Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast. The ooch Things agoon to get easier. Addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals lose a tight one in Jake Browning's
Speaker 1: first NFL start, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers sixteen to ten.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from
Speaker 1: players and coaches, and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then,
Speaker 1: in this week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll get to know
Speaker 1: a Bengals newcomer in twenty twenty three whose father played
Speaker 1: the same position for seven years in the NFL. The
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Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
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Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
Speaker 1: greatest thing since beer vent calendars. You're probably familiar with
Speaker 1: Advent calendars, which are used to count down the days
Speaker 1: of Advent in December. They are typically large rectangular cards
Speaker 1: with little doors, and you open one up to see
Speaker 1: what's inside every day leading up to Christmas. Well, now
Speaker 1: there's something called a beer vent calendar, where you open
Speaker 1: the door in a large box and find a different
Speaker 1: beer for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day.
Speaker 1: We got one from Higher Gravity, a bar and bottle
Speaker 1: shop with two locations in the Cincinnati area, and I
Speaker 1: am looking forward to our Christmas countdown. Now, time for
Speaker 1: the radio replays from day's six point loss to the dreaded, hated,
Speaker 1: but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomorrow line from an old
Speaker 1: advertising campaign. Today, the Cincinnati Bengals find out what Ken
Speaker 1: Browning do for you as quarterback Jake Browning makes his
Speaker 1: first NFL start nearly five years after his last college start,
Speaker 1: a Rose Bowl matchup against Ohio State. Today it's the
Speaker 1: Bengals against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it is time for
Speaker 1: the pigskin to fly. Here in the jungle. Warren Inted,
Speaker 1: running back on third and two they handed to him.
Speaker 1: Warren does not get the first down. The ball comes out,
Speaker 1: the Bengals pick it up. Turner's running it back, fastest
Speaker 1: man of the combine this year, and he gets tackled
Speaker 1: at the thirty nine yard line by a tight end
Speaker 1: Connor Hayward. The ball was punched out on the run
Speaker 1: by Jalen Warren. This will be a forty one yard
Speaker 1: the old goal attempt for Chris Boswell. No kicker in
Speaker 1: the NFL has been better this year than Boswell. He's
Speaker 1: eighteen for nineteen and now he's nineteen for twenty. The
Speaker 1: kick is right down the middle. His only miss this
Speaker 1: year was wide right from sixty one yards away, and
Speaker 1: he was.
Speaker 2: Good from fifty six and the penalty went from sixty one.
Speaker 3: And he missed.
Speaker 1: This kickoff fielded on a bounce. Travon Williams running back
Speaker 1: to the thirty sideline forty forty five hand tackled just
Speaker 1: shy of midfield by Miles killer Brew. Pittsburgh kicked it
Speaker 1: low and it didn't bother Travon Williams at all. Fielded
Speaker 1: it near the two and ran it back forty five yards,
Speaker 1: his longest kickoff return of the year. Play action fake
Speaker 1: to mix and throw deflected, still caught by Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: on his feet at the Pittsburgh thirty twenty five. Mixing
Speaker 1: down there to block and Chase gets shoved out of
Speaker 1: bounds at the sixteen yard line. Sometimes better to be lucky,
Speaker 1: been good. In this case, Jamar Chase is both caught
Speaker 1: the ricochet and then used his great speed to turn
Speaker 1: that into a thirty one yard game. Browning fakes a handoff,
Speaker 1: rolls left his pass caught at the eleven sample toward
Speaker 1: the end zone touchdown Bengals true sample, knocking over Bowling
Speaker 1: Pins on his way to the end zone as he
Speaker 1: catches his second touchdown of the season and gives Cincinnati
Speaker 1: the lead. Browning has the ball five man rush. He
Speaker 1: throws it deep for Chase.
Speaker 4: What a catch.
Speaker 1: He was blanketed by Joey Porter Junior. Threw it right
Speaker 1: over his helmet and Jamar Chase made the catch down
Speaker 1: to the twenty one for a twenty five yard game.
Speaker 1: Browning catches the shotgun snap quick pass interceptive. Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: tackles Trenton Thompson at the twenty one yard line after
Speaker 1: the red zone pick for Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Can he pick.
Speaker 1: It is under center on first in goal from the five.
Speaker 1: The Bengals lead seven to three. It's a handoff, notje
Speaker 1: Yes bouncing it wide to the left. Touchdown Pittsburgh is
Speaker 1: a penalty flag down.
Speaker 2: That's a hold in the perimeter that's gonna be nullified
Speaker 2: and penalizing.
Speaker 1: There's no foul for holding with over the players a touchdown.
Speaker 2: Wow, pick up that talking to picking up that flagged.
Speaker 1: Browning back to throw screens. It caught by mix and
Speaker 1: he has Kappa in front, runs to the forty forty
Speaker 1: five fifty Pittsburgh forty Steelers thirty five and he goes
Speaker 1: out of bounds. They're gonna mark him out at the
Speaker 1: thirty six. So the screen to Joe Mixon results in
Speaker 1: a thirty nine yard game and the Bengals aren't dead yet.
Speaker 1: With two forty to go, Adam Minas snaps it. Here
Speaker 1: comes the right footed kick and it is good. So
Speaker 1: the Bengals make it a six point game, and now
Speaker 1: we'll see if they can recover an on sidekick to
Speaker 1: give themselves a chance for a miracle victory. Mcpheerson again
Speaker 1: adjust the football straight up and down on the tee.
