offense.
22:42Four carries, 18 yards.
22:44In total, Jay, 34 carries, 271 yards, 7.3 yards per carry.
22:52What in the world can the Bengals do to maybe cut that in half or even by, let's say, 40%
22:59and get it down to four yards a carry?
23:02I don't know if they can.
23:04I think this is going to come down to just outscoring them and trying to get out in front
23:08early.
23:09If they can get a lead and do like they did in Carolina, score four touchdowns on four
23:14of the first five possessions.
23:15Maybe not to that extreme.
23:16That's asking a lot against the Ravens.
23:17But go out there and repeatedly score.
23:20And we've seen this before, that Ravens offense and coaching staff will abandon the run.
23:26They did it in the AFC Championship game to everyone's amazement, and it cost them a trip
23:29to the Super Bowl.
23:30So if you can put some pressure on them by Joe Burrow and the offense continuing to play
23:36as well as they are, I think that's the best recipe for this defense.
23:41I don't know that you're going to stop that offense.
23:44And they've done a good job against Derrick Henry in the past, but that's not standing
23:51next to Lamar Jackson.
23:52This is a totally different dynamic.
23:53And this Ravens team has legit receivers now.
23:56That was always an issue for a while, and I don't know that they can cut down that production
24:04of that offense.
24:05I think it's just going to have to be a track meet if they're going to win it, and they're
24:09just going to have to outscore them.
24:11How many years in a row have we heard from Zach Taylor, you know what Baltimore loves
24:17to do?
24:18Limit the possessions of the game.
24:20Well, in one way, in one sense, maybe the Bengals do that on Sunday afternoon at pay
24:25court and slow the game down a little bit.
24:29And like you said, get the lead and start limiting the times that Lamar Jackson can
24:33touch the ball.
24:34One other thing that we didn't talk about in the Carolina game on Sunday was the critical
24:41part of the Bengals going two for one around halftime.
24:44Scoring before halftime and scoring after halftime completely changed the perspective
24:49of that game.
24:50Maybe the Bengals need to do something like that here on Sunday afternoon where they go
24:56two for one at some point of the game.
24:57Maybe it's around halftime.
24:59Maybe it's getting a touchdown, a stop, and another touchdown or a field goal.
25:05Getting some type of packaging around a defensive stop could go a long way in giving
25:11yourself a chance to win.
25:13Yeah, it might be a lot to ask to do it two weeks in a row.
25:17I looked it up the last time they scored on the last possession of the second half and
25:21the first possession of the second half was eight years ago in 2016 against the Eagles.
25:28Now they've scored on their final possession of the first half and their first possession
25:32of the second half, but there have been possessions in between where the opponent got the ball.
25:36To actually have the ball last and get points on the board with one second left in the half
25:43as they did this time, and then to get the opening kickoff and to go down and score again,
25:48it's been since 2016.
25:50They talk about it all the time.
25:52That's why you defer.
25:53You want that opportunity.
25:55They've done field goal-touchdown combinations before, but to go touchdown-touchdown, it's
26:00pretty rare, and it would.
26:02It would be huge, and I fully do expect that if they win the coin toss.
26:07For a while there, they wanted to go out and set the tone, and they were taking the ball
26:10even a few years ago, even if they won the coin toss.
26:13I don't think that's going to be the case this time.
26:15If they win the coin toss, I think they defer and try to get that double dip again.
26:19Even with Baltimore's ability to score almost at will on Sunday against Buffalo, that is a
26:28fascinating argument and debate to have going into that game.
26:32They do usually discuss things like this on Friday and Saturday before the game, just
26:38for fans' information.
26:40Zach Taylor talks with his game management staff and the coaches responsible for that.
26:45To me, that's a fascinating discussion this week because do you want to go down, score
26:51first in the game like they did against Washington?
26:54That didn't work out great, obviously, because their defense literally couldn't get off the
26:59field and couldn't stop Washington, but they did score right away in that game and had
27:03a 7-0 lead.
27:05Maybe that did tell them.
27:06Maybe Sunday's game against Carolina J and the game prior against Washington indicated
27:13to them, even if we score first, we'd rather be able to defer and have the ability to possibly
27:22stop them and then have that opportunity around halftime.
27:27Yeah, think about it.
27:28If the game's 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, are you feeling better if you scored
27:34first and they came down and matched you and you're like, oh, OK, it's going to be like
27:37this?
27:37Or are you feeling better if you let them have the ball first, they score, and you come
27:41back and you're like, OK, we can match them score for score?
27:44It's just a totally different vibe.
27:46Even though it's 7-7, it's the same score.
27:49It just I think it's a different feel to go out and match the opponent as opposed to go
27:54out and score first and then have them match you.
27:59Also, I want to ask you, Jay, about the special teams, because I know you pay particular
28:05attention to this.
28:07Ryan Rico has been, I think, nothing less of sensational so far in his rookie year.
28:13And on Sunday in Carolina, his punt in the fourth quarter, pinning the Panthers at the
28:19eight-yard line.
28:20I talked to Tyson Anderson yesterday in the locker room about this.
28:25He said, those are the kind of punts we've been looking for, to pin teams back and really
28:31give our defense a chance, if not to get the stop right away, force the opposing offense
28:38to go the length, really the length of the field, in that case, 92 yards for a game-tying
28:43touchdown.
28:45It really sets up the defense in a much, much better position late in the game.
