Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals boot Podcast the ABC easy as one two three. Addition,
Speaker 1: as I introduce you to one of the guys that
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor hears in his headset during games, Sam Francis.
Speaker 1: Sam's title is Football Data Analyst, meaning he's the guy
Speaker 1: who crunches the numbers and advises Zach on when to
Speaker 1: go for it on fourth down, when to try for
Speaker 1: a two point conversion, when to start calling timeouts, late
Speaker 1: and a half, etc. I'll talk to Sam about his
Speaker 1: path to Cincinnati and how he does his job during
Speaker 1: a game. Then I'll spend a few minutes with the
Speaker 1: goat Anthony Munio's and get his thoughts on the Bengals
Speaker 1: offensive line improvements and find out what advice he has
Speaker 1: for the players the year after going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's
Speaker 1: free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes.
Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
Speaker 1: If here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Jungle to the Hall two. This Saturday,
Speaker 1: June twenty fifth, Bengals super fan Jim Foster is organizing
Speaker 1: an event with a worthy purpose to try to get
Speaker 1: more Bengals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, deserving
Speaker 1: candidates like Ken Anderson, Ken Riley, and Willie Anderson to
Speaker 1: name a few. The first Jungle to the Hall event
Speaker 1: took place last year in Canton, and this year it's
Speaker 1: being held at the in Between Bar in downtown Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I'll be there along with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham,
Speaker 1: and Willie Anderson will be there too. Tickets are limited
Speaker 1: and going quickly, so if you're interested act now. You
Speaker 1: can get all of the details by finding Bengal Jim
Speaker 1: on social media or by searching for Jungle to the
Speaker 1: Hall two. Now, let's get to my first guest. Last year,
Speaker 1: the Bengals ranked in the top five in the NFL
Speaker 1: from most points scored in the final two minutes of
Speaker 1: the first half. They were in the top five and
Speaker 1: fourth down conversion percentage, and they won five games on
Speaker 1: walk off field goals, indicating skillful clock management in those situations.
Speaker 1: Sam Francis deserves some of the credit. As the Bengals
Speaker 1: football data analyst. He advises Zach Taylor on situations like
Speaker 1: those during games. I spoke to him this week about
Speaker 1: his job and how he landed it. Sam, let's start
Speaker 1: with your background. You attended Bates College in Maine, where
Speaker 1: you had a double major in math and economics. It
Speaker 1: feels like you should be managing a hedge fund. How
Speaker 1: did you wind up working in professional sports? So when
Speaker 1: I was graduating, I thought I was going to take
Speaker 1: a normal job in Boston, like a bunch of people
Speaker 1: sort of had a couple lined up. Spoke to one
Speaker 1: of the fathers on the lacrosse team that I was
Speaker 1: playing for, and I kind of explained to him what
Speaker 1: I was thinking about doing, and he sensed little enthusiasm
Speaker 1: in my voice. So he knew a guy who worked
Speaker 1: for the Bills put me in contact with him, interviewed
Speaker 1: for an internship up there, ended up getting it. That
Speaker 1: was a right win. Sean McDermott was coming in and
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan was going out, so it was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a similar transition to what was going on
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati at the time. Worked for them for four
Speaker 1: or five months, and then got a job with the
Speaker 1: Craft Analytics Group, which is based in Foxboro, sort of
Speaker 1: under the Craft umbrella for the Patriots, but it's on
Speaker 1: the business side of analytics. And then the Bengals job
Speaker 1: came open, and in twenty nineteen, when Zach was starting,
Speaker 1: I threw my name in the ring and ended up
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. Did you read Moneyball or Scorecasting or other
Speaker 1: books about sports analytics and developed an interest in it
Speaker 1: a little bit? Yeah, it was. It was It always
Speaker 1: seemed like a pipe three while I was in college,
Speaker 1: Like you think about how a few few of these
Speaker 1: jobs there are. Um, I definitely saw a Moneyball. I
Speaker 1: read it when I was I was younger. Um, but
Speaker 1: that it's just I don't know, it's you always expect
Speaker 1: your want to be able to connect your your passions
Speaker 1: for math and and analytics and stuff like that with
Speaker 1: with your passion for sports, but there's just so many people,
Speaker 1: so few people will get the opportunity to do it. Um.
Speaker 1: It's It's definitely something I wanted to do, but I
Speaker 1: don't know's it's always you're always hoping for it, but
Speaker 1: you never know if it's actually gonna come, and I'm
Speaker 1: happy happy it did. As you mentioned, you came aboard
Speaker 1: with the Bengals in Zach Taylor's first year as head coach.
Speaker 1: Did you have specific marching orders or did you kind
Speaker 1: of develop the Bengals analytics side of things on your own.
Speaker 1: There's some ideas that they had in place, things that
Speaker 1: were that were asked of people from the prior staff.
Speaker 1: That was sort of why they created the position. It was, Hey,
Speaker 1: we need to find the skill set to to fit
Speaker 1: what we're being at to do that we don't really
Speaker 1: have that skill set in building. So from the coaching side,
Speaker 1: I kind of worked with them to sort of build
Speaker 1: it up and make sure that we had systems in
Speaker 1: place that fit what we needed to do. Right. This
Speaker 1: thing is so young around the NFL that you probably
Speaker 1: look at all thirty two people around the league with
Speaker 1: my title and they probably do thirty two different things.
Speaker 1: So what we try and focus on is what works
Speaker 1: for us and solves the problems that we have. The
Speaker 1: one person who who I always try and give a
Speaker 1: shout out to who who doesn't get outside. As Tyler
Speaker 1: grows who's upstairs. So he was building out the scouting
Speaker 1: system and he's our web developer up there, and he's
Speaker 1: phenomenal at his job, and he builds that out upstairs
Speaker 1: and working with the scouts for I think I'm going
Speaker 1: into my fourth season. I believe this will be his
Speaker 1: fifth season, if not a little longer. And he does
Speaker 1: a great job up there. So from a scouting side,
Speaker 1: work with him a bunch to add what I can
Speaker 1: add to the system that he's already built out for
Speaker 1: them upstairs. Sam Francis is our guest. They did a
Speaker 1: little Internet research, and I'm fairly certain I saw your
Speaker 1: father played lacrosse. He was an All American at Cornell.
Speaker 1: He played in the nineteen eighty seven Final four, which
Speaker 1: I covered because Cornell faced Syracuse and beat Syracuse in
Speaker 1: the semifinals. How did his athletic success in background influence you?
Speaker 1: So he coached me in my whole life from when
Speaker 1: I was young. I picked up a lacrosse stick, probably
Speaker 1: when I was three or four, throwing the ball around
Speaker 1: in the backyard with him and my brothers. So he
Speaker 1: coached me my entire life, all through all through high school.
Speaker 1: He was my high school acrosse coach. He started the
Speaker 1: high school across program in New Report God two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight ish somewhere around there, maybe earlier than that,
Speaker 1: and he was a great, great influence. I mean, never
Speaker 1: missed a game while I was in college, was at
Speaker 1: every football game at the majority of my lacrosse game.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of that a little bit of a
Speaker 1: coaching background that I have. Him and my grandfather was
Speaker 1: the athletic director and coached out in Williston. And it's
Speaker 1: probably a sub anxiously what drew me to to a
Speaker 1: position like this Since your dad was an ivy league athlete,
Speaker 1: did you discuss strategy and xs and ohs growing up
Speaker 1: or just play like a normal kid would play a
Speaker 1: little bit of both. I mean, you always want us
Speaker 1: to go out there and have fun. That sort of
Speaker 1: his philosophy to lacrosse is it's a free flowing, creative sport.
Speaker 1: That's it's built under some structure, but it is at
Speaker 1: a certain point it's up to the players to go
Speaker 1: out there and execute. You can't can't just have set
Speaker 1: plays every time. It's a little bit like basketball in
Speaker 1: that sense. Um, But there's I mean, it was always
Speaker 1: my coach there's always a little bit talk of strategy
Speaker 1: and how we were going to play and things of
Speaker 1: that nature, and who we're playing and how how the
Speaker 1: matchups fit. So you're a linebackerround the football team at
Speaker 1: Bates and obviously played lacrosse as well. Do those experiences
Speaker 1: have a big impact on you now? Definitely? It's I
Speaker 1: think what this position fills for me that uh, you
Speaker 1: don't really get in some other jobs. Is that that
Speaker 1: sense of competitiveness, right, It's you You prepare all offseason,
Speaker 1: you prepare all week, and you went out and tested
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and it's measurable you win or you lose.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that I've always enjoyed, is the
Speaker 1: preparation and then you get to go actually see the
Speaker 1: results of that preparation and how it pays off on
Speaker 1: the field on Sunday. So let's get into the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty of your job a little bit. On game day?
Speaker 1: Where are you and what do you have in front
Speaker 1: of you? So I'm in the booth with all the
Speaker 1: other coaches talking to Zach and the other coordinators and
Speaker 1: everyone up there, and I've got all sorts of charts
Speaker 1: and stuff in front of me. What I always try
Speaker 1: to mention is that the charts. It's nice to chart
Speaker 1: everything out, but some of these decisions have to be
Speaker 1: made in three, four or five seconds, so you don't
Speaker 1: always have time to reference them. So it's really building
Speaker 1: it into your brain and making its second nature during
Speaker 1: the process of making the chart, and then during game
Speaker 1: day it's you don't always have time to reference that.
Speaker 1: So it's nice to have, but it's a little bit
Speaker 1: of comfort paper. At a certain point, can you have
Speaker 1: a computer or a tablet in front of you or no? Now,
Speaker 1: the only sort of technology you can have is those
Speaker 1: surface tablets that have the play or play pictures on them,
Speaker 1: same ones that they have on the sideline we have
Speaker 1: up in the booth. But other than that, no computers, iPads,
Speaker 1: nothing like that. Sam Francis is our guest. Do you
Speaker 1: wait until Zach asks for your input or do you
Speaker 1: weigh in on a headset when you feel it's appropriate.
Speaker 1: Whenever it's appropriate. You're trying to anticipate everything that's coming up.
Speaker 1: Some of these situations sort of jump up on you
Speaker 1: and there is really no time to santicipate. You got
Speaker 1: to just recognize it off the top of your head
Speaker 1: and process what way you're going to suggest and be
Speaker 1: able to communicate that very quickly. There are certain ones
Speaker 1: like the fourth down one, which gets a lot of publicity.
Speaker 1: That's obviously something you can't anticipate because you know the
Speaker 1: downs are coming you you sort of give them the
Speaker 1: heads up and first and second down and just try
Speaker 1: and find time where there's dead air on the headset
Speaker 1: to sort of slip in your message. And Zach's not
Speaker 1: always going to respond, but he hears it, and then
Speaker 1: he'll always always ask questions if he hasn't. How about
Speaker 1: during timeouts, timeouts, TV, timeouts, challenges, those are those are
Speaker 1: always a good time to do. You have time to think,
Speaker 1: process and there's always a little bit of open air
Speaker 1: where you have more than five seconds to communicate something.
Speaker 1: This is a young coaching staff. Do you think that's
Speaker 1: a factor in being open minded about your input? I
Speaker 1: think so. I think it helps um, But there's there's
Speaker 1: people around the whole staff who don't necessarily fit that
Speaker 1: that that young description, who are open to it as well.
Speaker 1: I mean Mark Duffner's office, not not to call you
Speaker 1: old Duff, but using his offices right next to mine,
Speaker 1: and I do a bunch of work with him, UM
Speaker 1: throughout the season, throughout the office, in really year round.
Speaker 1: So it's it is. I think generally it does help,
Speaker 1: but I do think that that there are people young
Speaker 1: and old who are open minds to this. So we
Speaker 1: think of decisions like when to go for it on
Speaker 1: fourth down, going for a two point conversion is pretty
Speaker 1: obvious things where you might be involved. But what are
Speaker 1: other in game decisions that you might weigh in on
Speaker 1: to help with with with challenges, UM, sort of timing
Speaker 1: and aggressiveness at the end of the half, just anything
Speaker 1: that really is about managing the game and less about
Speaker 1: specific schemes and play calls and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: UM just sort of while Zach's calling the plays, give
Speaker 1: him an overview of here's sort of the situation in
Speaker 1: the game, Here's here's what it looks like going forward,
Speaker 1: here are some things that could come up, and trying
Speaker 1: to anticipate, trying to sort of be able to anticipate
Speaker 1: and give an idea of what's coming, what could be
Speaker 1: coming down the pipe. While he's focused specifically on, hey,
Speaker 1: here's the first and second down play calls. Here's we're
Speaker 1: third in this third and that here's here's what we're
Speaker 1: going to want to call. Trying to take some of
Speaker 1: that off his plays that that he can he can
Speaker 1: focus on play calling as much as he can. So
Speaker 1: the Bengals were exceptional last year in the so called
Speaker 1: middle eight last four minutes of the first half, first
Speaker 1: four minutes of the second half. Do you consider that
Speaker 1: to be a key stat and was that a big
Speaker 1: point of pride last year? We've taken a lot of
Speaker 1: pride in that every season we've been here so far.
Speaker 1: Last season sort of a lot of it paid off
Speaker 1: and we were super successful doing it. But it's something
Speaker 1: that we always focus on. It's the goal at the
Speaker 1: end of the half for most teams, or really for
Speaker 1: all teams, is you want to score as the clock
Speaker 1: ends as little time as possible want it so the
Speaker 1: other team can't drive back down. And the only way
Speaker 1: to gain an extra possession of football is to also
Speaker 1: get the ball at the start of the second half,
Speaker 1: So you want to score with zeros on the clock,
Speaker 1: get the ball back and score again. There's it's proven
Speaker 1: that that that really has an impact on winning. The
Speaker 1: less time that they have the ball in their hands,
Speaker 1: it sort of ends up being sometimes close to an
Speaker 1: hour in real time without the other offense having the ball,
Speaker 1: and you get it twice in that time, and if
Speaker 1: you can put fourteen points on the board, that's a
Speaker 1: big toys winning. We're chatting at Sam Francis, the Bengals
Speaker 1: data analyst, what do you do in the off season,
Speaker 1: so it'll start right when the season ends, sort of
Speaker 1: help the coaches put the past season to bed, whatever
Speaker 1: reports and stuff they need there they need, sort of
Speaker 1: turns to a scouting focus from there, help help do
Speaker 1: can his staff as much as you possibly can with
Speaker 1: getting ready for the free agency and the draft. And
Speaker 1: they've by that point. It's sort of the tenth eleventh
Speaker 1: dollar at that point, so so they've got a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff. You're trying to just add as much value
Speaker 1: you can working with Tyler Gross, like I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: and then as soon as that ends, it's getting getting
Speaker 1: everything we're going to need ready for the season. It's
Speaker 1: all the projects and pain points that we felt that
Speaker 1: we didn't have time to accomplish during the season, making
Speaker 1: sure we've ironed those out and have processes and whatever
Speaker 1: it may be ready to solve those problems in season,
Speaker 1: and then working with the new coaches who were on board,
Speaker 1: and so, what are you guys going to need, What
Speaker 1: did you have in the past, what are you going
Speaker 1: to need access to? How can I help you? And
Speaker 1: just get them familiar with what we already have in place,
Speaker 1: but also pick their brain on what they've done in
Speaker 1: the past and what we can do to help us here.
Speaker 1: Do coaches or front office personnel give you projects? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, I think coachings. Obviously, it's two different types
Speaker 1: of work. The scouting is more of a long term project, right,
Speaker 1: so there are some solutions that work for coaching that
Speaker 1: don't work for that just because the form of information
Speaker 1: I give you, If it's sort of a short term fix,
Speaker 1: this is going to get lost in the whole year
Speaker 1: long process of scouting. Whereas coaching, it's you're asking me
Speaker 1: a question on Monday, You're using that to put it
Speaker 1: in the game plan on Tuesday, it's installed on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and a couple of weeks later you may want to
Speaker 1: reference that, but rarely you do. It's sort of a
Speaker 1: new game plan each week. So it's two different types
Speaker 1: of questions and information. Once more long term, one short term,
Speaker 1: but definitely definitely get projects from both sides. So when
Speaker 1: I was in college watching sporting events with my broadcasting
Speaker 1: want to be fellow students, kids that were not prospective
Speaker 1: broadcasters used to hate it because we'd be picking apart
Speaker 1: the announcers the whole time. We couldn't just watch the
Speaker 1: game for the game's sake. Do you watch all sporting
Speaker 1: events with analytics in mind? Yeah, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: that's part of my job as I watch all the
Speaker 1: situations in the league or situations from around the league
Speaker 1: each week, so I'm already watching those with with that eye.
Speaker 1: And then if it's whatever, if it's Monday night football
Speaker 1: or Thursday night football and I'm not in the office,
Speaker 1: I do end up watching it that way. And then
Speaker 1: it hasn't fled a little bit into other sports where
Speaker 1: watching the Celtics in this past this past playoff run
Speaker 1: that they had and the little trick they did where
Speaker 1: I think there was three minutes twenty seconds or so
Speaker 1: left and they scored and the ball rolls out of
Speaker 1: bounds and they let the clock take before they picked
Speaker 1: it up a toss to the ref. They about twenty
Speaker 1: seconds bleed off before they passed it in because they
Speaker 1: think they're abut ten or so at that point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are little clock tricks in every sport that that
Speaker 1: maybe I'm not aware of. So there was a playoff
Speaker 1: game several years ago where the Patriots used an ineligible
Speaker 1: receiver to confuse the Ravens and it led to a
Speaker 1: rule change in the offseason the next year. And then
Speaker 1: more recently, in another playoff game, the Titans took a
Speaker 1: few minutes off the clock late in the game by
Speaker 1: having intentional penalties that was against the Patriots before they punted,
Speaker 1: and that led to a rule change. Without giving away
Speaker 1: any secrets, are there still loopholes in the rules that
Speaker 1: you dream of exploiting in the right situation. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: there's a few. Um they've gotten. They've done a very
Speaker 1: good job of sort of closing the big ones, but
Speaker 1: there's a few that we've recognized, and there very unique,
Speaker 1: niche situations that probably will never come up. That's one
Speaker 1: thing I learned early on working with Dan Pitcher that
Speaker 1: I did in the first year is how you got
Speaker 1: to prepare for everything. And some of this stuff is
Speaker 1: probably never going to come up, but you've got to
Speaker 1: treat it as if it is. You've got to take
Speaker 1: it seriously, and you've got to have a plan for
Speaker 1: if because because the worst thing is if it comes
Speaker 1: up and you recognize if it aren't prepared to sort
Speaker 1: of take advantage of it or to handle that situation.
Speaker 1: So that's that's one of my jobs is to know
Speaker 1: the rule book inside and out and be able to
Speaker 1: advise act when those sorts of things come up. But
Speaker 1: there's there. They've done a really good job of making
Speaker 1: sure that there aren't those those little loopholes in the
Speaker 1: rule book like you mentioned. How does a data analyst
Speaker 1: deal with luck? I think that's football. I think that's
Speaker 1: what makes football as successful of business as it is.
Speaker 1: That's why it has the popularity. It's it's not predictable.
Speaker 1: Um it's Baseball is probably the most predictable and that's
Speaker 1: the example. But that's what makes football. Football makes football
Speaker 1: great is on any given Sunday, you don't know who's
Speaker 1: going to win, right, and it is predictable to a sense.
Speaker 1: That sort of my job is to try and make
Speaker 1: it as predictable as possible and be able to predict
Speaker 1: certain things that are going to come up. But that's
Speaker 1: that's why people love football. Is on any given Sunday,
Speaker 1: any team can come out on top. So I hear
Speaker 1: from a lot of aspiring young sportscasters who would like
Speaker 1: to get into broadcasting. I imagine a lot of young
Speaker 1: people would like to do what you're doing right now.
Speaker 1: What advice do you give them? Find a way gain experience.
Speaker 1: That's what I always tell them. There's battle thirty two
Speaker 1: of these jobs, but there's I mean there's more than that,
Speaker 1: because obviously teams have multiple people in certain positions, but
Speaker 1: there's very few of these jobs. And what people are
Speaker 1: always looking for in a job is you have to
Speaker 1: have experience, right, and that's a tough thing to get
Speaker 1: for this job because there's only so many sports teams
Speaker 1: that you can go work for that have these positions.
Speaker 1: So I always tell them, you're always going to lead
Speaker 1: with Hey, I want to, like I mentioned earlier, connect
Speaker 1: my passions for math and analytics with my passion for sports.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's that's great, Like, you can't do this
Speaker 1: job without that. But I always look for the follow
Speaker 1: up of So I did whatever right. I did this
Speaker 1: project on my own time. It was my thesis or
Speaker 1: for this class, whatever it may be. I took this internship.
Speaker 1: One of the big ones now is Michael Lopez, who's
Speaker 1: the director of Analytics with the NFL, is actually a
Speaker 1: Bates grad as well. So he runs every year this
Speaker 1: competition called the Big Data Bowl, and it's open or
Speaker 1: He takes actual NFL data to the next gen stats
Speaker 1: data I think this past year at PFF Data as well,
Speaker 1: and he provides it publicly to anyone who wants to
Speaker 1: enter the competition. You get to work with real NFL
Speaker 1: data and solve problems brainstormed by real NFL people, coaches, scouts, etc.
Speaker 1: And you get to submit a project. It's part of
Speaker 1: the competition, and there's judges. I believe a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago the new GM of the Vikings, Questia Dopelmenta,
Speaker 1: was a judge in it. So there are real NFL
Speaker 1: people looking at this, and to me, that's probably the
Speaker 1: greatest way to gain experiences is to solve actual NFL
Speaker 1: problems with actual NFL data and have them judge by
Speaker 1: actual NFL people. I don't think it gets much better
Speaker 1: than that. So that's I always point people in that
Speaker 1: detection of if you're looking to do this, you've got
Speaker 1: to sort of take initiative to gain experience. It's not
Speaker 1: an easy thing, but here's sort of a competition and
Speaker 1: a resource that's out there for you to do. So.
Speaker 1: Did you write a football related thesis, Abates did. I
Speaker 1: wrote about, uh, like salary cap inefficiency and sort of
Speaker 1: how intra team wage disparity effects winning in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Looking back on it, I would probably do the entire
Speaker 1: thing differently. Um, sort of, that's I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: gaining experience, that's learning from learning from your experiences. I
Speaker 1: feel the same way about the stuff I did in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: It's you learn, you learn new processes, you learn new
Speaker 1: strategies and different analytical tactics, and you sort of apply
Speaker 1: those as you go on. And then two three years
Speaker 1: everything moved so fast that you look back and you're like,
Speaker 1: I can't believe that that's that's the that's the strategy
Speaker 1: that I took, and that's how I decided to do it.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, it's I did, and it was It
Speaker 1: was a good, good learning experience for me and wasn't
Speaker 1: as intentional as I try and tell people to be
Speaker 1: about gaining experience. But looking back on it, it was
Speaker 1: one of the things that I was able to talk
Speaker 1: about at least tep people in interviews that Hey, I
Speaker 1: did this, and this is sort of why I know
Speaker 1: this is. This is an initiative I took to sort
Speaker 1: of propel me to this type of career final thing
Speaker 1: for Sam France, how many of the players do you think,
Speaker 1: no and understand what you do? There's a few, there's
Speaker 1: a few. I'm sort of that guy who's that who's around.
Speaker 1: My office is right on the catwalk that overlooks the
Speaker 1: weight room, so they probably all see me. I interact
Speaker 1: with some of them sometimes and I don't explain to
Speaker 1: them what I do, but I think some of them
Speaker 1: are aware, just through asking questions to the coaches and whatnot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, my office is my doors open. If anyone
Speaker 1: want to come and discuss it, I'll give them a
Speaker 1: full rundown of it. Sam, this has been fun. I
Speaker 1: appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you at
Speaker 1: to training camp. Yeah. Thanks, Dan, I appreciate you. Sam
Speaker 1: mentioned the NFL's annual Big Data Bowl competition, where contestants
Speaker 1: can win cash prizes based on their football research, and
Speaker 1: you can find a bunch of those projects online. For example,
Speaker 1: one of the finalists this year was titled Punt Returns
Speaker 1: Using the Math to find the path sounds like it's
Speaker 1: right up, Darren Simmons Alley. If you want to check
Speaker 1: out some of the research, just search for Big Data Bowl.
Speaker 1: Before I get to my next guest, here's an invitation
Speaker 1: to grab your yoga mat and join HUDE on Saturday,
Speaker 1: June twenty fifth at nine am for Namas Day Yoga
Speaker 1: on the field at Paul Brown Stadium. Register now at
Speaker 1: Bengals dot com slash Yoga. It's presented by Cott Nell
Speaker 1: in partnership with Kroger and Title Babe Period Bank. Anthony
Speaker 1: Munio's has been a member of the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame since being enshrined in nineteen ninety eight, his
Speaker 1: first year of eligibility. But now he's also working for
Speaker 1: the Hall in a new position called the Chief Football
Speaker 1: Relationship Officer. He'll help promote the Hall of Fame, engage
Speaker 1: with prospective business partners, and be involved in philanthropic efforts.
Speaker 1: The Hall of Fame could not have made a better choice.
Speaker 1: I caught up with Anthony this week at a golf
Speaker 1: event featuring the Cincinnati chapter of the NFL Alumni Association.
Speaker 1: Anthony the Bengals had an obvious weakness to address in
Speaker 1: the offseason, and they did by signing three veteran established
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. What was your reaction, Well, I think I
Speaker 1: go back to I forget what press conference it was
Speaker 1: when Zach said, just believe in our process, you know,
Speaker 1: because I mean the first two years quite frankly, but
Speaker 1: you could see things turn into culture and stuff. So
Speaker 1: that's what I continue to be impressed with is there
Speaker 1: was that glaring weakness and man, they didn't waste any time.
Speaker 1: And I was really happy and impressed that they went
Speaker 1: after you know, Kappa and Harris and Collins right away
Speaker 1: and fill that need because you know, so many times
Speaker 1: teams go to the draft. Now you bring it in
Speaker 1: young guys that have to step in. Well, now you
Speaker 1: got some guys at a couple of Super Bowl rings
Speaker 1: and you know, another guy that played for a pretty
Speaker 1: good football team with the Cowboys. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about what's going on. I mean not only that,
Speaker 1: but then you lose Uzama, they go ahead and get hurt.
Speaker 1: I mean, so it's like, Okay, we lose somebody, let's
Speaker 1: get it. We have weakness. So I really like what's
Speaker 1: going on. Have you looked at those three offensive lineman
Speaker 1: closely over the years. Do you have any thoughts on
Speaker 1: any of the three? I really haven't. I haven't watched
Speaker 1: them a whole lot. But I guess anytime you come
Speaker 1: to another team and you started on a super Bowl
Speaker 1: team and you got a ring, you gotta be pretty good.
Speaker 1: And you're playing with, I guess, a pretty good quarterback,
Speaker 1: and so you're protecting, you know, one of the best ever.
Speaker 1: And then Collins a little concern there, you know, on
Speaker 1: what happened. But you know, talking to Frank Pollock, who
Speaker 1: is there and coached him, he says, pretty good talent.
Speaker 1: I guess, maybe a couple injuries in the past and
Speaker 1: a couple ofs but hopefully, you know, he comes in
Speaker 1: and stays healthy and and really plays up to where
Speaker 1: he says he can. So not Pollock, but Collins says
Speaker 1: he can. So No, I really haven't watched any of
Speaker 1: the three at all, so I'm looking forward to watching them.
Speaker 1: Left guard is open. It sounds like the top two
Speaker 1: candidates going into training campbell by Jackson Carmen and the
Speaker 1: guy they drafted this year, Cordell Volson. Are you confident
Speaker 1: that a player will emerge at left guard that will
Speaker 1: be able to a solid job. Well, I hope. So
Speaker 1: you know, uh Jackson, I mean you look at him
Speaker 1: and you watch him. I've watched him since you know,
Speaker 1: high school days in college. He has the ability. I
Speaker 1: think the main thing is just understanding what he has
Speaker 1: to do and you know, stepping you know, stepping up.
Speaker 1: I mean this, uh, this young man they drafted him,
Speaker 1: and everything I hear about him, he's he's got the
Speaker 1: mentality and the you know what you love to to
Speaker 1: see in an offensive linement. So what I love about
Speaker 1: that is you bring in a guy like that. You've
Speaker 1: got Carmen who's been here. Competition, you know, if you
Speaker 1: really want that job, Jackson, you got a guy that's
Speaker 1: you know, they're high on And that's what I loved
Speaker 1: when I was playing. You always had somebody, you know,
Speaker 1: nipping at your heels, and I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be good. Competition is always great for so you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully that will happened. You know, they have Joan over
Speaker 1: there who now has some experience to help out. So uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see I'd like to see, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the two just really, you know, boom rise
Speaker 1: to the top and take it over. Joan is at
Speaker 1: your old position. Did you see a lot of growth
Speaker 1: there last year? I did. I mean, you know, I
Speaker 1: watched him closely, and you know, I've always liked his tenacity.
Speaker 1: I've always liked his work ethic. I've seen that, you know,
Speaker 1: there's progress being made, So I'm happy with that. You know,
Speaker 1: at first, you know, you know, it's hard to say, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm a little concerned for it. But the guy's young.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's young when you expect people to come
Speaker 1: in you know, a number one picks to light it
Speaker 1: on fire. And but I have seen some progress there
Speaker 1: and I'm excited about to see how he continues to grow.
Speaker 1: Where do you like about Frank Pollock? Well, I guess
Speaker 1: the first thing I like is the technical part of it.
Speaker 1: Anytime you're teaching sound, fundamental technique, I love. But the
Speaker 1: fact that he'll get in your face, I love that
Speaker 1: even more. You know, and guys like that you don't
Speaker 1: have to be screaming young and all the time you
Speaker 1: know when to do it, and I'd forget. I don't
Speaker 1: think I've ever seen I forget. You might want to
Speaker 1: help me playoff game. He's like by the number, screaming
Speaker 1: and young, I'm going, yeah, I love that. You know,
Speaker 1: you know you're going back to I hate to do this,
Speaker 1: but when Jim mcnallyly was my coach, if something happened,
Speaker 1: I'd never come off the field where he wasn't at
Speaker 1: least three or four yards on the field looking up. Okay,
Speaker 1: what happened? What happened, and don't tell me. You don't know.
Speaker 1: So you know accountability And that's what I love about Frank.
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's gonna give you the right things to
Speaker 1: really put you in the right position. But he's not
Speaker 1: one that's gonna shy away from holding the accountable. And
Speaker 1: I love that about him. I was there at training
Speaker 1: camp last year when Joe Burrow approached you, stuck out
Speaker 1: his right hand and said, mister money was my name
Speaker 1: is Joe, which I thought was awesome. What's impressed you
Speaker 1: most about Joe Burrow? Well, if you remember that day too,
Speaker 1: he sat there and UH really encouraged Lapp and I
Speaker 1: to be around a lot, and other guys to be around.
Speaker 1: How much they appreciated that. I mean that to me,
Speaker 1: spoke volumes that you know, he got a young quarterback.
Speaker 1: A lot of times they kind of look, do I
Speaker 1: go over? Do I not? And he just came right over,
Speaker 1: and man, he was bold and I love that. But
Speaker 1: just watching the way he he handles it. And I'm
Speaker 1: not inside the facility, so I can't say, but I
Speaker 1: love watching reaction interaction, and you can you can tell
Speaker 1: that the guys absolutely love the guy, will follow him
Speaker 1: and just have fun playing with them. And to me,
Speaker 1: and not to talk about his physical bility, because that's
Speaker 1: over the top. I mean, I mean someone who's got
Speaker 1: been hit that much and did what he did last year,
Speaker 1: you know, he's a competitor. But I just love the
Speaker 1: intangibles of him, the leader he is, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he gets rattled inside, but he doesn't let
Speaker 1: you see that he's rattled if something and it always
Speaker 1: happened if the adversity happens, Man, he pops back and
Speaker 1: he makes things happen, you know, good after that adversity.
Speaker 1: So I enjoyed watching him. I really do enjoy watching him.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, the kind of reminds me of
Speaker 1: a guy that I played nine years with and Boomero
Speaker 1: Science and you know, it's very confident and tremendous leaders
Speaker 1: and not bad with physical ability and the mental part
Speaker 1: of it. I mean, it's it's rare if somebody gets
Speaker 1: him on the mental side of the game. Last thing,
Speaker 1: he played on two super Bowl teams. What's the biggest
Speaker 1: challenge the year after going to a super Bowl? From
Speaker 1: that last game the super Bowl until camp is is
Speaker 1: really keeping the priorities not being because you're gonna be
Speaker 1: pulled and tugged to do this and do that, and
Speaker 1: not let that overtake what you have to do, and
Speaker 1: that's get ready for another run. And you know, looking
Speaker 1: back at those two I think there was a little
Speaker 1: bit of that with us. I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: got to a super Bowl and now you're speaking here,
Speaker 1: you're doing this appearance you're doing, and you forget you
Speaker 1: forget about what you made it possible for you to
Speaker 1: do those appearances, and that's busting your tail and getting
Speaker 1: ready and having a great year. So I'd say that's
Speaker 1: probably the biggest thing, is the distractions of taking away
Speaker 1: from your preparation. I always appreciate your time. Congratulations on
Speaker 1: the new position with the Hall of Fame. The Hall
Speaker 1: could not have found a better ambassador. Well, Dan appreciate
Speaker 1: it very much. You know, when that came up, I
Speaker 1: really didn't think that that was something that I'd be
Speaker 1: looking at. But you know, when I heard there's a
Speaker 1: lot of board members nominating me, I looked at the
Speaker 1: job description. I said, Man, this is what I've been
Speaker 1: doing in the last twenty twenty five years, and I'm
Speaker 1: thrilled to be representing the entire Hall and everything that
Speaker 1: it stands for. And I'm looking forward to building this
Speaker 1: new position with our President Ampany. By the way, he
Speaker 1: held his annual golf tournament about a week ago to
Speaker 1: raise funds for the Anthony Munio's Foundation. Over the years,
Speaker 1: he's awarded more than two and a half million dollars
Speaker 1: in college scholarship money to students in need. That's going
Speaker 1: to do it. For this episode of The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals, download Ultimate Bengals ahead of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next
Speaker 1: level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now
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Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and
Speaker 1: if you have a minute, give it a rating, or
Speaker 1: share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast