Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, The California Dream for your dreaming
Speaker 1: on such a Winner's Day audition. As we begin to
Speaker 1: look ahead to Super Bowl fifty six in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: coming up, my broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to
Speaker 1: discuss a wide variety of topics, including if they were
Speaker 1: to make a movie about this remarkable Bengals season. Who
Speaker 1: plays lap We'll also hear from his road roommate back
Speaker 1: in the day, the first quarterback to lead the Bengals
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl, Ken Anderson, and in our Know
Speaker 1: the Faux segment, we'll catch up with Joe Ready, who
Speaker 1: used to cover the Bengals for The Inquirer and now
Speaker 1: covers LA Sports teams for the Associated Press. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to
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Speaker 1: week's Super Bowl. Here's a quick reminder that you can
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Speaker 1: your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since kind text messages.
Speaker 1: Moments after Evan McPherson's game winning field goal last week
Speaker 1: that sent the Bengals to the Super Bowl, the text
Speaker 1: messages began pouring in from friends and family all over
Speaker 1: the country saying how happy they were that I would
Speaker 1: get a chance to broadcast a Super Bowl. I can
Speaker 1: only imagine what it was like for the players and coaches.
Speaker 1: It was really nice to hear from so many friends,
Speaker 1: including some that I hadn't heard from in years, and
Speaker 1: it was a great reminder that if something special or
Speaker 1: difficult happens to somebody you care about, take a moment
Speaker 1: to reach out though really appreciate it. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to my guests, beginning with Dave lappam Lap. It's Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We've had a few days to think about it. Does
Speaker 1: it seem real at this point to you? It's it's
Speaker 1: starting to get that way. It really is. Uh when
Speaker 1: you when you look back on it, though, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's an amazing accomplishment. It really is. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think when you go on the road in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and you beat the number one and number two seed.
Speaker 1: That's that's getting it done. There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to diminish, you know, the
Speaker 1: successes of the team I played on the team in
Speaker 1: eighty eight eighty nine, the eighty one team. You know,
Speaker 1: we were the number one seed in the eighty one
Speaker 1: eighty two same as eighty eight eighty nine. And you
Speaker 1: have home field advantage, you take full advantage of that
Speaker 1: FREEZEA bowle involved in there in the eighty one eighty
Speaker 1: two situations. So I mean, I just think the for
Speaker 1: them to make it to the Super Bowl, the road
Speaker 1: they had to travel, it's quite remarkable. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's it's as good as good an accomplishment by
Speaker 1: any team in franchise history. I really do excellent points
Speaker 1: that I hadn't thought of. So I'm on cloud nine.
Speaker 1: We all are. But I have found one thing mildly
Speaker 1: annoying over the past few days, and that is the
Speaker 1: national angle on the game on Sunday that the Chiefs
Speaker 1: blew it. It's been more of what went wrong with myhomes.
Speaker 1: Andy Reid made a terrible decision in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: which he did, but not enough credit is going to
Speaker 1: the Bengals and the Bengals defense in particular, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: couldn't agree more. You know, I think I think people
Speaker 1: were so shocked by the outcome. You know, I think
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of a percentage of the
Speaker 1: population thought the Chiefs are going to win the game,
Speaker 1: but I'll guarantee it was a big percentage. And when
Speaker 1: they didn't, normally it's okay, Well the favorite blew it
Speaker 1: instead of the underdog winning it. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: kind of human nature. I guess it's like you were
Speaker 1: supposed to win. Why didn't you win? Well, here's the
Speaker 1: reasons you didn't win. Why did you do that? Instead
Speaker 1: of you know, to me, uh, you know, Andy Reid's
Speaker 1: decision obviously was was was not good. Um. But it
Speaker 1: still boils down to the fact that in one on
Speaker 1: one in space Apple had to tackle Tyreek Hill. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't, it's all a mood point. If he doesn't
Speaker 1: make the play, Um, it's you know, the whole thing
Speaker 1: is is meaningless. Um. And then in the in the
Speaker 1: second half, I thought there were tremendous adjustments. I mean,
Speaker 1: Loui Anna Rumo and the defensive staff. I think Anna
Speaker 1: Rumo outcoach Spagnola and I think that his act outcoached
Speaker 1: Andy Reid in this football game. I mean, bottom line,
Speaker 1: and still, like Loui Ana Rumo said when when he
Speaker 1: was did his press conference, you know a couple of
Speaker 1: days after the game, the players still have to execute.
Speaker 1: So you can, you can put them in position to succeed,
Speaker 1: but they still have to step up and get it
Speaker 1: done and succeed. So yeah, I mean, honestly, Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: looked totally befuddled. I mean, he didn't know what he
Speaker 1: was looking at. He was holding on that football and
Speaker 1: had no idea where to go at that football. And
Speaker 1: I think you know that old saying apply the pressure
Speaker 1: or field of pressure. He did not want to make
Speaker 1: a mistake that was going to lose a close football game.
Speaker 1: And the closer the Bengals got, the more he held
Speaker 1: the football. He did not want to turn the football over.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean that's a metamorphosis. I guess
Speaker 1: a little bit of Mahomes. He's been a gun slinger. Well,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have slinging any gun in the second half
Speaker 1: of that football game. It was it was a pe
Speaker 1: shooter and he had a holstered man. There was nothing
Speaker 1: going on there. So I give all the credit to
Speaker 1: the Bengals. Obviously, it's always a combination. It's always one
Speaker 1: team does things they need to do and other teams don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's are you going to make plays or not?
Speaker 1: And Bengals had players make plays, and some of the
Speaker 1: players have made plays. It's like, I didn't expect that
Speaker 1: guy to make a play. Your ability to realize the
Speaker 1: game in real time is second to none. But you're
Speaker 1: like a coach or a player in the sense that
Speaker 1: then you go back and watch the video and you
Speaker 1: pick out nuances that maybe it didn't see initially. What
Speaker 1: really stood out, particularly when you watch the defense shutting
Speaker 1: down the Chiefs on seven possessions without a touchdown in
Speaker 1: the second half, the uh, the versatility of some of
Speaker 1: the defensive players. I mean, they had Sam Hubbard doing
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of things, a lot of
Speaker 1: things he's capable of. I mean, here's a kid that
Speaker 1: was a safety at Mohler, kept growing, goes linebacker, keV Growling,
Speaker 1: gotting stronger, goes the defensive line, so he's got athleticism,
Speaker 1: and they were utilizing him really really well. I mean
Speaker 1: they had him, you know, playing his defensive end spot
Speaker 1: and pressuring. But then they also one time they had
Speaker 1: him in the spot working and jamming a receiver and
Speaker 1: then and then dropping back to the middle linebacker position
Speaker 1: where we've seen him blitz. We've seen Wilson and Sam
Speaker 1: Hubbard transposed positions and sometimes Hubbard blitz, sometimes he won't.
Speaker 1: So they had Wilson up at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: and they had Hubbard at at at the linebacker spot,
Speaker 1: and he was spying. You know, he was a spy
Speaker 1: that was designated. They had Wilston designated as a spy.
Speaker 1: I'm looking back at the tape on Mahomes. So they
Speaker 1: had they had a really really good plan. They would
Speaker 1: only rush three, but then the fourth rusher would be
Speaker 1: the spy. They time it up perfectly. You know, when
Speaker 1: can I prush, I'm coming downhill. I'm coming after him now.
Speaker 1: And then Mahomes has to worry about not just what
Speaker 1: he's confused about, down to football. I gotta I gotta
Speaker 1: make this guy miss. It's a pretty good athlete. He's
Speaker 1: moving in spade, a big guy moving in space about
Speaker 1: as well as I'm moving in space. So I mean
Speaker 1: about Sam Hubbard getting back to back sacks on two
Speaker 1: consecutive plays, and I mean, you look at it. He's
Speaker 1: got three sacks now in three games in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and Henderson continues to be, you know, a big factor.
Speaker 1: He's got two and a half. The interception that that
Speaker 1: von Bell had, Jesse Bates and Von Bell made a
Speaker 1: great play, but they had Lou had Trey Henderson dropping
Speaker 1: off a zone blitz. He dropped off into a short
Speaker 1: zone and just totally disrupted where Holmes wanted to go
Speaker 1: at the football. So then he tried to force it
Speaker 1: to a place he really didn't want to, and they
Speaker 1: did a lot of zone blitzing stuff. It was almost like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was so so complimentary or variables game
Speaker 1: plan where he had guys at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: and which ones are coming, which ones aren't. Lou did
Speaker 1: a lot of that. He was bringing guys and dropping
Speaker 1: guys that the Knste Chiefs weren't anticipating. It was an
Speaker 1: unbelievably well orchestrated performance in the second half. And uh man,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, whoever whoever wrote the ballet and
Speaker 1: then Barishnikov, you know, went out and executed. It was.
Speaker 1: It was that kind of thing with that second half unfolded.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast the only podcast where you'll get
Speaker 1: a Barishnikov reference courtesy of Dave Lapham. You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's great at rushing three and dropping eight worked out,
Speaker 1: but when you do that a lot of times, mahomes
Speaker 1: is gonna have forever. And there were several instances where
Speaker 1: it was four seconds, five seconds, six seconds. So for
Speaker 1: it to work, even though you got the numbers in
Speaker 1: the secondary, they've still got to be able to cover
Speaker 1: guys forever. Absolutely, they got a plaster And I think
Speaker 1: it started, you know, the whole thing in the second
Speaker 1: half when when lu saw how well guys took away
Speaker 1: every option from Holmes on that second and one from
Speaker 1: the one yard line. I mean, Cheeto just jammed and
Speaker 1: just plastered his receiver. There was nowhere to go. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think that triggered all right.
Speaker 1: We were aggressive on that play all half long. We
Speaker 1: were kind of on our heels. We were we weren't punching,
Speaker 1: we were counterpunching. We were letting them take it to us.
Speaker 1: Let's reverse this a little bit. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: what they did on the second and one play from
Speaker 1: the five yard line with five seconds go. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, well, if you're going for it, we're getting aftercare.
Speaker 1: We're gonna make you get the ball out. And and
Speaker 1: I think that kind of when it worked, gave them
Speaker 1: momentum going at a halftime. It's like, let's bring it
Speaker 1: all out. Let's let's get as aggressive as we can be.
Speaker 1: And uh. But with that said, when you are, when
Speaker 1: you aggressive in what you're doing, differently empty the bucket
Speaker 1: that way, like, let's not leave anything. What do we
Speaker 1: Why why we have all these schemes are? What are
Speaker 1: we gonna do with them? If we lose this football game?
Speaker 1: We'll take into training camp next year. It's not going
Speaker 1: to do us any good. So they started implementing a
Speaker 1: lot of things, and I agree with you they definitely
Speaker 1: had the numbers in their favor, but they got decent
Speaker 1: pressure sometimes out of that three man and then the
Speaker 1: fourth guy would come, you know a little late and
Speaker 1: cause problems. But man, the way guys plastered in that
Speaker 1: second half, the coverage was extraordinary. And then when they
Speaker 1: you know, they were real good leveraging with the double teams.
Speaker 1: They bracketed guys effectively. I mean it was just you're right.
Speaker 1: I mean, when the when the front end is you
Speaker 1: only got three or four going, the back end has
Speaker 1: to step out in the back end stepped up, boy,
Speaker 1: And the sacks they got were covered sacks, period, no
Speaker 1: question about it. So in an AFC Championship game, they
Speaker 1: rotated right guards, which I'm not sure if that's happened
Speaker 1: in twenty thirty, forty, fifty years whatever, it might have
Speaker 1: been a Chemodenergy and Jackson Carmen both played. How did
Speaker 1: they do? And do you think that's the way to
Speaker 1: go in Super Bowl fifty six? I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if they if they stay with that, because Carmen showed that,
Speaker 1: you know, he belongs. He made some plays. Both guys
Speaker 1: did some good things. Both guys did some things where gosh,
Speaker 1: at this stage of the season, you wish that wasn't
Speaker 1: the case. But competition always breeds excellence. So and I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that. Chemodenergy said I've arrived and I don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about my job anymore. You know, I've
Speaker 1: got it. I'm gonna play this position for twelve years.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not saying that he took that approach whatsoever.
Speaker 1: What happened he opened the door crack because Simmons gave
Speaker 1: him a tough way to go in that Tennessee game,
Speaker 1: and he had had some issues. He had had some
Speaker 1: really bad flow up plays in terms of physical dominance,
Speaker 1: you know, down the stretch toward the end of the season.
Speaker 1: And Carmen is a is a bigger, you know, a
Speaker 1: more physical, naturally physical guy. So you know, one obviously
Speaker 1: is further along mentally than the other, but the other
Speaker 1: one has maybe more physical gifts. So if you could
Speaker 1: combine both and you'd have a hell of a player probably,
Speaker 1: But I think I think they are probably going to play,
Speaker 1: both of them. I think they both have shown that
Speaker 1: they are capable and probably worthy of playing in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Um, and then I guess if you if
Speaker 1: you get a hot hand, if one really starts playing well.
Speaker 1: The one thing you hate to have happened though, when
Speaker 1: you're playing guys like that, is a guy makes one
Speaker 1: mistake and he's looking over shoulder, is he gonna am I? Am?
Speaker 1: I done? Am I done? For the game? Man? I
Speaker 1: wish I didn't do that. You know, Um, that's that's
Speaker 1: the only downside to it. But if if the level
Speaker 1: of play for both players has elevated, because Frank said,
Speaker 1: you know what, nobody's got this right guard position, to
Speaker 1: show me what you got, you know, it could could
Speaker 1: turn out to be a brilliant move. But it would
Speaker 1: not surprise me whatsoever if all of a sudden instead
Speaker 1: of like Aaron Donald can rush from both both right
Speaker 1: and left defensive tackle. But I would not be surprised
Speaker 1: if in the Super Bowl He's done a lot more
Speaker 1: rushing from left defensive tackle and he is from right
Speaker 1: defensive tackle because of the issues going on at that
Speaker 1: rotation at the right guard spot. It wouldn't shock me
Speaker 1: at all. Is Bengals offensive line versus Aaron Donald, Von
Speaker 1: Miller and the rest of the Rams defensive line the
Speaker 1: obvious key matchup of this Super Bowl? I think it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you know we're looking at when
Speaker 1: when going to ten to see the play of the Titans,
Speaker 1: they had three pass rushers. Well, these guys in the
Speaker 1: regular season Donald went for twelve and a half sacks,
Speaker 1: Floyd for nine and a half and Miller for nine
Speaker 1: and a half. Floyd being a linebacker. They used to
Speaker 1: rush the pass are pretty well and uh in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Miller's got a couple of sacks and Donald has a
Speaker 1: sack and a half, so they're continuing to to show
Speaker 1: that they're going to be able to pressure the quarterback.
Speaker 1: So I think I think they've got three solid pass
Speaker 1: rushers and one you have three and the other the
Speaker 1: other reason that I would put Aaron Donald over their
Speaker 1: right guard as opposed to the left guard. When you
Speaker 1: slide the line, you can put three blockers on two
Speaker 1: guys if they're both in the same side of the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage slide protection and you have an extra guy.
