Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Serenity Now Edition, as we look
Speaker 1: back at one of the roughest days for the Bengals
Speaker 1: defense in the team's fifty and a half year history
Speaker 1: of fifty one fourteen loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 1: Since the classic TV sitcom Seinfeld has been off the
Speaker 1: air for twenty years, it occurs to me that I
Speaker 1: probably have to explain the expression serenity now to at
Speaker 1: least a few of you. There was a character on
Speaker 1: Seinfeld named Frank Costanza, played by the hilarious Jerry Stiller,
Speaker 1: who was advised by his doctor to say serenity now
Speaker 1: every time he got angry in order to keep his
Speaker 1: blood pressure down. Other characters on the show tried to
Speaker 1: use the same expression and it didn't work out so well.
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen the episode, you can see a
Speaker 1: bunch of Serenity Now clips on YouTube. Coming up on
Speaker 1: the podcast, you'll hear radio replays from the game, locker
Speaker 1: room interviews with several players, and Dave Lapham will join
Speaker 1: me for postgame analysis. Plus in this week's Fun Facts Interview,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to Bengals tight end Matt Lengel, who is
Speaker 1: part of an amazing list. Tom Brady has thrown touchdown
Speaker 1: passes to seventy one different receivers. That's an NFL record,
Speaker 1: and yes, one of them is Matt Lengel. I'll talk
Speaker 1: to him about that and much more. All of that
Speaker 1: is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 1: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since smart wool socks.
Speaker 1: No matter how cold it gets, the window in the
Speaker 1: broadcast booth must be open during the game. I think
Speaker 1: it's important as an announcer to hear the crowd and
Speaker 1: have a true sense of the weather conditions. And the
Speaker 1: cold generally doesn't bother me that much as long as
Speaker 1: my feet aren't frozen, and they never are as long
Speaker 1: as I remember my smart wool hiking socks. Enough about
Speaker 1: my feet, let's get to the game. The first quarter
Speaker 1: was actually entertaining. The Bengals entered the game last in
Speaker 1: the league in yards aloud and thirty if in points aloud.
Speaker 1: Facing Drew Brees and the Saints. A rough day was
Speaker 1: a distinct possibility, and New Orleans began the game with
Speaker 1: a fifteen play, seventy five yard touchdown drive that took
Speaker 1: eight and a half minutes off the clock. From the
Speaker 1: seven yard line. Second down in goal for the Saints,
Speaker 1: Breeze fakes a handoff looking left, throws toward the left
Speaker 1: side of the end zone, diving attempt for the catch.
Speaker 1: It is a touchdown for New Orleans. Wow Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: with the catch. An amazing throw from Drew Brees. Unbelievable throw.
Speaker 1: I mean that coverage is excellent. I mean Will Jackson
Speaker 1: can't do much better than that. Rnity, Now here's Jackson
Speaker 1: on Drew Brees and the Saints offense. They got a
Speaker 1: lot of whippers. I mean they got a great scheme.
Speaker 1: They have great route cumbinations. Isn't not then in the
Speaker 1: quarterback obviously he's he's one of the kind. He thought
Speaker 1: the ball where the defender can't get it. I mean,
Speaker 1: hit the one pig this year. So it's just a
Speaker 1: great quarterback and he put it in the right spots.
Speaker 1: Let's face it. For the Bengals to have a chance
Speaker 1: to pull off the upset, they were going to have
Speaker 1: to score a bunch of points, and Cincinnati's opening drive
Speaker 1: was a thing of beauty. Eight plays seventy five yards
Speaker 1: to tie the game with two minutes left in the
Speaker 1: first quarter. First in goal from the three yard line
Speaker 1: for Cincinnati, Dalton under center fakes a handoff he wants
Speaker 1: to throw. He passes for Ross touchdown. Bengals a crossing
Speaker 1: route on the back line of the end zone, and
Speaker 1: John Ross hauls in his third touchdown catch of the season.
Speaker 1: So at that point, Bengals fans were thinking maybe, just
Speaker 1: maybe the team could overcome at struggling defense and win
Speaker 1: a shootout. Here's Tyler Boyd. We gotta score regardless. This
Speaker 1: is a hard league. You know. Everybody puts up thirty
Speaker 1: points a game. So if you don't score a points,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to win. So I'm more, you know,
Speaker 1: frustrated on offense in anything, especially after the way it started. Definitely, Man,
Speaker 1: just just seeing that drive. You know, we controlled the ball.
Speaker 1: We didn't get in any situations where we got hesitate
Speaker 1: or we felt we have any pressure. You know, we
Speaker 1: just everything was clicking. You know, once everything stays that
Speaker 1: weight and skies and limit. Man, I say that every week,
Speaker 1: we just gotta stay consistent. For a lesson in consistency,
Speaker 1: I present the New Orleans Saints. On their second drive,
Speaker 1: they went seventy five yards on six plays. Now Kamara
Speaker 1: sprinting to the right, Drew brees back to throw screens
Speaker 1: it back to the left, Ingram running down the sideline
Speaker 1: to the fifteen. The ten spin moved there, gets away
Speaker 1: from Sean Williams and runs into the end zone for
Speaker 1: a New Orleans touchdown. The Saints third drive was ninety
Speaker 1: yards in nine plays. Breeze hands it off to Kimara
Speaker 1: and he runs into the end zone for New Orleans touchdown.
Speaker 1: Following the left side of the offensive line. Three possessions,
Speaker 1: three tds for the Saints. Drive number four was sixty yards.
Speaker 1: It's a pitch to the left, Kimara being chased by Hubbard,
Speaker 1: Sam can't catch him, touchdown, New Orleans. It was twenty
Speaker 1: eight seven with one twenty two left in the half.
Speaker 1: After hunting on two straight possessions, the Bengals desperately needed
Speaker 1: to get some points before the half. Instead, Serenity now
Speaker 1: Dalton catches the shotgun snap He's gonna fire for John
Speaker 1: Ross Now intercepted at the five yard line. The Saints
Speaker 1: have the football to the thirty. The thirty five Pas
Speaker 1: Williams to the fifty. Andy Dalton trying to get him
Speaker 1: on a bounds he can't. Alex Erickson hustles and tackles
Speaker 1: Williams with eight seconds left in the half at the
Speaker 1: seventeen yard line of Cincinnati Man I obviously not on
Speaker 1: the same page whatsoever quarterback and receivers. I mean, he
Speaker 1: just throws that ball up the return with seventy eight
Speaker 1: yards and with eight seconds left down the clock. Was
Speaker 1: there any doubt what was going to happen? Next shotgun
Speaker 1: snap Breeze drops back from the twenty five. His pass
Speaker 1: caught over the middle for a touchdown for Michael Thomas,
Speaker 1: and the Saints are running away and hiding here at
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium thirty five seven New Orleans at the half.
Speaker 1: Last week, the Saints scored thirty five points in the
Speaker 1: first half against the previously unbeaten Rams. So I guess
Speaker 1: we shouldn't have been shocked when they did it to
Speaker 1: the Bengals. Here's Preston Brown. I mean, they got great weapons,
Speaker 1: but they just have so much confidence in what they do.
Speaker 1: I mean, they run in Preston own and out. They
Speaker 1: know the plays extremely well. They have a quarterback who's
Speaker 1: been back there for twenty years, so everybody knows that
Speaker 1: they're doing and they play extremely fast. Can you describe
Speaker 1: the frustration level right now? Oh? Is that all time
Speaker 1: high for me? Amount never seeing anything like it me
Speaker 1: every week? Is just we've given him two many yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, I gotta look at myself and find a
Speaker 1: way to help this team because I need to play
Speaker 1: a lot better if we're gonna be better on defense.
Speaker 1: After scoring touchdowns on all five of their possessions in
Speaker 1: the first half, the Saints settled for a field goal
Speaker 1: the first time they got the ball in the third
Speaker 1: quarter before scoring another touchdown on possession number seven. Saints
Speaker 1: are going to go for it on fourth down and
Speaker 1: goal inches away from the Bengals goal line. Drew Brees
Speaker 1: jumps up, extends the ball with two hands. How many
Speaker 1: times have we seen him do that over the years.
Speaker 1: It's a New Orleans touchdown. Drew Brees finished twenty for
Speaker 1: twenty five for two hundred and sixty five yards, three
Speaker 1: passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, and a passer rating of
Speaker 1: one fifty point four. A perfect score is one fifty
Speaker 1: eight point three. Here's linebacker Jordan Evans. I mean they
Speaker 1: got a great quarterback. Yeah, great running back, right, we see.
Speaker 1: You know, they're good, great off of the line. They're
Speaker 1: just a good team and they do what they do
Speaker 1: very very well. So even though they you know, we
Speaker 1: prepare for it, they still just they out execute us.
Speaker 1: And that's what it was. It was forty five seven
Speaker 1: going to the fourth quarter. In the Saints kept scoring,
Speaker 1: kicking field goals on their eighth and ninth possessions. The
Speaker 1: only time all day that New Orleans didn't score was
Speaker 1: on their tenth and final possession, when they ran out
Speaker 1: the final four forty two off the clock. The Bengals
Speaker 1: did add a late touchdown, the first ever scored in
Speaker 1: a regular season game by backup quarterback Jeff Driscoll zone
Speaker 1: read Driscoll keep laft racing of the twenty in the
Speaker 1: tenth to five touchdown. Jeff Driscoll, he kept it on
Speaker 1: a zone read on fourth down in the yard and
Speaker 1: runs twenty seven yards for his first NFL touchdown. About that,
Speaker 1: the final score fifty one fourteen. Here's Tyler Boyd man
Speaker 1: it hurt. It definitely hurt. You know, guys might not
Speaker 1: show that, but to me, it hurt. I hate to lose,
Speaker 1: especially like that. We got to flat out e bears,
Speaker 1: you know, And that's not a laws that I ever
Speaker 1: want to take. You know, that's that's high school school
Speaker 1: us man. We're the top athletes here, so we got
Speaker 1: to show that. Now, time for some numbers. The fifty
Speaker 1: one points allowed were one off the team record, and
Speaker 1: it's the most ever allowed in a home game. The
Speaker 1: Saints finished with five hundred nine yards of offense, making
Speaker 1: the Bengals the first team in the Super Bowl era
Speaker 1: to allow five hundred or more yards in three straight games.
Speaker 1: Cincinnati is on a pace to surrender five hundred twelve
Speaker 1: points this year. The franchise record is four sixty. So
Speaker 1: how do they fix it? Here's Michael Johnson. You know,
Speaker 1: whatever is being called, we have to go ask them.
Speaker 1: Well they you know, that's what they pay us well
Speaker 1: to go out and do what we what we asked
Speaker 1: to do and do it well. So we need to
Speaker 1: do it better. We just gotta do our job better.
Speaker 1: Like you do your job for four to eight plays
Speaker 1: and then you decide for the nine. So you know,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do your own thing. It can hurt us,
Speaker 1: you know, And we gotta leven guys. So eleven guy
Speaker 1: gotta do exactly what they coach should do. Play in
Speaker 1: and play out to the best of the ability, because
Speaker 1: we can't make corrections if we're not well we're supposed
Speaker 1: to be. Despite the thirty seven point loss to the
Speaker 1: Saints and the thirty five point loss to the Chiefs
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, the five and four Bengals are
Speaker 1: still at least for now, the sixth and final playoff
Speaker 1: seed in the AFC Up. Next the road game at Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Here are Preston Brown and Marvin Lewis. We still got
Speaker 1: a lot of division games to play. We got to
Speaker 1: go to Baltimore and get a big win. We don't
Speaker 1: know who quarterback is going to be, but we gotta
Speaker 1: find a way to get a big win and shake
Speaker 1: this rust off because we can't keep giving a five
Speaker 1: hundred yards and expect the offense to score fifty if
Speaker 1: we can't get anything. So we gotta get better. We
Speaker 1: gotta correct, we gotta get into right spots. We got
Speaker 1: to do it with the right people, and we got
Speaker 1: to make sure we understand it. We got an opportunity
Speaker 1: again next week against Baltimore to put ourselves right back
Speaker 1: where we need to be. Now, time to bring in
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for postgame analysis. At this point,
Speaker 1: with seven games left in the regular season, the Bengals
Speaker 1: defense is historically bad. On a pace to give up
Speaker 1: the most yards in NFL history, on a pace to
Speaker 1: give up the most points in Bengals history, is the
Speaker 1: reason for hope that it can get considerably better. First
Speaker 1: time in NFL history a team has given up five
Speaker 1: hundred yards and more. But you look at the teams,
Speaker 1: you know, you get well, Pittsburgh was four to eighty,
Speaker 1: but you know, Kansas City has a good football team.
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay is a good offensive football team. The Staints
Speaker 1: team might be as good as Kansas City or better.
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows. They're both. They're both dynamic in
Speaker 1: how they do it schematically, personnel motions, formations, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. They get defensive eyes going the wrong direction,
Speaker 1: the wrong way. They just really make defensive players uncomfortable
Speaker 1: with all the speed and all the It's like you
Speaker 1: know rush hour in Manhattan, that what's going on out
Speaker 1: there and it's hard to sort through and guys get
Speaker 1: out of position, and you know, you got to hope
Speaker 1: that when they play teams that don't have that warped speed,
Speaker 1: you know, Baltimore doesn't necessarily Cleveland doesn't. And you start
Speaker 1: to get players back, you know, like like Vontz Perfect,
Speaker 1: like like Darcuz Denard, you know, like Nick Vigil. You
Speaker 1: start to get some bodies back for this, you know,
Speaker 1: two game little stretch run in the division. It could
Speaker 1: could have an impact, could have a significance. So I
Speaker 1: don't think that Baltimore's offense and Cleveland's offense are gonna
Speaker 1: pulls anywhere near the kind of problems that you know,
Speaker 1: Kansas City Post in New Orleans post. So there is
Speaker 1: there is hope. But everybody be where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 1: Hit the gap you're supposed to hit. Don't freelance, trust
Speaker 1: what you're supposed to do and do it and see
Speaker 1: what happens. But man, that was a hot knife through butter.
Speaker 1: That was very, very frustrating about You know, if you're
Speaker 1: a punter, you don't letter punning the football, but you
Speaker 1: hold on nine placements between touchdowns and field goals. So
Speaker 1: you're in the game for nine snaps. As a holder,
Speaker 1: it's a very frustrating day. When you get half a
Speaker 1: Hondy hung on you, it's very frustrating. It's only happened
Speaker 1: five times in Bengals history. When you give up fifty one,
Speaker 1: you're not going to win the game. But the offense
Speaker 1: is responsible for how ugly today's game went as well.
Speaker 1: They went right down the field and scored a touchdown
Speaker 1: on a seventy five yard drive with five first downs
Speaker 1: to begin the game, and then until the touchdown at
Speaker 1: the end by Jeff driscoll that made the final score
Speaker 1: a tiny bit more respective. The offense did not play
Speaker 1: well at all, no question, Dan. On that touchdown, you're
Speaker 1: describing eight plays, five runs, three passes, Andy Dalton's three
Speaker 1: for three throws a touchdown pass. They don't get the
Speaker 1: third down, They do all their damage on first and
Speaker 1: second down. Thing of beauty. And then when they did
Speaker 1: get the third down, over six because it's third and long.
Speaker 1: I mean New Orleans converted their first seven third downs.
Speaker 1: They were third and one, third and two, third and three.
Speaker 1: In other words, third and short. The Bengals weren't third
Speaker 1: and short. The Bengals were third and four are longer
Speaker 1: on every third down opportunity except for one. And you
Speaker 1: know that's that's where you have issues. And you know,
Speaker 1: that first drive, I don't know, I guess what was it,
Speaker 1: fool's goals. I don't know what it was, but I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, at that point, I'm not sure if it
Speaker 1: was any adjustments New Orleans made or just the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, and I agree with your comment during
Speaker 1: the game when you said, you know, when you punt
Speaker 1: in a game like this, it's almost like a turnover,
Speaker 1: and you know it is you start to feel like
Speaker 1: now you feel an additional pressure. Man, they scored again.
Speaker 1: We punted, they scored again. We got to do something
Speaker 1: this time. So now all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 1: the vice starts tightening on you and you start doing
Speaker 1: things you shouldn't do. So, yeah, you get caught in
Speaker 1: that spiral, that big vortex, big whirlpool. It's just going
Speaker 1: to take you right down to the you know, the
Speaker 1: tide is there's a riptide out there, and you can't
Speaker 1: swim fast enough, you know, and it starts just pulling
Speaker 1: it down. My advice to the Bengals avoid social media
Speaker 1: for the next twenty four to forty eight hours and
Speaker 1: try to get back on track for a divisional game
Speaker 1: on the road against Baltimore. Two division games in a
Speaker 1: row on the road against Baltimore and then Cleveland here,
Speaker 1: mega games, mega football games. They're one and one in
Speaker 1: the division right now. This is not even a conference loss.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to pooh pooh it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I get the smoked it's not. I didn't expect them,
Speaker 1: honestly to beat the Saints, but I didn't expect him
Speaker 1: to get blown out by thirty seven points and have
Speaker 1: fifty one hung on him at home. You know, on
Speaker 1: the road against Kansas City is one thing, but at
Speaker 1: home at Paul Brown Stadium, I just didn't expect that.
Speaker 1: I expected a high score in football game, but only
Speaker 1: one team was the high scoring team. Again, you know,
Speaker 1: right now, they're like minus sixty and they have a
Speaker 1: winning record, and they're minus sixty and points scored and
Speaker 1: points against because of two blowouts Kansas City in this
Speaker 1: football game against the Saints. So it is only one
Speaker 1: loss though, Dan, you know, and you mentioned it a
Speaker 1: while back. Buffalo had two blowouts and went nine to
Speaker 1: seven and made the playoffs. When the Bengals knocked the
Speaker 1: Ravens out. This is their second blowout. Will they be
Speaker 1: able to respond and recover, you know, and get the
Speaker 1: job done against a couple of division opponents division rivals,
Speaker 1: We'll see. That's a big test. They'd better be up
Speaker 1: for it. Thanks Lap for what it's worth. If the
Speaker 1: season ended today, the six seated Bengals would open the
Speaker 1: postseason at New England Serenity. Now, speaking of New England,
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's fun facts segment, as you
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads, in this
Speaker 1: case a Bengals tight end who earned a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: ring with the Patriots. Time for some fun facts at
Speaker 1: Bengals tight end Matt Lengal from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, not too
Speaker 1: far from the state capital of Harrisburg. Mechanicsburg, Pa. Might
Speaker 1: be the most blue collar sounding name I've ever heard?
Speaker 1: Is that about right? Yeah? Yeah, I'd say it's about right.
Speaker 1: You know. It's really a small town, kind of situated
Speaker 1: within a bunch of other towns, you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: not too far away from Harrisburg. And literally it's a
Speaker 1: settlement of mechanics back you know, I think pre Civil
Speaker 1: War era so that name means exactly how it sounds.
Speaker 1: So your dad was a police officer. You often tweet
Speaker 1: your respect for police officers. What was it like growing
Speaker 1: up the sign of a police officer and how much
Speaker 1: love and respect you have for what he did? Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I mean, it's it's truly, it's not until
Speaker 1: you get older, you know, where you start to realize,
Speaker 1: where you start to have a family of your own.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't have any kids yet, but
Speaker 1: you know, I have a wife, and I have a house,
Speaker 1: and I have responsibilities and a job. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's not until I get older that I realized that
Speaker 1: every day he leaves the door, you know, you don't
Speaker 1: know if, truly if he's coming back. And then he
Speaker 1: was on the SWAT team for you know, seventeen or
Speaker 1: eighteen years, and you know, so some days he would
Speaker 1: be dropped, I mean, off of football and his his
Speaker 1: beeper would ring and he'd have to go, and he'd
Speaker 1: have to you know, he might not be back until
Speaker 1: the next morning at six am, and and again you
Speaker 1: don't know if he's leaving. But as a little kid,
Speaker 1: I don't think I, you know, truly realized, you know,
Speaker 1: at that age your you know, your dad's superman. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't anticipate anything bad happening to him. My Twitter,
Speaker 1: I try to draw as much you know, respect I can,
Speaker 1: you know, towards you know, men and women of law enforcement,
Speaker 1: because as a son of a police officer, I understand,
Speaker 1: you know, what their family goes through. Um, and you know,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine, you know, being one of those people that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, their mother or dad didn't come home. So
Speaker 1: you'll see me retweet that stuff. And you know, sometimes unfortunately, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you'll scroll through my page and that might
Speaker 1: be the only thing you see for a couple of
Speaker 1: thumb swipes. Uh. But um, you know, it's just something
Speaker 1: that's important to me, and it's something I want people to,
Speaker 1: you know, constantly be aware of. Is that you know,
Speaker 1: these men and women are you know, they're superheroes too.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're unbelievable people that chose that life and
Speaker 1: chose that occupation. So I think they deserve all the
Speaker 1: respect that we can give them. Amen to that. We're
Speaker 1: doing fun facts with Matt Lengel. You started out at
Speaker 1: Northeastern in Boston, and then after one year they dropped football.
Speaker 1: Did you have any inkling that might happen or was
Speaker 1: it a total shock? It was a total shock. That
Speaker 1: was my only scholarship coming out of high school. So
Speaker 1: I went there. Um, I was all bought in, you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted to give him everything I had. And you know,
Speaker 1: it was the day after our last game and they
Speaker 1: pulled us into the women's lock or the women's gymnasium,
Speaker 1: women's basketball gymnasium, and you know, they told us, you know,
Speaker 1: they're dropping the program. And it was it was scary
Speaker 1: because you know, like I said, that was my only
Speaker 1: scholarsh so I didn't know what was next, and you know,
Speaker 1: so disappointed myself because I love football, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was just you know, maybe if I would have
Speaker 1: gone somewhere, you know, that had a better program, you
Speaker 1: know that, you know, this wouldn't be happening Orum. And
Speaker 1: then actually the you know it's funny now, but Hofstra
Speaker 1: was actually at the school they offered me the next
Speaker 1: day and they dropped their football program a week later.
Speaker 1: So you know, for a while, I was like, man,
Speaker 1: the football gods are not happy with me right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, after you know a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: a couple of strenuous, stressful weeks. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: got multi I got a few scholarship offers, and ultimately
Speaker 1: I decided to go to Eastern Kentucky. You went from
Speaker 1: Northeastern to Eastern Kentucky and suffered serious knee injuries in
Speaker 1: back to back seasons. How did you overcome that? Truthfully?
Speaker 1: You know, one of the first things I did was
Speaker 1: just give thanks to God. That seems odd, you know
Speaker 1: that I would you know, in that situation, I would
Speaker 1: just give thanks, but uh, you know, it just it happened.
Speaker 1: You know, it just almost just came out of my mouth,
Speaker 1: like I'm just gonna choose to be thankful. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: choose to trust the plan. I'm gonna I'm gonna choose
Speaker 1: to just trust the you know that God had a
Speaker 1: plan for me and that you know, things were going
Speaker 1: to work out, and that my belief and Him and
Speaker 1: Jesus was gonna lead me to places that I wanted
Speaker 1: to be. Um, So, you know, truthfully, that's what I
Speaker 1: did in those situations. And then you know, once the
Speaker 1: surgery came and you know I got that, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I just was determined to take all that
Speaker 1: energy I was putting into football and then just put
Speaker 1: it into my rehab im and put it into other
Speaker 1: areas of my life. So actually my grades were better
Speaker 1: you know once I was you know, rehabbing, and you know,
Speaker 1: my rehab went really well, you know, thankfully, and just
Speaker 1: because all that energy, you know, sometimes I tried to
Speaker 1: I just tried to stay away from, you know, feeling
Speaker 1: sorry for myself because that's a dangerous place to be
Speaker 1: and I think as an athlete. Um, so I just
Speaker 1: you know, transitioned all that energy into rehab, into school,
Speaker 1: into my relationship with now my wife, and you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a bad experience, you know, as tragic as it,
Speaker 1: you know, as it might seem. I think it's something
Speaker 1: I look back on. I'm thankful that happened to me
Speaker 1: because I think, you know, ultimately, let me hear, we're
Speaker 1: doing fun facts with bad Lengal. You signed with the
Speaker 1: Bengals as a college free agent in twenty fifteen, spent
Speaker 1: that year on the practice squad. What did that year
Speaker 1: do for your development? Oh? I think it was very
Speaker 1: important because you know, coming out undrafted, you know, with
Speaker 1: those injuries from a small school. You know, the game,
Speaker 1: the game was a lot quicker, and I think it
Speaker 1: just it gave me time to understand how to be
Speaker 1: a professional. Really, because you know, that first year I
Speaker 1: was I was almost two hundred and seventy five pounds.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be as big and strong as possible.
Speaker 1: And then after a couple while, you know, after a
Speaker 1: little while and a couple of weeks, and you just
Speaker 1: kind of figure out that, like, all right, this isn't
Speaker 1: the best way, and my body doesn't feel the best
Speaker 1: that I can, and so it just kind of gave
Speaker 1: me time. It was almost like getting red shirted. It
Speaker 1: just gave me time to become a professional and understand
Speaker 1: what works and what doesn't work. And some guys would
Speaker 1: look at the practice squad as you know, you weren't
Speaker 1: the first overall draft pick, you know, with a thirty
Speaker 1: million dollars signing bonus. But at the same time, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, just another opportunity. Like I said, I just
Speaker 1: tried to learn how to become a professional. Watch guys,
Speaker 1: you know, things guys do well, things guys don't do well,
Speaker 1: and just kind of, you know, put the pieces together.
Speaker 1: And then I think, you know, now, I think I
Speaker 1: haven't figured out now I just gotta, you know, continue
Speaker 1: to get better. There's always things to improve. So I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that, but there's always things to improve. But
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I'm at a good place. I
Speaker 1: guess a few more fun facts with Matt Langel. So,
Speaker 1: in your second season on the Bengals practice squad, the
Speaker 1: team goes off to London. A week eight, you come
Speaker 1: back from London and out of the blue, the Patriots
Speaker 1: sign you off the practice squad and just like that,
Speaker 1: you're playing one days for the Patriots. It seemed like
Speaker 1: a shock to me at the time. I can only
Speaker 1: imagine when it was like for you. Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was crazy. You know, it was just kind of
Speaker 1: a whirlwind. Um. You know, one day you're you know,
Speaker 1: working on the scout team, and then one day you
Speaker 1: got to be expected to know everything and and be
Speaker 1: able to perform for a team that you know was
Speaker 1: doing well, and you know you don't want to screw
Speaker 1: that up for anybody. So in a team that you
Speaker 1: know demands a lot. And then once I got there,
Speaker 1: I was watching the game in my first game, there
Speaker 1: is when grunt got hurt. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: people kind of get it backwards. They think Grunt got
Speaker 1: hurt and then they signed me, But no, I was
Speaker 1: in the I was in the stands there the practice
Speaker 1: squad or the and active guys aren't even on the
Speaker 1: sidelines there in the stands, So I was in the
Speaker 1: stands and Grunt got hurt and I just kind of
Speaker 1: like looked at myself. I was like, all right, you
Speaker 1: know it's just me and Martelli's Bennett now, So I
Speaker 1: guess I got the time has come. So I just
Speaker 1: you know, i'd studied the playbook as hard as I can,
Speaker 1: like I'm doing now because you know, it's a similar situation. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, coming in half with through a year to
Speaker 1: learn a playbook is not easy, but it's you know,
Speaker 1: it can be done. So you know, just trying to
Speaker 1: do that as as much as possible right now. And yeah,
Speaker 1: when I when I had to do that back then too,
Speaker 1: it was it was the first time, so it was
Speaker 1: a little bit more stressful. So I got through it.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady recently said an NFL record by throwing a
Speaker 1: touchdown pass to a seventy first different receiver, and you're
Speaker 1: on that list. Your first NFL catch Christmas Eve two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen eighteen yard catch from Tom Brady. I
Speaker 1: went back and watched the footage today. Your teammates went nuts.
Speaker 1: They were really excited for you. What was that moment, Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was I wish I had a cool
Speaker 1: touchdown celebration, but uh, it was you know when I
Speaker 1: when I did it, I stood up and I realized
Speaker 1: I just was so I mean, it was just a dream,
Speaker 1: you know, come true, that kind of thing. And it
Speaker 1: was you know, I was just glad to be there,
Speaker 1: you know, when called upon, and to be able to
Speaker 1: execute my job and do it well. And you know,
Speaker 1: for you know those kind of guys that you know,
Speaker 1: like Tom and you know like Julian and like all
Speaker 1: those guys that are there that are you know, great
Speaker 1: competitors and great athletes. You know, just in that moment,
Speaker 1: you know, if that was my moment to you know,
Speaker 1: the ball was coming to me, and you know, I
Speaker 1: just want to be able to deliver and catch the ball,
Speaker 1: you know, That's all. Like, that's all I was thinking,
Speaker 1: is just catch the ball. You ended that year by
Speaker 1: playing in the Super Bowl and the greatest come from
Speaker 1: behind victory and Super Bowl history from twenty eight to
Speaker 1: three to a Super Bowl win over the Falcons. What's
Speaker 1: your biggest memory of that day? Man? You know, it
Speaker 1: was kind of neat, you know, even you know before that,
Speaker 1: you know, my family we had picture day of the
Speaker 1: day before and my family was all out there and
Speaker 1: we were all just staying there and kind of mingling
Speaker 1: for a while. My parents and my wife and my
Speaker 1: brother had flown in and they were all staying there watching,
Speaker 1: you know, we're taking the pictures and everything. And then
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, the Super Bowl was it was such
Speaker 1: a big moment, in such a crazy moment that it's
Speaker 1: you know, some of the moments that are tough to
Speaker 1: even remember, you know, actually if I saw it in person.
Speaker 1: But I think one of the things is that I
Speaker 1: still to this day think about, is I've there's never
Speaker 1: I've never seen as many people at a game that
Speaker 1: then there were there. It was it was it was brighter,
Speaker 1: it was the colors were more vivid, like it was
Speaker 1: just bizarre. But you know, the the amount of people
Speaker 1: that were on the sidelines. You'd look over and there
Speaker 1: would just be i mean countless celebrities on the sidelines,
Speaker 1: or you know, you look up and there'd be like
Speaker 1: the NFL Network thing. You know, the booth and the
Speaker 1: lights from that are shining in, and you know, just
Speaker 1: people filing in. I mean, it's like pregame and there's
Speaker 1: already the stands are already filled almost just because people
Speaker 1: want to see the Super Bowl teams warm up. Like
Speaker 1: it was. It was definitely the most electric environment I've
Speaker 1: ever been in. And when we won, they crossed the
Speaker 1: goal line and it was like, holy crap, we actually
Speaker 1: made this thing work. You know that was and guy
Speaker 1: started storming the field and the confetti starts falling. It
Speaker 1: was just like I almost was like looking around in
Speaker 1: disbelief just because you know, it was I and I
Speaker 1: played it like it was. It was crazy. So it
Speaker 1: was cool. Um marked that off the bucket list. Trying
Speaker 1: to get another one. That sounds good to me. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: All right, we're wrapping this up. I'm bringing it full
Speaker 1: circle back to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. You are not the only
Speaker 1: successful person from Mechanicsburg. The lead singer of Poison, Brett Michaels,
Speaker 1: is from your hometown. Do you have any good Brett
Speaker 1: Michaels mechanics Burg stories. Yeah, my mom's best friend dated him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: true story. Yeah, true story. My mom, my mom's best
Speaker 1: friend growing up. They're still you know, friends of this day,
Speaker 1: and you know they often talked about, Yeah, they used
Speaker 1: to go down in the basement and you know watch
Speaker 1: Brett Michaels in their band at that time playing they
Speaker 1: My mom was I say, yo, wait, and we didn't
Speaker 1: think they were very good. You know, we were like,
Speaker 1: all right, you guys play that. We just go watch them.
Speaker 1: But yeah, my mom's best friend, David Brett Michael's back
Speaker 1: in college and apparently their band wasn't very good, but
Speaker 1: now they are. They got better. Yeah, they got better. Apparently.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Hey, this has been great. Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Best of LUFT the rest of the year. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much. I appreciate it. And that's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean and give it a rating or leave
Speaker 1: a comment. Your feedback has been awesome and five star
Speaker 1: ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde,
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.