Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booths Podcast. The Turn the Clive to Zero Boss,
Speaker 1: The Rivers Wide, We'll Swim Across started up a brand
Speaker 1: new day addition as the Bengals wrap up the regular
Speaker 1: season and now can look ahead to a first round
Speaker 1: playoff game at home against the Las Vegas Raiders next Saturday.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays from the loss in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: postgame comments from players and coaches, at analysis from my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun fact segment,
Speaker 1: you'll get to know rookie running back Chris Evans. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
Speaker 1: to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from
Speaker 1: the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: since the Coffin Nails Bam Bam Bam T shirt eleven
Speaker 1: years ago. In my first season of broadcasting Bengals games
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham, the Bengals made a big play near
Speaker 1: the end of a game to clinch a win, and
Speaker 1: I yelled that's coffin Nails, and Lap immediately exclaimed Bam
Speaker 1: bam bam. After the game, they replayed the call on
Speaker 1: the postgame show, and I thought, hmm, I kind of
Speaker 1: like that, And thus a tradition was born, our version
Speaker 1: of and this one belongs to the Reds Well. Now,
Speaker 1: our friend Josh Snead and the folks at Sinci Shirts
Speaker 1: have put that phrase on a T shirt along with
Speaker 1: cartoon images of me and Lap. I've got admit it's
Speaker 1: pretty cool to have our own T shirt, and a
Speaker 1: portion of the proceeds will go to laps First and
Speaker 1: Goal Foundation that will give scholarships to deserving students. If
Speaker 1: you're interested, just search for Sinci shirts. Coffin Nails. It's
Speaker 1: right up there with the Master's green jacket and Paul
Speaker 1: Brown's sideline fedora is one of the greatest items of
Speaker 1: clothing in sports history. Now let's get the Sunday's game.
Speaker 1: The Bengals starting lineup consisted of only three players who
Speaker 1: started last week, our offensive lineman Isaiah Prince and Hikimadenagy
Speaker 1: and wide receiver Jamar Chase. Here's Zach Taylor on the
Speaker 1: decision to rest the starters even if it meant hurting
Speaker 1: the Bengals chances of gaining a higher playoff seed. No
Speaker 1: perfect decision there, but just felt like we need to
Speaker 1: be healthy, perfectly healthy going into next week, and there
Speaker 1: were so many things out of our control in terms
Speaker 1: of where the seating was going to be that we
Speaker 1: just fellow's best to rescue. Jamar Chase was an exception
Speaker 1: for one reason. He entered the game needing just twelve
Speaker 1: yards to break Chad Johnson's team record for receiving yards
Speaker 1: in a season first and ten Bengals at their own
Speaker 1: twenty eight. Alan throws a screen caught by Chase, gets
Speaker 1: a block right at thirty five forty. He's got the
Speaker 1: team record down the sideline past midfield, and he goes
Speaker 1: out of bounds at the Cleveland forty eight. Great news,
Speaker 1: some random out. So that catch for a twenty four
Speaker 1: yard game gives Jamaar Chase the Bengals all times single
Speaker 1: season record for receiving yards in a year. I achieved
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that I wanted to do this year.
Speaker 1: I still got a lot more to do. Hopefully I
Speaker 1: can break some playoff records. When we drafted him, he
Speaker 1: said he was going to break all the records, and
Speaker 1: it was hard to know if that was gonna be
Speaker 1: true or not. But he's put himself in a position
Speaker 1: to do that, not just relying on his talent, but
Speaker 1: becoming a professional really since day one, and its consistency
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, and that's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why you want to play him in a
Speaker 1: game like this, for an opportunity to get a couple
Speaker 1: more yards, to put himself in a position to do
Speaker 1: something really special, because he's about what we want to
Speaker 1: be around, you know. We want our best players to
Speaker 1: have the best work ethic and come to work every
Speaker 1: single day and be consistent with their demeanor in their actions,
Speaker 1: and Jamar has been that for us, and I'm just
Speaker 1: really proud of him in the season that he's had.
Speaker 1: Jamar finished the regular season with one thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: fifty five yards. He finished eighteen yards short of the
Speaker 1: NFL's all time rookie record, set by Houston's Bill Groman
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty. That catch was one of very few
Speaker 1: offensive highlights for the Bengals in the first half, as
Speaker 1: they punted on all six of their possessions. The Browns
Speaker 1: punted on their first two before taking the lead late
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. Keenom back to throw, looking down field,
Speaker 1: fires Landry, makes the catch at the seven, swerves toward
Speaker 1: the forward pilot, and takes it into the end zone
Speaker 1: for a twenty six yard Cleveland touchdown. Case Keenom started
Speaker 1: at quarterback in place of Baker Mayfield, but aside from that,
Speaker 1: Cleveland played nearly all of its starters, including an offensive
Speaker 1: line that paved the way for two hundred five rushing
Speaker 1: yards against the Bengals backups. Browns goat tempo. They handed
Speaker 1: off to de Ernest Johnson. He runs straight up that
Speaker 1: gotten into the end zone for a Cleveland touchdown. So
Speaker 1: the Browns have scored on back to back drives and
Speaker 1: have taken a thirteen point lead pending the extra point.
Speaker 1: De Ernest Johnson carried twenty five times for one hundred
Speaker 1: twenty three yards. But even though the Browns dominated statistically,
Speaker 1: the Bengals were able to stay in the game thanks
Speaker 1: to two big plays on defense. Now Keenom in trouble
Speaker 1: loses the ball, Cincinnati scoops and the Bengals are running
Speaker 1: it back. Henderson to the ten five touchdown. Bengals why
Speaker 1: and Ray knocking the ball away from Case Keenom and
Speaker 1: safety Travie On Henderson with the scooping score. Here's Trayvon
Speaker 1: Henderson on the first touchdown of his NFL career. Honestly,
Speaker 1: Mount really didn't know if it was a fumble than not.
Speaker 1: You always taught these defensive players to just scoop the
Speaker 1: ball just in case. And when I crossed the line, honestly,
Speaker 1: I thought there was he can be passed. He had
Speaker 1: his arm going forward, and they said it was. It
Speaker 1: was a diffil sure. It was fourteen seven with three
Speaker 1: and a half minutes left in the half. The Browns
Speaker 1: answered by driving to the Bengals eleven with nine seconds remaining.
Speaker 1: Case Keenom drops back to throw. He fires over the
Speaker 1: middle ter two yards deep in the end zone. The
Speaker 1: Bengals are running it back. This is Hilton to the
Speaker 1: twenty five. The thirty gets tripped up and goes down
Speaker 1: at the thirty two yard line. The ball appears to
Speaker 1: have come out, but the clock is at zero. We've
Speaker 1: got the penalty flags down. As players are trying to
Speaker 1: pull players off the pile. That's a penalty, but the
Speaker 1: end zone interception by Mike Hilton keeps the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: from adding to their lead, and it was fitting that
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton got the pick. He only played because two
Speaker 1: members of the secondary, Ricardo Allen and Vernon Hargrave, suffered injuries,
Speaker 1: meaning Hilton was the only defensive starter who was pressed
Speaker 1: into service. Oh, it was one, but you know, being
Speaker 1: a profession, you gotta be ready at all times. And
Speaker 1: the coaches threw me in there knowing, you know, they
Speaker 1: fell comfortable with me being out there with whoever. But no,
Speaker 1: this is just always being ready for your moment. It
Speaker 1: was fourteen seven Cleveland at the half. After only having
Speaker 1: three first downs in the first half, the Bengals put
Speaker 1: together a long drive on their first possession of the
Speaker 1: third quarter, a fourteen play march down to the Cleveland
Speaker 1: ten before having to settle for a field goal try.
Speaker 1: This will be a thirty six yard field goal attempt
Speaker 1: for Elliott Frye and his Bengals debut supping today for
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson. The snap to put down the right Foote
Speaker 1: kick and it is good. It hits the crossbar and
Speaker 1: bounds forward Elliot Fry makes it from thirty six yards out.
Speaker 1: It was closed, but he got it to bounce over
Speaker 1: and the Bengals have pulled within four. That made it
Speaker 1: fourteen ten. Going to the fourth quarter and with roughly
Speaker 1: thirteen and a half minutes to go, the Browns fumbled
Speaker 1: on a punt return near midfield. Unfortunately for the Bengals,
Speaker 1: Cleveland managed to recover and soon capitalize. Bird down in
Speaker 1: nine from the ten, Keenom throws a screen to Felton
Speaker 1: running down to the five to the goal line, touchdown Cleveland.
Speaker 1: Good call. That made a twenty one ten With about
Speaker 1: seven and a half minutes to go. To have any
Speaker 1: chance to win, the Bengals needed to answer, and they
Speaker 1: did with a seventy five yard touchdown drive. Game on
Speaker 1: the line right here, fourth down and one at the
Speaker 1: Cleveland four yard line. The Bengals need a yard to
Speaker 1: stay alive. Alan is under center. He takes the snap,
Speaker 1: rolls out to the right, throws forever it's caught us
Speaker 1: to two, then he runs into the end zone. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Bengals with two twenty six to go. Now the line
Speaker 1: up and go for two to try to make it
Speaker 1: a three point game. A little naked bootleg there. The
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns get good pressure, but not good enough. Chris
Speaker 1: Evans caught the touchdown pass, but a two point conversion
Speaker 1: throw for Trent Taylor fell incomplete. The Bengals were down
Speaker 1: by five as they lined up for an on side
Speaker 1: kick with two and a half minutes to go. He
Speaker 1: kicks the top of the ball. It bounces up if
Speaker 1: I cleaned on it. The ball is loose at the
Speaker 1: forty nine yard line. There's a giant pile at the
Speaker 1: forty nine of Cleveland. The Bengals have started celebrating thing
Speaker 1: from the officials. Yet Bryant was the guy that failed
Speaker 1: to field the ball that was kicked right to him.
Speaker 1: It's short hopped in front of Bryant and he couldn't
Speaker 1: handle that short hop fry immediately. I'm telling you, Dan,
Speaker 1: I've been in these pile ups as the tug of
Speaker 1: war gone on now, and the guy that originally has
Speaker 1: the football sometimes doesn't end up with it. It took
Speaker 1: about a minute and a half for the refs to
Speaker 1: rule that Cleveland recovered it. The Browns ran out the
Speaker 1: clock to win the game twenty one sixteen. You know,
Speaker 1: the season's always full of its ups and downs, and
Speaker 1: it really comes down to which teams you can handle
Speaker 1: diversity the best, and and to never get too high
Speaker 1: and never get too low. And I thought our team
Speaker 1: did a great job of that, responding in the face
Speaker 1: of some tough adversity and handling success some moments well.
Speaker 1: And we finished the season, you know, aside from the
Speaker 1: lost day, on a really good note with a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence. And that really does matter in this league
Speaker 1: to finish going into January and been January and the playoffs,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling like we're playing our best football and
Speaker 1: playing with a lot of confidence. Our guys really feel
Speaker 1: that right now, and so you know, it is the
Speaker 1: biggest game that any of these players have ever had.
Speaker 1: We're in the Bengals Jersey next week at our home stadium.
Speaker 1: You know, we had tremendous crowds these last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks when we're at home, and we're expecting our best
Speaker 1: one yet whenever we find out when we're playing and
Speaker 1: who we're playing, and our guys are excited for that opportunity.
Speaker 1: So now it's onto the playoffs. After having the first
Speaker 1: pick in the draft prior to last year and the
Speaker 1: fifth pick in the draft prior to this year. The
Speaker 1: Bengals will host the Raiders on Saturday. Here are Mike
Speaker 1: Hilton and Zach Taylor. We know we were one of
Speaker 1: the most talents teams in the league, and we have
Speaker 1: opportunity to do that against the other most talented team
Speaker 1: in the league. I feel like when when the playoffs come,
Speaker 1: it's scheme can only take you far so far. So
Speaker 1: we know with players you have to win those one
Speaker 1: on one matchups. We have to make those big plays
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. So we feel confident
Speaker 1: in the guys we have in this locker room, and
Speaker 1: we're all excited about the opportunity because a lot of
Speaker 1: them haven't been as far, so I know they'll be
Speaker 1: looking forward to it and they know it's a lot
Speaker 1: on the line. This is what we've been struggling for
Speaker 1: all long, to be quite honest with you, and we've
Speaker 1: we've been our guys, been on our guys to be
Speaker 1: consistent with how they practice every day and raise the
Speaker 1: standard so that when you get to this moment, we
Speaker 1: don't have to change what we're doing. And I think
Speaker 1: that that's that's why I've got a lot of confidence
Speaker 1: in the group of men that are in that locker room,
Speaker 1: because I don't need them to raise their standard of
Speaker 1: play and how they practice and how they may They've
Speaker 1: been doing that all year, and that's why we're in
Speaker 1: the physicians. We're ending, and that's going to service wall,
Speaker 1: you know, and we'll just we'll see how plays out.
Speaker 1: But our guys are gonna be ready. As you may
Speaker 1: have heard, the Bengals haven't in a playoff game since
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety season, dropping their last eight postseason games.
Speaker 1: That's thirty seasons without a playoff win, the longest such
Speaker 1: streak of any team in the NFL. But most of
Speaker 1: the Bengals players weren't even born when that streak started.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they don't know what they don't know, and that
Speaker 1: can be a really good thing, you know. You certainly
Speaker 1: can't avoid some of the narrative that surrounds us sometimes
Speaker 1: with their playoff experience. But again, these guys don't have
Speaker 1: that playoff experience, you know. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: things they've done this year to change some of those things,
Speaker 1: and this week will be no different. You know. They
Speaker 1: don't feel that pressure, they don't think about that stuff
Speaker 1: at all. That there's more just stories and people maybe
Speaker 1: who have been here longer than we have talked about it.
Speaker 1: But I can promise you that it doesn't have one
Speaker 1: effect on this football team and in our approach going
Speaker 1: forward this week or how they'll feel on game day.
Speaker 1: I'll take it a step further. If anybody thinks Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is going to feel burden because of the Bengals
Speaker 1: playoff droute, they haven't been paying attention to Joey franchise.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals awarded a
Speaker 1: weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets,
Speaker 1: autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs.
Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play.
Speaker 1: Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham So lap The regular season ends with a twenty
Speaker 1: one to sixteen loss in Cleveland. The one thing the
Speaker 1: Bengals could guarantee today was that if they didn't play guys,
Speaker 1: those guys would not get hurt. That was the route
Speaker 1: that Zach Taylor chose, and I think it's a wise one.
Speaker 1: You know, I think there's a lesson to be learned
Speaker 1: by what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, could
Speaker 1: they potentially have a buy maybe, But if they don't,
Speaker 1: I mean, what if Kelsey's limpen and gimp and you
Speaker 1: know in their playoff game, what if Hill would that
Speaker 1: heal injury and bruced heal those things those things link.
Speaker 1: That's a cautionary tale right there. And I think I
Speaker 1: think that they made the right moving particularly both teams,
Speaker 1: I mean Cleveland Browns and Bengals both had guys going
Speaker 1: down in weather conditions like this, playing this type of
Speaker 1: football game. So in the Bengals situation, I can see
Speaker 1: why they made the decision that they made and we'll
Speaker 1: see if it pays dividends when they take on whoever
Speaker 1: it is next week. There were a few solid performances
Speaker 1: in the loss defensively, Mike Hilton with an end zone interception,
Speaker 1: Trevion Henderson with the scoop and score after Wyatt forced
Speaker 1: the fumble. Marcus Bailey had eleven tackles, Clay Johnston had ten. Offensively,
Speaker 1: Chris Evans thirty five rushing yards, twenty four receiving yards
Speaker 1: and a touchdown. Mike Daniels was active when he was
Speaker 1: in the game. Yeah, I mean, I think at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, Cleveland Browns had three hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven yards on sixty six snaps. The Bengals had one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty two yards on fifty one snaps. Three
Speaker 1: point six yards her play. The Cleveland Browns averaged over
Speaker 1: five yards to carry running the football. The reason the
Speaker 1: Bengals were in the football game is they wanted to
Speaker 1: turnover ratio by two and they had a fourth down
Speaker 1: stop in the red zone. So they had three possessions
Speaker 1: that ended with no form of a kick, and the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns had no takeaways and no fourth down stops.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, the Bengals went for it
Speaker 1: once on fourth down and converted, and Cleveland didn't when
Speaker 1: they tried it on fourth down in the red zone.
Speaker 1: So I think that's why the football game stayed close
Speaker 1: and got to give the Bengals credit. I mean, one
Speaker 1: of those takeaways, as you mentioned, you know that I
Speaker 1: thought that was one of the big things I talked
Speaker 1: about before the game, and the keys to the game
Speaker 1: was that they could get some kind of unconventional unscripted
Speaker 1: score like Cleveland got in the first matchup with the
Speaker 1: Bengals early in the game. That would that would make
Speaker 1: things a lot more palatable. And they got it done,
Speaker 1: and because they were down fourteen at that point and
Speaker 1: it was looking a little bleak, but they cut the
Speaker 1: lead in half. And you know, it's just like in
Speaker 1: the first matchup. I mean, the Bengals going to twelve place,
Speaker 1: seventy five yard drive, throw a pick six, then they
Speaker 1: going to nine place, seventy five yard drive, twenty one snaps,
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty yards and the scores seven to seven,
Speaker 1: and Cleveland has run a snap, So those unconventional scores
Speaker 1: can be big, and the Bengals got themselves on. Nearly
Speaker 1: all of the Bengals starters sat out the regular season
Speaker 1: finale in Cleveland, but there were exceptions on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Isaiah Prince played right tackle, I came I Dentogy played
Speaker 1: right guard. And then there's the situation with Jackson Carmen.
Speaker 1: If Quenton Spain does not recover quickly enough from his
Speaker 1: ankle injury, chances are Jackson Carmen will be playing left guard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's a good strong chance of that. And it
Speaker 1: was good early for Isaiah Prince and Identogy to you know,
Speaker 1: get more snaps together. They're both young guys and they're
Speaker 1: going to be going, say, say it's Noringham Patriots for example,
Speaker 1: They're going to be tested both mentally and physically. So
Speaker 1: the more snaps that they can get under their belt,
Speaker 1: the better off they'll be. Um And we'll just have
Speaker 1: to just have to have to see. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: a Trey Hopkins has been limping and gimping a good
Speaker 1: part of the season. He's being held together I think
Speaker 1: by Scotch tape right now, and so will he be
Speaker 1: able to you know, bounce back and have a strong performance.
Speaker 1: I highly doubt Quentin Spain's going to be able to
Speaker 1: play in the Patriots game or whoever it is, that
Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs if he. If he does,
Speaker 1: it would be a mild upset, I think, not a
Speaker 1: major upset. Not impossible, but he's He's got a pretty
Speaker 1: good acts spring. So the Bengals have gone thirty years,
Speaker 1: thirty seasons without winning a playoff game. The last time
Speaker 1: they did January sixth, nineteen ninety one. It hasn't been
Speaker 1: a topic of conversation all year, which is kind of good.
Speaker 1: Back in the early part of the twenty ten decade,
Speaker 1: that was storyline from the first day of training camp
Speaker 1: during that stretcher where they went went to the playoffs
Speaker 1: five years in a row and did not win. In
Speaker 1: this case, it's gonna come up this week. It's not
Speaker 1: been this big albatross hanging over them all year long.
Speaker 1: And Zach Taylor made the point during his postgame news
Speaker 1: conference after the game in Cleveland to say, this team
Speaker 1: is the twenty twenty one Bengals. It has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with any Bengals team that's failed in the playoffs before.
Speaker 1: That's true. And the football team that went out on
Speaker 1: the football field against the Cleveland Browns this afternoon, all
Speaker 1: the stats that had been generated by the Bengals offense
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the team that went out
Speaker 1: on the field this afternoon. I mean, it's just it's
Speaker 1: it's not even it's not even close to the same
Speaker 1: guys out there working the way they worked all season long.
Speaker 1: So that's it's there's no question about it. These guys
Speaker 1: are going to carve a history of their own. Other
Speaker 1: guys that played on those football teams carve that history
Speaker 1: these guys have nothing to do with that history, and
Speaker 1: you can't. What you can't do is fall in the
Speaker 1: negativity of oh man, you know, you haven't won in
Speaker 1: thirty one. You know the last time on a playoff
Speaker 1: game January of nineteen ninety one. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: You can't fall in that negativity. That can that can
Speaker 1: be a rabbit hole you don't want to fall through,
Speaker 1: you know, fall into mentally, There's no question about it.
Speaker 1: And I don't think this group will. I think Zach
Speaker 1: made another good point. A young football team sometimes it's
Speaker 1: good that they don't know what they don't know. Just
Speaker 1: just continue to play. They're confident, continue to play with
Speaker 1: confidence and let the chips fall where they may. Speaking
Speaker 1: of history, even though Joe Burrow did not play, he
Speaker 1: finishes the year with four thousand and six hundred eleven
Speaker 1: passing yards. That's a Bengals single season record, thirty four
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, also a Bengals single season record, pass a
Speaker 1: rating of one h eight point three that's a single
Speaker 1: season Bengals record. Also the first Bengals corp back ever
Speaker 1: to be sacked fifty times in a year. Fifty one
Speaker 1: turned out to be the final number. And then there
Speaker 1: is Jamar Chase with his two catches in Cleveland eighty
Speaker 1: one catches, one thousand, four hundred and fifty five yards
Speaker 1: in thirteen touchdown passes, all records for a Bengals rookie.
Speaker 1: The fourteen fifty five a single season record period for
Speaker 1: a Bengals wide receiver. He was everything the Bengals dreamed
Speaker 1: he would be and more. There's no doubt. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, you made a decision, all right. Our offensive
Speaker 1: line needs some fortification. Pinney Sell could have provided that
Speaker 1: he had a good year. This guy is a playmaker,
Speaker 1: a touchdown maker extraordinaire. He is amongst the most explosive
Speaker 1: players in the National Football League immediately right now in
Speaker 1: his first year, and I think opposing defensive coordinators and
Speaker 1: opposing defensive players would would say the same thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna draw a lot of attention. And the chemistry,
Speaker 1: the magic, the intangibles that exist between Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: Jamar Chaser a site to behold. They really are. And
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna get worst in They're only
Speaker 1: going to get better. If anything. Next week we get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to call a Bengals playoff win. It's been
Speaker 1: too long. With Joe Burrow it in charge. It's gonna
Speaker 1: happen sometime soon, and hopefully it happens in his first
Speaker 1: crack at it next week. I think they have a
Speaker 1: really good shot. I mean, I think he's playing at
Speaker 1: his high a level as any quarterback in the National
Speaker 1: Football League right now. I really do mentally, physically everywhere
Speaker 1: you can. And I think he's as important. I mean,
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are all important to a football team, but he
Speaker 1: is as important as any quarterback is to his football team.
Speaker 1: And I'm excited to see him play. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be a show. More on Sunday's game and
Speaker 1: the play off game to come join Lap and Lance
Speaker 1: McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine
Speaker 1: on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this week's fun
Speaker 1: Facts segment, where you get to know the person under
Speaker 1: the pads hand. In this case, it's the player who
Speaker 1: scored the Bengals only offensive touchdown on Sunday. Time for
Speaker 1: some fun facts with Bengals running back Chris Evans from
Speaker 1: the so called racing capital of the World, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Speaker 1: What do you love about your hometown and what were
Speaker 1: some of the things you enjoyed doing as a kid.
Speaker 1: A couple of things that I loaded about my hometown
Speaker 1: is just basketball is just a big thing, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Everybody who played basketball, and from if
Speaker 1: you know all your friends to the person that you
Speaker 1: don't know to the person that you know the best.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows how to play basketball some some capacity. So
Speaker 1: I love that. And um, I also just love just
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Um like being around the coats.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, the coat Um during that
Speaker 1: time when Peyton Manning was there, he like was the
Speaker 1: mayor the city, you know what I'm saying. And we
Speaker 1: always loaded to see him and watch him play. And
Speaker 1: they went through them won the Super Bowl and I
Speaker 1: was just exciting to see as a kid. We're doing
Speaker 1: fun facts with running back Chris Savans. You started a
Speaker 1: youth football program for kids when you were still a kid,
Speaker 1: and it's really taken off. What were the orange origins
Speaker 1: of Ceast Stars and what is it grown into? Um?
Speaker 1: The origins was I'm pretty much I got one of
Speaker 1: my little brothers and his friends. I was a janitor.
Speaker 1: Um at an elementary school and in my city. Um,
Speaker 1: Like before I went to college, I wanted to get
Speaker 1: some money. So I get some shoes and some clothes
Speaker 1: and stuff, um, and have my own money so my
Speaker 1: little brother and his friends can't. We'll come up to
Speaker 1: my job after I'm done cleaning our classrooms and we'll
Speaker 1: do some football drives. I don't like, Okay, we got
Speaker 1: enough kids, we might as well just see what we
Speaker 1: can get into. So we started playing in the league.
Speaker 1: I'm about seventeen eighteen at the time, and were just playing.
Speaker 1: We was winning, and I was like, dang, like I'm
Speaker 1: about to go to college, so we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: like put this on whole. So I started started a
Speaker 1: team in college. I got sponsorships and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and I I called my friend, I'm back at home,
Speaker 1: best friend I grew up. Was like, we got to
Speaker 1: keep those same kids going. So as soon as we
Speaker 1: opened up a trial, we had like forty kids come out.
Speaker 1: And now we just expanded to three states. We have
Speaker 1: a Kentucky team, We're starting to Cincinnati team this year, Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and still up in Michigan. UM, so we have over
Speaker 1: about three hundred kids in the program now, and um,
Speaker 1: it just gives them the opportunity and a platform to
Speaker 1: be able to continue to get better in football over
Speaker 1: the offseason and mainly focus. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We have tutors and stuff to help them with their
Speaker 1: grades and stuff. So, UM, just the whole picture of
Speaker 1: a student athlete and raising like a young man pretty
Speaker 1: remarkable considering how young you are. And the name is
Speaker 1: interesting because you outfoxed the NCIA. Yeah, I now seeing
Speaker 1: that with the NIL and seeing all these guys making
Speaker 1: all this all this money is I'm happy for him,
Speaker 1: but I wish I could you know, we had an opportunity,
Speaker 1: but um it was named ce Stars. Um. I was
Speaker 1: talking to one of my mentors and it's like, I
Speaker 1: should be aild it, use my aim to get this,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But then they that came
Speaker 1: at me and then um, on the spot, UM, I
Speaker 1: told him, hey, it's not Chris Evans is collectively evolving
Speaker 1: and they were like, well, I guess that, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess you're not in trouble anymore. So
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, and as of right now, UM, it's
Speaker 1: still collectively evolving. But you know, what I'm saying to
Speaker 1: see is my initials, So I kind of some people know,
Speaker 1: some people don't know. So that's good stuff. We're visiting
Speaker 1: with Chris Evans. He loved the Ohio State as a kid,
Speaker 1: but wound up going to Michigan. So you said yes
Speaker 1: to Jim Harbaugh and know to Urban Meyer. Explain yourself
Speaker 1: to the Buckeyes fans listening. I was a Hog State fan,
Speaker 1: was um, but just I just when I went to Michigan,
Speaker 1: I gave my commitment to coach Hardball and I just
Speaker 1: I just knew. I just knew it was good energy.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying With Coach Hardball and Michigan.
Speaker 1: Just now like at the end of the day, all
Speaker 1: the tales was perfect and it was like I feel
Speaker 1: like there was nothing like you know what I mean
Speaker 1: that he was hot in or anything like that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: in your first college game at Michigan with the official
Speaker 1: attendance one hundred ten thou two hundred and twenty two
Speaker 1: in the Big House, eight carries for one hundred and
Speaker 1: twelve yards, describe that day. Um, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a crazy day. Um. I didn't know I was gonna
Speaker 1: put that much over the forest and running back. Our
Speaker 1: first ring got UM. He messed up his ribcage and
Speaker 1: UM that game it was a blowout. So it was
Speaker 1: just him saying, let everybody get some touches, and I
Speaker 1: got my aid and just took advantage of him, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it was a good day.
Speaker 1: I read that your cell phone died from all of
Speaker 1: the messages. Literally it was it was my phone was
Speaker 1: kept on. When I was looking at my phone, I
Speaker 1: was getting message after missus, call after call, and it
Speaker 1: was just it was crazy just to see just it
Speaker 1: was just it was the beginning of it all. Your
Speaker 1: life could be an inspirational movie because of how you
Speaker 1: dealt with a problem that you had at Michigan. You
Speaker 1: got suspended for a year due to plagiarism, but the
Speaker 1: way you dealt with it is remarkable to me. Now
Speaker 1: this is only two years ago. Describe two thy nineteen
Speaker 1: and what you did. Um. I went through some adversity
Speaker 1: UM that I feel like a lot of people wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to come back from. UM got to spend
Speaker 1: it for a year. Instead of going home, I stayed
Speaker 1: in my at my house that I was in and
Speaker 1: in Harbor and I got a couple of jobs. Um
Speaker 1: delivery driver, special teams, coach at a high school, and
Speaker 1: contract their assistant. You know what I'm saying, I'm just
Speaker 1: I'll just be sitting. They'd be like, give me the
Speaker 1: screw driver, and I just gotta find it. I give
Speaker 1: it to him, or I'll be holding drywall up and
Speaker 1: stuff like that and doing a little nuance stuff. But
Speaker 1: it taught me a lot, just taught me about just
Speaker 1: keep my head down and keep pushing. And I mean, now,
Speaker 1: just with those skills, I can like fix things in
Speaker 1: my own them own house, so and my mom's house.
Speaker 1: I fixed her drywall last last year, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I know how to do this stuff. So it was good.
Speaker 1: And also I just used my resources too, just as
Speaker 1: much resource as I had, Like I worked at the
Speaker 1: delivery delivery spot, so I could eat three meals a day.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, that I had to pay
Speaker 1: for so um, I just used everything just to save money.
Speaker 1: I was actually in the real world and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay away from this as long as I can.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, I gotta work real real
Speaker 1: job or sweating and holding stuff and that's something that
Speaker 1: I don't want to do, and my dad taught me
Speaker 1: not to, Like, that's not what you want to do.
Speaker 1: You want to be doing what you want to do
Speaker 1: and not you know what I'm saying, heavy lifting and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So that's what I took from it.
Speaker 1: So you overcame at you earned your scholarship back, You
Speaker 1: earned your degree. Does that mean that much more considering
Speaker 1: the path you had to go through to get there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mainly just wanted to graduate. I mean it was
Speaker 1: a COVID year. Seasons I canceled and uncanceled. Then it
Speaker 1: was just a but I just knew taking twenty one
Speaker 1: credits this last semester, I was like, this is the
Speaker 1: this will truly like showed it, Like I really got
Speaker 1: through this, you know what I'm saying. Because a lot
Speaker 1: of guys leave school and don't get the degree and
Speaker 1: then they gotta go back or the end don't end
Speaker 1: up going back. And I was like, not all this out, tutors,
Speaker 1: all that stuff, and just just get it done so
Speaker 1: I can get up out of here. So after your
Speaker 1: senior year at Michigan, you earned an invitation to the
Speaker 1: Senior ball and knocked it out of the park. How
Speaker 1: did that impact your life? It impacted crazy. Um. I
Speaker 1: was about to go back home. Um, Jim Nagie called
Speaker 1: me and it's like, do you want to over to
Speaker 1: wing him one more time? And I was like definitely.
Speaker 1: So when I went down there, I was like, literally,
Speaker 1: I can't go wrong down here, Like you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I'm not. I wasn't even supposed to be here.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna take advantage of everything I can get,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Coaching and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So UM, that's one reason that UM coach Seck Taylor
Speaker 1: said to help me, you know what I'm saying, because
Speaker 1: he asked me to draw up a protection and when
Speaker 1: I was drawn, I kind of like seeing her face
Speaker 1: I was. I was drawing because I was kind of
Speaker 1: like that whole time. I was nervous, really, but I
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't expect that i'd be here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: So you impressed them Inmobile. They selected you in the
Speaker 1: sixth round. Describe your draft experience. The Falcons was telling
Speaker 1: me that they were gonna draft me for sure. So
Speaker 1: they had two picks in the fifth, They had two
Speaker 1: picks in the fifth back to back and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sure gonna get down. So then, um, they didn't
Speaker 1: get I didn't there, they didn't get the call. So
Speaker 1: and I had two phones at the time. I got
Speaker 1: one phone just for all the teamside a number of them.
Speaker 1: So um, after those two picks, I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I got all these people at my um at my house,
Speaker 1: and I just hope I get drafted because I don't
Speaker 1: want to go and drafted. So UM, I went outside,
Speaker 1: I took a walk with my mom, and um, some
Speaker 1: Cincinnati number calls my other phone. I'm like, all all
Speaker 1: the teams got this number, but so I called it
Speaker 1: and he's like, this is Zach Taylor and with the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals, and I was like, oh snap. But it
Speaker 1: was like we was walking. It was about a hundred
Speaker 1: yards from my house, and I told my mom like, yo,
Speaker 1: we gotta get back, you know what I'm saying before
Speaker 1: it come on. So we just running down the street
Speaker 1: and I told everybody I cut the music off, like
Speaker 1: in turn the TV up, you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So it was, um, it was a
Speaker 1: crazy experience and I was one of them, the most
Speaker 1: stressful times in my life, like that whole day, like
Speaker 1: I couldn't it was it was crazy. A few wild
Speaker 1: card categories to wrap things up with. Chris Evans, your
Speaker 1: Twitter handle is kidden play Underscore ABC one two three.
Speaker 1: I assume it's a reference to your high top fade,
Speaker 1: similar to the kid from the Wrap two Kiddn't Play.
Speaker 1: I made that handle when I was a little Oh well,
Speaker 1: I'm about eighth grade, ninth grade or seven eighth grade
Speaker 1: when I first got my haircut, and yeah, I just
Speaker 1: I love that show. I love Fresh Prince of bel
Speaker 1: Air and all stuff like that. So that was the
Speaker 1: inspiration behind it. Do you have any hidden talents? Hidden talents?
Speaker 1: I can fix it whatever you need, I got it.
Speaker 1: I can fix a tire, I can fix a I
Speaker 1: can do a lot of stuff, a lot of handy stuff.
Speaker 1: And I feel like my hidden talent is h when
Speaker 1: something goes back, Like when something goes wrong, I'm good
Speaker 1: at um like making it work, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So like just in an everyday situation, if something happens,
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen, and I can just keep the keep
Speaker 1: the group come like okay, Like this is what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. You know what I'm saying, just because I
Speaker 1: like to keep one. I like that. Don't get hired,
Speaker 1: don't get too low, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 1: just keep stay steady and just just stay locked in.
Speaker 1: You're a problem solver. Every group needs a problem solving.
Speaker 1: Where are you terrible? App I'm terrible at getting shots.
Speaker 1: I don't like getting shots like the like I hate needles.
Speaker 1: I hate hate stuff like that. And I just I
Speaker 1: was the kid that they had to get the big
Speaker 1: nurse to go hold me down to get to get
Speaker 1: my shot. So I hate I hate needles. All right,
Speaker 1: you just became my wife's favorite player because she hates
Speaker 1: getting shots. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, politician,
Speaker 1: religious figure, whoever it might be, who would that person
Speaker 1: be mon Luther King owning me mon Luth the King
Speaker 1: just because I on the and not just about just
Speaker 1: what he did and how he did it, just but
Speaker 1: like I love the process and I love just it's
Speaker 1: not what you see on Sunday, it's what you see
Speaker 1: through you know what I'm and Monday to Saturday. That's
Speaker 1: why I like, I mean some of them, like Joe
Speaker 1: Mix it. For example, he practice hard every day, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, So having a little Sunday is
Speaker 1: just what he's been doing all week. So just to
Speaker 1: see how intriguing like his process was, just being all
Speaker 1: the adversity he had to go through and him being
Speaker 1: a leader, and you know what I'm saying. So I
Speaker 1: don't want to meet him. You were off the hot seat.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. That's to fluck the rest of
Speaker 1: the year, I said, appreciate it. That's going to do it.
Speaker 1: For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.