Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booths Podcast. Uh, I'm walking on Sunshine? Whoa?
Speaker 1: And don't it feel good? Addition, as the Bengals advanced
Speaker 1: to the AFC Championship Game with a thrilling road win
Speaker 1: over the top seeded Tennessee Titans. Coming up, you'll hear
Speaker 1: radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches, and analysis
Speaker 1: from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's
Speaker 1: fun fact segment, you'll get to know a guy who
Speaker 1: made a huge play in Saturday's win, linebacker Clay Johnston.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play Next Level Fantasy football game, downloaded now
Speaker 1: from the App Store and Google Play, and by on Location,
Speaker 1: the official hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit on Location
Speaker 1: exp dot com for exclusive access to the biggest events
Speaker 1: in the NFL all season long, including Super Bowl fifty six.
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition 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 the build up when your favorite
Speaker 1: team advances in the postseason. One of my favorite things
Speaker 1: about the NCAA Basketball tournament is that if your team
Speaker 1: wins a couple of games and makes it to the
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen, you get to savor it for several days
Speaker 1: leading up to the next round, and if your team
Speaker 1: wins two more games and goes to the Final four,
Speaker 1: you get to do it again. Well, that's what we
Speaker 1: have to look forward to this week leading up to
Speaker 1: the AFC Championship game, and who knows, if the Bengals
Speaker 1: win again, we could get to savor the two week
Speaker 1: build up to the Super Bowl. Sounds awesome, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to Saturday's win at Tennessee. The game
Speaker 1: could not have started much better for Cincinnati. Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: under center on first and ten double tight ends in
Speaker 1: for Tennessee. Play action fake Tannehill count it neintercepted by
Speaker 1: Jesse bay first play of the game, and Jesse Bates,
Speaker 1: who intercepted Ryan Tannehill last year, picks him off on
Speaker 1: the very first play of this playoff game that gave
Speaker 1: the Bengals the ball at the Titans forty two. But
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's first play didn't go very well either. Burrow back
Speaker 1: to throw under pressure, spinning, twirling and sat for a
Speaker 1: three yard loss at the forty five yard line. Last year,
Speaker 1: in Burrow's third NFL game, he was sacked eight times
Speaker 1: by the Eagles. The Titans top that with nine sacks
Speaker 1: on Saturday. Here's DJ Reader on his quarterback. He's tough,
Speaker 1: has gone league though. Man, He's tough, just gritty. I
Speaker 1: love it, I love I love about him. He's super
Speaker 1: tough guy. You know, he doesn't complain. He goes out
Speaker 1: here and does his job. I really appreciate Joe. One
Speaker 1: play after the sack, Burrow threw a short pass the
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon turned into a twenty one yard gain. The
Speaker 1: Bengals reached the Titans twenty before settling for a field goal.
Speaker 1: Dry Huber, looking back at his young kicker, now turns
Speaker 1: his head, extends the right hand, catches the snap. The
Speaker 1: kick is on its way. It yes, good him. The
Speaker 1: Bengals are on the scoreboard. First, they turned the Jesse
Speaker 1: Bates interception into the field goal by Evan McPherson. The
Speaker 1: Titans had the King Derrick Henry back at running back,
Speaker 1: but failed to score on their first four drives. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: another big play helped the Bengals double their lead. Three
Speaker 1: receivers right, two left, earl clapping his hands, screen pass
Speaker 1: caught by Chase printing away traffic forty far sideline fifty,
Speaker 1: chumped over a defender at the thirty five and goes
Speaker 1: down at the Tennessee Titans twenty eight yard lines. That
Speaker 1: was a fifty seven yard reception by Chase, roughly fifty
Speaker 1: six of the yards coming after the catch. It led
Speaker 1: to a forty five yard field goal and a six
Speaker 1: nothing lead at the end of the first quarter. In
Speaker 1: the second, the Titans finally started moving the ball. A
Speaker 1: forty one yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to A j
Speaker 1: Brown led to the game's first touchdown. Now they're gonna
Speaker 1: go wildcat and snap it directly to Derrick Henry. He
Speaker 1: catches the snap, he runs left, squares up his shoulders,
Speaker 1: and runs it into the end zone for a three
Speaker 1: yard Tennessee touchdown that tied the game at six. And
Speaker 1: when the Titans lined up for the extra point, the
Speaker 1: Bengals got penalized for having twelve men on the field.
Speaker 1: That gave Titans coach Mike Vrabel an opportunity that he
Speaker 1: couldn't pass up a chance to go for two from
Speaker 1: the one yard line. Ryan Tannehill takes the staff gives
Speaker 1: it to Henry get from behind by Clay Johnston. He
Speaker 1: did not get in the win, so the Bengals penalty
Speaker 1: helps as Tennessee goes for two and Henry gets tackled.
Speaker 1: The Bengals responded with an eleven play drive that reached
Speaker 1: the Titans nineteen yard line, well within McPherson's field goal range,
Speaker 1: but a penalty cost him five yards, and what came
Speaker 1: next was even worse. Third down in thirteen, the Bengals
Speaker 1: need to get down to the eleven yard line. Burrow
Speaker 1: can't take a sack here. He's back to throw cocks
Speaker 1: the arm. Scrambling left, he gets sacked for a loss
Speaker 1: of twelve yards. It could have been disastrous if their
Speaker 1: kicker wasn't Evan McPherson a fifty four yard try out
Speaker 1: of the hold of Kevin Hooper trying to give the
Speaker 1: Bengals the lead in the final two minutes of the
Speaker 1: half to snap the pot down the kick it has
Speaker 1: the distance, yes, yes, good wow money Mac from fifty
Speaker 1: four yards away and the Bengals have taken a nine
Speaker 1: to six lead. Here's Zach Taylor on his rookie kicker.
Speaker 1: I mean he's got he's got ice in his veins.
Speaker 1: There's not much to be said. You know, he's as
Speaker 1: cool as it gets. You've got confidence that he's gonna
Speaker 1: nail it every single time he steps up there. Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow had the same number of sacks in the first half,
Speaker 1: five as Joe Mixon had rushing yards, and yet the
Speaker 1: Bengals led nine to six. On their opening drive of
Speaker 1: the third quarter, the Bengals finally got something out of
Speaker 1: their running game as Mixon carried four times for thirty
Speaker 1: four yards on a sixty five yards scoring drive. Bengals
Speaker 1: have taken more than five minutes off the clock on
Speaker 1: this drive. They have it at the sixteen of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Burrow under center, Mixon back into running back. It's a
Speaker 1: run to the right for mixing cuts back to the
Speaker 1: lefties at the team towards the pie round of the
Speaker 1: five high stepping into the end zone. Touchdown. Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: and my Bengals. Here's mixing on a great cutback that
Speaker 1: resulted in a sixteen yards score called stretch right, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden I just remember them boys was
Speaker 1: running over the top the linebackers and safety that was
Speaker 1: flowing hard. I put my toe on the ground, the
Speaker 1: number put my toe on the ground again, and I
Speaker 1: just backside. It was just like it was open, like
Speaker 1: a resie. I ended up going trying to explode and
Speaker 1: you know, gets it a zone and I was fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to find daylight and everything worked out on that play,
Speaker 1: and I thought that was a big difference in the game.
Speaker 1: The Bengals were up sixteen six, but a forty five
Speaker 1: yard run by Deonta Foreman put the Titans in position
Speaker 1: to answer with a score of their own first and
Speaker 1: goal from the ten no passes so far. On this drive,
Speaker 1: Foreman stays in a running back. There's a pass the
Speaker 1: fuck that you intercepted by Hilton spreading from Tannehill in
Speaker 1: the cornerback is able to make the tackle. Mike Hilton,
Speaker 1: jumping up from his slot corner position, patting the ball
Speaker 1: into the air, intercepted it and ran it back to
Speaker 1: the thirty nine. So the Bengals dodged a red zone
Speaker 1: bullet on Hilton's pick, but after a three and out
Speaker 1: by the offense, a forty yard pass from Tannehill to
Speaker 1: Brown led to a Randy Bullet field goal that made
Speaker 1: it sixteen to nine. Lead was down to a touchdown,
Speaker 1: and it soon disappeared. Joe Burrow under center, takes the staff,
Speaker 1: fakes a handoff. Barrow wants to throw his brest off
Speaker 1: the fingertips a p rhyne. It accepted on a deflection
Speaker 1: and the Titans will take over. Amani Hooker catching the
Speaker 1: ricochet and Tennessee is going to have it. It wasn't
Speaker 1: Burrow's fault, but that ended his streak of two hundred
Speaker 1: nine consecutive passes without an i NT and it didn't
Speaker 1: take long for the Titans to capitalize. Tannehill drops back
Speaker 1: to throw, looking firing toward the end zone. H Brown
Speaker 1: comes down with the ball, touchdown Tennessee. There were two
Speaker 1: defenders there and Tannehill threat the needle to j Brown.
Speaker 1: Brown finished with five catches for one hundred forty two
Speaker 1: yards and the teams went to the fourth quarter tied
Speaker 1: at thirteen. On the Bengals first drive of the fourth,
Speaker 1: they marched to the Titans thirty two, once again within
Speaker 1: McPherson's field goal range. Juche third down in three play
Speaker 1: here the Titans showing blitz Burrow ready empty backfield catches
Speaker 1: the shotgun snap in trouble. Burrow sat at the fifty
Speaker 1: by Butt Dupree and eighteen yard loss. Unbelievable. That eliminated
Speaker 1: the field goal possibility and the Bengals had to punt.
Speaker 1: The Titans also drove into field goal range, but rather
Speaker 1: than letting Bullock try a fifty three yarder for the lead,
Speaker 1: Tennessee went for it on fourth and one at the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati thirty five. A couple tight ends in. They're gonna
Speaker 1: give it to Derrick Henry looking for a run. He's
Speaker 1: he's tackle for a loss. The Bengals defense tackles Henry
Speaker 1: for a loss in two and Cincinnati will take over
Speaker 1: with seven fourteen to go. How about that? The Bengals
Speaker 1: put the ball in Burrow's hands with seven sixteen to go,
Speaker 1: but they simply could not protect for him. Burrow has
Speaker 1: the ball, he drops back. He got sacked for the
Speaker 1: ninth time, propped down at the Titans forty yard line.
Speaker 1: The problem can is that when the defense events are
Speaker 1: pressuring the edges, Joe can't step up because Simmons and
Speaker 1: the defensive tackles are pushing me and cherry of blotton.
Speaker 1: It's not like the pressures just coming from one spot,
Speaker 1: there is no place to step up. And Simmons gets
Speaker 1: another one. Burrows sack nine times and hit an additional four.
Speaker 1: And they had a great plan. They had a great
Speaker 1: rush plan. I made a tough on us. It made
Speaker 1: a tough on Menia disguising coverages and and blitzes and
Speaker 1: and everything. And they they switched it up the whole game.
Speaker 1: They didn't stick to one thing. They know one thing
Speaker 1: didn't work. They moved on to the next thing. And
Speaker 1: that was kept us on our toes. More accurately, it
Speaker 1: kept him on his back. The Titans got the ball
Speaker 1: back with two forty three on the clock, needing only
Speaker 1: a field goal to win the game, but Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: a shared Tyler Boyd that things were going to work out,
Speaker 1: and Tyler was like, man, we can't too far to
Speaker 1: you know, go like this, And I'm like, man, just
Speaker 1: just believe, bro, just believe defense is gonna get us
Speaker 1: a turnover. We're gonna go in overtime. And sure enough,
Speaker 1: literally one play later, literally one play later, we gotta
Speaker 1: pick thirty two seconds left, third down in five Tannehill
Speaker 1: ready for the shotgun snap. He has the ball, he's
Speaker 1: back to throw, looking, throws over the medal prob it intercepted.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have it half the forty seven yard line.
Speaker 1: Twenty seconds on the clock, and the Bengals will have
Speaker 1: the ball about fifteen yards away from Evan McPherson's long
Speaker 1: field goal range. Ryan Tannehill's pass was tipped by Eli
Speaker 1: Apple and intercepted by linebacker Logan Wilson. Every game in
Speaker 1: the playoffs is gonna be close. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: dog fight. That's just the nature of this league. Everyone's
Speaker 1: good when he gets to this point, and you just
Speaker 1: gotta find ways to win. The Bengals had the ball
Speaker 1: at their own forty seven with twenty seconds to go.
Speaker 1: Burrow catches a shotgun snap blitz coming Chow with time
Speaker 1: throws for Chase got it and on a bounce at
Speaker 1: the thirty five of Tennessee fifteen seconds on the clock.
Speaker 1: That's enough to be within the long field goal range
Speaker 1: of McPherson. Eighteen seconds on the clock. Now, ideally you'd
Speaker 1: love to get about ten more yards and the Bengals
Speaker 1: have two time outs to work with. The Bengals ran
Speaker 1: it twice but didn't gain anything. They trusted McPherson to
Speaker 1: deliver from fifty plus after he went nine for eleven
Speaker 1: from long range during the regular season. McPherson ready, from
Speaker 1: fifty two yards away. Clark Harris will snap it back
Speaker 1: to Kevin Hubert for the win. The snap, the put down,
Speaker 1: the swing of the right leg. It's on its way.
Speaker 1: It is good. Coffin nels Bam. That is unbelievable. Fifty
Speaker 1: four and fifty two with the gun. That is unrealisim
Speaker 1: right there? In? The Bengals advanced to the Final four.
Speaker 1: If She Chip Chip game, damn AFC Championship Game. It
Speaker 1: was the fourth game ending game winner of mc pherson's
Speaker 1: rookie year. Yeah, that's a kicker's dream is to, you know,
Speaker 1: have the game on your shoulders and just to go
Speaker 1: out there and execute the way that we have all practice.
Speaker 1: You know. That's that's what I told Kevin right before
Speaker 1: the kick. I'm like, all right, we do this, we
Speaker 1: did this in practice, Let's do it one more time.
Speaker 1: And you know that's kind of what was going through
Speaker 1: my mind and all on you is just hit it,
Speaker 1: hit it clean, and it was going to get there.
Speaker 1: His teammates like Joe Burrow, had no doubt that Nick
Speaker 1: Fearless would come through, Like guys unbelievable, he said. So
Speaker 1: he was talking to Brandon as he was going out
Speaker 1: to kick. He'd give a little warm up swing and
Speaker 1: he said, it looks like we're going to the AFC
Speaker 1: Championship right before he went out there to kick it.
Speaker 1: And when you have a kicker, I mean, we knew
Speaker 1: exactly what we had as soon as he walked into
Speaker 1: the building in camp, and we just saw how he
Speaker 1: carried himself. You know exactly how a kicker is going
Speaker 1: to perform when obviously everyone at this level can kick
Speaker 1: through the rights, but it's how you handle yourself in
Speaker 1: the locker room that shows us that you have the
Speaker 1: confidence to go out there and make a kick like
Speaker 1: this and perform the way he did in a game
Speaker 1: like this. And we knew exactly what kind of guy
Speaker 1: we had in camp. And the Bengals know exactly what
Speaker 1: they have in Joey franchise. Here are Zach Taylor and
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. If I had the answer for why Joe
Speaker 1: Burrows good at what he does, then then I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'd sell that a bottle up and sell it. But um,
Speaker 1: he's just special that allows us to continue to call
Speaker 1: things the way we call because even after a sack
Speaker 1: or a negative play, you still feel like we're always
Speaker 1: going to get it back with the weapons that we got.
Speaker 1: Joe's ability to put it, put a hit behind him
Speaker 1: and move on to the next boy and find him
Speaker 1: one of his his freak shows he likes to call him. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, makes our job a lot easier to play callers.
Speaker 1: And that boy, Joey Be, he's a he's a bad
Speaker 1: he's a bad man to say the least. He's a
Speaker 1: bad man. And I'm just I'm so happy for him
Speaker 1: because he's been through Uh, he's overcome and U he
Speaker 1: was in a slouch with us. I mean it wasn't
Speaker 1: multiple years like me, Tyler and CJ. But he's been here,
Speaker 1: he's he's witnessed it. And when I was on the sideline,
Speaker 1: probably about like ten fifteen seconds left, I believe when
Speaker 1: we took the ball back, Joey B went out there.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell everybody all the time what surprised me
Speaker 1: the most about Joe Burrow And at this point it's
Speaker 1: definitely not surprising because if he does it time and
Speaker 1: time again, is his poise under pressure. The final score
Speaker 1: Cincinnati nineteen, Tennessee sixteen. I'm still dreaming right now. To
Speaker 1: be honest, I'm still dreaming. I feel like I'm on
Speaker 1: cloud I'm in the highest clouds you've ever imagine. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm so I'm so blessed to be here, to
Speaker 1: be a part of this. I'm special, So thankful for
Speaker 1: my teammates, so thankful for the fans, for all the
Speaker 1: support they came down here. It's just man, Like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm on an all time high right now. Maybe not
Speaker 1: an all time high. After all, the Bengals are one
Speaker 1: win from going to the Super Here's Logan Wilson. That
Speaker 1: was like one of the first season that said in
Speaker 1: the locker room. I was like, dude, we're one game away.
Speaker 1: One game obviously we got a big game in front
Speaker 1: of us, but um, it's a huge opportunity for us.
Speaker 1: The rallying Chris Sin's training camp has been why not us?
