Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the I Want to Go Back
Speaker 1: and Do It All over edition as we take an
Speaker 1: in depth look back at Super Bowl fifty six. I'll
Speaker 1: explain why in just a moment. The Bengals Booth Podcast
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Speaker 1: since the Amazing slot Deck. At halftime of a recent
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Speaker 1: court who bills himself as America's oldest daredevil acrobat. His
Speaker 1: name is Gary slot Deck Borstelman. He's in his mid
Speaker 1: sixties and he goes by the nickname the Amazing slot Deck.
Speaker 1: His act consists of stacking white chairs on top of
Speaker 1: each other as he slowly and carefully climbs to the
Speaker 1: top of the tower. Then, when he gets to the peak,
Speaker 1: roughly twenty five feet off the ground, this senior citizen
Speaker 1: does a handstand. I have never felt more pitifully out
Speaker 1: of shape. If you would like to check him out,
Speaker 1: there are abundant videos of his act on YouTube. Just
Speaker 1: search for the amazing slot deck. That's Sla d e k. Now.
Speaker 1: Let's get to football. Every year during Super Bowl Week,
Speaker 1: the NFL network runs the thirty minute highlight videos of
Speaker 1: previous Super Bowls. So this week I taped and rewatched
Speaker 1: the recap of Super Bowl fifty six between the Bengals
Speaker 1: and Rams. Despite the outcome, I really enjoyed it, and
Speaker 1: it got me thinking that there isn't an in depth
Speaker 1: audio version, So this week I decided to put one together,
Speaker 1: taking the radio broadcast of the game, some interviews, and
Speaker 1: a recent look back with Dave Lapham. If the memory
Speaker 1: is too painful, I understand, and you can return for
Speaker 1: next week's podcast. But if you decide to keep listening,
Speaker 1: I think you'll mostly enjoy looking back at Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty six. Let's start with how The Bengals got there
Speaker 1: a pressure pack thirty one yard field goal try by
Speaker 1: rookie Evan McPherson in overtime of the AFC Championship game
Speaker 1: in Kansas City year yars ago. He was a senior
Speaker 1: in high school in tiny Fort Payne, Alabama. Now the
Speaker 1: Bengals Super Bowl chances rest on his right foot.
Speaker 2: The kick is up, yeh ye.
Speaker 3: Good coffin nows Bam, bam bam.
Speaker 4: That is unba believable. The Cincinnati Bengals come from behind
Speaker 4: on the road. Unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Dan, it is no fluke. It is a fact.
Speaker 1: The Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Super Bowl fifty six.
Speaker 5: They just redefined the word resilient.
Speaker 1: After ending a thirty one year drought without a playoff win,
Speaker 1: the Bengals were headed to the Super Bowl for the
Speaker 1: third time in franchise history, a gratifying moment for team
Speaker 1: president Mike Brown.
Speaker 6: I am just as pleased as it's possible to be
Speaker 6: if you're in my position. This is what you're goal
Speaker 6: is in life, and here we are. We have a
Speaker 6: chance to win the big win, and that would be
Speaker 6: great if we could pull it off. But it's an
Speaker 6: exciting time for me and for all the people here
Speaker 6: with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: At what point did you think that this team could
Speaker 1: be a contender.
Speaker 6: Well, Joe Burrow makes you think you can win any
Speaker 6: game that you go into, and we have amazing wide outs.
Speaker 6: We've got three guys that are just tremendous. That gives
Speaker 6: us a live offense. These days in the NFL, the
Speaker 6: goal is to score thirty points or more. That's what
Speaker 6: you need to win. You can even lose at that figure,
Speaker 6: but if you can get there with enough defense to
Speaker 6: go with it, you'll prevail. And we did Noise get there.
Speaker 6: We did Noise prevail. We went along. Our confidence built
Speaker 6: because you could see we could play with anybody, and
Speaker 6: then we got to the point where we were winning
Speaker 6: these close games and here we are. We'll see what
Speaker 6: happens next, but this is a good group of players,
Speaker 6: a good group of people, and they look forward to
Speaker 6: see what happens out in la.
Speaker 1: As Mike mentioned, in just his second season, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: had transformed the franchise. After bouncing back from the gruesome
Speaker 1: knee injury he suffered as a rookie, Burrow led the
Speaker 1: Bengals to an AFC North title and the first road
Speaker 1: playoff wins in franchise history, and he did it with
Speaker 1: what NBC announcer Mike Tarico called embraceable cockiness. Here's another
Speaker 1: NBC announcer, Chris Collinsworth.
Speaker 7: I wish I were as cool as he is, don't you.
Speaker 7: I Mean, every once in a while, meet somebody and
Speaker 7: you go, I've been living for sixty three years. That
Speaker 7: kid's twentever, twenty five years old, and he is one
Speaker 7: hundred times cooler than I am. Like, how do you
Speaker 7: get that way after twenty five years of your life?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 8: And the first time I.
Speaker 7: Saw him wearing some of those outfits and the rose
Speaker 7: colored glasses and all that, and now I'm like, I
Speaker 7: want to go buy a pair. Hum if he wins
Speaker 7: this game, I'm taking off my NBC blazer and I'm
Speaker 7: going to go down and grab that jacket and wear
Speaker 7: it off the air and say see you guys next season.
Speaker 7: He's special, right, he is? And I think that I'm
Speaker 7: trying to make a comparison and maybe Pete Rose, you know,
Speaker 7: some home grown talent that comes in here and is
Speaker 7: the superstar of the of the favorite franchise and there
Speaker 7: just isn't a comparison that I can, and it's hard
Speaker 7: to describe what he means the Cincinnati But I don't
Speaker 7: know that there's been a football player on the Cincinnati
Speaker 7: Bengals team in its history.
Speaker 8: Maybe Greg Cook.
Speaker 7: I wasn't around for that, but in its history that
Speaker 7: would mean more than what Joe Burrow means to this community.
Speaker 1: Before traveling to LA for the game, Burrow did an
Speaker 1: interview with a quarterback who won seven Super Bowls, Tom Brady.
Speaker 9: I think Joe's got some tools that I didn't quite
Speaker 9: have when I was his age. So super impressed by
Speaker 9: how he's kind of coming to the league and went
Speaker 9: to Cincinnati, which has been a tough place to play
Speaker 9: over the years, and you know, two years into his
Speaker 9: career after a really tough injury last year, show a
Speaker 9: lot of mental and physical toughness coming back and have
Speaker 9: an incredible season. So you know, I always love watching quarterbacks,
Speaker 9: and certainly young quarterbacks, because I feel like, you know,
Speaker 9: there's certain ways to play the game, and to play
Speaker 9: the game at a high level requires a huge commitment.
Speaker 9: I think Joe, even from when I saw him at LSU,
Speaker 9: you know, he makes that commitment. So it's really a
Speaker 9: great thing for me to see, as you know, somebody
Speaker 9: who's played this game for a long time, so really
Speaker 9: happy for Joe and his team.