28:50Absolutely.
28:51And everybody looks at the 63 and the 57, the big leg and all that.
28:56But I thought that was his most impressive punt.
28:58And it was still a 50-yard punt that they downed at the eight-yard line.
29:02But that's it.
29:02That's what we saw, the little bit of inconsistency from Rico is, yeah, he's got a big leg, but
29:08he was sending balls into the end zone for touchbacks.
29:10And that kills the net.
29:11And you don't want that.
29:13You want the ball down there where either the guy's going to have to catch it inside
29:17the 10 and try to run it out, or maybe it hits and bounces and Tyson Anderson and some
29:23of the other guys can get down there and pin it even further closer to the goal line.
29:26So it was huge, huge.
29:28I mean, Rico leads the NFL in gross punting average and net punting average.
29:34And right now, if his gross punting average of 58 yards per punt were to stand up, it
29:40would beat Kevin Huber's franchise record by 11 yards.
29:44It's just an incredible start that that guy's off.
29:47These are rookie.
29:48And the whole reason, you know, we thought this was going to be Brad Robbins gets healthy
29:55and then comes back and the competition kind of keeps going again.
29:58I even asked Zach about that early on.
29:59And he said, yeah, this isn't over just because Brad's on IR.
30:03And now it's over.
30:04I mean, Ryan Rico has won this job.
30:06And that's the whole reason that they didn't just cut Brad at the roster to cut down day
30:14because there was just that inconsistency that Rico had that always left a doubt in
30:19the back of their mind.
30:20Is he the guy?
30:21He's proven in four weeks that he's the guy.
30:23I know you do this very, very well in press boxes before the game, like 90 minutes before
30:29the game, when, uh, you know, special teamers are out there starting their warmups.
30:34And I noticed this on Sunday in Carolina, Rico was not having a good warmup.
30:39He wasn't having a good warmup from minus 50, meaning the Bengals end of the 50, uh,
30:44Bengals end of the field, um, before the 50 yard line and putting deep, he wasn't getting
30:50any distance, uh, and inside plus 50, when he was trying to punt there, uh, he was trying
30:55to work on is what we never call it anymore.
30:58Coughing kind of coughing corner and, and, and pinning teams back and he, and he couldn't
31:05get those inside the 10 and he was shaking his head.
31:08He was looking at Darren Simmons and Darren Simmons, special teams coach was looking at
31:12him and, and doing some, I think from, I know I was a mile away, obviously it was in the
31:18press box, but trying, I think to encourage him, give him some energy, but it's just fascinating
31:24to me, uh, Jay, that a guy like that can have a rough pre it's like in the bull, in
31:29the bullpen and baseball, you can have a terrible warmup in the bullpen, come out and just have
31:34great stuff and blow away the batters.
31:37To me, that's what it was like on Sunday for Ryan Rico.
31:39It was, it just, it was interesting to watch.
31:42I mean, same thing with a three point shooter and a shoot around before a game, I can be
31:45clinging off the rim and you go out and then you're just hitting everything.
31:47That's why you do it.
31:48That's why you have pregame warmups.
31:49It's not just getting the muscles loose.
31:51It's, it's getting yourself back in the rhythm of doing what you need to do.
31:55And, um, yeah, that is interesting that he struggled like that before the game.
32:00But, um, I, I, the one I remember was, you know, we were there at the end of 2022, the
32:04game in new England when Evan McPherson was missing everything.
32:07And I tweeted out that he struggled, that didn't turn around.
32:11He, he struggled in that game, so it can go that way too.
32:15But, uh, it's, I think that's great for a rookie to, to see that, you know, that the
32:20pregame warmup is not going to define you, that you get out there, you work out the kinks
32:23and you go have a really good game.
32:26What do you have up on Bengals talk.com Jay?
32:29Well, the most recent thing I put a story up on Brad Robbins getting cut.
32:33Um, I've, I've got a report card from the game.
32:36I have a story on the offensive line and their improvement.
32:39I labeled it.
32:40Joe burrow gives five reasons why this team is in a good position.
32:45Well, those five reasons are the left tackle left guard center, right guard and right tackle.
32:49Um, uh, and I'll have more, how about some more stats and stuff later today, uh, dug into.
32:57Can this defense turn it around?
32:59They, they are the sixth worst, worst team in terms of points per drive allowed.
33:05I looked the last 10 years teams that are through four weeks are in the bottom five.
33:10How many of them climb out of that and make it to the top half of the league?
33:14Uh, some surprising numbers there of the potential to turn things around.
33:19James rapine.
33:20And I have told him this made a great hire in bringing you on board to coms.
33:26Bengals talk.com.
33:27Jay, you bring it every single day.
33:29And not only do the fans appreciate it, we appreciate it on the beat because believe
33:34it or not, we read other people's work on the beat and that does help us, uh, add, uh,
33:39analysis and perspective on what we like to write as well.
33:44Uh, Jay, thanks so much for joining us on this episode.
33:48Uh, this edition of the jungle.
33:49We're a pod.
33:50Thanks drags.
33:52All right.
33:52He's Jay Morrison.
33:53You can follow him as it says on his descriptor here on, uh, on the video version of this
34:00podcast by Jay Morrison.
34:02My name is Mike Petralia.
34:04You can follow my work on the X at trags.
34:07T R a G S of course, online.
34:10See on a Cincy with a Y.com until next week.
34:15Keep that jungle roaring.