Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The your Good as Gone August
Speaker 1: is over. Addition, as the Bengals wrap up the preseason
Speaker 1: with a sixteen to seven win over the La Rams.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments from players
Speaker 1: and coaches, and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then,
Speaker 1: in this week's fun fact segment, you'll hear from a
Speaker 1: Bengals rookie who grew up forty minutes from pay Course
Speaker 1: stadium rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. Hey, nobody's perfect. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate
Speaker 1: Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free
Speaker 1: to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes.
Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest to do of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Ken Riley's almost certain enshrinement in
Speaker 1: the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Approximately ten days ago,
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame in Canton announced the three players
Speaker 1: in the seniors category that are finalists for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three class, including Bengals legend Ken Riley. The Rattler
Speaker 1: will get into the Hall of Fame if he is
Speaker 1: supported by at least eighty percent of the voters in January,
Speaker 1: and that is considered a formality. Riley sixty five interceptions
Speaker 1: ranked fifth highest in NFL history, and while he obviously
Speaker 1: earned this, he got some help in recent years from
Speaker 1: fans like Bengal Jim Foster, who helped organize rallies to
Speaker 1: raise awareness that there should be more Bengals in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Hobson also
Speaker 1: deserves a shout out for making Riley's case with his
Speaker 1: fellow Hall of Fame voters. It's great news for Bengals
Speaker 1: fans and especially meaningful for the Riley family. Here's hoping
Speaker 1: that a couple of Anderson's, Ken and Willie, are up next.
Speaker 1: Now time to look back at Saturday's preseason finale against
Speaker 1: the Rams. The Bengals got on the scoreboard first in
Speaker 1: the first a thirty two yard pass from Brandon Allen
Speaker 1: to Stanley Morgan led to an Evan McPherson field goal
Speaker 1: in a three nothing lead at the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter. It looked like the Rams might pull ahead
Speaker 1: early in the second when they drove deep into Bengals territory.
Speaker 1: Third down in three at the Cincinnati ten to hand
Speaker 1: off to Funk. He's got the first down inside the five,
Speaker 1: Tackled at the fours, ball comes out and the Bengals recover.
Speaker 1: Trey Von Henderson punched it away from Jake Fuck. Dominique
Speaker 1: Davis recovered the fumble, and moments later Brandon Allen de
Speaker 1: for the Bengals longest play of the preseason. He waits
Speaker 1: at the goal line for a shotgun snap on second
Speaker 1: and nine, Pump fakes throws it down the guideline. It
Speaker 1: is caught on the run at the forty. Kendrick Pryor
Speaker 1: with the catch and he gets taken down at the
Speaker 1: forty two yard line. A thirty eight yard game. It
Speaker 1: led to another McPherson field goal to make it six nothing.
Speaker 1: But Kendrick Pryor winced when I asked him about that play.
Speaker 1: Not just wish I would have scored. That's all been
Speaker 1: cool to have, Like an on a two yard line
Speaker 1: ninety eight yard teschdown, that would have been cool. But
Speaker 1: still happy though grateful, made a big play, But definitely
Speaker 1: always want more than what I can get, So definitely
Speaker 1: wish I would have got It would have been much
Speaker 1: cooler with a ninety eight toesdown versus a thirty eight
Speaker 1: yard game. So but it was, like I said, grateful though,
Speaker 1: trusted me, gave me a good ball, let me run
Speaker 1: underneath it, just made a play. It was another good
Speaker 1: night for Pryor, who finished with five catches for sixty
Speaker 1: five yards. He led the Bengals in receiving yards this
Speaker 1: preseason with one hundred eighty two in three games. Felt
Speaker 1: like I did pretty pretty decent throughing the preseason games.
Speaker 1: You know, went out there throughout camp, those preseason games.
Speaker 1: Just got a chance to show people I can make
Speaker 1: plays and when my numbers called, I'll be there too,
Speaker 1: you know, make a play for something. So like, I
Speaker 1: feel like I did pretty good. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: you've put yourself in a good position to still be
Speaker 1: part of this team going forward? Oh yeah, definitely. You
Speaker 1: know at this point inside of my control now, you know,
Speaker 1: if we got but we don't have any more practices
Speaker 1: our games left, So at this point it's just hoping.
Speaker 1: But I put on film, you know, it's good enough
Speaker 1: to make their roster. But I got got good confidence,
Speaker 1: you know, I felt like things should go should go
Speaker 1: good for me. But at this point, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's out of my hand. So you're just gonna sit back, wait,
Speaker 1: wait till Tuesday, four o'clock. Tuesday at four is the
Speaker 1: deadline for cutting the roster from eighty to fifty three.
Speaker 1: If Prior doesn't make the cut, there's a strong chance
Speaker 1: he'll be part of the sixteen man practice squad. The
Speaker 1: bat Goals scored once more before halftime, as another McPherson
Speaker 1: field goal made it nine nothing at the break. The
Speaker 1: Rams managed just seventy five yards of offense in the
Speaker 1: first half. LA didn't do much better in the third
Speaker 1: quarter as the Bengals forced a pair of fumbles. Zach
Speaker 1: Carter caused the first on a strip sack. T Gray
Speaker 1: Scales forced the second by ripping the ball away from
Speaker 1: running back Trey Regas. For the second straight week. The
Speaker 1: Bengals took a nine point lead to the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: They weren't able to hold the lead. Last Sunday, against
Speaker 1: the Giants, and they allowed the Rams to score in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter on Saturday night, Hell send three receivers
Speaker 1: out to the right, one out to the left, shotgun
Speaker 1: Snap Perkins looking around. He's back at the twelve. Under pressure,
Speaker 1: gets away from Gunter running toward the left side. He's
Speaker 1: down to the five and he gets close to the
Speaker 1: pylon and he's in for a Rams touchdown when he
Speaker 1: is an athlete. That made it nine seven Bengals with
Speaker 1: roughly eleven and a half minutes to go. How did
Speaker 1: the offense respond with a thirteen play drive that took
Speaker 1: nearly seven minutes off the clock and ultimately put the
Speaker 1: game away. Browning drops back to pass fires in the
Speaker 1: end zone, bought by Justin Rigg for the touchdown. The
Speaker 1: young man from Springboro, Ohio, by way of the University
Speaker 1: of Kentucky with the touchdown catch and the Bengals lead
Speaker 1: at fifteen to seven. It was Jake Browning's first touchdown
Speaker 1: pass in eight NFL preseason games between the Vikings and Bengals.
Speaker 1: And here's the guy on the receiving end, undrafted rookie
Speaker 1: tight end Justin Rigg, going through my head. I heard
Speaker 1: the play call and I knew that I had a
Speaker 1: chance to get that ball, and I saw the the
Speaker 1: outside leverage on the guy to break out, and right
Speaker 1: when I broke out, I knew the ball was coming
Speaker 1: and then obviously ended up in the end zone. And
Speaker 1: I was in shock at first, because you know, especially
Speaker 1: as a blocking tight end, you never expect that type
Speaker 1: of thing to happen. But you just gotta be ready
Speaker 1: for when your numbers called. And it happened, and just
Speaker 1: through the roof excited. I gotta work on my celebration
Speaker 1: a little bit. I didn't. I didn't know what to do,
Speaker 1: but I'll get it next time, all right. Forgive me.
Speaker 1: I didn't keep watching to see how you celebrated. What
Speaker 1: did you do? Oh? I just I just threw up
Speaker 1: my arms. I didn't know what to do. Celebrated with
Speaker 1: my teammates. But next time, next time, I'll have something else.
Speaker 1: Who got the ball? You were, Jake? I have it
Speaker 1: right here in my locker, right here. So I appreciate
Speaker 1: them getting me that ball, and I'll cherish that moment forever.
Speaker 1: We'll get to know just and much better later in
Speaker 1: the podcast, the final score the Bengal sixteen the Rams seven.
Speaker 1: Now let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent
Speaker 1: about three minutes with Dave Lapham after the game. Coach
Speaker 1: pitched shut up for three quarters against uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a damn good football team. Hard to do. I thought
Speaker 1: it was really good performance by our defense. A lot
Speaker 1: of guys put a lot of snaps. It's a good
Speaker 1: way to finish the offseason here. So the the two
Speaker 1: days that you that you had working together and the
Speaker 1: carry over to today's football game, it looked like guys
Speaker 1: were pretty familiar with assignment, alignement and adjustment and all
Speaker 1: the sort of things that needed to get done tonight.
Speaker 1: I didn't notice a lot of mental awers. That's something
Speaker 1: we'll see more tomorrow. But I thought the guys played fast,
Speaker 1: they played with confidence and allowed us to get a win.
Speaker 1: So Jake Browning on the one touchdown drive, he was
Speaker 1: basically accounted for all the yards made, all the How
Speaker 1: good was he tonight? He managed the situation really well,
Speaker 1: you know. And they had a zile leverage in the
Speaker 1: run game playing base to eleven, so sometimes you just
Speaker 1: gotta throw it and and I thought we did a
Speaker 1: really nice job operating that situation. Yeah, I think you
Speaker 1: threw at eleven straight times, didn't you know something like that?
Speaker 1: I think in that drive, yeah, they know, based to eleven,
Speaker 1: you know, I think they were down personnel gave us
Speaker 1: the excuse to throw the ball a little bit more,
Speaker 1: and so we took advantage of it. I mean, your
Speaker 1: defense though in the second half went base. I mean
Speaker 1: three linebackers, A lot of the linebackers and they were
Speaker 1: eleven and they were a kid and felt like high
Speaker 1: school again going out there with four down linement and
Speaker 1: three linebackers played pretty well with it. Yeah, traditional old
Speaker 1: school linement there to a true four three. I thought
Speaker 1: that they handled it really well. You know, KeAndre had
Speaker 1: to play a different role for us. Michael Thomas had
Speaker 1: to play a different role. He played some nickel there
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. So I just thought our guys
Speaker 1: did a really good job adjusting to some of the
Speaker 1: things that we had to do to help ourselves in
Speaker 1: this game. Turnovers, you guys really protect the ball well.
Speaker 1: They had some difficulty and a lot of it was
Speaker 1: due to the excellency your defensive football team. Again, they
Speaker 1: did a great job creating the turnovers. Win the turnover
Speaker 1: a battle. You got a great chance to win the game.
Speaker 1: I wish we could have capitalized a little bit more
Speaker 1: on the red zone there and offense, but I thought
Speaker 1: our guys did a really good job wining the turnover
Speaker 1: battle early in the game. I think their first four
Speaker 1: possessions three three and outs and then they had the
Speaker 1: fumble at the two yard line and the low red zone.
Speaker 1: Pretty good. Yeah, it was really good. You know, it's
Speaker 1: anytime you can hold him to zero at halftime, then
Speaker 1: we feel like we're in a pretty good shape. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question. So as far as I know, knock on wood,
Speaker 1: if I can find some nothing at all that looked
Speaker 1: like it was any kind of a problem from an
Speaker 1: injury standpoint, that was the biggest goal tonight, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah we'll find out. You know, some of those things
Speaker 1: pop up the next day, and so we'll to make
Speaker 1: sure that everybody's healthy as we come out of this thing.
Speaker 1: And then now you're in a in a scenario where
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to evaluate things from a personnel standpoint,
Speaker 1: makes some tough decisions. I know, like everybody that I
Speaker 1: talked to in the locker room that is trying to
Speaker 1: fight for a job, man, I hope I stay here.
Speaker 1: I love this place. I love it here. Kudos to
Speaker 1: you for creating that kind of culture. I mean, guys
Speaker 1: want to be here a big time. I think guys
Speaker 1: have really bought it and they enjoy being around each other.
Speaker 1: And that's important if you're gonna have a winning football team.
Speaker 1: Guys got to enjoy the process and be willing to
Speaker 1: do some hard work and like doing it with the
Speaker 1: people that they're doing it with. And I think that
Speaker 1: we've got that here. So now, just what's the process, coach?
Speaker 1: You got you gotta get down to the fifty three.
Speaker 1: But the roster is still in flux, probably for a
Speaker 1: couple of days or so. You have Labor Day weekend off.
Speaker 1: But the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town to open the season.
Speaker 1: How much time have you given to the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: during the course of training camp? Has there been some
Speaker 1: time to vote it to them. We're always keeping an
Speaker 1: eye on everybody, you know, and so it'll be nice
Speaker 1: to get through the Snell part and just dive into
Speaker 1: the Steelers. Congratulations, got the dub. He got out of
Speaker 1: it in real good shape. It looks like physically it's
Speaker 1: a pretty good night. Good night, Yeah, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: So now players on the bubble have to go through
Speaker 1: the agony of waiting to find out if they made
Speaker 1: the roster or the practice squad. One of the players
Speaker 1: who seems likely to stick around is undrafted rookie cornerback
Speaker 1: Alan George. He played every defensive snap against the Rams,
Speaker 1: and I talked to him about his performance and the
Speaker 1: upcoming roster cuts. I think for the most part, it
Speaker 1: was good. Um, I kind of got I did the
Speaker 1: same thing in the first game. I took all eighty
Speaker 1: one snaps on defense, so or are not all anyone
Speaker 1: snaps on defense, But I took all the snaps on defense,
Speaker 1: So I kind of got my my lungs ready for
Speaker 1: that at that at that point when he played the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: So when we came out here today, I actually felt better.
Speaker 1: I was telling my wife that that I that I
Speaker 1: kind of have to get my mom right. But I
Speaker 1: actually felt pretty prepared him and I was ready to
Speaker 1: him to handle the tempo or however fast they wanted
Speaker 1: to go. So I think for the most part, I
Speaker 1: handled the snaps pretty well. You went visited with your
Speaker 1: wife right after the game, but she pretty excited about
Speaker 1: how things went. Yeah, she's always excited. She's always in
Speaker 1: my former twenty or seven. Ever since we met, she's
Speaker 1: sent me a game day messes, long messes. I don't
Speaker 1: know how she keeps formulating new ones. But and then
Speaker 1: she has a Bible verse in there and we just
Speaker 1: pray over it. So she's extremely supportive. She comes to
Speaker 1: every single one of my games. She hasn't missed one,
Speaker 1: so she's extremely support her. We're chatting with Allen George.
Speaker 1: I thought you had a good week and those joint
Speaker 1: practices against the Rams, I thought you did extremely well.
Speaker 1: Had the interception in one of those practices. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like this final week goes a long way toward
Speaker 1: you sticking around here? Yeah, I mean I hope it does.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody wants to exit the league or
Speaker 1: exit the team or a club. For the most part,
Speaker 1: I feel like I put my best foot forward, and
Speaker 1: if I did make a mistake, I was. I wasn't
Speaker 1: ever losing a rep. I was kind of just learning
Speaker 1: from it. So my brother when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: he always just tell me you don't ever lose, you
Speaker 1: win or you learn and uh, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: one thing I carried down throughout my football career, so uh,
Speaker 1: anything that that hit me and during the during the
Speaker 1: RAMS practices or just any practice throughout camp. If it
Speaker 1: hit me once, I tried to make sure I got
Speaker 1: it off my tape and I didn't let it hit
Speaker 1: me again. So for I think I put my best before.
Speaker 1: Did anything in particular stand out in those joint practices
Speaker 1: against the likes of Cooper Cup and the other great
Speaker 1: players that they have on that team. Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't get the chance to cover Cup, but I
Speaker 1: talked to him after one of the practices, Uh, and
Speaker 1: it was just it was just crazy just to be
Speaker 1: in the same It's I mean, it's crazy for me
Speaker 1: to be in the same space as these people already.
Speaker 1: I feel like I belong in the league definitely. Um,
Speaker 1: but just me coming from the situation I came from
Speaker 1: as an undrafted rookie from from Vandy and then I
Speaker 1: didn't play football till I was fifteen, from a city
Speaker 1: of eight thousand people like it. It's not common from
Speaker 1: my type to get here to this point. So um,
Speaker 1: anytime I get the chance to meet any of those
Speaker 1: people that might get a gold jackets, it's kind of nuts.
Speaker 1: So Um, I think I learned. I learned some intricacies
Speaker 1: of how they run routes. Uh, and I've been able
Speaker 1: to kind of make that and adapt how I play
Speaker 1: certain certain receivers when it comes to body types or
Speaker 1: their speed or anything like that. So I always try
Speaker 1: to use the knowledge that I get from from the greats.
Speaker 1: If I feel like final question for Alan George, how
Speaker 1: do you plan to spend the next day or two
Speaker 1: hoping to get that that phone call that you're part
Speaker 1: of this team going forward? UM, I'm just gonna spend
Speaker 1: it happy. I have no no, nothing, nothing to hold back.
Speaker 1: I really have no regrets of how I played this
Speaker 1: or my interactions within the building and meetings or training
Speaker 1: like like weightlifting or anything like that. I feel like
Speaker 1: I put my bestsel forward and in every regard. So
Speaker 1: I mean, my wife is just gonna relax or it
Speaker 1: relaxed as much as I can and then just pray
Speaker 1: and hope it was just like we did for the draft.
Speaker 1: I mean, that didn't that didn't work in our favorite
Speaker 1: but when he got something right after. So if it
Speaker 1: goes our way, it goes our way, and I'll be
Speaker 1: extremely grateful. And if it doesn't I'll have my head
Speaker 1: up high, and I'll still be extremely grateful for the opportunity.
