Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The the Winner Takes It All addition,
Speaker 1: as the thirty one year weight is over and the
Speaker 1: weight of eight straight playoff losses has been lifted as
Speaker 1: the Bengals advanced to the second round of the playoffs
Speaker 1: with a twenty six nineteen win over the Raiders. Coming up,
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments and analysis from my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun Fact segment,
Speaker 1: you'll get to know wide receiver slash return specialist Trent Taylor.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now
Speaker 1: from the App Store and Google Play. And here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since delivering game balls to fans following the games.
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor announced the start of a new tradition. Following
Speaker 1: playoff wins, the Bengals will drop off game balls at
Speaker 1: bars around the city. So that fans can hold them,
Speaker 1: take pictures with them, etc. On Saturday night, balls were
Speaker 1: dropped off at Pontiac and over the Rhine, while titching
Speaker 1: post in Northern Kentucky and Mount Lookout Tavern. You can
Speaker 1: find footage of Zach and Kevin Huber dropping off a
Speaker 1: ball at MLTS on Twitter. It was the perfect way
Speaker 1: to say thank you to the record crowd that filled
Speaker 1: the Jungle on Saturday. It was loud enough at times
Speaker 1: to wake the dead. Now let's get to the game.
Speaker 1: The Raiders got the ball first and immediately scored, as
Speaker 1: a forty seven yard field goal by Daniel Carlson made
Speaker 1: it three nothing, but the Bengals answered with a ten
Speaker 1: play seventy five yard drive. Greens into mix charging to
Speaker 1: the thirty new roles to the twenty fifteen down to
Speaker 1: the ten Joe Mixon twenty one yards on the screen
Speaker 1: and its first in goal. Three plays later. The Bengals
Speaker 1: took a lead they never relinquished. Burrow catches a shotgun
Speaker 1: snap drops back guns in Indian zone into a thick
Speaker 1: years for the touchdown. See jay U Sama in the
Speaker 1: middle of defenders palling in that line. Drive throw from
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and c j Uzama basically acting like a
Speaker 1: power forward. He's boxing people out. Uzama followed his touchdown
Speaker 1: by combining the Ikey shuffle with Jamar Chase's gritty dance. Well,
Speaker 1: I knew that Ikey woods would be the rule of
Speaker 1: the jungle. And I was like, oh nice, I'll just
Speaker 1: I'll just do the key shuffle. Um, And I was talking.
Speaker 1: I was talking to one of my boys, and I
Speaker 1: was like, yo, if I score, I'm gonna do the
Speaker 1: Ikey into They're gritty And he said not if win.
Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, bet Um. I probably
Speaker 1: should have practiced for sure, because that was that was
Speaker 1: not that was not well done. But come the end zone,
Speaker 1: screw it. The Bengals had a seven three lead, and
Speaker 1: roughly two minutes later, the defense got the ball back.
Speaker 1: Car stomps the right foot, catches a chest high snap,
Speaker 1: drops back seven steps hit from it comes out scooped
Speaker 1: up bygon Joe Bas Hendricksons with a striped sack. Hen
Speaker 1: the Bengals will take over half the fifteen half Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: the Bengals drove to the eight before settling for a
Speaker 1: field goal in a ten three lead. Hendrickson sack led
Speaker 1: to three points, and on the first play of the
Speaker 1: second quarter, Sam Hubbard almost added two more car back
Speaker 1: to throw from the golden Yeah he's put down, you're
Speaker 1: gonna say he was just outside of the end zone
Speaker 1: by a half a yard. Car was eventually down in
Speaker 1: the end zone by Hill and Hubbard, but when contact
Speaker 1: was made he was just past the goal line. The
Speaker 1: Raiders had to punt from the back of the end zone,
Speaker 1: giving the Bengals a great drive start at the Las
Speaker 1: Vegas forty five. A twenty eight yard pass to Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase helped them drive to the four, but the Bengals
Speaker 1: stalled in the red zone again. Burrow waits at the nine,
Speaker 1: catches the shotgun snap pump fakes in trouble. Burrow spun
Speaker 1: to the ground and then two Raiders jump on top
Speaker 1: of them. After that, the sack goes back to the
Speaker 1: twelve yard line. Burrow hops up trots toward the sideline.
Speaker 1: Max Crosby got to him first. Well one for three.
Speaker 1: Now in the red zone. Evan McPherson's field goal made
Speaker 1: it thirteen three. The Raiders answered with a field goal
Speaker 1: to pull back within seven, and the Bengals came back
Speaker 1: with their best drive of the day, an eighty two
Speaker 1: yard march that included a great call on fourth and one.
Speaker 1: Cabals on the left hash Now Burrow moves under center,
Speaker 1: Chase motions into the backfield. They toss it to Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase twenty to the twenty five, the twenty the fifteen
Speaker 1: he's taken out of bounds. A creative play design has
Speaker 1: Chase motions into the backfield and carries like a running
Speaker 1: back to convert on fourth and one. Why not, He's
Speaker 1: spectacular in space. It was another brilliant performance by Numero Uno.
