Podcast: Cincinnati Bengals Bob Surace on AFC Divisonal Playoffs

Used with permission from "The Sports Piece " presented by Global Data Finder

Bob Surace, who recently accepted a Head Coaching job for Princeton University, was the Offensive Line coach for the recently eliminated Cincinnati Bengals and came on to talk about the AFC playoffs. After him Judd Garrett from the Dallas Cowboys came on to talk about the NFC playoffs.

When asked about Wild Card Weekend

Bob’s team, the Bengals , played the Jets and they played them the last week of the season. But their motivation was different because they weren’t even playing all of their players, and the Jets were playing to get into the playoffs. Sanchez played very efficient and did a great job schematically with their great running backs. It took us a while to settle down after the Jets good start. We rushed the ball very well with Cedric Benson but didn’t protect the passer and do things in the pass game to make big plays. We had some mistakes in the kicking game, and had a few small areas, but you can’t do that against that team.

When asked about Baltimore Ravens team

They’re on a roll and have had terrific defenses for a long time going back to when Marvin Lewis was their defensive coach. Joe Flacco is coming on strong in the passing game, which is something they haven’t had in the past decade. They are kinda like the Cowboys of the AFC coming in to the game with a lot of momentum.

Will Baltimore’s momentum get halted when they play the Colts .

Baltimore has a chance because of their Ray Rice is a premier running back and it’s going to be a classic chess battle between a quarterback (Peyton Manning ) who does not make errors against a defense who forces a lot of error. I will want to see how well Manning does against them.

Does Ray Lewis still have the “it” factor?

Every one knows how smart Peyton is and is ability is underrated because he is the most accurate quarterback since I’ve been watching football. Ray Lewis always gets such great credit for his toughness and his talent, the thing you don’t realize is how intelligent he is. He’ll have his head looking left and will get the lineman to go to the left and the ball carrier is going right. So he’ll make an unassisted tackle with no one blocking him and you’ll think it’s the lineman’s fault. When we coached our guys we’d say, “Don’t watch his eyes.” I don’t know if he’s the best player in football as he was a few years ago, but he’s still one of the best.

When asked about Ed Reed

I’m so excited to not have to go against Ed Reed anymore, because it seems he scores against us once a year! I bet he’s scored 5 TD’s against us in the past six or seven years, I’m glad I don’t have to worry about him anymore.

How are you looking at the Jets vs San Diego game?

Ran down the way the Bengals game went against the Chargers. They are a very talented team, and play very physical. If Manning is 1a in intelligence, Phillip Rivers is 1b because he doesn’t make many mistakes and has big receivers who make big plays. It will take a guy like Rivers to beat the Jets defense. Cedric Benson had success running against the Jets but he doesn’t think the Jets defense will get run on two weeks in a row.

When asked why are the Chargers not getting any respect when they’ve won 11 straight games?

They started the season not playing their best football and are well rested after the buy week. I think it’s going to be a real classic with two physical teams facing each other.

Are the playoffs going to affect the two young QBs from the AFC (Flacco & Sanchez)?

Sanchez coming from USC isn’t going to be intimidated by any situation. The Jets are going to play the game close to the vest and will play conservative. With Flacco, they’re using many different weapons from the running backs to the receivers. He’s playing his best football right now. Our coaches have been very impressed with his improvement.

Who do you think will come on top in the AFC to go to the SuperBowl.

We have to look ahead in my role and thought we’d eventually see Indianapolis. If Indianapolis grabs a lead early it’s hard for tackles to block Freeney and Mathis. Then the Colts will take advantage of that—and they have an advantage because of the crowd noise. By the way, I was shocked at the crowd noise in San Diego. They caused a few false starts because we couldn’t hear the snap count. The Jets traveling all the way to the west coast into that environment will go against them. I see the home teams winning.

What is so difficult about teams traveling across country?

You’re body clock is off because your curfew times are different. Also on a trip that long, your bodies get dehydrated. It also affects the players focus.

Will the Baltimore / Indianapolis rivalry because of their history affect the players?

Not really, the players will be just as enthused, but the fans may be more hyped. The Cincinnati versus Cleveland rivalry is bigger because they are in the same division.

When asked about his time spent with the Bengals.

I was there 8 years and came into a situation where the team had been struggling and we turned it around twice now where we were division champs. Coming from the east coast I was welcomed into the city and enjoyed every second working for the organization. The relationships you build when you’re at place that long you really enjoy the people. I’m excited to go back to my alma mater but it’s hard to say good bye.

When asked about going to Princeton to be the new Head Coach.

I played there with Steve (Foster), and it’s one of the best academic schools in the country. Most of the players could have been scholarship athletes who choose Princeton because they know they can achieve their goals in life. We have 5 coaches in the NFL from Princeton and there are a number players who have an opportunity to play in the NFL like the center, Dennis Norman, for San Diego. Their academic goals will carry them but there are guys on our team every year who have an opportunity to play in the NFL.

Thanks to Bob for coming on the show & good luck to him and his endeavours with the new Head Coaching job at Princeton! You can download the podcast by right-clicking and selecting "Save As..."

or Click HERE to Listen