Speaker 1: You should have your head up high. You've done an
Speaker 1: excellent job. Best of what going forward? Thank you. Allen
Speaker 1: had five tackles against the Rams and shared the team
Speaker 1: lead and passes defense in the preseason with three. Now
Speaker 1: time for postgame analysis with Lap and this week's Radio
Speaker 1: guys recap. All Right, Lap, The Bengals end the preseason
Speaker 1: with a nine point victory over the Ram sixteen to
Speaker 1: seven the final score. I know people don't remember wins
Speaker 1: and losses in the preseason, but the players do. When
Speaker 1: they take the field, they want to walk out of
Speaker 1: there with a win, and obviously everybody feels a little
Speaker 1: bit happier that at least they got one of these
Speaker 1: three preseason games. I agree with you, Dan, I couldn't
Speaker 1: agree with you more in fact, And to get the
Speaker 1: victory against the Rams, who obviously had a bit of
Speaker 1: defeat in Super Bowl fifty six. And then you know
Speaker 1: the little uh, a little bit of a rub that
Speaker 1: occurred at the end of the second day of practice.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are still guys that have feelings about that.
Speaker 1: So it's it's good to get a victory, particularly the
Speaker 1: way the defense played. I mean, jeez, they were just
Speaker 1: lights out. You shut out an NFL team in any
Speaker 1: circumstance for three quarters, that's getting it done. I mean,
Speaker 1: these guys are out there on the football field for
Speaker 1: a reason. I mean, they can form, they're they're high
Speaker 1: end athletes. And I thought Louianna Rumo and his defensive team,
Speaker 1: I mean the first four possessions thirty three and ounce
Speaker 1: in a takeaway in a low red zone, I mean
Speaker 1: it was crazy good. And you know, I thought Brownie
Speaker 1: played well. The receiving corps or own nine catches for
Speaker 1: ninety three yards last five forty two prior five for
Speaker 1: sixty five. I mean nineteen catches out of three guys,
Speaker 1: you know, for about two hundred yards. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty good. They did a great job, I thought,
Speaker 1: finding holes and seams and the zone coverages of the
Speaker 1: rams and you know, we're on the same page. Browning
Speaker 1: did a good job finding those guys, you know, as
Speaker 1: well as Brandon all and both quarterbacks played well. I
Speaker 1: mean Brandon ll And eleven out of fifteen four hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty yards, Browning nineteen for twenty four and seventy three,
Speaker 1: and like you said during the broadcast, Brownie was responsible
Speaker 1: to the touchdown drive all by himself ten for twelve
Speaker 1: to sixty three yards in the touchdown passed and he
Speaker 1: had the twelve yard run to keep the drive alive.
Speaker 1: I mean it was the Jake Browning drive. I want
Speaker 1: to follow up on those three wide receivers, Trent and Irwin,
Speaker 1: Kendrick pryor Kwamie Lasseter. All of them had at least
Speaker 1: five catches tonight. I would think the Bengals will have
Speaker 1: a couple of wide receivers on the practice squad. Can
Speaker 1: they have all three? I know, it's it's h they
Speaker 1: all they all played like they wanted to be there tonight,
Speaker 1: There's no question about that. Can they have three out
Speaker 1: of sixteen? I think maybe they can. Maybe they can, boy,
Speaker 1: they all deserve it. And then you know, Trevion Williams
Speaker 1: every opportunity he gets, this kid steps up as well,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean he's a practice squad guy last year,
Speaker 1: and he's certainly we had four catches himself for forty
Speaker 1: yards and seven rushes for twenty two and I thought
Speaker 1: I thought he was the best blitz pick up guy
Speaker 1: against the Giants last week. In terms of consistency of
Speaker 1: technique and all that. I mean, they've got some good
Speaker 1: football players. This personnel department here has put together a
Speaker 1: roster that's got some some depth and talent. There's no question.
Speaker 1: A guy that stood out to me tonight who I
Speaker 1: really hadn't noticed much in the first two preseason games
Speaker 1: as linebacker t Gray Scales. He was part of the
Speaker 1: coin toss as one of the five Cincinnati kids that
Speaker 1: went out there at the beginning of the game. He
Speaker 1: had six tackles, he forced a fumble. That's a guy who's,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to stick around on the practice squad,
Speaker 1: and I thought he had his best performance tonight. I
Speaker 1: agree with that one hundred thousand percent as well. I
Speaker 1: mean I put him down for all right now, he's
Speaker 1: going to really step up on special teams. He's gonna
Speaker 1: impress Darren Simmons. Well, heck, he got his snaps defensive
Speaker 1: lyne he stepped up in those. I mean he showed
Speaker 1: you know that. Okay, I'm on the big stage. This
Speaker 1: is important to me. I'm a Cincinnati guy. Great crowd again,
Speaker 1: by the way, wasn't it for preseason him. I mean
Speaker 1: written they were into us, a good crowd, and the
Speaker 1: juices were flown now to him, this was his individual
Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty six. You know it was that important
Speaker 1: to a lot of these guys, and they played like it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I thought, he's If he's not a practice squad guy,
Speaker 1: that'd be stunning. He's got to be. You want to
Speaker 1: develop a kid like that that responded the way he responded,
Speaker 1: He certainly didn't. You know, the stage wasn't too big
Speaker 1: and bright for him. He stepped up and he showed himself.
Speaker 1: So he showed up big time. What do you think
Speaker 1: becomes of the punting battle? Kevin Hubert's first punt, great
Speaker 1: hang time, forty five yards fair, caught exactly what Darren
Speaker 1: Simmons is looking for. But we know about the leg
Speaker 1: strength of Drew Chrisman, and he boomed when sixty five
Speaker 1: yards now went to the end zone, but it bounced
Speaker 1: at the five before going in. It's still forty five
Speaker 1: yards net. Do you think Darren in his mind has
Speaker 1: his winner determined? Do you think he's gonna think about
Speaker 1: it for twenty four or forty eight hours? I don't.
Speaker 1: I wonder I wonder if he does have it determined
Speaker 1: because I think I think tonight showed what you have
Speaker 1: to make the decision about. One guy has booming howards
Speaker 1: are hanging off his right hip, and the other guy
Speaker 1: still is the tremendously accurate. You know, Finesse find the
Speaker 1: directional punting spots perfectly. And I guess to me, we
Speaker 1: were talking about a little bit before the game in
Speaker 1: the booth that how many times during the course of
Speaker 1: the season do you have to flip the field as
Speaker 1: opposed to making accurate directional kicks and backing people up.
Speaker 1: I mean, the both invaluable things. If you can back
Speaker 1: somebody up inside the ten, never mind the twenty inside
Speaker 1: the ten like Kevin has done, you know, a myriad
Speaker 1: of times in his career, that's massive. To make him
Speaker 1: go long field like that, I mean, that gives the
Speaker 1: defense extra juice. And you know, the offense is like,
Speaker 1: I can't make a mistake. If I make a mistake, now, gosh,
Speaker 1: they got points. You know, we're on a short field.
Speaker 1: So it changes play calling, change his attitude, changes mindset.
Speaker 1: But there's nothing better than you know, you're backed up
Speaker 1: in your fifteen yard line and a punter boots the
Speaker 1: ball from his own end zone to their ten yard line.
Speaker 1: I mean that's like huge, So you know, I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess Darren has to weigh all that. I guess
Speaker 1: weigh all that out. To me, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: almost like Kevin Huber in my mind, almost deserves to
Speaker 1: be knocked out instead of TKOD And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: he's knocked out. You know, I think Christman's a talent.
Speaker 1: I think somebody's going to gobble him up when he
Speaker 1: goes on the waiver wire. And I honestly, I think
Speaker 1: somebody that's got a punning problem is gonna goble up
Speaker 1: Kevin Huber as well. Whoever they let go has got
Speaker 1: a job somewhere in the National Football League. But Kevin
Speaker 1: Huber is an institution here. I mean he's He's something
Speaker 1: that you know, seasons come and go, but Hubert stays.
Speaker 1: So it's going to be very very interesting. Darren Simmons
Speaker 1: has a very very intriguing decision to make, and you
Speaker 1: know he did. I thought he was kind of tipping
Speaker 1: his hand a little bit when he says when he
Speaker 1: said early before training camp started, I think he said
Speaker 1: sixty percent of the job now because of place kicking,
Speaker 1: the excellence of the kickers as a holder and forty
Speaker 1: percent punter. I'm thinking, oh, he's going Huber. And then
Speaker 1: Chrisman is a good athlete and he's got high hand coordination.
Speaker 1: He's shown marked improvement. And Darren says he's monitored. You know,
Speaker 1: he's tracked all of them, and it's it's a toss
Speaker 1: up so Man, but he's done it for all those
Speaker 1: years and Clark Harris and Kevin Huber have never had
Speaker 1: a screw up. All that stuff just means something to me.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's one of those situations where how
Speaker 1: can you how can you say what? It's either decisions,
Speaker 1: it's that's made. But it's a difficult one, very tough.
Speaker 1: Let's turn to Jackson Carmen, who got every snap at
Speaker 1: left guard. He may have been very solid over the
Speaker 1: course of most of those snaps the night. Hopefully he
Speaker 1: was when we go back and look at the tape
Speaker 1: of the game. But he did give up a sack,
Speaker 1: he had a penalty. The kinds of mistakes unfortunately that have,
Speaker 1: you know, hurt him because it's kind of a roller
Speaker 1: coaster ride with him. Do you think that helps clinches
Speaker 1: that clinch things in favor of Cordell Volson, if it
Speaker 1: wasn't already clinch going into the game. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I think that if if it was close
Speaker 1: going into the game. In my mind, Cordell Volson the
Speaker 1: thing that if I'm coaching the offensive line, I have
Speaker 1: a lot of trust and Cordell Volson and athletics is
Speaker 1: built on trust, just like relationships. Any relationships built on trust.
Speaker 1: And I think Cordell Volson, even even as young as
Speaker 1: he is, he's he's very very I mean, all the
Speaker 1: abilities besides the physical ability or liability, responsibility, dependability, availability,
Speaker 1: he's got all the available abilities. And he's he's strong.
Speaker 1: You know, he finishes, he learns quickly. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: he doesn't make the same mistake twice. He's got he's
Speaker 1: got a lot of uh, he's got a lot of
Speaker 1: very very high redeeming qualities. You know. Um, He's made
Speaker 1: us some good stuff. There's no doubt about it. So
Speaker 1: but honestly, I think they're gonna need both of them
Speaker 1: at some point in time. So if it does work
Speaker 1: out that they go with Cordell Wilson, Jackson, Carmen can't
Speaker 1: get his darbar down Jackson Carmen. I mean, if you,
Speaker 1: if you you know, my mindset would be all right, Well,
Speaker 1: I'll just try to get better, work harder. Maybe they rotate,
Speaker 1: maybe three guards rotate. You know, who knows, maybe they
Speaker 1: end up. I'm not going to run a messenger guard
Speaker 1: system with Joe Barrow, but who knows what they do it.
Speaker 1: You just you don't spit the bit, you don't give
Speaker 1: up on it. And that's going to be the next
Speaker 1: That's the next thing that I would look at as
Speaker 1: a coach. All right, Well, if it doesn't work out,
Speaker 1: am I going to lose one of these two guys?
Speaker 1: And you can't make a decision on well, I don't
Speaker 1: want to hurt that guy's feelings. This guy would handle
Speaker 1: it better. So I'm gonna go with this guy because
Speaker 1: he would. You don't want to do that. So it's
Speaker 1: I think. I think Cordell Wolson is probably comfortable with
Speaker 1: resting on the tape that he's put on display, and
Speaker 1: I'll let the chips fall as they may. Let's turn
Speaker 1: to Justin rig who caught a three yard touchdown past tonight.
