The Bengals defense has made some huge plays in the 2-0 start, and third-year safety Jordan Battle has been at the heart of it with an NFL-leading two interceptions.

This week before practice, Battle sat down with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson to talk about his emerging role as a leader, new defensive coordinator Al Golden’s scheme, life without Joe Burrow and why Jake Browning is going to keep the offense rolling.

THE CONVERSATION

GH: What it's like to be leading the league in interceptions?

JB: Great, but it's only Week 2. We've got a long season ahead. Trying to lead for the rest of the season. I feel good right now, but never complacent.

GH: Do you have a number in mind that just gets you thinking? Maybe double digits?

JB: If I had a number in mind, it'd be 17, or however many games we play after that. One a game.

GH: Has Al Golden and the scheme unlocked anything we hadn't seen?

JB: Maybe just more confidence as a team. Maybe things are not as complex as it was before. Maybe guys are able to play faster. Be in their gaps. See everything more because they're playing from depth. They're not just playing the play, but playing the call.

GH: Would you have had those picks last year?

JB: Probably. They kind of just came to me.

GH: About 90% of picks are that way, right?

JB: For real. Just you really being in the right position.

No crazy call. Breaking on the ball in the middle of the field. Just breaking on the ball out of Cover Two.

GH: That was the first one Opening Day in Cleveland. What was the one last Sunday?

JB: Breaking out of the middle of the field. Just chip middle of the hash. The receiver (Brian Thomas Jr.) dropped it. Geno (Stone) and Logan (Wilson) were about to hit him. He had a couple of drops like that.

GH: Those opportunities don't come often. If guys don't make those plays …

JB: It 's hard to win.

GH: if you don't make them, you're 0-2. What Al is preaching, I guess, is coming to fruition.

JB: Plus-two, plus-two in turnovers. Obviously, we weren't plus-two last week. But just creating turnovers, getting the ball back to the offense. Even that turnover on downs was big for us. Which helped us, because, you know, usually we have to set the tone with a receiver who is good, or the go-to-guy, whether it's in the blocking game or whether he has the ball in his hands. Just be aggressive. Maybe that could affect the game. Maybe that's the reason why he dropped the ball.

GH: So, there are no secondary-only meetings anymore on Tuesdays.

JB: No, we're doing Mondays.

GH: Is it the same structure?

JB: Yeah, same structure. We do it on Mondays after we do all our meetings. Just so guys can have the whole Tuesday off to themselves. So we have a true off day. Treatment, massages. Don't have to worry about scheduling anything.

GH: Who's leading the meeting now?

JB: Me and Geno. Geno runs clicker.

GH: Who had the clicker before ?

JB: Mike (Hilton).

GH: Vonn Bell led it, right?

JB: Vonn would do most of the talking. Mike would do just play calling or just saying certain things you have to look out for on certain plays. Know where certain guys are.

GH: So you're Vonn?

JB: Kind of. And Geno is like Mike.

GH: What are you saying?

JB: Talking pre-snap looks or a play call we'll have for this formation, or for this personnel. Just let guys talk about it. What routes you can get out of this look or what runs, just things like that.

GH: Vonn's as good a guy to emulate there I would think.

JB: For sure, for sure. Guy who has been around forever. Veteran guy. Taught us a lot as a defense. Knowing what to read. Knowing the ins and outs of the playbook. What to read on the offense. Quarterback keys, receiver alignments, running back depth. Anything little we can get to be ahead of the play.

GH: How different is that scheme from last year?

JB: Probably not too much of a difference. More pre-snap looks. Holding our shells more, playing from depth. Not giving up big plays. Holding our shell longer when the ball is snapped. Not trying to give the quarterback any keys. So maybe just sitting at 10 or 12 yards and then reacting from there when the ball is snapped.

GH: I know you talk every day to your dad, your long-time coach. What's he telling you?

JB: Staying with attention to detail. Tackling and being physical. Just keep imposing your will on guys. Make people fear you on the field. Make people not want to go your way, or make the ball go opposite. Just keep being that leader for this team.

GH: That was his message this week?

JB: Similar messages every week. Basically, just staying hungry. Stay hungry, just being me every week. Be the player you know you can be. Keep chasing your dreams.

GH: You've really stepped it up as a leader this year in your third season. I would think that's probably where you get your leadership from. You grew up watching him coach.

JB: He coached me basically, like, my whole life. All the way up until high school.

GH: Basketball, right?

JB: Basketball. Coached me in football. A couple of times in little league, so he's always been around. For sure. And being at nice and great schools, like St. Thomas (Aquinas High School), being at Alabama, I've been around a lot of great leaders. Had great role models and examples in front of me.

GH: Who have been the best? You can count your dad.

JB: I won't count him. That was his job. Probably Landon Dickerson. At Alabama, he was a phenomenal leader for us. Just being able to rally a team, I've never seen something like that from a guy. That was pretty big. Will Anderson was, too, alongside me and Bryce (Young).

GH: How about since you've been here?

JB: Joe, obviously. The number one leader on the team, and OB (Orlando Brown) as well. They just do a good job making sure we have the right mindset

GH: How do you replace that?

JB: It's hard to replace that, obviously, but you can do it with multiple voices. We can all preach what he preached. We know the standard he has for the team. If it comes from multiple voices, it's always greater than one.

GH: How are you guys responding to Joe being out?

JB: Obviously, it's very tough news. I think we're responding. The team is rallying together. Guys know the situation we're in and what we have to do. Continue to win. We have all the faith in Jake. He's been in the position before, been in the scheme for a minute. Jake knows who you get the ball to, and how to run the offense. We'll be just fine.

GH: Does it put more pressure on the defense to shut down teams?

JB: I think they can still put up numbers. We have very explosive guys. Chase (Brown). Mike (Gesicki). Noah (Fant). Tee (Higgins). Uno (Ja’Marr Chase). Andrei (Iosivas). Mitch (Tinsley). We've got guys all over who can make plays with the ball in their hands. The main thing is, Jake is going to get the ball in their hands and when they get the ball in their hands, they have to make plays where they have some YAC.

And then defense, we've got the pressure. We've had pressure on us this whole season so far. I'm glad we've been put in those positions early in the season. It's making us more confident for later in the season when we have to do something to win a game, or even if we're fighting for a playoff spot, we have to make a play to go to the playoffs.

GH: How has this week been?

JB: It's been good so far. I feel like our

mentality, our mindset has been good and, especially as a defense. We're ready for everything. Minnesota has some guys nicked up. too, so they're going through the same thing over there. Both teams are going to come out with a little edge and something to play for.

GH: Do you know much about their backup quarterback, Carson Wentz?

JB: I don't know much, but I know the last time he played some big snaps was in '22 with the Commanders. So I had a chance to go back and look at some of that film. I think he played eight games, had nine interceptions….We have to capitalize. Get the ball back to the offense as much as we can. Main thing is to just give the offense more possessions than theirs.

GH: Is this the kind of thing where you just put your head down and don't look up and maybe you're 3-0, 4-0?

JB: Just taking it week by week. Going in day in and day out, getting the installs, going on the field, going through it, making plays in practice, building confidence in the quarterback, in the team, the receivers or the defense or the back

seven, front seven. Go out on the field and try to build that confidence, and they'll play fast. Go out there and the scout team gives them a good look. Make sure guys are in the right position. Make sure he's making plays in practice so it's easy in the game.

GH: You're always saying Goo-ood. Where does that come from? Isn't it a saying from secondary coach Charles Burks?

JB: From my rookie year. I want to say Mike T, (Thomas), Nick Scott, guys like that. I think every time we made a play or something like that, we had to come up with something to say like 'Goo-ood!' or "Bum!' Like certain sounds just to match the play. It started with Burks, but we took off with it as players. But for sure, it comes from Coach Chuck.

GH: Have the four turnovers in the first two games expanded 'Goo-od!"

JB: I think it does. Throughout the whole locker room. I hear Uno say it sometimes. 'Goo-od!' It's infectious. You hear guys in the DB room. Sometimes we do love it up. We always only used to do love it up in the DB room. But now we love it up with the whole defense.

GH: What's love it up?

JB: You know, dapping everybody up before the meeting starts. Guys doing little handshakes or doing whatever, just to keep the team bonded up.

GH: The Bengals loved their 18-minute interview with you at the 2023 NFL scouting combine. What do you remember about it?

JB: They stopped the meeting early. Rob (former safeties coach Livingston) had asked, I think Coach (Zac) Taylor and the DC, Coach Lou (Anarumo), 'Got anymore?' because I was just answering everything. Every question they brought up. 'What was this play call? What was my alignment. What's my assignment?'

And I was just telling them everybody's alignment, everybody's assignment on the defense. I think they loved that. We probably went through three or four plays and they're like, 'We don't need to hear any more.'