In an exclusive interview with Cincy Jungle and The Orange and Black Insider, the veteran defensive end exuded cool confidence with the team on a two-game win streak.
The Cincinnati Bengals started off to their slowest start since their emergence on the NFL scene back in 2021. There were many reasons for the sluggish onset, but the defense was the primary culprit—particularly after the inexplicable Week 5 loss to the Ravens.
However, as the games became in more and more dire need of wins, the defense stepped up. Even though they let up 41 points against Baltimore, signs of improvement were there, and it has been accentuated in the wins versus the Giants and Browns, respectively.
This week, John Sheeran and I had the immense pleasure of sitting down once again with defensive end Sam Hubbard. Like the rest of the defense, injuries slowed the beginning of his season, but he’s been on fire the last few weeks with big plays becoming the norm.
Hubbard joined us after volunteering at the Cincinnati Freestore Food Bank, wherein he was divvying out meals on behalf of Campbell’s Chunky Soup’s “Sacking Hunger” initiative. We asked him just how much this win against the lowly then-1-5 Browns meant, in terms of getting more momentum going forward.
“I think it’s a big win for us with the history there in Cleveland,” Hubbard said. “But, to view it as a point where, you know, we’ve made the turn, and everything’s going to be smooth sailing from here isn’t the case, unfortunately. We know we have some tough teams to play, and since we got off to that slow start, each game has been massively important.”
Hubbard joined us after distributing 2,000 meals containing Campbell’s Chunky Soup at the Freestore Food Bank. The initiative from the national soup mainstay is to have star defensive players package 1,000 meals per quarterback sacks netted.
Of course, Hubbard is referencing the fact that, before Sunday, Cincinnati hadn’t had a win against the Browns on the road since 2017. Hubbard entered the NFL in 2018, so he had never experienced a win there.
In the past three weeks, Hubbard has had a safety, his first career interception, two sacks, and 21 total tackles. He was battling a hamstring issue and a broken finger early in the year, but in true warrior status, there has been few complaints from him in that regard.
‘You have to treat it (each subsequent week going forward), like playoffs, almost, but you can’t just give anything away. You have to take everything you can get at this point,” Hubbard continued.
If the Bengals had lost the game in Cleveland, regardless of who was under center, it would have been a steep slope to traverse. It would have been an 0-5 conference record with an 0-2 division record within the first seven games of the season.
With the team going just 1-5 in the division last year (with the lone win a throwaway game against the Browns at the conclusion of the year), getting divisional wins this season is paramount.
And, there was another seemingly-unheralded element to Hubbard’s assessment of the first seven games. While the team is just 3-4 and attempting to claw its way out of a sluggish start, Hubbard astutely noted that they’ve won three of the last four.
Now, that may seem obvious to many, but it hadn’t readily been put that way often in headlines. Of course, there’s an element of fool’s gold to the wins, as the three have come against five quarterbacks—three of them backups.
Still, the defense has stepped up in big ways as many have asked them to over the past month. Hubbard has been a huge part of that with his individual performances, which have come thanks to his own talent and increased health, but also the added help around him.
Sam Hubbard joined us, thanks to his representation and the folks at Campbell’s Chunky Soup. Aside from his own great work with the Cincinnati Freestore Food Bank, you can support the initiative by buying a shirt through the great site, Homage.
Be sure to go follow our Twitter page and then ‘like’ our Facebook page to get all of the latest Cincinnati Bengals news, views, and some other fun stuff for Bengaldom. Check out our podcasts here on CJ, the Bleav in Cincy podcast feed, Spotify, Amazon, our YouTube channel, and as always, on iTunes!