Speaker 1: Nine catches for one hundred and sixteen yards and three
Speaker 1: runs for twenty three more. I haven't played running back
Speaker 1: in a long time, but you know they've given me
Speaker 1: those tosses. AGIN must be the outside getting hit by linebackers.
Speaker 1: I'll know how it hits filled again. But you know,
Speaker 1: as cool as long as I can make a play
Speaker 1: with the bottom minds. That fifteen yard run on fourth
Speaker 1: down led to the bengals second touchdown. Joe Burrow is ready,
Speaker 1: Hopkins snaps it back. Burrow drops back to throw, looking
Speaker 1: rolling out to the right. Still looking downfield, Burrow throws
Speaker 1: it towards the back ten zone, boy leaps, he makes
Speaker 1: the gatrill. Did Burrow stay in bounds? Money through it?
Speaker 1: The officials are talking about it on the Bengals sideline.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow holding up his arms signaling touchdown, and the
Speaker 1: officials are going to have a lengthy discussion to see
Speaker 1: if Joe got the ball out of his hands before
Speaker 1: stepping out a bout. They should call it a touchdown.
Speaker 1: That the touchdown, then it's automatically reviewed. Call it a touchdown,
Speaker 1: then they automatically review it. Nope, dope. I don't understand
Speaker 1: why the delay. Here's why. The real issue wasn't whether
Speaker 1: Burrow was still in bounds, It was whether the play
Speaker 1: should have been blown dead by an inadvertent whistle. NFL
Speaker 1: Senior VP of Officiating Walt Anderson told Pool reporter Paul
Speaker 1: Dayner Junior after the game that the officials on the
Speaker 1: field determined that the whistle came after Boyd's touchdown catch.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the case. If you listen closely to replays,
Speaker 1: you can hear the whistle just before Boyd caught it.
Speaker 1: Fortunately for the Bengals, that decision cannot be reversed on replay.
Speaker 1: Having said that the whistle had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: a fantastic play by Burrow. Yeah, that's what you expect
Speaker 1: from the numb one picking the draft is up plays
Speaker 1: like that. Plays you can't explain making a play when
Speaker 1: there's no play to be made. That's a phrase I've
Speaker 1: heard often to my career, and Joe Burrows a kind
Speaker 1: of guy that can make those touches of plays, and
Speaker 1: it's pretty impressive. The Bengals were up by two touchdowns,
Speaker 1: but as the Raiders demonstrated by winning four straight half
Speaker 1: to have at games at the end of the year,
Speaker 1: they're hard to kill. Car dropping back to pass fires
Speaker 1: into the end zone. Say Jones pulls it down for
Speaker 1: a touchdown with thirteen seconds left and the half. The
Speaker 1: Bengals took a knee to end the half. They're only
Speaker 1: drive in the first two quarters where they didn't score,
Speaker 1: and yet they were only up by seven. Cincinnati got
Speaker 1: the ball to begin the third and drove far enough
Speaker 1: to add three points and another McPherson field goal. Those
Speaker 1: are the only points of the third quarter, as the
Speaker 1: Bengals took a twenty three to thirteen lead to the fourth.
Speaker 1: The Raiders cut into it on Daniel Carlson's third field
Speaker 1: goal of the game to make it twenty three to sixteen,
Speaker 1: But after punting on their previous drive for the first
Speaker 1: time all day, the Bengals answered with a seven and
Speaker 1: a half minute march all the way down to the
Speaker 1: Raiders ten. On fourth and one, they lined up to
Speaker 1: go for it before calling time out and attempting a
Speaker 1: field goal. Huber Catches puts it down Nick Pearson's kick
Speaker 1: on its way and good wow. The Bengals lead by ten.
Speaker 1: With six minutes and forty six seconds remaining. Red zone
Speaker 1: has been the twilight zone for the Bengals. Another field goal.
Speaker 1: They settled for two touchdowns, three field goals not good enough.
Speaker 1: It was just tough, tough for me to find a
Speaker 1: rhythm there, to be quite honest with you, to get
Speaker 1: us into the best stuff. And you know, disappointing because
Speaker 1: we scored on our first five drives of the game,
Speaker 1: but like you said, it didn't feel like we had
Speaker 1: enough points on the board, and I just put that
Speaker 1: on more than me just just finding about the rhythm
Speaker 1: there in the low red zone. With four and a
Speaker 1: half minutes left, the Bengals defense had a chance to
Speaker 1: basically put the game away. Fourth thousand and five for
Speaker 1: the Raiders. Car in the shotgun rechhard to his left,
Speaker 1: three receivers left, one right, car back to throw. I'm
Speaker 1: fourth and five, has time throws Jackson with a catch
Speaker 1: at the Cincinnati thirty three, and he sprints out of
Speaker 1: bounds at the thirty to stop the clock with a
Speaker 1: fourth and five conversion that led to a field goal
Speaker 1: that made it a seven point game. The Bengals offense
Speaker 1: could not put the game away as they failed to
Speaker 1: get a first down and punted it back to the
Speaker 1: Raiders with one fifty one to go. Zach Taylor says
Speaker 1: he was confident that his defense would come through. I
Speaker 1: promise you my heart rate was as even as could be,
Speaker 1: just because I trust our players. I knew that someone
Speaker 1: was gonna step up and win that game for us,
Speaker 1: and wasn't surprised when it happened. He was right, and
Speaker 1: the player who stepped up was Jermaine Pratt. Fourth down
Speaker 1: end goal from the nine seventeen seconds to go to
Speaker 1: play clock at three shotgun snap car throws in the
Speaker 1: traffic n interceptence. Jermaine prats the football coffin now Samamam
Speaker 1: how about that. It ends on a turnover. Here's Pratt.
Speaker 1: I'm making one of the biggest defensive plays in team history.
Speaker 1: It means a lot. You know, um, I got drafted
Speaker 1: by Zach You know we had ups and downs for
Speaker 1: the past two years and be able to make that play,
Speaker 1: you know, put a stamp of the first class he
Speaker 1: draft ever here had the best. It was a great opportunity.
Speaker 1: I think Jermaine has made a really big step this year.
Speaker 1: I thought last year was a good step in year
Speaker 1: two for him. I think this year he's made a
Speaker 1: tremendous jump and super reliable for us and just as
Speaker 1: consistent as there is. If Patt had simply knocked the
Speaker 1: ball down, the end result would have been the same.
Speaker 1: After the game, he was asked why an interception means
Speaker 1: more than a pass deflection? Do you mean why do
Speaker 1: you want to turn on him, turn on his wing games?
Speaker 1: I want a peak. I don't want to peep you.
Speaker 1: The Bengals were one snap away from a moment the
Speaker 1: Bengals fans have been waiting for for three decades. Choe
Speaker 1: Burrow takes the snap, he takes a knee, and after
Speaker 1: thirty one years, the drought is over and guess what.
Speaker 1: The Joe Purrow era is just beginning, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: The final score twenty six nineteen. Here are Sam Hubbard,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, and Zach Taylor. To me personally, you know,
Speaker 1: it means the world. And never in my lifetime have
Speaker 1: we had a playoff win. I feel like we broke
Speaker 1: a curse. But really just looking up at the stands,
Speaker 1: feeling the city come alive, it's hard to putting the
Speaker 1: words what it means to everybody in the city. And
Speaker 1: I'm just really happy to be a part of a
Speaker 1: team that I was able to do it, and we
Speaker 1: got a lot more in store. I mean, it's exciting,
Speaker 1: but this is expected. This isn't like the icing on
Speaker 1: top of the cake or anything. This is the cake,
Speaker 1: and so we're moving on. Happy for the city. I
Speaker 1: think the city can finally exhale. I get that we
Speaker 1: haven't failed that pressure. I'll be quite honest me maybe
Speaker 1: more so than the players because I'm out and about
Speaker 1: more in the off season and talk to people who've
Speaker 1: been here a long time, But I don't think the
Speaker 1: players ever felt that. So I'm just really really happy
Speaker 1: for the city of Cincinnati and that they get a
Speaker 1: chance to enjoy this and now just exhale and enjoy
Speaker 1: the ride here because we're not done yet. And when
Speaker 1: it came to handing out game balls, Zach gave one
Speaker 1: to the man who gave him the opportunity to be
Speaker 1: an NFL head coach. Two game balls. The first one
Speaker 1: is to Mike Brown. You know, just because there's nobody
Speaker 1: who's who's more passionate about this team, of this organization.
Speaker 1: There's no owner that sits at every walkthrough and every
Speaker 1: single practice in the freezing cold, the rain, the snow.
Speaker 1: This means the world to him and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the players know him better than others. The coaches, myself,
Speaker 1: we just owe so much to that man for being
Speaker 1: patient with us. I personally, if I coached at any
Speaker 1: other organization in football, I probably wouldn't be here right
Speaker 1: now in the third year, that's the truth. But he's
Speaker 1: he's got the experience and the understanding. And because he's around,
Speaker 1: and because Paul and Katie and Troy and Caroline Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: they care so much in their around that they get
Speaker 1: a chance to hear your vision firsthand on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: So we're all on the same page. There's no miscommunication.
Speaker 1: They can see where we need to go and we're
Speaker 1: going to get there. And I think that they just
Speaker 1: believe in these players and coaches, and so he was
Speaker 1: very deserving that. The second one is is to the
Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati. You know, we want to start new
Speaker 1: traditions here with playoff wins where we give game balls
Speaker 1: to this city and let the fans enjoy it, take
Speaker 1: selfies with it, whatever it is. We'll figure out how
Speaker 1: we're going to do that. Disperse these things around sound
Speaker 1: where people are at their their greatest moments tonight and
Speaker 1: get a chance to enjoy these balls with us. Because
Speaker 1: and I told this to the players. Some of them
Speaker 1: may not understand the significance of what happened today, but
Speaker 1: I know a lot of you in the room who
Speaker 1: are homegrown Cincinnatians certainly do. And like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: I think this city can finally exhale and just enjoy
Speaker 1: this team for what it is and take that pressure
Speaker 1: off those those last thirty one years. And at the
Speaker 1: same time, there's just such an incredible history here at Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: There's Super Bowl appearances, there's there's conference championships, and really,
Speaker 1: these last even two decades, there's been so many tremendous players,
Speaker 1: teams and coaches that have come through here that I
Speaker 1: hope that they feel like they're a part of this
Speaker 1: win today and they can enjoy this because they've really
Speaker 1: allowed the foundation for us to do this, And you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's today was significant for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Up next, a road game at one of two places.