Speaker 1: The Bengals number one tight end Hayden Hurst healthy ready
Speaker 1: to go for the start of the season. Drew Sample
Speaker 1: sprinted with some of his teammates before the game tonight,
Speaker 1: so it looks like hopefully he'll return to practice next week.
Speaker 1: Mitchell Wilcox is still out, so the tight end position
Speaker 1: is a bit of a mystery. And justin Ray, we
Speaker 1: already knew he could block, and now he showed something
Speaker 1: in the passing game with a touchdown catching the red
Speaker 1: zone tonight. Yeah, that was good to see. I think
Speaker 1: they know. It's almost like they rewarded him for a
Speaker 1: job well done at the line of s primmage. Now
Speaker 1: we're gonna get you know, We're gonna target you and
Speaker 1: let you catch an NFL touchdown pass in the preseason.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like a good job kid, and h
Speaker 1: you know, we know you can do this and we're
Speaker 1: gonna let you do it. And just like every position,
Speaker 1: Dan and I mean I when every single training camp
Speaker 1: I went to, I'm like, I gotta win us a job.
Speaker 1: First thing I have to do is win a job
Speaker 1: to get on the rush and then win a starting job.
Speaker 1: But you have to approach it that way every year
Speaker 1: because there's always somebody, whether they trade for him or
Speaker 1: they pick him up off the waiver wire or whatever
Speaker 1: the case may be. A big part of a personnel
Speaker 1: department's responsibility is always trying to improve the football team. So, man,
Speaker 1: if you think you got it made, that's when you
Speaker 1: don't have it made. Honestly, it's it's so competitive. There
Speaker 1: are so many guys that would give their right arm
Speaker 1: to be in the National Football League. And if you
Speaker 1: feel like you know, I got it, I'm good man,
Speaker 1: you'd start that complacency. You're gonna get slapped down, man,
Speaker 1: and get slapped down quick. So hopefully all these guys
Speaker 1: realize because that this roster Tuesday at four o'clock, that's
Speaker 1: just the beginning. There could be, you know, multiple tweaks
Speaker 1: during the course of the week. You know, there may
Speaker 1: be some guys that are on the on the waiver
Speaker 1: wire that they fully intend on bringing back and having
Speaker 1: a guy make the fifty three man roster then put
Speaker 1: them an injury reserve. It's a lot lesser time, so
Speaker 1: you have to play the roster mechanics, and they've done
Speaker 1: that over the years multiple times. So at four o'clock
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, you can actually don't let the all the
Speaker 1: air out though, because man, There's there's more days the
Speaker 1: rest of the week that you're gonna have to worry
Speaker 1: about and deal with. And that's just life in the NFL.
Speaker 1: If it were easy, everybody to do it. Last thing,
Speaker 1: at the end of the final preseason game in your
Speaker 1: rookie year, did you know that you had made the
Speaker 1: team or did you have that uncomfortable weight to find
Speaker 1: out that you were good to go? I was drafted
Speaker 1: in the third round, the sixty first pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: and a guy named Daryl White, All American guard from Nebraska.
Speaker 1: We were the two All American guards. He was drafted
Speaker 1: in the fourth round. Dog fight and you know, my
Speaker 1: good buddy, Stan Walter's fellow Syracuse salum was on the
Speaker 1: team still before he had traded to Philadelphia Eagles for
Speaker 1: John Rees, the quarterback and standing makes the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: at the eag He was a really good player. But
Speaker 1: so last cut and I get my playbook in my hand,
Speaker 1: I get out of my car and I'm looking at
Speaker 1: Frank's mouse who was the turk, And I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of tiptoe and you know, should I walk faster?
Speaker 1: And he looks at me and then he kind of
Speaker 1: looks around me. I'm like, so I go to my
Speaker 1: locker change out, put on my shorts, t shirt, going
Speaker 1: to the team meeting him, and everybody had tape. Paul
Speaker 1: Brown put a strip of tape in the right hand
Speaker 1: corner up a right hand corner of your desk with
Speaker 1: your name on it, so Lion will up front. I
Speaker 1: go looking for my name, No lap him. I'm like,
Speaker 1: Sun up again. Frank's mouse didn't even recognize me. And
Speaker 1: that's how bad I suck. He didn't even know who
Speaker 1: the hell I was. This is awful and I made
Speaker 1: no impression, and I was beat red. I could I
Speaker 1: could feel the heat coming off my chest, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: Darrell made it and make it something. So I really
Speaker 1: had no idea, and I'm thinking because because I played
Speaker 1: the first three preseason games, I played quite a bit,
Speaker 1: and then I didn't, you know, and Daryl played a
Speaker 1: ton and I'm thinking, Okay, is this a signal that
Speaker 1: you played well enough or it's like it wasn't good enough.
Speaker 1: And Darrel, they want to see him how well he's playing,
Speaker 1: and so you don't know. You just don't know what
Speaker 1: they're thinking. And so I turned around to find Darrell
Speaker 1: and shake his hand. No, Darrel. I'm like, God, they
Speaker 1: cut both of us. I can't believe that. And then
Speaker 1: everybody starts laughing and stand hit hidden my desk in
Speaker 1: the he pulls my desk out. Ain't done, rookie. I
Speaker 1: wanted to kill him, but I'm like my heart was pounding,
Speaker 1: and so Paul Brown after the meeting, congratulations young man,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, coach, I was thinking, that's your first mistake.
Speaker 1: Don't think, don't think. I'll do the thinking you play.
Speaker 1: Don't think. I'm like, yes, sir. Words to live by.
Speaker 1: Don't think doubt about it, no doubt about it, don't
Speaker 1: overcomplicate anything, don't think. Bengals returned to practice on Wednesday
Speaker 1: as they turned their focus to the regular season opener
Speaker 1: against the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year,
Speaker 1: with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the App Store
Speaker 1: and Google Play. Now time for this week's Fun Facts interview,
Speaker 1: where you get to know the person under the pads.
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with rookie tight End. Justin
Speaker 1: rig from Springboro, Ohio, about forty miles away from Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Were you a Bengals fan as a kid? Actually, I
Speaker 1: was not, I guess I kind of at first grew
Speaker 1: up and my middle brother was a Bengals fan, and
Speaker 1: then my oldest brother was a Steeler slash Falcons fan,
Speaker 1: and then I kind of revolted against going with one
Speaker 1: of them, and I was I've been a Seahawks fan
Speaker 1: kind of mine. It was my whole life until kind
Speaker 1: of up to until now, I guess. So, yeah, I
Speaker 1: Seahawks fan, growing up in Springboro wearing a Russell Wilson jersey.
Speaker 1: How passionate were you about that? I mean it started
Speaker 1: with Matt Hasselbeck and Sean Alexander and them way back
Speaker 1: when I was a little younger, and when they went
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl against the Steelers that year, and
Speaker 1: then ever since then, you know, yeah, I was a
Speaker 1: big Russell fan. Bobby Wagner, all those guys, just loved
Speaker 1: them all. Justin you're a big man, You're six six
Speaker 1: to sixty Were you always the tall kid in the
Speaker 1: back of the class photo or did you have a
Speaker 1: late growth spurt growing up? I would say I was
Speaker 1: always a taller kid, but I would say up until
Speaker 1: eighth grade, I was kind of with those taller kids.
Speaker 1: But eighth grade, going into freshman year, I would say
Speaker 1: I just started to grow and be like the taller
Speaker 1: kid in school. Probably only a couple other kids in
Speaker 1: school were even close to the height that I was at,
Speaker 1: so I guess at that in high school I kind
Speaker 1: of took over the height. When it came time for college,
Speaker 1: you went to Kentucky Why UK? And was that a
Speaker 1: difficult decision? I would say throughout the process, you know,
Speaker 1: going to different camps and stuff like that, I had
Speaker 1: no idea until I think I started to talk with
Speaker 1: Coach Stoves and Coach Marrow, and they were heavily recruiting
Speaker 1: me and just kind of talking to them, busy with them.
Speaker 1: They kind of made Kentucky feel like a second home,
Speaker 1: and they kind of made they felt trustworthy. And I
Speaker 1: felt that the way Coach Marrow was talking to me,
Speaker 1: I could really trust what he was telling me, and
Speaker 1: everything that he did tell me came so till this day.
Speaker 1: I think that the way they recruit and the way
Speaker 1: they do, they're really upfront and honest with players, and
Speaker 1: I think that they're going to continue to grow that
Speaker 1: program like they are now. And I think I've made
Speaker 1: a great choice coming there. You must have liked it
Speaker 1: because you're there for a long time, more than a
Speaker 1: quarter of your life. So you got injured. It's a
Speaker 1: true freshman, so you got a medical red shirt. Then
Speaker 1: the COVID rules allowed you to take an extra year,
Speaker 1: so you actually played in six different seasons. Was staying
Speaker 1: a football decision or did you just love UK that
Speaker 1: much that you wanted another year? It was definitely. I
Speaker 1: mean I do love UK, but I think that extra
Speaker 1: year really helped me develop my game even more, with
Speaker 1: you know, getting a whole new offense and it kind
Speaker 1: of being the NFL style offense that we had. I
Speaker 1: think it really helped propel me to get to where
Speaker 1: I am now. I think staying that extra year was
Speaker 1: kind of beneficial to helping me get to the NFL.
Speaker 1: Aside from football, what was your favorite part of the
Speaker 1: UK experience? I would say I do love UK as
Speaker 1: like a city, and I love everything that they have
Speaker 1: going on there. I feel like there's always something to do,
Speaker 1: and then you know, just I feel like anywhere you go,
Speaker 1: the college experience is really awesome, and especially having the
Speaker 1: teammates that I did and the friends that I had there,
Speaker 1: that it really was a great thing all around. You
Speaker 1: signed with the Bengals after the draft as a college
Speaker 1: free agent. I imagine you were hoping to get drafted.
Speaker 1: Was that weekend disappointing? I mean yeah, I mean, every
Speaker 1: every player always wants to get drafted, and you're sitting
Speaker 1: there watching the whole draft, just watching your phone because
Speaker 1: you really never know. I knew I was just from
Speaker 1: reports and talking to my agent. I knew i'd be
Speaker 1: in that back end. I mean, I have different opinions,
Speaker 1: but I just knew that's where I would be, and
Speaker 1: I knew that the situation that I was in would
Speaker 1: come down to it, and you know, it's it's really
Speaker 1: worked out for me. And I love being close to home,
Speaker 1: love being at the Bengals, and I love everything that
Speaker 1: they do here. You know, Coach Taylor has a great
Speaker 1: program going on, and I just love the way that
Speaker 1: the style of the organization they have. So we've heard
Speaker 1: stories about guys in your position. Where as the draft
Speaker 1: is winding down, the phone starts to ring. It's teams
Speaker 1: trying to get in position to potentially sign you as
Speaker 1: soon as they're allowed. Is that what it was like
Speaker 1: for you? Oh? Yeah, I received phone calls from different teams,
Speaker 1: all kind of from all different areas, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was just kind of it comes in fast. So
Speaker 1: I was getting those calls and then you know, right
Speaker 1: when you hung up, you talked to your agent about
Speaker 1: your options, what you think, and then you get another
Speaker 1: phone call and then you just kind of you got
Speaker 1: to make a decision fast because those offers could go away,
Speaker 1: like like anything can really happen in that time, and
Speaker 1: you could call back and they'd be like, okay, well off,
Speaker 1: like that offers off the table type thing. But you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of had a game plan going into what
Speaker 1: my decisions would be and looking at different teams. We
Speaker 1: kind of had it down and I feel like this
Speaker 1: was the best fit for me. We're doing fun facts
Speaker 1: with tight End justin Riggs. So you made your NFL
Speaker 1: debut a couple of weeks ago at pay Course Stadium.
Speaker 1: How big was the rooting section and can you articulate
Speaker 1: what that was like to make your NFL debut so
Speaker 1: close to home. Yeah, it was pretty awesome because you know,
Speaker 1: I had pretty much my whole family here. But then
Speaker 1: I also had a lot of close friends at the
Speaker 1: game too, And you know, you know, once you start playing,
Speaker 1: you kind of zone out, but then after the game
Speaker 1: you kind of realize all the people that were there
Speaker 1: to watch you. And you know, after I saw my
Speaker 1: entire family and I was just ecstatic, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I just played in the NFL game. You know, you
Speaker 1: reach your goal. I mean, I have more goals now,
Speaker 1: but you kind of reached that final goal of I
Speaker 1: made it to the NFL and I got to play
Speaker 1: in the NFL game, But you know, I still got
Speaker 1: a lot more goals to prove and I got a
Speaker 1: lot of things to do. But just being able to
Speaker 1: share that with my family and friends was a great thing.
Speaker 1: I reference your size. You're an excellent blocker, but I
Speaker 1: know that you can sider yourself a good pass catcher
Speaker 1: as well. Correct, is that a big thing you would
Speaker 1: like to prove to everybody you know right now? Like
Speaker 1: I see myself as that blocking tight end and I
Speaker 1: want to fit that team role and I'll go in
Speaker 1: there and block for a second down. I'm completely fine
Speaker 1: with that. You know, if I go out, if I
Speaker 1: do go out for a pass, I'm gonna catch it
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna run and I'm gonna do what I
Speaker 1: can do. I feel like I have great hands, but
Speaker 1: right now i feel like I am a great blocker,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna utilize that and push for my future
Speaker 1: as a blocking tight end show that I can do that,
Speaker 1: Just so so the team can trust me in that factor,
Speaker 1: I'll write a few wild card topics for Justin Rigg.
Speaker 1: According to year UK bio, your hidden talent is card tricks.
Speaker 1: There's evidence of this on YouTube, so I've seen some
Speaker 1: of your work. How did that get started? You know,
Speaker 1: I think my freshman because in high school and stuff like,
Speaker 1: I would always like if I was at home, I
Speaker 1: would get bored. I would start learning card tricks. And
Speaker 1: there was a time period where I would a while
Speaker 1: that I learned a bunch of card tricks and then
Speaker 1: I really liked it. I thought it was really cool.
Speaker 1: And then I got to UK and I saw the
Speaker 1: formulare like, oh hidden talents. I was like, the only
Speaker 1: I can think of as a card tricks. I wrote
Speaker 1: it down and it kind of stuck. And then throughout
Speaker 1: my years at UK, they asked me a couple of
Speaker 1: times to do I wasn't as doing it as much then,
Speaker 1: but they kind of asked me to do it. So
Speaker 1: I try to pull from memory some card tricks that
Speaker 1: I could do. But yeah, I think I love you know,
Speaker 1: America's got talent and all that stuff that you see
Speaker 1: all those things on I think they're really cool. I
Speaker 1: recommend checking it out on YouTube. You do it well.
Speaker 1: If that you're hidden talent, what are you terrible at? Terrible?
Speaker 1: You know? With all seeing all these rookie show things
Speaker 1: that they're doing across the league and stuff, There's one
Speaker 1: thing I will never sing. I cannot sing. I have
Speaker 1: a bad voice. I know I can't sing, and I
Speaker 1: just I would refuse to do that. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say that was the one thing I'd be that
Speaker 1: I'd be bad at. John Caliperry recently did an interview
Speaker 1: where he said UK is a basketball school. Were you offended?
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of things can get taken out
Speaker 1: of context, and I don't know the full story of it.
Speaker 1: I did see all that stuff, and you know, you
Speaker 1: see it all over social media and stuff. But I
Speaker 1: know that the both programs and all of UK athletics
Speaker 1: have a great, you know, friendship, and they're all together
Speaker 1: and they want every single organization or every team to succeed.
Speaker 1: And I think that that feud was I know that
Speaker 1: those coaches don't have that feud with each other, and
Speaker 1: I know they're probably they probably already figured it out.
Speaker 1: And to me personally, you know, I think what coach
Speaker 1: Joe has done has shown that we that were in
Speaker 1: everything type of school, and I think that it shows
Speaker 1: I don't think that it was meant that way. I
Speaker 1: guess Coach cal did go on to say he wants
Speaker 1: the football team to win double digit games every year
Speaker 1: and go to a bowl game, so I guess he
Speaker 1: couched it a little bit. Yeah. Final question, This one's
Speaker 1: kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman,
Speaker 1: whoever it might be, who would that person be and why,
Speaker 1: like maybe George Washington, just to meet somebody back from
Speaker 1: way back then and just kind of understand what the
Speaker 1: things that they went through and how I guess that
Speaker 1: time period and just what it what it was like,
Speaker 1: because you really never know what happened all those years
Speaker 1: ago and just kind of see, I guess what happened
Speaker 1: then I don't. That's a tough question though. I'll have
Speaker 1: to think about that one more. I'm trying. A bunch
Speaker 1: of people are going through my head, and I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to pick a good one. But yeah, I would
Speaker 1: just think anybody from you know, back in like eighteen
Speaker 1: hundreds or just just to know what that time period was. Like.
Speaker 1: You can't go wrong with George Washington, father of our country.
Speaker 1: That's a great answer. Yeah, that's why I picked. I
Speaker 1: was like that, you can't go wrong with that, all right.
Speaker 1: If you think of something else, feel free to let
Speaker 1: me know. But in the meantime, appreciate your time, best
Speaker 1: of luck, and congratulations on this opportunity making it into
Speaker 1: an NFL campus a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you. I really appreciate it, all right. That's justin ring.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: ahead of the upcoming season. It's free to play next
Speaker 1: level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now
Speaker 1: on the App Store and Google Play. And if you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and
Speaker 1: if you have a minute, give it a rating or
Speaker 1: share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast