Additional Quick Hits: Chidobe Awuzie’s Major League Moment; Zac’s Fastest Bengals Team; New Defense Mantra
In addition to being a member of the team that has assisted quarterback Joe Burrow and his strained calf in reaching the starting line for Sunday’s game (1 p.m. on Cincinnati’s Local 12) in Cleveland, head strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese of the Bengals has also trained the fastest Bengals squad in team history, which is led by cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and wide receiver Tee Higgins, both of whom can run over 22 miles per hour.
After watching Boese’s yearly opening week presentation to the team this past Monday, head coach Zac Taylor declared it to be the fastest of his five teams.
At his news conference on Wednesday, Taylor stated, “Joey factors into the overall team speed at the high speeds.”
Boese and his team, which includes Todd Hunt and Garrett Swanson, the person in charge of the data, have had to double-check some of the figures because they are so astounding. They found that in order to even place in the top ten, one would need to record a top GPS time of 21.4 mph, which is an extremely high number.
“Every year on this Monday I go through what is going to be the weekly routine so they can mentally get ready for what is expected physically,” Boese stated. “I show them the guys on the team who are the fastest after going over what we look at and what matters to us. That causes a small flurry of activity in the team room.”
For injured players like Awuzie, Boese’s staff utilizes data from the previous year in addition to times from this year’s practice and games.
One of Taylor’s initial hires, Boese, stated, “We take max velocity, the highest number they’ve got GPS-wise miles-per-hour on the monitor and those numbers across the board are the highest we’ve had.”
“We’ve placed top ten both offensively and defensively in the past. However, we felt that excluding many of these guys from the list would have been unfair, so we extended it to include the top 20.
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To even reach that, they still needed to be traveling quickly enough to approach 21 miles per hour. Even as they raced through the seven rounds, everyone was aware of how fast this draft class is, and Boese’s list verified it. Shed Jackson, an undrafted wide receiver, and cornerbacks DJ Turner and DJ Ivey, as well as wide receiver Andrei Iosivas, made it. Additionally, running back Chase Brown and pass rusher Myles Murphy are close enough to rank in the top 20.
That’s the issue. A lot of guys may be just, and the list is constantly changing.2-3 away,” Boese remarked. “It gets buy-in from players to help us do our job and help them do theirs.”
The team led by director of rehab Nick Cosgray and head athletic trainer Matt Summers has brought Burrow to the brink.
“Without those guys, I wouldn’t be able to return to the field,” Burrow remarked following practice on Wednesday.They’ve worked really hard to help me get back to where I am, and they will work even harder to maintain my health. And those guys are essential to our efforts.” ..
The Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s team forced a turnover in the fourth quarter seven times in a row coming into the AFC championship game of the previous season. He believes that this never-give-up mentality started when Pittsburgh wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was forced to fumble during a Monday night Paycor Stadium game late in the 2020 season by safety Vonn Bell’s game-changing hit.
The play produced a litany that every Cincinnati child knows, including two by linebacker Germaine Pratt. The first was Derek Carr’s goal-line pick to seal the team’s first-ever playoff victory in 2021, followed by Travis Kelce, the all-time great tight end for the Chiefs, forcing a fumble last year. Then there was Bell again, snagging the ball from Rhamondre Stevenson, the running back, just as the Patriots were about to score the game-winning touchdown. Not to mention, Sam Hubbard, a left end, turned last year’s Wild Card Game with a playoff-record 98-yard fumble return.
They have a motto now. While it may not be as memorable as senior defensive assistant Mark Duffner’s “They Have To Play Us,” it’s still quite good.
“We are never out of the fight.”
“We are never out of a situation, no matter what. Continue to swing. Before practice on Wednesday, Anarumo stated, “Good things can happen.” ”
“If I didn’t occasionally say, ‘Wow,’ I would be lying. What Sam did in the playoff match. Vonn in New England. Germaine on Kelce in the opening match of last year. It’s amazing how many come to mind. It is similar to everything. They sense the momentum, which continues unabated, and we continue to lecture them about it.”
Anarumo’s top cornerback, Awuzie, is expected to make his comeback to the field on Sunday after suffering an ACL tear on Halloween night. They’ve discussed it, and on Thursday, Anarumo—who remains a huge baseball fan despite his Yankees’ collapse—cited the iconic film “Major League.”
Which sequence in the film featured the voodoo on the bats?”He receives a bucket of chicken,” stated Anarumo. “We might try something similar over there.
“Knowing that he’s less than a year removed from that happening is a huge accomplishment mentally at the level of football these guys are playing. Any player can relate to that.” He’ll undoubtedly experience emotional turmoil. Knowing Chido as I do, I’m sure he’ll go over there, (make) his peace, and move on. I’ve witnessed other guys do it before. Thus, should he desire it, I will accompany him over there.
The game’s keys? It is limited to this:
Running back Nick Chubb led the Browns to victory over the Bengals on Halloween, accumulating 101 yards on 23 carries. At Paycor, six weeks later, the Bengals held the Pro Bowler to 34 points.
He is, as far as we are aware, one of the league’s best backs, if not the best. Altruistic man,” Anarumo remarked. “His work ethic is well known. arduous to overcome one-on-one. He doesn’t make mistakes. He only has, in my opinion, (seven) in his career. He presents a challenge. You need to take him on like a gang. You need to surround him with a lot of hats. We outperformed him in the second game of the previous season. However, he is undoubtedly a pain.” ..