Speaker 1: If Kansas City beats Pittsburgh on Sunday night, the Bengals
Speaker 1: head to top seeded Tennessee. If the Steelers somehow managed
Speaker 1: to upset the Chiefs, the Bengals head to Buffalo. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. Throughout this year, Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the season
Speaker 1: with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store
Speaker 1: and Google Play. Now time for postgame analysis with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lapp. The drought is over. We've
Speaker 1: got at least another playoff game to call next week.
Speaker 1: Can't wait for that wherever it turns out to be.
Speaker 1: What was your biggest takeaway today? What do you think
Speaker 1: ultimately allowed the Bengals to win this game. I just
Speaker 1: think the the intestinal fortitude. I thought both teams fought
Speaker 1: their tails off, you know. I mean, I get a
Speaker 1: lot of respect for the Raiders. They just won't quit.
Speaker 1: They're like a virus. They won't go away. Man. It's unbelievable,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals had their hands full with them. But
Speaker 1: I think I think the plan at Paul Brown Stadium
Speaker 1: was huge. It's a big advantage. The crowd really helped
Speaker 1: the Bengals win that football game. There was no two
Speaker 1: a's about it. Yeah, And I just I really respect
Speaker 1: what the defense did. They were on fumes, they were gassed.
Speaker 1: And to hold the Raiders, who are very explosive offensive
Speaker 1: football team, to thirty five points in two football games,
Speaker 1: sixteen points during the regular season, nineteen in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: to hold them in two games to under twenty points,
Speaker 1: I think it's a hell of an accomplishment. I really do.
Speaker 1: I think defensively they should take a big bow. Agreed.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrows vibe after the game was amazing to me.
Speaker 1: He's got the sunglasses on, and I mean, you would
Speaker 1: have thought that this was a week to win. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's just like, yeah, it's exciting, but we've got bigger
Speaker 1: fish to fry. It's incredible. His expectations are like, this
Speaker 1: is what I thought would happen. I'm not the least
Speaker 1: bit surprised. You know. I'm glad everybody's happy, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad everybody's thrilled about it. But this is what I'm
Speaker 1: This is what I've signed up to do, this is
Speaker 1: what I'm here for. He is amazing, He really is.
Speaker 1: You talk about a guy that never gets too high
Speaker 1: and never gets too low. That's what every coach and
Speaker 1: player strives for, is that consistency of personality where you
Speaker 1: know you know exactly your teammates, your coaches know exactly
Speaker 1: what theyre can expect out of you. It's not like
Speaker 1: here one week, down here the other week, both emotionally, mentally,
Speaker 1: physically with your performance. He is just straight flat flatline
Speaker 1: at a very high level. He's not flatline at mediocrity.
Speaker 1: He is flat line at an extremely high level. And
Speaker 1: for him to reach that and stay at that level
Speaker 1: for as often as he does, for as long as
Speaker 1: he does, is unbelievably remarkable. I mean, it just shows
Speaker 1: me the laser focused, the attention to detail. He's a
Speaker 1: great example of hard work pays off. This guy takes
Speaker 1: no show cuts. He goes the long way in terms
Speaker 1: of preparation every single week, and it always pays dividends
Speaker 1: for him. I hate to bang on Andy Dalton because
Speaker 1: I respect him and I admire him. But he played
Speaker 1: in four playoff games and never played well in any
Speaker 1: of them. One touchdown pass, six interceptions of passer rating
Speaker 1: in the fifties in his first playoff game, Dalton Burrow
Speaker 1: rather two touchdown passes, no picks, passer rating of one
Speaker 1: ten point four. That heartbeat that never rises just shows
Speaker 1: in those clutch moments for Joe Burrow. It does. And
Speaker 1: when there are plays that have to be made to
Speaker 1: win the football game, like the play he made the
Speaker 1: Tyler Boy incredible, I mean incredible, extending creating. You know,
Speaker 1: just before he steps out of my house to throw
Speaker 1: it the way he threw it where he puts it.
Speaker 1: To watch he and Jumar Chase, it's like watching Fred
Speaker 1: asteron Ginger Rogers. It's like watching an unbelievable team. You
Speaker 1: know that just they know every move the other one's
Speaker 1: gonna make the subtleties you know, of the whole thing,
Speaker 1: the nuances. It's just it's just remarkable. And that comes
Speaker 1: with a lot of hard work too. And the oppressor.
Speaker 1: You know, after the after the game, Jamar Chase said, well,
Speaker 1: we've thrown that at least a thousand times. I mean
Speaker 1: there's no yeah, there's no substitute for hard work. You know,
Speaker 1: Repetition breeds comfort level and excellence performance, and those guys
Speaker 1: are great examples of that. Defensively, it comes down to
Speaker 1: the final play of the game, fourth and goal from
Speaker 1: the nine, and Jermaine Pratt steps up and makes that interception,
Speaker 1: a play that will go down as one of the
Speaker 1: most memorable defensive plays in franchise history. And that's why
Speaker 1: he intercepted it instead of knock it down. I don't
Speaker 1: want I don't want PBUs. I want interceptions. And I
Speaker 1: mean he made such a great play, why not I mean,
Speaker 1: why not just pick that bad boy off, you know,
Speaker 1: and uh, he's he's he's really come on and developed.
Speaker 1: I mean, where would they have been without your main
Speaker 1: prop When Logan Wilson went down. I mean, Jermaine p
Speaker 1: At stepped up and expanded his role and did it
Speaker 1: in a very very convincing way. It wasn't too big
Speaker 1: for him. And there's no doubt about that. He's a player,
Speaker 1: and you know, he talks about it every week. His
Speaker 1: teammates talk about the fact that he talks about it.
Speaker 1: It's all about the football, and he's always trying to
Speaker 1: rip it out and fumble drills, and he's always trying
Speaker 1: to you know, intercept undercut routes and make plays and
Speaker 1: play their proper angles. And he's trying to get his
Speaker 1: doctorate in football geometry. I mean, I think he's he's
Speaker 1: really smart. He really plays great angles. He understands leverage
Speaker 1: that that was perfectly leveraged that interception that he made.
Speaker 1: It really was how'd you feel the on line did?
Speaker 1: I thought pretty well? I really did. I mean I
Speaker 1: think there were, you know, a couple of sacks Joe took.
Speaker 1: He knew he had nowhere to go at the football,
Speaker 1: and he just you know, kind of like assumed the
Speaker 1: fetal position almost and covered up and just took the
Speaker 1: took the sack. Didn't want to take a chance on
Speaker 1: putting the ball in jeopardy. And now he's almost one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy or over one hundred and seventy attempts
Speaker 1: now without an interception, And you know, that's something that
Speaker 1: an offensive line can live vicariously through the fact that
Speaker 1: you know he's he's a great player, and he is
Speaker 1: the biggest reason that that's the case. But you've contributed
Speaker 1: to it. And I thought that these guys are great,
Speaker 1: I mean, particularly Crosby. Crosby's unbelieable to watch that guy,
Speaker 1: Like I talked about earlier, He's Gumby, that's got you know,
Speaker 1: inspector gadget arms. He can bench four hundred pounds. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's he's a Everybody talks about these genetic freaks at
Speaker 1: the skill position. He's a genetic freak at his position.
Speaker 1: And he's he's very, very difficult to get good contact
Speaker 1: on and sustain good contact on. He's so slipper, he's
Speaker 1: so smooth, he's he's he's very very gifted. And you know, Prince,
Speaker 1: he had a couple of bad snaps. Everybody's going to
Speaker 1: against this guy, but I thought overall, I thought he
Speaker 1: and Jonah Williams hung in there and played pretty darn well.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have had remarkably good fortune this year. When
Speaker 1: it comes to injuries, twenty of the twenty two guys
Speaker 1: on offense and defense started on opening day started this
Speaker 1: game everybody but the right guard and the right tackle,
Speaker 1: but as is often the case, they went down. Some
Speaker 1: really good players went down in this game. Larry Ogan
Speaker 1: Jobi first and foremost taken off out of cart Trey
Speaker 1: Hendrickson checked out for a concussion. Which of these injuries
Speaker 1: concerned you the most going forward? Larry Ogan Jobi, You know,
Speaker 1: looks like it's going to be I mean, the way
Speaker 1: it looked his reaction was the thing that got me.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just like, oh, I sprained my foot on
Speaker 1: my ankle. He threw his helmet and disgust. He was
Speaker 1: very upset to me. He knew that something bad happened,
Speaker 1: like an achilles snapping, so that that's extremely unfortunate. So
Speaker 1: I think he's probably obviously gone. If that's the case,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be able to participate anymore. That's a
Speaker 1: major blow because he is a force inside, you know,
Speaker 1: pressure in the quarterback's face. He really does a good
Speaker 1: job of pushing the interior of the pocket. Hopefully Trey
Speaker 1: Hendrickson will get out of concussion protocol and be able
Speaker 1: to play in the next football game, and they really
Speaker 1: need him on the edge as well. And I admire
Speaker 1: what the defensive line did. I mean, they were they
Speaker 1: were down to you know, nobody. They had to take
Speaker 1: a bunch of snaps, and Sam Hubbard and others talked
Speaker 1: about how it was tough. You know, they were gas
Speaker 1: down the stretch and they were just trying to keep
Speaker 1: him in the pocket as much as anything. Just don't
Speaker 1: let him because his car hurt him a little bit
Speaker 1: with his feet, you know, running and creating and made
Speaker 1: some big conversions on third down, you know, running the
Speaker 1: football as well. So yeah, it's um, you know, once
Speaker 1: you get in the playoffs and it's like anything. Dani's
Speaker 1: like turnovers coming bunches. Unfortunately injuries coming bunches as well.
Speaker 1: But in my mind, it gave total verification what Zach
Speaker 1: and the organization decided to do in Cleveland. Don't take
Speaker 1: a chance. I mean, you know, you look at this game.
Speaker 1: All these guys go down in one game, and a
Speaker 1: couple of guys went down up in the Cleveland game too,
Speaker 1: So man, do what they did, and that's the reason
Speaker 1: they won this football game. A lot of guys came
Speaker 1: into this game a lot healthier than they would have otherwise.
Speaker 1: So it's interesting watching CJ Uzama do his postgame news conference.
Speaker 1: When it was done and the last question they had
Speaker 1: been asked, he made a point of expressing his admiration
Speaker 1: and respect for Zach Taylor, even though he was not
Speaker 1: asked about it. I think that's big. Um. CJ gets it.
Speaker 1: He gets it on so many levels. I mean, huge leader,
Speaker 1: very intelligent, understands you know, team team philosophy, understands people.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's he's a special dude. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure Zach Taylor is going to feel, you know, very
Speaker 1: very proud when he when he hears what CJ did, because,
Speaker 1: like you said, totally unsolicited and um, it just goes
Speaker 1: to show though that that this this football team. Like
Speaker 1: I've said many times, Dick Lebau was my first really
Speaker 1: great example of it. His players in the secondary not
Speaker 1: only respected him, they loved him, adored him, worship tim
Speaker 1: and it just brought them everybody. I mean, the relationship
Speaker 1: back and forth between coach and player raised their level
Speaker 1: of performance. And you know, because they weren't just playing
Speaker 1: for themselves, they were playing for Dick Lebaux. They were
Speaker 1: playing for their teammates, they were playing for a bunch
Speaker 1: of things. And that's kind of what Zack's got going now.
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of guys in his corner, for sure.
Speaker 1: I'm happy for Zach. I'm happy for every coach. I'm
Speaker 1: happy for the players. I'm happy for Mike Brown and
Speaker 1: his family. But most of all, I am happy for
Speaker 1: Bengals fans. I think we were minded today lap of
Speaker 1: just how great this city will support the Bengals when
Speaker 1: they play the way they did today and play the
Speaker 1: way they have this year. Absolutely. I mean, biggest crowd
Speaker 1: ever Paul Brown Stadium, over sixty six thousand, and they
Speaker 1: were boisterous, full throat. I mean they were into it
Speaker 1: from Jump Street. They were into it, and it caused
Speaker 1: false starts, penalties, it caused a communication being on the
Speaker 1: same page. It was massive. I'd say I can think
Speaker 1: of at least a half a dozen plays where the
Speaker 1: crowd noise was instrumental as the twelfth man on defense
Speaker 1: that caused the Raiders offense serious problems. Serious problems in
Speaker 1: terms of being able to relay information up and down
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage, being able to hear an audible,
Speaker 1: being able to hear a garden to tackle, changing their
Speaker 1: blocking call. I mean, all that stuff when you can't
Speaker 1: when you can't hear, and it all has to be
Speaker 1: done by signal or by not or wink or whatever. Man,
Speaker 1: that's that's you start to feel what unfortunately, what deaf
Speaker 1: people have to deal with every day. It's hard, man,
Speaker 1: It's hard. And that was a big plus form I think.
Speaker 1: I think playing at Paul Brown Stadium actually won them
Speaker 1: that football game. It's gonna be a lot of alcoholic
Speaker 1: innsum tonight. There's there's gonna be that's gonna be. Everybody's
Speaker 1: going to exceed their limit, and curfew is going to
Speaker 1: be broken. There is no curfew tonight for everybody. Everybody's
Speaker 1: gonna party hard and you know, and it's well earned.
Speaker 1: I feel very very happy for this football team. What
Speaker 1: they've done is well earned and even more well deserved.
Speaker 1: Or on the win and to look ahead to what's next.
Speaker 1: Join lapping me from Bengals Line Monday night from six
Speaker 1: to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this
Speaker 1: week's fun facts segment, and my guest is the shortest
Speaker 1: player on the Bengals roster. Time for some fun facts
Speaker 1: with wide receiver Trent Taylor from Shreveport, Louisiana in the
Speaker 1: upper left corner of the state. If you're looking at
Speaker 1: Louisiana on a map, not far from the Texas and
Speaker 1: Arkansas borders. Trent, tell us a little bit about where
Speaker 1: you grew up and some of the things you enjoyed
Speaker 1: doing when you were young. I grew up in Streeport.
Speaker 1: I actually moved there when I was in second grade.
Speaker 1: I was born in Tennessee, then moved up to move
Speaker 1: down to Streeport when I was in second grade and
Speaker 1: got very accointed with the Louisiana culture, fell in love
Speaker 1: with crawfish and gumbo and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I went to high school there. Then I
Speaker 1: went to Louisiana Tech, which is about an hour away.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I spent most of my life in Louisiana.
