Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the Can't Keep a good Man
Speaker 1: Down edition, as we check in with running back Rodney
Speaker 1: Anderson as he looks to bounce back from the knee
Speaker 1: injury that ended his rookie season. Then after I chat
Speaker 1: with Rodney, I'll talk to Bengals dot Com editor Jeff
Speaker 1: Butch Hobson, who is among the media members that helped
Speaker 1: select the players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Well Ken Anderson, Ken Riley or any other former Bengals
Speaker 1: get in anytime soon. That discussion is coming up. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan,
Speaker 1: travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
Speaker 1: computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or
Speaker 1: pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since a face to
Speaker 1: face interview. One of the casualties of the COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: pandemic has been the opportunity to interview players and coaches
Speaker 1: in the locker room during the Bengals offseason program. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: I've been able to talk to guys over the phone
Speaker 1: for this podcast, but it's just not the same and
Speaker 1: I miss that personal interaction. My interview with Jeff Hobson
Speaker 1: this week was face to face, albeit with masks. It
Speaker 1: could be a while before that's permitted again with players
Speaker 1: and coaches, and I really look forward to that day.
Speaker 1: I will not take that access for granted in the future.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to this week's guests. My first conversation
Speaker 1: is with Rodney Anderson, one of Cincinnati's three sixth round
Speaker 1: draft picks prior to last season. The former Oklahoma running
Speaker 1: back missed his rookie year after tearing his acl in
Speaker 1: the bengals final preseason game, marking the fourth time in
Speaker 1: the last five years that he suffered a season ending injury.
Speaker 1: In his first year with the Sooners, it was a
Speaker 1: broken leg on a kickoff After having only one carry.
Speaker 1: In his second year, Rodney broke a vertebrae in his
Speaker 1: neck in preseason camp. In his third year, he was
Speaker 1: healthy and ran for more than eleven hundred yards in
Speaker 1: thirteen touchdowns, including a two hundred one yard game against
Speaker 1: Georgia in the Rose Bowl, and that was the year
Speaker 1: that his teammate Baker Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy, so
Speaker 1: Oklahoma didn't exactly emphasize the run. In his fourth year.
Speaker 1: Anderson opened the season with one hundred yards on only
Speaker 1: five carries in Week one before tearing his ACL in
Speaker 1: his right knee in Week two, the same knee he
Speaker 1: injured again last year. Last month, Rodney posted a video
Speaker 1: on his Instagram feed that shows him running and cutting
Speaker 1: around cones on a football field, and I spoke to
Speaker 1: him this week about rebounding from his most recent setback. Roddy,
Speaker 1: it's been about nine months since your knee injury. How
Speaker 1: are things progressing. Oh, they're going really well. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm back. I'm back cutting and you know, running
Speaker 1: full speed, So it's going it's going pretty well. The
Speaker 1: rules for using team facilities were different for players rehabbing
Speaker 1: from injuries. Were you going into Paul Brown Stadium on
Speaker 1: a regular basis right up until the March shutdown? And
Speaker 1: and have you returned? I was going up until the
Speaker 1: March shutdown, but as soon as the whole lockdown thing
Speaker 1: started happening, I haven't been back since. So I've just
Speaker 1: been you know, face timing with the trainers and just
Speaker 1: you know, going about it that way. Nick Cosgray has
Speaker 1: referred to you as the perfect patient. In what way
Speaker 1: do you think that that's the case. I don't know.
Speaker 1: They make it really easy to show up and you know,
Speaker 1: do rehab and you know, get my work done. They've
Speaker 1: just been great staff and really helpful. We're visiting with
Speaker 1: Rodney Anderson. What's it been like for you to be
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati for the offseason. I have no complaints. I've
Speaker 1: really grown to love Cincinnati, and I like the area
Speaker 1: that I live in, and so I kind of made
Speaker 1: it my home and I've been a joining You were
Speaker 1: spectacular in your NFL preseason debut last year in Week
Speaker 1: three against the Giants, and then just a few days later,
Speaker 1: you tour the same ACL against the Colts in the
Speaker 1: final preseason game that that you tore in your final
Speaker 1: year at Oklahoma. Can you describe the emotional roller coaster?
Speaker 1: Of course, it was, you know, very disappointing that, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't get to play my first NFL season, but
Speaker 1: you know, God has plans that I can't understand, so
Speaker 1: I just kind of got a roll with the punches
Speaker 1: and take each day as it comes. You were part
Speaker 1: of the team and took part in meetings last year.
Speaker 1: Was that beneficial? Definitely? I mean, you know, staying in
Speaker 1: the the meeting rooms whenever I was able to, you know,
Speaker 1: be more mobile after my surgery was definitely a huge help.
Speaker 1: Helped me gain a better understanding of the offense and
Speaker 1: you know, just things as a whole. You know, it
Speaker 1: kept me connected with my teammates as well. So I
Speaker 1: guess I didn't get to do anything you know, physically
Speaker 1: with them, but mentally I was. I would consider myself,
Speaker 1: you know, on the same page. Were there any teammates
Speaker 1: or coaches that you learned a lot from? Yeah, definitely. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, just to name one off top of my head,
Speaker 1: Jamal Singleton, my running back coach. I mean he's he's
Speaker 1: very specific, he pays attention to He's very big on
Speaker 1: the little details, and so I feel like having somebody
Speaker 1: like that in my cornering just really helps not only me,
Speaker 1: but you know the rest of the running backs as well.
Speaker 1: He's such a positive guy. Was that helpful? Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, especially on the days you know
Speaker 1: where I wish that I could have been out there
Speaker 1: at practice, or you know, we're watching game tape and
Speaker 1: I wish I could have been in the game. You know,
Speaker 1: having a positive coach, you know, makes it easier, you know,
Speaker 1: to show up and listen to meetings. Rodney. For people
Speaker 1: that don't know your injury history, you've had a broken leg,
Speaker 1: broken vertebrae in your neck, and two torn acls your
Speaker 1: one healthy season at Oklahoma, or you're among the best
Speaker 1: players in college football. Do you ask why me? No,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's tough. I mean, you don't you
Speaker 1: don't want it to happen to you. But you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, guy has plans that we really don't understand.
Speaker 1: So you know, I just I just try to trust
Speaker 1: in that, and you know, whatever whatever happens next is,
Speaker 1: I'll just take it as it comes. The Bengals did
Speaker 1: not draft any running backs. Did you look at that
Speaker 1: as a vote of confidence for the guys that are
Speaker 1: currently on the roster? I suppose so. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, anything can happen, and you never know how
Speaker 1: people are going to perform, or even how me as
Speaker 1: a player is going to perform. So you know, I
Speaker 1: have faith in myself and I have faith in the
Speaker 1: other guys in the room, and I think regardless of
Speaker 1: the outcome, it's going to be good. Ones. Three of
Speaker 1: the guys in that room are former Sooners, yourself, Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: and some I J. P. Ryan. Is that a point
Speaker 1: of pride? Uh, yeah, definitely, I mean it's I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like it just shows that you really puts
Speaker 1: out quality backs and um, I think that it's going
Speaker 1: to be beneficial to the team to have some nu backfield.
Speaker 1: What have you thought of Team Zoom meetings in the
Speaker 1: off season. They've been interesting. I mean, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a great platform to get information and for all
Speaker 1: of us to you know, I guess kind of be
Speaker 1: in the same room. But you know, I've liked it.
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed it. Do you miss anything about a normal
Speaker 1: NFL offseason program? Obviously? Yeah. I mean, if I had
Speaker 1: to choose, I would rather be in the facilities doing
Speaker 1: things as normal. But you know, it is what it
Speaker 1: is and kind of gotta do it's got to do.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with running back Rodney Anderson. You probably were
Speaker 1: not a huge Joe Burrow fan last December when he
Speaker 1: threw seven touchdown passes in the first half against Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: But what is your reaction to having him in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: now to lead this team going forward. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: I haven't met him in person yet, but just over
Speaker 1: the zoom calls, he's been, you know, very confident. He
Speaker 1: could tell he's a great leader, and you know, just
Speaker 1: he seems like an overall good guy too. So I
Speaker 1: feel like he's a great addition to the team and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what he can do. And
Speaker 1: weren't all allowed to be back in the city. What
Speaker 1: did you think when you watch that playoff game against Oklahoma?
Speaker 1: You know there's a lot of screaming at the TV,
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, what can I do here
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati? All I can do is screaming my TV?
Speaker 1: I guess I mentioned that Giants preseason game last year.
Speaker 1: You really gave Bengals fans a glimpse of what you're
Speaker 1: capable of doing. What did that do for you to
Speaker 1: get into that game after your long rehab and dazzle,
Speaker 1: particularly in the passing game, It was just a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. You know, I, like you said, I hadn't
Speaker 1: been on the field in a minute, so you know,
Speaker 1: it felt really good to get out there and you know,
Speaker 1: get a little loose. Describe what you are doing now
Speaker 1: in terms of your workouts, your rehab, etc. Well, like
Speaker 1: I said, I stay on FaceTime pretty consistently with Nick Cosgray,
Speaker 1: the trainer, and he told me what to do as
Speaker 1: far as my therapy and rehab is concerned. And then
Speaker 1: I've been working at this training facility in Kentucky called
Speaker 1: Peak Fast, you know, just conditioning and you know, strength
Speaker 1: stuff pretty much Monday through Saturday. I mentioned the Team
Speaker 1: Zoom meetings Rodney, and in the past week the team
Speaker 1: has used those meetings to address the murder of George Floyd.
Speaker 1: Do you think those meetings were helpful? I do think
Speaker 1: that they were helpful specifically for the player and the
Speaker 1: coaches who were in them. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: that um we gain we were able to gain a
Speaker 1: better understanding of each other and our backgrounds. Has the
Speaker 1: worldwide reaction given you hope? I think that the attention
Speaker 1: that it's getting is positive because, you know, people need
Speaker 1: to know that black men and women are getting killed
Speaker 1: in the street by law enforcement officers. You know, they're
Speaker 1: supposed to be there to protect us, and you know
Speaker 1: that's that's not been the case. So I think the
Speaker 1: exposure is good, you know, just from the sense that
Speaker 1: you know, people are finally starting to see. Tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit more about what you've done this offseason
Speaker 1: aside from rehabbing, I mean, aside from training and rehabbing
Speaker 1: and all that and meetings. I just I just hang
Speaker 1: out with my girlfriend, Kaitlin Cox, and I have a
Speaker 1: cat and a dog, and I started a garden, and
Speaker 1: so has kind of been. It's been keeping me busy
Speaker 1: aside from football. Do you have a green thumb. I
Speaker 1: don't want to brag on myself, but my tomato plants
Speaker 1: are looking pretty good right now. You'll be one of
Speaker 1: a few players in the Bengals locker room that can
Speaker 1: discuss his gardening skills. I'm happy to discuss my gardening
Speaker 1: skills at any time. Just to wrap things up, describe
Speaker 1: how you're feeling at this point as you get ready
Speaker 1: for your second NFL season right now, I just I'm
Speaker 1: you know, I'm anxious to get started. I feel confident
Speaker 1: in myself, and I also feel confident in the team.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be a way better
Speaker 1: season than last year. You know, I just think I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna come together. Rodney, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: the time. Best of luck with rehab, and best of
Speaker 1: luck with that garden. Yeah, no problem. Rodney turns twenty
Speaker 1: four the day before the Bengals season opener, and here's
Speaker 1: hoping that the football gods bless him with a healthy season.
Speaker 1: If you don't remember that preseason game against the Giants
Speaker 1: last year, just search for Rodney Anderson on the Bengals
Speaker 1: website and watch the three highlights that are available. He
Speaker 1: has the ability to be a big weapon in Cincinnati's offense.
Speaker 1: Before we get to our next conversation, here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can take your Bengals pride to the
Speaker 1: next level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan
Speaker 1: package from Prime Sport. When Ken Riley passed away last weekend,
Speaker 1: it led many of us to ask again why he
Speaker 1: and Ken Anderson are not in the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. Perhaps the best person who answer that question
Speaker 1: is Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Butch Hobson. Every NFL
Speaker 1: team has a media representative on the Hall of Fame committee,
Speaker 1: and Jeff represents Cincinnati. I spoke to him about the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame and other Bengals news this week, which
Speaker 1: the passing of Ken Riley last weekend has led to
Speaker 1: a new examination of his case for the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: You're the Bengals representative on the selection committee to vote
Speaker 1: on the modern candidates. But since their careers ended more
Speaker 1: than twenty five years ago, Ken Riley and Ken Anderson
Speaker 1: are in the hands of the Senior Committee. Can you
Speaker 1: explain how that process works and do you think either
Speaker 1: or both will eventually get in. Yes, Hordy, it's the
Speaker 1: Senior Committee is made up of nine nine members of
Speaker 1: the Selection Committee. It's a subcommittee basically the Selection committee,
Speaker 1: and that rotates every year. There are five guys, you know,
Speaker 1: that rotates with five guys that actually have the final vote.
Speaker 1: The nine guys narrow it down to about you know,
Speaker 1: I'd say to about fifteen or twenty guys, and then
Speaker 1: they vote on it and you know, they get it.
Speaker 1: They pare it down and with a vote and then
Speaker 1: the five gentlemen discuss it in Canton in August and
Speaker 1: usually there's one or two Hall of famers in there
Speaker 1: advising them the big time, the big time frame to
Speaker 1: do it now, I you know, to make a pitch
Speaker 1: to these guys is in May and June before they
Speaker 1: you know Kennon, both Kenni's have always been on the
Speaker 1: top twenty list. And the answer I always get from
Speaker 1: these guys as well, you know they're in the queue.
Speaker 1: There's two of the more qualified candidates, but they have
Speaker 1: to wait their turn. Now what that means I have
Speaker 1: never really been able to get my arms around that.
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of guys from the fifties that
Speaker 1: have gone in, a lot of defensive players. I know
Speaker 1: they feel like defensive players have been short changed in
Speaker 1: the Hall, so which doesn't explain again Ken Riley being
Speaker 1: left out. But you know, my only hope is that
Speaker 1: they've gotten who they've wanted to get in from the
Speaker 1: fifties and sixties and now they're starting to work on
Speaker 1: the seventies and eighties. But you know, again they say that,
Speaker 1: and then you know Ken Stabler get in a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, when really Kenny Anderson is just a
Speaker 1: good candidate, if not better than Stabler. So to me,
Speaker 1: the big pitch with Kenny and the two Kennies, and
Speaker 1: not just because their careers are certainly worthy of it,
Speaker 1: and then numbers or something worthy of it. But the
Speaker 1: Bengals have the fewest members of any team in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. They only have one guy who played
Speaker 1: his entire career in Cincinnati, Anthony Munio's two Charlie Joyner
Speaker 1: and Torrell Owens. Charlie Joyner played there midway through his career.
Speaker 1: Torrell Owens played the last year of his career there. So,
Speaker 1: I you know, and this is always a fight for
Speaker 1: guys to live to see the day, you know. And
Speaker 1: that is the heartbreaking thing here with Kenny Riley, I
Speaker 1: know he's gonna get in. I've had these guys. Tell me, look,
Speaker 1: Ken Anderson and Ken Riley going to get in at
Speaker 1: some point. That was a tough break too when not
Speaker 1: one of them got in and the expanded class of twenty,
Speaker 1: but there was a lot of politics going on there.
Speaker 1: They seemed more interested in getting in players from the
Speaker 1: thirties and forties. You didn't even have a quarterback going well,
Speaker 1: if you count the Green Bay the guy from Green
Speaker 1: Bay who was basically, you know, a wing te quarterback.
Speaker 1: He was done huts since you know, quarterback, which is fine,
Speaker 1: I guess, but you know, for for Kenny Anderson to
Speaker 1: still be out there and Kenny Riley after an expanded
Speaker 1: class of twenty. Hard to swallow. When you say the
Speaker 1: time to make the pitch to these guys as may
Speaker 1: or June, what do you mean by that? Who's making
Speaker 1: the pitch and who are they pitching? I guess it's
Speaker 1: I'm making I guess I'm making the pitch or all
Speaker 1: or all supporters of Ken Rile and Ken Anderson. I
Speaker 1: think that's been one of the biggest mysteries, is when
Speaker 1: I actually do these guys sit down and do it.
Speaker 1: And it's the spring, it's now, so you know, I
Speaker 1: make a pitch, and I think guys like Collinsworth and
Speaker 1: Anthony Munio's make a pitch. But these guys. The thing is,
Speaker 1: these guys know Ira Coffman, who is a new who
Speaker 1: is a new Senior committeeman who represents the Tampa market.
Speaker 1: You know, he's all over Ken Riley, you know, because
Speaker 1: he's he's a hometown guy. So I know Irison, you know,
Speaker 1: And I know all these guys are in every They
Speaker 1: send me back emails after I send him something. Yeah
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I know. Well, oh okay, I think
Speaker 1: I think they know. It's just uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just uh. I hope, I really pray for the day
Speaker 1: that not only that the Anderson family, but the Riley
Speaker 1: family can go and Kenny's got Kenny's get four grandsons,
Speaker 1: you know. I hope to God they're there with their
Speaker 1: parents and White and Kenny's wife Barbara, and it will
Speaker 1: be a little bitter sweet, but hopefully the ephicies will
Speaker 1: be on switet. You do get to vote on the
Speaker 1: more modern candidates, So let's talk about some of those guys,
Speaker 1: Willie Anderson, Corey Dillon, Chad Johnson. What kind of support
Speaker 1: do they have among the voters. Unfortunately not as much
Speaker 1: as they should have. We've had this u they call
Speaker 1: it a backlog of great offensive lineman from the nineties.
Speaker 1: And I've said it in the meetings. I said, you're
Speaker 1: talking about this backlog you have of left tackles, and
Speaker 1: there is there have been some great ones, Ogden Rofe,
Speaker 1: Walter Jones. I said, but you haven't even put in
Speaker 1: the best right tackle of his time, you know. And
Speaker 1: Willie knew this before we all did. Willy knew what
Speaker 1: was saying it when he played that there was a
Speaker 1: bias to left tackles because of the movie Blindside and
Speaker 1: what Lawrence Taylor did, the Joe Eisman Willie had us all.
Speaker 1: Willy's a savant, you know, And yes he has paid
Speaker 1: the price of being a right tackle. What's wrong with
Speaker 1: being the best right tackle of your era? He belo
Speaker 1: he deserves to be in but he's been overshadowed by
Speaker 1: guys like you know, they make a case for Tony
Speaker 1: Passelli and he's a left tackle, you know, the big
Speaker 1: Oh well, he's a media guy. And plus he's also
Speaker 1: you know, as he played enough, there's always a little
Speaker 1: debate with him. You know, he was a second pick
Speaker 1: in the draft, you know, so he's a sexy guy
Speaker 1: to talk about. All Willie did was he was a
Speaker 1: right tackle. He was a pick in the draft. He
Speaker 1: blocked every guy in front of him that he ever
Speaker 1: played from, you know, from being a young guy Blank
Speaker 1: and Reggie White in Green Bay to pitching a clinic
Speaker 1: against Julius Peppers in his prime here in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six. But Chad and Corey are probably probably more
Speaker 1: borderline guys, although they certainly have got to be mentioned.
Speaker 1: And I think Corey Dillon is a legitimate He is
Speaker 1: a guy that should be in. If you're gonna put
Speaker 1: edgund James in, you've got to put Corey Dillan in.
Speaker 1: Different guys, different backs, they played with different teams. The
Speaker 1: thing with Corey and I told him this when he played.
Speaker 1: He said, I said, I hope you get twelve thousand yards,
Speaker 1: because twelve thousand yards seems to be kind of a
Speaker 1: well you get in. You know, there's certain numbers. I mean,
Speaker 1: football is not like baseball. The only way it is
Speaker 1: kind of like baseball is if you hit some certain thresholds.
Speaker 1: But it changes in football because the errors change so
Speaker 1: even more so now though, if you get twelve thousand yards,
Speaker 1: they got to I think they got to think about
Speaker 1: putting in because the length of your career and you
Speaker 1: just don't run it as much, you know. And Corey
Speaker 1: was in the passing game era and he didn't get
Speaker 1: twelve thousand yards. He got I think he got eleven
Speaker 1: thousand and change. But the thing was, he's got a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl ring. He is not only the leading rusher
Speaker 1: in Bengal history, but he's also holds the Patriots single
Speaker 1: season rushing record, you know, and he has two of
Speaker 1: the greatest nineteen you know, he has two of the
Speaker 1: top nineteen games of all time. He held the record.
Speaker 1: He was brief, but he held the record for three years,
Speaker 1: one of the great records in sports. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the single game rushing record he broke. He broke a
Speaker 1: record that was twenty two year old, twenty two years
Speaker 1: old when he broke Peyton's record in two thousand. So
Speaker 1: to me, he's got a better case than Chad, although
Speaker 1: Chad he can you know, my argument with Chad is
Speaker 1: why he should be mentioned with the Reggie Waynes. I mean,
Speaker 1: his best years were better than Reggie Wayne's best years,
Speaker 1: except Chad just didn't have enough of him, you know.
Speaker 1: And he's the only receiver in this century to lead
Speaker 1: his conference in receiving yards four straight years. The only
Speaker 1: other guy who's done that his history is Jerry Rice.
Speaker 1: So you know, he should be in that conversation. But
Speaker 1: I think he's a little more borderline than Corey. But
Speaker 1: Corey's you know, Corey and Willie. It's don't get a
Speaker 1: lot of support in the room. I'm not sure why. Well,
Speaker 1: I do know why. They played on bad bank you know,
Speaker 1: they played on bad teams that didn't get noticed. They
Speaker 1: played in a small market, I hate to say it,
Speaker 1: and h Cordy, I hate to ramble, but this is
Speaker 1: really gets into my goat now because this is really
Speaker 1: and I've talked to I've talked to guys about this,
Speaker 1: and I've talked to you about it. In the lap,
Speaker 1: these guys were so close. It's very subjective, you know,
Speaker 1: And a lot of times guys stow up their hands
Speaker 1: and say, well, they want a super Bowl and the
Speaker 1: super Bowl is the tiebreaker, and that's just not fair.
Speaker 1: You know. That has made what we do is we
Speaker 1: have a Hall of Fame filled with a lot of
Speaker 1: good players on great teams and not enough great players
Speaker 1: from bad teams. Well, it's four great players. It's for
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. It's for Williams, and it's for
Speaker 1: Corey Dillon, for guys who were grinding on teams that
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of a lot of light. You know.
Speaker 1: But I had a conversation with a guy from the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers who won four rings, and I tried to
Speaker 1: make the agument about Isaac Curtis and this guy said, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know about Isaac Curtis. And I said, well,
Speaker 1: I bet you didn't know that Isaac Curtis has more
Speaker 1: catches and more touchdowns than Lynn Swan, and he has
Speaker 1: a better career yards per catch than John Stalworth, both
Speaker 1: Hall of famers, And there was silence on the other
Speaker 1: in the line. He said, well, they didn't win the
Speaker 1: big one. They didn't win four. Not their fault. Isaac
Speaker 1: Curtis changed the game. They call it the mel Blunt
Speaker 1: rule and Pittsburgh, you know, guys grow up today, it's
Speaker 1: it's sacrilege to touch a receiver. You know, you can't
Speaker 1: touch a receiver until he's five yards off the line. Right, Well, no,
Speaker 1: you can't touch him five yards after he's off the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. That's because Paul Brown was sick of
Speaker 1: seeing Isaac Curtis getting mall. The only way they could
Speaker 1: cover him was to capitate him at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He got a rule passed. The guy was and I
Speaker 1: was talking Isaac the other day, we were talking about
Speaker 1: Kenny Riley. I said, Isaac, you might be the only guy,
Speaker 1: only non quarterback, who still if he was still playing,
Speaker 1: would still be one of the top five picks in
Speaker 1: the draft. Because he is. He was the first great
Speaker 1: modern receiver. The man almost made the Olympic team got
Speaker 1: hands like fly paper. The great Dave Laugham will tell
Speaker 1: you about the game against Cleveland. He caught one ball
Speaker 1: one handed down one side line and the next quarter
Speaker 1: did the same thing with the other hand down the
Speaker 1: other sideline against Cleveland. You know, it's not their fault.
Speaker 1: They didn't they didn't win this. They got them there,
Speaker 1: and so it's that is a heart I hope people
Speaker 1: have got to get past that. NFL teams have not
Speaker 1: been able to have OTA's or mini camps. They've had
Speaker 1: the Zettle for Zoom meetings and you are allowed to
Speaker 1: sit in on the defensive line zoom meeting recently. Based
Speaker 1: on that, do you think the Bengals are getting much
Speaker 1: out of these meetings? I am. I am not going
Speaker 1: to start after being in that meeting. I will not
Speaker 1: be starting in that unit. That was the first That's
Speaker 1: the first defensive meeting I've said in since framing himself
Speaker 1: fresh nineteen seventy three. The game has changed a little
Speaker 1: bit since then. Those guys get pretty they get pretty
Speaker 1: into it. I mean, let's face it, it's not as good.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just not as good as sitting in
Speaker 1: a meeting and getting all these guys, you know, which
Speaker 1: your miss is a DJ reader, you know, sitting next
Speaker 1: to a Geno Atkins and getting to know him. But
Speaker 1: not only that, but a Carlos Dunlap to go over
Speaker 1: to Khalid Kareem, a rookie and say, hey, you're not
Speaker 1: doing this. You're not doing that now maybe and they really,
Speaker 1: you know, but when you listen to it on tape,
Speaker 1: Nick easton the defensive line coach, he spends time with
Speaker 1: guys that he has to spend time with it. I
Speaker 1: just saw that day's meeting, which lasted about an hour
Speaker 1: and a half. The first twenty five minutes were was
Speaker 1: with the whole defensive line, and then after that Nick
Speaker 1: I stayed with Nick and the tackles, and Gerald his assistant,
Speaker 1: Joel Chapman, and Mark Duffner, the senior defensive assistant, went
Speaker 1: with the ends and the same actors. If they can't
Speaker 1: see each other on this thing, you know, and I
Speaker 1: think there are times they might say something to each other.
Speaker 1: I didn't see it, but they can. They do have
Speaker 1: the ability to do that. Most of it is with
Speaker 1: Nick and the guys. But what's impressive about Nick is
Speaker 1: he'll say to Ryan Glasgow, tell me about Josh Tupo
Speaker 1: on this play son I got Glasgow and Tupo aren't
Speaker 1: in it, you know, and it's not as good. But
Speaker 1: I think back to twenty eleven when that was the lockout.
Speaker 1: It was the debut of the Dan Horde Bengals radio booth,
Speaker 1: and it was the lockout. And it was the thing
Speaker 1: with the lock I always the coaches could not talk
Speaker 1: to players after the draft, and they didn't. They weren't
Speaker 1: able to Jay Gruden wasn't able to talk to a J.
Speaker 1: Green and Andy Dalton together with a playbook until July
Speaker 1: twenty seventh. So yeah, this this isn't great, but you
Speaker 1: know what they've It's been worse, you know. So it's
Speaker 1: amazing what you can accomplish in a zoom meeting. Not perfect,
Speaker 1: especially for a defense that has a potential to have
Speaker 1: seven new starters in that first third down package against
Speaker 1: the Chargers on September thirteenth at the Paul. But I
Speaker 1: think it's it's uh. I think it's helping both veterans
Speaker 1: and rookies. Based on sitting in on that meeting, how
Speaker 1: difficult do you think it would be to have a
Speaker 1: new coaching staff this year, like the Cleveland Browns extremely
Speaker 1: difficult because this game is based so much on relationships.
Speaker 1: You know that, Dan, It's I think any workplace is
Speaker 1: just going into a guy's office, just going next to
Speaker 1: a guy's walker. Yeah, I think it's very difficult for
Speaker 1: for a first year team. That's why you know, a
Speaker 1: lot's being set about the you know, the Bengals about
Speaker 1: having a news but at least they've got it in place,
Speaker 1: and I think it's run pretty smoothly. I don't know now,
Speaker 1: of course, I don't know how the other teams are
Speaker 1: doing it. I imagine this run smoothly. But Zach Taylors
Speaker 1: has had a year too, and of course he hasn't
Speaker 1: been able to prepare for anything like this. Who would,
Speaker 1: but he's a technological savvy guy. A lot of his
Speaker 1: coaching staff is they're young guys. So I think obviously
Speaker 1: they're step up on the Cleveland Browns, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: they're step up on these new on these teams with
Speaker 1: new coaches. But I think it's going to come down
Speaker 1: to it comes down to the play at a quarterback.
Speaker 1: You get a rookie quarterback, you know, so it might
Speaker 1: not matter that they have a new that they have
Speaker 1: a coaching staff with the arm in they still get
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback. Cleveland has a third year quarterback. So
Speaker 1: you know, I think in some ways they're both they're
Speaker 1: both at a little bit of a disadvantage. It's kind
Speaker 1: of funny with Zach, although he won't consider this to
Speaker 1: be funny, but we kept saying last year, this will
Speaker 1: be the toughest year you'll ever have to deal with.
Speaker 1: You're new, you lost your number one draft pick before
Speaker 1: the season even began, you lost your best player forty
Speaker 1: five minutes into the first practice. You've got a bizarre
Speaker 1: situation going on with your left tackle, Corty Glen it
Speaker 1: will never be this bad again. And now going into
Speaker 1: his second season, you've got a pandemic unlike anything the
Speaker 1: world has experienced since the early nineteen hundreds, well plus two.
Speaker 1: There's a lot more than the pandemic going on in
Speaker 1: the league as across the country that they're dealing with that,
Speaker 1: and you know, and it can't be and it can't be,
Speaker 1: and it can't be underestimated. You get, you know, you
Speaker 1: get Joe Burrow is gonna it's gonna be only to
Speaker 1: be the second time, which to me is amazing. Only
Speaker 1: the second time in history that a Bengals rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: gets a home start, starts his career with a home start.
Speaker 1: It hasn't been done in forty years, So that's amazing
Speaker 1: to me. It's also quite a challenge. It's also very
Speaker 1: intriguing because this guy Burrow, he says all the right things,
Speaker 1: he does all the right things. He's seamless. He's seamless, Joe,
Speaker 1: you know, and on and off the field. So I
Speaker 1: can't wait. I mean, I can't wait to see the guy.
Speaker 1: And his energy seems to have you can already tell
Speaker 1: his energy seems to have provided a little bit of
Speaker 1: a jolt offensively. What you've been covering this franchise for
Speaker 1: a long time, is the excitement generated by Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: different from previous high draft picks. Yes, I hate to,
Speaker 1: you know, sound like a bandwagon guy, but I think
Speaker 1: we live in a different era too, you know, and
Speaker 1: everything gets hyped, you know, I mean every guy, I mean,
Speaker 1: every story gets hyped. There are stories that get hyped
Speaker 1: today that twenty years ago I couldn't get it in
Speaker 1: the paper. They would have said, butch hold that on,
Speaker 1: hold that for tomorrow's notes or run it Sunday. You know.
Speaker 1: Now it's a in the news cycle, it's seventeen minutes,
Speaker 1: it's trending on Twitter, you know. So we're in a
Speaker 1: different world. And so I think the hype is people
Speaker 1: are pumped up. Then you bag the fy it by
Speaker 1: the fact fan base hasn't had anything to follow. They
Speaker 1: haven't been able to follow the rids, they haven't been
Speaker 1: able to follow anything or do anything. It's been they've
Speaker 1: been they've been locked up in their houses and all
Speaker 1: they've been reading about is Joe Burrow. So I think
Speaker 1: you multiply that, and yeah, this guy is you know,
Speaker 1: he's a combination of Sinatra and you know, Babe Ruth
Speaker 1: and you know, the poor guy. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just Joe Burrow out of Athens, Ohio, you know.
Speaker 1: And I hope that's how everybody treats him. But the
Speaker 1: hype is amazing, and it's not his fault. It's he
Speaker 1: happened to be born and you know, he happened to
Speaker 1: be born into a rookie year in twenty twenty, which
Speaker 1: is an eight nineteen ninety anymore. Earlier this week, the
Speaker 1: team held meetings to discuss the murder of George Floyd
Speaker 1: and the efforts to fight racism that have emerged. Since
Speaker 1: You've talked to several players about those meetings. What took
Speaker 1: place in those meetings? I think Cordy was basically Zach
Speaker 1: gave them the opportunity he gave the player saying, the
Speaker 1: coaches just the opportunity to talk, what was on their mind,
Speaker 1: what would they like to be said, just to just talk.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter what, it didn't matter what was it about?
Speaker 1: Was it your experiences? Was it? Was it what you
Speaker 1: would like to see done? What are your thoughts about it?
Speaker 1: And that wasn't just h and that just wasn't uh
Speaker 1: confined to the African American players, you know, the African
Speaker 1: American players, the guys I talked to, they seemed to
Speaker 1: draw support from their white teammates. Um So I think
Speaker 1: basically what was it? It was one of those things
Speaker 1: they threw the meeting open and what would be would
Speaker 1: be you know, and it was as Sean Williams said,
Speaker 1: you know, raw, it was emotional. You know, you get
Speaker 1: a guy like Nick Eason telling as he told its
Speaker 1: deep dark secrets from his from his past. You know,
Speaker 1: that's pretty personal. That's pretty that's pretty emotional, and uh,
Speaker 1: I think it was a from what from what the
Speaker 1: guys said that I talked to, I talked to I
Speaker 1: talked to probably about three or four and talked to
Speaker 1: coach Eason, and my sense was that there was a
Speaker 1: bit of relief. There was not only there was not
Speaker 1: only you know, kind of a thankfulness that they were
Speaker 1: able to do that and get it out on the table.
Speaker 1: I think they were this has been stuff they've been
Speaker 1: had bottled up for not only years, but for two weeks.
Speaker 1: And like Sean said, you know, we have been you know,
Speaker 1: we're only we've been we've been pent up and said
Speaker 1: I haven't only we've been around the same people, you know,
Speaker 1: we haven't really been able to vent. Anybody was an
Speaker 1: opportunity to vent, as Nick Eason said, to your brothers,
Speaker 1: so that they sounded I mean, I was very personal,
Speaker 1: very emotional, and I think Glasgow really hit the right
Speaker 1: note when he said, this is what every company in
Speaker 1: America should be doing, you know, And it was really
Speaker 1: it was really Uh, one of the more emotional stories
Speaker 1: I wrote I had. It made me text Willie Anderson
Speaker 1: and to and to thank him because he told me
Speaker 1: something about the way I characterized Justin Smith and the
Speaker 1: way I characterized Pew to Warwick, and I didn't realize
Speaker 1: I was doing it, and uh, but he felt it
Speaker 1: was kind of it was a little bit I hadn't
Speaker 1: kind of had made a racial stereotype and I didn't
Speaker 1: even realize him. I'll never forget it. And as I
Speaker 1: was writing that story, I thought, you know, I want
Speaker 1: to thank Willy for doing that because I often think
Speaker 1: about that conversation. And then, uh, he called me when
Speaker 1: he saw the text, and he really gave it to
Speaker 1: me pretty good. But it's always good to always good
Speaker 1: to hear from Willie, you know. But you know, I
Speaker 1: was kind of me, you know. And then I asked
Speaker 1: the guys too, I said, what can I do? What
Speaker 1: can I How can I help you? How can I help?
Speaker 1: And they were great, they said yeah. I think they
Speaker 1: basically the message was keep talking, you know, see what
Speaker 1: you you know, if you see something I don't think
Speaker 1: is right, say it, you know. So I thought it
Speaker 1: was great. Paul Brown helped break the color barrier in
Speaker 1: professional sports in the nineteen forties when he signed Maryon
Speaker 1: Motley and Bill Willis in Cleveland. Tommy Smith, who famously
Speaker 1: did a black power salute during the national anthem in
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty eight Olympics, played for the Bengals the
Speaker 1: following year. So the Brown family has a long history
Speaker 1: of fighting discrimination and they are taking action this time around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a great point about Tommy Smith. I
Speaker 1: mean he signed him, Paul signed him after the Mexico
Speaker 1: City Olympics that when he went to the podium and
Speaker 1: shared the Black Powers with John Carlos. I believe, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the uh, the big thing with the Browns
Speaker 1: is they've they've committed U that the families, they're gonna
Speaker 1: they're gonna commit two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: social justice initiatives. It's a program that was begun two
Speaker 1: years ago. They want to expand on it. They want
Speaker 1: to make it better. They want to get more feedback
Speaker 1: from the players to see what other activities they can
Speaker 1: go into. I know it's a guy who was here,
Speaker 1: Michael Johnson, who has retired since, was a big believer
Speaker 1: in this about getting the youth to to you know,
Speaker 1: to interact with law enforcement at a young age to
Speaker 1: break down those barriers. You know, they're looking at you know,
Speaker 1: I think they're looking at stuff like that, and you
Speaker 1: know they're looking to take the initiative a little you know,
Speaker 1: I mean a step further than the last time, and
Speaker 1: by getting a lot of input from the players. So
Speaker 1: it's a it's an ongoing conversation. You know. Even though
Speaker 1: the Bengals made the announcement, I think on Saturday, the
Speaker 1: players met Monday. This isn't stopping. This is going to
Speaker 1: be an ongoing thing, and it'd be something to watch
Speaker 1: the as, not just this year, but as the years developed.
Speaker 1: All Right, final question, I'm gonna end this with the
Speaker 1: first question that I asked Dave Lappham last week when
Speaker 1: we spoke. It's early June. How confident are you that
Speaker 1: the NFL season will begin on schedule. I'm confident because
Speaker 1: the league seems pretty confident. They're going full speed ahead,
Speaker 1: you know. So I think we're gonna play. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it's gonna look like. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: know where you're gonna be during the game. I don't
Speaker 1: know where I'm gonna be during the game. I would
Speaker 1: imagine you're going to be in the booth. I guess,
Speaker 1: but I think these are all things that need to
Speaker 1: be worked out. Is number of fans, number of media.
Speaker 1: You know. My opinion is I don't think we'll have
Speaker 1: an open locker room. I don't think we'll have an
Speaker 1: open media locker room this year. So not that probably
Speaker 1: fans probably don't care about that, But that's just stuff
Speaker 1: that's kind of It's gonna come with the territory. How
Speaker 1: many people are gonna travel on the plane with them,
Speaker 1: how many people are they gonna want on a bus?
Speaker 1: What what is the traveling party gonna look like? So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of there's a lot of things to
Speaker 1: be hammered out. The only thing the only thing that
Speaker 1: I seem to know is they're trying like hell to
Speaker 1: play September thirteenth. So I would imagine, given that they
Speaker 1: have been full speed ahead like this, I would imagine
Speaker 1: we will. I just don't know who's going to be
Speaker 1: watching it and who's going to be covering it. Well,
Speaker 1: I know I'll be covering it. I just don't know where.
Speaker 1: This is the first interview I've done in age is
Speaker 1: that wasn't done over the telephone or on a zoom call.
Speaker 1: We have stayed socially distant. We are wearing masks. We
Speaker 1: have warned them throughout. We are going to reapply the
Speaker 1: sanitizer to our hands momentarily. And I enjoyed this very much.
Speaker 1: Butch thanks so much for the time, Cordie. It's always
Speaker 1: a pleasure. It's great to see a safe and sound
Speaker 1: and can't wait to hear those golden tones saying the
Speaker 1: ball is kicked off. Hi. Thanks to Rodney Anderson and
Speaker 1: Jeff Hobson. And that's going to do it for this
Speaker 1: episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
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Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please
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Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thank you for
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast