Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast The Alley Lujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals rejoice on Opening Day after a thrilling
Speaker 1: overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings. Coming up, you'll hear
Speaker 1: radio replay from Sunday's game, postgame comments from players and coaches,
Speaker 1: and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the game,
Speaker 1: and here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, your Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since having a
Speaker 1: large loud crowd back at Paul Brown Stadium. After playing
Speaker 1: their home games at limited capacity last year, the Bengals
Speaker 1: welcome more than fifty six thousand fans into the Jungle
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and they made a huge difference. The Vikings
Speaker 1: committed three false start penalties on their first seven attempted
Speaker 1: plays and were guilty of five false starts. In all,
Speaker 1: here's Joe Burrow strictly because of the fans. You know,
Speaker 1: that's why they give us such a big advantage. And
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna keep winning, and they're gonna keep coming,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna get louder and louder and louders. The
Speaker 1: Jungle truly lived up to the nickname. Now let's recap
Speaker 1: the game. Neither team moved the ball in the first quarter.
Speaker 1: The Vikings had two first downs, the Bengals only had one.
Speaker 1: But Minnesota started rolling in the second quarter. Third down
Speaker 1: and twenty four for the Vikings, Shotgun snap Cousins with
Speaker 1: a quick pass caught and Osbourne breaks out of a dongal,
Speaker 1: streaks down the sideline and picks up the first down.
Speaker 1: The Bengals could not stop the Vikings on third and
Speaker 1: twenty four simply because they good not tackle kJ Osborne. Man,
Speaker 1: that's just that's a sad state of affairs right there.
Speaker 1: You gotta finalize that play. Eli Apple not only missed
Speaker 1: the tackle, he was later called for defensive holding in
Speaker 1: the end zone, negating a sack by Larry Ogenjobi and
Speaker 1: setting up the game's first score. Vikings started at their
Speaker 1: own nine. They have it at the Bengals five first
Speaker 1: in goal. Cousins looking to pass fires wide open his Feeling.
Speaker 1: He caught fourteen red zone touchdowns a year ago, and
Speaker 1: he has his first one in twenty twenty one. Eli
Speaker 1: Apple unable to stay with Adam Feeling. That was a
Speaker 1: fourteen play drive that took nearly eight and a half
Speaker 1: minutes off the clock. To that point, the Bengals had
Speaker 1: punted on their first three possessions, but things were about
Speaker 1: to change. Two deep safeties for the Vikings, Burrow back
Speaker 1: to throw from the pocket, his pass cock by Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase half the Vikings forty five, a first down pick
Speaker 1: up on third and nine, and career catch number one
Speaker 1: fort numero Uno Chabar Chase. Chase finished with five catches
Speaker 1: for one hundred one yards and no drops. Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: and Joe Burrows say they weren't worried about Jamar. I
Speaker 1: would have been concerned if his approach wasn't the right way,
Speaker 1: if he was sleeping in meetings and showing up late
Speaker 1: and not doing that, then I would have been concerned.
Speaker 1: But it was the exact opposite. Had a couple of
Speaker 1: guys come up to me, and so you know, I
Speaker 1: hope jam comes to play to day. I said, don't worry,
Speaker 1: Sunday's game day. He's gonna come ready to play. Chase
Speaker 1: added a thirteen yard catch on third and seven to
Speaker 1: help set up the tying td empty backfield, Burrow looking
Speaker 1: to pass, throws it into the end zone, caught by
Speaker 1: t Higgins, touchdown Bengals. Burrows first touchdown pass of the
Speaker 1: year and a Bengal store with one forty seven left
Speaker 1: in the half that tied the score at seven, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense got a three and out to give
Speaker 1: the ball right back to Joe Burrow. Mix into the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks left. Burrow drops straight back to throw again. He's
Speaker 1: gonna fire it long for Chase. Out of his shoulder
Speaker 1: catch at the fifty eight, he runs it hit into
Speaker 1: the end zone. Touchdown Bengals. Tobar Chase doing the gritty
Speaker 1: hit the end zone had Cincinnati gets up fifty yard
Speaker 1: touchdown pass with thirty five seconds left in the half.
Speaker 1: And for Shark Griland, he's not gritty, he's on his backside.
Speaker 1: He got beaten. They are targeting Griland twenty one has
Speaker 1: a target on his back and when Joe Barrow saw
Speaker 1: a man coverage Breland on Chase, his eyes got big
Speaker 1: and he threw big down the football field. Here's Burrow
Speaker 1: on the fifty yard touchdown pass that made it fourteen
Speaker 1: seven at the half two minute drill. And you know,
Speaker 1: they're playing soft the first couple of plays, and we
Speaker 1: were kind of dinking and dunking our way up the field,
Speaker 1: and so I knew that they're going to be a
Speaker 1: little more aggressive when we crossed the fifty because they
Speaker 1: didn't want to give up a field goal. And I
Speaker 1: knew that the Brilliant was the more aggressive corner, and
Speaker 1: so I was going to take that match up. And
Speaker 1: you know, I had feeling he was going to kind
Speaker 1: of sit on a shore round this. That's what he did.
Speaker 1: After scoring two touchdowns in the final two minutes of
Speaker 1: the half, the Bengals got the ball to begin the
Speaker 1: third quarter and scored again. Burst in goal at the two.
Speaker 1: Burrow in the gun, mixing to his right, he hands
Speaker 1: it to Joe Mixon. Joe struggling, twisting trying to get
Speaker 1: in touchdown Bengals as Mixon takes it into the end
Speaker 1: zone and the Bengals have gone up by two tds.
Speaker 1: That made it twenty one to seven, and after the
Speaker 1: defense forced the Vikings to pun again, the Bengals got
Speaker 1: the ball back and faced fourth down in one at
Speaker 1: their own thirty with three and a half minutes left
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. When Zach Taylor left the offense
Speaker 1: on the field, many of us figured he was simply
Speaker 1: trying to draw the Vikings offsides. Fourth in a yard
Speaker 1: deep in their own territory. They're at their own thirty.
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if they actually go forward. We'll see
Speaker 1: if the Vikings commit yet another penalty, but we'll see
Speaker 1: Burrow under center, the Vikings crowd the line, the Bengals
Speaker 1: do go for it, and Mixon spinning forward at it,
Speaker 1: he stopped at the thirty yard line. I am stunned,
Speaker 1: beyond belief that the Bengals went for that. Wow, it's
Speaker 1: fourth and one. I felt like we could go steal
Speaker 1: a victory right there. You know, we're up twenty one
Speaker 1: seven and if we can just bang home the momentum
Speaker 1: right there with the fourth and one. I should have
Speaker 1: had a better play call. You know, they loaded at
Speaker 1: that front pretty good, made some substitutions. Not our best
Speaker 1: call there. That gave Minnesota Life, and the Vikings capitalized.
Speaker 1: Cousins catches the shotgun snap throws slat Cock by Feeling,
Speaker 1: running away from the Bengals defense into the end zone
Speaker 1: for a twenty four yard touchdown. Well, you knew he
Speaker 1: was going to feeling. I mean, that's the guy. That's
Speaker 1: the guy who goes to on third down. That's the
Speaker 1: guy who goes to in the red zone. They were
Speaker 1: right there at the custom of the red zone, and
Speaker 1: on fourth down he didn't look anywhere else. So the
Speaker 1: Bengals took a twenty one to fourteen lead to the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Last year, in the nine full games that
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow played, the Bengals had fourth quarter leads in
Speaker 1: six and only one two against the Vikings. The Bengals
Speaker 1: added to their lead early in the fourth thanks to
Speaker 1: the powerful right leg of rookie kicker Evan McPherson. His
Speaker 1: first NFL field goal try will be from fifty three
Speaker 1: yards away. Harris ready to snap it back to Huber.
Speaker 1: Huber extends the right hand, catches, puts it down. Evan
Speaker 1: McPherson's kick is going to be good from fifty three
Speaker 1: yards away, and the Bengals have taken a ten point
Speaker 1: lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter. To
Speaker 1: that point, the Bengals defense had been pretty dominant, but
Speaker 1: the Vikings have too much offensive firepower to shut down
Speaker 1: all day. Cincinnati up by ten nine twenty six left,
Speaker 1: first down in goal from the one for Minnesota. Cousins
Speaker 1: under center. He'll take the direct snap toss sweep to
Speaker 1: the left, Dalvin cook slicing back toward the middle, and
Speaker 1: he goes into the end zone, standing up for the
Speaker 1: Minnesota touchdown. With a three point lead, the Bengals tried
Speaker 1: to drain the clock by running the ball, including a
Speaker 1: run on third and four with two minutes to go
Speaker 1: that failed, giving the Vikings the ball back at their
Speaker 1: own five yard line with one forty eight left. Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins completed six out of seven passes, giving kicker Greg
Speaker 1: Joseph a chance to force overtime from fifty three yards away.
Speaker 1: Barry is the holder. He just joined the team last week.
Speaker 1: Here comes the swing of the right leg. The kick
Speaker 1: is on its way, and it is good. We're headed overtime.
Speaker 1: Tied a twenty four. In overtime, the Bengals had to
Speaker 1: punt on their first two possessions, and it didn't look
Speaker 1: like they were going to get a third as the
Speaker 1: Vikings were on the verge of reaching comfortable field goal range.
Speaker 1: Will the Vikings run it from the Bengals thirty eight
Speaker 1: with two minutes left in overtime? The answer is yes.
Speaker 1: Talvin Cook knocked down by the legs near the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage a one yard and the Bengals are celebrating.
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates was the first guy there. Yes, it is
Speaker 1: give it to him. Yes, the officials say, the Bengals
Speaker 1: have the football. Jermaine Pratt with the recovery. Jermaine Pratt
Speaker 1: ripped it out and recovered it, giving the Bengals one
Speaker 1: last chance to win the game. Three offensive plays gained
Speaker 1: nine yards, meaning it was fourth and one at the
Speaker 1: forty eight. The Bengals not only decided to go for it,
Speaker 1: they decided to go for Broke Burrow back to pass,
Speaker 1: has time, throws it downfield for you, zat he has
Speaker 1: it after thirty the twenty five about in the twenty
Speaker 1: yard line? Who won a gutsy call by Cincinnati? And
Speaker 1: what a throw by Joe the Magician as he floated
Speaker 1: it down field to cj Uzama. The Bengals are well
Speaker 1: within field goal range with thirty one seconds on the clock,
Speaker 1: and Cjayuzava lined up at the tight end position on
Speaker 1: the right side of the formation and runs a crossing
Speaker 1: route all the way over to the between the numbers
Speaker 1: and that in the sideline to the left side, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow feathers a ball in their perfect touch. What a call.
Speaker 1: Burrow walked to the line with two plays to choose
Speaker 1: from and chose wisely. Here are Burrow and use Zamba
Speaker 1: on a thirty two yard passing play on fourth and one.
Speaker 1: You know we hit him with QB sneak early in
Speaker 1: the game, so they put a guy on the center
Speaker 1: and then two guys inside shade on the guards. You
Speaker 1: know it's gonna be tough to run the ball up
Speaker 1: in the middle, So you know we had the second
Speaker 1: play call. That's what I got to And you know
Speaker 1: we've we've run that play multiple times over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, and I don't think we've thrown into
Speaker 1: CJ one time, but credit to him, he was ready
Speaker 1: for it. And now now I think the last two
Speaker 1: years we've hit everybody on that play. So that's a
Speaker 1: that's a good play for us. I've gotten the ball
Speaker 1: one time in three years of that play, and it
Speaker 1: was this week in practice against the air because Joe
Speaker 1: wanted to run it against the air. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a little surprising the ball is in the air.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it honestly was the perfect look for it.
Speaker 1: So how would use Zamba describe that play? Call ballsy?
Speaker 1: But I can't. That's that's that's that's the trust, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I gotta say it. That's that's that's some
Speaker 1: big coona's there um by him. And again, unfortunately we
Speaker 1: practice that one because it usually goes a lot shorter
Speaker 1: than thirty uh and we just get the sticks so um.
Speaker 1: But again that's the trust he hasn't in us. Joe
Speaker 1: hasn't me to loft it up and having you go
Speaker 1: get it. The Bengals ran the clock down to five
Speaker 1: seconds remaining and called down their twenty two year old
Speaker 1: kicker to win the game. The Bengals field goal unit
Speaker 1: is lined up and ready to go at thirty three
Speaker 1: yard try to win the game for Evan McPherson, fifth
Speaker 1: round draft pick rookie out of Florida. Clark Harris, thirteenth
Speaker 1: year pro, will snap it back to Kevin Huber, thirteenth
Speaker 1: year pro. The snap, the put down, the swing of
Speaker 1: the leg, the kick on the twain. Yeah, he's good.
Speaker 1: The Bengals win it. I'm the final playoff overtime Evan
Speaker 1: McPherson poisted onto the shoulders of his teammates, has Cincinnati
Speaker 1: pulls it out twenty seven to twenty four? Are how
Speaker 1: many times has to have been a kick it the
Speaker 1: gun to tie it up, to put it into overtime,
Speaker 1: then to kick it the gun to win it and overtime,
Speaker 1: but the over team, I don't think that's been done
Speaker 1: a whole lot. Good call, lap. It was the first
Speaker 1: regular season game in NFL history with a game tying
Speaker 1: score with no time left in regulation and a game
Speaker 1: winning score with no time left in overtime. Here's the hero,
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson and his head coach. That was actually my
Speaker 1: first I guess kind of walk off field goal. Um,
Speaker 1: it's super exciting, and uh, you know, I'm glad I
Speaker 1: got to do it for this team. Uh, They've worked
Speaker 1: so hard for this game, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: all of us want to succeed the season and make
Speaker 1: the playoffs and make a run for the for the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and you know this is where that started
Speaker 1: to own. I'm super happy that I could, Um, I
Speaker 1: guess give the team what we wanted and not to
Speaker 1: win a rookie kicker, special team stepped up first game.
Speaker 1: I don't care how far that field goal is. Um,
Speaker 1: that's that's a tense situation. And uh, he was nailed
Speaker 1: as we expect him to be. I remember that coming
Speaker 1: up in draft night. You know, hey, somebody stood up
Speaker 1: on the table for him, and so this guy's gonna
Speaker 1: win his games. And here we are to want to
Speaker 1: know McPherson received a game ball, but Joe Mixon could
Speaker 1: have received one as well. Twenty nine carries for one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty seven yards plus four catches for twenty
Speaker 1: three more. Man, it felt great. Um. I don't know
Speaker 1: if y'all feel with it, but I thought it was
Speaker 1: electric out there with the atmosphere. It was crazy. We
Speaker 1: just just very pleased that we got to win. We
Speaker 1: worked real hard. We've been working real hard offseason. We've
Speaker 1: been working hard and trying to do whatever we can
Speaker 1: and get the chemistry going. And we was able to
Speaker 1: do that and made it happen. So you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just happy that we got to do it, and so
Speaker 1: is his head coach. After losing the opener last year
Speaker 1: when Randy Bullock missed a chip shot that would have
Speaker 1: forced ot. The Bengals beat the Vikings and Mike Zimmer's
Speaker 1: formidable defense, that might be one of the best defenses
Speaker 1: we're gonna play all year. Best coordinated, best talent, best experience.
Speaker 1: They make things really really hard on you. I'm glad
Speaker 1: that one's over, you know, and our guys held up there.
Speaker 1: It's not always going to look pretty. You got to
Speaker 1: make some plays, which our guys did. Joe hung in
Speaker 1: there and make some big time throws. They might not
Speaker 1: appear to be big time throws everybody in the moment.
Speaker 1: It was based on all the looks he had to manage.
Speaker 1: So again that's you know, it's people ask if week
Speaker 1: one is different, Week one is different. As I walked
Speaker 1: up the field, I thought, well, you know, it is
Speaker 1: different because we'd waited so long for this one opponent
Speaker 1: and you get a chance to think and overthink and
Speaker 1: what if they do that? Okay, all that stuff, and
Speaker 1: now now it's passingers on that six day work week
Speaker 1: and you gotta go get ready for the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: and I'm thankful to turn the page and move on.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow finished twenty for twenty seven for two hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty one yards, with two touchdown passes, no picks,
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of one twenty eight point eight.
Speaker 1: More importantly, it's the first game winning drive in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter or overtime of his NFL career. Here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint
Speaker 1: of fruit flavor. Now time for postgame analysis with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham White. A victory to begin the season,
Speaker 1: lap as the Bengals pull it out in the final
Speaker 1: play of overtime twenty seven to twenty four game that
Speaker 1: I think will be remembered for two fourth down decisions.
Speaker 1: The third quarter decision to go for it on fourth
Speaker 1: and one that was a disaster. It'll allowed the Vikings
Speaker 1: to get back into the game. And then with the
Speaker 1: end of overtime, fourth and about a centimeter, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: goes to a checks to a play where they throw
Speaker 1: it downfield to cj Uzama a thirty two yard game
Speaker 1: that leads to the game winning kid. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: Zach said after the game, when I was doing the
Speaker 1: interview with him, he said that, you know, we're not
Speaker 1: gonna We're gonna be aggressive. We're gonna go after people.
Speaker 1: We're not going to sit back. And the reason for
Speaker 1: those fourth down calls. One of them worked and one
Speaker 1: of them didn't. CJ. Zama said it wasn't even supposed
Speaker 1: to go to him for Joe to see it like
Speaker 1: he did and to make a throw that he did
Speaker 1: because I said, asked him, do you ever think the
Speaker 1: ball was going to come down? It's one of those
Speaker 1: things with the balls hanging, hanging, hanging, You just hope
Speaker 1: it gets there. And he saw, well, in that situation,
Speaker 1: that was the perfect thing to do because you know,
Speaker 1: I could track it and I didn't have any problem
Speaker 1: into you know, waiting for the thing to come down.
Speaker 1: And it turned out to be a huge play obviously.
Speaker 1: But I really can't remember, Dan, and there's got to
Speaker 1: be other cases of it. But one team hits one
Speaker 1: of the gun to put it in overtime, and the
Speaker 1: opposite team hits one of the gun to win it
Speaker 1: in overtime. At the complete you know, at the final
Speaker 1: seconds of overtime. So that's a roller coaster for sure,
Speaker 1: and a great win for the team that wins on
Speaker 1: a bitter defeat for the team that doesn't. Well, you
Speaker 1: said during the course of the week, your hope was
Speaker 1: that Joe Burrow wouldn't have to throw it a million
Speaker 1: times and an overtime game. He only attempted twenty seven passes.
Speaker 1: The Bengals wanted to try to keep the game on
Speaker 1: the ground, try to take time off the clock, try
Speaker 1: to use Joe Mixon, and that strategy work. Twenty nine
Speaker 1: carries for Joe one hundred and twenty eight yards. He
Speaker 1: also had four receptions for twenty three so he accounted
Speaker 1: for one hundred and fifty yards of offense. Yeah, thirty
Speaker 1: three touches over one hundred and fifty yards in a touchdown.
Speaker 1: You know, you got you got a situation where Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow through for two touchdown passes and Jamar Chase five
Speaker 1: catches one hundred and one yards. He had a touchdown,
Speaker 1: so you know there was balance there and one hundred
Speaker 1: yard rusher, one hundred yard receiver. You like that. You
Speaker 1: know it usually is accompanied by a three hundred yard passer.
Speaker 1: But again, Joe didn't throw the football all that much
Speaker 1: to get to that that kind of number. But the
Speaker 1: disturbing thing is quite a few sacks and a limited
Speaker 1: number of attempts. So that's got to that's gotta get
Speaker 1: rectified a little bit. Last year was thirty two sacks
Speaker 1: and nine and a half games, so roughly the same pace.
Speaker 1: Five sacks on opening day. That's even actually a little
Speaker 1: bit higher than the average last year. But Mike Zimmer's
Speaker 1: defense is going to do that to the best of him.
Speaker 1: He h dials up those exotic looks on third down
Speaker 1: in particular, and I think any team that doesn't play
Speaker 1: the Vikings on a regular basis is going to struggle
Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, I mean, I think you know, the
Speaker 1: thing that concerns me is if I'm a lineman, five
Speaker 1: sacks in less than thirty attempts and that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's better than one perse six dropbacks. That's that's a number.
Speaker 1: You know, when he was getting sacked five times last year,
Speaker 1: it was like thirty eight forty attempts, So you know,
Speaker 1: the ratio of number of attempts and number of sacks
Speaker 1: and hits is even a little bit higher. Than what
Speaker 1: Joe suffered, you know last year or so. Um, as
Speaker 1: a group, you got to got to tighten it up.
Speaker 1: And that's everybody offensive line, running bats and blitz pick up.
Speaker 1: You know, same old story. It takes eleven to run
Speaker 1: the ball, takes eleven to stop to run, eleven to
Speaker 1: throw it, and eleven to stop it. So, um, everybody,
Speaker 1: everybody has some accountability there. But it does have to
Speaker 1: get a little bit better. The good news is, you know,
Speaker 1: Joe said afterwards that, um, you know, he's fine. The
Speaker 1: doctors checked the whole thing out. He's got no issues.
Speaker 1: You know, he's on that on the bicycle just to
Speaker 1: make sure that he kept it warm. He said, it
Speaker 1: wasn't that it was painful. Um, And he had, as
Speaker 1: we saw, was iPad the whole time and he was,
Speaker 1: you know, he was just ready to go. So he's
Speaker 1: definitely a tough dude, There's no doubt about that, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Twelve penalties for the Vikings, three for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Four of those Minnesota penalties came on offense and their
Speaker 1: opening drive of the season. Joe Burrow said after the
Speaker 1: game it was absolutely due to crowd noise. I didn't
Speaker 1: really think that that was the case at the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a good crowd, they were noisy.
Speaker 1: Maybe the fact that they played in front of empty
Speaker 1: stands last year made it seem that much louder. I
Speaker 1: know one thing, I'm glad the Bengals did enough to
Speaker 1: go to Minnesota and face that crowd in that dome.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. If they thought this was loud here
Speaker 1: outside with a it wasn't quite a sell out, but
Speaker 1: it was darn close, imagine what it would have been
Speaker 1: like up there. So that's a that's a huge advantage
Speaker 1: for the Bengals to be at home rather than having
Speaker 1: to travel up to Minnesota. Yeah, but it does show
Speaker 1: that this town is definitely hungry to have a winner,
Speaker 1: there is no doubt about it. And those thirteen penalties,
Speaker 1: I think five or six holding calls. DJ Reader drew
Speaker 1: three holding calls himself, and you know, Hendrickson drew a
Speaker 1: couple of holding calls on top of being involved in
Speaker 1: pressure and sack. So the defensive line got in the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings offensive Lemon's heads big time. So I think
Speaker 1: that physicality and the overpowering thing, plus the crowd noise,
Speaker 1: it's like, I mean, they could call through legal formations
Speaker 1: because the tax was trying to cheat, you know, get
Speaker 1: back far enough to be able to change the angle
Speaker 1: and pass rush can't do that. And I think crowd
Speaker 1: noise that, you know, the excellence of the players, all
Speaker 1: of it kind of snowballed a little bit on the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings at times upfront themselves. I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: in the stands, or on the sideline or in the
Speaker 1: broadcast booth doubted that Evan McPherson would make that game
Speaker 1: winning kick. It's a rookie. He's never had a walk
Speaker 1: off game winner at any level in his life. Drilled it.
Speaker 1: What a change, And the confidence that you have in
Speaker 1: your kicker from last year, or Randy Bullock thirty one
Speaker 1: yards to force overtime first game of the year, misses
Speaker 1: and grabs his calf. Afterward, this kid steps up there
Speaker 1: like it's practice on a Tuesday afternoon and there's no
Speaker 1: pressure at all. Yeah, what a thing. It's what a
Speaker 1: thing it is to go from Kafman to the Bull
Speaker 1: strong like bull, kick like strong Bull. I mean, just
Speaker 1: just an unbelievable forms. That guy is incredible, Like we
Speaker 1: said many times, great hitters. I remember, you know, listening
Speaker 1: and watching Ken Griffi Jr. In the batting cage Adam Dunn.
Speaker 1: You know, when these guys hit the ball, it made
Speaker 1: like a different sound. When he kicks it, it makes
Speaker 1: a different, much different sound. I mean, some guys just
Speaker 1: have that explosiveness, you know, whatever it is. You know,
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods making contact when he was right physically with
Speaker 1: his golf swing. It's just some guys are different, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's different. There's no two ways, two ways about it.
Speaker 1: And in the AFC North when it can get dicey weatherwise,
Speaker 1: it's good to have a guy like that because he
Speaker 1: not only does he kick them extreme length, they're straight.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's very very accurate. He doesn't he doesn't
Speaker 1: push it, he doesn't hook it. I mean he hits
Speaker 1: it true and pure almost every time. It's incredible. So
Speaker 1: the Bengals think wound up with three sacks today, but
Speaker 1: they drew all of those holding penalties as well. I
Speaker 1: thought the defensive line in the pass rush, it was
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. I agree with you. I thought that everybody
Speaker 1: made contributions. I thought the interior B J. Hill got
Speaker 1: a sack, you know, And I think they complimented each other.
Speaker 1: There was good edge pressure, and then the push of
Speaker 1: the pocket didn't allow him to step up. When there
Speaker 1: was pushing the pocket, you know, the ends would get
Speaker 1: there and make hits on him. And that's what it takes.
Speaker 1: That's that's when you have something cooking. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they only had seventeen sacks all year last year, and
Speaker 1: to get three in the opener, plus all the disruption
Speaker 1: with respect to penalty holding, penalty guys lining up too
Speaker 1: far off the line of scrimmage because they're a little
Speaker 1: fearful of what's happening on the edge. I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta get back. This guy's too quick, he's going to
Speaker 1: be around me, you know. And the officials line judge
Speaker 1: and side judge, good move by them not allowing them
Speaker 1: to do that, you know. And and so they got
Speaker 1: caught with the hand in the cookie jar trying that
Speaker 1: that trick. But I thought overall, the dens of line
Speaker 1: played very well. This team needed a week a week
Speaker 1: one win after winning a total of six games the
Speaker 1: last two years and really squandering good performances on opening
Speaker 1: day each of the last two had they let this
Speaker 1: thing slip through their fingertips, and it looked like they
Speaker 1: were going to at the end of overtime. This would
Speaker 1: have been a pretty devastating loss. One score games into
Speaker 1: two years under Zach going into this two thirteen and one.
Speaker 1: Now they're three thirteen and one. It would have been
Speaker 1: probably to go to fourteen and one, particularly with that,
Speaker 1: like you said, two score lead, Uh what six minutes
Speaker 1: to go in the in the in the second, in
Speaker 1: the first half of three minutes to go there up
Speaker 1: by fourteen points fourteen points, So yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: that's uh, you got you gotta finish those off. There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. And and I think I think
Speaker 1: this will this will go a long way. I think
Speaker 1: they realize that there's going to be ebbs and flows,
Speaker 1: peaks and valleys, and you can't you can't let one
Speaker 1: play or you know, like a fourth and one not
Speaker 1: converting turn into multiple bad plays as a unit, defense, offense,
Speaker 1: special teams, or individually. Eli Apple had a drive in
Speaker 1: there that you know he'd like to forget. Well, you
Speaker 1: can't just forget the drive. You have to forget the
Speaker 1: play because you can't make you know, like three mistakes
Speaker 1: like he did on that one drive one bad play
Speaker 1: can't turn into three bad plays. The same for unit.
Speaker 1: You know, one assignment mistake or bad play can't turn
Speaker 1: into two or three or are they going to score
Speaker 1: on you in a heartbeat. But I do think the
Speaker 1: thing I liked one of the things I like most
Speaker 1: about that game, And I talked to both of them
Speaker 1: in the locker room after the game. When Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: and Joe Burrow saw Jamar Chase had breathing one on one,
Speaker 1: both their eyes get big and they're like, this looks
Speaker 1: familiar and downtown, huge touchdown, big play in a game
Speaker 1: like this, you can go back to so many players.
Speaker 1: I remember Bill Tiger Johnson, my first line coach, saying,
Speaker 1: young man, these games in the NFL, for the most part,
Speaker 1: there're gonna be some mismatches, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: it's gonna come down to three, maybe five plays during
Speaker 1: the course of the whole game that's going to determine
Speaker 1: the outcome of the game. And you don't know if
Speaker 1: it's in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, or
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. So you've got to play your tail off
Speaker 1: every single snap. You feel me, yes, sir, I got you.
Speaker 1: And that's literally how it is. In the National Football League.
Speaker 1: There's there's no two ways about it. And the other
Speaker 1: thing was on this game, the turnover the takeaway that
Speaker 1: was massive obviously, and now they're five two and one
Speaker 1: under Zach. When they win the turnover margin, you know,
Speaker 1: small sample size unfortunately in thirty three games, but they're
Speaker 1: own sixteen when they don't. They haven't won when they're negative,
Speaker 1: so it's big to win the turnover margin and they
Speaker 1: hopefully will continue that. I forgot to say it during
Speaker 1: the broadcast. I'll say it now. Coffin nails. That's right. Bam, bam, bam.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you it took a while, but they
Speaker 1: finally got the hammer out to pound those nails and
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Next a road game in Chicago against
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton and the Bears. That's going to do it.
Speaker 1: For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to
Speaker 1: you by Bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game. If you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have
Speaker 1: a minute, give it a rating or share a comment
Speaker 1: that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde,
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast,