Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Boot Podcast. Just once can we figure out
Speaker 1: would we keep doing wrong? Edition? As we take an
Speaker 1: in depth look back at a heartbreaking twenty one to
Speaker 1: seventeen loss in Buffalo that dropped the Bengals to oz
Speaker 1: and three this season. Coming up, you'll hear radio replays,
Speaker 1: locker room comments from players and coaches, and Dave Lappam
Speaker 1: will join me for postgame analysis. Plus, in this week's
Speaker 1: fun Facts Conversation, we'll meet the person under the pads
Speaker 1: as I'll talk to one of the best stories on
Speaker 1: the team this year, Damian Willis, who went from undrafted
Speaker 1: and unknown to the opening days starting lineup. All of
Speaker 1: that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: check out NFL Game Pass. Now let's get to this
Speaker 1: week's game in Buffalo. It's no exaggeration to say that
Speaker 1: the Bengals had one of the most feeble offensive halves
Speaker 1: in their history on Sunday. Sample motions to the left.
Speaker 1: Dalt with a short throw, John Ross with the catch,
Speaker 1: escapes the first hip, fumbles the football. Buffalo recovers at
Speaker 1: the thirty eight yard line. He's saying he's down, but
Speaker 1: the officials are disagreeing. Here's what the Bengals did on
Speaker 1: their seven first half drives, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt,
Speaker 1: punt fumble. Cincinnati did not pick up a first down
Speaker 1: until there was one fifty seven left in the half.
Speaker 1: Here's Andy Dalton. We had no rhythm in the first half.
Speaker 1: We couldn't do anything on first down. We said ourselves
Speaker 1: back third down, we weren't converting. It's hard to get
Speaker 1: first down at first half. Buffalo got on the scoreboard
Speaker 1: late in the first quarter. First down in goal from
Speaker 1: the one. Three tight ends and a full back in
Speaker 1: a tight end goes in motion, then reverses direction. Alan
Speaker 1: rolling out to the right, throws it into the end zone. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Tosson knocks with a catch. When Buffalo lined up to
Speaker 1: kick the extra point, the Bengals had twelve men on
Speaker 1: the field. That penalty gave the Bills the opportunity to
Speaker 1: go for a two point conversion from the one yard line,
Speaker 1: and they capitalized for an eight nothing lead, So that
Speaker 1: penalty was worth a point, and on the ensuing kickoff,
Speaker 1: another penalty cost the Bengals seven more. Darius Phillips waiting
Speaker 1: at the goal line. This kick not deep, it's returnable.
Speaker 1: Phillips from the nine yard line, veering toward the middle
Speaker 1: of the field, crosses the twenty, breaks through a tackle
Speaker 1: at the thirty, comes to the forty towards the middle
Speaker 1: of the field, he's off to the races. There's a
Speaker 1: penalty flag back at the forty three. Phillips goes the distance,
Speaker 1: but we don't think his touchdown is going to count.
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips returned five kickoffs for touchdowns in college, but
Speaker 1: a questionable holding penalty on Autumn Tate wiped out what
Speaker 1: would have been his first in the NFL. I actually
Speaker 1: didn't see the holding yet. But no, like they said
Speaker 1: they said, or did, the NFL been picking up on
Speaker 1: the holding cost, So I guess they just may see
Speaker 1: anything they think look wrong. Gonna look, they're gonna call it.
Speaker 1: While the Bengals offense floundered in the first half, the
Speaker 1: Bills drove up and down the field without adding more touchdowns.
Speaker 1: They drove to the sixteen and kicked a field goal.
Speaker 1: They drove to the fifteen and Sam Hubbard forced to fumble.
Speaker 1: They drove to the twenty seven and settled for another
Speaker 1: field goal. Even though first half first downs were eighteen
Speaker 1: to one in time of possession was twenty three minutes
Speaker 1: to seven, the Bengals only trailed fourteen nothing at the half.
Speaker 1: Here are offensive lineman Andre Smith and John Miller. Coach
Speaker 1: challenged us at half time to come out and play
Speaker 1: outside out style of football the way we know we
Speaker 1: can play, and we went and did that. Challenged you emotionally,
Speaker 1: I just knew we could play better. We were in
Speaker 1: a tough environment, but we've been in a tough environment
Speaker 1: once this season already, and he just challenged us to
Speaker 1: come out and play hard and playhouse shales football. And
Speaker 1: we did that each others, the whole team. He tries
Speaker 1: the whole team to stay together because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, no matter what we go through, you know,
Speaker 1: there's always gonna be adversity and things like that. But
Speaker 1: you know, I thought we had I thought we did
Speaker 1: a good job of coming together, leaning on each other.
Speaker 1: We leaked, linked on the defense, they linked on us,
Speaker 1: and we got a couple of drives there, and so
Speaker 1: it was good as it was accouraging looking forward to
Speaker 1: Night's week. The spark that lit the fuse in the
Speaker 1: third quarter was provided by the defense. Third down and
Speaker 1: seven for Buffalo allan back to throw scrambling in trouble
Speaker 1: and he manages to fling the ball down field. That's it, ascempted.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are running it back. HiT's Phillips, Darius Phillips
Speaker 1: inside the thirty, the twelve, the twenty, and he goes
Speaker 1: out of bounds nineteen yard passed that Tyler Reifford put
Speaker 1: the ball at the one yard line, first down and
Speaker 1: goal from the one for the Bengals, trailing by fourteen
Speaker 1: points with five to fifty five left in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: Dalton catches a shotgun snap, hands it to Mixon and
Speaker 1: he will lose. No, it was a fake and Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton ran it in. He completely faked out me and
Speaker 1: the defense with the zone read fake to Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: and Andy Dalton runs it in for a one yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: his nineteenth career rushing touchdown, and the Bengals are on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. A great call by Zach Taylor and a
Speaker 1: crow happy one by Dan Horde. The Bengals were only
Speaker 1: down by seven, and just like that, they started to
Speaker 1: pick the Bills apart. Cincinnati's next drive went eighty two
Speaker 1: yards on eleven plays and ended with a tying score,
Speaker 1: inches away from a potential tying touchdown. Early fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: Dalton's under center, he takes the snap, he rolls out
Speaker 1: to the right, He's looking for Mixon. He throws touchdown
Speaker 1: as Dalton delivers to Joe Mixon, and now the Bengals
Speaker 1: are an extra point away from tying this game. Mixon
Speaker 1: finished with sixty one rushing yards in thirty four more receiving.
Speaker 1: Seventy seven of those ninety five total yards came in
Speaker 1: the second half. We're gonna get better. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: it right. The sex That is week three and we still,
Speaker 1: you know, talking about the same stuff. But you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, we figured it out and I'll guarantee
Speaker 1: you that something will happen again. With a score tiede
Speaker 1: the Bengals got the ball back at their own fifteen
Speaker 1: yard line and drove sixty yards before stalling at the
Speaker 1: Buffalo twenty five. A forty three yard try for the
Speaker 1: lead from the middle of the field for Randy Bullet.
Speaker 1: Harris will snap, Huber will hold the snap, the put down,
Speaker 1: the swing of the leg, the kick is on its
Speaker 1: way and it is good. Yeah, And the Bengals have
Speaker 1: taken the lead with four minutes and fifty four seconds
Speaker 1: to go on a forty three yard field goal by
Speaker 1: Randy Bullet. For the second time in their first three games,
Speaker 1: the Bengals had a fourth quarter lead, but as was
Speaker 1: the case in Seattle, they could not protect it. A
Speaker 1: forty nine yard pass to tight end slash freight train
Speaker 1: Dawson Knox put the Bills at the Bengals twenty two
Speaker 1: in Quarterback Josh Allen took over from there with two
Speaker 1: scrambles and a designed run that helped put the ball
Speaker 1: on the one yard line. Third down in goal inside
Speaker 1: the one, Alan takes the snap, hands off to Gore,
Speaker 1: and he knights into the end zone for a go
Speaker 1: ahead touchdown with one minute and fifty seconds to go.
Speaker 1: Seventy eight year old Frank Gore scored the go ahead touchdown,
Speaker 1: but alan scrambling was the key in the red zone.
Speaker 1: Here's Sam Hubbard. Yeah, he's very big, very fast, very elusive,
Speaker 1: and he's really hard to bring down. You know, he's
Speaker 1: run all over the place. We were worn out trying
Speaker 1: to chase him down, but he's a great player. With
Speaker 1: one fifty left, the Bengals drove from their own twenty
Speaker 1: five to Buffalo's twenty eight, needing a touchdown since they
Speaker 1: were down by four. Twenty one seconds left. The Bengals
Speaker 1: down by four. On third and four, Dalton's back to pass,
Speaker 1: he fires too high, It's deflected and intercepted at the
Speaker 1: ten yard line. The fast for Autumn take was high
Speaker 1: and the ricochet goes to Tredavious White. To give the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills the win man the final score Buffalo twenty one,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati seventeen. Here are Andy Dalton, Joe Mixon, and John Miller. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know we're in these games. We put ourselves in
Speaker 1: position to have a chance to win at the end,
Speaker 1: and you know we have to make the play. You know,
Speaker 1: I've got through a better ball at the end. You know,
Speaker 1: we get down there, we got another chance to Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's score touchdown to win, to win this one.
Speaker 1: So I mean there's a couple of plays in each
Speaker 1: game that you know, if you had back, you know,
Speaker 1: you make certain plays then um, you know then that
Speaker 1: that could change the outcome of the game. And you
Speaker 1: never know when that play is gonna be the one
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it. But um, you know, for us,
Speaker 1: I think we we gotta just focus on us, focus
Speaker 1: on what we're doing, and um do everything we can
Speaker 1: to be playing our best football come next week. And
Speaker 1: I was definitely frustrating, Um it's come up short like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it hurt. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we put ourselves in that bond on the offense,
Speaker 1: so you know, but I put that on ourselves the defense.
Speaker 1: You know, they played that out today. So you know,
Speaker 1: for us, we just gotta you know, keep on trying
Speaker 1: to start fast and you know, getting each and everybody involved.
Speaker 1: I mean, I felt like in the second half we
Speaker 1: came out of bothering, you know what I'm saying. That's
Speaker 1: how it should have been the whole damn game. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, he's gonna put this one behind
Speaker 1: us and you know, get on the road, get ready
Speaker 1: for the whole time. I kept believing and saying goes
Speaker 1: for the rest of his team. You know, not a
Speaker 1: doubt of nine mind. We was gonna come out here
Speaker 1: would a win. And uh, you know, unfortunately that did happen.
Speaker 1: We didn't do enough early on the officer side of
Speaker 1: the ball. But that's that's that's life in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know, you lose game by by one point, two points,
Speaker 1: three points. You know, every every game is gonna be
Speaker 1: a battle, every game is gonna be physical every game.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta come out, you gotta bring it,
Speaker 1: and we just came up on the sort of ends.
Speaker 1: After three weeks, Zach Taylor is still looking for his
Speaker 1: first win as a head coach. He spent three minutes
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham after the game. They're not discouraged. I
Speaker 1: still see guys with their headhouse high and they're playing
Speaker 1: for each other, and that's all we wanted from them
Speaker 1: at halftime around fourteen. Nothing. The offense hasn't done anything.
Speaker 1: The defense has really played really solid, and it finally
Speaker 1: came together in the second half and and guys were
Speaker 1: playing off each other, encouraging each other. We felt like
Speaker 1: we were gonna win the game. That was the brief
Speaker 1: on the sidelines that we were gonna win the game,
Speaker 1: and unfortunate at the end we didn't get it done.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't change the fact that I'm proud of
Speaker 1: the group we got in the locker room and wouldn't
Speaker 1: change changing about for anything. The rhythm was never found
Speaker 1: in the first half, but you found it in the
Speaker 1: second half. What do you think was the impetus, what
Speaker 1: was the what was the key to find in that rhythm?
Speaker 1: Do you think you just couldn't get a first down?
Speaker 1: You know, we went an all week. Our goal was
Speaker 1: first down efficiency, and we were inefficiental first down then
Speaker 1: the first quarter. That's one of the best defenses we'll
Speaker 1: face there. They're well Coach they got great players, and
Speaker 1: so if they got you behind the sticks again like
Speaker 1: San Francisco did, then it's hard for us to overcome
Speaker 1: that sometimes, and we just didn't get that done the
Speaker 1: first half. Then the second half we did a great job.
Speaker 1: Everyone on the same page and doing their job, got
Speaker 1: the ball moving. You can be a little more creative
Speaker 1: with what you want to do and attack them more
Speaker 1: than they were bringing the fight to us in the
Speaker 1: first half, and I thought the guys were spinding well
Speaker 1: in the second half. There were so many players in
Speaker 1: every game in a game like this, the kickoffer turns
Speaker 1: nullified by a dicey holding called the guy turns his
Speaker 1: back on audumn tape. I don't know what the hell
Speaker 1: he's supposed to do, but they call it. And the
Speaker 1: two point conversion, you know, twelve minute in the field,
Speaker 1: they go for two. If they don't do that, you know,
Speaker 1: you might kick a field goal there to tie the
Speaker 1: football game up. So there's so many plays you never
Speaker 1: know what play is going to be a big determining
Speaker 1: factor in the game. You can play every game if
Speaker 1: we play as hard as you can, don't you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's if we'd won that game. Buffalo say
Speaker 1: the same thing. You know that there's a couple of
Speaker 1: plays I got away from him. So that's the way
Speaker 1: it goes. And our guys, we just got to get
Speaker 1: it done and it's coming. Our guys believe the dam's
Speaker 1: gonna break. The wins are gonna come if we keep
Speaker 1: playing like we're playing and we can put it together
Speaker 1: for the entire game. We're a good football team and
Speaker 1: I know that the players and the coaches believe that,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna stay the course and get it done.
Speaker 1: Joel Mixon ran hard today, caught that screen pass. You
Speaker 1: got him out out the gate on that screen pass.
Speaker 1: Looks like it might might go to the house. I mean,
Speaker 1: some things started to unfold that when all assembled, you think, man,
Speaker 1: this might look pretty darn Good's We just gotta get
Speaker 1: it all assembled. That's the key. And it again goes
Speaker 1: back to we gotta play better in the first quarter
Speaker 1: and if we can get that going, then we'll be
Speaker 1: in good shape. But again, our guys are gonna stay
Speaker 1: the course. We know that we can get these things
Speaker 1: picks and the wins will come. Red zone, they were
Speaker 1: really good in the red zone. You guys, you know
Speaker 1: knocked him around a little bit in the red zone.
Speaker 1: They were one for three at one point. I thin
Speaker 1: guess they ended up two four. Um, your first two
Speaker 1: times in the red zone, you guys, you guys finished
Speaker 1: and uh you were. You were taking it to them
Speaker 1: in some phases of it. But unfortunately, as you know,
Speaker 1: I mean as well as anybody in this league, if
Speaker 1: you dig a fourteen point hole in the road, that's tough.
Speaker 1: Laden it is. It was. It was a tough environment.
Speaker 1: They had a great crowd, it was allowed, it was
Speaker 1: tough to communicate. I thought our guys did a good
Speaker 1: job hanging in there, off from some wine. Gave up
Speaker 1: two sacks, you know, and it's they got. They got
Speaker 1: a heck of a pass for us, heck of a
Speaker 1: blitz package. Um, and they've effected a lot of quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: And I thought, I guys held in there for the
Speaker 1: for the second time in a tough environment and held
Speaker 1: their own and um again, we just we we got
Speaker 1: to find a way to win one of these ones.
Speaker 1: Since their four and one start last year, the Bengals
Speaker 1: are two and twelve and they've dropped their last seven
Speaker 1: on the road. Time for postgame analysis with lap in
Speaker 1: the NFL. You can't on the road anywhere. Really in
Speaker 1: the NFL, you can't dig a fourteen point hole at halftime.
Speaker 1: And even with that said, they almost came back and
Speaker 1: had the league and almost won the football game. But
Speaker 1: self destruction has to stop. I mean, they're they're not
Speaker 1: good enough. They don't have a margin for error to
Speaker 1: overcome some of the things, you know, that continue to
Speaker 1: happen to them. You can't have twelve men in the
Speaker 1: field on an extra point and give them the ball
Speaker 1: at the one yard line instead of you know where
Speaker 1: they're going to kick the extra point and give up
Speaker 1: two points. If they don't do that, Bengals are in
Speaker 1: position to kick a potential game tying field goal at
Speaker 1: the end of the game. You know, I feel bad
Speaker 1: for Audent Tape because I think he got hosed by this.
Speaker 1: You know, the officials, you've got to really focus on
Speaker 1: calling holding penalties. And if the official doesn't see the
Speaker 1: whole thing, he's blocking a guy. The guy turns his
Speaker 1: back to pursue Phillips who's breaking for a touchdown, and
Speaker 1: all the official sees is the hand and the Audent
Speaker 1: tass hand in his back, and it's in the framework
Speaker 1: of the body that's presented to him. You know, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's supposed to do. Really, I
Speaker 1: don't know what else he's supposed to do, but you
Speaker 1: know they're going to call it, and I just try
Speaker 1: not to put yourself in that situation so that that's
Speaker 1: taken off the board, you know, a kickoff or turn touchdown.
Speaker 1: So there are so many plays in a game like this,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a million players. Players are gonna I
Speaker 1: remember I did lay wake at night and look at
Speaker 1: the ceiling, and it was like I was watching film,
Speaker 1: you know, sixteen millimeter back down on my ceiling over
Speaker 1: and over again, and plays like off, I just held
Speaker 1: that block a little longer, done this or done that.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure everybody that played in the football game
Speaker 1: is going to have a player too where they can
Speaker 1: feel the same way. The running game was better, not great,
Speaker 1: but at least it was somewhat productive. But stopping the
Speaker 1: run remains a huge problem. One hundred and seventy five
Speaker 1: yards for Buffalo in this game. Yeah, and a thirty
Speaker 1: six year old running back, you know, is hammering it
Speaker 1: up in there. I have nothing but respect for Frank Gore.
Speaker 1: I mean he is. It's ridiculous to think about what
Speaker 1: that guy is still doing at the level that he's
Speaker 1: doing it at. You know, a bunch of against a
Speaker 1: bunch of young guys that are you know, playing playing
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. Good for him, Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: You know he will force things, he will make mistakes,
Speaker 1: but his legs were a big factor in the football
Speaker 1: game as well as the throwing arm. The guy got
Speaker 1: him out of trouble with some scrambles. He was elusive
Speaker 1: for such a big guy who was big and strong
Speaker 1: talking to guys and lock him. They're like, man, you
Speaker 1: know he get your hand on him. You're not going
Speaker 1: to pull him down. Just getting your hand on him.
Speaker 1: You gotta wrap that big old bear up. And he
Speaker 1: heard him. He made made a lot of players that
Speaker 1: keep that kept Buffalo Bills drives alive. Although you know,
Speaker 1: he gave Phillips an opportunity and he's so much confidence.
Speaker 1: Even when he's fallen backwards, he's going to try to
Speaker 1: fire a thing in there and he'll give guys shots.
Speaker 1: But I think he's coming on. He's advancing. But again,
Speaker 1: you have to take care of your business. You just
Speaker 1: Buffalo is good enough to beat you in Buffalo. You
Speaker 1: don't want to help them. You don't want to make
Speaker 1: it easier for them. And in too many instances the
Speaker 1: Bengals made it easier for him, and I thought Dan
Speaker 1: in the first half, the defense sucked it up. They
Speaker 1: were on the field forever, so many snaps in this
Speaker 1: heat and humidity. There was a breeze, but man, they're
Speaker 1: on the field a long time. And to hold Buffalo
Speaker 1: to fourteen points. They were so dynamic in the red zone,
Speaker 1: you know, for so many games now and hold them
Speaker 1: to you know, one touchdown or two touchdowns at the
Speaker 1: end they scored late, but two touchdowns and four red
Speaker 1: zone opportunities of field goal and they didn't score on
Speaker 1: one opportunity. I mean, that's that's that's pretty pretty good
Speaker 1: job by the defense, really, with their backs against the walls,
Speaker 1: sucking enough. So there there's a lot of things you
Speaker 1: can draw upon, you know, and and build upon, but
Speaker 1: at some point got to win a game. Offensive snaps
Speaker 1: in the first half were forty six to nineteen. Time
Speaker 1: of possession about twenty three minutes to seven minutes. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about the comeback. In the second half. We
Speaker 1: both spent some time in the locker room after the game.
Speaker 1: It sounds like Zach Taylor was pretty fiery, both at
Speaker 1: halftime and after the game. I think so. I didn't
Speaker 1: hear any of the half of them, but I heard
Speaker 1: some of the some of the post game, and um,
Speaker 1: everything he said was right on the money. I mean
Speaker 1: it was it was all fact, it was all true.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously admonished him for building the big deficit.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a fourteen point hole is tough to
Speaker 1: climb out of on the road. But the fact that
Speaker 1: they did and took a lead, and you know, if things,
Speaker 1: if things, the timing and everything falls into place, they're close.
Speaker 1: They're close to being a pretty good football team. But man,
Speaker 1: they were so just joined it offensively in the first half.
Speaker 1: They couldn't get a first down. Literally, they could not
Speaker 1: cobble the first down one minute and fifty seven seconds left. Incredible.
Speaker 1: You know, that's that's just not this group really and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, but you learn something from every football game.
Speaker 1: A lot of times, you learn a bunch of things
Speaker 1: from every football game. And hopefully the lessons they learned
Speaker 1: and this football game will stand them in good stead
Speaker 1: when they go to Pittsburgh Monday night. You know, it's
Speaker 1: interesting they would have had the opportunity had they held
Speaker 1: on with the lead with less than five minutes to go,
Speaker 1: to potentially go to Pittsburgh without Ben Roethlisberger playing, have
Speaker 1: a home game against the Cardinals, who had the worst
Speaker 1: record in the league last year. This is really a
Speaker 1: pivotal swing game. Yeah, it was. It was. It was
Speaker 1: a big football game. And you know, we thought Buffalo
Speaker 1: is a good football team, but they're not a dominant
Speaker 1: football team at this point in time. I mean, they
Speaker 1: hadn't really knocked off the Chicago Bears of the eighties
Speaker 1: or you know, the SA Cisco forty nine ers of
Speaker 1: the seventies and eighties, so you know there was some
Speaker 1: vulnerability there. But again, you're going to take yourself off
Speaker 1: the schedule. I mean, if I'm just waiting for them
Speaker 1: to play a clean game, you know, it's never going
Speaker 1: to be perfectly clean in the National Football League, but
Speaker 1: it can't be as dirty as they've been. You know,
Speaker 1: you just can't. You can't overcome so many problems that
Speaker 1: are created by you know, yourself to yourself. Up next
Speaker 1: a Monday night road game in Pittsburgh against the Steelers
Speaker 1: without Big Ben. They are also oh and three after
Speaker 1: a twenty four twenty loss in San Francisco. Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: threw for one hundred and seventy four yards and two
Speaker 1: touchdowns with one pick in his first start at quarterback.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's fun Facts interview, where we
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads and it's
Speaker 1: one of the best stories on this year's roster, a
Speaker 1: guy that went from undrafted and unknown to the opening
Speaker 1: day starting lineup. Time for some fun facts with wide
Speaker 1: receiver Damian willis from Meridian, Mississippi, on the eastern edge
Speaker 1: of the state, not too far from the Alabama border.
Speaker 1: What's a kid, dude? Growing up in Meridian? Growing up,
Speaker 1: I was like a country boy, So I was always
Speaker 1: like hauling. Hey. I was always with my grandparents. They
Speaker 1: always just like, hall, hey, take care of the horses,
Speaker 1: take care of the cows. So it's kind of a
Speaker 1: surprise if people don't think I'm really like, like from
Speaker 1: the country. But like, as I talked to him, they
Speaker 1: were like, oh, yeah, I can see it. I can
Speaker 1: see it. I can hear it in your voice. A
Speaker 1: little bit sounds like hard work to me. But you
Speaker 1: describe it with a smile on your face. Yes, you know,
Speaker 1: like as I was young, I didn't really look a
Speaker 1: look at it as hard. I always looked at it
Speaker 1: as I'm having out my grandparents, Like it was just
Speaker 1: fun for me to be around like my grandparents did
Speaker 1: them because when I didn't like have my dad growing up,
Speaker 1: so to be around them was like a joy. But
Speaker 1: as I realized when I got older, I realized I
Speaker 1: was like I was really doing like farm and stuff,
Speaker 1: like country stuff. I didn't I didn't realize until I
Speaker 1: got older. We're doing fun facts with Damian Willis. You
Speaker 1: were largely raised by your mom, who is a hospice
Speaker 1: nurse caring for people in their final days. That's like
Speaker 1: an angel on earth in my opinion. Tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about her and the biggest lessons she passed
Speaker 1: on to you. She's like always treat people how you
Speaker 1: would want to be treated, and she's always been hard working.
Speaker 1: I've seen her like struggle struggle like that they really
Speaker 1: like hurted me growing up. She probably didn't think I understood,
Speaker 1: but as I saw it, they really like it really
Speaker 1: was hurting me. So she always told me, like to
Speaker 1: stay strong, like I always knew, she's like a strong person,
Speaker 1: strong woman. She always cared for everybody. She would always
Speaker 1: give her last to anybody, whether they gave their last
Speaker 1: to her or not. I know she's always tried to
Speaker 1: make your games in the past. What about now that
Speaker 1: you're in the NFL. I kind of made her missed
Speaker 1: Washington game. Those were the first game she ever missed
Speaker 1: ever from high school, elementary literally, and she was like
Speaker 1: crying about it. She's still gonna try to make every game.
Speaker 1: I just didn't want her to drive that far by
Speaker 1: herself because I couldn't get a no plane ticket that weekend,
Speaker 1: so I didn't really want So that's the only game
Speaker 1: she didn't missed so far. I think she's gonna make
Speaker 1: every other game, even London. Wow, we're visiting with Damian Wellis.
Speaker 1: You were a football and a basketball star at Southeast
Speaker 1: Lauderdale High School. Earlier this year, they retired your number fifteen.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about the ceremony and what
Speaker 1: that honor meant to you. Yeah, I was on I
Speaker 1: don't know where I was going. I was on my
Speaker 1: way to either school. I had to finish like my
Speaker 1: last semester. I'm at last class, and I got a
Speaker 1: phone call from my coach shoes like they wanted to
Speaker 1: retire your number, I retire your jersey when up you
Speaker 1: come back. So I set a date. So when I
Speaker 1: got there, I didn't know how many people was going
Speaker 1: to be there. So I was like, I want to
Speaker 1: see how much I really meant to the school. So
Speaker 1: when I got in there, it was like it was
Speaker 1: like a lot of people, Like the gym was pretty packed.
Speaker 1: It meant a lot. It means like they really cared
Speaker 1: for me and everything. And then I know, like my
Speaker 1: first NFL game at the Seahawks, they had a pep
Speaker 1: rally for the football team, but they also had like
Speaker 1: a separate pet rat like right after and they sent
Speaker 1: me the video. It was pretty cool. You dreamed of
Speaker 1: going to Old Miss, but you weren't highly recruited. Do
Speaker 1: you have any idea why. I look at how athletic
Speaker 1: you are and see some of your achievements in high school,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure it out. I had the same
Speaker 1: question too. I really don't know why I wasn't highly recruited.
Speaker 1: I can probably say because I came from a small school,
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand like the recruiting process, like it
Speaker 1: was like so big on like stars. I didn't have
Speaker 1: the only thing I think I had probably like two stars.
Speaker 1: I don't know how I got him. I went to
Speaker 1: one old miscount, I showed out I did good. Hugh
Speaker 1: Freeze Batman say his back office. He talked to me
Speaker 1: and my coach, and he was just like, if de
Speaker 1: Marcus Lidge, you know what I'm saying, doesn't pick up
Speaker 1: the hat, then he's gonna choose me. But he ended
Speaker 1: up picking up the hat and signing with Old miss.
Speaker 1: So I really don't know why nobody else like really
Speaker 1: recruited me. Oh, I had small schools. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say nobody really recruited me. None of the bigger Power
Speaker 1: five schools. I really don't know why they didn't recruit me.
Speaker 1: They're loss. You started your college career at East Mississippi
Speaker 1: Community College, which became famous because of the TV series
Speaker 1: Last Chance. You your first two years there were the
Speaker 1: first two years of the TV series. Did you enjoy
Speaker 1: having all those cameras around? Well, I wasn't like a big,
Speaker 1: big factor, like a main character in the story. I
Speaker 1: really didn't like being on camera because one I wasn't
Speaker 1: like the main guy. As soon as I got into Championship,
Speaker 1: I knew this was gonna be like doing like the
Speaker 1: drop down guys, so I really didn't want to be
Speaker 1: in the camera. And even the second year, I signed
Speaker 1: a piece of paper saying that I didn't really want
Speaker 1: to be the main character because one I had even
Speaker 1: played the year before a lot only played like maybe
Speaker 1: at the most seventeen snaps out of the whole nine game.
Speaker 1: I really didn't want to be featured in it. So
Speaker 1: it was it was pretty cool to have him around,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't like the main character, so it was
Speaker 1: all right, you'll be ready for hard knocks the next
Speaker 1: time the Bengals are on it. Hopefully we never get
Speaker 1: on it, because I heard this like the worst, the
Speaker 1: worst teams get on hard nuts, so hopefully we'll never
Speaker 1: on it. Fair enough. After two years there, you moved
Speaker 1: down to Troy University. But you came this close to
Speaker 1: playing for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats right right out
Speaker 1: of high school. They came to one of my basketball
Speaker 1: games and the coach did and after the basketball game,
Speaker 1: he said, I wanted to offer you a scholarship to
Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati. So I was really excited, and he's like,
Speaker 1: he wants me to take a visit this weekend. So
Speaker 1: that Friday night, as I was packing my clothes, he
Speaker 1: called me and then he was like, well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I really hated it. But the guy we offered two
Speaker 1: of y'all, both of two of y'all, and the other
Speaker 1: guy had committed already, and so I was he was like,
Speaker 1: I still want you to come on the visit. I
Speaker 1: just didn't see no point in going on the visit
Speaker 1: knowing that I couldn't attend at school. Khalil Lewis wound
Speaker 1: up at Cincinnati and had a fine career, But I'm
Speaker 1: sure they could have gotten both of you guys out
Speaker 1: on the field. Yeah, most definitely, most definitely. So you
Speaker 1: had a fine career at Troy and the Bengals had
Speaker 1: a fifth round grade on you in the NFL Draft,
Speaker 1: but you weren't selected. How disappointed were you not to
Speaker 1: be drafted. I was kind of hurt, expecting I really
Speaker 1: wanted to get drafted. Each day I watched every selection
Speaker 1: from the NFL Draft, thinking that the fifth round through
Speaker 1: the seventh round I was actually gonna get a call. Actually,
Speaker 1: the fourth round to the seventh round. I thought I
Speaker 1: was gonna maybe get a call. I didn't get a call.
Speaker 1: I got a call and like at the end of
Speaker 1: the seventh round from like different teams, those just for
Speaker 1: free agents and stuff, And that's why I chose the Bengals.
Speaker 1: You watched every pick. That's a long process. It's a
Speaker 1: very long process. Actually I watched it. It It was me, me,
Speaker 1: my mother, my girlfriend, my grandparents, and my uncle. We
Speaker 1: all watched different pick. So you signed with the Bengals
Speaker 1: after the draft? What was it about Cincinnati that appeal
Speaker 1: to you. I came on a pre draft visit here.
Speaker 1: I mean I really enjoyed like the coaching staff and
Speaker 1: everything like that, and they didn't select any receivers in
Speaker 1: the draft. So I figured, if I come here, at
Speaker 1: least have it like a decent chance of making the team.
Speaker 1: I see, I saw what they had, like a j
Speaker 1: John Ross and Tyler Boy So I probably knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna be like in the first string in the
Speaker 1: first mix of it. But then I felt like I
Speaker 1: could get into that second rotation and special teams maybe.
Speaker 1: So you not only made it, but before the final
Speaker 1: preseason game, you were basically told you had made the
Speaker 1: team and that you were going to start the season
Speaker 1: open or in Seattle. Was that surreal to you? Yes,
Speaker 1: considering that the media had told me so, I was like,
Speaker 1: then I had to go out there in practice, and
Speaker 1: so when I came back, I really like took it,
Speaker 1: looked at it like wow, I really I really don't
Speaker 1: fing to start my career as a starter week one
Speaker 1: as a free agent, so I really like, look at
Speaker 1: all the obstacles I had to overcome. I'm not done yet,
Speaker 1: but this has been a journey so far. A few
Speaker 1: more fun facts with Damian willis what do you enjoy
Speaker 1: to do in your spare time. I really like talking
Speaker 1: to my girlfriend, if that's that's that kind of sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: But I like to play the game a lot, and
Speaker 1: I like to hang out with people. I really don't
Speaker 1: like to sit at home just be bored. But if
Speaker 1: I was back at home in the country, I love
Speaker 1: to go fishing. I love fishing. Do you have a
Speaker 1: guilty pleasure? Is there's something that you splurge on with
Speaker 1: your money. Now, I'm not really like a big, big
Speaker 1: spending guy. I don't really like to spend my money.
Speaker 1: I really like to see it grow, then what to
Speaker 1: get taken away? They taught you well at Troy and
Speaker 1: in your in your Lifetime. Final fun fact for Damian Willis,
Speaker 1: who was your all time favorite athlete growing up any sport?
Speaker 1: Brandon Marshall knows my favorite athlete growing up. I have
Speaker 1: no idea why it's between Brandon Washing and lebron Jame,
Speaker 1: but I love watching I love watching both of them,
Speaker 1: but Brandon Washington is just like as far as like football.
Speaker 1: I just love watching him. Since he came in and
Speaker 1: playing with the Denver Broncos, he had a great career.
Speaker 1: Yours is off to a great star. Congratulations, thanks for
Speaker 1: the time, Oh thank you, thanks for having me. That's
Speaker 1: Damian Willis. We want to remind you that you can
Speaker 1: hang out with lapping me and meet Bengals players on
Speaker 1: our radio shows this week. On Wednesday night, from six
Speaker 1: to eight, we'll be at Wishbone Tavern on del High
Speaker 1: Pike for the Bengals Game Plan Show. Our scheduled guest
Speaker 1: from seven to eight is Alex Ericson Then on Friday
Speaker 1: afternoon from three to six, we'll be at Buffalo Wings
Speaker 1: and Rings in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. For the Bengals pep
Speaker 1: Rally show. A Bengals player joins us in the final
Speaker 1: hour and we'll know who it is later in the
Speaker 1: week that's going to do it for this edition of
Speaker 1: the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe, and if you have a minute, give it
Speaker 1: a rating or leave a comment. Those five star ratings
Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.