Speaker 6: Joe want to hear those words from Tom. Your reaction is.
Speaker 8: Well, no, I don't know.
Speaker 10: I don't know if I can be in the conversation
Speaker 10: with this guy yet, but you know, I'm gonna work
Speaker 10: really hard to try, and I think we're off to
Speaker 10: a great start.
Speaker 1: The Bengals stayed and practiced on the campus of UCLA
Speaker 1: the day before the game. Dave Lapham sat down in
Speaker 1: an empty hotel conference room to record his final pregame
Speaker 1: interview of the year with head coach Zach Taylor, where
Speaker 1: they discussed one of the biggest keys to the game.
Speaker 4: Aaron Donald. The guy can be mesmerizing. I mean, your
Speaker 4: guys can just go to him and stay on him.
Speaker 4: He's one of those kind of players. How do you
Speaker 4: handle a guy like Aaron Donald? I mean, how big
Speaker 4: a game wrecker is this dude?
Speaker 11: He's one of the best to ever do it? You know,
Speaker 11: and I know I'm only thirty eight years old. It's
Speaker 11: hard for me to say that I didn't watch all
Speaker 11: those years before, but I can promise you He's one
Speaker 11: of the best to ever do it, and so you've
Speaker 11: got to have a great point in place. Our guys
Speaker 11: are for the challenge.
Speaker 1: The game was played on February thirteenth, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California. I've been asked many
Speaker 1: times since what it's like to broadcast a Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I compare it to the first Jurassic Park movie
Speaker 1: when the actor Sam Neil is riding in the back
Speaker 1: of a jeep. When it stops, he looks left, stands up,
Speaker 1: fumbles to remove his sunglasses, and then is utterly stunned
Speaker 1: by the site of a live dinosaur. That's what broadcasting
Speaker 1: Super Bowl is like for me. You almost can't believe
Speaker 1: it's really happening. In any case, here's how our broadcast began.
Speaker 1: Fifty four seasons ago, the most innovative coach in sports
Speaker 1: history brought professional football to Cincinnati, and today the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals get their third opportunity to make Paul Brown's a
Speaker 1: reality as they face the Los Angeles Rams in Super
Speaker 1: Bowl fifty six. Shortly after that, we got to Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham's keys to the game, and as is usually the case,
Speaker 1: he was right on the money.
Speaker 4: Dan, This game's gonna be won and lost the trenches
Speaker 4: like they usually are. I'm gonna talk letter t today.
Speaker 4: My first tee is trenches. Give Joe Burrow time, another key,
Speaker 4: and obviously space. The Bengals are seven to zero when
Speaker 4: Joe gets sacked two times or less, eleven and two
Speaker 4: when he sacked four times or less, two and four
Speaker 4: when he sacked five times or more, Give him time,
Speaker 4: give him space.
Speaker 1: I discuss that pregame analysis with Lap this week. The
Speaker 1: offensive line for the Bengals in that Super Bowl Jonah Williams,
Speaker 1: Clinton Spain, Trey Hopkins, Achema, Danegy and Isaiah Prince. Who
Speaker 1: is in for the injured Riley Reef? Who or what
Speaker 1: was your biggest concern going in?
Speaker 4: Who biggest concern? Dan was the connection between the five.
Speaker 4: You know, it's like blocking your guy. Knowing your assignment
Speaker 4: and blocking your guy. That's one thing, But you need
Speaker 4: time on task to work well with the guy next
Speaker 4: to you. You know, you have to get used to
Speaker 4: the steps that he takes. How deep does he set
Speaker 4: you know, when he's climbing a linebacker? How how long
Speaker 4: does he double team? Does he want you to totally
Speaker 4: consume him before he comes off to the linebacker, or
Speaker 4: is he satisfied with you halfway there. I mean there's
Speaker 4: all kinds of little nuances and timing that goes on
Speaker 4: between an offensive line performing well in an offensive line,
Speaker 4: you know, struggling.
Speaker 8: To get it done a little bit. And that was
Speaker 8: my biggest concern.
Speaker 4: There wasn't anybody that was right next to each other,
Speaker 4: that had played with each other for an extended period
Speaker 4: of time. I was concerned about that because we're talking
Speaker 4: about a Rams defensive front that you know, they had
Speaker 4: an all Pro edge rusher and all Pro defensive tackle,
Speaker 4: the best pass rusher inside rusher in the game, if
Speaker 4: not right there at number two. I mean, they had
Speaker 4: they had a lot a lot to deal with. They
Speaker 4: had Floyd, they had a lot of people to deal with,
Speaker 4: so and they had worked together. I mean, you know
Speaker 4: when they're when defensive lines are twisting and stunning and stuff,
Speaker 4: you know there's a field there as well. So they
Speaker 4: had all that time on task, all those snaps in
Speaker 4: their under their belt, and the Bengals offensive front was
Speaker 4: lacking in that area. So that was my biggest concern,
Speaker 4: not just the one on one of handling Von Miller,
Speaker 4: handling Aaron Donald. But the entire you know, unit working
Speaker 4: in concert, I guess was my biggest concern.
Speaker 1: As you might expect in LA, the game began with
Speaker 1: a little Hollywood flare, Ladies.
Speaker 3: And gentlemen, it is my honor to say, finally it
Speaker 3: is time by the Superbad.
Speaker 1: After the Rocks intro, the Bengals won the toss and
Speaker 1: elected to defer. Trey Hendrickson sacked on the ram opening
Speaker 1: drive led to a punt, and the Bengals quickly drove
Speaker 1: to the Rams forty nine yard line. The Bengals are
Speaker 1: going to go for it on fourth in a long
Speaker 1: yard at the Los Angeles forty nine. Burrow in the gun,
Speaker 1: pe Rne stays in. Joe Burrow drops back to throw
Speaker 1: short pass, pat it away. It's incomplete intended for Jamar Chase,
Speaker 1: looked like Jalen Ramsey got a hand on it, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals fail on fourth down and one, Well.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you that's a big momentum turn right there
Speaker 4: for the Los Angeles Rams. Bengals dude get positive yards
Speaker 4: on first down, but then just stutter, sputter and stall.
Speaker 1: So the first big play of the game came on
Speaker 1: the Bengals opening drive, fourth down and one at the
Speaker 1: Rams forty nine. The Bengals went for it. Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: threw an incomplete pass for Jamar Chase. He didn't see
Speaker 1: t Higgins who was wide open and would have had
Speaker 1: the first down. But going back to the decision in retrospect,
Speaker 1: did they get it right going forward on fourth and
Speaker 1: one at the Rams forty nine?
Speaker 4: Boy, you can make cases both ways, you know. I mean,
Speaker 4: I by nature am old school. I know I am.
Speaker 4: I'm more conservative. You know, Joe obviously his clock was
Speaker 4: sped up all game long. There's no doubt. I mean,
Speaker 4: he didn't take a lot of sacks until the game,
Speaker 4: toward the end of the football game when you'd expect
Speaker 4: the Rams.
Speaker 8: To turn it up, and they did. But he was
Speaker 8: getting the ball out.
Speaker 4: He was getting the ball out very quickly, and that
Speaker 4: might have been part of the reason, you know that
Speaker 4: he didn't catch up with t over there on the backside.
Speaker 4: But to answer your question me conservatively, I probably would
Speaker 4: have punted and buried him inside the ten yard line.
Speaker 4: But I know analytics day, all the percentages are with
Speaker 4: you to go for it. But you know, the analytics
Speaker 4: aren't like Aaron von mill all these guys that you
Speaker 4: have to make sure you take care of. I didn't
Speaker 4: have a problem with the play selection, but I had
Speaker 4: a problem with not a problem. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 4: I it it wasn't like, oh my gosh, lost the game, now,
Speaker 4: you know, it wasn't that kind of thing. And honestly, Zach,
Speaker 4: you've been prett philly aggressive all year long on fourth down.
Speaker 4: So as a player, all you want is consistency Dan,
Speaker 4: you know, and if you if he pulled his horns
Speaker 4: in in the Super Bowl, now all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: you think, geez, what's our coach thinking all year long?
Speaker 4: This is the path we've taken. So based on that,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, just like with the Detroit Lions,
Speaker 4: I mean, they're they're super aggressive. They were super aggressive
Speaker 4: in the in the NFC Championship game that they lost.
Speaker 4: They converted eighty percent on fourth down in the regular
Speaker 4: season and they didn't get it done to in less
Speaker 4: than fifty percent in that in that game. So but
Speaker 4: as a as a player, it's like my coach was
Speaker 4: the same guy. He didn't let the game get too
Speaker 4: big for him. He did what he did all season long,
Speaker 4: and I'm good with that.
Speaker 1: Rams took advantage of the short field, putting together a
Speaker 1: sixth play fifty yard touchdown drive. Third out in a
Speaker 1: long two at the Cincinnati seventeen three receivers right two left,
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup one of the two receivers out to the left.
Speaker 1: Stafford back to throw. He's gonna lob it toward the
Speaker 1: end zone. Odell Beckham Junior reaches up and comes down
Speaker 1: to the ball. It's a touchdown for the Rams, as
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham Junior went up and over Mike Hilton to
Speaker 1: haul in the game's first touchdowns.
Speaker 5: Just a great throw right there.
Speaker 4: Stafford put the ball where Beckham Junior could make a
Speaker 4: play on it. Mike Hilton, obviously, his biggest challenge is
Speaker 4: verticcality because he's not very tall five foot nine inches.
Speaker 4: Odell Beckham Junior took advantage of that and ball put
Speaker 4: up players made. Mike Hilton never sees the football, tries
Speaker 4: to rip it out of there with the left hand
Speaker 4: butt O'Dell Beckham Junior drips it tightly to the turf.
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford's seventh touchdown pass of the postseason. He's only
Speaker 1: thrown one interception, now Matt Gay in to attempt the
Speaker 1: extra point.
Speaker 2: His kick his perfect.
Speaker 1: Rams took a seven to nothing lead on a touchdown
Speaker 1: catch by Odell Beckham Junior. He said this year that
Speaker 1: he would have had fifteen catches and maybe two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty yards if he didn't tear his ACL in
Speaker 1: the second quarter.
Speaker 2: Was he right?
Speaker 1: Would the Bengals have been in trouble if Obj did
Speaker 1: not get hurt?
Speaker 4: Well, I'll tell you he got off to a great start.
Speaker 4: And they were using them different ways.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: They were lining them up in different spots, they were
Speaker 4: emotion them, they were doing everything that they could possibly
Speaker 4: do to make it tough, you know, for the.
Speaker 8: For the Luanna rum or to get a handle on
Speaker 8: how to take them out of it, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't like he was just lining up
Speaker 4: in one spot and Luke could you know, roll double
Speaker 4: coverage over that way or whatever. They had a good
Speaker 4: game plan. I'm not sure he to have the numbers
Speaker 4: he's talking about it. I mean, those are those are ludicrous, obviously,
Speaker 4: but I mean he was playing his tailoff man.
Speaker 8: He was he was getting it done.
Speaker 4: I think they would have had difficulty, you know, handling
Speaker 4: obj the way, the way he got started in that
Speaker 4: football game, There's no question.
Speaker 1: The Bengals immediately answered Burrow back.
Speaker 2: To throw, wants to float it high and deep four
Speaker 2: Chase is it?
Speaker 3: The twenty reaches out comes down to the ball at
Speaker 3: the eleven yard line, a spectacular finger tip catch by
Speaker 3: Numero who know, and the Bengals will have it at
Speaker 3: the eleven After a forty six yard bomb from Burrow
Speaker 3: to Chase.
Speaker 1: It gave the Bengals the ball at the eleven yard line,
Speaker 1: but Burrow through three straight in completions on the last
Speaker 1: one a penalty could have been called on la third
Speaker 1: down and ten at the Rams eleven shotgun snap, Burrow
Speaker 1: with a three step drop, fires a fastball over the
Speaker 1: middle and it is incomplete intended for t Higgins right
Speaker 1: at the goal line.
Speaker 4: Ramsey in coverage again, and then we saw Ramsey in
Speaker 4: coverage against Jamar Chase. That time they had him inside
Speaker 4: working against t Higgins.
Speaker 1: He got away with a jersey grab that wasn't called
Speaker 1: stretched cloth normally get penalized for that.
Speaker 8: It's jan the Rams.
Speaker 1: The Bengals settled for a twenty nine yard field goal
Speaker 1: try shooter McPherson swings the right leg a hi spinning
Speaker 1: end over end kicked. It is good and the Bengals
Speaker 1: are on the scoreboard. Late in the first quarter, Jalen
Speaker 1: Ramsey got away with grabbing t Higgins Jersey on an
Speaker 1: incomplete pass at the goal line. The Bengals had to
Speaker 1: settle for a field goal after that. How did that
Speaker 1: compare to the penalty at the end of the game
Speaker 1: that was called on Logan Wilson.
Speaker 8: I think it was much more egregious, to be honest
Speaker 8: with you.
Speaker 4: Of course, you know, I'm looking at it through different
Speaker 4: colored glasses than the Rams people are, But that I mean,
Speaker 4: you can see you can see Jersey tug you know.
Speaker 8: I mean Logan Wilson's was it was.
Speaker 4: Almost in my mind it was fabricated. I mean, he
Speaker 4: had his hands on him, but he wasn't grabbing anything,
Speaker 4: and he wasn't past the five yard area, you know
Speaker 4: when the penalty flag was thrown, And I mean I
Speaker 4: thought that the one that wasn't called on t should
Speaker 4: have been, and the one that was called on Logan
Speaker 4: was was you know, a little TICKI tack. And honestly,
Speaker 4: I know for a fact I've heard this from multiple
Speaker 4: league sources that once you get into the playoffs and
Speaker 4: deep into the playoffs in the Super Bowl, the league's
Speaker 4: pilst me on it is these teams are here for
Speaker 4: a reason.
Speaker 8: Keep your flags in your pocket.
Speaker 1: It was seven three Rams at the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter. Two minutes into the second, LA scored again,
Speaker 1: second down and five from the Cincinnati eleven, the Rams
Speaker 1: leading the Bengals seven to three. Here in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford, under center receiver, goes in motion. They fake
Speaker 1: a handof Stafford throwing into the end zone. Cooper Cup
Speaker 1: wide open in the back right corner. He makes the
Speaker 1: catch for a Rams touchdown. The Rams missed the pat
Speaker 1: due to a bobbled snow and led thirteen to three.
Speaker 1: The Bengals responded with their best drive of the game,
Speaker 1: picking up six first downs before scoring their first touchdown.
Speaker 1: Higgins sample and boyd out to the right in a cluster.
Speaker 2: The Bengals toss it.
Speaker 5: To the right.
Speaker 2: Mixons throws into the back of the end zone and
Speaker 2: is caught by T. Higgins. Touchdown.
Speaker 3: Bengals Joe Mixon floating one into the back right corner
Speaker 3: of the end zone and T.
Speaker 2: Higgins hauls it in for the Bengals touchdown.
Speaker 4: Talked about trickeration as one of the t keys Joe Mixon.
Speaker 4: Everybody starts downhill to fill the run. Sweet, they think
Speaker 4: it's gonna be a sweep. They don't need to look
Speaker 4: for t Higgins. By the time the recovery is made,
Speaker 4: it's way too late for Nick Scott, and Nick Scott says,
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, Mixon's gonna throw it right over his
Speaker 4: head for testaw great call by Zach Taylor on the trickeration.
Speaker 1: Nixon was involved in seven of the twelve plays on
Speaker 1: that drive. Did Joe Mixon get the ball enough in
Speaker 1: the game?
Speaker 8: Boy?
Speaker 4: As a as a former offensive lineman, I wish that
Speaker 4: they had run him a little bit more, because man,
Speaker 4: he was up in the bit then. I remember we
Speaker 4: talked about it multiple times how hard he was finishing runs,
Speaker 4: you know, with the body lean and the violence, and
Speaker 4: I mean, he was just he was into it. And
Speaker 4: when you have an offensive line that, like we talked about,
Speaker 4: the best thing to do is, you know, you you've
Speaker 4: got to make sure that they're in in favorable down
Speaker 4: and distance situations, you know, And the best way to
Speaker 4: do that is is make sure you stay with that
Speaker 4: ground game. I thought Frank Pollack did a great job
Speaker 4: getting that group ready, you know, for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: U unraveled late, obviously down the stretch in terms of
Speaker 4: having to past protect and you know, being one dimensional.
Speaker 4: But man, my old you know, my old axidom is
Speaker 4: you can't make yourself want dimensional. You know, if they
Speaker 4: make you one dimensional, that's that's one thing. But if
Speaker 4: you decide to make yourself one dimensional, different dynamic.
Speaker 1: There was no more scoring in the first half as
Speaker 1: the Bengals came up with a takeaway just before the
Speaker 1: two minute warning. Lock running two twelve left and a
Speaker 1: half third down and fourteen empty backfield shotgun snap Stafford
Speaker 1: from the pocket, looking scrambling left, squares his shoulders, points deep,
Speaker 1: fires toward the end zone. In intercepted in the end zone.
Speaker 1: It is picked up by Jesse Bates and the Bengals.
Speaker 1: We'll get the ball at the twenty year to Fez.
Speaker 1: They intercept Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 4: Van Jefferson was the intended receiver, and the Bengals rushed
Speaker 4: three and dropped eight into coverage and Stafford bought time,
Speaker 4: got out of pocket and he directed his receiver down
Speaker 4: the football field. Jesse Bates saw him being a traffic
Speaker 4: cop as well, and he played it perfectly. He ended
Speaker 4: up being the intended receiver. First turnover of the day
Speaker 4: goes to the Bengals defense.
Speaker 1: Now, after the intert the Bengals would have had the
Speaker 1: ball at the twenty, but they got penalized ten yards
Speaker 1: because a player came off the bench and joined in
Speaker 1: the celebration, not a uniform, a guy wearing a Bengals hoodie.
Speaker 1: I think that might have been Vernon Hargraves, who is
Speaker 1: inactive for the game today and he just cost his
Speaker 1: team ten yards. If that's not Vernon Hargraves, I apologize,
Speaker 1: but that's who it looked like with a brief look
Speaker 1: at the video monitor.
Speaker 4: Well it makes sense to Dan, he's the only defensive
Speaker 4: back that's deactivated.
Speaker 1: Two years later. Are you ticked off, amused?
Speaker 2: Or a combination of both?
Speaker 4: More kicked off than the muse. Yeah, it's like, come on, bro,
Speaker 4: you know, I understand you're excited.
Speaker 8: I understand.
Speaker 4: Come on, man, you got to be smarter than that.
Speaker 4: I mean, the only the only thing that you can
Speaker 4: do on the sideline is something stupid like that to
Speaker 4: hurt your football team, and why why do it? Oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, yeah, that's a critical that's critical. Ten yards
Speaker 4: there too. I mean, you know, now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: eighty yards is tough enough. You got to go ninety
Speaker 4: against that defensive football team with a makeshift offensive line
Speaker 4: and all the things we've been talking about. Every yard
Speaker 4: is precious, every first down is valuable, Every first down
Speaker 4: is gold against a team like that, And you give
Speaker 4: up a first down in terms of yards because you
Speaker 4: got a dude in street clothes celebrating on the football field. Man,
Speaker 4: if I had a rope long enough, I already yanked
Speaker 4: him back to the sideline myself. I mean, man, I
Speaker 4: couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: It was thirteen to ten rams at the half as
Speaker 1: Doctor Dre Snoop Dog Eminem and others entertained. The seventy
Speaker 1: thousand plus in attendance, including a member of the Bengals.
Speaker 4: Money Mack watched the whole halftime show. Money Mack's a
Speaker 4: big fan, and he came.
Speaker 5: He watched.
Speaker 4: I guess the darn near the whole thing. That's his
Speaker 4: that's right his demo, man, that's right in his groove.
Speaker 1: Were you able to watch and enjoy the halftime show
Speaker 1: like Evan McPherson did.
Speaker 4: Uh, I'll tell you damn until until you're there live.
Speaker 4: You know, halftime is long in the Super Bowl when
Speaker 4: you're watching them on TV. Well, when you're there live,
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, that bad boy takes forever, doesn't it.
Speaker 8: I mean it was.
Speaker 4: It was incredible, the length of that uh length of
Speaker 4: that halftime show.
Speaker 8: It was.
