Speaker 1: Happy New Year, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to the Bengals Booth podcast, Singing Joe to the World,
Speaker 1: all the Boys and Girls Now. Addition, as we look
Speaker 1: back at the final game of the twenty nineteen season,
Speaker 1: a thirty three twenty three win over the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from
Speaker 1: players and coaches, and Dave Lappom will join me for
Speaker 1: postgame analysis and in this week's Fun Facts Conversation, it's
Speaker 1: a rare interview at Bengals Executive vice president Katie Blackburn
Speaker 1: on a wide variety of topics, ranging from memories of
Speaker 1: her grandfather Paul Brown, to the Sports Illustrated headline that
Speaker 1: referred to her as the NFL's most powerful woman that
Speaker 1: nobody talks about. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since family recipes.
Speaker 1: I'm not much of a cook, but every Christmas I
Speaker 1: make two things that are tied to my Swedish heritage,
Speaker 1: Swedish pancakes, and something my mother calls Swedish Christmas potatoes.
Speaker 1: If you've never had Swedish pancakes, they're very thin and
Speaker 1: typically served with lingen berry or strawberry jam. As for
Speaker 1: the Christmas potatoes, I'm not sure they're even really Swedish,
Speaker 1: but that's what they're called in my family, and they
Speaker 1: feature lots of butter, heavy cream, onions, and nutmeg. So
Speaker 1: here's to enjoying family recipes around the holidays, and I'll
Speaker 1: see you at the gym next week. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to football. Three weeks ago, the Browns beat the Bengals
Speaker 1: twenty seven to nineteen, despite lousy passing numbers for quarterback
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. In that game, the NFL leader in commercials
Speaker 1: was eleven for twenty four with no touchdown, passes, two interceptions,
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of thirty eight point nine. But
Speaker 1: on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, Baker's first pass of
Speaker 1: the day was a thing of beauty. Mayfield back to throw,
Speaker 1: moves up in the pocket, flings a high deep ball
Speaker 1: for Ratley in the end zone. He reaches out and
Speaker 1: he's got it for a Cleveland Brown's touchdown forty six
Speaker 1: yards on the bomb tossed by Baker Mayfield and the
Speaker 1: Browns strike first less than ninety seconds into the game.
Speaker 1: That three play, fifty six yard drive gave Cleveland a
Speaker 1: seven nothing lead, but it didn't last thanks to Joe Mixon.
Speaker 1: Dalton hands it off to Mixon trying to run wide
Speaker 1: to the left. Little shimmy to get away from a
Speaker 1: Cleveland defender hurdles another sprinting down the near sideline to
Speaker 1: the twenty five. The twenty lowers his shoulder, knocks over
Speaker 1: Denzel Ward and goes down at the fifteen yard line,
Speaker 1: a forty one yard run for Joe Mixon. That run
Speaker 1: put Joe up and over one thousand rushing yards for
Speaker 1: the season, despite only having three hundred twenty at the
Speaker 1: midway point of the year. Over the bengals final eight games,
Speaker 1: mix and rushed for eight hundred seventeen yards. Here's center
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins. I'm so hyping for that guy coming from
Speaker 1: I mean, the way the season's gone the first half
Speaker 1: of the year. I know you have to be frustrated,
Speaker 1: but he never never let it gets on him. He
Speaker 1: always was a team guy. And then I mean, just
Speaker 1: to see that he's still reached the thousand yards at
Speaker 1: the second half of the season. I mean, it feels,
Speaker 1: it feels great. So I got some block. Le Guy
Speaker 1: Mixon's long run on the Bengals opening drive set up
Speaker 1: their first touchdown first and ten from the fifteen. Here's
Speaker 1: a pass toward the end zone caught by c Chauzama,
Speaker 1: who Crooks spikes it after the touchdown grab and the
Speaker 1: Bengals are a p e t away from tying this game.
Speaker 1: Here's Tyler Boyd on the importance of answering the Browns
Speaker 1: quick strike with a touchdown of their own. That's how
Speaker 1: that's how you change the game. Man. You gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta answer at the end of the day, Man, we
Speaker 1: still early. They had three players. It was what they
Speaker 1: had two minutes off the clock. This since a lot
Speaker 1: of football left Massle. We just gotta go out there
Speaker 1: and just just just find it, find ourselves and go
Speaker 1: out there. And Dominic. Speaking of Boyd, he reached a
Speaker 1: milestone of his own. I'm third down in fourteen. Daltons
Speaker 1: back to throw. The protection is great. He guns it
Speaker 1: on the middle. I'll leaping catch made for a first
Speaker 1: down at midfield with bad catch, Tyler Boyd goes up
Speaker 1: and over one thousand receiving yards for the season. You're
Speaker 1: one of six receivers in Bengals history to have more
Speaker 1: than one one thousand yards season. What's that mean to
Speaker 1: you at this stage of your career, man, it means
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, because I know what it took
Speaker 1: for me to get here, you know, and just continue
Speaker 1: to continue to fight into the hard times. Man, that's
Speaker 1: the only thing I really think about, Just just facing diversity. Man,
Speaker 1: coming this far and still being here and doing what
Speaker 1: I do best, you know, since I was a kid,
Speaker 1: and continue to strive in h justus make plays man.
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield's first pass of the day was a long touchdown.
Speaker 1: His fourth of the day was picked off. Catches a
Speaker 1: shotgun snap back to throw his pass picked off by
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips. He's on his feet at the play fifteen
Speaker 1: the ten five. He dives and goes down at the
Speaker 1: three yard line. Offensive lineman Wyatt Teller with the stop
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips. It's incredible. That's his third interception on fewer
Speaker 1: than ten passes thrown in his direction this year, and
Speaker 1: three plays later, the Bengals had the lead. Third down
Speaker 1: and goal from the three shotgun snap, daltni Het the
Speaker 1: mixing bowers the shoulder pads and busts his way into
Speaker 1: the end zone for a Bengals touchdown. Yeah. He spins
Speaker 1: the football and launches into his Bay Area dance. As
Speaker 1: the Bengals had taken the lead, Randy Bullock missed the
Speaker 1: extra point, the only pat he missed all year, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals led thirteen to seven after the first quarter.
Speaker 1: In the second, their lead grew to thirteen. Dalton drops
Speaker 1: back to throw from the twelfth looking around, scrambling out
Speaker 1: to the left, being chased Andy trying to sprint get
Speaker 1: into the five hives for the pylon, and it's a
Speaker 1: touchdown night that made it twenty to seven, the first
Speaker 1: time the Bengals have scored twenty or more in the
Speaker 1: first half all year. But the Browns answered a field
Speaker 1: goal by Austin Cyberd made it twenty to ten, and
Speaker 1: then Mayfield dialed long distance again. Play action fake Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield with a deep drop. He sings it deep down
Speaker 1: the middle of the field for Landry over the shoulder catch,
Speaker 1: breaks two tackles and runs into the end zone for
Speaker 1: a Cleveland Browns touchdown. The Browns missed the extra point,
Speaker 1: so at the half, Cincinnati led twenty to sixteen. With
Speaker 1: mix and carrying fifteen times for one hundred three yards.
Speaker 1: The only scoring in the third quarter was a forty
Speaker 1: seven yard field goal by Bullock that gave the Bengals
Speaker 1: a seven point lead. Meanwhile, the Bengals were getting to Mayfield.
Speaker 1: They sacked him six times overall, and pressure leads to picks.
Speaker 1: I'm third down in sixteen, Mayfield back to throw, has time.
Speaker 1: He's gonna fire high and deep from Odell Beckham Junior Hey.
Speaker 1: Fifth interception, again by Darius Phillips, has it way back
Speaker 1: at the twenty, running back to the thirty, head of
Speaker 1: steam to the forty, runs to the fifty, and gets
Speaker 1: knocked down near the fifty yard line by Jarvis Landry.
Speaker 1: Second interception of the game, fourth interception of the year
Speaker 1: for a guy who has barely played. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: the final snap counts yet, but I'm guessing the Darius Phillips,
Speaker 1: who missed eight games with a knee injury, will wind
Speaker 1: up with roughly one hundred defensive snaps for the year.
Speaker 1: That's less than ten percent of the Bengals defensive total,
Speaker 1: and yet Phillips finished with a team high four interceptions,
Speaker 1: only two off the NFL lead. It looked like the
Speaker 1: Bengals were in good shape when they went up by
Speaker 1: two two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Dalton in the
Speaker 1: shotgun back at the seven with Joe Mixon lined up
Speaker 1: off his right hip. Dalton takes the snap, hands it off,
Speaker 1: Micks said, and he sprints into the end zone. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Bengals to go up by two scores early in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But the way this season is gone for
Speaker 1: the Bengals, you knew it wouldn't be that easy, as
Speaker 1: the Browns managed to score a touchdown on fourth and
Speaker 1: goal from the twenty. From the twenty yard line, the
Speaker 1: Bengals send a blitz Baker Mayfield pouncing around in the pocket.
Speaker 1: Now he's going to fling it toward the end zone.
Speaker 1: It is caught but out of bounds by Odell Beckham Junior.
Speaker 1: He did not get two feet down in bounds, so
Speaker 1: the officials are going to talk about it. After huddling
Speaker 1: with the officials on the field, the ruling is a touchdown.
Speaker 1: It was an amazing catch by Odell Beckham Junior to
Speaker 1: make it a seven point game. There was an appropriate
Speaker 1: way for the Bengals to put the game away by
Speaker 1: putting the ball in the hands of Joe Mixon. Two
Speaker 1: on the play clock. As they snap it, he hands
Speaker 1: it to Mixon and Joe first for a first Yo
Speaker 1: trucks a defender and sprints between the hashbarks all the
Speaker 1: way down to the twenty five yard line. A huge
Speaker 1: run for Joe Mixon and more time will run off
Speaker 1: the clock. After that twenty eight yard game, they had
Speaker 1: ten people within five yards of the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: and Joe Mixon split him. And then the only defensive
Speaker 1: flare that was deep. The safety came up to put
Speaker 1: a hint on Joe and Joe trucked them, lowered his
Speaker 1: shoulder pads and ran him over. That defender was safety
Speaker 1: Sheldrick RedWine. You might say a red wine stain was
Speaker 1: left on the turf at Paul Brown Stadium. Mixon finished
Speaker 1: with twenty six carries for a career high one hundred
Speaker 1: sixty two yards. You know, the last time going out there,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I wanted to leave and you know, lead
Speaker 1: a season on a positive note. And I don't really
Speaker 1: want to talk too much about me. He bought on
Speaker 1: my line, did a great job, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Boys getting physical aft there and we set the tone
Speaker 1: right off the back. Joe's final long run set up
Speaker 1: a forty six yard Randy Bullock field goal that gave
Speaker 1: the Bengals at ten point lead. An interception by b
Speaker 1: W Webb, Cincinnati's third of the game ended any hope
Speaker 1: of a miracle comeback by Cleveland, and Andy Dalton took
Speaker 1: two snaps in the victory formation to end the game.
Speaker 1: Dalton under center, he takes a knee, and that is
Speaker 1: coffin nail. Bam, bam bam. The Bengals end the season
Speaker 1: on a positive note as they beat the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: thirty three two twenty three in what might have been
Speaker 1: his final game in a Bengals uniform. Dalton jogged off
Speaker 1: the field to a big ovation with fans chanting his name.
Speaker 1: I get that could have been the last couple of
Speaker 1: snaps that yeah, uh, you know, I've played in a
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals uniform, and you know what better way to
Speaker 1: do it? If it is the case again, I don't, guys,
Speaker 1: I don't. I have no idea, no idea what's going
Speaker 1: to happen. Um, But if it is, I mean, you
Speaker 1: always wanted any game with taking the knee, So glad
Speaker 1: that it was able to do that from from my
Speaker 1: last one too. If if that's the case, there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of support from the city for you know,
Speaker 1: not only what I've done on the field, but what
Speaker 1: we've done off of it. And um, I mean, the
Speaker 1: city's meant a lot to us, To my family, I mean,
Speaker 1: we've you know, spent my whole married life here, if
Speaker 1: you know, our three kids have been raised here. So
Speaker 1: I mean it's the city's meant a lot to us,
Speaker 1: and so um, you know, it feels good to get
Speaker 1: the appreciation from from the fans chant my name. After
Speaker 1: getting bench for three games at mid season, Dalton came
Speaker 1: back to lead the Bengals to two wins in their
Speaker 1: final three home games, and Sunday's win means he still
Speaker 1: has the highest winning percentage of any Bengals quarterback to
Speaker 1: start at least twice five games. A loss would have
Speaker 1: dipped him below Ken Anderson. Here's mixing. I'm the red rifle. Yeah, fighter,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. He went through adversity and
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, man, you know that's
Speaker 1: that's Andy Dark. As soon as I came in, he
Speaker 1: embraced me since day one, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna always ride and die with Andy, you
Speaker 1: feel me, So at the end of the day, no
Speaker 1: matter what the situation may be, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I'm sure he gonna fight. And you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, no, nothing in this league come easy.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I'm definitely proud of how he
Speaker 1: bounced back with his adversity. I mean, you put anybody
Speaker 1: else in that situation, they're not gonna bounce back like that.
Speaker 1: And Andy did that. So I mean, I'll take my
Speaker 1: hat off to him, and you know, I appreciate him
Speaker 1: for what he did. So that's how I feel about it.
Speaker 1: So the Bengals ended a rough season with a win
Speaker 1: and a two and fourteen record. The Browns ended a
Speaker 1: rough decade with a loss to finish six and ten
Speaker 1: and fired head coach Freddy Kitchens after just one season.
Speaker 1: To put the browns miserable decade into perspective, we all
Speaker 1: remember how badly the Bengal struggled in the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 1: as they won a total of fifty two games. From
Speaker 1: two thousand and ten to twenty nineteen, the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: one forty two games. Here are Carlos Dunlap and Tyler
Speaker 1: Eiffert on ending this season on a winning note. It's
Speaker 1: good today, you know, in the year off with a win.
Speaker 1: It's a great feeling. But obviously our season didn't go
Speaker 1: the way we want it. So that's the big picture.
Speaker 1: You know, we focus in weekend, week out, but now
Speaker 1: at the end of the season, you evaluate your season.
Speaker 1: So you know, today is good. We're gonna enjoy it, celebrate,
Speaker 1: get together, go eat um. You know, we don't know
Speaker 1: how this locker room is not gonna be the same
Speaker 1: after this game. We know that, so we're gonna get
Speaker 1: together as a team, you know, do something together, and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna handle everything as it comes. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go hang out, have a little gathering after this. So
Speaker 1: tomorrow when we all have headaches, will probably think about it.
Speaker 1: I mean this, yeah, I just enjoy being together and
Speaker 1: everything that comes with being on a football team and
Speaker 1: the you know, the brotherhood, the camaraderie, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: I've said it before, it doesn't we did. It didn't
Speaker 1: go how we wanted it too, but there's still a
Speaker 1: lot of it spent a lot of time together. So
Speaker 1: it's so hard because you know, you don't want the
Speaker 1: season to be over, but it is over. So you know,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna enjoy each other. And because a lot
Speaker 1: of time when the season's over, some of your good
Speaker 1: friends are in here, but everybody has their own lives
Speaker 1: in different parts of the country, and so you won't
Speaker 1: see a lot of guys, and so you know, we
Speaker 1: just enjoy it and have some fun. After the game,
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham spent six minutes with head coach Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: Coach huge win, division win at home and finish season.
Speaker 1: I mean it had to be big. It was fun,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's when you're doing things the right
Speaker 1: way in a lot of different areas. You got great
Speaker 1: momentum throughout the game outside of a stretch there at
Speaker 1: the end of the second quarter. That's what it should
Speaker 1: feel like. And we all got to remember that because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of games where we didn't remember what
Speaker 1: that felt like, and so you really got to capture
Speaker 1: this moment right now and feed off of it and
Speaker 1: let us let it propel us into April, let it
Speaker 1: propel us into August. But this is what it should
Speaker 1: feel like every week for us. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: the conclusion the Miami Dolphin game carried over into the
Speaker 1: early stages of this football game. We've always had confidence
Speaker 1: in ourselves, and so I wouldn't necessarily say that that
Speaker 1: was any sort of factor. Our guys had confident that
Speaker 1: we should have played better than the last time we
Speaker 1: played Cleveland, and we need to finish this thing off
Speaker 1: the right way. We get another shot out him three
Speaker 1: weeks later, and we need to play the way that
Speaker 1: we know we're supposed to play. And I thought we
Speaker 1: did improved on third down, on defense, we proved the
Speaker 1: red zone on offense, all the things that we did
Speaker 1: poor early the last time. Our guys stepped up and
Speaker 1: made this place. Yeah, it was incredible. I mean, got
Speaker 1: sixteen out of thirty five points in the red zone
Speaker 1: up there, left nineteen in the field today, four touchdowns
Speaker 1: in a field goal in five red zone opportunities, and
Speaker 1: mixed extra point. Obviously, you know one one point that
Speaker 1: you didn't didn't generate there, But penalties. I mean way down.
Speaker 1: Last game up there, it was like ninety nine yards
Speaker 1: and penalty yards. I think it was a season high. Today,
Speaker 1: no factor whatsoever. Like you said, third down was it
Speaker 1: was a big deal. You guys were three for twelve
Speaker 1: up there, and today I think something like nine for
Speaker 1: thirteen or something like that. Something crazy. What what is it?
Speaker 1: Is it just a matter of focus, concentration? What is
Speaker 1: it just guys stepping up on their numbers called And
Speaker 1: you look at the end of the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: that's just a great image of how we want to
Speaker 1: finish this year. The offense got the ball up seven points,
Speaker 1: drove down the field because guys made plays. Randy stepped up,
Speaker 1: made a huge field goal in the rain, and then
Speaker 1: our defense stepped up, got a turnover, and that's how
Speaker 1: the game ended. And all three phases stepped up and
Speaker 1: did that. And that's what we've been preaching all year.
Speaker 1: And so to finish off the last game of the
Speaker 1: season that way, I think just think speaks to the
Speaker 1: character of this locker room and speaks to the character
Speaker 1: of the coaching staff. Keep these guys going through all
Speaker 1: that adversity we face. Joe Nixon was rushed for over
Speaker 1: three hundred yards in two games against the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 1: had over one hundred and sixty today. He needed one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety three to rush for more yards than
Speaker 1: he rushed for last year when he led the AFC
Speaker 1: in Russian And I thought, got a shot here, now,
Speaker 1: So what was it? I mean, the offensive line obviously
Speaker 1: taken pride, Joe taking pride. They were just rolling. They
Speaker 1: were getting after the Cleveland Browns and shut Chubb down.
Speaker 1: I mean Chubb didn't even have fifty and Joe Rushes
Speaker 1: rove one hundred and sixty. That's a big deal in
Speaker 1: a football game like this. It is he ran hard,
Speaker 1: ran through people. No one want to tackle him today
Speaker 1: because of his physicality. Thought our alignment or receivers really
Speaker 1: did a nice job blocking down the field and giving
Speaker 1: those lanes. But it was just a physical rushing attack
Speaker 1: by our guys and they executed very well. You got
Speaker 1: up on him and they couldn't run the football, shut
Speaker 1: the running game down, so they had to throw. Baker's
Speaker 1: got talent. He's got Pro Bowl receivers to throw too,
Speaker 1: so he made some chunk plays. But it was it
Speaker 1: was a situation where they were so one dimensional. You
Speaker 1: guys never really lost control of that football game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've got great weapons all over. That offense was really pleased,
Speaker 1: but it starts with the run game. Trying to shut
Speaker 1: that down, get some pressure on the quarterback, Odell and Jarvis.
Speaker 1: They're gonna make plays. It's gonna happen. But I thought
Speaker 1: for the most part, we came out the second half
Speaker 1: and minimize those explosive plays. And they got the fourth
Speaker 1: and twenty, which is just you know, a premier player
Speaker 1: going up and make a play. That's a tough one
Speaker 1: to stop. But overall, plays with our guys finished in
Speaker 1: the second half. I know when I played, it was
Speaker 1: usually we'd go back maybe four games as we're preparing
Speaker 1: for an opponent, and did you emphasize your games and
Speaker 1: it was only three weeks ago, your game more than
Speaker 1: anybody else's game, because this is where we were, This
Speaker 1: is what we could have done, This is how what
Speaker 1: we have to do to turn this around. It is
Speaker 1: because Baltimore sets a unique system that they run in Arizona.
Speaker 1: Now kind of what they've gotten to you know, they're
Speaker 1: executing wealth. That quarterback that runs around a lot, so
Speaker 1: you see unique defensive plans when teams play those two teams.
Speaker 1: So the next one up was our game and there
Speaker 1: was a lot to learn from that that we can
Speaker 1: improve upon. And our guys really took that to heart.
Speaker 1: You know, the one thing and people are gonna people
Speaker 1: have said it to me, you know, and when they
Speaker 1: asked me, you know, the football team only one when
Speaker 1: I said, I'm going to tell you something. The thing
Speaker 1: that's amazing to me. There's nobody throwing another guy under
Speaker 1: the bus. There's no finger point and there's no backstabb
Speaker 1: and there's none of that going on. It's the most
Speaker 1: unbelievable dynamic. You wouldn't and they look at me like
Speaker 1: I have three heads. You know, they don't really believe it,
Speaker 1: but it's true. I mean, this football team stay I
Speaker 1: know your emphasis was stay connected. My god, they stayed connected. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the foundation of our culture. This guy's
Speaker 1: sticking together, taking accountability for what they can be accountable for.
Speaker 1: We expected more wins this year, but this has got
Speaker 1: to be the foundation for a future here, and the
Speaker 1: wins are gonna come if we keep doing the details
Speaker 1: the right way and raising our standards. And again, proud
Speaker 1: of the staff, how the way they've communicated with the
Speaker 1: players and the ways of the players have taken to it.
Speaker 1: What if you had to point to one thing the
Speaker 1: biggest improvement that you saw in any phase was I
Speaker 1: think our guys just making plays in critical moments. You
Speaker 1: saw that last week, you saw it. This week you
Speaker 1: saw in the Jets game. You started to see more
Speaker 1: of it. Guys stepping up and saying, I'm maybe the
Speaker 1: guy that steps up and make the plays. I'm not
Speaker 1: just gonna gonna do the madeum here, I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: a play and try to turn this game. And UM
Speaker 1: today was a great, great sign of all that I
Speaker 1: know UH coaches have told me in the past coaching
Speaker 1: a football seasons like dog years. You get through, you
Speaker 1: get through one season, it's like you've aged seven years
Speaker 1: like dog years. I know, I know this this season
Speaker 1: had its difficulties, but you never lost your energy, you
Speaker 1: never lost your enthusiasm, and you you were the beacon
Speaker 1: light for your whole football team. Well, I think the
Speaker 1: staff has great energy and they keep you going, um
Speaker 1: because you can trust everybody they're all doing their job
Speaker 1: through seventeen weeks and and that that certainly is a
Speaker 1: huge help. So we hire the right people, we're heading
Speaker 1: the right direction. Um, we're just excited to be able
Speaker 1: to attack this offseason. Coach, I really appreciated, appreciate it
Speaker 1: all the time that you gave us. You're very h
Speaker 1: you make yourself very accessible. I know the fans appreciate
Speaker 1: that and respect that. And I'll tell you it's a
Speaker 1: good way to a good way to end a season
Speaker 1: with a win against the division rival, the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 1: who Paul Brown founded both of these football teams, So
Speaker 1: beating the Cleveland Rounds always has a little bit of
Speaker 1: something to it. It feels pretty good, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's the first time doing this division and it's certainly
Speaker 1: a great waiting the season. As Lap pointed out in
Speaker 1: that interview, it sounded like a cliche, but this year's
Speaker 1: team really did stick together through thick and thin. Here's
Speaker 1: Tyler Eiffort. I remember years past when you know we
Speaker 1: were going to the playoffs and after one side of
Speaker 1: the ball has a bad game, the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball is yelling at you know, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's just crazy. But um, as bad as things were
Speaker 1: at times this year, you know, guys just never did that,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's a lot of that just
Speaker 1: from coaches, leadership and just you know that that was
Speaker 1: a big point of emphasis that we're not We're just
Speaker 1: not going to do it, and um, so hopefully we
Speaker 1: can build on that going forward and and in the
Speaker 1: years in the future when we are in the playoff
Speaker 1: hunt and winning a division, you know that we stayed
Speaker 1: together when when things aren't going our way and can
Speaker 1: make a run. Now, time for some postgame analysis with
Speaker 1: lap a ten point victory to close out the season
Speaker 1: over the Cleveland Browns thirty three to twenty three. A
Speaker 1: rough season ends on a very positive note, very definitely.
Speaker 1: I mean the Cleveland Browns. Paul Brown founded both franchises.
Speaker 1: There'll always be a connection, There'll always be a rivalry. Honestly,
Speaker 1: the Bengals could have and should have beaten the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns up in Cleveland. Four and fifty one yards offense,
Speaker 1: penalties heard them, red zone, lack of red zone execution
Speaker 1: heard him. Third down hurt them. All those things today
Speaker 1: were positives limited, the penalties unbelievable in the red zone,
Speaker 1: four touchdowns, only one field goal was the reverse in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and also on third down. I mean there were three
Speaker 1: for twelve in Cleveland. They converted like sixty seven percent
Speaker 1: or something like that here in Cincinnati. So the areas
Speaker 1: that they needed to improve upon they really did. They
Speaker 1: reversed everything and just played a very physical football game.
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon Man was just crushing people. I mean just
Speaker 1: truck and lowering the shoulder of stiff armand juke and him.
Speaker 1: He showed everything that he's got. He had his whole
Speaker 1: arsenal working today big time. He needed twenty five yards
Speaker 1: going into the game to get to one thousand for
Speaker 1: the season. He got that by his third carry when
Speaker 1: he had a forty one yard run. He finishes with
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty two yards on twenty six carries,
Speaker 1: that six point two per attempt, and over the final
Speaker 1: nine games of the year, there wasn't a more productive
Speaker 1: running back in the NFL. He only needed thirty one
Speaker 1: more yards to do what he did last year eleven
Speaker 1: and sixty eight yards when he led the AFC in rushing.
Speaker 1: So that's that's amazing. And I asked him about it
Speaker 1: in the post game. I'm like, Joe, Man, I thought
Speaker 1: you might get up there. He goes, Hey, I was
Speaker 1: shooting for it. When I was told on the sideline
Speaker 1: toward the end of the game that I had a
Speaker 1: shot at it, you know, that was that was a goal.
Speaker 1: And he was very praiseworthy of his offensive line, and
Speaker 1: rightfully so. I mean they wanted to get They wanted
Speaker 1: to spring Joe, and Joe wanted to be sprung, There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. And the running game was the key.
Speaker 1: I mean it really was. And then play acts and stuff.
Speaker 1: But you know happened off of that injuries at the
Speaker 1: wide receiver position. I mean, you only had four wide
Speaker 1: receivers and three tight ends going into the football game,
Speaker 1: and for a while Tyler if it looked like he
Speaker 1: might be a little limited. So they did a great
Speaker 1: job in the red zone with their tight end packages.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, you know, ran for a touchdown Joe. I
Speaker 1: mean it was everybody. Everybody contributed, and you know, I
Speaker 1: think once you get a lead like they got on
Speaker 1: Cleveland and they shut Chubb down. That was the other thing.
Speaker 1: Jubb didn't get his fifteen hundred yards, so Joe out
Speaker 1: rushed him by like one hundred and twenty yards or
Speaker 1: something close to that, and they became one dimensional and
Speaker 1: they had to throw the football, and Baker Mayfield's got
Speaker 1: some weapons. I mean, he's got Pro Bowl receivers Landry
Speaker 1: and Beckham, and they chumped him. You know, they made
Speaker 1: some players. I mean he had half a dozen throws
Speaker 1: at least of twenty yards and more and all of
Speaker 1: his touchdown passes were twenty yards and more. So he
Speaker 1: definitely chunked the Bengals, but they never really lost control
Speaker 1: of the football game. Nick Chubb, by the way, finished
Speaker 1: with forty one yards on thirteen carries, three point to
Speaker 1: per attempt. Defensively, Carlos Dunlap two and a half sacks,
Speaker 1: carl loss and two sacks, four quarterback hits after having
Speaker 1: five last week against Miami. Sam ubberd a sack and
Speaker 1: a half. You get a pass rush like that and
Speaker 1: you're probably going to give your defensive backs an opportunity
Speaker 1: to make plays as well. And Darius Phillips, did you
Speaker 1: know he had two interceptions and Darius Phillips ends up
Speaker 1: with four leads the team. He's amongst the league leaders.
Speaker 1: League leaders coming into today's action only had six, so
Speaker 1: he was very He gave a lot of credit to
Speaker 1: the guys up front. He felt like you know, Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield was hurried and a lot of his reads weren't
Speaker 1: clean and clear to him as a result of that.
Speaker 1: And like we said, those players are gonna make plays.
Speaker 1: There's no question. They're great players, Pro Bowl players, so
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're gonna have theirs. But for Darius Phillips
Speaker 1: to have his and the other thing, not only the interception,
Speaker 1: but he flipped field position. He only had these big
Speaker 1: return yards where he took care of two or three
Speaker 1: first downs. The Bengals offense didn't have to worry about.
Speaker 1: So he gave them better fuel position, you know, with
Speaker 1: his takeaways, and he's gifted that William space because of
Speaker 1: his return ability. And you know, he was talking to
Speaker 1: him a little bit and he was like, I thought
Speaker 1: I had it on that one. You know, you get
Speaker 1: hit inside the ten yard line. I think he talkled
Speaker 1: about the five or six yard line. He thought he
Speaker 1: was in for a score. He said, Landry came out
Speaker 1: of nowhere. But that kid, you got to work with
Speaker 1: him because he is a natural playmaker. He finds the football,
Speaker 1: breaks on the football, makes plays. He's he's somebody you
Speaker 1: gotta work with. So the Bengals get a win, and
Speaker 1: still have the first pick, and next year's draft seems
Speaker 1: likely they'll use it on a quarterback, Joe Burrow maybe
Speaker 1: somebody else. If that's the case, this could have been
Speaker 1: it for Andy Dalton a Bengals uniform. He's still under
Speaker 1: contract for one more year. If it turns out to
Speaker 1: be his last game in Cincinnati, he leaves with his
Speaker 1: seventieth seventieth win as Cincinnati starting quarterback and the best
Speaker 1: winning percentage of anybody in Bengals history to start twenty
Speaker 1: five or more games. Golf clap from Dave Lapple. Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton is um you know, eleven or twelve wins against
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns. He dominated the Cleveland Browns in the
Speaker 1: division in his in his time here with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 1: You know, to be involved with five straight playoff appearances
Speaker 1: your first five years in the league. I mean at
Speaker 1: one time he was fifty twenty five and one was
Speaker 1: winning you know, two games for everyone that he lost.
Speaker 1: And then things started to change, you know, injury, departure
Speaker 1: of players or whatever the case may be. Things started
Speaker 1: to change. But Andy Dalton is a winner. You know,
Speaker 1: he wanted every level peewee football. You know, youth basketball,
Speaker 1: youth baseball, whatever it is. He had never lost more
Speaker 1: than two in a row at any level until he
Speaker 1: came to the National Football League. So he's a winner
Speaker 1: and um, and I'm glad to see him get a victory.
Speaker 1: If this is his last game here in Cincinnati, he
Speaker 1: ends up with a lot of records, records with his feet,
Speaker 1: records with the throwing arm. Overall wins. Nothing but nothing
Speaker 1: but praise for any dal and not just as a
Speaker 1: football player. But we say this about guys and sometimes
Speaker 1: it's overused, but as great a player as Andy Dalton is,
Speaker 1: he's even more incredible human being. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: he's men of family and faith and you know, great husband,
Speaker 1: great dad, friend, everybody in the community, great teammate. Andy
Speaker 1: Daltons a special guy. Andy Dalton's two hundred four touchdown
Speaker 1: passes are a Bengals record, as are his twenty two
Speaker 1: touchdown runs. That's the most by any Bengals quarterback. Now
Speaker 1: time for this week's fun Facts interview. Traditionally I'd like
Speaker 1: to end the season by going down memory Lane with
Speaker 1: Bengals President Mike Brown, but this year, for the first time,
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to visit with another member of
Speaker 1: the Brown family, his daughter Katie. Time for some fun
Speaker 1: facts with Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn, I asked
Speaker 1: you dad about the Freezer Ball once. His most vivid
Speaker 1: memory was you that morning going around the stadium hanging
Speaker 1: up homemade banners. Do you remember it as well as
Speaker 1: he does? How could you forget? It was definitely a
Speaker 1: very memorable day, and um, obviously the weather was cold,
Speaker 1: but um, friend of mine and I all season had
Speaker 1: made banners that we would go out every game and
Speaker 1: hang up, and at one point we pretty much had
Speaker 1: a banner for every player. So that morning in the
Speaker 1: Freezer Bowl, we took all of our banners and I
Speaker 1: don't know if we got them all up, but we
Speaker 1: hung We went out there in the cold weather and
Speaker 1: somehow managed to You had to tie the string and
Speaker 1: in cold weather around a metal a metal railing. That
Speaker 1: was a little tough to do sometimes, but we got
Speaker 1: him up there and it was that was That was it.
Speaker 1: The whole day. It was memorable, obviously, the whole game
Speaker 1: and it was just a great day with a lot
Speaker 1: of fun memories. But the banners were one part of
Speaker 1: it that UM, I will definitely remember too. So those
Speaker 1: banners had clever sayings like the turk lurks. How much
Speaker 1: time was sp trying to come up with clever sayings
Speaker 1: for all the Bengals players. Wow, we had zappam lap them.
Speaker 1: You know, that was part of the fun of it.
Speaker 1: I was coming up with something that worked for as
Speaker 1: many guys as we could come up with something that
Speaker 1: was fun. But that was definitely a fun part of it.
Speaker 1: Zap them Lap them will definitely make it into this
Speaker 1: week's broadcast. We're doing fun Facts with Katie Blackburn. We
Speaker 1: think of Paul Brown as the most innovative coach in
Speaker 1: football history, if not sports history, but for you, he
Speaker 1: was your grandpa. Describe your relationship with your grandfather. Probably
Speaker 1: a pretty typical grandfather relationship. I don't know that I
Speaker 1: was as focused on the football part as much as
Speaker 1: thinking of them as a grandfather. He'd like to play cards,
Speaker 1: you know, Jim Rummy was a favorite game to play
Speaker 1: with them, and then you know a lot of family
Speaker 1: meals and you know, whether it's Easter or Christmas, just
Speaker 1: spending that time together. He had the ability to intimidate
Speaker 1: professional football players. But I imagine when he was with
Speaker 1: his granddaughter. He was just cuddly grandpa, a lot more softness,
Speaker 1: But you know, I think that was, you know, part
Speaker 1: of what he had a way of obviously reaching people,
Speaker 1: and he you know, I always had the feeling that
Speaker 1: he was the proud grandpa. That's how he made me feel.
Speaker 1: So he made me feel good. We're doing fun Facts
Speaker 1: with Katie Blackburn. Do you have an all time most
Speaker 1: memorable Bengals win? Definitely those wins that got us to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. I can still picture sitting in my
Speaker 1: seats and after the very the first one I remember
Speaker 1: being I remember jumping up and down in the island.
Speaker 1: I remember people pointing at me. So but you know,
Speaker 1: just that that thrill of knowing that we were actually
Speaker 1: getting the super Bowl. Most memorable, on the flip side
Speaker 1: is their most painful loss. Definitely that San Francisco game
Speaker 1: where there were four seconds left and the game we
Speaker 1: thought was over, but then they threw that touchdown pass
Speaker 1: and I think I may have kicked the concrete at Riverfront,
Speaker 1: And that one's the most memorable to me. So the
Speaker 1: regular season game where Sam tried to run out the
Speaker 1: clock as opposed to just putting it down. The field
Speaker 1: and they threw the touchdown pass and Jerry Rice in
Speaker 1: the last play. Whatever we did to not not use
Speaker 1: up those last four seconds, I still think about all
Speaker 1: the different things we could have done. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: game all right, Katie. You went to Dartmouth and earned
Speaker 1: a letter as a hockey goalie. How did you wind
Speaker 1: up playing hockey? Well, that's probably a question I still
Speaker 1: asked myself sometimes. But I went and my brother had
Speaker 1: played hockey here and so I was familiar with the game.
Speaker 1: And I had skated a little bit over at Northland
Speaker 1: Ice Rink. They had Glendale Skate and you'd go to
Speaker 1: skate Saturday mornings. And then the person I befriended when
Speaker 1: I got to Dartmouth was from Minnesota, and she said
Speaker 1: she was going to go out for the hockey team.
Speaker 1: So I went to the meeting and I addle. When
Speaker 1: I went to Dartmouth, the sport I played most was tennis,
Speaker 1: but I always sort of wanted to have just because
Speaker 1: of being involved at the football side. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'd always love to be involved in some sport somehow,
Speaker 1: And so I went to the hockey meeting. And back
Speaker 1: then it's not obviously like it is today. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: they were willing to take a couple of people who
Speaker 1: weren't really necessarily great players. So I sort of got
Speaker 1: to participate with the team for the first year maybe
Speaker 1: and finally worked my way into playing. Started out as
Speaker 1: a wing, finally scored maybe a goal or two, and
Speaker 1: then the hockey or the goalie graduated and they didn't
Speaker 1: have a goalie. So I volunteered, thinking, hey, there's a
Speaker 1: little more ice time. But I pretty much started and
Speaker 1: got benched. So well, you've got one more college letter
Speaker 1: than I did aged in math and economics. Did you
Speaker 1: choose that with football in mind? When I started at Dartmouth,
Speaker 1: I sort of thought maybe pre med, and so I
Speaker 1: started taking you know, I took organic chemistry, and then
Speaker 1: I decided maybe something other than premed. And obviously I
Speaker 1: always love the football side, but you know, I always
Speaker 1: had heard of go do you know, make sure you're
Speaker 1: doing what you want to do, and so I did.
Speaker 1: I did not choose that with football in mind. I
Speaker 1: chose that because once I went away from premed, those
Speaker 1: were those were the courses that I most enjoyed, and
Speaker 1: then decided I would see what I could could do
Speaker 1: with those Once I went that direction for doing friend
Speaker 1: Facts with Katie Blackburn. After Dartmouth, you earned your law
Speaker 1: degree at you see, and you did practice for a
Speaker 1: couple of years. Did you enjoy it very much? You know,
Speaker 1: I practiced at test Tenus in Hollister and UM just
Speaker 1: I think the thing about um being at a law
Speaker 1: firm is a lot of great people. You got great
Speaker 1: experience in some corporate settings and just you know how
Speaker 1: how things operate um legally, and so it was great
Speaker 1: experience and I like the people, and yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a great experience. One of your responsibilities with
Speaker 1: the Bengals over the years has been negotiating contracts. Does
Speaker 1: it get emotional less? So with time, I think you
Speaker 1: you learn as you grow that you but maybe early
Speaker 1: on when you first, you know, first start out, I
Speaker 1: think everybody's a little bit more emotional about some of
Speaker 1: the things they're doing. But you know, as I've gotten older,
Speaker 1: now old m I think I hopefully have grown out
Speaker 1: of it being an emotional thing. In twenty sixteen, Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated referred to you as the NFL's most powerful woman
Speaker 1: Nobody talks about. Sure that was a headline that that
Speaker 1: you found embarrassing. But do you think of yourself as
Speaker 1: a trailblazer for women in sports? Well, that's just not
Speaker 1: My personality is so much to focus on that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. So I do believe that anybody should have
Speaker 1: an opportunity and be able to do anything that they
Speaker 1: think they could be good at. But I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's just not my personality that I said. That's a
Speaker 1: very embarrassing headline. In my opinion, I feel like I've
Speaker 1: never worked a day in my life. I love broadcasting
Speaker 1: a game. I love doing the homework. Do you feel
Speaker 1: the same way about working in the NFL? Definitely? Definitely.
Speaker 1: I love coming to work every day, you know. I
Speaker 1: find that there's just different things going on every day
Speaker 1: and still learn something new every day. I love the
Speaker 1: people we work with, love what it's about. I love
Speaker 1: the football. I love football, and so being able to
Speaker 1: come and be involved with football every day, I can't
Speaker 1: imagine anything better. Your daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline have not
Speaker 1: followed in your footsteps, at least not yet. Do you
Speaker 1: hope they eventually will? I mean, honestly, yes, I would
Speaker 1: love for them to follow in my footsteps or to
Speaker 1: come and be a part of it. Um, I know
Speaker 1: they're I think they're interested, but I do I know.
Speaker 1: I think it's also great for them to go out
Speaker 1: and get other real, real world experience and then make
Speaker 1: sure that this is something that they would want to
Speaker 1: do and make sure it's the right thing for them.
Speaker 1: Your husband, Troy once said that you curse like a
Speaker 1: sailor when watching games. Guilty is charged? Do I have
Speaker 1: to answer to the fifth? You're You're entitled to plead
Speaker 1: the fifth, but I think that would be admitting admitting
Speaker 1: your guilt. Um, I mean I I have on occasion,
Speaker 1: and I've been working on that too. Like we said,
Speaker 1: we mature, we mature, But um, I've had my moments
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm not gonna lie. That puts you in the
Speaker 1: company of every Bengals fan listening. I am guessing. Like
Speaker 1: I said, it's it is. It's something that I've gotten
Speaker 1: much better at, and I appreciate the game for what
Speaker 1: it is. There are moments when things don't go right
Speaker 1: all the time, and being able to keep moving on
Speaker 1: is what it's all about. So I've improved. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you doing this. So you don't love talking about yourself.
Speaker 1: So the fact that you did. This is much appreciated.
Speaker 1: Happy holidays and have a great offseason. Happy holidays. Thanks Dan.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast will continue in the offseason just
Speaker 1: about every week, and we'll obviously have extensive coverage before
Speaker 1: and after the draft, So if you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to
Speaker 1: get the latest edition of this one right away. I'm
Speaker 1: Dan Horde, and thanks for listening all season long to
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.