Speaker 1: He's about two steps away. He approaches the ball, now
Speaker 1: changes sides, gets ready to kick it from right to left.
Speaker 1: He kicks the top of the ball, It bounces and
Speaker 1: it's grabbed by Pickings and Jake Browning's first NFL start.
Speaker 1: The Bengals manage one touchdown and one field goal, They
Speaker 1: turned it over in the red zone and they lose
Speaker 1: despite holding the Pittsburgh Steelers to sixteen points by the
Speaker 1: final score of sixteen to ten. We start our postgame
Speaker 1: analysis with the Bengals starting QB. Jake Browning. Stats were
Speaker 1: pretty good. He completed seventy three percent of his passes
Speaker 1: and threw for two hundred and twenty seven yards in
Speaker 1: a touchdown. That's the good news. But Jake held on
Speaker 1: to the ball for two long on some third down
Speaker 1: plays leading to sacks, and his red zone interception on
Speaker 1: third and seven at the eighteen yard line when the
Speaker 1: Bengals had a seven to three lead in the third
Speaker 1: quarter was devastating. Here are the most interesting things that
Speaker 1: Browning had to say in a postgame news conference.
Speaker 4: Some ups, some downs. Definitely not my best game. Just
Speaker 4: try to keep fighting. I think starting with the first
Speaker 4: drive kind of getting settled in. Felt like there were
Speaker 4: times where I was settled in. I felt like there
Speaker 4: were other times where I needed to play better, but
Speaker 4: it was not up to my standard of how I
Speaker 4: would have liked to play.
Speaker 5: You talked all week.
Speaker 6: About the aggressive how do you go out your manage
Speaker 6: the line between.
Speaker 1: The push the ball and making them play.
Speaker 4: I think that's always kind of hard to snow until
Speaker 4: you watch the tape, and it's hard to give a
Speaker 4: generalized answer. I think there were somewhere it was good
Speaker 4: to be aggressive, and I think there were somewhere you know,
Speaker 4: could have just checked it down and maybe not taken
Speaker 4: some sacks. But I think part of me getting back
Speaker 4: into the groove of playing and stuff like that is
Speaker 4: is kind of figuring out like, Okay, where is that
Speaker 4: line for me? And where is that line h in
Speaker 4: this offense? And what what is that line I need
Speaker 4: to play on in order to give us the best
Speaker 4: chance to win the game.
Speaker 1: Your reaction was exactly what.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, I think I just made the decision too
Speaker 4: early in the play, like let the play play out
Speaker 4: and let seventeen decide if he's going to cover the
Speaker 4: curl or cover the guy in the flat, And I
Speaker 4: kind of made the decision without really reading it out
Speaker 4: to OK, hey, let's just get the ball. They're very
Speaker 4: soft on Jamar. Let's just get the ball to him,
Speaker 4: get forward, get three. This is going to be a
Speaker 4: game that comes down to you know, it's not going
Speaker 4: to be a shootout.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 4: You know, that was kind of my thought process, and
Speaker 4: in hindsight, I guess, play out the play and read
Speaker 4: it out, don't just see something pre snap and kind
Speaker 4: of make a decision.
Speaker 3: I mean after I mean, what.
Speaker 2: You last start is what the roller bowl? When you
Speaker 2: have I.
Speaker 4: Means, yeah, I mean I think that's a little bit
Speaker 4: of a cop out. Uh for me to sit here
Speaker 4: and say that, you know, any any interception was because
Speaker 4: I haven't played in a while, Like it's a cop out.
Speaker 4: I think I can read out that play and make
Speaker 4: the right decision.
Speaker 2: Is too early to get a sense of what is
Speaker 2: the biggest thing you'll build upon going.
Speaker 3: Forward from today?
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, probably a little too early. I would say.
Speaker 4: There's just some things like maybe that don't show up
Speaker 4: on tape, like kind of learning all right, here's what
Speaker 4: it looks like to start a game, and and I
Speaker 4: think figure out where that like I said, where that
Speaker 4: line is I'm playing aggressive, but then also knowing that
Speaker 4: this isn't going to be a forty two to forty
Speaker 4: five games, So taking some of those sacks, uh, when
Speaker 4: you're trying to make the play end up hurting in
Speaker 4: some field position stuff. And and I think just the
Speaker 4: overall experience I will build from and being able to
Speaker 4: see myself on tape and critique it pretty hard will
Speaker 4: be good for me too.
Speaker 1: Say you waited so long for this moment?
Speaker 6: Yeah, now, sure, can you appreciate that?
Speaker 3: Or it does the.
Speaker 1: Longest color over it? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think you know the nex twenty four hours maybe
Speaker 4: or at some point it will not feel like just
Speaker 4: pissed that we lost. Maybe it'll take a year or two,
Speaker 4: but yeah, I think just lost a close game where
Speaker 4: you feel like you didn't play your best and we
Speaker 4: didn't play well enough on offense and only gave up
Speaker 4: sixteen points on defense and we lost.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's kind of my primary thought in
Speaker 4: my head.
Speaker 1: As Browning pointed out, the Bengals only gave up sixteen
Speaker 1: points and that's usually good enough to win. But the
Speaker 1: Steelers went up and down the field, running for one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three yards and passing for two two
Speaker 1: sixty eight. That equals four hundred and twenty one total yards,
Speaker 1: ending Pittsburgh's fifty eight game streak of finishing with fewer
Speaker 1: than four hundred. Every other team in the NFL had
Speaker 1: at least four four hundred yard performances in the same span.
Speaker 1: Tight End Pat Fryarmouth, who had only played in five
Speaker 1: games this year because of a hamstring injury, was the
Speaker 1: star of the show with nine catches for one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty yards. Kenny Pick had finished with a passer
Speaker 1: rating of ninety seven point eight, and his career passer
Speaker 1: rating and twenty two previous starts was seventy seven point seven.
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton had eight solo tackles, including two for losses,
Speaker 1: and I spoke to him in front of his locker, Mike.
Speaker 1: The Steelers obviously changed offensive coordinators this week. Was their
Speaker 1: offense much different?
Speaker 3: Not too much?
Speaker 7: They were definitely an only thing I will notice that
Speaker 7: they did throw over the middle little more than they'd
Speaker 7: done in the pass and they caught us in some
Speaker 7: mad spots, and you know, something supposed to plays over
Speaker 7: the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: Pat Fryermouth has missed much of this season. He does
Speaker 1: not have the statistics he would normally have, but he
Speaker 1: looked healthy today and obviously he hurt.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 7: He's one of the better young tight ends in the game,
Speaker 7: and they try to featu him as much as possible,
Speaker 7: and like I said, they had a good game plan
Speaker 7: for him to work the middle of the field and
Speaker 7: it has he says doing that though.
Speaker 1: It seemed like third downs in the third and fourth
Speaker 1: quarter were really the key to the game. They converted
Speaker 1: several in a row, and I'll give Kenny pick a credit.
Speaker 1: He made some good throws on those plays.
Speaker 7: Yeah, this just you know, them playing good ball early
Speaker 7: early in the first half, we were getting off the
Speaker 7: field on third down, and second half they just kept
Speaker 7: their drives going and kind of put us intel spots
Speaker 7: to where we couldn't get off the field and kind
Speaker 7: of came back to bite us. So, you know, that's
Speaker 7: something we got to go back over the field and
Speaker 7: look at and see where we can make corrections.
Speaker 1: What'd you think of Kenny's performance, because he threw a
Speaker 1: couple of deep balls that were really right on the money.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, he's a good quarterback. You know, he
Speaker 7: made throws when he needs to, he escapes the pocket
Speaker 7: wheel and he just does what he needs to do
Speaker 7: for their offense. And you know today he had a
Speaker 7: good day and you know they gotta go win. So
Speaker 7: co rest of.
Speaker 1: Them, what's your mindset after this game now that you
Speaker 1: guys have fallen to five and six.
Speaker 7: Uh, just continue to keep going. I mean, we got
Speaker 7: a tell thee going out in Jacksonville on Monday night.
Speaker 7: But you know, it's the opportunity for us to turn
Speaker 7: it around and you know, try to try to get
Speaker 7: things on positive noble.
Speaker 1: Now, let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent
Speaker 1: three minutes with lap after the game.
Speaker 2: So it's the first thing that I'd like to know
Speaker 2: is what the hell did they tell you when they
Speaker 2: picked the flag up on the holding call? That's all
Speaker 2: I mean. It affects the play, grabs, turns them around,
Speaker 2: spins them around, they score a touchdown right off that
Speaker 2: at the point of attack, they throw a flag and
Speaker 2: pick it up. What was their explanation on that.
Speaker 6: They saw holding and then one of the other officials
Speaker 6: said it wasn't holding, so they just discussed it and
Speaker 6: they picked up the flag.
Speaker 2: That was that was a tough one to say the least.
Speaker 2: Did Pittsburgh. I mean, that's a good defensive football team.
Speaker 2: Obviously they don't do anything differently. Did they play more
Speaker 2: man than zone then you thought, or anything like that.
Speaker 6: Early in the game, they played a lot more man,
Speaker 6: you know, trying to put pressure on us to take
Speaker 6: away the run and make us throw the ball in
Speaker 6: the rain a little bit as a game win. They
Speaker 6: mix it up kind of the things that we'd seen
Speaker 6: it on tape, and nothing was such surprise. That's what
Speaker 6: they did to Cleveland last week. Early in the game,
Speaker 6: backup quarterback played a lot of single high and try
Speaker 6: to make him go win. And I thought our guys
Speaker 6: handled it really well. I thought the first half we
Speaker 6: played the type of game we inventioned it was going
Speaker 6: to be, you know, I think I think key situational
Speaker 6: things that popped up were, you know, we had a
Speaker 6: chance to kind of pin him down there with the
Speaker 6: punt under the two minute morning in the first half
Speaker 6: and maybe come away with some points there if we'd
Speaker 6: get in to stop and so we got to capitalize
Speaker 6: on that. And then coming out the second half we
Speaker 6: get in the red zone, we got to come away
Speaker 6: with points not a turnover, and then there's opportunity. You know,
Speaker 6: we we punted the ball down to the eleven and
Speaker 6: we can't let him out on the first run. So
Speaker 6: I think just as a team, we got to really
Speaker 6: assess all three units. We got to do a better
Speaker 6: job capitalizing. It might just be one situation a game
Speaker 6: that we got to be better at. And that's really
Speaker 6: what it came down to today.
Speaker 2: Third down, they converted it like a fifty percent clip
Speaker 2: and I think at one point, I know it was
Speaker 2: too nine and they get all four of their sacks
Speaker 2: on third down, they got the red zone interception on
Speaker 2: third down. You know that that was a big difference
Speaker 2: in the game, was the third down situations when.
Speaker 6: Yeah, those are all part of the situations we talked about,
Speaker 6: you know, and you got to be great in those areas.
Speaker 6: And again it's it's no surprise that the game ends
Speaker 6: up being a one score game and the team that
Speaker 6: was a little bit better in those areas wins the game.
Speaker 2: So the running game obviously left a lot to be desired.
Speaker 2: How tough is that with a quarterback with this first
Speaker 2: NFL start, going against that defense and facing that kind
Speaker 2: of situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we we just we didn't get enough normal down places,
Speaker 6: and that part of that is running the ball better
Speaker 6: and throwing the ball better and getting first tallensd We
Speaker 6: put ourselves in a position to do that. Obviously, it's
Speaker 6: a tough sledding going against that front sometimes, and they
Speaker 6: try to take you out of your eleven personnel runs
Speaker 6: by playing base to eleven, so you got to throw
Speaker 6: the ball, and so of course you get big people,
Speaker 6: and so again it was it was a challenge. We
Speaker 6: got to find more production there. We're going to play
Speaker 6: them here in a couple of weeks, and that's something
Speaker 6: we're going to have to assess and be better at.
Speaker 2: What about field position overall, I mean Treyvon had the
Speaker 2: big kickoff returning to cave you a pretty short field
Speaker 2: and you capitalized on that for a touchdown. Overall, how
Speaker 2: did you see field position unfolding?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I thought there was a few more opportunities we
Speaker 6: could have capitalized on, and it went about the way
Speaker 6: you thought in terms of how it shook out. I
Speaker 6: don't think he either time either team was really a
Speaker 6: huge disadvantage that the kickoff return obviously led to points
Speaker 6: for us, and so just moments like that with hidden yardage.
Speaker 6: Those are big moments in the game, you know. And
Speaker 6: I thought Jamar made some good plays for us. I
Speaker 6: got us some chunk plays as well, and stepped up
Speaker 6: when we needed them too, And unfortunately we just didn't
Speaker 6: get enough of it to get.
Speaker 3: Us the one.
Speaker 2: They're tied in farm Youth that had missed a good
Speaker 2: part of the season with injury. I mean, that dude's
Speaker 2: a weapon.
Speaker 3: He is.
Speaker 6: You know, He's been a good player and he can
Speaker 6: win some one on one matchups. And again we'll see
Speaker 6: him a couple of weeks there. We gotta do a
Speaker 6: better job.
Speaker 1: The rematch in Pittsburgh is four games away. The Bengals
Speaker 1: have a Monday night road game next week at Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: followed by home games against the Colts and Vikings, then
Speaker 1: road games in Pittsburgh and Kansas City before finishing at
Speaker 1: home again Cleveland. Right now, all six of those opponents
Speaker 1: would make the playoffs. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
Speaker 1: to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals
Speaker 1: official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future Proof fiber
Speaker 1: Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to
Speaker 1: a new level and by Kettering Health, the best Care
Speaker 1: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. Now time for the radio guys recap.
Speaker 1: They are celebrating their new offensive coordinators in Pittsburgh as
Speaker 1: the Steelers come to Cincinnati and beat the Bengals sixteen
Speaker 1: to ten. How big of a factor do you think
Speaker 1: that was? Because the Steelers wound up with four hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty one yards of offense and average more than
Speaker 1: six yards of play.
Speaker 2: I think they're fortunate in that they're being promoted to
Speaker 2: that position at the expense of Canada's firing coincided with
Speaker 2: farm youths coming back and being available to them. He
Speaker 2: was huge, huge, I mean, the weapon in the middle
Speaker 2: of the field was there the entire game. And the numbers,
Speaker 2: the numbers speak for themselves. I mean, I think he
Speaker 2: had well over one hundred.
Speaker 1: Yards receiving nine for one for one.
Speaker 2: Twenty that's pretty impressive. And early in the game, I
Speaker 2: mean twenty four yard completion, twenty nine yard completion, his
Speaker 2: first two catches for fifty three yards. I mean that
Speaker 2: got them off and running. So I think that was
Speaker 2: another common denominator. The Bengals were hope full of minimizing
Speaker 2: explosives and Pittsburgh Steelers were able to get too many.
Speaker 1: Again, Kenny Pickett through for two hundred and seventy eight yards,
Speaker 1: no touchdowns. He never seems to throw touchdowns, but he
Speaker 1: didn't throw any interceptions. He set the Steelers record for
Speaker 1: consecutive passes without a pick. But I've got to hand
Speaker 1: it to the guy because he threw about three deep
Speaker 1: balls that were outstanding in this game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he really did. I thought he I thought he
Speaker 2: played his best football game year overall. He's not a
Speaker 2: big touchdown guy. He's not a big interception guy. I
Speaker 2: mean he he does take care of the football. And
Speaker 2: I think people thought he was being a little bit
Speaker 2: too conservative at the quarterback position. I think that might
Speaker 2: have been another thing that he was told by the
Speaker 2: co coordinators. Air it out a little bit, take some shots.
Speaker 2: We're good. We're okay with that. You know, we're never
Speaker 2: gonna make any unless you throw it. And if it
Speaker 2: doesn't work out, we have a defense that'll, you know,
Speaker 2: back us up. So don't be afraid to take some
Speaker 2: hits down the football field. And when he did, and
Speaker 2: he hit one, he hit one right away. It's like,
Speaker 2: going to do this a little bit more.
Speaker 1: The Steelers ran for one hundred and fifty three yards.
Speaker 1: The Bengals ran for twenty five and eleven carries. I
Speaker 1: can't figure it out. Why is this running game so ineffective?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I mean, start the game out, Okay,
Speaker 2: we're gonna be big, physical, two tight ends and a
Speaker 2: sixth offensive lineman. We're gonna we're gonna get up there
Speaker 2: and mash here. Well, I end up throwing the ball
Speaker 2: out of that look. And they didn't go back to
Speaker 2: that look all that often, although they did have the
Speaker 2: sixth offensive lineman in there some you know, with another
Speaker 2: tight end, but you know, and it was a low
Speaker 2: scoring game the entire game. They had the lead, you know,
Speaker 2: a good, good part of the game, and just didn't
Speaker 2: get back to running the football. Established in the running game,
Speaker 2: Joe Mixon has had pretty good games, averaged seventy five
Speaker 2: yards a game over the ten games of his career.
Speaker 2: Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he needed seventeen yards to get
Speaker 2: to six thousand. He ended up with sixteen. He couldn't
Speaker 2: even get there. So it's it's crazy how how well
Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Steelers made the Cincinnati Bengals one dimensional with
Speaker 2: a rookie quarterback, and the Bengals goal was to make
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh one dimensional with a quarterback who had been struggling,
Speaker 2: and one succeeded and the other didn't.
Speaker 1: Jake Browning's numbers were okay, nineteen for twenty six, two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty seven yards, one touchdown, one very costly pick,
Speaker 1: and a ninety six point two passer rating. But those
Speaker 1: stats don't take into account decision making. Some of the
Speaker 1: times he held onto the ball too long, some of
Speaker 1: the times he didn't throw it away when he should have.
Speaker 1: Things like that were really costly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know, I know that third down. All
Speaker 2: the sacks came on third down, you know, and his
Speaker 2: interception came in the red zone on third down. So
Speaker 2: one team was dynamic on third down, that being the
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers. They made money on the money down. The
Speaker 2: Bengals went bankrupt on the money down. I mean, they
Speaker 2: had all kinds of issues. Pittsburgh was like fifty percent
Speaker 2: for the game, I think on third down, and the
Speaker 2: Bengals were I know, at one point it was two
Speaker 2: for nine, two for ten and all the all the
Speaker 2: problems they had on third down, that was just that
Speaker 2: was a critical part of the football game. You got
Speaker 2: to give you gotta give Pittsburgh credit. They made made
Speaker 2: plays when they when they needed to, particularly on third down,
Speaker 2: and Jake was trying to I think he was probably thinking, K,
Speaker 2: third down, we're plunting the football anyway, let me hold
Speaker 2: it a little bit longer. Well, that's fine, but if
Speaker 2: it's not there, you know, don't take a seven eight
Speaker 2: yard sack and change the hidden yards. You know, even
Speaker 2: more so because sacks that end up affecting the hidden
Speaker 2: yards as well as you know, exchanging punts and that
Speaker 2: sort of thing. I can understand, you know, during the
Speaker 2: flow of the game. Okay, third down, let me just
Speaker 2: wait and see if this unfolds the way I'm thinking.
Speaker 2: I thought Pittsburgh did a pretty good job. Early in
Speaker 2: the game. They were playing a lot of man, a
Speaker 2: lot of pressure packages with man coverage behind it, and
Speaker 2: then looked to me like they started playing a little
Speaker 2: bit more zone and mixed that in a little bit.
Speaker 2: So I thought they did a pretty good job mixing
Speaker 2: and matching on that side of the football as well.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have the front seven back from a defense
Speaker 1: that's been very good. It's stopping the run. But this year,
Speaker 1: for the most part, it has not been very good.
Speaker 1: It's stopping the run. It happened again today one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty three rushing yards. Nijie Harris wound up with
Speaker 1: ninety nine in the game. I mean, we've heard these
Speaker 1: things over and over again, tackling cutback runs. At some point,
Speaker 1: do you just say, this year it's just not a
Speaker 1: very good run stopping unit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's It's one of those things
Speaker 2: you can talk till you're blue in the face and
Speaker 2: show tape all you want about. Okay, look, you got
Speaker 2: to stay in your gap. I mean, you can't cheat
Speaker 2: and try to help somebody else. They're going to hit
Speaker 2: your gap and try to It's whenever things are going badly,
Speaker 2: you have guys that try to do too much to
Speaker 2: rectify the problem, and that only compounds it. It doesn't
Speaker 2: rectify it. That compounds the problem. And you see it
Speaker 2: over and over and over again. But your natural instinct
Speaker 2: as a football player is not Okay, well we're getting
Speaker 2: smoked over there, but I'm just gonna stay right here
Speaker 2: and I'm going to take this guy on, and you
Speaker 2: don't feel like you're in any factor in the game,
Speaker 2: in the in the snap, in the game, so your
Speaker 2: instinct is to shed and go make a play and
Speaker 2: help your teammates, and sometimes mistackle or whatever, and not
Speaker 2: the problem starts to compound itself. Mistackles at the point
Speaker 2: of time, and then it cuts back to where you're
Speaker 2: supposed to be and you're the final part of the problem.
Speaker 2: So it just it compounds itself and until you, you know,
Speaker 2: take a look at it after the game, it's like, oh, man,
Speaker 2: why did I do that? But your natural football instinct
Speaker 2: is to try to help alleviate the problem, help your teammates,
Speaker 2: and sometimes that's the worst thing you can do.
Speaker 1: I thought last year was Mike Tomlin's best coaching job.
Speaker 1: The year after Roethlisberger started terribly wound up finishing a
Speaker 1: game over five hundred. I don't know how he's doing
Speaker 1: it this year. Three games over five hundred. Then they
Speaker 1: have been outscored for the season.
Speaker 2: It is remarkable, it isn't. I mean, this is the
Speaker 2: first game where they should they outgained somebody. When they've
Speaker 2: been out gained ten times and one six of the ten.
Speaker 2: That's that's almost like, how does that happen? It happen,
Speaker 2: And it's not like the Bengals turned it over left
Speaker 2: and right. Now, it's critical where they turned it over
Speaker 2: and how they turned it over was was critical, but
Speaker 2: you know Pittsburgh had a red zone turnover as well,
Speaker 2: so that kind of, you know, cancel each other out.
Speaker 2: He just believes that if he can stay within a
Speaker 2: score himself, his coaching staff, his players are going to
Speaker 2: finish the game better than you do. I don't care
Speaker 2: who he's playing against. He just feels like we've been
Speaker 2: together for a long time. We know exactly how this
Speaker 2: is going to unfold, and you know, we know what's acceptable,
Speaker 2: we know what's not. They're just so confident and their
Speaker 2: ability to get that done that it almost it almost
Speaker 2: he wills victories. He like he wills the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 2: just by his presence and the fact that he's done it,
Speaker 2: not just a couple on it over and over and
Speaker 2: over again, year after year with the same type of formula.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like it's a self fulfilling prophecy. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like this season at five and six
Speaker 1: is like unveiling more weaknesses than you thought that the
Speaker 1: Bengals had. I mean, going into the season, I didn't
Speaker 1: really see many weaknesses on the roster. Now I'm thinking, well,
Speaker 1: they probably need a little of this, they need that.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering now that if they have a few more
Speaker 1: areas of concern than I would have thought.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think that. You know, sometimes when
Speaker 2: you take a good shot, like in a boxing match,
Speaker 2: you take a shot, it affects you for you know,
Speaker 2: a few more rounds before you can finally compose yourself.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, things that happened early on,
Speaker 2: like you know, Joe's injury. Early on, they staggered, and
Speaker 2: then he comes back from that and he starts to
Speaker 2: play well, and they know what they've got, and they
Speaker 2: go on a four game winning streak, you know, and
Speaker 2: then and then they get they get hit in the
Speaker 2: mouth by a hot quarterback and their defense has issues,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, the confidence starts to wane.
Speaker 2: And the next week you gets you get smoked again defensively,
Speaker 2: and now it's like, how do we get that confidence back?
Speaker 2: Because now our quarterback's done for the year. So it's
Speaker 2: just like man it's a fifteen round actually, in this case,
Speaker 2: a seventeen round fight. Seventeen games, so you know, you
Speaker 2: take standing whatever counts and try to come back, make
Speaker 2: sure you don't get tko or kod. And sometimes it
Speaker 2: takes a little bit too long to recover, and before
Speaker 2: you know it, you've taken too many shots and man,
Speaker 2: you're you're down too many points in the fight to
Speaker 2: outpoint the guy. So now you've got to try for
Speaker 2: a knockout, and then you might get knocked out. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of similarities there.
Speaker 1: I think Round twelve in Jacksonville next Monday night.
Speaker 2: Round twelve in Jacksonville. And that's not going to be
Speaker 2: an easy, easy situation either. I mean they're in a dogfight.
Speaker 2: They're in a dogfight for their division and the playoffs
Speaker 2: and everything that goes along with it life in the NFL. DAN,
Speaker 2: it ain't easy, right.
Speaker 1: It certainly isn't. Jack him Go by the Way is
Speaker 1: eight and three after beating the Texans twenty four to
Speaker 1: twenty one. That means the Jags have opened up a
Speaker 1: two game lead in the AFC south over Houston and Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's fun Facts Conversation. Where you
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads. Time for
Speaker 1: some fun facts with tight End IRV Smith Junior. You
Speaker 1: are from New Orleans, one of my favorite places in
Speaker 1: the world to visit. What do you love about your
Speaker 1: hometown and what do you miss when you're not there?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 5: In New Orleans it's one of a kan It's like
Speaker 5: nowhere else in the world.
Speaker 3: I truly believe. You know.
Speaker 5: We known for our food, so I gotta go. I
Speaker 5: gotta go food number one, and I like the fish.
Speaker 5: I miss my family on there. So those are probably
Speaker 5: probably three to three of the things.
Speaker 1: New Orleans is obviously the home of the Saints and
Speaker 1: the Pelicans and the Sugar Bowl. They frequently get Super
Speaker 1: Bowls and Final Fours and things like that. Did you
Speaker 1: ever have the opportunity to attend any of those type events.
Speaker 5: I never got to attend the Super Bowl or anything
Speaker 5: like that. I got the attend a few Saints games
Speaker 5: when I was younger, and when the Super Bowl was
Speaker 5: in New Orleans, I went to like the NFL experience
Speaker 5: and stuff like that with my friends. I was in
Speaker 5: high school, so it was super cool. But you know,
Speaker 5: New Orleans is a city. We love our football we
Speaker 5: love our sports and it's something that we pride ourselves on.
Speaker 1: Or if my math is correct, you would have been
Speaker 1: seven when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Were you impacted
Speaker 1: in any way?
Speaker 5: My family was. I was actually living in Arizona. My
Speaker 5: family they came all came down from New Orleans and
Speaker 5: stayed with stayed with us, and it was pretty wild.
Speaker 3: My cousins is going to school.
Speaker 5: With me, and and it was it was definitely something
Speaker 5: that was a tragedy, uh in the city. And you know,
Speaker 5: it just shows the resilience of the of the people
Speaker 5: in New Orleans. And you know how tough we are,
Speaker 5: how how do people bounce back? And my uncle actually
Speaker 5: he he stayed. I know many.
Speaker 3: People that stayed in and helped save people.
Speaker 5: And and and things like that. My uncle he owns
Speaker 5: a boat dealership in New Orleans, so he was riding
Speaker 5: through the city saving people on airboats and stuff, getting
Speaker 5: them out their addicts.
Speaker 3: So, you know, that was that was a scary, very
Speaker 3: scary times.
Speaker 5: But you know, I'm glad that, uh, you know a
Speaker 5: lot of people the city was able to rebuild and
Speaker 5: bounce back.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with IRV Smith Junior. Your dad Earth's senior.
Speaker 1: It's also an NFL tight end, first round draft pick
Speaker 1: out of Notre Dame, had a great NFL career. You
Speaker 1: were really young when he played. What have you learned
Speaker 1: from others about IRV Smith Senior as a player.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, just as a kid growing up. I
Speaker 5: don't really remember too much watching for my dad. So
Speaker 5: the the memories that I have from him playing ball
Speaker 5: and stuff is from from his friends, from his old teammates,
Speaker 5: and from watching some of his films. So, I mean,
Speaker 5: my dad he was he was definitely he was fast.
Speaker 5: That's why I got a lot of my speed from
Speaker 5: great hands, great physical blocker. And he always tells me
Speaker 5: he wished he would have played in this in this
Speaker 5: time time of football because.
Speaker 3: You know back then there it was a lot more
Speaker 3: ground and pound.
Speaker 5: So you know, he he was a great a great player,
Speaker 5: great leader, a great teammate and you know, somebody that
Speaker 5: that his coaches and.
Speaker 3: Teammates can rely on.
Speaker 5: So you know, I try to model my game after that,
Speaker 5: and you know, take take anything I can from him.
Speaker 1: What former teammates did you meet?
Speaker 5: I've met a lot of his former teammates, Willie Roath,
Speaker 5: I mean it goes, the list goes on. I mean
Speaker 5: he played for for eight years in the league and
Speaker 5: for a Notre Dame, and so just growing up meeting
Speaker 5: so many different guys that he played with and just
Speaker 5: hearing all the different stories.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Did having a dad who played in the NFL make
Speaker 1: that your dream?
Speaker 3: Yes, it definitely did.
Speaker 5: Just growing up seeing his football is around the house,
Speaker 5: his helmets around the house, I put his helmets and
Speaker 5: stuff on. Any any questions, like any anything like that
Speaker 5: I could pick his brain on about football, I would.
Speaker 5: And I just play Madden and stuff all day, playing
Speaker 5: video games when I wasn't at school or at practice,
Speaker 5: basketball practice.
Speaker 3: Just trying to learn the game as much as I can.
Speaker 1: You played college football at Alabama. What was Nick Saban's
Speaker 1: recruiting pitch?
Speaker 3: Coach Saban?
Speaker 1: He was.
Speaker 5: He was a great coach, great recruiter as well. Coach
Speaker 5: Burns out of he was a running back, running backs coach.
Speaker 5: He was from New Orleans as well, so he was
Speaker 5: he was kind of hard on me. I was actually
Speaker 5: committed at Texas A and M and I ended up decommitting.
Speaker 5: And you know when I decommitted, I hit up coach
Speaker 5: Burns and was like, you know, are y'all so interested?
Speaker 5: And you know, they for sure were, and coach Coach
Speaker 5: Saban opened me with with open arms. He actually came
Speaker 5: to my high school, him and Coach Burns, and I
Speaker 5: was pretty historic, you know, just everybody from my school
Speaker 5: was kind of going crazy. And then when I actually
Speaker 5: got the band my offer Coach Burns, I came to
Speaker 5: one of my practices with like a camera recorder and
Speaker 5: basically just came recorded me the whole practice and then
Speaker 5: ended up bringing it back to Coach Saban and they
Speaker 5: offered me a few days later.
Speaker 1: In your second year at Alabama, the Crimson Tide won
Speaker 1: a national championship and overtime victory over Georgia. What are
Speaker 1: your most vivid memories of that win?
Speaker 5: That game was? It was amazing just all of the
Speaker 5: things that went into that. You know, it's a NAZA championship,
Speaker 5: last game of the year. So when when Tuwak went
Speaker 5: back and dropped that pass in the Smitty on that
Speaker 5: game win a touchdown, it was it was crucial and overtime,
Speaker 5: And what I remember most was after the touchdown, I'm
Speaker 5: running trying to chase after Smitty and I ran over
Speaker 5: the cameraman. Uh, he had got in a way he
Speaker 5: was he was trying to get that shot and I
Speaker 5: just ran him clean over and I ain't looked back.
Speaker 3: So that was That was one of my favorite memories.
Speaker 1: Well, part of your job is getting pancakes, so you
Speaker 1: got one, that for sure. So after three years at Alabama,
Speaker 1: you declared for the NFL Draft. You were a second
Speaker 1: round draft picked by the Minnesota Vikings. So much hard
Speaker 1: work goes into that moment. What was your draft experience like.
Speaker 5: Of my draft experience, it was it was the biggest blessing,
Speaker 5: you know, just just having my family all there with me,
Speaker 5: my friends, and you know, everybody that was there for me,
Speaker 5: supported me through through all of those years. And you know,
Speaker 5: I ended up falling out of the first round and uh,
Speaker 5: in the second round, I didn't really know who was
Speaker 5: gonna pick me in Minnesota. Ended up getting a call
Speaker 5: from Minnesota, and it was it was a dream from true.
Speaker 1: You don't get to pick the team that drafts you,
Speaker 1: but you do get to choose the team when you
Speaker 1: become a free agent, and that was the case this
Speaker 1: past year when you signed with Cincinnati. Did you enjoy
Speaker 1: free agency or did you find it stressful.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed it, you know, watching kind of watching film
Speaker 3: and stuff.
Speaker 5: Last year when I was going through just going through
Speaker 5: the season and when free agency opened up, kind of
Speaker 5: got to pick which you know, got the pick which
Speaker 5: team I wanted to go to that was interested in.
Speaker 5: And Cincinnati coach Taylor he was he was hard on me,
Speaker 5: and you know, just let me know that you know
Speaker 5: that that this team they want me and I can.
Speaker 5: I can bring a lot and add a lot of
Speaker 5: value to this team and help help us win a championship. So,
Speaker 5: I mean that stuck out to me and I was
Speaker 5: something that was true to my core. You know, I
Speaker 5: want to I want to win. I've always been a
Speaker 5: part of winning teams, and I wanted to come here
Speaker 5: and show that you know, I'm a winner and I
Speaker 5: can help this team win.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do some wild card topics now with
Speaker 1: IRV Smith Junior. Who is your all time favorite athlete
Speaker 1: in any sport?
Speaker 3: All time favorite athlete?
Speaker 5: I have to go either Kobe Bryant or Carmelo Anthony.
Speaker 1: Basketball guy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, basketball. It's hard to pick out of those two.
Speaker 5: If I had to pick one and have to probably
Speaker 5: be Kobe.
Speaker 1: Though I went to Syracuse. Carmelo would have been a
Speaker 1: good pick. But that's okay. What do you like to
Speaker 1: spend your money on.
Speaker 5: I like to take care of my nephews. I like
Speaker 5: to play some video games. I like cars, things like that.
Speaker 5: I like to travel a lot, so I said in
Speaker 5: the off season, taking taking some trips with my family.
Speaker 5: I try to save money as much as possible. But
Speaker 5: you know, of course, uh, you know, you gotta you
Speaker 5: gotta spend a little, so say as much as I can,
Speaker 5: just taking trips and eating too.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite trip you've taken so far?
Speaker 5: Favorite trip? I went to Jamaica this off season. That
Speaker 5: was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos. I like the I like
Speaker 3: the Islands.
Speaker 1: I don't blame yet other than professional athlete. Have you
Speaker 1: had any other full or part time jobs. No.
Speaker 3: I've been dedicated to to sports.
Speaker 5: I mean that's been my grind every weekend, basketball tournaments,
Speaker 5: football games, stuff like that.
Speaker 3: I was blessed my mom. She she put in.
Speaker 5: A lot of work to bring me, be able to
Speaker 5: bring me to practices and games and stuff, and be
Speaker 5: able to support me so I could I could continue
Speaker 5: to follow my dream.
Speaker 3: So no, never had a full time job. I you know,
Speaker 3: whatever I can.
Speaker 5: And to help when I was younger, help earn a
Speaker 5: little money or you know whatever I could do, but
Speaker 5: not a full time job.
Speaker 1: Is there anything very few people know about you? Such
Speaker 1: as a hidden talent, a phobia, anything along those lines.
Speaker 5: For the most part, I love football, love basketball, I
Speaker 5: love sports.
Speaker 3: I love to hang out with my family, like video games.
Speaker 5: I like the fish, hang out with my girl, those
Speaker 5: type of things.
Speaker 1: Last thing, and this one's kind of deep. If you
Speaker 1: could meet anybody in history, living or deceased athlete, entertainer, statesman,
Speaker 1: whoever it might be, who would that person be?
Speaker 5: It have to be somebody real smart, I say, like
Speaker 5: Albert Einstein or something, or maybe Martin Luther King. I'd
Speaker 5: say Martin Luther King. That's number one.
Speaker 1: Either way, would have been a very interesting conversation. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I appreciate your time. Best of luck the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, sir.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's Church Smith Junior. That's going to do it for
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