Speaker 1: When they're on opposite sides, you can't slide protect it.
Speaker 1: You know, you still if you slide to one side,
Speaker 1: the right guard who's struggling, potentially is working against Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald one on one with no center. He's slide un
Speaker 1: So you know that that could that could be a
Speaker 1: little bit of of a factor too. So having having
Speaker 1: three guys, you know, if you need to go seven
Speaker 1: man protection, put five linemen in there in a tight
Speaker 1: end and a running back, and if you need to
Speaker 1: put it in a big body, tight end. If adenergies
Speaker 1: in the game, put Carmen out there as the as
Speaker 1: the extra linement, and in vice versa, you get guys
Speaker 1: that are in the flow of the game plan. I
Speaker 1: mean that that might not be a bad, bad remedy
Speaker 1: the guard that's out on that particular series. If you
Speaker 1: need to throw him on our third and long situation,
Speaker 1: throw him in there at the tight end position to
Speaker 1: be an extra pass protector and keep it back into
Speaker 1: to help on the other side. So be it. I mean,
Speaker 1: just give Joe Burrow time. And then in that case,
Speaker 1: somebody has to win a route. I mean, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be guys are gonna be double team, but somebody is
Speaker 1: going to have a one on one situation and they
Speaker 1: got to win that win that matchup. For sure, We've
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about Joe Burrow over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. This was his greatest moment yet,
Speaker 1: guiding this team to a super Bowl in his second
Speaker 1: year as the quarterback. At this point, is there something
Speaker 1: that just stands out more than anything else about what
Speaker 1: this guy's accomplished? Boy, I'll tell you you know, I
Speaker 1: think I think it's obviously his mental capacity for the
Speaker 1: game is one thing. Um, you know, I I think
Speaker 1: it's second and done. I think the amount of information
Speaker 1: that he can digest, retain and regurgitate, you know, accurately,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. And his ability to take it all in
Speaker 1: and hold onto it, process it. Something shows up in
Speaker 1: a game, he can store through and hit exactly what
Speaker 1: he needs to to respond and answer that particular problem
Speaker 1: that they're trying to cause him. It's incredible to watch.
Speaker 1: He's got a computer like brain for a game of football,
Speaker 1: and he can. He's got a lot of megabytes in there,
Speaker 1: there's no question about it. And that and then you know,
Speaker 1: as a former linement, I just inspired by his toughness.
Speaker 1: I mean he just the guy doesn't flinch. The guy never,
Speaker 1: you know, gets after his teammates for getting beaten. I mean,
Speaker 1: he knows he's part of football. He's just he's a
Speaker 1: football player. The guy plays quarterback with the linebacker's mentality.
Speaker 1: And he's brought up in a defensive household. His dad
Speaker 1: was a coordinator and a lot of skins in the
Speaker 1: walls a defensive coordinator. Two brothers played linebacker at at
Speaker 1: at a high level at Nebraska. I mean he he
Speaker 1: said urban Meyer. Let me cover a kickoffs. If you're
Speaker 1: not gonna let me play quarterback, let me play some football.
Speaker 1: The dude is a football player, you know, he's not
Speaker 1: He's not just a quarterback that you know. Don't hit me,
Speaker 1: don't hit he he likes to mix it up. I mean,
Speaker 1: he likes football. He's he's uh. I'm not saying that.
Speaker 1: You know, he welcomes and thrives on contact, but he
Speaker 1: didn't shy away from it. Tell you that he's a
Speaker 1: he's a tough guy man, and you know he I
Speaker 1: think I think that inspires offense defense specially, that inspires everybody.
Speaker 1: Your quarterback is uh is playing like that and playing
Speaker 1: at that level, and a playmaker like he is. Spashal
Speaker 1: with a big old capitals man. We're having this conversation
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, a week and a half before the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: The Bengals did not practice today. They'll get back out
Speaker 1: there tomorrow. We've got nasty weather coming into Cincinnati. They
Speaker 1: are going to be practicing in the practice bubble that
Speaker 1: you see for the next several days. It's nice that
Speaker 1: that option is there and they're always free to take
Speaker 1: advantage of it. My question is with the practices they
Speaker 1: have now. Between now and the Super Bowl, you'll have
Speaker 1: some practices here, you'll have some practices in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Is there a time period for these practices that you
Speaker 1: consider to be the most important or is it all
Speaker 1: equally important. I will say that the Super Bowl that
Speaker 1: I played in super Bowl sixteen, we have the Freeze Bowl,
Speaker 1: and the week after the Freeze Bowl is provably cold
Speaker 1: as well, and we didn't have any bubble or anything
Speaker 1: like that to go into and we didn't get much
Speaker 1: done that we could practice. And I think it hurt us,
Speaker 1: I really do. You know, We went out there before
Speaker 1: the game itself and had practices, you know, in a
Speaker 1: dome where we could actually you know, get to get
Speaker 1: something done, but it was hard getting things done the
Speaker 1: way you wanted to get them done in that in
Speaker 1: that weather in Cincinnati that week. So I think the
Speaker 1: fact that they have a bubble and UC is being
Speaker 1: gracious enough to let them use that it's going to
Speaker 1: be huge for them and they'll get you know, they
Speaker 1: get some things done. The one thing you don't want
Speaker 1: to do necessarily is put your game plan out there too,
Speaker 1: you know, real early, and then say, uh, maybe we
Speaker 1: can adjust this, oh in the red zone? Why don't
Speaker 1: we do that? And then just start to overthink it,
Speaker 1: overthink it um I personally would, and we did this.
Speaker 1: Don't don't make it a normal week. Present the game
Speaker 1: plan at the early stage of the second week, and
Speaker 1: go through that process. Right now, be working on things
Speaker 1: that you might think about incorporating into the game plan.
Speaker 1: U stay sharp with the core plays and the philosophical
Speaker 1: configuration of those plays that you like. And then, like
Speaker 1: we've been talking about here down the stretch of the season,
Speaker 1: how are you going to make them look different? As
Speaker 1: the great one said Paul Brown said, and make the
Speaker 1: same things look different and different things look the same.
Speaker 1: So how are you going to tweak things where it's
Speaker 1: the same walking for the offensive line, same throw for
Speaker 1: the quarterback, But it's different matchups, it's different personnel groupings,
Speaker 1: it's different formations. It's how are you gonna window address it?
Speaker 1: How are you gonna make it look different? Where their
Speaker 1: eyes are like, ooh this, what is this? We haven't
Speaker 1: seen this? And then they run a player that they've
Speaker 1: been running the whole Oh jeeze long, That's what it
Speaker 1: was all about. Just make it too late, you know
Speaker 1: you make a decision correctly too late, it's still a
Speaker 1: wrong decision. And that's what you're trying to get. You're
Speaker 1: trying to get that little bit of an advantage, you know,
Speaker 1: mentally as you go into the biggest game of your life.
Speaker 1: For sure. Brian Callahan coach and this Bowl four years
Speaker 1: ago with the Rams or not Brian Callan. Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: coach with the Rams. Brian Callahan has coach in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos. How big of a
Speaker 1: deal do you think having a little bit Super Bowl
Speaker 1: coaching experience is going to help? I think it's a
Speaker 1: big deal. I do. I think. I think that any
Speaker 1: experience that you can draw upon is going to be
Speaker 1: a big help. And I think there's some interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: dynamics there Sean McVay and Zach Taylor. I mean, Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor knows Sean mcvay's mindset, thoughts, decision making as a
Speaker 1: head coach. Sean McVay thinks he might know what Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor would think or whatever, but he only knows him
Speaker 1: as an assistant receiver coach and a quarterback coach. He
Speaker 1: doesn't know him in the role of a coordinator. Or
Speaker 1: a head coach, and now he's Colin plays and now
Speaker 1: he's a head coach. So I think the advantage kind
Speaker 1: of goes to Zach in that area. I really do.
