Speaker 1: Happy New Year everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for
Speaker 1: downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I got it so
Speaker 1: hard and got so far, but in the end it
Speaker 1: doesn't even matter. Addition, as the Bengals are eliminated from
Speaker 1: playoff contention after a hard fought loss in Kansas City
Speaker 1: twenty five to seventeen. Coming up Radio replays locker room
Speaker 1: comments in postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then in this
Speaker 1: week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll get to know the multi
Speaker 1: talented Dax Hill. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official
Speaker 1: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet
Speaker 1: designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a
Speaker 1: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since turned yellow
Speaker 1: dot com. If you're a fan of the Simpsons, you
Speaker 1: might be interested to know that I have a small
Speaker 1: connection to the show. In the Dance and Homer episode
Speaker 1: where Homer Simpson becomes the mascot for the local minor
Speaker 1: league baseball team, there's a play by play announcer named
Speaker 1: Dan Horde. My friend Ken Levine wrote the episode. I
Speaker 1: bring that up because one of my Christmas gifts this
Speaker 1: year was a family portrait of me, my wife, and
Speaker 1: my son looking like characters from The Simpsons, even sitting
Speaker 1: on their living room couch. It was created by sending
Speaker 1: a photo to turned yellow dot com. That's several websites
Speaker 1: where you can simpsonize a photo. It's not super cheap,
Speaker 1: but it is pretty cool. Or, as Bart Simpson might say, Cowabunga. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to the radio replays from Sunday's loss in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. The Bengals got the ball to begin the
Speaker 1: game and chewed up more than eight and a half minutes,
Speaker 1: kicking a field goal to take a three to nothing lead,
Speaker 1: but the Chiefs answered with a seventy five yard touchdown drive.
Speaker 1: Bengals have their dime defense on the field, six defensive
Speaker 1: backs on third down in goal from the eight, only
Speaker 1: two defenders in three point stances for Cincinnati. Has Mahomes
Speaker 1: waits for the shotgun snap back at the thirteen, he catches,
Speaker 1: He looks, fires a passing to the end zone, caught
Speaker 1: by a wide open Pachecko for the Kansas City touchdown.
Speaker 1: That was the only touchdown the Chiefs scored all day,
Speaker 1: and on their second drive, the Bengals answered to retake
Speaker 1: the lead. This will be the eleventh play of the drive.
Speaker 1: The Bengals first drive lasted fifteen plays. Browning throws caught
Speaker 1: by Mixon driving toward the end zone, touchdown. Bengals Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon doing push ups in the end zone after hauling
Speaker 1: in the touchdown pass from Jake Browning. It was ten
Speaker 1: to seven Cincinnati. In less than a minute later, the
Speaker 1: Bengals defense made a big play. Mahomes in the gun.
Speaker 1: Three receivers out to the left. He's back to throw.
Speaker 1: Mahomes from the pocket, has it stripped from behind. Trey
Speaker 1: Hendrickson knocked it away from Patrick Mahomes and the Bengals
Speaker 1: recover after twenty four yard line. Trey Hendrickson will get
Speaker 1: credit for a strip sack there, his seventeenth sack of
Speaker 1: the year, as he knocked the ball free from Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes and Sam Hubbard recovered that gave the Bengals the
Speaker 1: ball at the Kansas City twenty four, and Cincinnati capitalized
Speaker 1: third down in goal inside the one. The Bengals are
Speaker 1: five for six on third down tries. Browning will be
Speaker 1: under center. Mixon is the running back. True sample motions.
Speaker 1: Now he will line up right behind Browning. They do
Speaker 1: not do the tush push. Browning rolls right, He keeps
Speaker 1: the ball, spins backward and gets into the end zone.
Speaker 1: Touchdown Bengals on a one yard scramble by Jake Browning.
Speaker 1: The Bengals had a seventeen to seven lead midway through
Speaker 1: the second quarter, with scores on their first three possessions. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the Bengals did not score again on their final seven
Speaker 1: drives of the game. Two Kansas City field goals made
Speaker 1: it seventeen to thirteen at the half. On the Bengals
Speaker 1: first drive of the third quarter, they started at their
Speaker 1: own seventeen and drove to the Kansas City six, where
Speaker 1: they faced fourth down and one. Rather than kick a
Speaker 1: field goal to push the lead back to seven, Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor elected to go for it. The line is overloaded
Speaker 1: to the right Cody Ford plus two tight ends to
Speaker 1: that side. Browning's under center takes the snap, gives it
Speaker 1: to mix, and he doesn't come close to getting back
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage. Willie Gay greeted him at
Speaker 1: a nine for a three yard loss.
Speaker 2: I just felt like, fourth and one, we need to
Speaker 2: go for it.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 2: They played a goal line front. Really, you know, in
Speaker 2: a little further situation than we expected. Is a good
Speaker 2: play by them. They did a good job making the play.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs dominated the rest of the game, kicking field
Speaker 1: goals on four straight possessions and punishing Jake Browning with
Speaker 1: their pass rush. Once they had the lead, second down
Speaker 1: and sixteen, the Bengals hit their own forty nine. They
Speaker 1: trail by eight to go. Shotgun snapped to Browning sacked again,
Speaker 1: Chris Jones pouncing on the Bengals quarterback. This time it's
Speaker 1: back to the thirty eight yard line. The loss of
Speaker 1: eleven on the sack.
Speaker 3: And now it's yeah again.
Speaker 4: This is the most brutal time to try to pass
Speaker 4: protect because there's only one thing you're gonna do, and
Speaker 4: it's tough for me.
Speaker 3: The Chiefs are coming with pressure.
Speaker 1: Kansas City finished with six sacks and fourteen quarterback hits
Speaker 1: and wrapped up their eighth straight AFC West title with
Speaker 1: a twenty five to seventeen win. The Bengals fell to
Speaker 1: eight and eight and were eliminated from playoff contention. Here's
Speaker 1: Sam Hubbard.
Speaker 5: We got a lot of great players that are going
Speaker 5: to take this adversity that we face this year and
Speaker 5: turn into a positive, work extra hard, come back hungry
Speaker 5: next year to do what we need to do.
Speaker 1: I know I am.
Speaker 5: We faced a lot this year, but like I said earlier,
Speaker 5: I'm just proud of this locker room. I love this
Speaker 5: locker room. I love how everybody carried themselves, how they
Speaker 5: treated each other, how they worked weekend, week out despite
Speaker 5: any circumstance stance to try and get the win, try
Speaker 5: to stay together, and like I said, I'm proud of
Speaker 5: the locker room.
Speaker 1: Jake Browning threw for one hundred and ninety seven yards
Speaker 1: in a touchdown and ran for thirty two yards in
Speaker 1: another score. His passer rating for the season ninety six
Speaker 1: point five, and he's certainly proven to be a capable backup,
Speaker 1: but that didn't lessen the disappointment on Sunday.
Speaker 6: Here's Jake It sucks to lose when you're in still
Speaker 6: in the race, and uh, you know, there's no real crazy,
Speaker 6: insightful comment there, just it sucks to lose anytime, and
Speaker 6: especially when you know you needed that win to keep battling.
Speaker 6: But uh, you know, I don't know what the playoff
Speaker 6: picture and all that looks like. But I think the
Speaker 6: standard that was established, you know, even before I got here,
Speaker 6: was to just keep battling, and so that's what we're
Speaker 6: gonna do. I mean, I think I think they made
Speaker 6: some good adjustments at halftime, started doubling guys and uh
Speaker 6: and spying as well, and so you know, yeah, it
Speaker 6: was tough. It was tough to be able to tell
Speaker 6: who was who's getting doubled and stuff. They mixed it up,
Speaker 6: and uh, yeah, it's good scheme, good players, and didn't
Speaker 6: do enough to get it done. Yeah, I'm still processing
Speaker 6: a loss and sucks. It's great locker room people are
Speaker 6: that starts with who you bring in the locker room.
Speaker 6: People are gonna keep battling and uh and I felt
Speaker 6: a lot of support throughout the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 6: especially coming off of a poor performance with the Steelers game,
Speaker 6: and you know, I didn't feel like anybody was point
Speaker 6: fingers or anything. It was just focus on what everybody
Speaker 6: needs to do to get better. And so, you know,
Speaker 6: it's kind of my comments on that.
Speaker 1: Defensively, the Bengals gave up four passes of more than
Speaker 1: twenty yards, including sixty seven and forty one yarders. They
Speaker 1: also allowed runs of thirty five and thirty seven yards
Speaker 1: by Isaiah Piciceco, who finished with a buck thirty, becoming
Speaker 1: the fifth running back to top one hundred yards against
Speaker 1: the Bengals this year. I talked to Cam Taylor Britt
Speaker 1: after the game. Joe got hurt on the second day
Speaker 1: of training camp. Did just feel like from the very
Speaker 1: beginning there was too much to overcome this.
Speaker 7: I wouldn't say it's never too much to overcome because
Speaker 7: you know, with me and my teammates, we feel like,
Speaker 7: you know, in any situation, we come together as one.
Speaker 7: You know, we can find ourselves out of anybody battle,
Speaker 7: no matter the score, no matter you know, who goes down.
Speaker 7: You know it's always next man up for sure. But
Speaker 7: uh yeah, when he went down, most definitely you've seen
Speaker 7: a downfall and a lot of my teammates most definitely
Speaker 7: because you know, you're number one guys now. But I say,
Speaker 7: you know, throughout those weeks when Jake came in, the
Speaker 7: things everything kind of clicked together. But no, we just
Speaker 7: got stays one.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: That's when we play our best.
Speaker 1: Felt like you approached this game like a playoff game today.
Speaker 7: Yeah, anytime, man, I really say all my games, Man,
Speaker 7: it's playoff atmosphere, honestly, just because Man, you're in the NFL. Bro,
Speaker 7: everybody's good.
Speaker 3: You're gonna play a.
Speaker 7: Team who is two and eight and they have good players,
Speaker 7: and most definitely you gotta come in every day, every
Speaker 7: game and you know, just treated as such. We may
Speaker 7: never get the opportunity again.
Speaker 1: There have been a lot of big plays against the
Speaker 1: Bengals defense this year. I guess that's kind of the
Speaker 1: common thread and the losses. Is it a head scratcher
Speaker 1: why other teams have been able to pull off so
Speaker 1: many big plays?
Speaker 7: I think it's just in the room man with us, Man,
Speaker 7: A lot of people that don't get a lot, but
Speaker 7: when they do, man is meaningful and such such times
Speaker 7: in the game. But we need to get off the
Speaker 7: field on third and long and we get hit on
Speaker 7: a seven route number twenty five yards and he continues
Speaker 7: to run. You know, that's not team defense football, especially
Speaker 7: Bengals football. So Most definitely got to come in and
Speaker 7: you know, execute and fix all of it.
Speaker 1: In this game, Patrick wasn't throwing it over your head,
Speaker 1: but he was hitting guys in stride to turn that
Speaker 1: ten yard play into a forty yard play.
Speaker 7: You knows we're gonna try to man him up and
Speaker 7: try to get pressure on him. So they just try
Speaker 7: to run away from us, you know, try to pick
Speaker 7: pick everybody, you know, running through each other.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that's about it.
Speaker 1: So you're eight and eight with a game to go. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: this one eliminates the Bengals from playoff contention. I guess
Speaker 1: what you have to still play for is to finish
Speaker 1: with a winning record. Is that a big deal?
Speaker 7: That is a huge deal, man, Every game is a
Speaker 7: huge deal, especially this last one. Man, you're playing the
Speaker 7: Cleveland Browns, so why not. You know, you gotta go
Speaker 7: get it, man, put your best foot out there. They
Speaker 7: have everything to lose what we don't, So you know,
Speaker 7: Most definitely go out there and give them a fight.
Speaker 1: And you don't want to go win less in the
Speaker 1: AFC North.
Speaker 7: Now you can't go with it list, Man, So we
Speaker 7: gotta go out there and put our best foot for
Speaker 7: at Like you know, this is not the last game,
Speaker 7: you know, just continue to fight.
Speaker 1: You kept them out of the end zone, but they
Speaker 1: moved the ball enough to kick field goals. That was
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth,
Speaker 1: but that feels like the negative to me.
Speaker 7: And man, we gotta get off the field and third down,
Speaker 7: you know, just as simple as that. Like you said,
Speaker 7: the explosives matter, and they won't be able to get
Speaker 7: down there without the kick the field goals without the explosive.
Speaker 7: So you know, most definitely we gotta keep that off
Speaker 7: the back end. Uh, the front end, they were doing
Speaker 7: their job, you know, getting to the quarterback making make
Speaker 7: some crazy decisions. So we just gotta hold up man
Speaker 7: as a as a team on the DAP on the
Speaker 7: back end, I said.
Speaker 1: Okay, I appreciate your time, Thank you, thank you. Now
Speaker 1: let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes with LAP.
Speaker 4: Coach Keenan fought hard. I mean, give it everything. Yeah
Speaker 4: they did.
Speaker 2: I'm proud of the way that the eyes showed up
Speaker 2: and played and did everything they could, and we just
Speaker 2: came up a little short today and credit to Kansas City,
Speaker 2: but again proud of the way you guys fought often
Speaker 2: on the.
Speaker 4: Field in the fourth quarter. It became, you know, a
Speaker 4: real tough dynamic. Obviously ended up with eleven yards on
Speaker 4: fifteen plays after the fourth down stopped that they had
Speaker 4: thirty six yards on nineteen plays. Do you think the
Speaker 4: win was out of the sales a little bit?
Speaker 3: I didn't feel that.
Speaker 2: We just we just didn't maintain very good rhythm, you know,
Speaker 2: And that's it's a challenge when you come in here
Speaker 2: in a tough environment versus a really good defense. We
Speaker 2: obviously expected to produce more than we did and and
Speaker 2: we'll have to watch the tape and see what we
Speaker 2: could have done.
Speaker 4: Better defensively, though they're playing at a very high level.
Speaker 4: And the first half, I thought the offense, I thought
Speaker 4: Jake Browning really acquitted himself well and to me, he
Speaker 4: was doing Patrick Mahomes type stuff. Really.
Speaker 2: I thought he managed the game really well. You know
Speaker 2: what got difficult at the end was when they just
Speaker 2: pinned their ears back and came out after the passer.
Speaker 2: And that's the type of game we knew we didn't
Speaker 2: want to play. That's where they've been successful. We just
Speaker 2: didn't do enough in the third quarter to give ourselves
Speaker 2: a lead where we could stay out of that.
Speaker 4: And when you were able to use the running game
Speaker 4: and be balanced. I you had fourteen first downs at
Speaker 4: one junction, was seven on the ground, six in the
Speaker 4: air and won by penalty, so it was very balanced
Speaker 4: in their pass rush. You guys were negating it. It
Speaker 4: wasn't really that big of a deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought we had a good play on Our
Speaker 2: players believed in it and did a great job executing
Speaker 2: it and again just came up short through in the
Speaker 2: second half.
Speaker 4: So no turnovers they had one, they had the fumble,
Speaker 4: but then the fourth down stop kind of negates that,
Speaker 4: you know, that turnovers, So it was even steven in
Speaker 4: that regard, And that's what these kind of games come
Speaker 4: down to, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It does you know? And again I thought our defense
Speaker 2: stood up and played hard. Them did into the field
Speaker 2: goals when they could. Just as a team collectively, we
Speaker 2: didn't do enough to get to win.
Speaker 4: Coach, I know, I guess officially eliminated from playoff contention
Speaker 4: at this point. The Pittsburgh Steelers winning in Seattle. But
Speaker 4: all you guys gave it a heck of a run
Speaker 4: and got another game against the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 5: And I lose.
Speaker 4: Football team's going to show up and play it and
Speaker 4: play it hard. So everybody show up at Paycorn support
Speaker 4: this football team. They deserve it, no doubt. This team
Speaker 4: is fought hard. They represent this organization the right way.
Speaker 4: It's a meaningful game for us. It's a divisional game.
Speaker 4: It's a chance to finish with the winning record in
Speaker 4: front of our fans, and so they deserve our best
Speaker 4: and we're going to give them our best. Appreciate coach
Speaker 4: very much.
Speaker 1: Yep, thanks Lom. We now know the game time next
Speaker 1: Sunday at one o'clock and since the Browns are locked
Speaker 1: in as the number five playoff seat in the AFC,
Speaker 1: they are expected to rest many of their starters. Cincinnati
Speaker 1: is an early four point favorite. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be
Speaker 1: the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future
Speaker 1: Proof Fiber Internet designed elevate your home, business and community
Speaker 1: to a new level, and by kettering health the best
Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengal Now time for the radio
Speaker 1: guys regap LAP. Last year was late January, the Bengals
Speaker 1: season came to an end here in Kansas City when
Speaker 1: they lost in the AFC Championship game. The season doesn't
Speaker 1: end today, but their playoff chances due with this loss
Speaker 1: to the Kansas City Chiefs. To me, this game was
Speaker 1: a microcosm of the entire season. Too many big plays allowed,
Speaker 1: couldn't stop the other team's running game, couldn't quite do
Speaker 1: enough on the offensive end.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: I mean it's in the fourth quarter. Offensively, it had
Speaker 4: a pretty good game for three quarters. Fifteen snaps eleven
Speaker 4: yards in the fourth quarter, and it all you know,
Speaker 4: from the when they had the fourth and one stop,
Speaker 4: when no turnovers, took care of the football that way.
Speaker 4: We talked about every possession ending with a kick fourth
Speaker 4: and one gets knocked back for a couple of yard loss,
Speaker 4: and from that point on, nineteen snaps thirty six yards.
Speaker 4: So obviously that took the wind out of the sales,
Speaker 4: totally deflated the football team. And I can understand it.
Speaker 4: I mean that was huge. There's no question, and because
Speaker 4: it was a dogfed defensively. In spite of all the
Speaker 4: things that were going wrong, they were holding them to
Speaker 4: field goals. You know, So put one on the board,
Speaker 4: one on the board and get you know, Paul the
Speaker 4: Great Paul Brown, get points in a battle like you're in.
Speaker 4: Make sure you get points, don't come away with nothing.
Speaker 4: And you know, that kind of resonated with me. But
Speaker 4: in this era of analytics and all that, there's all
Speaker 4: kinds of arguments you can make. But numbers aren't number
Speaker 4: ninety five on the football field that you have to block.
Speaker 4: Numbers aren't number fifteen that you have to defend, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, numbers are numbers, and at some point you
Speaker 4: have to, you know, make a determination as to man,
Speaker 4: where are we, what we have to do to try
Speaker 4: to win this game, how we doing against some of
Speaker 4: these guys. Do we feel like we've got enough to
Speaker 4: hold them off?
Speaker 3: And I don't know.
Speaker 4: I guess I'm conservative, but I'd always lean toward taking points.
Speaker 1: I probably disagree with you on that. I'm okay with
Speaker 1: going for it. Obviously it didn't work, It really didn't work,
Speaker 1: losing three. At the time, I didn't really second guess it,
Speaker 1: But I know what you're saying. I mean, the way
Speaker 1: the game played out, it certainly seems like I would
Speaker 1: have been prudent to take three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just I just think in a big game
Speaker 4: like that, the if you get it, you're not guaranteed
Speaker 4: to not kicking a field anyway. So to me, it's
Speaker 4: better to come away with points than what happened to them.
Speaker 4: They got so deflated when they got nothing that it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, Okay, maybe maybe you do convert on fourth
Speaker 4: and one in the low red zone, so now it's
Speaker 4: first and goal. Maybe maybe you get a touch on,
Speaker 4: maybe you don't, maybe kick a field goal and you
Speaker 4: just burn more clock or whatever. So I don't know,
Speaker 4: I guess, but it was fourth and one. It wasn't
Speaker 4: like it was fourth and three and it kept blown up.
Speaker 4: The execution of it wasn't wasn't any good whatsoever. Son
Speaker 4: can understand it, can understand it, and you know both ways.
Speaker 4: But I just I just know how in a game
Speaker 4: like that where you're fighting tooth and nail and you
Speaker 4: come away with nothing and you're straining on every snap
Speaker 4: to block ninety five, and it's like, damn, you know,
Speaker 4: got nothing out of that. But again, if you had
Speaker 4: scored a touchdown, now you're sitting in high cotton. So
Speaker 4: that's that's the game, that's the National Football League.
Speaker 1: I think that's where the former player factor maybe should
Speaker 1: be considered because the numbers. I'm sure they crunch these numbers,
Speaker 1: and the numbers say the right thing to do is
Speaker 1: to go for it. But those numbers have never been
Speaker 1: on the field and know what it's like when you
Speaker 1: go for it and don't get it, and how that
Speaker 1: affects you emotionally.
Speaker 4: Right, well, I mean some of the numbers. It might
Speaker 4: be a really good football team working against the weak
Speaker 4: system and they convert x number of fourth down in shorts.
Speaker 4: This is not a week stich a situation. You're on
Speaker 4: the road, loud, hostile environment. You can't come off the
Speaker 4: football maybe as aggressively as you want to. I mean,
Speaker 4: there's so many factors involved where you know, in my mind,
Speaker 4: the analytics is just like a sterile numbers situation, not
Speaker 4: any kind of environmental considerations or anything like that. So
Speaker 4: and I can understand it. But Dan Campbell's probably scratch
Speaker 4: has had on a few of them as well.
Speaker 1: So they gave up a pass of more than sixty,
Speaker 1: they gave up another pass of more than forty. They
Speaker 1: gave up a thirty five yard run, they gave up
Speaker 1: a thirty seven yard run. It's happened too many times
Speaker 1: this year to just be you know something, you're right
Speaker 1: off as one of those things. This is a major
Speaker 1: problem that has to be analyzed and fixed in time
Speaker 1: for next year.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean the team has been shredded. Was it
Speaker 4: seven or eight plays of twenty fe yards and water
Speaker 4: night count and run pass? I mean, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 4: I mean that that number, you just you just can't
Speaker 4: live with that number. And again it's not just seventy.
Speaker 4: It's like, you know, you get up into the forties,
Speaker 4: you get up into the into the uh you know,
Speaker 4: like last week the eighties, you get up into the sixties.
Speaker 4: I mean those those kind of numbers are are incredible.
Speaker 4: And uh yeah, you look at the last two weeks alone,
Speaker 4: the back to back losses where you know you needed
Speaker 4: to step up and make a statement defensively were shredded.
Speaker 4: There's not I think there's only one team in the
Speaker 4: league that has given up more twenty yard players in
Speaker 4: Tampa Bay. Isn't Tampa Bay that and Tampa Bay was
Speaker 4: in the playoff fight too. I don't know if they
Speaker 4: still are or not, but you know that that's crazy.
Speaker 4: The two teams that were getting shredded and chunk plays
Speaker 4: and explosive plays are still winning teams. So yeah, it's
Speaker 4: something something definitely has to be looked at. For sure.
Speaker 1: They've really prioritized adding speed on defense in the last
Speaker 1: draft or two. Have they gone too far towards speed
Speaker 1: and little need a little bit more physicality.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know. I think I think speed
Speaker 4: is uh is a factor. We saw it tonight. Recoverability speed,
Speaker 4: I mean Ax Hill ran down places or touchdowns if
Speaker 4: not for him out in the football field running them down,
Speaker 4: and that's a that's a big, a big factor in
Speaker 4: the speed is the you know, the recoverability part of it,
Speaker 4: because if you're if you're a young guy that hasn't
Speaker 4: seen everything yet and you're not in the right position
Speaker 4: to make the plays, speed doesn't become as big as
Speaker 4: a factory, you know. But then if you give up
Speaker 4: a play, if it becomes a factor and recoverability and
Speaker 4: not giving up to the house, but you're giving up
Speaker 4: a bunch of yards. So I think I think these
Speaker 4: guys are physical enough, but again, I think that's a
Speaker 4: confidence thing too, and I think I think when they
Speaker 4: come back next year, it's going to be I can
Speaker 4: I can just remember vividly, Dan, how when I came
Speaker 4: to training camp my second year, as opposed to training
Speaker 4: camp my rookie year, it was like night and day
Speaker 4: and first, you know, the first few games, just getting
Speaker 4: into a rhythm a lot quicker and feeling comfortable about
Speaker 4: everything and feeling like you're not gonna you know, there's
Speaker 4: no hesitation. You know exactly what you're supposed to do
Speaker 4: and how you're supposed to do it, and then you're
Speaker 4: going out and doing it, whereas there's a little bit
Speaker 4: of apprehension, you know, in the early stages of your
Speaker 4: rookie year.
Speaker 1: Jake Browning did a reasonably good job today when he
Speaker 1: had time, threw a touchdown, pass, ran for a touchdown,
Speaker 1: and one hundred and ninety seven passing yards and passer
Speaker 1: rating mayighty five. He has certainly shown that he is
Speaker 1: a very solid backup quarterback. But I think we can
Speaker 1: see the difference between a Jake Browning Bengals team and
Speaker 1: a Joe Burrow Bengals team and the ceiling that they
Speaker 1: can reach when Joe's in the game.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean, there's there's there's no question. I mean,
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow is one of the highest paid guys in
Speaker 4: the league for a reason. You know, it's not it's
Speaker 4: not a small sample size. It's a sample size that
Speaker 4: he's proven himself for a period of time. But I
Speaker 4: will say, as a former lineman, I would go in
Speaker 4: a huddle with Jake Browning any day. I think the
Speaker 4: way he comports himself, the way he leads, the way
Speaker 4: he competes, his toughness, I would have no qualms, no issues,
Speaker 4: no like wondering about Jake Browning. I would go in
Speaker 4: the huddle of dead dude every single day of the week.
Speaker 1: Hey, knowing that you have a very solid backup quarterback
Speaker 1: is a big deal. You know, in a season like
Speaker 1: this one where your starter was really healthy for about
Speaker 1: five games, that's tough to overcome. But in a typical season,
Speaker 1: if your starter has to miss a game or maybe
Speaker 1: a couple, knowing that you have a guy that can
Speaker 1: win a couple of games if he needs to is huge.
Speaker 4: Massive and Turk shown it's the guy that I look to.
Speaker 4: I mean, we had total faith in Turch showing it
Speaker 4: in his ability to win football games for us. Now,
Speaker 4: was he gonna play like Kenny? Was he gonna do
Speaker 4: it the way Kenny did or Boomer? But I didn't play.
Speaker 4: I wasn't playing in that era. But it started with
Speaker 4: with Kenny Anderson Turk showing it. You know, Kenny breaks
Speaker 4: his hand, Turk comes in and it's like he was
Speaker 4: always totally prepared. You knew that he knew his stuff.
Speaker 4: He wasn't guessing, you know, he was on point with everything,
Speaker 4: and he was going to compete and uh confident. You know,
Speaker 4: we're gonna go out win this game. Boys, Let's go,
Speaker 4: you know. And that's how Jake is. So those guys
Speaker 4: are invaluable. There's no question.
Speaker 1: The Ravens are the number one seed in the AFC,
Speaker 1: the Browns are the number one wildcard team in the AFC,
Speaker 1: and the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the hunt after
Speaker 1: back to back wins over Cincinnati and Seattle.
Speaker 4: And they all feasted on the Bengals. Hopefully Cluved doesn't
Speaker 4: feast on him one more time because zero to five
Speaker 4: in the division. I mean, when that occurred, you know,
Speaker 4: it's like this, this is uh, this is almost like
Speaker 4: a pipe dream. Get in the playoffs and and get
Speaker 4: a seated position in the playoffs with a one in
Speaker 4: five division record potentially that that would have been crazy.
Speaker 1: So the Steelers clinched their twentieth consecutive non losing season
Speaker 1: within their win today. That's what's still. Let's take now
Speaker 1: for the Bengals, win the final game, have a winning record,
Speaker 1: make it three years in a row.
Speaker 4: Absolutely and uh, and finishing at home on an up
Speaker 4: note is big. And you know, Forest Greg used to
Speaker 4: call it an uptick. Boys. We want to we want
Speaker 4: to play in front of our people and and go
Speaker 4: out and play some physical football that they'd be proud
Speaker 4: of and finish on an uptick. Let's get it done.
Speaker 1: All right. That'll be the theme next week. An uptick finale,
Speaker 1: an uptick finale, and let's get that tick real high. Finally,
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's fun Facts conversation, where you
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads. Time for
Speaker 1: some fun facts with safety Dax Hill. Let's start with
Speaker 1: your name, and I don't mean your first name, Daxton,
Speaker 1: which is pretty unique, but your middle name is Jorel.
Speaker 1: The name of Superman's father. Are your parents comic book
Speaker 1: fans or what did they tell you about giving you
Speaker 1: the middle name Jorell?
Speaker 3: They weren't, actually, But I think my dad randomly just
Speaker 3: came across that name, and that was a pretty cool
Speaker 3: name obviously Superman Superman, and you know his father saw
Speaker 3: I guess he was like, yeah, minus, well, as you know,
Speaker 3: hopefully we get a Superman out of deck. So I
Speaker 3: think that's where that came from. But not comic book
Speaker 3: fans at all.
Speaker 1: Kids can be sensitive about their middle names when they
Speaker 1: share them with the other kids, even if the name
Speaker 1: is really plain. Did you like it or were you
Speaker 1: sensitive about having an unusual middle name?
Speaker 3: Uh? Not really. I mean a lot of people didn't
Speaker 3: really know my middle name, which which was crazy now
Speaker 3: that that you know, has that that that meaning behind it.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, I mean I I kind of just
Speaker 3: embraced it. I kind of liked that. Whenever my dad
Speaker 3: told me at a young young age, I would like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'll rock with it.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Dax Hill. You're from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: I've been to Tulsa many times because you see in
Speaker 1: Tulsa used to be in the same conference. I think
Speaker 1: it's the windiest place I've ever been in my life,
Speaker 1: and it's considered a high risk area for tornadoes. Did
Speaker 1: you experience that as a kid?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, I actually been in two tornadoes, actually one
Speaker 3: at the house and then whenever I was at church
Speaker 3: service one day. You know, scary feeling. I mean, you
Speaker 3: hear all the wind right above you. Luckily the roofs
Speaker 3: didn't come out, come off or anything like that, but
Speaker 3: I mean you can hear everything swirling outside, the leaves,
Speaker 3: you know, branches and hitting the windows. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: a scary feeling. But you know, once you made it,
Speaker 3: make it out alive. I mean, you know it's you know,
Speaker 3: you're thankful. So those experiences are, you know, kind of scary.
Speaker 1: Did you go into the basement or anything like that
Speaker 1: when you heard those high wins?
Speaker 3: I forgot where I was at church where we went,
Speaker 3: but I think we kind of just stayed in the
Speaker 3: main part of it. But at home you kind of
Speaker 3: went underneath the underneath the house and make sure everything
Speaker 3: was good.
Speaker 1: You have one sibling, an older brother, Justice, who is
Speaker 1: three years older than you are. How competitive were the
Speaker 1: two of you as kids?
Speaker 3: We're competitive. I always wanted to one up him and everything.
Speaker 3: I knew I was a better basketball player. But you know,
Speaker 3: we always you know, played a game. At twenty one,
Speaker 3: he always you know won, But once I started getting
Speaker 3: a little bit older, that's when I started to get
Speaker 3: the wins. So we're definitely competitive at a young age.
Speaker 1: Friendly competition or did your parents have to pull you
Speaker 1: apart from time to time?
Speaker 3: I mean it was kind of just like, you know,
Speaker 3: just having fun. You know, sometimes I don't think it
Speaker 3: would get that crazy to where, you know, we're fighting
Speaker 3: or anything like that. Sometimes we probably every once in
Speaker 3: a while we may you know, you know, verbalize how
Speaker 3: we felt, but pretty much friendly.
Speaker 1: He's obviously in the NFL as well with the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals face the Ravens.
Speaker 3: What do your parents wear whenever? Our first guns in
Speaker 3: the NFL? One War one jersey other one war, you know,
Speaker 3: the Baltimore Jersey. Now it's kind of just been half
Speaker 3: so you know, you know a lot of people anticipated
Speaker 3: that happen, and it happened this year.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Dax Hill. You attended Booker T. Washington
Speaker 1: High School, which is considered one of the top public
Speaker 1: schools in the US, and your parents went there as well.
Speaker 1: There's an academic requirement to get in. You can study
Speaker 1: five world languages there. What did you gain from going
Speaker 1: to a school like that in high school?
Speaker 3: Uh, I mean I learned a lot of I mean
Speaker 3: every subject was pretty tough at AP classes, IB classes.
Speaker 3: I mean it's a very like you said, very good school,
Speaker 3: top schools and you know, Oklahoma and the nation, and
Speaker 3: I mean I feel like they have to be prepared
Speaker 3: going into college, and you know, so I feel like
Speaker 3: they did a you know, pretty good job, you know
Speaker 3: with you know, me and my brother, they're both going there.
Speaker 1: You were the Gatorade Player of the Year in the
Speaker 1: state of Oklahoma. You could have gone to any college
Speaker 1: in the country. Was the recruiting process a bit overwhelming?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean I really had, you know, every
Speaker 3: college offer there was in the Power five. You know,
Speaker 3: first it was kind of hectic, but Jane, I feel like, uh,
Speaker 3: junior year, that's when it started to kind of just
Speaker 3: settle down for me. I kind of knew where I
Speaker 3: wanted to go from there. I just you know, focused
Speaker 3: on schools that I wanted to go had like a
Speaker 3: top five or something like that, I think coming out
Speaker 3: of you know, senior year, and so from there kind
Speaker 3: of just you know, committed to Michigan.
Speaker 1: I read that your parents gave you this advice when
Speaker 1: you were choosing a school, where would you go if
Speaker 1: football was not part of the equation? Is that true?
Speaker 1: And did you take that advice?
Speaker 3: I did. I mean it was kind of a drawn
Speaker 3: out thing. I feel like just because you know, my parents,
Speaker 3: they sat now with me kind of just we had
Speaker 3: like a pros and cons board, really just split it
Speaker 3: down the middle which side and kind of just outweighed
Speaker 3: the other one. And I feel like they were a
Speaker 3: key part of, you know, my decision going to Michigan
Speaker 3: and really just not focused on football, but kind of
Speaker 3: just the holistic view of just my life, you know,
Speaker 3: besides football. So they had a major part of that.
Speaker 1: He played for Jim Harbaugh. Clearly a great coach, but
Speaker 1: he seems a little odd to me. Do you have
Speaker 1: a best Jim Harbaugh weird story?
Speaker 3: I would say in my home visit. We had good
Speaker 3: conversations with him for a few hours, and I felt
Speaker 3: like one time he just kind of just not dazed
Speaker 3: off of kind of just staring off in the space
Speaker 3: as if we weren't talking. That was hilarious to me.
Speaker 3: I'm like, man, what's is he thinking about something else?
Speaker 3: Or is he worried about me right now? You know,
Speaker 3: it was just, you know, kind of just took me
Speaker 3: for a loop. I was like, Okay, he just kind
Speaker 3: of just went to his own world for a second,
Speaker 3: which was hilarious to me. But, like you said, a
Speaker 3: great coach, great person.
Speaker 1: So you had a great career for the Wolverines and
Speaker 1: played in one of the greatest rivalries in sports Ohio
Speaker 1: State Michigan. And in your final game in that rivalry,
Speaker 1: you were part of a Michigan team that ended a
Speaker 1: streak of eight straight losses to the buck Eys. What
Speaker 1: are your most vivid memories of that win? Uh?
Speaker 3: Really just the atmosphere. I was like flirting the entire game,
Speaker 3: kind of like a snow game, and really just the
Speaker 3: energy of that game going into you know, that game,
Speaker 3: it was just you know, hyped up obviously. Uh, you know,
Speaker 3: we had that one circle on the board, you know,
Speaker 3: since we started, you know, that season. So I mean
Speaker 3: I feel like that was a great win for you know,
Speaker 3: the entire you know, state of Michigan, the university, Like
Speaker 3: everything about that win was just memorable.
Speaker 1: It seems to have turned the tide in the rivalry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like I mean, was it three years now,
Speaker 3: three years in a row, So I mean, I feel
Speaker 3: like we can keep it going just as long as
Speaker 3: they did. You know, I feel like we can do
Speaker 3: that in you know and some so.
Speaker 1: So after your time at Michigan, you were selected with
Speaker 1: a thirty first pick of the first round by the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Describe your draft.
Speaker 3: Night, have family friends over, you know, waiting the entire night,
Speaker 3: not knowing when I was gonna get picked. So, you know,
Speaker 3: my family they were there, supported me. You know, I
Speaker 3: was kind of just high and low throughout the time.
Speaker 3: Didn't know where I was gonna go. Thought I was
Speaker 3: gonna go like fifteen twenty, but ended up falling a
Speaker 3: little bit. But I'm thankful for where I'm at now.
Speaker 1: You tied the knot this passed off season. What's more
Speaker 1: stressful Draft night or wedding night?
Speaker 3: Ah, wedding for sure. Wedding for sure. Man, just really
Speaker 3: just getting the ring, which was stressful because we were
Speaker 3: trying to go out the country. We didn't have our
Speaker 3: passports at that time, so I was trying to get
Speaker 3: my passport at that time and didn't get the ring
Speaker 3: in as well. So the ring came in and then
Speaker 3: the passports they weren't in yet. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: I have all this plan out of the country and
Speaker 3: hopefully we can still go. So once we got there,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, uh kind of just say what
Speaker 3: I said. We're here now, so, uh, you know, kind
Speaker 3: of just was probably you have a very special moment
Speaker 3: for me, but I feel like a lot more stressful
Speaker 3: than than anything else.
Speaker 1: How'd you pop the question? Do you have a good story?
Speaker 3: I was kind of just out the country. I was
Speaker 3: in Saint Martin. Uh, wasn't anything special. She was kind
Speaker 3: of surprised by it. It was like the first night
Speaker 3: we got there, kind of just what did I do?
Speaker 3: I kind of just it was like a like a
Speaker 3: gazebo almost leaning out to the water, and it was
Speaker 3: just like the perfect view on the sunset, was like
Speaker 3: the sun was setting and kind of just walked out there.
Speaker 3: The water was going wasn't too too choppy or anything
Speaker 3: like that, just a nice breeze, and I mean that's
Speaker 3: kind of my story just you know, up out of
Speaker 3: the question, and that's how I happened.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna say no with that setting? All right, a
Speaker 1: few wild card topics Now for Dax Hill. Who is
Speaker 1: your all time favorite athlete in any sport? And why?
Speaker 3: I say? Michael Jordan. I mean, I feel like I
Speaker 3: grew up like him, But really, just watching the Last
Speaker 3: Dance Series, I feel like that kind of just made
Speaker 3: me even more more of a fan of him and
Speaker 3: his preparation. And I mean, I feel like he's the
Speaker 3: best basketball player to ever play. So so, Michael Jordan,
Speaker 3: for sure.
Speaker 1: Tell us something about you that not many people know.
Speaker 3: I played three instruments growing up. I don't know if
Speaker 3: a lot of people know that, but I mean I
Speaker 3: played the trumpet, violin, viola, a little bit of the bass,
Speaker 3: but not really. But I just say, three instruments. So
Speaker 3: I grew up going to you know, you know, lessons
Speaker 3: and doing all that. I went to a charter school,
Speaker 3: so they had like a musical like a music music
Speaker 3: school almost so uh so, yeah, I kind of just
Speaker 3: grew up playing instruments.
Speaker 1: Violin your choice or your folks.
Speaker 3: My choice. I mean I just enjoyed playing it. And
Speaker 3: then I kind of just switched over because I played
Speaker 3: that for years and then from there I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna just you know, switch to something else. So
Speaker 3: that's how I went from violin to you know, trumpet.
Speaker 1: Have you had any part time jobs?
Speaker 3: H one? I was working in the warehouse for one summer.
Speaker 3: Was actually one of my dad's friends like years ago,
Speaker 3: which was funny just because he was like fifty years
Speaker 3: old and I was like fresh into you know, high
Speaker 3: school working. But that was a fun job, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of just woke up early in the morning. Wasn't
Speaker 3: like a nine to five, kind of just like nine
Speaker 3: till like two o'clock and kind of just did whatever
Speaker 3: we did, and the warehouse did different type of projects.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 1: What do you like to spend your money on?
Speaker 3: The usual clothes? Shoes? Have to pay the bills first
Speaker 3: and foremost, down payment on homes and whatnot.
Speaker 1: So final question, this one's kind of deep. If you
Speaker 1: could meet anybody in history, living or deceased, who would
Speaker 1: that person be?
Speaker 3: I don't I'm gonna just go with Chamberlain. I guess, uh,
Speaker 3: what do you have like one hundred points ones on?
Speaker 3: He did so I guess Will Chamberlain.
Speaker 1: I like that. It's kind of an old school answer.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 3: I mean, what one hundred points without a three point line,
Speaker 3: that's I mean, that's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: Averaged fifty a game one season.
Speaker 3: Really wow, I didn't know that, So yeah, you got
Speaker 3: it me huh.
Speaker 1: All right, an excellent answer. I appreciate your time, best
Speaker 1: of luck the rest of the year.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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