Speaker 1: But not be more? The captain spoke to the team
Speaker 1: the night before the game, and Burrows message was, it
Speaker 1: is us. I'm tired of the underdog. Narrative, and we're
Speaker 1: a really really good team. We're here, We're here to
Speaker 1: make noise, and no teams are gonna have to pay
Speaker 1: attention to us. We're, like I said, a really good
Speaker 1: team with really good players and coaches, and we're coming forward.
Speaker 1: All the final thoughts, I'm one of the biggest wins
Speaker 1: in franchise history come from Evan McPherson and Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: Our team's kind of creating our own legacy, obviously, and
Speaker 1: I think this, this Bengal team will be remembered forever
Speaker 1: um and just the excitement that we brought to the
Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati, I think is awesome. And this, I mean,
Speaker 1: the city's on fire. They'll probably burned down tonight and
Speaker 1: then it'll it'll definitely and down next week, and then
Speaker 1: we'll have a We'll have a whole city, you know,
Speaker 1: fly out to fly out to California, hopefully in support
Speaker 1: us in the Super Bowl. So, like I said, we're
Speaker 1: gonna taking a one game at a time, go wherever
Speaker 1: we got to go next week, execute and hopefully come
Speaker 1: out with a win. This win's for everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: This wins for everybody's involved in this. I would imagine
Speaker 1: there's some pretty good celebrations going back home. The orange
Speaker 1: in the crowd today was tremendous. I mean, it just
Speaker 1: felt like driving into the game. It was so cool
Speaker 1: to see so many Bengal fans that came down. Let's
Speaker 1: find a way to get them to either Kansas City
Speaker 1: or Buffalo. We'll find that out tomorrow. But we just
Speaker 1: got such a tremendous fan base that supports this team
Speaker 1: through thick and thin. Pappy, we're able to deliver some
Speaker 1: wins for him. The Bills in Chiefs meet at six
Speaker 1: thirty on Sunday night. The oddsmakers say the Bengals will
Speaker 1: be a six and a half point underdog against either opponent.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play fantasy football game. This year, Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the season
Speaker 1: with tickets, autograph 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 postgame analysis with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap. The Cincinnati Bengals are headed
Speaker 1: to the a FC Championship Game a year after winning
Speaker 1: four games, two years after winning two, amazing a two
Speaker 1: year record of six twenty five and one, and they're
Speaker 1: going to the AFC Championship game. I'm telling you, Dan,
Speaker 1: and all started with you and the Bear Cash. You know,
Speaker 1: going to that college football playoff man set a high bar.
Speaker 1: Bengals had to at least match it. So they are
Speaker 1: going to the final four here in the National Football
Speaker 1: League playoff format and it's really exciting. I mean, these
Speaker 1: guys they truly believe. I mean, they think they're good
Speaker 1: enough to win a world championship. And I'm not going
Speaker 1: to sell them short. I mean they are extremely confident
Speaker 1: and I think they feed off the confidence to their
Speaker 1: quarterback and it's an earned confidence by the quarterback and
Speaker 1: the players know that it's an earn confidence and they
Speaker 1: feel good right now. And leave it to Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: to send a new message. I'm tired of the underdog narrative.
Speaker 1: We are a good team with good coaches and we
Speaker 1: can win it all. Bingo. I mean that that says
Speaker 1: it all, and uh that that's what I'm talking about about.
Speaker 1: You know a guy who it's one thing to say it,
Speaker 1: but then you go it up, go out, and you
Speaker 1: back it up with supreme play and execution and toughness
Speaker 1: and competitiveness. I mean, Joe Burrow get sacked nine times,
Speaker 1: really eleven, one get nullified by penalty and one get
Speaker 1: nullified by time time out, and get hit a myriad
Speaker 1: of times. I mean this this guy a good thing.
Speaker 1: He's young, because he's gonna be sore, and for him
Speaker 1: to and to just fight through all that. I think
Speaker 1: right in the middle of all those times being sacked,
Speaker 1: when he ran for that first down and dove head
Speaker 1: first to do it, and it's I don't care, I'm
Speaker 1: giving my body up. We gotta make this first down.
Speaker 1: He wants to make sure he makes it not slide
Speaker 1: and have a count on an official to spot the
Speaker 1: ball properly. It's like, I'm going as far as I
Speaker 1: can and getting the ball out there as as far
Speaker 1: as I can get it out there, and I'm getting
Speaker 1: this damn first down and we're going to score. I
Speaker 1: mean that stuff is contagious. Teammates feet off of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So when you have a guy that can deliver a
Speaker 1: good message verbally and then backs it up physically with
Speaker 1: a high level of execution on a snap by snap
Speaker 1: basis man the sky's the limit. Let's go back to
Speaker 1: the final minute of the game. The Titans have the ball.
Speaker 1: They're trying to make sure that the Bengals don't get
Speaker 1: the ball back, so they're not using their own timeouts.
Speaker 1: They were trying to go with the either we attempt
Speaker 1: to kick to win it or nobody does strategy. But
Speaker 1: they throw a pass that gets deflected by Eli Apple
Speaker 1: and intercepted by Logan Wilson at the forty seven yard
Speaker 1: line with twenty seconds to go. An eighteen yard pass
Speaker 1: to Chase, who gets out of bounds, leads to the
Speaker 1: field goal opportunity from fifty two yards away for Evan
Speaker 1: nick Pherson. Yeah, and uh and Joe Burrow. There were
Speaker 1: times when he did get a good pocket and he
Speaker 1: had time in space, and when he has time and
Speaker 1: space and can see the football field, it's deadly. It's deadly.
Speaker 1: And they ran cover two man and the place to
Speaker 1: attack that cover two is up. The sideline safety can't
Speaker 1: get there fast enough. From the middle of the football field,
Speaker 1: corner's gone underneath coverage. And they did it perfectly. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chase ran an extremely effective route and Borrow as usual
Speaker 1: puts the ball on the money. So it's it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's extraordinary. So many guys stepped up and made so
Speaker 1: many big plays. All the interception, including the interception you
Speaker 1: know that, Uh that Mike hil Yeah, no, that that
Speaker 1: include Hooker. Yeah, every interception the Bengals had and the
Speaker 1: interception the Hooker had with Tennessee. They were all very
Speaker 1: big athletic plays. It wasn't just run of the mill,
Speaker 1: you know, easy interception hit you right in him. They
Speaker 1: had to do some extraordinary things to pick the football off,
Speaker 1: and other teammates in some instances were a part of it.
Speaker 1: But Hilton, Hilton tipped it and caught it himself. I mean,
Speaker 1: he took the ball to himself. That's just an unbelievable
Speaker 1: play by a slot corner that understands the game of
Speaker 1: football at an extremely high level as well. Burrow passed
Speaker 1: for three forty eight. Jamar Chase had five catches for
Speaker 1: one o nine. He's played in two NFL playoff games.
Speaker 1: He's topped two hundred receiving yards in both of them.
Speaker 1: No matter what opposing teams try to do to take
Speaker 1: away Jamar Chase, he's so good and his timing and
Speaker 1: rhythm with Joe Burrow is so good that you simply
Speaker 1: can't take him away. And the thing watching him, he's
Speaker 1: so fluid when he runs his routes, and he has
Speaker 1: gears that he shifts into and shifts down. You know,
Speaker 1: he down shifts and up shifts, and he is so
Speaker 1: effective and so talented. It's not just Hobby runs its
Speaker 1: route his routes. What he does during the course of
Speaker 1: running those routes really puts a lot of stress and
Speaker 1: straining on a corner. I mean the way he can
Speaker 1: choke it down in the corner things all right, Well, boy,
Speaker 1: is he gonna plan a foot and get in and
Speaker 1: out of a cut and then he'll just accelerate again.
Speaker 1: His ability to stop and start, accelerate, decelerate, get out
Speaker 1: of a cut at the at the highest point of
Speaker 1: the of the route, and then just turning into a separation,
Speaker 1: it's just he is extraordinary, and he's so strong. He's
Speaker 1: so physically strong. It's he's these two guys are going
Speaker 1: to be around doing something special for a very long time.
Speaker 1: And I look at the body language of the cornerbacks
Speaker 1: and safeties when when he'll make a play, and it's
Speaker 1: just like they're like, nothing I can do about that.
Speaker 1: This guy's different. This guy's like a unicorn. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a Martian. This guy's not normal. He's not a
Speaker 1: human being. I mean that's that's and when you see that,
Speaker 1: when you see that kind of the shoulders slump and
Speaker 1: the head goes down and all that, it's like, man,
Speaker 1: he's got a Jamar Chase has him. I mean he
Speaker 1: has him exactly where he wants him, and he's gonna
Speaker 1: do anything he wants to do to him all day long.
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry the King was dethroned twenty kerries sixty two yards.
Speaker 1: His long run was nine. How did the Bengals shut
Speaker 1: him down to the extent that they did. Well, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that I thought the defensive game plan from
Speaker 1: Jump Street by Luana Rumo and the defensive staff was extraordinary.
Speaker 1: They were so aggressive. I mean they attacked the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage. It wasn't catch blocks in two gap and
Speaker 1: you know they just they came downhill. I mean even
Speaker 1: the defensive lineman attacked the line of scrimmage. DJ Reader
Speaker 1: was phenomenal. DJ Reader owned Ben Jones. Ben Jones is
Speaker 1: going to go to sleep tonight closed his eyes and
Speaker 1: one eyeball is going to see a nine. The other
Speaker 1: one's going to see an eight, and he's not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to sleep. I mean, he dominated him. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they just did a great job of re establishing the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage on the two point conversion on the
Speaker 1: fourth and one, they knocked him backwards. They just knocked
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage backwards. And that's that's exactly what
Speaker 1: you want to have happened. I mean, they just played
Speaker 1: at such a high level, and I go, I gotta
Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit that that's the way
Speaker 1: the whole time the week when we talked about Derek Henry,
Speaker 1: I said, look, the thing with him, you can't let
Speaker 1: him get started. You have to make him make his
Speaker 1: first cut either at the line of scrimmage or behind it.
Speaker 1: They attacked the line of scrimmage to make him stop
Speaker 1: his feet and make his first cut behind the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage. And they did it time and time and
Speaker 1: time again. And he never really got that big thumping,
Speaker 1: you know, style of running and the big stiff arm
Speaker 1: and all that. He never got that untracked defensively. They
Speaker 1: took it away from him and I just he would
Speaker 1: blitz linebackers on run blitzes. Everything was aggressive, and you know,
Speaker 1: Derek Henry hadn't played, you know, since Halloween, so it's like, now, okay,
Speaker 1: don't let him get in a rhythm and just catch
Speaker 1: stuff and let them punch you and you CounterPunch and
Speaker 1: you never attack, attack and make him. Oh, now, I
Speaker 1: don't trust my eyes on that. That cutback wasn't there. Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't extruct them to do that. I thought it
Speaker 1: was an extraordinary game plan to just attack it and
Speaker 1: make him make that big guy tentative, make him tentative
Speaker 1: mentally with his reads, and and then make him tentatively
Speaker 1: physically by making him stop his feet and make his
Speaker 1: first cut, you know, at or behind the line of scremers.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a secret to it. Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: wound up with almost as many yards as Derek Henry.
Speaker 1: Henry had sixty two. Mixon had fifty four, six fewer
Speaker 1: carries for Joe Mixon, but the key for Joe just
Speaker 1: five yards in the first first half of very solid
Speaker 1: forty nine in the second half. That's exactly what I
Speaker 1: was going to say, Dan, when you look at the
Speaker 1: first half numbers. I mean, yeah, he had six rushes
Speaker 1: for five carries and he had won five yards excuse me,
Speaker 1: five yards. Six carries for five yards and as long
Speaker 1: was five yards, so the other five yards got nothing
Speaker 1: at zero on the other five rushes and on the game.
Speaker 1: You look at it and he had fourteen for fifty
Speaker 1: four So you know, that's that's eight carries in the
Speaker 1: in the second half of forty nine yards. That's that's productive.
Speaker 1: You know, he busted the TV and touchdown run. So
Speaker 1: in the second half, Joe Mixon was a compliment, you know,
Speaker 1: to the to the to the offense. And I mean
Speaker 1: in the first half five sacks, you're thinking, you gotta
Speaker 1: get the running game going. I mean, you just can't
Speaker 1: average less than the yard per carrying the NFL and
Speaker 1: not think that they're going to tee off on you.
Speaker 1: And they did. They teed off. The two sacks didn't count,
Speaker 1: occurred in the first half, should have been seven at halftime,
Speaker 1: and then got the running game going, but Tennessee still
Speaker 1: teed off. I mean, they do have a they have
Speaker 1: a hell of a front four and they compliment each
Speaker 1: other well. And it wasn't just the edge guys but
Speaker 1: the edge guys, then the inside guys gave Joe nowhere
Speaker 1: to go. You know, the edge guys, you think about
Speaker 1: stepping up. Oh I can't. Now I'm going to try
Speaker 1: to bail and outrun them. You can't do it in
Speaker 1: the NFL. You can't bail and outrun these great athletes.
Speaker 1: And he kept, you know, getting big chunks on his sacks,
Speaker 1: giving up big chunks of yards and Joe burrows heading
Speaker 1: up this game that the Titans also did a good
Speaker 1: job of confusing him. So some of those sacks, most
Speaker 1: of them are obviously on the offensive line, but there
Speaker 1: were a few where he had at least some time
Speaker 1: and couldn't find anybody open and then got zacked. I
Speaker 1: thought that Rabel. You know, he didn't leave anything on
Speaker 1: the table. I mean, he had seven guys with the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage a ton and was like, which four coming?
Speaker 1: And then he twisted with the four that were coming,
Speaker 1: and then he and then he never really brought more
Speaker 1: than four all year. He was bringing five, he was
Speaker 1: bringing six. And then on top of that, so that
Speaker 1: had the offensive line confused. And then on top of that,
Speaker 1: he'd mix his coverages. You know, he would he would
Speaker 1: disguise and uh and disguise multiple times and give him adjustments.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was, he was on point, and I
Speaker 1: think that was probably not I guess Joe said confused.
Speaker 1: But to me, it made him the most hesitant I've
Speaker 1: ever seen him. I've never I've never seen Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: where he didn't trust his eyes. You know, it's like,
Speaker 1: I got this, I got this pre snap, I'm confirmative.
Speaker 1: Post snap. It's like I think I have a pre snap.
Speaker 1: Oh nope, I don't have it at all. On the
Speaker 1: post snap. I've never seen that before. So, you know,
Speaker 1: hats off to Mike Rabel. But even with that said,
Speaker 1: Joe still put up numbers and a lot of it though, Dan,
Speaker 1: like you said at the end of the game, you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow obviously a big factor in this game, but
Speaker 1: a lot of guys, you know, made plays for and
Speaker 1: help him. A lot of guys made great plays after
Speaker 1: the catch of the football. The fund started after the catch,
Speaker 1: with the run after cats in the yards that were accumulated,
Speaker 1: Chase cj. You know, Joe Nixon, you pick a guy.
Speaker 1: Everybody made plays after the catch of the football. How
Speaker 1: much of this game comes down to this simple statement,
Speaker 1: the Bengals had the better quarterback. I think it's huge.
Speaker 1: Like we said, poor Ryan Tannehill first passed the game interception,
Speaker 1: first pass to the second half interception, last pass of
Speaker 1: the game for Ryan Tannehill with twenty seconds to play, interception.
Speaker 1: That's like you, good morning, good afternoon, good night, Ryan Tannehill,
Speaker 1: just wasn't your dame my man. Any thoughts Kansas City
Speaker 1: or Buffalo at this point? Do you care? Do you
Speaker 1: have a preference who you think the Bengals would match
Speaker 1: up better against. I think they match up better against
Speaker 1: Kansas City because they know they beat him. I think
Speaker 1: Buffalo's defense is extraordinary, Kansas Cities is not extraordinary, and
Speaker 1: I think the quarterbacks kind of a wash. So I
Speaker 1: would rather see Joe Burrow operate against Kansas City's defense
Speaker 1: than that tandem as safety and the guys they have
Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Bills, with that defensive football team. Their
Speaker 1: head coach is a defensive savant, Leslie Fraser is a
Speaker 1: great coordinator. He's getting head coaching opportunities. In terms of interviews,
Speaker 1: I think I'd rather see them go to Kansas City.
Speaker 1: Now I know Kansas City will be up in the
Speaker 1: bit because they lost to him, and the Bengals knocked
Speaker 1: him out of the number one seed and that was big.
Speaker 1: They just took it away from him. So there's gonna
Speaker 1: be blood in the eye and all that. But I
Speaker 1: think the Bengals are confident that they can go out
Speaker 1: and execute and score points against the Kansas City Chiefs. Plus,
Speaker 1: you know, from a preparation standpoint, they already have all
Speaker 1: of that done. Now you can just tweak and fine
Speaker 1: tune and everything instead of starting over again with a
Speaker 1: team of Buffalo Bills. Haven't played him for a while,
Speaker 1: you know. And but I'll tell you, Josh, and you know,
Speaker 1: Mahomes is great, but Dan, Josh Allen, that dude, he's
Speaker 1: a He is a total Unicorn's He's almost like, you know,
Speaker 1: he might be the first unicorn that ever walk the earth.
Speaker 1: He's that rare. He's that dude is a different breed
Speaker 1: of cat. And I the quarterback run package with him
Speaker 1: scares me. And then he you know, he's got such
Speaker 1: a howard here. It's like, you know, Mahomes is great,
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you, I think Allen might be a
Speaker 1: little bit more scary. I'd rather go to Kansas City.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm just happy we're going to one or
Speaker 1: the other. Yeah, it's gonna be a fantastic week looking
Speaker 1: forward to an AFC Championship game. And like I said,
Speaker 1: you know when the game was ending, I don't care
Speaker 1: if we play him in Yugoslavia. I don't care who.
Speaker 1: It is the fact that you're going to the AFC Championship.
Speaker 1: And like you said, Dan two and oh franchise unlost
Speaker 1: in the FC Championship game as well, get it done
Speaker 1: or on the win and to look ahead to what's next.
Speaker 1: Join Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday Night
Speaker 1: from six to nine on seven und WLW. This podcast
Speaker 1: is sponsored in part by on Location, the official hospitality
Speaker 1: partner of the NFL. Visit on location exp dot com
Speaker 1: for exclusive access to the biggest events in the NFL
Speaker 1: all season long, including Super Bowl fifty six. Now time
Speaker 1: for this week's fun fact segment and my guest as
Speaker 1: a Bengals linebacker who tackled Derek Henry inside the one
Speaker 1: yard line on the tight He's failed two point conversion try.
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with Bengals linebacker Clay Johnson
Speaker 1: from Aballeen Texas Clay. For those who don't know, your
Speaker 1: dad was an NFL strength coach for more than two
Speaker 1: decades for five different teams. How did that impact you
Speaker 1: and your desire to be a pro football player. I
Speaker 1: would say it was just he never forced anything upon
Speaker 1: me when it came to the football life or anything.
Speaker 1: I always had an inkling and a love for it,
Speaker 1: just because the game was so fun and it meant
Speaker 1: so much to me. But I will say just growing
Speaker 1: up getting older and older, like when he was with
Speaker 1: the Chargers something San Diego before they went to LA
Speaker 1: I remember in high school when I was kind of like, Dad, yeah, thin,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to play college ball. He's like, I'll
Speaker 1: hope is must say hand son, if you if you want,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna force anything on you. So I
Speaker 1: asked him if you could help me, and I want
Speaker 1: to just come out here and work out with the
Speaker 1: rookies for two or three weeks. And so I go
Speaker 1: out there in man t Tay a bunch of rookies.
Speaker 1: They're all out there freaking DJ Fluker from Alabama. I
Speaker 1: mean it was They made it so fun too, because
Speaker 1: we would compete and like these just competitions, and the
Speaker 1: more so running than anything, because I can freaking hang
Speaker 1: with him anywhere in the weight room. Wise when it
Speaker 1: came to weights, but I mean it was, it was definitely.
Speaker 1: It's been a blessing to just be raised by him
Speaker 1: and just see the atmosphere and just the culture that
Speaker 1: he's always been around. When your dad is an NFL
Speaker 1: strength coach, do you start weight lifting and other forms
Speaker 1: of training at an early age or did you just
Speaker 1: do the normal athletic things that kids would do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd probably just do the normal honestly. Like once again,
Speaker 1: he never forced anything on when it came to lifting. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I always had to bring up to him if I
Speaker 1: wanted to like kind of get in the weight room
Speaker 1: and stuff, So that was something I had to kind
Speaker 1: of show. Interesting. He was a great father, not forcing
Speaker 1: anything upon. Man. I'm grateful for that. We're doing fun
Speaker 1: facts with Clay Johnston. When your dad worked for the Packers,
Speaker 1: he became close friends with Brett Farve. In fact, he
Speaker 1: was best man at Brett Farve's wedding. Describe your relationship
Speaker 1: with a Hall of Fame quarterback. He's just practically like
Speaker 1: a glorified uncle and just best bud of my dad.
Speaker 1: I mean when he comes around, he's practically family and
Speaker 1: he's obviously I mean if you watch videos and he's
Speaker 1: a goofball and he's what you see is what you get.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's country guy, likes working outside. I mean,
Speaker 1: last time we drove up on him on his place,
Speaker 1: he literally he's weed eating his five million acre plot
Speaker 1: by himself. And my list is going to be a
Speaker 1: lot of weeding going on here. But he's a good
Speaker 1: man and I've always respected him. I love him, and
Speaker 1: my dad and him, they are pretty close. It's funny
Speaker 1: that you referred to him as a goofball because I
Speaker 1: saw an interview where one of your college teammates used
Speaker 1: the same term to describe you. Is that a fair
Speaker 1: description of Clay Johnston? I would definitely say it's a
Speaker 1: fair description. Whenever it's a little serious and all this
Speaker 1: and that, I'd like to try to keep it a
Speaker 1: little light and just you know I am. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a goofball myself in many situations, and so people got
Speaker 1: to get to know me before they see that. But
Speaker 1: I would say that the vast majority they'd be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: Clay Clay's a goofy googer. Clay, you were a great
Speaker 1: high school football player at Wiley High School at Abilene,
Speaker 1: but before tenth grade I read that you were involved
Speaker 1: in a serious ATV accident. How bad were the injuries? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were, they were pretty bad. I was I was
Speaker 1: driving a pretty much like a golf cart on steroids,
Speaker 1: and I was very stupid at the time. I was
Speaker 1: just trying to be a goofball, but it ended up
Speaker 1: costing me a lot. I flipped it and it landed
Speaker 1: on my leg and I slid on concrete for about
Speaker 1: thirty yards with it, and then I just passed out.
Speaker 1: And so I was in the hospital for like four days.
Speaker 1: They had to do a skin GRAFD to cut skin
Speaker 1: out of my groin and put it there because it
Speaker 1: was just straight bone. Then they had to stitch all up.
Speaker 1: So but by the grace of God, I I don't
Speaker 1: I mean, it's miraculous when you talk about it, like,
Speaker 1: I made it back for two days my sophomore year
Speaker 1: high school, and so it was. It was pretty miraculous.
Speaker 1: But um, that definitely was a very painful experience. Callie.
Speaker 1: That was that hurt man. All those surgeries it sounds brutal.
Speaker 1: After your great high school career, you went out and
Speaker 1: played college football at Baylor under current Carolina Panthers coach
Speaker 1: Matt Rule. What did you enjoy most about your college experience?
Speaker 1: Probably just being around the guys. I'll be honest, I
Speaker 1: did not. I wasn't a massive fan of practice in college.
Speaker 1: We killed each other every day and that was a
Speaker 1: very painful experience. And I understand you got to do
Speaker 1: certain things in certain ways just in college, but holy
Speaker 1: smoked that those were probably some of the hardest days
Speaker 1: in my life under coach Rule. But it definitely taught
Speaker 1: me a lot. But um, just being around the guys
Speaker 1: in the locker room, just like these guys in here.
Speaker 1: Just at a lot of people. I don't know what
Speaker 1: conversations are like in the locker room, and it's just
Speaker 1: like when you get close with guys, that's it's a
Speaker 1: huge blessing and it goes a long way. Doing fun
Speaker 1: facts with linebacker Clay Johnston. You tore your acl as
Speaker 1: a college senior, putting your draft status in jeopardy, but
Speaker 1: you did wind up being selected in the seventh round
Speaker 1: by the Rams. Describe getting that phone call after what
Speaker 1: you had to overcome. Oh, it was awesome. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just it was one of those you didn't even
Speaker 1: care where you went as a kid growing up, and
Speaker 1: it's like you got drafted and meant something. And so
Speaker 1: when that when I knew it was legit, because there
Speaker 1: were a bunch of phone calls that weren't really legit
Speaker 1: throughout the whole draft process. And then when I heard
Speaker 1: it was this gym and the coaching day, I was
Speaker 1: just like, this is amazing. I mean I was ecstatic.
Speaker 1: I was I was on cloud nine. That was probably
Speaker 1: one of the most excited I've ever been in my life.
Speaker 1: And I mean thankfully I'm here now, and I'm beyond
Speaker 1: thankful all these coaches have given me an opportunity to
Speaker 1: even play. From Darren l I mean, it's been a
Speaker 1: total blessing being around the culture, these guys in this team.
Speaker 1: I've been be ungrateful for that. So prior to last year,
Speaker 1: your rookie year in the NFL, you were one of
Speaker 1: the featured stories on Hard Knocks on HBL. Did you
Speaker 1: enjoy the notoriety. I don't know about that. I mean
Speaker 1: it was they just text me like, hey, it's okay.
Speaker 1: If we kind of follow you around them the hard
Speaker 1: knots and like sure, man, and then I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't really realize what it was going to be when
Speaker 1: you had a camera at every angle whenever you walked
Speaker 1: to and you were miked up twenty four seven. So
Speaker 1: it was definitely a unique experience to say. But I
Speaker 1: mean those people were good out there. They got a
Speaker 1: very good coaching staff, and I mean they have a
Speaker 1: solid culture as well, and I enjoyed my time out there.
Speaker 1: All right. A few wild card topics with Clay Johnston.
Speaker 1: Who was your favorite athlete of all time in any sport?
Speaker 1: And why? Wow, that is a very very tough question. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if it had to be family affiliation, I would say
Speaker 1: Brett far just because he's been so close a favorite
Speaker 1: athlete of all time. Man, Owe, it's so tough. I'll
Speaker 1: just keep it simple. I'll go Brett far just because
Speaker 1: he's close to the family. Do you have any hidden talents?
Speaker 1: Do I have any hidden talents? Now, I'm honestly pretty
Speaker 1: much a bum. It's football and then I go home
Speaker 1: and chill. I'll tell you what I do have. I
Speaker 1: have like four limited edition Word of the Ring swords
Speaker 1: from the movies. They're like replicas. I'm a super nerd
Speaker 1: when it comes to those movies. Interesting, Yeah, it's weird, man,
Speaker 1: I'm a fanatic. I'm a goofball in that area as
Speaker 1: Lord of the Ring Swords. All Right, you are the
Speaker 1: first person to share that nugget since I've been doing
Speaker 1: fun Facts interviews play. It sounds like you are a
Speaker 1: huge fan of the great outdoors. Is that the case,
Speaker 1: and what are some of the things you like to do.
Speaker 1: I would say that, I mean, I I mean as
Speaker 1: I want to keep on winning and helping this team
Speaker 1: as much as possible in my role that I have
Speaker 1: whereever that is. But shoot, man, obviously it's a part
Speaker 1: of me too that Missus, Texas where my family has
Speaker 1: their house, And I mean, I do like being outdoors,
Speaker 1: whether that be looking at the sunsets and Texas or
Speaker 1: just shoot, man, if I'm if I feel like a bum,
Speaker 1: I'll just go outside and just start finding some work
Speaker 1: to do, moving rocks and all. Literally. As corny as
Speaker 1: that sounds, I've done that at our own little five
Speaker 1: acre plot. But yeah, I love being outside, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: All right. Final question, and this one's deep. If you
Speaker 1: can meet anybody in history, actor, athlete, statesman, religious figure,
Speaker 1: whoever that person might be. Who would you want to meet? Oh,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. I said you shoot with Jesus. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, And I know that sounds cliche because I'm
Speaker 1: sure a lot of people would want to meet the
Speaker 1: Son of God. But shoot, man, I disintegrate if I
Speaker 1: was in his presence because he's so freaking just holy.
Speaker 1: But that's a good answer. I'll stick to Jesus. You're
Speaker 1: off the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of
Speaker 1: lunch this week. Oh heck yeah, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for having me. I appreciate it. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought
Speaker 1: to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next
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Speaker 1: for exclusive access to the biggest events in the NFL,
Speaker 1: including Super Bowl fifty six. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast, and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
Speaker 1: so much for listening to the Bengals Boot Podcast