Speaker 1: I think there's there's a little bit of an edge
Speaker 1: there where he's been part of the meetings, the whole process.
Speaker 1: What's what's he thinking? Why is he thinking it? And
Speaker 1: Sean hasn't seen Zach in that environment, and Zach has
Speaker 1: seen Sean in that environment. And then you know, the
Speaker 1: other thing is, like you mentioned, Brian Callahan has been
Speaker 1: to a super Bowl, but he's also coach Stafford, so
Speaker 1: he knows stafford strengths, weaknesses, things, he likes, things he
Speaker 1: doesn't like. Any kind of intel like that in a
Speaker 1: game like this is big. I just think that Zach
Speaker 1: might have a little bit more intel on McVeagh as
Speaker 1: a you know, from the head coaching vantage point obviously,
Speaker 1: and Brian Callahan may be able to tell Louanna Romo,
Speaker 1: you know what in this situation, he really doesn't like this,
Speaker 1: and that don't do this because he'll rip it up.
Speaker 1: He likes that kind of a look, he likes that
Speaker 1: kind of a matchup. I'm not saying you don't see
Speaker 1: it on tape, but I'm saying that you can embellish
Speaker 1: it and even a deeper dive into all that stuff
Speaker 1: because you have first end experience for those guys, and
Speaker 1: any little bit of intel that you think you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to gather it is going to help
Speaker 1: you in the super Bowl. Even if it's psychosomatic you think,
Speaker 1: you know, man, that's an edge that's going to help us. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: it can help you because psychologically, yeah, man, we're better
Speaker 1: prepared than they are. We know more than they know.
Speaker 1: Anything like that that you can get an edge you're
Speaker 1: looking for in the Super Bowl. So I've learned a
Speaker 1: valuable lesson in the last several days. Whenever an athlete
Speaker 1: has asked how does something feel, some great moment in
Speaker 1: a game, some personal accomplishment, and they don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: a great answer. I am now sympathetic because for all
Speaker 1: the people who have asked me how this feels, I'm
Speaker 1: having a hard time articulating just how incredibly special this is.
Speaker 1: To have a chance to broadcast a Super Bowl. You've
Speaker 1: done it before, more importantly, you played in one. It's
Speaker 1: such a thrill. I'm really struggling to put it into
Speaker 1: the proper context. You know, the feeling that you have
Speaker 1: when you win an AFC championship game as a player
Speaker 1: is indescribable. I mean it's like it's like no other feeling. Professionally,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, marriage, birth to children, all that
Speaker 1: is huge in your in your life life experiences. But
Speaker 1: what if you're in a profession. Getting to the top
Speaker 1: of the mountain is like indescribable, or as close to
Speaker 1: the top of the mountain, and going to the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl is getting close, and then you have to just
Speaker 1: take that one final grab and you can't quite clutch
Speaker 1: it at the top and that I will say, I
Speaker 1: just hope, like hell, they win this football game, because
Speaker 1: I can honestly say the highest I've ever felt in
Speaker 1: my life, the most adrenaline rush, the biggest adrenaline rush
Speaker 1: I've ever gotten in my life, is that morning of
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl and I thought, oh, it's too early,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to go back to bed. I
Speaker 1: got such a big adrenaline surgeon in the locker room
Speaker 1: before the game and I thought, oh my gosh, man,
Speaker 1: I'm spent. Well, no Eric comes again and again it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's just unbelievable. And then afterwards, when
Speaker 1: you don't win it, you talk about a crash, a depression.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, man, it's like it's the worst feeling
Speaker 1: in the world. So I hope those guys don't have
Speaker 1: to experience it, because experience it as a player. And
Speaker 1: then in the broadcast booth, it's certainly not that kind
Speaker 1: of high and low. But the excitement you feel is
Speaker 1: pretty impressed and pretty incredible, and you're thinking, got here,
Speaker 1: might as well finish it, you know, might as well,
Speaker 1: might as well be the world champion. How about that?
Speaker 1: How about it? This football team that was two and
Speaker 1: fourteen two years ago and six twenty five and one
Speaker 1: over the last two years ends up the following year
Speaker 1: as world champion, the best in the world, Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty six champion. Watch that would be. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: books movie. There's gonna be rights all over the place
Speaker 1: about this one boy. I mean, Hollywood can't script this
Speaker 1: bad boy who plays Dave Lapham in the movie. Harrison
Speaker 1: Ford who plays Dan Horde, some ball guy, some bad loser.
Speaker 1: Won't be Bruce Willis will be an ugly bald guy.
Speaker 1: Oh man, at least we'll buy tickets. Yeah, yeah, I'd
Speaker 1: like to go see it. It would be great. You
Speaker 1: have a good suggestion for who should play me in
Speaker 1: the Bengals movie, you can tweet it to me at
Speaker 1: dan Underscore Horde. Unless the dude is hideous, then just
Speaker 1: keep it to yourself. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented
Speaker 1: by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game.
Speaker 1: This year, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the
Speaker 1: course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money
Speaker 1: can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: in the app store and Google Go Play Up. Next,
Speaker 1: it's the first quarterback to take the Bengals to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl nineteen eighty one, MVP Ken Anderson. He joined
Speaker 1: Lapping Me on the Bengals Game Plan Show, and I
Speaker 1: started the conversation by asking what this Super Bowl appearance
Speaker 1: means to them forty years after they played in Super
Speaker 1: Bowl sixteen. Well, you know, to me, I think that
Speaker 1: sense of pride as a former player, you know, and Dave,
Speaker 1: you know you were there with me in the seventies
Speaker 1: and eighties when we were as good as any team
Speaker 1: in the National Football You know, we only got to
Speaker 1: one Super Bowl, and we happen to have a juggernaut
Speaker 1: in our division, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Raiders were tough,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins were going undefeated. We had a lot of
Speaker 1: good football teams in the AFC in that era. And
Speaker 1: then you know, you kind of get to the nineties,
Speaker 1: we go down and you know, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you know, you listen, it's the Bungals and then the
Speaker 1: national media just toast us all the time. They can't
Speaker 1: do anything, they can't their ownership is chief, They got
Speaker 1: no facilities, you know, and all of a sudden, here
Speaker 1: we are. And it's that sense of pride that I
Speaker 1: feel in the team that back to the you know,
Speaker 1: the lofty status that we ought to have because we
Speaker 1: you know, we had a great football tradition in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: a winning football tradition, and now to see that coming
Speaker 1: back really makes me feel good right right honestly to
Speaker 1: h you know, the guy, the guy who's taken the
Speaker 1: biggest beating is Mike Brown, There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And for an eighty six year old guy to experience
Speaker 1: what Mike Brown's experiencing this year and uh and and
Speaker 1: have a chance to take another bite of the apple
Speaker 1: and maybe finish the apple. In terms of winning the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, that would be incredible too too. I can
Speaker 1: only imagine, you know, what he's feeling and thinking and
Speaker 1: and it's it's just we were talking about it off
Speaker 1: here before we actually on the podcast we were doing
Speaker 1: before we came on the air. Here. From a professional standpoint,
Speaker 1: it's it's like the biggest thing that could ever happen
Speaker 1: to you, going to Super Bowl and winning a super Bowl. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, marriage, kids, all that in your overall life
Speaker 1: are big moments. But this, this kind of moment is
Speaker 1: you know something that I mean, there are guys like
Speaker 1: we talked about Tequillo Spikes fifteen years in the league,
Speaker 1: five different teams, never went to a playoff game, great player, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Dick Barkas, Merland Olson fifteen years, fourteen Pro bowls, never
Speaker 1: won a championship, never went to a Super Bowl, never
Speaker 1: won an NFL championship. I mean, you can't, you can't
Speaker 1: take this stuff for granted. There's no question about it.
Speaker 1: Everybody loves an underdog. I think people around the country
Speaker 1: are falling in love with this team. Joe Burrow is
Speaker 1: so likable. I think most of America is going to
Speaker 1: be rooting for Cincinnati in this particular Super Bowl. And
Speaker 1: speaking of Joe, is there a company in the United
Speaker 1: States right now that's not getting in touch with his agents?
Speaker 1: So can we line this guy up to be one
Speaker 1: of our spoke people? Because everything he does he does well.
Speaker 1: Obviously his play, but just the way he carries himself
Speaker 1: and everything. If he wants some of that stuff, boy,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be at his fingertips. And that's different than
Speaker 1: and I guarantee that's the farthest thing from Joe's miya
Speaker 1: right now, that's the stuff for the offseason. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy's focus, his preparation. You know, it was interesting
Speaker 1: hearing some of us thought, were you're nervous before the game? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, the night before I was a little anxious,
Speaker 1: but that's when I'm kind of going over all the
Speaker 1: scenarios that could happen, you know, his mental preparation. He said, Hey,
Speaker 1: once I get to the stadium, I'm fine, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that attitude really translate to the other
Speaker 1: guys on the team, where you know, we're they're loose.
Speaker 1: And I really credit Zach in the preparation for the
Speaker 1: team when the playoffs started, he said, you know, all,
Speaker 1: we gotta turn our preparation up a notch. He said,
Speaker 1: we don't have to do that. You know, our preparation
Speaker 1: has been up a notch all year long, right the
Speaker 1: way that these guys work at practice, So that that's
Speaker 1: a you know, a really a compliment that the Zak
Speaker 1: and the coaching staff. You know that the Bengals are
Speaker 1: in this situation as well. You know, there's a big similarity.
Speaker 1: H And I don't know Joe Burrow obviously, like like,
Speaker 1: I know you, but you guys, you guys are both
Speaker 1: highly intelligent, I mean overall base intelligence plus football IQ.
Speaker 1: And I know how much you put into absorbing every
Speaker 1: bit of information you could and retaining it and be
Speaker 1: able to bring it back out when necessary, solving a
Speaker 1: problem defense was trying to make and give you an
Speaker 1: all that sort of thing. And he's like that, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he can retain a bunch and apply it perfectly
Speaker 1: when necessary and all that sort of thing. And that
Speaker 1: gives the whole team confidence when you have a guy
Speaker 1: doing that kind of thing. Imagine how good I could
Speaker 1: have been if I had an iPad to look at
Speaker 1: everything I needed to look at it, and instead of
Speaker 1: taking the Kansas sixteen millimeter film home with my projector
Speaker 1: at home and showed it on the wall to got
Speaker 1: to get ready for a game. Yep, I hear you,
Speaker 1: I hear you. It's the thing I appreciate about this
Speaker 1: guy being our guests for this game. The great Ken
Speaker 1: Anderson played in the Super Bowl, broadcasting super Bowl, coached
Speaker 1: in a Super Bowl, got a Super Bowl ring with
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh steel Is coaching Ben Roethlisberger. Stow. This guy
Speaker 1: has been to the Super Bowl in a bunch of
Speaker 1: different roles, you know, And so how how different I
Speaker 1: guess the broadcasting parts in different world. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: not like playing a coach. So playing and coaching, how
Speaker 1: different was it from a process standpoint for you? Getting
Speaker 1: ready for Super Bowl? Well, you know it's coaching was
Speaker 1: always a little bit more difficult for me than playing,
Speaker 1: because you try to get your guys ready, but when
Speaker 1: the game comes, you've got nothing that you can do
Speaker 1: about it but out of your control, you know. But
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, going through that, you know with
Speaker 1: the Steelers that you know, we had our media day
Speaker 1: on Tuesday and then they left us alone for the
Speaker 1: rest of the week when we were down in Tampa
Speaker 1: getting ready for this game. You know, all right, every
Speaker 1: day at lunch, all right, you got interviews you gotta do.
Speaker 1: Here's more media stuff, and you try to go back
Speaker 1: in practice, you know. So it's just there was so
Speaker 1: much more to take up the player's time in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, you know, nowadays than there was when we
Speaker 1: played Dave And so, speaking of Super Bowl quarterbacks, Tom
Speaker 1: Brady efficiently announced his retirement this week. Seven super Bowl
Speaker 1: rings for the coach, which is just absolutely incredible. It's nuts.
Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to me, Tom Brady does a podcast. It's called
Speaker 1: Let's Go. He does it with Jim Gray and with
Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald, and this week he had Joe Burrow on
Speaker 1: as his guest. I highly recommend listening to the whole
Speaker 1: thing again. It's the Let's Go podcast with Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: You're gonna play a little snippet of it tonight. Here's
Speaker 1: Tom Brady when asked for his opinion of Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: and then Joe Burrow's reaction. I think Joe's got some
Speaker 1: tools that I didn't quite have when I was his age.
Speaker 1: So super impressed by how he's kind of coming to
Speaker 1: the league and went to Cincinnati, which has been a
Speaker 1: tough place to play over the years, and you know,
Speaker 1: two years into his career after a really tough injury
Speaker 1: last year, show a lot of mental and physical toughness
Speaker 1: coming back and have an incredible season. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I always love watching quarterbacks, and certainly young quarterbacks, because
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, there's certain ways to play
Speaker 1: the game, and to play the game at a high
Speaker 1: level requires a huge commitment, and I think Joe, even
Speaker 1: from when I saw him at LS, you know, he
Speaker 1: makes that commitment. So it's a it's really a great
Speaker 1: thing for me to see as as you know, somebody
Speaker 1: who's played this game for a long time, so really
Speaker 1: happy for Joe and his team. Joe, when you hear
Speaker 1: those words from Tom, your reaction is, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can be in the conversation
Speaker 1: with this guy yet, but you know, I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: really hard to try and I think we're up to
Speaker 1: a great start. I'm excited about, you know, the opportunity
Speaker 1: that we have. We worked really really hard to to
Speaker 1: get here. You know, we had a great offseason, our
Speaker 1: front office did a great job of bringing in guys
Speaker 1: that not only what we needed on the field, but
Speaker 1: off the field as well in the locker room. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's just been a warwind couple of weeks. Certainly,
Speaker 1: not going to compare Joe Burrow's accomplishments to Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: We're a long way from that. But do you see
Speaker 1: qualities in Joe Burrow that make you think of Tom Brady? Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit. I mean, I think you know, it's
Speaker 1: well documented watching Brady run his forty time and I
Speaker 1: would say, you know, take nothing away from Joe, but
Speaker 1: he's probably not the most athletic quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the strongest arm about anybody in the end.
Speaker 1: But I think what really is similar to him and
Speaker 1: Brady is what's between their ears. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: all the years looking at quarterbacks, you know, coaching quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: scouting quarterbacks, the toughest thing to figure out is what's
Speaker 1: between their ears, you know, and what's in their heart,
Speaker 1: their their love of the game, what they're willing to
Speaker 1: do to be successful. So I think, you know, that's
Speaker 1: the similarity I see between you know, Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. You know, it's funny you mentioned the love
Speaker 1: of the game, and I asked, asked Zach last week,
Speaker 1: what was what was the non negotiable characteristic when you
Speaker 1: guys were addressing rebuilding the football team in free agency
Speaker 1: and or the draft. What was that one characteristic that
Speaker 1: players had to have? And he said, they gotta love
Speaker 1: the game, because we both have had teammates that were
Speaker 1: unbelievable talents, but they didn't really care about football. You know,
Speaker 1: It's like, Ah, the Lord Bustman with all this talent,
Speaker 1: but I don't really care that much about football. And
Speaker 1: then if you have both, if you've got guy that
Speaker 1: has you know, great talent and then has the desire
Speaker 1: to be the best you know, and really loves the
Speaker 1: game of football, then you have something special, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what it's all about, you know. No, I mean
Speaker 1: it goes back to the Ring of Honor game and
Speaker 1: no one he's gonna get blitzed against Baltimore and a
Speaker 1: critical place to go out and get a field goal
Speaker 1: to win the game, and well they're in a formation,
Speaker 1: we're gonna want to go to the wide receiver screen.
Speaker 1: But as who's I'm out there? Would call it anyway,
Speaker 1: and he does it. And then to hear Zach or
Speaker 1: other people talk about on Fridays, they'll take the receivers,
Speaker 1: line them up in different formations and switch them around.
Speaker 1: Called the concept that they're doing. So everybody has a
Speaker 1: feel for what they do if they do go to
Speaker 1: an audible and you know that. Going all the way
Speaker 1: back to Paul Brown, I remember when learning learning the offense,
Speaker 1: Paul Brown was like, all right, well, we're gonna you
Speaker 1: have to Tiger would give us test. You guys always
Speaker 1: had tests as well. But he said, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you two grades. I'm gonna give you a
Speaker 1: grade in the upper left hand corner on your assignments,
Speaker 1: upper right hand corner on the whole team assignments. So
Speaker 1: Paul Brown was like, want you to know the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to be tunnel vision on. Okay,
Speaker 1: well you're gonna block the defensive tackle and you don't
Speaker 1: or if you pull. He wanted to know as a
Speaker 1: center region tackle blocking down, you know, is the back
Speaker 1: filling who's got their responsibility you just vacated and and
Speaker 1: why he wanted He wanted you to understand the whole
Speaker 1: big picture, right, And and that's that's key. That if
Speaker 1: the whole team, if Joe Burrows the only guy like
Speaker 1: you talk about Kenny, he makes that audible and CJ
Speaker 1: looks at me like, huh, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: The whole team has to understand what the hell's going
Speaker 1: on there? Well, No, And I think the other thing
Speaker 1: that Joe does is hold guys accountable. If you're not
Speaker 1: willing to put the time, the effort, work as hard
Speaker 1: as I am, we don't want you here, you know.
Speaker 1: So I think everybody's got that attitude that I will
Speaker 1: take whatever time, work as hard as I have to
Speaker 1: to make this thing go. And uh, and it's working.
Speaker 1: And I think he's set such a good example that way.
Speaker 1: He's the first guy in the last one to leave.
Speaker 1: So other players are saying, jeez, my doing enough. Look
Speaker 1: at Joe's doing. Look, look at all the time Joe's
Speaker 1: putting into this, Look at the dedication Joe has to this.
Speaker 1: Maybe I better pick it up a notch or two.
Speaker 1: And that just raises the whole boat, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the whole deal. That's what it's all about. You
Speaker 1: guys both played in the Super Bowl Tom Brady played
Speaker 1: in ten and one seven. Here is his Super Bowl
Speaker 1: advice for Joe Burrow. When you get to the game,
Speaker 1: you're going to realize it's just that it's exactly what
Speaker 1: you've done all season long. The ball's gonna get kicked off,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna feel like a football game. Getting to
Speaker 1: that point, you'll feel quite a bit different than any game,
Speaker 1: But you just realize that when you get to that moment,
Speaker 1: it's a really exciting time for everyone. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's really exciting for your family and your friends, and
Speaker 1: it should be because it's we've all dreamed about getting
Speaker 1: to that moment. So I just happy for you and
Speaker 1: your team. You know, you guys have overcome a lot,
Speaker 1: as it should be, and you've earned it. And you
Speaker 1: know football is about earning every single day every week,
Speaker 1: and you know when you get to the postseason, there's
Speaker 1: no margin of error. And you guys went into a
Speaker 1: really tough place to playing in Kansas City and got
Speaker 1: the job done. And I know that's a great feelings,
Speaker 1: probably one of the great feelings you'll ever feel. In
Speaker 1: the locker room after a game. There's only one show,
Speaker 1: and that's better as if you go take care of
Speaker 1: the one two weeks from now. So what's it your
Speaker 1: experience that once they kicked it off, it felt like
Speaker 1: a normal game, but it had to be the kickoff,
Speaker 1: you know. You try to tell yourself it's just another game.
Speaker 1: And and we're in Pontiac and I'm standing out there
Speaker 1: and gosh, you know, it's time for the national anthem.
Speaker 1: And Diana Ross was singing the Nationalist. She didn't come
Speaker 1: this may be a pretty bay, a little bit big
Speaker 1: deal right here. No, but you know, you try to
Speaker 1: get you get yourself to that point. Yeah, I remember
Speaker 1: it kind of hit me with the offense. Was fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to be introduced, you know. And I remember running
Speaker 1: down the you know, the tunnel of people, and there's
Speaker 1: the TV cameras right there at the lens, and I
Speaker 1: remember thinking, there's a lot of people watching this thing.
Speaker 1: Hope I don't screw anything. I hope I play good.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like, all of a sudden, I think
Speaker 1: the magnitude of it really does start tension. But like
Speaker 1: you said, once the balls kicked off, once you take
Speaker 1: that first hit, it's just like, man, it's just like
Speaker 1: in high school, college whatever. I mean, it's football. Football's football.
Speaker 1: But you know the thing obviously that bugs me and
Speaker 1: I know it bugs Kenny. In the biggest game, we
Speaker 1: uncharacteristically self destructive. We made too many mistakes you know,
Speaker 1: that we weren't making during the course of the season,
Speaker 1: and it uh it cost us, you know. We uh
Speaker 1: we put ourselves on the schedule and the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers were good football team. They didn't need to help,
Speaker 1: and we gave him help. And that, to me, that
Speaker 1: was the unfortunate thing. I'd like to, you know, be
Speaker 1: able to play him again and uh and not make
Speaker 1: those mistakes and see how it would turn out. You know.
Speaker 1: Did it take you a while to watch that game? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, man, I got I was there, you know,
Speaker 1: and I remember the disappointment of it that. You know.
Speaker 1: I was leaving the next morning to go to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl and I went into the team doctor. I said,
Speaker 1: they find something wrong with that. I don't want to
Speaker 1: go And they said, oh why, Kenny says, you know,
Speaker 1: you didn't get hurt in the game. They're gonna know
Speaker 1: that the league is gonna send you to LA have
Speaker 1: another doctor look at you. You're gonna have to go
Speaker 1: over there. Anyway, But just it was just the disappointment
Speaker 1: of it. Although I will say one of the things
Speaker 1: that kind of helped me get through it, you know,
Speaker 1: my son, Matt. I think I was the first guy
Speaker 1: to carry to carry him off the field. And we
Speaker 1: go in magic, we go into the locker room, and
Speaker 1: and I'm really disappointed. He's sitting in the locker and
Speaker 1: you know, the coaches really didn't talk to him. And
Speaker 1: finally I turned and I said, well, Matt, what'd you think?
Speaker 1: He says, Dad, they had the best halftime show I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. I guess it wasn't all that bad a day.
Speaker 1: Here's my experience. I get back to the uh the
Speaker 1: hotel and uh tucking my son in sun Dave, you know,
Speaker 1: and and UH like Matt, you know, he had an understanding.
Speaker 1: He was old enough to know, Hey, geez, you guys
Speaker 1: played well or you didn't, you know. So I'm tucking
Speaker 1: him in and we're losing twenty to nothing at the
Speaker 1: half of that football game because of the mistakes. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, I, Dave, you know, and I and I
Speaker 1: mean I barely was able to talk anyway, And I
Speaker 1: looked at him like, hey, Dave, good night. Man, I'll
Speaker 1: catch in the morning, Tuck Minnie goes Dad. I said, yes,
Speaker 1: sir son, Why did you guys stink so bad? In
Speaker 1: the first time? I wanted to take the pillow and
Speaker 1: go fus and just it's like, oh my gosh, I'm
Speaker 1: like Dave. I can't talk about it right now. I
Speaker 1: probably won't be able to talk about it for a while.
Speaker 1: But that's a darn good question, bage, no doubt what
Speaker 1: it's worth. Ken Anderson played extremely well in Super Bowl sixteen,
Speaker 1: completing seventy four percent of his passes for three hundred
Speaker 1: yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of ninety
Speaker 1: five point two. He also ran for a TD another
Speaker 1: reason why Ken Anderson should be in the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: on Location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit
Speaker 1: on location exp dot com for exclusive access to the
Speaker 1: biggest events, including next week's Super Bowl. Now time for
Speaker 1: our Know the Faux segment with Joe Ready from the
Speaker 1: Associated Press in Los Angeles. If the name sounds familiar,
Speaker 1: Joe used to cover the Bengals for the Cincinnati Inquirer.
Speaker 1: So before we got to the Rams. I asked for
Speaker 1: his reaction to Cincinnati making it to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I'm pleasantly surprised, Dan. I'm happy though, for the city,
Speaker 1: happy for the organization, and I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people throughout the years, you know, was happy that they
Speaker 1: broke the long losing streak and then got the first
Speaker 1: ro playoff win. And you know, the way they took
Speaker 1: care of business in the second half against Kansas City
Speaker 1: was kind of similar to that week seventeen games. So
Speaker 1: you look at the turnaround that Zach did. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if Lap agrees or not, but you know,
Speaker 1: this team making a Super Bowl kind of mirrors d
Speaker 1: eighty one and eighty eight Bengal Super Bowl teams and
Speaker 1: nobody expected a lot and now here they are playing
Speaker 1: in the Big Game. Only differences. They aren't playing the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers this time. Yeah, that's right, Joe. Hey,
Speaker 1: good to hear your voice. Yeah, it's interesting that the
Speaker 1: big difference this team was the number four seed and
Speaker 1: those eighty one and eighty eight teams were the number
Speaker 1: one seed didn't have to go on the road, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals had to go on the road twice and
Speaker 1: they won both of them and the first road playoff
Speaker 1: win in franchise history. Nobody would be able to tie
Speaker 1: that accomplishment. So this this team is pretty interesting in
Speaker 1: that regard. The thing that's the common denominator between the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Bengals in the last eleven games, including
Speaker 1: the playoffs, they're both eight and three, and the Rams
Speaker 1: are eight and one actually in their last nine. The
Speaker 1: Bengals don't have that kind of a record in their
Speaker 1: last nine games with the regular season in postseason. But
Speaker 1: both teams are playing their best football at the most
Speaker 1: opportune time. You know, they get hot at the right time.
Speaker 1: What was the key for the Rams to get as
Speaker 1: hot as they did down the stretch. I think they
Speaker 1: had from the injury problems. Daves that somewhere around November.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, both teams have gotten on nice
Speaker 1: win streaks. But I take the difference between the Bengals
Speaker 1: and the Rams is the Bengals didn't have that three
Speaker 1: three game losing streak. It seemed like they'd have bad
Speaker 1: games but then immediately pop right back up after having
Speaker 1: the bad games. The Rams really had that bad string
Speaker 1: there in November when everybody was wondering whether they'd rebound,
Speaker 1: and let's face it, at one time there were two
Speaker 1: games behind Arizona and NFC West, so the fact that
Speaker 1: they were able to storm back, win the division and
Speaker 1: get the losing streak behind them was big. I think
Speaker 1: the defense rounded into form a little bit better, and
Speaker 1: I think this offense, it's been missing a run game
Speaker 1: for most of the season. Cam Akers sat an achilles
Speaker 1: injury even before training camps started. He's come back now
Speaker 1: and played during the postseason, but it was just a
Speaker 1: very inconsistent offense. But I think the story would the
Speaker 1: Rams offense has beside Stafford has been Cooper Cup, but
Speaker 1: I take odelcom junior coming in. Von Miller's had a
Speaker 1: nice four or five games. It's just all the parts
Speaker 1: finally got together at the right time. And I think
Speaker 1: the key two with the Rams is that this is
Speaker 1: the healthiest that they've been. We're chatting with Joe Ready,
Speaker 1: who covers LA Sports for the Associated Press. Joe, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people look at Bengals offensive line
Speaker 1: versus Rams defensive line is the most significant matchup going
Speaker 1: into the Super Bowl. Do you agree? I would agree.
Speaker 1: I think if the Bengals fans have a saving grace though,
Speaker 1: I think with as bad as that line performed against
Speaker 1: Tennessee A, played very well against Kansas City and against
Speaker 1: San Francisco, all of us thought and the Rims would
Speaker 1: would pressure and go after Jimmy Garoppolo. They kind of
Speaker 1: they kind of stood back most of the time. They
Speaker 1: really didn't get pressure on Garoppolo until those last drives
Speaker 1: at the game, including the interception that clinched the game
Speaker 1: for him. So it'll be interesting to see how if
Speaker 1: the Rams kind of do like they did against the
Speaker 1: Niners where they dropped back in coverage a lot and
Speaker 1: really don't don't bring a lot of pressure, or you know,
Speaker 1: knowing this offensive line, do they decide to turn the
Speaker 1: pressure up a little bit. But Aaron Donald will be
Speaker 1: more than psyched and ready in this game because he
Speaker 1: still blames himself for losing that Super Bowl against New
Speaker 1: England three years ago, including on the big play to
Speaker 1: Gronkowski where they basically shot the gap on him, and
Speaker 1: he's he's thought about that play for three long years.
Speaker 1: He talked about that a lot during last year, last
Speaker 1: week's game preparing against San Francisco to try to get
Speaker 1: back here. The turnovers are all He's big and the
Speaker 1: bigger the game. The bigger turnovers are the Bengals seven
Speaker 1: takeaways to giveaways in the postseason, they're plus five and
Speaker 1: the Rams are plus two. Interesting, the MS Rams only
Speaker 1: lost five fumbles during the regular season, amongst the fewers
Speaker 1: in the league. They fumbled it four times and lost
Speaker 1: all of them in three playoff games. Why the ball
Speaker 1: security issues in the playoffs? Do you think they've been
Speaker 1: playing some physical defenses. Um, they had a bad turnover
Speaker 1: against the Niners that almost hurt him. But I think
Speaker 1: that ball security, like he said, he is an issue.
Speaker 1: I think they're also counting on the run game a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I think him akers had one of
Speaker 1: those lost fumbles, he's still, you know, trying to get
Speaker 1: back into in a playing shape. For lack of a
Speaker 1: better term, I think he's averaging less than three yards
Speaker 1: of carry. So when they when they fumble, it's usually
Speaker 1: not those ones that pop right back up into into
Speaker 1: your hands. That's usually the ones that go forward that
Speaker 1: opponents are lucky to get. Well. Jalen Ramsey followed, you
Speaker 1: mar Chase without help, leaving everybody else secondary and linebackers
Speaker 1: to cover all of the Bengals other weapons. I think so,
Speaker 1: I think, and I also think Jen and Jalen relish
Speaker 1: is the opportunity to UM to have a matchup like
Speaker 1: this UM if I'm not wrong. The last time Ramsey
Speaker 1: faces to Bengals was Jacksonville with the with the infamous
Speaker 1: incident with him and aj Or did they or did
Speaker 1: they play after that? No? I think that's it. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: because they because the twenty eighteen game, Jalen was still
Speaker 1: with the UH was still with the Jaguars, so he
Speaker 1: wasn't here. But I think they I think these are
Speaker 1: the type of matchups did Jalen wants and likes to
Speaker 1: bring his way. He played a good game last week,
Speaker 1: especially after the Tampa Bay game where the long touchdown
Speaker 1: pass that he that he now likes to boast was
Speaker 1: Tom Brady's final touchdown path of his career. But that
Speaker 1: was one of the few times that I think Jalen
Speaker 1: has gotten severely beaten coverage and and I think this
Speaker 1: is one of those games that UH, he definitely wants
Speaker 1: to UH. He definitely wants to take on a receiver
Speaker 1: one on one. So the Bengals are kind of running
Speaker 1: a little bit of a rotation at the right guard position.
Speaker 1: By series here, what have you heard? I know it's early,
Speaker 1: but as Aaron Donald, have you noticed him drooling or
Speaker 1: anything like that? But as he anticipates lining up against
Speaker 1: the Bengals interior linement. I mean, Aaron Donald is such
Speaker 1: a such a different breed man. What what's that guy like?
Speaker 1: What's what's what's he like? Just as a as a
Speaker 1: person in the locker room? You know, in the community,
Speaker 1: what's he like? Very good in the community, He's he's
Speaker 1: kind of been a quiet guy in the locker room.
Speaker 1: But as Aaron noted last week, Von Miller coming here
Speaker 1: has actually gotten him out of this shell. Von is
Speaker 1: taking it upon himself, is maybe one of those veteran
Speaker 1: leaders that he's been telling. Aaron, Hey, people, your teammates
Speaker 1: want to hear from you. They want to know what
Speaker 1: you're thinking. They want to It's not the lead by
Speaker 1: example anymore. If you've got something to say, say it.
Speaker 1: And if you've got to get on guys, get on them.
Speaker 1: And I think Aaron was very vocal last week. That
Speaker 1: was one thing that you heard Jalen Ramsey and a
Speaker 1: bunch of players say that Aaron was gone around at
Speaker 1: a different position groups, just reiterating the goals for the game,
Speaker 1: what they wanted and because as Aaron has said, and
Speaker 1: I think it was a quote that went around everywhere,
Speaker 1: He's like, I've accomplished everything. The only thing that I
Speaker 1: don't have on my resume right now is a super
Speaker 1: Bowl title. And that's been driving them in, you know,
Speaker 1: with the Rams kind of taking things year by year.
Speaker 1: They don't have a draft pick in the first three
Speaker 1: rounds next year, and I kind of joked him, maybe
Speaker 1: the last next time they'll have a first round draft pick,
Speaker 1: it's twenty thirty or twenty thirty one. Is this is
Speaker 1: a it's almost a year to year window with them.
Speaker 1: It's not looking two or three years down the line.
Speaker 1: It's what can you do, It's what can you do
Speaker 1: right now? Which you got to give the rims and
Speaker 1: less meat than Sean McVay kudos for the win now
Speaker 1: and be aggressive. But I think at one time or
Speaker 1: another it's going to catch up with you, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know, two years down the line or three years
Speaker 1: down the line. This window in their time is definitely now.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for our friend Joe Ready from
Speaker 1: the Associated Press in Los Angeles. Has Sean McVay articulated
Speaker 1: any lessons he feels like he learned from the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl loss to Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think there was a definite hangover with this team
Speaker 1: in two nineteen, and I think he's saw for twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen and half of twenty twenty that Bill Belichick was
Speaker 1: still firmly in the Los Angeles Rillham's head to where
Speaker 1: there was just some game planning that Sean did that
Speaker 1: and some stuff with Jared Goff that you were wondering
Speaker 1: what was going on there. And it took him a
Speaker 1: long time. And I think the one thing that that
Speaker 1: went kind of stressed on Monday because is he said,
Speaker 1: it's it's not too often you're you're older than your
Speaker 1: head coach, and older by a lot I might had,
Speaker 1: but that Sean has matured. It takes it. It takes
Speaker 1: head coaches a long time to learn who they are
Speaker 1: and how comfortable they are. And Sean experienced the Sean
Speaker 1: experienced a lot of success early and god and really
Speaker 1: didn't get adversity until I'd say the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: And I think he's calmed down a little bit. He's
Speaker 1: still got that fire on the sidelines where we've wondered
Speaker 1: a couple of times why I didn't get fifteen yard
Speaker 1: penalties for going to chess bump one of his guys
Speaker 1: in the end zone after a touchdown. But I think
Speaker 1: the adversity and also you know, maybe easing off and
Speaker 1: practicing and stuff has definitely helped. And I also think
Speaker 1: too having Matthew Stafford, having a veteran quarterback where they're
Speaker 1: on the same wavelength and can agree to things has
Speaker 1: definitely helped him in that approach to where you know,
Speaker 1: you look at Zach Taylor. The first couple of years,
Speaker 1: a ton of adversity, and now in the third year,
Speaker 1: everything's clicking. For Shawn it was off as it first
Speaker 1: couple of years. Everything came quickly, and it wasn't until
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen when they didn't make the playoffs that everybody
Speaker 1: was wondering if the boy genius or it weren't off
Speaker 1: a little bit. Final question, Joel, and thanks for carbon time.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate you in your insight and perspective. Minds
Speaker 1: about Andrew Whitworth, with forty years old, still playing efficient,
Speaker 1: effective football, does he retire after this year? Like Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: Does he joined Tom Brady in the in the forty
Speaker 1: and overcrowd and call it a call it a career.
Speaker 1: Do you think Wit continues to play? I will go
Speaker 1: back to something laughs that McVeigh kind of said last week,
Speaker 1: and and I'd agree with him. When Wit signed that
Speaker 1: three year contract here, I didn't think he would make
Speaker 1: it through the full three years. In fact, his wife
Speaker 1: Melissa thought he'd be done after the second year. But
Speaker 1: I do think, I do think this is the this
Speaker 1: is the final year for him. I think that he's
Speaker 1: always been a guy that, you know, would like to
Speaker 1: go out on his own terms and you know, on
Speaker 1: his own two feet instead of you know, like Joe
Speaker 1: Thomas went out with injuries and stuff. And I think
Speaker 1: for everything that he has accomplished what he's done with
Speaker 1: both franchises, and especially if he could get NFL Man
Speaker 1: of the Year this year, He's been up for it
Speaker 1: so many times that it would be it would be
Speaker 1: great for him to get that. But no matter the
Speaker 1: team he was facing in the Super Bowl, I think
Speaker 1: that I think that this is his final year. And
Speaker 1: let's face it, a Brady Roethlisberger and Whitworth class in
Speaker 1: five years in Canton. If he does retire, will be
Speaker 1: will be a heck of a ceremony because I certainly
Speaker 1: believe with these years and what he's accomplished, he should
Speaker 1: be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Thanks to Joe
Speaker 1: Ready and for much more on Sunday's game, join lapping
Speaker 1: me for the Bengals Pepper Rally Show Friday afternoon from
Speaker 1: three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty or on the
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia app by searching for ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going
Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play
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Speaker 1: so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you
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Speaker 1: comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.