Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The There's gonna be a heartache tonight,
Speaker 1: A heartache tonight, I know. Addition, as we look back
Speaker 1: at Sunday's Burrow versus Baker shootout at Paul Brown Stadium
Speaker 1: ultimately won by the Cleveland Browns thirty seven to thirty four.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments from players
Speaker 1: and coaches, and in depth analysis for my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham. And this week's fun facts segment is with
Speaker 1: wide receiver Mike Thomas. If you're still grumpy from Sunday's
Speaker 1: final score, I promise you my conversation with Mike Thomas
Speaker 1: will put a smile on your face. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: 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 deliver write 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 the Bengals
Speaker 1: media relations staff before the pandemic. I was pretty self
Speaker 1: sufficient when it came to doing my job. The Bengals
Speaker 1: locker room was opened several days a week so I
Speaker 1: would get to know the players, set up my interviews,
Speaker 1: and gather the material I need for broadcasting the games
Speaker 1: and hosting our weekly radio shows. Well that's not possible
Speaker 1: this year. Reporters are not allowed inside of NFL locker
Speaker 1: rooms because of COVID nineteen. So everybody that covers the
Speaker 1: Bengals has been relying on the team's media relations staff
Speaker 1: of Emily Parker, PJ Combs, Pete Shram, and Laura top
Speaker 1: and they have been doing an amazing job of helping
Speaker 1: us as we try to inform you. So Emily, PJ, Pete,
Speaker 1: and Laura, thanks a million from everybody on the Bengals beat.
Speaker 1: Your hard work is truly appreciated. Now let's get to
Speaker 1: Sunday's game. It certainly started well for the Bengals as
Speaker 1: they opened the game with a seventy yard drive that's
Speaker 1: set up first and goal at the two yard line.
Speaker 1: Burrowing the shotgun Bernard to his left, Burrow fakes a
Speaker 1: handoff throws into the end zone. It's patted in the
Speaker 1: year and intercepted in the end zone. That's the second
Speaker 1: time this year that Burrow has been intercepted in the
Speaker 1: end zone. It happened from the one yard line against
Speaker 1: Jacksonville when Miles jack ripped the ball away from Drew Sample,
Speaker 1: But two plays after the Brown's interception, Baker Mayfield returned
Speaker 1: the favor. Now he takes the snap, drops back five steps.
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw it down field for Odell back two.
Speaker 1: It's intercepted by Darius Phillips, running it back to the thirty,
Speaker 1: the twenty five, and he'll be drigged down at the
Speaker 1: twenty four yard line. So Baker Mayfield, who has picked
Speaker 1: off twice in the regular season finale last year by
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips, is picked off on his first throw today
Speaker 1: by the Bengals on her back, and that led to
Speaker 1: the game's first score. Second and goal inside the one.
Speaker 1: Burrow is under center again, takes the snap, runs another
Speaker 1: quarterback ban Joe Burrow should be in here. Come the
Speaker 1: officials to check it out, and there's the touchdown signal.
Speaker 1: The Bengals had an early lead, but the Browns have
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett Burrow back to pass being chased by Miles
Speaker 1: gard who pokes the ball away Cleveland and Cincinnati scrambling
Speaker 1: after the loose ball, it goes out of bounds. Miles
Speaker 1: Garrett with a strip sack and the Browns recovered before
Speaker 1: it went out of bounds, apparently one of two sacks
Speaker 1: for Miles Garrett, who is up to nine for the season.
Speaker 1: The forced fumble was his fourth. It led to a
Speaker 1: field goal that made it seven to three. The Bengals
Speaker 1: answered with a Randy bullockfield goal four minutes into the
Speaker 1: second quarter that made it ten to three. At that point,
Speaker 1: Burrow had one hundred and fifty two passing yards and
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield had zero. He was over five with an interception,
Speaker 1: but the Browns quarterback would not throw another incomplete pass
Speaker 1: until there were sixteen seconds left in the game. Cincinnati
Speaker 1: creeping up on the defensive line, Mayfield with time his
Speaker 1: pass caught for a touchdown by Bryants. That three yard
Speaker 1: grabbed by rookie tight end Harrison Bryant tied the game
Speaker 1: at ten with three forty two left in the half,
Speaker 1: and Burrow went to work, orchestrating a seventy five yard
Speaker 1: drive that not only ended with a touchdown but showed
Speaker 1: up the clock. Second and goal from the eleven twenty
Speaker 1: two seconds left. The Bengals are out of timeouts. Burrow
Speaker 1: back to pass, good pocket throws into the end zone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's intended for touchdown Bengals as Tyler Boy caught it
Speaker 1: right on the white stripe. The ball passed the white stripe,
Speaker 1: Betty was driven back out onto the playing field, but
Speaker 1: the touchdown signal was given with fifteen seconds left in
Speaker 1: the half seventeen ten. Bengals. His Burrow through for two
Speaker 1: hundred thirty four yards in the first half. Here's Aj
Speaker 1: Green being out there with him and then watching his
Speaker 1: demeter in the huddle that he never flinches. He never
Speaker 1: had any doubt in his mind that we wasn't going
Speaker 1: out down there and score. And he's special man. That
Speaker 1: guy gonna be a great one. So I'm glad we
Speaker 1: got him here. Aj by the way, had another solid game,
Speaker 1: finishing with seven catches for eighty two yards. The second
Speaker 1: half became a Burrow versus Baker shootout. There were no
Speaker 1: punts and no turnovers, just a bunch of points. After
Speaker 1: Mayfield threw his second touchdown pass to Harrison Bryant to
Speaker 1: tie the score at seventeen, the Bengals drove to the
Speaker 1: Cleveland four before settling for a Randy Bullock field goal.
Speaker 1: It gave Cincinnati a twenty to seventeen league going to
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, but getting three instead of seven proved
Speaker 1: costly because the Bengals could not stop Baker Mayfield. Second
Speaker 1: and seven, Mayfield drops back to throw into the end zone.
Speaker 1: It is caught for the Cleveland Browns touchdown. David Najoku
Speaker 1: with the catch, and the Browns have taken the lead
Speaker 1: in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Good throw.
Speaker 1: The coverage by Von Bell was good, but it was
Speaker 1: a perfect throw by Baker Mayfield, and former first round
Speaker 1: draft pick David Njoku hauled it in. After starting the
Speaker 1: game over five, Baker Mayfield set a Brown's record by
Speaker 1: completing twenty one consecutive passes. The NFL record is twenty five.
Speaker 1: Here's Zach Taylor. He was hot. He was hot, you know,
Speaker 1: and you gotta give credit to him. And we gotta
Speaker 1: make some plays. There was a bunch of snaps a
Speaker 1: man covers there where they made the plays and we
Speaker 1: did not. And yet Joe Burrow kept bringing the Bengals
Speaker 1: bad second and ten at the Cleveland sixteen yard line,
Speaker 1: empty backfield for Joe Burrow. He catches the shotgun snap
Speaker 1: Burrow bouncing in the pocket. His throw, caught at the
Speaker 1: ten yard line, breaks it the five yeah and runs
Speaker 1: in straight into the end zone. Touchdown Bengals. It's a
Speaker 1: tee him. The Bengals have the lead in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter with eight forty five to go. That lead lasted
Speaker 1: for roughly four minutes. Mayfield swings it out to the left,
Speaker 1: caught by Kareem Hunt, and he will cruise into the
Speaker 1: end zone with nobody within five yards. The Browns have
Speaker 1: the lead again with four minutes and fifty three seconds left.
Speaker 1: Touchdown past number four for Mayfield. The Browns up by four.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter. Once again, Burrow calmly marched the
Speaker 1: Bengals down the field like a ten year veteran, twelve
Speaker 1: yards to t Higgins, fifteen to Tyler Boyd, twenty five
Speaker 1: to Mike Thomas, and a twelve yard quarterback draw for
Speaker 1: a first down on third and eleven. After nine plays,
Speaker 1: the Bengals faced a critical decision with time winding down
Speaker 1: one o nine left in regulation. The Bengals trailed by
Speaker 1: four points. They have it fourth and inches near the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns two yard line. Burrow is under center, the
Speaker 1: running back is p Rhine. Burrow with a long count,
Speaker 1: stops the right foot. Te Higgins goes in motion notes
Speaker 1: actually Giovanni Bernard gotta. Burrow throws for Bernard, he catches
Speaker 1: the touchdown. Bengals gutsie call and the Bengals capitalized as
Speaker 1: they throw it on fourth and inches and Burrow throws
Speaker 1: that touchdown pass to Giovanni Bernard. I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, you talk about, Joe cool, here's Giovanni Bernard
Speaker 1: on the go ahead score. It was just a good call, Um,
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things that I appreciate
Speaker 1: is a coach, Hay, They're giving me that opportunity to
Speaker 1: be able to, you know, to do the play you know, um,
Speaker 1: and to have called it. You know, it's just one
Speaker 1: of those situations and UM and a play that you know,
Speaker 1: you work on for a while and you know you
Speaker 1: bring it out when you need it most, and it worked.
Speaker 1: Burrow finished with a career high four hundred six passing
Speaker 1: yards with three touchdown throws and one touchdown run. Most impressively,
Speaker 1: he directed too long to drives in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: that turned deficits into leads. You know, it is exciting,
Speaker 1: but you know, I expect myself to do that every week.
Speaker 1: On my hand, at the end of the game, I'm
Speaker 1: comfortable and confident that I'm going to go down and
Speaker 1: make the play to win. Unfortunately, Baker was playing, playing
Speaker 1: out of his mind and led that that two minute
Speaker 1: drive after us. The Bengals left sixty six seconds on
Speaker 1: the clock after their go ahead touchdown, and that was
Speaker 1: more than enough time for Mayfield. He's going to throw
Speaker 1: it for the end zone, and Donovan People's jones, he
Speaker 1: comes down with a ball for a touchdown. Are you kidding?
Speaker 1: With eleven seconds to go? Are you kidding me? Unbelievable
Speaker 1: touchdown pass number five, a new career high for Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 1: topping his previous mark of four, also against Cincinnati. The
Speaker 1: Bengals returned the subsequent kickoff to the forty two, giving
Speaker 1: Burrow a chance for a last play miracle. The Browns
Speaker 1: have four defenders about forty yards down field, four seconds
Speaker 1: on the cl the Bengals at their own forty two.
Speaker 1: No pass rush at all from the Cleveland Browns, so
Speaker 1: Burrow waits for the receivers to get down There here
Speaker 1: comes the high hail Mary down toward the goal line
Speaker 1: at the end zone and didn't complete man. The final
Speaker 1: score Cleveland thirty seven, Cincinnati thirty four, another heartbreaker in
Speaker 1: a seven week stretch filled with them. What did Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor say to his team stick together? It's obviously in
Speaker 1: an emotional locker room and for the right reasons. And
Speaker 1: it is guys that in that moment after locker room
Speaker 1: that that's tough to find those words because you felt
Speaker 1: in control, you felt like you're gonna win, and then
Speaker 1: you don't. And that's happened to us a couple of times.
Speaker 1: And this is a team that well leaves that we
Speaker 1: can put together a winning streak, a one game, winning,
Speaker 1: two game, three game, four, game, five game like we
Speaker 1: believe in it, and we just we just haven't done it.
Speaker 1: We haven't proven it to the outside world. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna stick together. I can promise you that it's a
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a group of men on proud
Speaker 1: to coach, and we're gonna stick together. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: through this and the uh, there's much better days ahead.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are one five and one, including two losses
Speaker 1: by three points one by four, another by five, and
Speaker 1: a tie where they gave up a seven point lead
Speaker 1: with twenty one seconds left in regulation. Excruciating. Here are
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and Giovanni Bernard, and we got a bunch
Speaker 1: of great guys in this locker room and great Collagy staff.
Speaker 1: You know, Zach's gonna get us to where we want
Speaker 1: to go. Um. You know, I know everyone is down
Speaker 1: in the dumps right now. The fan base is is
Speaker 1: frustrated just as we are. We're one five, but you
Speaker 1: know we got we got a great guy at the
Speaker 1: helm and Zach who who called a great game today,
Speaker 1: he really did. And you know he's he's gonna keep
Speaker 1: us together. He's the leader of our team, the leader
Speaker 1: of our own organization. UM, and he's gonna keep us together.
Speaker 1: We freaking want to win, Mike, We just want to win.
Speaker 1: In that's it. Obviously, we've come up short. We know it.
Speaker 1: It sucks, we hate the feeling. But all we can
Speaker 1: do is just continue to keep working. Unfortunately the same
Speaker 1: cannot be said of Carlos Dunlap. After another Instagram post
Speaker 1: on Saturday complaining about his role on defense, Dunlap appeared
Speaker 1: to argue with coaches on the sideline after the game,
Speaker 1: and then chose Twitter to Ariis Grievance's moments later with
Speaker 1: a snarky post about putting his house up for sale
Speaker 1: that put Boyd and Bernard in the uncomfortable position of
Speaker 1: having to answer numerous questions about their long time teammates
Speaker 1: behavior after a difficult loss. We're a team and we
Speaker 1: hold each other accountable, no matter what coach it is,
Speaker 1: no matter what fan it is, we are in it
Speaker 1: together as players. So for him to do down the
Speaker 1: style and I don't agree with it, but I mean
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to get into it. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just continue to practice and trying to get one. It's
Speaker 1: tough to talk about. You know, it's a situation that
Speaker 1: he's going to have to handle. But you know, I've
Speaker 1: always been the type of person then you know a
Speaker 1: lot of the guys in the locker room have been
Speaker 1: this way. Is you know, we can only worry about,
Speaker 1: you know, the guys that want to be here, the
Speaker 1: guys that want to take care of business and do
Speaker 1: it the right way. Um. We know what coach Taylor,
Speaker 1: you know, has preached since day one is protecting the team,
Speaker 1: and um, you know It's just one of those things
Speaker 1: that we got to continue to do that. UM. We
Speaker 1: can't worry about the guys that you know that don't
Speaker 1: follow that. You know that that idea, UM. But you know,
Speaker 1: I've always been a firm believer and you know everything
Speaker 1: that Coach Taylor has really been doing around this UM,
Speaker 1: this organization. UM, you know, it's it's just it breaks
Speaker 1: my heart, man, to just to know that, you know,
Speaker 1: he's had to deal with a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't see, you know, these things
Speaker 1: that have happened, but he not only deals with you know,
Speaker 1: the offense and you know, being the head coach, but
Speaker 1: there's so much other crap that he has to deal with.
Speaker 1: And UM, you know it's one of those things that
Speaker 1: Rich shoot, man, I just want to win for him.
Speaker 1: You know. It's it's just a difficult situation, and UM,
Speaker 1: it's obviously frustrating. We all know it's frustrating, but we
Speaker 1: know the type of team that we have, and we
Speaker 1: just have to worry about the guys that better here
Speaker 1: day in and day out put in the work. We
Speaker 1: can't focus on things that we don't have control over.
Speaker 1: We just go in and just do our jobs period.
Speaker 1: Up next the home game against the Tennessee Titans, who
Speaker 1: are five and one after a three point lass to
Speaker 1: the six and o Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing
Speaker 1: with a hint of fruit flavor. Now, let's get some
Speaker 1: postgame analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow summed it up pretty well at the end of
Speaker 1: a four hundred and six yard passing performance. Quote. Football
Speaker 1: is not a game of numbers. It is a game
Speaker 1: of letters, W and L. Well done, rookie QB. Well
Speaker 1: he's got one W, five l's and one T for
Speaker 1: a tie. This team has had the lead in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter five times in seven games and has one win,
Speaker 1: three losses In the tie. It's almost it's almost incredible
Speaker 1: the last two weeks for them to lose games the
Speaker 1: way they did, have a twenty one point lead, give
Speaker 1: it all back and lose. To have a fourth quarter lead,
Speaker 1: take it to lead back, lose the lead, take it
Speaker 1: back again, lose the game is just I mean, it's
Speaker 1: gut wrenching. It's a gut punch It's like they're, you know,
Speaker 1: manufacturing ways to lose football games, and losing teams figure
Speaker 1: out ways to lose football games, and winning teams figure
Speaker 1: out ways to win football games. And Cleveland's now five
Speaker 1: and two and the Bengals are won five and one.
Speaker 1: Baker mayfield first pass of the game was intercepted oh
Speaker 1: for five in the first quarter, and then he completed
Speaker 1: twenty one in a row before a spike, and then
Speaker 1: through the game winning touchdown pass, five touchdown passes in
Speaker 1: the game five and one and six starts against the Bengals.
Speaker 1: They have no answers for the guy. It's amazing. Seventeen touchdowns,
Speaker 1: seven interceptions now in his career against the Bengals. If
Speaker 1: he played against the Bengals every week, he'd be a
Speaker 1: consensus All Pro and a unanimous Hall of Fame electoral vote.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is, it's ludicrous. And the thing is
Speaker 1: when he got hot, I'm telling you, he put the
Speaker 1: ball in spots that they were they were as tight
Speaker 1: a window. When he gets going, he throws the ball
Speaker 1: as well as anybody. And if you need to have
Speaker 1: your career resurrected in media and fans to get off
Speaker 1: your back, like Philip Rivers and Baker Mayfield did come
Speaker 1: to Cincinnati schedule the Bengals, I mean, all is forgiven,
Speaker 1: all is healed because you have almost perfect quarterback rating
Speaker 1: games when you play against his football team. To think
Speaker 1: where they were as a past defense a month into
Speaker 1: the season and to think where they are now, it's frightening.
Speaker 1: Receivers aren't just open. They're open by country Miles. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not supposed to be as open as they're open
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. It's just not supposed to
Speaker 1: have And it's happening too many times in football games.
Speaker 1: It's happening with too much, too much regularity. It's it's
Speaker 1: mind boggling, it really is, you know. And once players
Speaker 1: get their confidence, you know, Baker Mayfield thinks I can
Speaker 1: make any thrown, as receivers think I can make any catch.
Speaker 1: I mean, it gets to be a contagious thing. And
Speaker 1: when they had to make plays, when they at crucial moments,
Speaker 1: when they had to make plays, they made plays. And
Speaker 1: a lot of times the Bengals did too, but they
Speaker 1: made mistakes again, you know, at pivotal crucial times too.
Speaker 1: You know, it kills me that people are saying Zach,
Speaker 1: what are the four plays that could have been the
Speaker 1: four plays that there's more than four plays in every game.
Speaker 1: Zach didn't mean he couldn't think of a play. He couldn't.
Speaker 1: He couldn't put his finger on which one of multiple
Speaker 1: plays in every single game that they've lost, when they've
Speaker 1: gone into the fourth quarter with the lead. It's not
Speaker 1: just one play every game. It's a myriad of plays
Speaker 1: every game that if one of them went the other way,
Speaker 1: it's a different outcome. That's what people are talking about
Speaker 1: when you're losing all these football games by one scoreless.
Speaker 1: Now they're what one, twelve and one in games to
Speaker 1: side a by eight points or less. Unbelievable. Here's what
Speaker 1: I find staggering. Odell Beckham Junior left the game early
Speaker 1: with a knee injury. It's feared to be serious. I
Speaker 1: hope that's not the case for his sake. Jarvis Landry
Speaker 1: is playing with a broken rib. But he played okay.
Speaker 1: But he's not, you know, the Pro Bowl type wide receiver.
Speaker 1: He would normally be Austin Hooper, their best receiving tight end,
Speaker 1: had an emergency appen decked to me on Friday, he
Speaker 1: wasn't available Rashad Higgins, Harrison Bryant, rookie tight end Donovan
Speaker 1: People's Jones, who normally wouldn't even get on the field
Speaker 1: had the game winning touchdown catch. You've got to get
Speaker 1: some pressure on Baker Mayfield or guys like that become
Speaker 1: good players. Yeah, there's no doubt it's a compounding effect. Negatively,
Speaker 1: they're playing complimentary football the worst way you can no
Speaker 1: pass rush, horsepucky coverage. That's going to lead to guys
Speaker 1: that who guys that didn't have any NFL catches. They've
Speaker 1: had guys this year with no NFL catches and statute
Speaker 1: have career games. They've had guys that you know are
Speaker 1: just basically the last receiver actor for the game, don't
Speaker 1: really have a big role because of injury. Their role increases,
Speaker 1: have big games. But if you're not rushing the passer
Speaker 1: and you're have an assignment are on the back end
Speaker 1: and technique problems on the back end. I mean, they
Speaker 1: can pull guys off the street and line up and
Speaker 1: beat the Bengals. I mean, it is unbelievably gruesome to
Speaker 1: watch at this stage. It really is. One of the
Speaker 1: reasons why Baker Mayfield was so effective was the absence
Speaker 1: of Will Jackson. He's played great at corner this year.
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus has him as the eighteenth highest rated
Speaker 1: cornerback in the NFL. They dearly missed him when Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield was carving people up. I remember Dan when we
Speaker 1: did our Friday show talking about Joe Mixon's a huge blow,
Speaker 1: but you have a true professional in Givn't even hard
Speaker 1: and other running backs that might be able to kind
Speaker 1: of lessen that load, and that Jackson was probably a
Speaker 1: bigger loss as the game unfolded. That's exactly how it
Speaker 1: played out. Not having Will Jackson as a guy that
Speaker 1: could run with the best receiver or covered his half
Speaker 1: of the football field. The ripple effected, that the trickle
Speaker 1: down effected. That was enormous, enormous, and guys were out there,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the best they could, but not good
Speaker 1: enough to make the plays that Will Jackson would have
Speaker 1: made during the course of this football game. And you
Speaker 1: got a quarterback that goes twenty two out of twenty
Speaker 1: three with five touchdown passes in the final three quarters
Speaker 1: of the game. Tell me having number twenty two out
Speaker 1: there to line up at corner on the wide side
Speaker 1: of the field wouldn't have been helpful, absolutely would have.
Speaker 1: And the other sad thing is this would have been
Speaker 1: quite a feel good story for the offensive line, the
Speaker 1: much maligned offensive line. Jonah Williams exit in the first
Speaker 1: half with a neck injury. Trey Hopkins exits in the
Speaker 1: first half with a concussion. Billy Price plays the entire
Speaker 1: second half at center. Fred Johnson plays the entire second
Speaker 1: half at tackle. With three plays to go, Bobby Hart
Speaker 1: apparently hurt his knee. Hacam identage is thrown in there
Speaker 1: the rookie out of Kansas, and those three guys are
Speaker 1: on the field when they score the go ahead touchdown
Speaker 1: with the one oh six to go. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: in the second half the shuffle me offensive line. Eight
Speaker 1: offensive line were active for the football game. All eight
Speaker 1: saw snaps, not as the extra lineman in a you know,
Speaker 1: big tight end formation. I'm talking about snaps. Like you
Speaker 1: said in the in the offensive schematic at tackle or center.
Speaker 1: Everybody had to step up and make plays, you know,
Speaker 1: in the football game. And it is said, it's sad
Speaker 1: to see they overcame it. I mean the entire second half,
Speaker 1: you know, Billy Price and Fred were you know, they're
Speaker 1: going there, they have no option. So it's sad when
Speaker 1: you a performance like that is wasted. I thought that
Speaker 1: Zach had probably the best game plan and the best
Speaker 1: play calling execution of that game plan in terms of
Speaker 1: play caller he had all season long. They still couldn't
Speaker 1: run the ball. But he went to the screen game
Speaker 1: as an extension of the running game. It's like a
Speaker 1: long ladderal out there. It's like a long pitch. And
Speaker 1: he screened every way you can screen. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: he had more screens today than a door has in
Speaker 1: their warehouse screen doors. I mean, he went to running backs,
Speaker 1: he went to wide receivers, he went to tight ends,
Speaker 1: he went to a gadget gimmick Tyler Boyd throws a
Speaker 1: screen to Giovanni Bernard. He screened every way you can screen,
Speaker 1: and those are literally, you know, like a wide run
Speaker 1: in the running game. So I thought that he was
Speaker 1: very very creative with his game plan and very very
Speaker 1: creative with his play calling. And unfortunately this is the
Speaker 1: most non complimentary or uncomplimentary football team in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. Now, when the offense plays well, the defense sucked.
Speaker 1: When the defense plays well, the offense sucks. When the
Speaker 1: run defense plays well, the past defense sucks. When the
Speaker 1: Bengals can't run the football, the passing game is good.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's like, you know, what am I
Speaker 1: going to have this week? Which phase is going to
Speaker 1: show up for me this week? Position groups? Defensive line
Speaker 1: plays well, secondary doesn't. Defensive line doesn't play well, secondary
Speaker 1: plays better, I mean, and then when they don't don't
Speaker 1: both don't play well, you get smoked like Baker Meadfield
Speaker 1: smoked you. So it's a very frustrating football team to watch.
Speaker 1: And they, again, like I said before, continue to find
Speaker 1: ways to lose football games. All right. Last thing, I
Speaker 1: hate to second guess a play on fourth down that
Speaker 1: gives you the lead with sixty six seconds to go,
Speaker 1: But as badly as the defense was struggling, should they
Speaker 1: have tried to run on fourth and inches to keep
Speaker 1: that clock winding down? You can't second guess it. But
Speaker 1: well that's what you are doing. That's what I am doing.
Speaker 1: I'm second guessing it because it didn't work, I know.
Speaker 1: But we were talking about it first guessing, you know,
Speaker 1: really during the course of the game, and it was
Speaker 1: it was, you know, unfolding as man two hot quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: two first pick of the drafts that are living up
Speaker 1: to expectations, that are hot as the firecrackers, that are
Speaker 1: both doing unbelievable things leading their football team. The one
Speaker 1: that has the football last, no fault to the other,
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna win the football game. And that's the
Speaker 1: way it worked out. Like you said, Dan, Hindsight's twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: But you know, we're hopeful that you go on that
Speaker 1: uh what three minute and fifty some odd second drive
Speaker 1: and take every single three of them fifty three seconds
Speaker 1: or whatever, take every single one of them off the
Speaker 1: clock and score. And we said it during the course
Speaker 1: of the game, so it wasn't second guess, it was
Speaker 1: first guests and it just didn't unfold that way. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you a hell of an offensive performance wasted,
Speaker 1: and there have been good defensive performances wasted. And like
Speaker 1: I said, it's the it's the most bizarre, uncomplimentary, non
Speaker 1: complimentary season a date that I've seen in the National
Speaker 1: Football League by the Bengals. It's unbelievable to watch unfold
Speaker 1: on a weekly basis. It really is. You know, you
Speaker 1: think what next. It's amazing. Now, as promised, I am
Speaker 1: going to put a smile on your face with the
Speaker 1: help of Bengals wide receiver Mike Thomas. It's an all
Speaker 1: time classic edition of fantastic fun Facts where you get
Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Time for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with wide Receiver Mike Thomas from the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois,
Speaker 1: more specifically the South Side of Chicago. Mike tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about growing up in Chicago and what
Speaker 1: you like to do as a kid. Growing up in
Speaker 1: Chicago Southside, I'd pretty much like to hang around friends,
Speaker 1: be outside, just hanging out, having fun, doing what kids do.
Speaker 1: Pretty much. It was cool. It was always cold winters
Speaker 1: four seasons, so when it was cold outside in the house,
Speaker 1: cancel school, just trying to stay bungled up. Cozy weather.
Speaker 1: So it was cool, you know what I'm saying. Just
Speaker 1: growing up in the Windy City. Do you see yourself
Speaker 1: winding up back in Chicago someday? Yeah, just because I
Speaker 1: have most of my family back there, So yeah, I
Speaker 1: do find myself back there, you know, planning on being
Speaker 1: back there Austin we're visiting with Mike Thomas. Speaking of family,
Speaker 1: your Instagram page includes several tributes to your mom. What
Speaker 1: do you appreciate and respect about her? The most I
Speaker 1: appreciate is that she was a single parent and that
Speaker 1: she got the job done no matter what whenever it
Speaker 1: came to us. I have an older brother. She made
Speaker 1: sure that we was on top of everything and made
Speaker 1: sure that we were straight as far as dealing with
Speaker 1: school financial wise, is making sure that we didn't need
Speaker 1: for anything. So that's that's what I mostly appreciate about
Speaker 1: my mom. She made it happening regardless of the situation,
Speaker 1: and she's still gonna make it happen. She still tell
Speaker 1: them to this day, Mike, I don't care. I care
Speaker 1: about your mentor I care about your health. So she's
Speaker 1: gonna be with me when through it all. You attended
Speaker 1: DuSable High School, alma mater of Nat King Cole and
Speaker 1: Red Fox for older folks. But it's not exactly a
Speaker 1: football powerhouse, is it. Nah, not at all? Pretty much
Speaker 1: at basketball school, a lot of a lot of guys
Speaker 1: that that hooped out of Chicago went there or played
Speaker 1: against DuSable, Like Anthony Davis was one of the guys
Speaker 1: that played against our high school. And I've actually seen
Speaker 1: him play against us and didn't know he was gonna
Speaker 1: grow that tall and now you see where yet now?
Speaker 1: So it's best. Chicago's just a basketball city, just a
Speaker 1: powerhouse on basketball. So yeah, that was kind of like
Speaker 1: tough trying to make it out of there playing football.
Speaker 1: You told reporters recently that you would not be playing
Speaker 1: football if not for former Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson.
Speaker 1: Who was Chad Ochocinco when you were a kid. How
Speaker 1: did Chad inspire you? Honestly, it started with the hard knocks,
Speaker 1: the fact that he was making people look bad at
Speaker 1: the corner and the fact that he was like bringing
Speaker 1: comedy out of it, like making people laugh and two.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yo, whoever that is, I'm going
Speaker 1: to try to impersonate him to the tea from top
Speaker 1: to bottom. And that's how it all started. Man, just
Speaker 1: watching him on hard Knocks and wearing eighty five and
Speaker 1: that just that just inspired me to play this game period,
Speaker 1: just watching him to I mean, it was a couple
Speaker 1: more guys, but he was the main person that I
Speaker 1: wanted to be, like rocking eighty five, calling my name
Speaker 1: Ocho Sinko, Just trying to impersonate him, his footwork, all
Speaker 1: his YouTube videos, workouts. It's just so much. I can
Speaker 1: just go on and on about. But he was the
Speaker 1: main guy as far as character playing football. Did you
Speaker 1: actually call yourself Mike Ocho Senko, Yes, I did. I
Speaker 1: actually I had my name on There's Mike Ocho Sinko
Speaker 1: eighty five on Facebook. I was just eighty five crazy
Speaker 1: back then, Like I just thought I was him. Describe
Speaker 1: the time you approach Chad and told him what he
Speaker 1: meant to you. Yeah. I think this was pregame Cleveland
Speaker 1: last year, the Rams versus Cleveland, and I think Chad
Speaker 1: had the cameras around him following. I think he was
Speaker 1: doing like a special that week, and I just basically
Speaker 1: I'm like, I was just looking at him like yo,
Speaker 1: I gotta go say something like I'm just thinking to
Speaker 1: my head like how I'm about the approach him, Like
Speaker 1: all right, I don't know, I'm finna just tell him
Speaker 1: how I feel at this point. So I just talked
Speaker 1: went up to him and told him basically like man,
Speaker 1: I just want to thank you for, you know, inspiring
Speaker 1: a kid from Chicago to even play this game today. Man,
Speaker 1: you don't even know what you have done for me.
Speaker 1: But I just want to say thank you. I didn't
Speaker 1: really give him too much of a rundown. I just
Speaker 1: just kept it short and simple and just told him,
Speaker 1: thank you, man, I appreciate you for inspiring me to
Speaker 1: even play this game. Today. We're doing fun factored Mike Thomas,
Speaker 1: you left Chicago to play for Dodge City Community College
Speaker 1: and Dodge City, Kansas population twenty seven thousand. Was it
Speaker 1: tough to adjust to growing up in Chicago? Yes, I honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep it real. The whole slogan when they
Speaker 1: say get out of Dodge, that's that's what I knew,
Speaker 1: exactly what that means. Like, it was nothing there like
Speaker 1: Tommy weeds, tumbling everything. It would just dry, just dry weather,
Speaker 1: open space, fields, crops, everything, just a whole bunch of nothing. Man.
Speaker 1: They're just just that just helped me stay focused, honestly
Speaker 1: and get the job done. And my whole goal why
Speaker 1: why I was there? So I just had to stay
Speaker 1: locked in and and and focus and get the job done.
Speaker 1: And now I know the origin of get out of Dodge.
Speaker 1: Get out of Dodge, man, it was crazy from there.
Speaker 1: It was on the Southern miss where your career really
Speaker 1: took off. You set the all time record for receiving
Speaker 1: yards in a season. There, When did you start to
Speaker 1: think that you might have an NFL future? That's a
Speaker 1: good question, because honestly, I never had my mind on
Speaker 1: the NFL just playing league ball, like I never just
Speaker 1: had I just like playing just the passion in me,
Speaker 1: just like playing back. I mean football. I played basketball too,
Speaker 1: but my whole mind was just playing football and just
Speaker 1: hopefully some coming out of it. I never had in
Speaker 1: my mind that I was gonna go to the NFL.
Speaker 1: But I'm not gonna lie. I would say after that
Speaker 1: Washington game, that Bowl game, when we played Washington and
Speaker 1: I had like them, they're close to two hundred yards,
Speaker 1: two touchdown, about ten plus catches, I knew like, oh,
Speaker 1: and this is a powerhouse defense team too. And that's
Speaker 1: when I knew, like, oh, I might have a real
Speaker 1: chance that really going to you know, the league and
Speaker 1: making it happen. And that's when I knew like I
Speaker 1: might have a good shot. Then that's when agents was
Speaker 1: splawing my phone up and that's when it happened. After that,
Speaker 1: for chatting with Mike Thomas, she got drafted by the
Speaker 1: Rams in two sixteen. Former head coach Jeff Fisher was
Speaker 1: the guy that made the phone call. Can you describe
Speaker 1: what that moment meant? I remember, like it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: My family was right there, Mom was right there Dad,
Speaker 1: And honestly, before he called me, it was a lot
Speaker 1: of teams calling me saying, hey, if we don't drive
Speaker 1: for you, we're gonna pick you up. This and that.
Speaker 1: I mean, who want to hear that? Like I wasn't
Speaker 1: trying to hear that. I'm trying to see if y'all
Speaker 1: gonna draft me. The long story short, Jeff Fisher called
Speaker 1: me right after and saying, hey, man, we're gonna pick
Speaker 1: you up. And I was just on the phone and
Speaker 1: my fam like kind of knew what was up and
Speaker 1: they were just going crazy. So after that did the phone,
Speaker 1: I couldn't even hear what he was saying. And I
Speaker 1: didn't even realize it. But my cousin had on the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams jacket and I didn't even realize that, Wow,
Speaker 1: like you really spoke this into existance. When is to
Speaker 1: the party, draft party and everything, it was just crazy,
Speaker 1: like it didn't even hit me yet, Like fam was
Speaker 1: still going crazy. It was just so unreal, Like damn,
Speaker 1: I thought I wasn't gonna get drafted, honestly, it was
Speaker 1: just it was frustrating at the same time, but it
Speaker 1: was kind of like cool to actually hear your name
Speaker 1: get called and see his name go on the screen
Speaker 1: and all that. You spent four years in LA, including
Speaker 1: the twenty eighteen Super Bowl season, but unfortunately that year
Speaker 1: you got injured in Week one. It was a groin
Speaker 1: injury that required three surgeries. What happened Something didn't happen
Speaker 1: right in the the first surgery, and I had to
Speaker 1: go back to Saint Louis and I guess they didn't
Speaker 1: fix that. So that's when I had to get the
Speaker 1: second opinion with my agent, and that's when we went
Speaker 1: to Philly and got the second opinion and got everything together.
Speaker 1: But that was just a long, frustrated season, just knowing
Speaker 1: not supposed to have been back week six earlier than that,
Speaker 1: and it was just constant, you know, barriers in a
Speaker 1: way of me not even coming back. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to be healthy at that point and fix the problem.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Mike time as she joined
Speaker 1: the Bengals this year and made your first touchdown catching
Speaker 1: Week two on Thursday Night Football versus Cleveland. Was that
Speaker 1: a huge moment for you to get that first TV
Speaker 1: in prime time? Yeah? That was that was real huge
Speaker 1: because I felt like it was long overdue. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been in rooms with guys that I
Speaker 1: felt like I wasn't even supposed to be in, just
Speaker 1: competing with guys that have a huge household name for themselves,
Speaker 1: and I felt like, if I can compete with them, man,
Speaker 1: I know I'm doing something right. I know I'm just
Speaker 1: playing some type of talent out here. Man, where's my
Speaker 1: time going to come in? And it came and I
Speaker 1: just felt good, like, man, I've finally been in the
Speaker 1: league them in five years and got my first touchdown.
Speaker 1: I know that's kind of like what what you doing
Speaker 1: your whole four years? Yeah, but you know, you you
Speaker 1: just go through things, man, and you just got to
Speaker 1: stay the course and stay positive and just know things
Speaker 1: gonna work out for you. So that was a mouthstone
Speaker 1: for sure. All Right, A few wild card questions to
Speaker 1: wrap things up with Mike Thomas, what do you like
Speaker 1: to spend your money on them? I'm a huge, huge
Speaker 1: sneaker head man just growing up in Chicago. Jordan's that
Speaker 1: was the fashion statement back then. Man, I made sure, well,
Speaker 1: my mom kind of made sure I had some of them.
Speaker 1: I didn't have all of them, but the ones that
Speaker 1: I did wanted I had, But now I had to
Speaker 1: get them all. Man. So I'm a big, big sneaker head. Man,
Speaker 1: I love sneakers. How big is the collection? I had
Speaker 1: to get another closet, man, I had to use the
Speaker 1: guests around closet for one of us shoes have them.
Speaker 1: So it's getting big. It's getting bigger. Mike. Is a
Speaker 1: true that you like to play brain games on your phone?
Speaker 1: I do Lumosity. It's called lou Monsiti's brain. Just like
Speaker 1: to work on things every day, Like as I think
Speaker 1: about it, Like when when I was going to school,
Speaker 1: sometimes I feel like I wasn't paying attention enough what
Speaker 1: I was supposed to. You know, you got classmates distracting you,
Speaker 1: planing and all that. So sometimes I like to, you know,
Speaker 1: go back to the app and you know, do little
Speaker 1: mathematic games, reading games. It's all types of stuff you can,
Speaker 1: you know, work on your brain. You just it's just
Speaker 1: a fun game, just to you know that you're working
Speaker 1: on something, you ain't just playing just for fun. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pass that along to my fourteen year old kid.
Speaker 1: Trust me. Hey, it's gonna work out. When you go
Speaker 1: home to Chicago, what local delicacy must you have? That's
Speaker 1: a good question, because I usually go back to the pizza, man.
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not usually a delacy guy. I usually
Speaker 1: do the pizza. I love Geral Donals. Yeah, deep this,
Speaker 1: you gotta get the deepest gerald Dono's pizza. Man. That's
Speaker 1: like the number one thing I have to get when
Speaker 1: I go back, and that's every time. All right, final
Speaker 1: fun fact for Mike Thomas. Obviously, you are not the
Speaker 1: only wide receiver named Mike Thomas in the NFL. Michael
Speaker 1: Thomas from the Saints was part of the same draft class.
Speaker 1: Do you ever get mail meant for him? Autograph requests, proposals, etc.
Speaker 1: I feel like they kind of know, like there's a
Speaker 1: there's a difference, man. I feel like we have two
Speaker 1: different backgrounds who come from two different places. So they
Speaker 1: don't get me confused him at all. I mean, you
Speaker 1: might do it as far as like fantasy drafts, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I see Twitter comments about that, but nothing as
Speaker 1: far as like fan mail or signatures and nothing like that.
Speaker 1: I was hoping you were going to tell me you
Speaker 1: occasionally got his paycheck by mistake. I wish yeah, send
Speaker 1: it to me. Yeah, I act like them. Four day Mike,
Speaker 1: this has been great. You're off the hot seat. Appreciate
Speaker 1: the time. Best of luck the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Dan, I appreciate it. Hi. Thanks to the
Speaker 1: charismatic Mike Thomas Head. Here's a quick reminder to join
Speaker 1: Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from
Speaker 1: six to nine on seven hundred WLW. Done. On Wednesday night,
Speaker 1: I'll join Lap for the Bengals Game Plan Show from
Speaker 1: six to eight on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
Speaker 1: brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game.
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks so much for listening to
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.