Speaker 4: It was well done, There's no question about it. But
Speaker 4: Evn had a better seat than us. Man, he was
Speaker 4: right there.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I barely saw the halftime show between
Speaker 1: running to the bathroom. Yeah, recapping the first half, trying
Speaker 1: to get your thoughts together for you know, broadcasting the
Speaker 1: second half as well as you possibly could. I was
Speaker 1: kind of aware of what artists were out there, but
Speaker 1: I didn't hear hardly any of it.
Speaker 8: I didn't really hear it either all that well. But
Speaker 8: I saw what was going on.
Speaker 4: And it was pretty you know, it's pretty uh, pretty
Speaker 4: high profile, no question about it. That was that was
Speaker 4: funny see him out there just soaking it all in. Man,
Speaker 4: it is classic. It was classic.
Speaker 1: Before we get to the second half, here's a quick
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Speaker 1: The third quarter began with a bang. Joe Burrow under
Speaker 1: center on first and ten from the twenty five. The
Speaker 1: ball is on the right hash Joe Mixon in the backfield.
Speaker 1: He had forty rushing yards in the first half. They
Speaker 1: fake to him Burrow and now scrambling fires deep down
Speaker 1: field for Higgins.
Speaker 3: Chuck Sick pushes over his defender, catches the ball, runt
Speaker 3: it into the end zone.
Speaker 2: There's no, no, no, A seventy five yard touchdown. Burrow two.
Speaker 3: Higgins as he knocked over Jane Ramsey ran it into
Speaker 3: the end zone to get the Bengals the lead.
Speaker 4: Jalen Ramsey couldn't find the football and by the time
Speaker 4: he did, t Higgins found the ball coming side of
Speaker 4: him and Joe Burrow.
Speaker 5: How about giving the Bengals lead a one play.
Speaker 1: Dry It looked like t Higgins grabbed the face mats
Speaker 1: of Jalen Ramsey threw used it to throw him to
Speaker 1: the side.
Speaker 2: It was not called, and the Bengals had the lead.
Speaker 1: Should it have been offensive pass interference?
Speaker 4: I'm glad that he kept his flag in his pocket
Speaker 4: because he didn't call defensive pass interference. So while the
Speaker 4: offensive passing appearance, I mean, if you're gonna do it,
Speaker 4: do it both ways.
Speaker 8: You can make an argument that it could have been
Speaker 8: called in each instance.
Speaker 4: And like I said, you know, championship games with the
Speaker 4: players decide the game. I'm sure the Rams fans are
Speaker 4: obviously to this day still fuming that that wasn't called.
Speaker 8: But he deserved it.
Speaker 4: Have to get and grab like that earlier, I think
Speaker 4: he deserved an opportunity to use his hands a little
Speaker 4: bit too.
Speaker 1: The Bengals led seventeen to thirteen, and on the very
Speaker 1: next play got the ball right back Stafford in the shotgun.
Speaker 1: He's got acres to his left. Odell Beckham Junior is
Speaker 1: not back into the game. Stafford throws over the middle
Speaker 1: and it is intercepted.
Speaker 3: It was deflected off Cooper Cup and it's picked off.
Speaker 2: The Bengals will take over at the thirty two Chita.
Speaker 3: Bay O Wooja on the deflection off Cooper Cup and
Speaker 3: the Bengals have the lead and the ball at the
Speaker 3: Rams thirty two.
Speaker 1: They quickly drove to the twelve yard line before the
Speaker 1: Rams pass rush began to take over the game. Third
Speaker 1: down and four from the twelve of the Rams shotgun snap,
Speaker 1: Burrow cuts the arm and gets smashed to the ground.
Speaker 1: Burrow gets sacked back at the twenty yard line Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald with his second sack of this drive, and the
Speaker 1: Bengals will have to settle for the field goal try
Speaker 1: by Evan McPherson.
Speaker 5: Boy, I'll tell you Joe's upset.
Speaker 4: He had an opportunity there and he was like, you know,
Speaker 4: he did a good job holding onto the football.
Speaker 5: I thought that ball was going to be problematic. A
Speaker 5: bull rush that time.
Speaker 4: Agnegy just gets bowled by Aaron Donald and Joe Burrow
Speaker 4: passed it. When he cocked the football and brought it
Speaker 4: back down, it was over.
Speaker 1: This will be a thirty eight yard field goal try
Speaker 1: from the middle of the field for Evan McPherson. Clark
Speaker 1: Harris will snap it back to Kevin Huber Hubert looking
Speaker 1: back at his kicker now turns his head, extends the
Speaker 1: right hand, catches the ball, puts it down.
Speaker 2: McPherson's kick lofted and it is good.
Speaker 1: Yes, he remains perfect in the postseason, and the Bengals
Speaker 1: have scored seventeen straight to take a twenty to thirteen leave.
Speaker 1: That was the last time the Bengals scored, and protecting
Speaker 1: Burrow was the problem. At one point. He was sacked
Speaker 1: four times in a span of six offensive snaps.
Speaker 4: The first half, I thought the Bengals offensive line was very,
Speaker 4: very proficient and productive. But here in the second half,
Speaker 4: the Los Angeles Rams, they're.
Speaker 5: More bull rushing.
Speaker 4: In the first half, they were trying a lot of
Speaker 4: moves in here in the second half, they've decided a
Speaker 4: halftime let's just power rush and bull rush these guys,
Speaker 4: and it's working.
Speaker 1: Five sacks for the Rams in this Super Bowl, second
Speaker 1: down and eleven, Burrow catches a shotgunsnap, looks to throw,
Speaker 1: force to scramble, sacked again as he goes down inside
Speaker 1: the five.
Speaker 2: It's starting to get ugly.
Speaker 1: The Bengals failed to score on their last five drives
Speaker 1: of the game, and Burrow got sacked a bunch. Defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Raheem Morris started rushing five to create more one
Speaker 1: on one opportunities for Aaron Donald, von Miller, et cetera.
Speaker 1: What stood out to you about the Rams pass rush
Speaker 1: in the second half in particular.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought Raheem Morris might go to that five
Speaker 4: man rush a little sooner than he did. But it
Speaker 4: was effective definitely, because obviously there's only five offensive line
Speaker 4: and when you have five man pass rush, you know,
Speaker 4: you got everybody singled up. Now you can chiple the
Speaker 4: tight you know, you can double with the tight end,
Speaker 4: chip of the back and all those good things. You
Speaker 4: can still have seven blockers for five rushers. But when
Speaker 4: you particularly with the interior, if you've got everybody covered
Speaker 4: up on the inside in the center, there's no uncovered center,
Speaker 4: no uncovered guard to help it all. And you have
Speaker 4: a pass rusher like Aaron Donald in there, man, that
Speaker 4: puts a lot of pressure on that one on one matchup.
Speaker 4: And you know, I thought that that was that was
Speaker 4: a good move by Raheem Morris, particularly, you know when
Speaker 4: they they had the lead, and now the Bengals are
Speaker 4: the clocks winding down, there's only going to be a
Speaker 4: few more possessions in the game. That was a wise
Speaker 4: move by Raheem Morris, and that's why is the Atlantic
Speaker 4: Falcons head coach.
Speaker 1: Now, I guess a Rams field goal made it twenty
Speaker 1: to sixteen midway through the third quarter. The Bengals defense
Speaker 1: then forced three straight three and outs, but the offense
Speaker 1: kept giving the ball back to La and finally, with
Speaker 1: six thirteen to go, the Rams began their game winning drive.
Speaker 1: It reached a critical point right away. This could be
Speaker 1: the game. Five oh seven left and the Rams ready
Speaker 1: to go for it. On fourth and one at their
Speaker 1: own thirty, Stafford under center. They're going to go with
Speaker 1: that end a round and it's going to work, as
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup will run it out to the thirty seven
Speaker 1: yard lives. The first big play on that game winning
Speaker 1: drive fourth and one at their own thirty, They gave
Speaker 1: it to Cooper Cup on a jet sweep for a
Speaker 1: first down. Von Bell was unblocked down the play, but
Speaker 1: didn't quite have the angle to make the tackle. Is
Speaker 1: that the play that lou An Arumo replays in his
Speaker 1: head to this day?
Speaker 4: I bet that's that's one of them. Dan, I mean,
Speaker 4: uh man, I was just hoping he'd slip or something.
Speaker 4: I mean when they when they ran that play, that play,
Speaker 4: I honestly, it caught me with my pants down. You know,
Speaker 4: I wasn't thinking, you know, a jet sweep by Cooper
Speaker 4: up on fourth and one. Wasn't wasn't considering that whatsoever. Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I run into the perimeter like that. I
Speaker 4: mean that that's running sideways for a good bit of
Speaker 4: time on a fourth and one situation. That's having a
Speaker 4: lot of a lot of faith and confidence as an
Speaker 4: offensive Coordinator's not gonna be any penetration, you know, anywhere,
Speaker 4: and people are gonna win their blocks on the edge
Speaker 4: and you know, and get it done.
Speaker 8: You know, kudos to them. That was a.
Speaker 4: I think a play that lou An Rumo probably didn't think,
Speaker 4: Oh boy, yeah, this is this is this is it.
Speaker 4: This is what we have to This is what we
Speaker 4: have to take care of. This is one of the
Speaker 4: primary things. I bet it was down the list of
Speaker 4: things that he was considering that they'd run. It was
Speaker 4: just a good call by them and executed very well
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: After that run, Cooper Cup caught four passes on the
Speaker 1: final drive. Stafford in the gun acres to his left
Speaker 1: shot gun snap. Stafford looking to throw inches up in
Speaker 1: the pocket. Oh, this pass caught over the metal Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup inside the thirty and he gets tackled at the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati twenty four yard Live the longest gain on the
Speaker 1: game winning drive was Matthew Stafford's no look pass to
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup to manipulate Von Bell, who is in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field on that play. We couldn't really
Speaker 1: see that watching it live. Do you remember seeing the
Speaker 1: replay later and marveling at the no look pass by Stafford?
Speaker 8: Absolutely?
Speaker 4: You know, it wasn't the first time that he'd done it,
Speaker 4: done it many times in practice and had done it
Speaker 4: in games before, but to do it in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 4: it's gussie guts you to pull that bad boy off,
Speaker 4: you know. I mean you have to have you have
Speaker 4: to have total faith in your preparation and your repetitions
Speaker 4: and all of that sort of thing. And Patrick Maholmes
Speaker 4: and others have taken it to another level. But yeah,
Speaker 4: that was that was That was a gutsy, a gutsy
Speaker 4: move by by Matthew Stafford, And to see it unfold
Speaker 4: on replay like that, it was something that definitely.
Speaker 8: Was highlight for the La Rams in that football game.
Speaker 1: No doubt coming out of the two minute warning. The
Speaker 1: Rams had it first in goal at the eight. Matthew
Speaker 1: Stafford threw an incomplete pass in the end zone, then
Speaker 1: through another where we mentioned something on the radio broadcast
Speaker 1: that wasn't shown or mentioned on TV. Stafford catches a
Speaker 1: shotgun snap, retreats to the seventeen short pass incomplete intended
Speaker 1: for Henderson covered by Jermaine Pratt.
Speaker 2: Looks like Sean McVay is.
Speaker 1: Arguing that he was held, but there's no penalty flag
Speaker 1: in its third and goal from the eight.
Speaker 4: Yeah, McVeigh wanted a call on Jermaine Pratt going over
Speaker 4: the back, but no call, and really the.
Speaker 5: Ball was thrown into the ground.
Speaker 4: Jermaine Pratt did a nice job of leveraging the back
Speaker 4: out of the backfield.
Speaker 1: The Bengals had two defenders around Cooper Cup. They're trying
Speaker 1: to eliminate him in the red zone on third and
Speaker 1: goal from the.
Speaker 5: Eighth, particularly with no Beckham junior out there.
Speaker 1: Cup one of three receivers out to the left, single
Speaker 1: receiver out to the right. Stafford, waiting for the shotgun
Speaker 1: snap from the eight yard line, catches a high snap,
Speaker 1: drops back to throw his pass off of the.
Speaker 2: Medal swatted down by Logan Wilson.
Speaker 1: There's a penalty flag down as he reached around Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup and swatted the pass down.
Speaker 4: They're calling holding on Logan Wilson. Not interference, They're called
Speaker 4: they're calling holding.
Speaker 7: Right of the past holding.
Speaker 2: Take that snipper fifty five, no matter.
Speaker 1: What's that?
Speaker 4: Not not the yardage, but it's it's a new set
Speaker 4: of downs.
Speaker 1: On the play before the Logan Wilson pass interference call,
Speaker 1: there was an incomplete pass to a Rams running back
Speaker 1: and we mentioned on the radio broadcast that Sean McVay
Speaker 1: was complaining to the officials that Jermaine Pratt should have
Speaker 1: been flagged. It wasn't mentioned on TV. They didn't show
Speaker 1: McVeigh on the sidelines. Al Michaels and Chris collins Worth
Speaker 1: didn't talk about.
Speaker 2: It, but we did.
Speaker 1: Do you think McVeigh planted a seed that led to
Speaker 1: the call on Wilson on the next play?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, I mean, referees a human and he
Speaker 4: probably you know, was debating if he saw it, and
Speaker 4: I think he did, if he you know, should I
Speaker 4: shouldn't I? And then when McVeigh went absolutely, you know,
Speaker 4: ballistic and getting after him about it. You know, human
Speaker 4: nature is. You know, I got to I got to
Speaker 4: make the restitution for that, the old makeup call kind
Speaker 4: of thing.
Speaker 8: And man, that was a tough one.
Speaker 4: Logan Wilson paid a big price for, you know, for
Speaker 4: McVeigh politicking as effectively as he did about his partner
Speaker 4: Jermaine Pratt not being not being called. I think I
Speaker 4: think that that did have an influence. So you know,
Speaker 4: he's thinking, all right, well, jeez, I was fifty to
Speaker 4: fifty on calling that one. I didn't fifty to fifty
Speaker 4: on this one, because, yeah, he talked himself into into
Speaker 4: a holding penalty.
Speaker 8: I think he.
Speaker 4: I think he basically talked himself and seeing something that
Speaker 4: Logan Wilson was doing with his hands that he really wasn't,
Speaker 4: you know. And it's like, man, that was a crusher
Speaker 4: going to call that thing in the end zone like that.
Speaker 8: It was nuts.
Speaker 1: Prior to that flag, each team had been penalized twice
Speaker 1: the entire game. On the next play, offsetting penalties were called,
Speaker 1: and on the play after that, Eli Apple was called
Speaker 1: for pass interference, giving the Rams first in goal at
Speaker 1: the one. Here's what Mike Hilton had to say after
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 12: Vb's on both sides were grabbing and you know, a
Speaker 12: little pool here and there, and they were like, I said, way,
Speaker 12: We're fine with it throughout the first three quarters, but
Speaker 12: French time, you know, they got flag heavy and we
Speaker 12: just put us in BASD situation.
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor took the high road.
Speaker 8: It's tough.
Speaker 11: I thought it was a really well officiated game, to
Speaker 11: be quite honest with you, and sometimes it comes down
Speaker 11: to the moments like those. I don't have a great
Speaker 11: look at it, but but I thought the officials did
Speaker 11: a nice show up.
Speaker 1: In Super Bowl twenty three, it was Montana to Taylor
Speaker 1: with thirty four seconds to go. This time it was
Speaker 1: Stafford to Cup, second down in goal from the one.
Speaker 1: As the Rams look for a go ahead touchdown. Stafford
Speaker 1: is under center, takes the snap, floats a fade into
Speaker 1: the end zone, and it is caught for a touchdown
Speaker 1: to give the Rams the lead. Cooper Cup with the
Speaker 1: catch and the Rams have pulled ahead with one twenty
Speaker 1: five to go. Down by three, the Bengals got the
Speaker 1: ball back at their own twenty five with one twenty
Speaker 1: five to go and two timeouts remaining.
Speaker 2: Burrow ready for the shotgun snap. He has the ball.
Speaker 1: Burrow's quick pass chase with a catch, running away from
Speaker 1: Ramsey to the forty and he runs out of bounds
Speaker 1: to stop the clock at the forty two yard line.
Speaker 1: A seventeen yard play to begin this critical drive first
Speaker 1: and ten Bengals from their own forty two, they need
Speaker 1: to get about twenty more yards. Burrow back to throw
Speaker 1: against the blitz.
Speaker 2: His bo caught at.
Speaker 1: The fifty Tyler Boyd with the catch as the Bengals
Speaker 1: pick up a quick eight.
Speaker 4: Tell you be one of those situations where the Rams
Speaker 4: are saying we left Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Too much time, But that was not the case. On
Speaker 1: second and one, Burrow threw an incomplete deep ball for chase.
Speaker 1: On third and one, samajp Ryan was stopped by Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald for no gain, forcing the Bengals to call the
Speaker 1: time out. With forty three seconds to go, Burrow and
Speaker 1: the shotgun samajp Ryan to his right. Burrow ready for
Speaker 1: the shotgun snap on fourth of the yard long couch.
Speaker 1: Joe has the ball, drops back to throw, He gets hit,
Speaker 1: he gets rid of the ball. It's incomplete intended for
Speaker 1: p Ryan and the Los Angeles Rams are going to
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: Boy, the Rams.
Speaker 4: They have the four down stop in the first quarter
Speaker 4: and a four down stop at.
Speaker 5: The end of the football game.
Speaker 4: They didn't have any true takeaways, no Fumber recoveries, no interceptions,
Speaker 4: but stopping the Bengals on downs twice. And who made
Speaker 4: the sack Aaron Donald. That's his third sack of the day.
Speaker 2: Well, it's not a sack because he threw the ball.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, the pressure in the basically equivalent to that
Speaker 4: fourth down. Just throwing it out into space stops anything
Speaker 4: from happening. But he two quarterback sacks and then the
Speaker 4: biggest play of the game, precious Joe Burrow.
Speaker 5: And spins him around like a top.
Speaker 4: That's a big, big effort by Aaron Donald, and I
Speaker 4: think he has a shot to be MVP.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup will certainly be a candidate as well for
Speaker 1: his heroics on the final drive. As Aaron Donald ran
Speaker 1: toward the sideline, he pointed toward his ring finger. He
Speaker 1: is going to have a Super Bowl ring. On the
Speaker 1: Bengals final drive, Joe Mixon was not on the field
Speaker 1: and it was considered a big deal immediately after the game,
Speaker 1: but then the following season, Sama JP Ryan was fantastic,
Speaker 1: and I guess people stopped complaining about it. Looking back, now,
Speaker 1: what do you think.
Speaker 4: I think that samajp Ryan was real effective as a
Speaker 4: blitz pick up, a chip guy. You know, past protection
Speaker 4: was a strength a forte of his and at that
Speaker 4: point in time, it wasn't one of Joe's. And Joe's
Speaker 4: worked on it diligently, and Joe's very effective now, I
Speaker 4: mean Joe's Joe's much more consistent and blitz pick up
Speaker 4: and helping offensive lineman with defensive lineman, pass rush and
Speaker 4: that sort of thing. And I think the way the
Speaker 4: game was going, like you mentioned, down the stretch, Joe's
Speaker 4: getting sacked a lot, so that last job of the thing,
Speaker 4: and they're just going to be teeing off. I mean,
Speaker 4: they're not even going to play the run whatsoever. We
Speaker 4: need to get our best past protecting group in there,
Speaker 4: our best pass protecting tight end, our best pass protecting
Speaker 4: running back to help our offensive line. That you know,
Speaker 4: is from a matchup standpoint, like we talked about through
Speaker 4: the entire podcast, you know, on the short end of
Speaker 4: a couple of couple of matchups and like you mentioned,
Speaker 4: Daniel Raheem Morris is bringing five and you know your
Speaker 4: bring somebody off the ad or a safety blitz or something.
Speaker 4: Now all of a sudden, boys like you gotta have
Speaker 4: bodies in there that can pick it up effectively.
Speaker 8: I think that was part of the thinking on that.
Speaker 1: As we all saw later on replay. On that final play,
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey slipped and Jamar Chase is wide open deep.
Speaker 1: But if you look at Joe Burrow, he was looking
Speaker 1: left on that play, not right, and he pump faked.
Speaker 1: It looked to me like his first read was T
Speaker 1: Higgins and c J Uzama's guy left. CJ double teamed T.
Speaker 1: That led to the the pump fake and then ultimately
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald was able to get to Joe Burrow. Is
Speaker 1: that how you saw it?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I did, Dan, And uh, you know it's like T
Speaker 4: had already hit him for that bomb. You know, he'd
Speaker 4: already hit him once deep. So they're thinking, you know, okay,
Speaker 4: we got to make sure that Raheemors made sure that
Speaker 4: he had some sort of an adjustment where his guy
Speaker 4: wasn't out there on an island to be overpowered.
Speaker 8: By the by the size of the T. Higgins none.
Speaker 8: Only the size speed ratio is crazy.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean it was just the luck of
Speaker 4: the luck of the play call and the matchup. You know,
Speaker 4: looking left initially and blindside, he gets such a great
Speaker 4: pass rush pump. They no chance to no chance to
Speaker 4: get anything else done. It's just that's life in the
Speaker 4: National Football League, man, it's it's sometimes defensive and offensive
Speaker 4: coordinators players lay awake at night and see on the
Speaker 4: screen all the times where they had poor technique or whatever,
Speaker 4: and let them getting beaten. Offensive defensive coordinators, man, they
Speaker 4: get a roll of decks in their head. I should
Speaker 4: have called this play instead of that one, this play
Speaker 4: instead of this one at this time of the game.
Speaker 4: I should have set this play up better by calling this.
Speaker 4: I mean, you can second guess yourself to death. It's
Speaker 4: that's that's why the game is so so intriguing.
Speaker 1: Final score the Rams twenty three the Bengals twenty. Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup was named the MVP, but it easily could have
Speaker 1: been Donald as La tied a Super Bowl record by
Speaker 1: sacking Joe Burrow seven times. Here are Burrow and Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor after the game.
Speaker 10: They have a really good front, you know, Aaron Donald
Speaker 10: von Miller and Leonard Floyd are you know, three of
Speaker 10: the best players in the league.
Speaker 4: You know, you do.
Speaker 10: We expected that they were going to get some pressure,
Speaker 10: so you know, they did a good job. They did
Speaker 10: a good job. You know, I was disappointing my performance overall.
Speaker 10: I thought I could have played better, give us a
Speaker 10: better chance to win. But you know, you live and
Speaker 10: you learn.
Speaker 11: Every tape we've watched they hit every single quarterback, almost
Speaker 11: on every single snap, and so it's a challenge. I
Speaker 11: thought our guys a tremendous job early in the game
Speaker 11: managing that as the game gets on, you know, they
Speaker 11: did a good job creating that pressure. And so when
Speaker 11: we had some negative plays in first and ten, you know,
Speaker 11: running the ball in second thirteen is gonna be pretty tough.
Speaker 1: It was a bitterly disappointing ending to an incredible season.
Speaker 1: Here's Sam Hubbard.
Speaker 4: We made a lot of people happy, and you know,
Speaker 4: we came up short. But you know, I think people really,
Speaker 4: you know, enjoyed cheering for us this year, and you
Speaker 4: know the support that we felt I felt from them.
Speaker 5: Was amazing, And all I want to do is just keep.
Speaker 1: Playing hard for them and take that next step as
Speaker 1: you watch that rams colored confetti low to the ground.
Speaker 1: Did it take you right back to Super Bowl sixteen?
Speaker 8: Bingo?
Speaker 1: Did it?
Speaker 8: It did? And and you know it's funny. Dan.
Speaker 4: The first thing, you know, like that experience and other experiences,
Speaker 4: and to this day when I think about Super Bowl sixteen,
Speaker 4: I think about it quite often. The first thing you
Speaker 4: think about when you when you lose a football game
Speaker 4: like that is the mistakes. You know, win a football game,
Speaker 4: the mistakes go away. Lose a football game, mistakes magnify.
Speaker 4: The bigger the game, the more it holds true. Make plays,
Speaker 4: avoid mistakes. That's the that's the bottom line.
Speaker 1: There was a big party after the game at poly Pavilion,
Speaker 1: where U.
Speaker 8: C l a.
Speaker 1: Basketball plays. Nelly performed Joe Burrow's favorite rapper, kid Cut.
Speaker 1: He performed Is there a party of any sort after
Speaker 1: Super Bowl sixteen when you played the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: I'd call it a gathering. It was not a It
Speaker 4: was not like a party atmosphere. It was like and
Speaker 4: I didn't even want to go, and Lyn's like, we
Speaker 4: got to go, come on, you, you got to go.
Speaker 8: Like I don't know.
Speaker 4: I'm not in any mood to, but it was it
Speaker 4: was very Uh. I'd say solemn is a good way
Speaker 4: to put it. You know, nobody was, uh. But as
Speaker 4: the evening war on a little bit, and I didn't
Speaker 4: stay there long as the hour war on, I think
Speaker 4: that I was there. It's like you start to reflect
Speaker 4: on you know, yeah, this didn't go like we had
Speaker 4: hoped or anticipate of a man, there are so many
Speaker 4: things when you sit back and take some time to
Speaker 4: think about it, you know, climb the ladder of success,
Speaker 4: like you know, one achieved one goal at a time,
Speaker 4: win the division, you know, win a playoff game, win
Speaker 4: the AFC Championship in fifty nine below weather, and all
Speaker 4: these great memories, and it's all spoiled by losing the
Speaker 4: damn Super Bowl. Because I can attest to the fact
Speaker 4: that as a player, people only going to remember one team,
Speaker 4: team that won it, and the team that lost it.
Speaker 4: You're a loser, man, and it just it spoils your
Speaker 4: whole season.
Speaker 8: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: The next time we do one of these detailed Super
Speaker 1: Bowl recaps, it's going to be after the Bengals first win.
Speaker 8: Love it, my man, love it.
Speaker 4: And you know, Dan's let's face it, the Bengals are
Speaker 4: still right there. They played both Super Bowl participants on
Speaker 4: the road and beat the forty nine ers by two
Speaker 4: scores and lost by eight points to Kansas City with
Speaker 4: you know, with their backup quarterback and had very multiple
Speaker 4: chances to win that football game. Jake Browning, you know,
Speaker 4: competed exceptionally. Well, they're right there with anybody. I mean,
Speaker 4: got to keep number nine healthy. When he's healthy. Things
Speaker 4: like super Bowls we're talking about are right there.
Speaker 8: Man.
Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty six did not result in a victory
Speaker 1: parade in Cincinnati, but it did electrify the fan base.
Speaker 1: For the last word, here's Mike Brown.
Speaker 6: This is a wonderful moment for me. What our goal
Speaker 6: is beyond winning on the field. That's how you get
Speaker 6: to the next goal, which is to excite the city
Speaker 6: and get our supporters feeling happy about how it's going,
Speaker 6: enjoying it, getting involved in the ways they do that
Speaker 6: for me is a real treat. I am enjoying that
Speaker 6: part of it as much as anything.
Speaker 1: And that's going to do it. For this episode of
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Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.