Speaker 1: And you are a football family. From what I can tell,
Speaker 1: your dad played college football at Western Kentucky. He's an
Speaker 1: author and a motivational speaker. Tell me a little bit
Speaker 1: about him and the impact he had on you becoming
Speaker 1: a professional athlete. He had the biggest impact on me.
Speaker 1: He I mean, he taught me everything growing up. He
Speaker 1: was always he was always my coach and all the
Speaker 1: different kinds of sports growing up. And if he wasn't
Speaker 1: my coach, I was I was still learning more from
Speaker 1: him than I was my other coaches. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: he just taught me everything about you know, how to work,
Speaker 1: how to compete, how to go get what you want.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I learned a lot from just watching him
Speaker 1: and and learning from him. So yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: the credit goes to him for me being where I
Speaker 1: in today. We're doing fun facts with Trent Taylor. You
Speaker 1: were blessed with speed, quickness, great eye, hand coordination, but
Speaker 1: not height. Were you always one of the smaller kids
Speaker 1: growing up? Yeah? I always was. I was always waiting
Speaker 1: for that moment where I was going to hit my
Speaker 1: growth spurt. Never really happened though, so still waiting for
Speaker 1: it though. You know, you never know what it could happen.
Speaker 1: Never hurts to dream. Did that put a chip on
Speaker 1: your shoulder? Yeah, definitely, I mean it was. I mean
Speaker 1: football is always the sport that I love more than anything.
Speaker 1: You know, I played every sport going up, but football
Speaker 1: was always what I wanted to do. And you know,
Speaker 1: in high school, I quit playing baseball, and I got
Speaker 1: a lot of flak for that from baseball coaches, like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're not the type of guy that
Speaker 1: plays football, you need to be playing baseball type of thing.
Speaker 1: I heard that from a lot of people. But I
Speaker 1: just continue to do what I loved and what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do, and uh, you know, I I kept
Speaker 1: believing in myself and just kept putting in the work,
Speaker 1: and luckily I've made it to where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I obviously want to do better than
Speaker 1: where I'm at right now in the NFL, but you know,
Speaker 1: I came a long ways though, for sure. How did
Speaker 1: you wind up at Louisiana Tech? Yeah, Louisiana Tech was
Speaker 1: my one offer coming out of high school. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't get too much attention just being five ft eight,
Speaker 1: you know, five foot eight white guy, they don't get
Speaker 1: too much attention. But you know, I put up a
Speaker 1: bunch of good stats in high school. Luckily, we threw
Speaker 1: the ball around a lot, so I had a million
Speaker 1: catches in high school, which helped a lot. So got
Speaker 1: me one offer, and that one offer was all I needed.
Speaker 1: A million catches in high school and in college. As
Speaker 1: a senior at Louisiana Tack, you led the nation in
Speaker 1: receiving yards with one thousand, eight hundred and three. Some
Speaker 1: of the other top receivers in college football that year
Speaker 1: included Juju Smith, Schuster, Corey Davis, John Ross. How big
Speaker 1: of a deal was it for you to lead all
Speaker 1: of college football in receiving yards. It was a big deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a big accompliment. Always something that
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. Definitely, one of my goals that
Speaker 1: year was to do that. And you know, luckily, we
Speaker 1: had a great offense at Louisiana Tech that gave me
Speaker 1: plenty of opportunities and you know, made the most of it.
Speaker 1: So I mean, yeah, that's what has given me a
Speaker 1: good opportunity to try to have a long career in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And so I'm still out here trying to
Speaker 1: do that. We're doing fun facts with Trent Taylor. You
Speaker 1: were drafted by the forty nine ers in the fifth
Speaker 1: round back in twenty seventeen. Describe your draft experience. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was great. I remember. I mean I was sitting
Speaker 1: there with my family all day long waiting. You know,
Speaker 1: my mom wanted to throw a draft party, and I
Speaker 1: was kind of hesitant on that, like, I don't want
Speaker 1: everyone to be here broken hearted if I don't get drafted,
Speaker 1: But sure we can throw a draft party. But then
Speaker 1: luckily got a call from San Francisco in the fifth
Speaker 1: round and talked to John Lange and Kyle Shanahan, and
Speaker 1: I mean, they're great. I love being there with them
Speaker 1: for four years. Yeah, so my time in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it out there, but happy to be here
Speaker 1: in Cincinnating with the Bengals. You had a really good
Speaker 1: rookie year with forty three catches, including twenty seven on
Speaker 1: third down that led all NFL rookies that year. You
Speaker 1: had a solid second season despite back surgery before that year,
Speaker 1: and then year three unfortunately with something of a nightmare
Speaker 1: because of a foot injury and an infection in your foot.
Speaker 1: Describe that ordeal. That whole road in my NFL career
Speaker 1: has been tough just to watch, to watch me have
Speaker 1: some success my rookie season and to think I was
Speaker 1: gonna just I thought that was you know, that was
Speaker 1: the bottom, you know, the platform that I was going
Speaker 1: to build off of um and then back surgery happened,
Speaker 1: and then, um, the foot surgery was something that was
Speaker 1: supposed to just keep me out for like two or
Speaker 1: three games, and then uh, you know, the screw and
Speaker 1: my foot was a little messed up. We had to
Speaker 1: go and redo it. And once we redid it, um
Speaker 1: the infection happened at that point, and then, um so
Speaker 1: I ended up missing the entire season that year, um
Speaker 1: just going foot a foot surgery after foot surgery and
Speaker 1: uh five five surgeries later, Um it was finally over with.
Speaker 1: But then the season was over at that point. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a lot. It was a lot to deal
Speaker 1: with and a lot that I had to try to
Speaker 1: build my body back from. Um So, so, I feel
Speaker 1: good with where I'm at right now. I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm continuing to um get faster and get back to
Speaker 1: where I used to be. Um So now I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of waiting on that opportunity to go out there
Speaker 1: and improve it. Forty nine Ers made the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: that year. I'm sure you were thrilled for your teammates
Speaker 1: and coaches, but it did did that make your personal
Speaker 1: situation even tougher? Yeah? Way tougher. Honestly, it was. It
Speaker 1: was emotional day at the Super Bowl. Um, just to
Speaker 1: like be in that atmosphere, to see how big of
Speaker 1: a stage it was. And the fact that I couldn't
Speaker 1: play it was because some doctors messed up my foot. Um,
Speaker 1: it just didn't sit right with me at all. So
Speaker 1: it was, I mean, it was. It was a time
Speaker 1: I'll always remember, a day that I'll always remember, just
Speaker 1: the way that I felt being out there watching it
Speaker 1: from the sidelines, and you know, watching our team lose
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, the way that we did something
Speaker 1: that will always motivate me and always I'll always remember.
Speaker 1: Here's hoping you get to participate healthy the next time around.
Speaker 1: You joined the Bengals this year as a free agent.
Speaker 1: You were promoted to the active roster for the Denver game,
Speaker 1: and afterward you treat it about tweeted about how great
Speaker 1: it felt to be back out there. What is it
Speaker 1: about football that you love so much? Man? It was
Speaker 1: like it was a feeling that I kind of forgot
Speaker 1: about because it feels like I haven't really been on
Speaker 1: the field and so long. But um, I mean that's
Speaker 1: that type of feeling that you get being out there
Speaker 1: on the football field is something that I don't think
Speaker 1: you can find anywhere else on this earth. It's that
Speaker 1: adrenaline rush that's just unmatched, and it's it's the reason
Speaker 1: why when people leave the game, it's so hard for
Speaker 1: him because to match that adrenaline rush somewhere somewhere else
Speaker 1: is extremely hard to do. And just being in front
Speaker 1: of so many people, and because like I was doing
Speaker 1: the opening kickoff for the Denver game and that's when
Speaker 1: it's like the loudest and man, that's just such a
Speaker 1: cool experience to be out there in the middle of
Speaker 1: the field when the crowd's born. I mean, those moments
Speaker 1: are the reason why you do it. So it was
Speaker 1: just it was an awesome time. A few wildcard categories
Speaker 1: to wrap things up. Who is your all time favorite
Speaker 1: athlete in any sport and why? I was thinking football,
Speaker 1: and I instantly thought of Barry Sanders, just like watching
Speaker 1: him run and move and juwe people out. That was
Speaker 1: always so much fun to watch. But then I also
Speaker 1: think of guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, just
Speaker 1: the way that their mentality was going into the game,
Speaker 1: the way that they prepared every single day. That kind
Speaker 1: of stuff was just unmatched. And you know something that
Speaker 1: I strive for some some some guys that I strive
Speaker 1: to be like because they loved the game unlike anyone else,
Speaker 1: and they were willing to do whatever it took to
Speaker 1: continue to play at a high level for as long
Speaker 1: as they could. And you know, that's the kind of
Speaker 1: mentality that I tried to take in my game as well.
Speaker 1: What do you like to splur John? I like vacations.
Speaker 1: I remember I always said, like they asked me in
Speaker 1: an interview in the NFL draft, what's the first big
Speaker 1: thing that I'm going to spend my money on. I
Speaker 1: always had a boat. Um, I always like going on
Speaker 1: like going on the lake, hanging with my hanging with
Speaker 1: my friends on the lake. But I haven't bought a
Speaker 1: boat yet. Um, maybe we'll get there one day. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say vacations. I like taking nice vacations. All right,
Speaker 1: last thing and I'll let you go. This is kind
Speaker 1: of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, politician,
Speaker 1: religious figure, whoever it might be, who would that person be?
Speaker 1: I mean, Jesus comes to mind. Does Jesus count? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: That's easy one right there. Yeah, I mean I got
Speaker 1: plenty of plenty of questions for him. I got a
Speaker 1: whole list of them, so beginning with why couldn't I
Speaker 1: have been six? Five? Yeah, that's that's a good one.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's number one on the list. Yeah, Trent,
Speaker 1: you're off the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best
Speaker 1: of luck the rest of the year. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now
Speaker 1: from the App Store and Google Play. And if you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and
Speaker 1: if you have a minute, give it a rating or
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thank you for listening to The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast.