Speaker 1: Hi and everybody on dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The I like it, I love it.
Speaker 1: I'll want some more of it. Addition, as we look
Speaker 1: back at the Bengals first win in nearly a full
Speaker 1: calendar year, twenty two to six over the New York Jets.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, one on one, locker
Speaker 1: room interviews, and Dave Lapham will join me for postgame analysis.
Speaker 1: Plus in this week's fun Facts Conversation, I'll throw a
Speaker 1: wide variety of questions at Andy Dalton, ranging from how
Speaker 1: he felt about having bright red hair as a kid
Speaker 1: to what kind of swag he received for playing in
Speaker 1: the Rose Bowl as a college senior. All of that
Speaker 1: is straight ahead. But first, here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
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Speaker 1: It's strong, it has great drawstring technology at the top
Speaker 1: to seal the bag. After use, and perhaps best of all,
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Speaker 1: be glad. Let's get to football. The New York Jets
Speaker 1: entered Paul Brown Stadium on a roll, with a three
Speaker 1: game winning streak in which the Jets had scored thirty
Speaker 1: four points in every game. Sure enough, they drove right
Speaker 1: down the field to start the game and took an
Speaker 1: early lead. Out of the hold of the punter Lochlin Edwards,
Speaker 1: Thomas Hennessy snaps it back. Here comes the kick, a
Speaker 1: high spinning end over end kick. It is good, and
Speaker 1: the Jets score on their opening drive for the sixth
Speaker 1: consecutive game. But with Andy Dalton back in the starting
Speaker 1: lineup for the Bengals, that three nothing lead didn't last.
Speaker 1: Dalton under center now. He takes the snap, fakes a
Speaker 1: handoff to mix and he's looking left. He loads up
Speaker 1: and throws. What a catch by Haddon Tate as he
Speaker 1: extends those gigantic arms and reels it in for a
Speaker 1: first down at the eighteen yard line. Marcus mayon coverage
Speaker 1: and the Bengals have entered the GoldStar red zone, and
Speaker 1: on the very next play, the Bengals took the lead
Speaker 1: as Dalton made history first and ten at the seventeen
Speaker 1: of the Jets. Dalton fakes a handoff from the pocket,
Speaker 1: throws over the middle of it is caught for a
Speaker 1: touchdowne by Tyler boyd Andy Dalton threading the needle between
Speaker 1: two New York Jets defenders and with that touchdown pass,
Speaker 1: the red rifle full stands alone career touchdown passed number
Speaker 1: one ninety eight in his NFL career, more than any
Speaker 1: other quarterback in Bengals history. They both wear number fourteen,
Speaker 1: Kenny Anderson, Andy Dalton, and I'll tell you what this
Speaker 1: throw is unbelievable. A few completions later, Dalton also passed
Speaker 1: Ken Anderson for most completions in Bengals history, and Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham talked to him about it after the game. My
Speaker 1: roommate was a hell of a quarterback, Kenny Anderson. You
Speaker 1: broke his record for touchdown passes today with one hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety eight, and you broke his completion record during
Speaker 1: the course of today's game. Number four team has been
Speaker 1: good to this franchise. You and Kenny have both wanted
Speaker 1: with dignity for sure. How big is it to break
Speaker 1: those records you now? It feels good. I mean it's
Speaker 1: you never go into it, you know, with the mindset
Speaker 1: of breaking records and all that kind of stuff. I
Speaker 1: think the whole thing is been fortunate to be here
Speaker 1: for a long time and been a part of some
Speaker 1: really good teams, and with that comes records and touchdowns
Speaker 1: and all this all this stuff that comes with it.
Speaker 1: It's been fun getting to know Kenny throughout the years.
Speaker 1: Just feel very thankful that he let me wear fourteen,
Speaker 1: first of all, and I think it's just been cool
Speaker 1: to just kind of follow him his footsteps, what he
Speaker 1: established here in Cincinnati with number fourteen, and then trying
Speaker 1: to carry that on. Andy's touchdown pass to Boyd gave
Speaker 1: the Bengals a seven three lead at the end of
Speaker 1: the first quarter. It should have been fourteen to three
Speaker 1: early in the second, but c j Uzama dropped a
Speaker 1: nobody near him TD pass from the six yard line
Speaker 1: and that forced the Bengals to settle for a field goal,
Speaker 1: a twenty four yard try out of the hold of
Speaker 1: Kevin Hubery catches the ball, puts it down, spins the laces,
Speaker 1: and bullocks kick is good as the Bengals take a
Speaker 1: seven point lead. Believe it or not, that equaled the Bengals'
Speaker 1: biggest lead all season. The next time they got the ball,
Speaker 1: they went up by two scores for the first time.
Speaker 1: Second and goal from the five, two receivers go out
Speaker 1: to the left. Dalton catches a shotgun snap. He hands
Speaker 1: it off to Mixon and Joe Mixon charges straight ahead
Speaker 1: and takes it into the end zone. Touchdown. Bengals. Nice
Speaker 1: shop inside. I'll tell you what, Jordan Trey Hopkins, John Miller,
Speaker 1: nice shop inside. A Sam ficken field goal with four
Speaker 1: seconds left and a half made the score seventeen six
Speaker 1: in favor of the Bengals. Here's Andy Dalton. We've played
Speaker 1: good halves before this year, but we couldn't let it
Speaker 1: just be one half. We had to play a complete game.
Speaker 1: And I think we understood that and guys responded and
Speaker 1: we got that done today. The key in the second
Speaker 1: half was the Bengals pass rush. Donald blowing on his hands,
Speaker 1: he is ready for the shotgun snap. He drops back
Speaker 1: to throw from the middle of the end zone short pass.
Speaker 1: It is caught, Lady on Bell tackled. There's a penalty
Speaker 1: flag in the end zone. Could that be holding in
Speaker 1: the end zone for a safety? It is, that's a safety. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if there's if that's a whole, that's two points. B
Speaker 1: W Web made the tackle holding offs number sixty eight
Speaker 1: in the end zone. Andrew Brown drew the penalty that
Speaker 1: gave the Bengals in nineteen six lead. You scored two
Speaker 1: points today. You drew a holding penalty in the end zone.
Speaker 1: You're responsible for two of the points, Yes, sir, A man.
Speaker 1: That's the first one I ever had in my life. Man,
Speaker 1: So thank god? How quickly did it sink in that
Speaker 1: that just happened. As soon as I looked at the
Speaker 1: refereef and as soon as they say hold it on
Speaker 1: the number sixty and then he put the safety. So
Speaker 1: I ran to the silo, let's go point man. Following
Speaker 1: the safety, the Jets had to kick it back to
Speaker 1: Cincinnati from the twenty yard line, giving the Bengals good
Speaker 1: field position that led to a forty seven yard Bullock
Speaker 1: field goal that made the score twenty two to six
Speaker 1: going to the fourth quarter. Carlos Duneline lap took over
Speaker 1: from there. Darnald ready on third down and seven from
Speaker 1: his own twelve, single high safety Cincinnati showing blitz, they
Speaker 1: send five. Darnald in bubble sacked at the five yard line.
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlap got there first second and ten at the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati thirty eight. Donald back to throw, looking left, Here
Speaker 1: comes Dunlap. It's got him again. Third sack of the
Speaker 1: day for Carlos Dunlap back at the forty three for
Speaker 1: a five yard loss, and Brandon Shell got beaten again
Speaker 1: once again. He's a shell of himself. With three sacks,
Speaker 1: Dunlap is up to seventy eight in his career, only
Speaker 1: five and a half from Eddie Edwards all time franchise record,
Speaker 1: and with the Bengals up by sixteen points with less
Speaker 1: than two minutes to go, one more dunlap pass rush
Speaker 1: helped put the game away. Darnald back to throw, He's
Speaker 1: being chased by Carlos Dunlap. He will fling it out
Speaker 1: of bounds, and that is coffin nail Bam bam. After
Speaker 1: oring one hundred two points in their previous three games,
Speaker 1: the Jets managed just two field goals against the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold was sacked four times and hit nine times.
Speaker 1: Here's Dunlap on Cincinnati's relentless pass rush. We all were
Speaker 1: swarming after the quarterback, you know, big shoutouts, our secondary,
Speaker 1: everybody was on covers, a lot of cover sex today.
Speaker 1: But Dlon, you know, we finally got to do we
Speaker 1: all are blessed to do, you know, get after the
Speaker 1: quarterback stopped and running, you get a chance to get
Speaker 1: out to the quarterback. In that game against the Patriots,
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold said he saw ghosts. He saw Dunlap today
Speaker 1: in his face. Six quarterback hits, right. I hope he
Speaker 1: saw ghosts today. I think Sean told me that he
Speaker 1: heard him say it again. The final score Cincinnati twenty two,
Speaker 1: the Jets six. It was the Bengals first win of
Speaker 1: the season, ending a thirteen game losing streak that dated
Speaker 1: back to December sixteenth of last year, a span of
Speaker 1: three hundred fifty days. Here are Dalton and dune Lap.
Speaker 1: This one's big. I just think, you know, we've been
Speaker 1: working hard all year for this, and you know we
Speaker 1: were hoping it wasn't gonna come week thirteen. But anytime
Speaker 1: you win, it's huge, and so this one means a lot.
Speaker 1: Dad getting his first win as a head coach. You
Speaker 1: know a couple of the records that were broken today,
Speaker 1: this one's this one feels really good, So a big
Speaker 1: burden lifted off of our shoulders. We've been working for
Speaker 1: this for so long, and we came up short so
Speaker 1: many times. But one thing about this team, when we
Speaker 1: kept coming in, kept going to work, whatever it takes,
Speaker 1: focusing in on that week, focusing on that week, what
Speaker 1: we got this week, what we got Boom. We're not
Speaker 1: looking back, We're not looking forward. We're just focusing weekend,
Speaker 1: week out, and now we get to celebrate. One of
Speaker 1: the bengals most articulate players is tight End cju Zama.
Speaker 1: I caught up with him after the game. We're in
Speaker 1: a very happy Bengals locker room with tight End c
Speaker 1: j Uzama. Give me a couple of words for how
Speaker 1: this feels right now. Absolutely relieved, UM, much deserved, uh, togetherness, camaraderie.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it's a great feeling, honestly, man. Uh,
Speaker 1: knowing how hard we've words, how hard this team's works, Um,
Speaker 1: what we've kind of sacrificed up until this point is
Speaker 1: just a huge relief getting this first win and getting
Speaker 1: this just for everybody. You know, you can see how
Speaker 1: happy we are for every single person in here. You know,
Speaker 1: we're happy for coach Coach Taylor and this entire staff.
Speaker 1: We're getting their first win. But you know, we're happy
Speaker 1: for all the guys that I mean, I'm I'm graduating everybody,
Speaker 1: tb Andy, um, GEO, I mean everybody who's who's just um,
Speaker 1: you know, as a late of desion to get this,
Speaker 1: to get this chip off our shoulder and get this
Speaker 1: first one. We're not obviously, we're not happy with with
Speaker 1: how long it's been since since we've gotten one, but
Speaker 1: we are happy to get this first one for sure.
Speaker 1: What was Zach Taylor like when he came in here
Speaker 1: after the game, I mean, you know, you can only imagine. Man,
Speaker 1: he was happy as anything. Uh Andy presented him with
Speaker 1: the game ball, and um, I know we had to
Speaker 1: dunked him a little bit after. I don't know who
Speaker 1: was I kind of backed out of the way. I
Speaker 1: was trying to congratulation, congratulating when I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not it's cold. I can't I'm not trying to deal
Speaker 1: with that. But um, I mean he was just happy.
Speaker 1: He's happy for all of us obviously, you know, for
Speaker 1: for all the work that we put in, all the
Speaker 1: hours that we put in, all the hours that they
Speaker 1: put in. Um. I think that's kind of why we
Speaker 1: wanted to just win more than anything. Man, I wanted
Speaker 1: to win for the staff because I really think that
Speaker 1: we're buying into um kind of what they're selling us,
Speaker 1: you know, and we think that their game plan and
Speaker 1: everything that they've been doing four and to us is
Speaker 1: um has been good and we just haven't, you know,
Speaker 1: climbed out humping today we did. What did Andy Dalton's
Speaker 1: return do for the offense? You know, it was just
Speaker 1: that that veteran spark man. We wanted to win for him,
Speaker 1: for him to excuse me, um, but yeah, he stood
Speaker 1: in there. Uh dealt some dimes out there. Um, I
Speaker 1: dropped one. We had a few drops. But UM, it
Speaker 1: was just good to have have him out there and
Speaker 1: smiling and just you know that that that veteran presence
Speaker 1: of just saying, all right, this is a big down,
Speaker 1: this is a big drive. This is you know, we
Speaker 1: need to get here, we need to get points on
Speaker 1: the board, We need you know, to do certain things
Speaker 1: and It's always good to have that voice in your
Speaker 1: head like all right, he's he's right, you know this
Speaker 1: is this is a chance and the opportunity for us
Speaker 1: to get the ball rolling and kind of put this
Speaker 1: put this game out of reach for him. So, um,
Speaker 1: it was awesome to happen back there. Since this is radio,
Speaker 1: I will clarify that that was a normal cough. You
Speaker 1: weren't getting choked up at the mere mention through it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't. No no tears, No tears right now, all smiles,
Speaker 1: all right, Since you won, I can ask this question.
Speaker 1: Is that the easiest touchdown pass you have ever dropped
Speaker 1: in your life? Probably? Um? Yeah, there's no excuse. Honestly,
Speaker 1: there's there's I don't know exactly what was going on
Speaker 1: and what happened, but I got off my fingertips and
Speaker 1: I dropped in and I'm not happy about it. Um.
Speaker 1: The boys were off. I mean, that was unbelievable. How
Speaker 1: many people came up to me and they were just like, look,
Speaker 1: we know you got that, we know you'll catch another one.
Speaker 1: We know we know you got us. Um and and
Speaker 1: it's kind of also reassuring. But the next drive, you know,
Speaker 1: I got the opportunity to catch two more. So obviously
Speaker 1: I'm not happy about it at all. I know I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get you know, I'm gonna watch film and be
Speaker 1: just disgusted with dropping it. Um, but it is what
Speaker 1: it is. We got the win, and um, I got
Speaker 1: another another opportunity. So uh yeah, that's it was a
Speaker 1: productive day for you. Five catches, fifty one yards, Auburn
Speaker 1: wins the iron Ball, the Bengals beat the New York Jets.
Speaker 1: Come on, I got the I got the I got
Speaker 1: the Auburn. Did you wear that under your jersey? I
Speaker 1: should have. I should have. I didn't. I didn't. It
Speaker 1: would have been a fine or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1: They would have got me for something. But yeah, war eagle.
Speaker 1: Who day, great day, great weekend for sure. Congrats You're
Speaker 1: really happy for all you guys. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: One of the greatest coaches in NFL history, Tom Landry,
Speaker 1: who took the Cowboys to five Super Bowls, winning two,
Speaker 1: went oh eleven and one in his first season. So
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor is off to a better start. After eleven losses,
Speaker 1: he is finally in the win column, and he talked
Speaker 1: to lap about it after the game. It felt good.
Speaker 1: You know, our guys came out and we started fast
Speaker 1: and a lot of different phases, and they carried that
Speaker 1: over in the second half, kept putting pressure on that
Speaker 1: team and defense got some points for us with the
Speaker 1: safety and it just you know, it felt like everything
Speaker 1: clicked today. And really proud of our guys. You know,
Speaker 1: when you hold an offensive football team to no touchdowns,
Speaker 1: I don't care who, that's a heck of an acomplish
Speaker 1: from the NFL. When you hold a team to six points,
Speaker 1: I don't think they got in the red zone today.
Speaker 1: If I recall, right, that's a heck of a defense performance.
Speaker 1: I mean, seventeen points, sixteen points, now six points. They're
Speaker 1: stringing them together. They've been building off of each performance
Speaker 1: each week, and the confidence keeps growing and we keep
Speaker 1: stressing the turnovers. You know, that's huge. We got to
Speaker 1: create some turnovers, so to get it that way without
Speaker 1: getting in the turnovers was huge for us. That was
Speaker 1: the other thing. I mean, Carlos has three sacks, you know,
Speaker 1: Brown forces of safety when they hold in the end zone.
Speaker 1: I mean you only gave up one sack, so the
Speaker 1: sack ratio was in your favor and the yards. They
Speaker 1: hidden yards with that, and then Hubert kept pinning them back.
Speaker 1: I mean they started I think six or seven drives
Speaker 1: inside their own ten yard. It was nuts. We in
Speaker 1: pregame we talked about field position was gonna be huge
Speaker 1: with the way that the elements were outside. It was
Speaker 1: gonna be about ball security and field position. And so
Speaker 1: you know, into the game zero zero with the turnover battle.
Speaker 1: But Kevin did a great job, the punt team did
Speaker 1: a great job. We felt like we won that battle.
Speaker 1: So Andy Dalton, it looked like to me, I saw
Speaker 1: him in the locker room with a big smile on
Speaker 1: his face, smiling the whole game. I mean, it looked
Speaker 1: like it looked like he was out there just having fun.
Speaker 1: And that's what you want to have, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what it's all about. It was we were playing
Speaker 1: with a lot of confidence on offense and felt like
Speaker 1: we were getting some good looks, some things we've worked
Speaker 1: on and we're gonna be able to take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: So proud of the way that the guys executed. You
Speaker 1: look and first have some of the catches those guys made,
Speaker 1: and then Andy was putting into position to go get it.
Speaker 1: Just really proud of the effort and the preparation those
Speaker 1: guys put into it carried over to the game and
Speaker 1: it was a good win for us. It seemed like
Speaker 1: there was an effort to get Tyler Boyd off, you know,
Speaker 1: early in the football game. I think he had five
Speaker 1: targets in the first quarter and caught like three or
Speaker 1: four of them, and uh, that was good to see.
Speaker 1: It was you know, again, all those guys made plays,
Speaker 1: you know, I saw CJ makes some plays, Odd made
Speaker 1: some plays. All those receivers, good job getting yards after
Speaker 1: catching some critical situations, and that in the protection up
Speaker 1: front did a great job, you know, and they kept
Speaker 1: guys off of any and Andy was able to deliver.
Speaker 1: Going into the football game, you had the fourth fewest
Speaker 1: penalties in the league and the second fewest penalty yards.
Speaker 1: You guys have been disciplined, not you know, not shooting
Speaker 1: yourself in the foot today. The first penalty wasn't until
Speaker 1: the second half, and it was questionable on Hodd and Tate.
Speaker 1: I mean, for that one to be the first one,
Speaker 1: you gotta be proud. I think it was only two
Speaker 1: penalties on the day, so I mean that part of
Speaker 1: it has been very clean. All season long. I think
Speaker 1: that as a carryover from the discipline that we've really
Speaker 1: tried to instill in everything the meeting is to practice
Speaker 1: everything those guys carried over to the game. And just
Speaker 1: proud of those guys. So you get the first one,
Speaker 1: you get the first notch on the belt, get that
Speaker 1: first NFL win. Now here come to the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, to get a division win. I
Speaker 1: guess the next one the docket, right, Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: a great opportunity for us. They're really good football team.
Speaker 1: You know, we've we've seen him on some crossover tape,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna have our hands full. But you're right,
Speaker 1: we gotta go fight to get this divisional win. You know,
Speaker 1: I really thought watching Greg Williams on tape, it looked
Speaker 1: like you guys kept yourselves out of situations that he
Speaker 1: tries to take advantage of your average like almost six
Speaker 1: yards per plan first down in the first half, and
Speaker 1: you only got to third down four times, converted two
Speaker 1: of them. I thought your first down excellence really kept
Speaker 1: him off balance in terms of how much he wanted
Speaker 1: to try to heat things up. That was really carry
Speaker 1: over from last week. We put ourselves in so many
Speaker 1: third nine pluses. I think we only had three that
Speaker 1: were less than that the entire of the game. So
Speaker 1: we're playing in third and twelve, third and thirteen, and
Speaker 1: it's hard to manage on offense like that. So we
Speaker 1: stressed all week being more efficient on first and second down,
Speaker 1: and our guys did an excellent job there. Auden Tate,
Speaker 1: you know, I know it's been tough not having AJ Green,
Speaker 1: having John Ross just for you know, a cup of coffee. Basically,
Speaker 1: Hopefully John Ross is back for the Cleveland game coming up.
Speaker 1: I think you could schedule be back and AJ is
Speaker 1: still week to week, but Audm Tate has proven that
Speaker 1: he is an NFL caliber wide receiver headning. Yes. I
Speaker 1: mean every time his numbers called, it seems like he
Speaker 1: makes the play. He's a big, physical guy's got aggressive hands,
Speaker 1: does everything the way you want it done. He's exactly
Speaker 1: the type of guy we like to add on this team.
Speaker 1: It sounded like, uh, there was a it was fun
Speaker 1: in the locker room after the game. We're outside, you know,
Speaker 1: listening a little bit. The music was cranking. Every everybody's excited,
Speaker 1: and you know, I remember those those kinds of those
Speaker 1: those days are why you play the game of football.
Speaker 1: And I know it's it's been a long stretch, you know,
Speaker 1: eleven weeks of not being able to sweet taste the
Speaker 1: sweet nectar of victory. To taste that nectar is pretty
Speaker 1: damn good, isn't it. You took for granted what winning
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, when you go through a stretch
Speaker 1: like this, and again, just you couldn't be proud of
Speaker 1: everybody involved in this operation because no one pointed fingers.
Speaker 1: Everyone took responsibility for their actions, kept raising the standard
Speaker 1: and it paid off today. And coach, you know, and
Speaker 1: attribute to you, your staff, your players. I'd watch the
Speaker 1: tape and guys around the league that I trust that
Speaker 1: watched the tape of the Bengals play, everybody was like, man,
Speaker 1: the situation they're in, they play hard. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: there's not anybody on that football team that's not given effort.
Speaker 1: And that's a heck of a tribute because it's not
Speaker 1: going to get any tougher than it's been, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: And have to have the guys, you know, deliver what
Speaker 1: they would delivering effort wise, is big time. It's something
Speaker 1: that's great to build off of. You want to get
Speaker 1: that type of character, you can build on it, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna lead us to some great things to come
Speaker 1: in the future. Now time for postgame analysis. Let's start
Speaker 1: with the defensive performance. Carlos Dunlap with three sacks and
Speaker 1: the Bengals held a team that had scored thirty four
Speaker 1: points in each of its last three games to two
Speaker 1: field goals. I don't care who you're playing against in
Speaker 1: the NFL. You hold a team without a touchdown during
Speaker 1: the course of an entire football game, sixty minutes of football,
Speaker 1: it's a great defensive effort. They've never got in the
Speaker 1: red zone, never sniffed scoring a touchdown, had to settle
Speaker 1: for two field goals. That's that's a great performance. No
Speaker 1: turnovers in the football game for either football team. But
Speaker 1: the Bengals won the sack ratio plus three. They haven't
Speaker 1: done that very often. Four quarterback sacks, three by Carlos Dunlap.
Speaker 1: They also got two points out of a pressure when
Speaker 1: Andrew Brown was held, So I mean you get a safety,
Speaker 1: you get points put on the board due to pressure.
Speaker 1: That's what we hoped would happen. The Bengals defensive line
Speaker 1: getting healthy. They have eight man rotation instead of a
Speaker 1: six man rotation they've been struggling with and had shown
Speaker 1: up the last few games, and today it showed up
Speaker 1: big time. The Jets couldn't handle it. They really pressured
Speaker 1: Sam Donald into a lot of bad decisions. Sam Donald
Speaker 1: didn't see ghosts. He saw Dunlap, Hubbard, Atkins, Brown, Lawson, etc.
Speaker 1: No doubt, I mean, Carlos Dunlap had a huge game.
Speaker 1: Seven tackles, three quarterback sacks, other quarterback pressures, hits. Sam
Speaker 1: Hubbard played linebacker, played defensive end on both sides of
Speaker 1: the of the line of the formation, and he was
Speaker 1: relentless in his efforts of pursuit. So last three games
Speaker 1: seventeen points, sixteen points, six points, getting progressively better and
Speaker 1: those kind of point totals you allow those, you're gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of football games. A very satisfying day
Speaker 1: for Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. He became the franchise as
Speaker 1: all time record holder for touchdown passes and completions. But
Speaker 1: more importantly, he gets his chance to come back in
Speaker 1: and lead the team to victory. What do you think
Speaker 1: his presence did today? A lot? I think it was everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was a lot of confidence. He brought
Speaker 1: a lot of confidence to the huddle, brought a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence during the week of preparation. At practice. You know,
Speaker 1: guys were like he had a chip on his shoulder
Speaker 1: and it showed all week long. And you know, he
Speaker 1: was talking about swagger. You know, let's let's let's bring
Speaker 1: the swagger. Let's And the thing I noticed from the
Speaker 1: very beginning, you know, I walked through the locker room
Speaker 1: in the morning and he had gotten a text from
Speaker 1: Ken Anderson and Kenny saying, you know, cut it loose,
Speaker 1: let it happen, and he, you know, broke two Kenny's records.
Speaker 1: He had a smile on his face when he was
Speaker 1: showing me. That smile on his face out on the
Speaker 1: football field, good batter. In between, he was enjoying himself.
Speaker 1: He was enjoying the game of football. And I think
Speaker 1: that's a big thing to take out of this, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, the pressure starts to build, you almost become
Speaker 1: a different person. You know, you have to realize you're
Speaker 1: a grown man playing a kid's game and getting paid
Speaker 1: to do it. And that's what it looked like today
Speaker 1: for a lot of guys. They were having a lot
Speaker 1: of fun and Dan quite honestly the most complete game
Speaker 1: they played all year, a complimentary football field position dominated
Speaker 1: by Darren Simmons's group. They're going to be number in
Speaker 1: the NFL by far now with these numbers. I mean,
Speaker 1: their average drive start was a thirty six yard line.
Speaker 1: The Jets was their eighteen yard line. That's crazy. That's
Speaker 1: over ten possessions. That's almost two football fields, and that's
Speaker 1: what they were looking at. They they were backed up.
Speaker 1: The Jets started five drives from the fifteen yard liner
Speaker 1: inside the fifteen yard line. I mean, that's crazy. They
Speaker 1: were on long field after long field, and the Bengals
Speaker 1: enjoyed some short ones. Kevin Huber had two touchbacks, doubling
Speaker 1: his season total, but he was crushing the ball whether
Speaker 1: he was into the wind or had the wind at
Speaker 1: his back. Yeah, And it was a lot of short
Speaker 1: field stuff because the Bengals didn't have a three and
Speaker 1: out till the fourth quarter, you know, so they're moving football.
Speaker 1: So even if you're not getting points, you're moving the
Speaker 1: ball and pinning them back instead of one, two, three
Speaker 1: and out backed up and now they're getting good field position,
Speaker 1: and that's what was happening. In the first half, the
Speaker 1: Jets were going three and out and the Bengals were
Speaker 1: generating good field position off you know, the Bengals would
Speaker 1: pin the Jets back three and out, they'd get it
Speaker 1: at midfield and you know, score points and that's what
Speaker 1: you want to get done. So all in all, I
Speaker 1: mean offense, defense, special teams. Everybody's supported and complimented each
Speaker 1: other in this football game, more so than any of
Speaker 1: the season. Andy Dalton has given a game ball after
Speaker 1: the game for setting those records and for leading the
Speaker 1: Bengals to a victory. And Zach Taylor also got a
Speaker 1: game ball as he records his first win as a
Speaker 1: head coach. Well earned, well deserved by both of them.
Speaker 1: You know, two quality guys as we know, and had
Speaker 1: to be a difficult situation for both of them, you know,
Speaker 1: both of them having to deal with what they've had
Speaker 1: to deal with. The decision that Zach had made had
Speaker 1: to make was gut wrenching. You know, he knew the
Speaker 1: effect that would have on Andy Dalton. But you know,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton stood up to show that he's a man
Speaker 1: and he's a man of faith and a family man.
Speaker 1: And I think those two things gotten through it, and
Speaker 1: when the opportunity presented itself, he was ready and he
Speaker 1: never you know, he talked about why be bitter? You know,
Speaker 1: at first I was better. Anybody would be better. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a human being. But he got out of that
Speaker 1: gold room quickly. And Andy Dalton has done a lot
Speaker 1: for this organization. And I asked him after the game,
Speaker 1: you know, you've you've had a lot of very, very
Speaker 1: satisfying wins. Where does this one rank? He said, right
Speaker 1: up there, Old olive him because of what he's had
Speaker 1: to deal with. So, you know, hats off to Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor, everybody. Up next a road game against the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns, who are on the cover of Sports Illustrated
Speaker 1: before the season with a big headline that read the
Speaker 1: Browns are back and a smaller headline that said bold
Speaker 1: prediction Cleveland's first Division title in thirty years. Three months later,
Speaker 1: the Browns are five and seven after losing to Devlin
Speaker 1: Duck Hodges and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. There are
Speaker 1: currently four teams ahead of Cleveland in the battle for
Speaker 1: the AFC's final wildcard spot. Now time for this week's
Speaker 1: fun Facts Conversation. As we get to know the person
Speaker 1: under the pads this week, in honor of a record
Speaker 1: setting day. It's quarterback Andy Dalton. I've recorded a couple
Speaker 1: of fun Facts segments with Andy over the years, including
Speaker 1: one in his rookie year. Here are some of the
Speaker 1: most interesting answers from those two conversations. High school football
Speaker 1: and Katie Texas. Is it like Friday Night Lights? It
Speaker 1: is very similar to Friday Night Lights. You know, everybody,
Speaker 1: the town shuts down, everybody goes to games and it's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Who were your childhood heroes? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, I definitely watched you know, some of the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman. Uh, you know you saw what John Elway
Speaker 1: did too, so that and you've seen what Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, some of these other guys have done too.
Speaker 1: So I've definitely watched a lot of a lot of guys.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun Facts with d Dalton. Your last game
Speaker 1: with TCU was the Rose Bowl. When you go to
Speaker 1: those BCS Bowl games, you get good gifts. What was
Speaker 1: the swag from the Rose Bowl? What I got this
Speaker 1: past year was a recliner and it's awesome. It is
Speaker 1: it's a free feet recliner. Did everybody in the team
Speaker 1: get a recliner? No, you had a chance to pick
Speaker 1: your gifts, so they had a bunch of different options.
Speaker 1: So I went with a recliner. That's impressive. I've never
Speaker 1: heard of that as a ball gift. All right. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite things every year is right before the
Speaker 1: draft when John Gruden sits down the top quarterback picks
Speaker 1: and does those sessions. You did a good one with him.
Speaker 1: Did you enjoy it? It was a lot of fun
Speaker 1: just to go there and to see his production and
Speaker 1: see everything that he's got got going. So he definitely
Speaker 1: helped me out something. We're doing fun facts with Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1: You're known for your accurate passing. How did that develop
Speaker 1: as a kid. Did you have a tire hanging in
Speaker 1: the backyard? Did you, you know, shoot footballs at cans
Speaker 1: on a fence? What did you do? No? I mean there,
Speaker 1: I didn't have much like that. Uh. I feel like
Speaker 1: every Saturday I would watch college football with my dad
Speaker 1: and we'd always go just throw the football out during
Speaker 1: a halftime of a game or something like that. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I had really good coaching growing up, So
Speaker 1: I think that all kind of helps out with that.
Speaker 1: What did or do your folks do for a living?
Speaker 1: My dad is an attorney and my mom stayed at
Speaker 1: home with all of us, so it was it was
Speaker 1: definitely fun to have her around. You were a second
Speaker 1: round draft picked by the Bengals. Second round picks get
Speaker 1: paid pretty well. What's been your biggest splurge so far? Jeez?
Speaker 1: I bought a TV. That was about it, and I
Speaker 1: haven't really got anything too big. I hope it was
Speaker 1: a good TV at least, oh it was. It was
Speaker 1: a really good TV. But that's been my biggest purchase
Speaker 1: so far. All right, this is going to be hard
Speaker 1: to believe now, but I had red hair as a kid,
Speaker 1: and lots of it. I know, very hard to believe.
Speaker 1: But I hated it. I hated being called karat top
Speaker 1: and all of that. How about you, I've I've liked it.
Speaker 1: It's uh, you know, I never really got made fun of,
Speaker 1: like people calling me red and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Care top. I get that a lot of ginger, all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, but that's never really affected me.
Speaker 1: And now, of course, red Rifle, have your wife or
Speaker 1: any of your friends and jokingly use that. Yes, I
Speaker 1: have had some. Definitely, some people jokingly use that with me. Andy.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, you enjoyed and your wife started
Speaker 1: a foundation to help sick kids. Now that you're a dad,
Speaker 1: does it mean that much more to help children? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I think you know, you've got a better appreciation and
Speaker 1: understanding of what we're able to do, and so um,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel fortunate to be able to help
Speaker 1: these families and to help these these kids and so,
Speaker 1: but definitely have a better appreciation of what we're able
Speaker 1: to do. You take being a role model very seriously,
Speaker 1: don't you. I do you know there's a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of people that look up to you, not
Speaker 1: only kids, but I mean just people in general. And
Speaker 1: so I mean you can either use your platform for
Speaker 1: good or for something negative. And so um, I mean
Speaker 1: to have the understanding that everybody's watching you, kids are
Speaker 1: watching you. You know, you want to be a good
Speaker 1: rule model to these people. Changing the subject a little bit,
Speaker 1: you never know what you can find on the internet.
Speaker 1: I found an old baseball scouting report on you, right
Speaker 1: handed pitcher Andy Dalton from a high school showcase. Apparently
Speaker 1: an eighty four mile an hour fastball back then a
Speaker 1: decent curve corner infielder. According to this scouting report, when
Speaker 1: did you give up baseball? I gave a baseball. I
Speaker 1: guess it was after my sophomore year. I was started
Speaker 1: out on the team my junior year and then realized
Speaker 1: that I wanted to play football and I want to
Speaker 1: put all my all my focus on football. And so
Speaker 1: a funny story the first, you know, the day that
Speaker 1: I told the baseball coach I wouldn't be playing anymore,
Speaker 1: I got a letter in the mail, thinking it was
Speaker 1: for football, and it was actually for for for baseball,
Speaker 1: and so from from a college, and so, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's worked out all right for me, I
Speaker 1: would say so, And it leads me naturally into my
Speaker 1: next question. The story of how you got to TCU
Speaker 1: intrigues me because, if what I've read is true, you
Speaker 1: and your dad before your senior year of high school
Speaker 1: basically hopped in the car with some highlight tapes and
Speaker 1: drove to some colleges trying to draw them up. Interest.
Speaker 1: Is that pretty much the way I win? I mean,
Speaker 1: it's something like that. There was a you know, all
Speaker 1: these colleges have camps all over the place, and so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I probably went to eight ten different camps
Speaker 1: that that summer before my senior year, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I had my high school highlight tape on a VHS
Speaker 1: and was going around and handing them out. And so
Speaker 1: I've been to I think I went to TCU maybe
Speaker 1: three times. I think they had a camp it, you know,
Speaker 1: and where I'm from up up in Fort Worth, and
Speaker 1: I went and visited for their spring game and different stuff.
Speaker 1: So I think they had an idea of, you know,
Speaker 1: of me, and then I think just the way my
Speaker 1: senior year started out, when they ever they offered, I
Speaker 1: think I committed about a week later. Andy, I've met
Speaker 1: your dad a few times on Bengals road games, and
Speaker 1: it seems like you two are very close. What do
Speaker 1: you admire most about your father? Yeah, he's He's giving
Speaker 1: me so much support. Um, you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if i'd be here if it weren't for you. I
Speaker 1: was driving around doing things like that, you know, to
Speaker 1: get recruited in different stuff. But uh, you know, he's
Speaker 1: a godly man, and you know, I look up to
Speaker 1: him a lot. You're very open about your Christian faith,
Speaker 1: and I understand that when you were a third grader,
Speaker 1: you expressed to your parents the desire to be a Christian.
Speaker 1: I did. It's, uh, you know something that's you know,
Speaker 1: I grew up in a Christian home and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: at such a young age, Um, you know, I met
Speaker 1: with our pastor and had had an understanding of, uh,
Speaker 1: you know what what it means to be a Christian,
Speaker 1: know that you know, Jesus died on the cross for
Speaker 1: for my sins and so, um you know, at that point, I, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, became a Christian, and you know it. As
Speaker 1: time's gone on, I feel like I've grown and grown
Speaker 1: out in my faith. We'll do a few more fun
Speaker 1: facts with Andy Dalton. Long before you were nicknamed the
Speaker 1: Red Rifle, you have a grandfather nicknamed Red. Is that correct? Yeah,
Speaker 1: my mom's dad had red hair, and so naturally everybody
Speaker 1: called him Red. A couple of years ago, Marvin Lewis
Speaker 1: challenged you to be more of a jerk, are you?
Speaker 1: I guess in my own personality, I might be. I
Speaker 1: think it's just, you know, have the expectation of being
Speaker 1: every have everything go exactly how it's supposed to do,
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't, make sure everybody knows that We're
Speaker 1: going to do it the right way. Earlier this year,
Speaker 1: you were wired for sound by NFL Films. Did you
Speaker 1: have a code word to remind your teammates there's a
Speaker 1: mic on me just in case you or they didn't
Speaker 1: want what they were saying to be hurt. I walked
Speaker 1: around the locker room before the game and told everybody
Speaker 1: that was miked up, so you know, I think everybody knew.
Speaker 1: Here's a quick invitation to join us on location this
Speaker 1: week on Friday afternoon from three to six, we'll be
Speaker 1: at Buffalo Wings and Rings in Oakley for the Bengals
Speaker 1: pep Rally Show. A current player will join us and
Speaker 1: we'll have plenty of giveaways too. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, don't forget to subscribe wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and if you have a minute, please give
Speaker 1: it a rating or share a comment. Those five star
Speaker 1: ratings help more Bengals fans find our podcast. I'm Dan
Speaker 1: Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Boot Podcast.