Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Board and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast the I'mready, I'mredy audition. As the
Speaker 1: Bengals wrap up the preseason against the Colts and can
Speaker 1: turn their attention to the regular season opener against New
Speaker 1: England coming up, radio replays, locker room comments and postgame
Speaker 1: analysis from Dave Lappham. Then, in this week's fun Facts Conversation,
Speaker 1: you'll get to know of Bengals rookie who can play
Speaker 1: the violin. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
Speaker 1: by pay Core, proud to be the Bengals official hr
Speaker 1: software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Happy Gilmore two. I was a
Speaker 1: minor league baseball announcer from two thousand and six to
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, and there were a handful of comedies that
Speaker 1: I saw many times on late night bus rides, including
Speaker 1: Happy Gilmore. To this day, it remains one of those
Speaker 1: movies that if I'm flipping around on my TV remote
Speaker 1: and it's on, I'm probably going to watch for at
Speaker 1: least thirty minutes. Well nearly thirty years after the original
Speaker 1: came out, a sequel is in the works, and it
Speaker 1: even has an NFL tie, as Adam Sandler shared this
Speaker 1: week that Travis Kelcey will make a cameo. I doubt
Speaker 1: he'll have one of his hands bitten off by an
Speaker 1: alligator like Chubbs in the original, but I suppose that
Speaker 1: NFL defensive coordinators can hope. Now, let's get the football
Speaker 1: and the radio replays from Thursday nights preseason finale against
Speaker 1: the Colts. In seventeen days, the twenty twenty four season
Speaker 1: gets underway here at pay Corpse Stadium as the Bengals
Speaker 1: host the New England Patriots. But first, it's the final
Speaker 1: game of the preseason between the Bengals and the Indianapolis Colts,
Speaker 1: and it is time for the big skin to fly
Speaker 1: here in the jungle. Three receivers out to the right.
Speaker 1: Now Pittman motions to the left, second in goal from
Speaker 1: the nine, shotgun snap, Richardson, looking left, looks over the middle,
Speaker 1: throws caught at the six. Aden I Mitchell accelerates into
Speaker 1: the end zone for an Indianapolis touchdown, and Richardson's in
Speaker 1: the shotgun. On second down and ten from his own
Speaker 1: nine catches a low snap, quick.
Speaker 2: Popping touchdownn Bengals. A beautiful read by Jordan Battle.
Speaker 3: He caught it on the run and took it into
Speaker 3: the endzone for the Bengals touchdown.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that that ball was thrown behind the
Speaker 2: receiver by Richardson, just not a herry accurate throw whatsoever.
Speaker 2: And boy did did Battle make him pay.
Speaker 1: Richardson catches the shotgun snap, short drop, pump fakes begins, scrambling,
Speaker 1: gets hit the side, loses the ball and it looks
Speaker 1: like the Colts have it justin blaze it coming from
Speaker 1: the blind side, stripped it away from Anthony Richardson, but
Speaker 1: offensive lineman recovered. I think it was bouncing pigskin for Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: Might have been Nelson that recovered it.
Speaker 1: Fourth and goal from the three. The Colts could run
Speaker 1: it now since it's fourth down. Ellinger back to throw
Speaker 1: from the ten, forced to scramble to the left in trouble,
Speaker 1: throws off his back foot in completing the end zone,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals get a stop on fourth and goal
Speaker 1: from the three, Cedric Johnson and Devin Harper putting the
Speaker 1: heat on Ellinger and forcing the incompletion lake lock at four,
Speaker 1: Logan would say, ready blitz coming woodside, gonna lob it
Speaker 1: deep for Burton up the goal line.
Speaker 4: He's got it.
Speaker 1: Touchdown Bengals Jermaine Burton with his second touchdown catch of
Speaker 1: the preseason. He beat clay Fields and the Bengals score.
Speaker 2: There's no question that this guy has got some physical
Speaker 2: talent that is not being disputed. What he has to
Speaker 2: do is to get himself totally with the mindset of
Speaker 2: being a pro every single day, doing everything he possibly
Speaker 2: can to get himself mentally ready to play, because physically,
Speaker 2: this guy has got it.
Speaker 1: One forty nine left, Indy up by six. The Bengals
Speaker 1: have one time out remaining, third down and four for
Speaker 1: the Colts. Slovis hands it off and it's a first
Speaker 1: down run and much more, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: touchdown for Indianapolis as Dimitric Felton takes it forty yards
Speaker 1: to the house against the team that employed him on
Speaker 1: the practice squad a year ago. Rocky Lombardi takes a
Speaker 1: knee for the final time and the remaining thirty one
Speaker 1: seconds will run off the clock. Zach Taylor on his
Speaker 1: way out to the fifty to shake hands with Shane Steichen,
Speaker 1: and that'll do it tonight here at pay Court Stadium.
Speaker 1: The final score the Indianapolis Colts twenty seven the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals fourteen. Now time for a few postgame stats. Stopping
Speaker 1: the run with the biggest problem, as the Bengals allowed
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty three rushing yards on thirty seven carries.
Speaker 1: That's four point nine per attempt. But the starting defense
Speaker 1: didn't play at all, and the second team defensive line
Speaker 1: didn't play either. Miles Murphy is hurt and Chris Jenkins,
Speaker 1: Zach Carter, and Joseph Osai had the night off. Offensively,
Speaker 1: Logan Woodside basically went the distance at quarterback, except for
Speaker 1: a few kneel downs by Rocky Lombardi at the end
Speaker 1: of the game, and Woodside went sixteen for twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one with a touchdown, no picks, and a passer rating
Speaker 1: of one hundred point nine. That all sounds good, but
Speaker 1: the passes were mostly dinks and dunks. His woodside only
Speaker 1: threw for ninety eight yards in the game. He also
Speaker 1: coughed up a fumble. Linebacker Devin Harper led the team
Speaker 1: in tackles with eleven, and Muma Jong Medow was close
Speaker 1: behind with nine. Ryan Rico punted six times and it
Speaker 1: was a mixed bag as they ranged in distance from
Speaker 1: twenty nine yards to fifty seven. He could win the
Speaker 1: job by default, though, if Brad robbins Hip doesn't heal
Speaker 1: quickly enough. The bengals only offensive touchdown came on a
Speaker 1: twenty one yard catch by Jermaine Burton, who scored two
Speaker 1: of the three touchdowns that the offense put on the
Speaker 1: board in three preseason games. The third round pick finished
Speaker 1: the preseason with eight catches for one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: seven yards. That's nineteen point six per catch, which is
Speaker 1: about a yard life that what he averaged at Alabama
Speaker 1: last year. I went one on one with Jermaine after
Speaker 1: the game. Another touchdown catch two in three preseason games.
Speaker 1: How did you feel the preseason went for you?
Speaker 4: Overall it was smooth.
Speaker 5: Still a lot of things to get better on, regardless
Speaker 5: of what it is or what it looks like. I
Speaker 5: still have.
Speaker 1: I still made a lot.
Speaker 5: Of mistakes throughout preseason even practice, and that needs to
Speaker 5: be fixed. So, you know, more than blissed to make
Speaker 5: the players that I did. But at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, it's still about the details. So I'm trying
Speaker 5: to focus on what I did wrong.
Speaker 1: Describe the touchdown pass. It looked similar to the one
Speaker 1: that you had in the first preseason game, except on
Speaker 1: the opposite side of the field, running down the right
Speaker 1: sideline this time instead of the left.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was pretty much just uh he was press covered,
Speaker 5: so converted to a go.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And when the ball is in the air and it's
Speaker 1: you versus one guy, I think if you're on the
Speaker 1: ability to win that battle.
Speaker 5: Yeah for sure. Uh you know, I kind of I
Speaker 5: praised myself to that, and uh, you know, I just
Speaker 5: want to make the best of you know, my NFL career.
Speaker 5: So any opportunity I get, you know, I just hope
Speaker 5: to make a memory out of it, you know, and
Speaker 5: and if it's if it doesn't go my way, then
Speaker 5: learn from it. So you know, yeah, more than blessed
Speaker 5: to make the place that I did. I'm just trying
Speaker 5: to just trying to keep working a getting better.
Speaker 1: We're chatting to Jermaine Burton, as you said, trying to
Speaker 1: clean things up, try to eliminate some of the mistakes
Speaker 1: that rookies make. Is that just kind of par for
Speaker 1: the course when you're making the jump from college football
Speaker 1: to the NFL.
Speaker 5: Oh, it can be you know, it depends on how
Speaker 5: some guys handled it. You know I could have been
Speaker 5: with I could have been better on how I've been
Speaker 5: handling my business and uh in my preseason, you know
Speaker 5: I could have you know, I could lock in more
Speaker 5: on my details and like I said, the things that
Speaker 5: I did wrong.
Speaker 4: But you know, it's all about how you handle it.
Speaker 5: You know, it's all about what it means to you.
Speaker 5: And you know, I feel like I need to do
Speaker 5: a better job of showing how much this means to
Speaker 5: me because I know my potential as a player, and
Speaker 5: you know, it's about that time. You know, it's about
Speaker 5: to get real, it's about to be regular season. So
Speaker 5: I'm just trying to you know, prove to my coaches
Speaker 5: and still gain trust to my quarterbacks and my teammates
Speaker 5: that I can you know, continue to make those kind
Speaker 5: of plays.
Speaker 1: That's pretty candid. I mean, it sounds like there's some
Speaker 1: good self awareness on your part that you can take
Speaker 1: it up a notch.
Speaker 5: Ye one hundred percent. Uh, you know, nobody's perfect, but
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, you don't want to
Speaker 5: get caught up in, you know, even the plays that
Speaker 5: I made and stuff like that, like yeah, like you know,
Speaker 5: that's why they that's why they got me, and that's
Speaker 5: you know, that's what they drafted me for. So I
Speaker 5: just want to keep doing what they drafted me to do.
Speaker 5: And you know, regardless, I still got to watch for
Speaker 5: my mistakes I make and still worry about those more
Speaker 5: than the set like the touchdowns and stuff and catches.
Speaker 1: Well, the touchdowns are fun to call, and you have
Speaker 1: averaged more than twenty yards I think on your preseason catches,
Speaker 1: So congratulations on that. Keep grinding and look forward to
Speaker 1: the regular season starting in two and a half weeks.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 1: I need to do a better job of showing how
Speaker 1: much this means to me. That's quite a statement by
Speaker 1: your Maane Burton. If his actions match his words, going forward,
Speaker 1: the Bengals could have a special player. Now, let's hear
Speaker 1: what head coach Zach Taylor had to say. Is he
Speaker 1: spent a few minutes with Dave Lapham after the game.
Speaker 2: Trade Yon Williams of pros Pro. I mean the guy
Speaker 2: goes out there eleven carries sixty six yards. I mean,
Speaker 2: he does exactly what he's supposed to do, doesn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he hasn't gotten a lot of carries in season obviously,
Speaker 3: so I think it's important for him to get his
Speaker 3: work now and kind of feel that rhythm that you
Speaker 3: can get into if we need to call upon him
Speaker 3: in a game.
Speaker 2: Jordan battle with a big pick six, huge, huge play.
Speaker 2: But he also he's been playing very consistently on special
Speaker 2: teams this preseason in last year as well, didn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's taking the next step there in that area.
Speaker 3: Obviously put a lot of defense at Alabama, So again
Speaker 3: he's been a solid player for us that continues to improve.
Speaker 2: What else do you did you see that you liked
Speaker 2: out there?
Speaker 3: I thought the defense played with a lot of energy.
Speaker 3: You know, in the first half. Offensively score some points,
Speaker 3: take the pressure off of them. But they got seven points.
Speaker 3: They got some big stops that were playing against starters.
Speaker 3: I thought that was good to see. I thought pass
Speaker 3: protection wise on offense, our guys did a good job.
Speaker 3: Obviously gave up one against their starters early in the game,
Speaker 3: but we're able to give Logan a.
Speaker 4: Chance there half.
Speaker 2: I think it was one penalty for five yards and
Speaker 2: didn't turn the football over. So I mean, in terms
Speaker 2: of that part of the cleaning that part of the
Speaker 2: game up, it was a major improvement.
Speaker 4: It was good.
Speaker 3: And I just got to score points, you know, that's
Speaker 3: the name of the game. And I think we ran
Speaker 3: forty plays maybe, so it's about as few as you
Speaker 3: ever get to do, and so you just got to
Speaker 3: maximize opportunities to give yourself more more more.
Speaker 2: Plays getting past the midfield. You were getting into there,
Speaker 2: tib but you didn't have a red zone snap until
Speaker 2: at some point I think in the third quarter or
Speaker 2: something like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, some those are things going backwards on,
Speaker 3: nakeds and screens and some things that you typically are
Speaker 3: not counting on going backwards on, and tonight was just
Speaker 3: kind of one of those nights.
Speaker 2: So I guess now the big decisions come. I mean,
Speaker 2: we talked about it in the pregame. It's it's always
Speaker 2: a difficult time. It's celebratory for a lot of guys
Speaker 2: that make a football team, but then other guys that
Speaker 2: might have been with you for a while or gave
Speaker 2: everything they had that they weren't with you for a
Speaker 2: while and wasn't quite enough. That's tough, isn't it.
Speaker 4: It's tough.
Speaker 3: There's tough conversations. You've invested, got relationships with them. The
Speaker 3: blow is a little bit softened now that the practice
Speaker 3: squad sixteen guys, so there's more guys that you get
Speaker 3: an opportunity to keep around. But still it's a tough
Speaker 3: conversation with a lot of guys.
Speaker 2: And then once the fifty three man roster is set
Speaker 2: for the first time, I mean there's some tweaking that
Speaker 2: can go on. I mean there's a few days there
Speaker 2: where you can add and delete, right, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, twenty four hours later there's a claim and then
Speaker 3: there's another claim waiver, and so always be looking. I
Speaker 3: think that's what Duke and his staff do a great
Speaker 3: job of always assessing how to make our team better.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, we've invested in a lot
Speaker 3: of these guys, and so it's right to give them
Speaker 3: an opportunity.
Speaker 2: You have pushed your team. I mean I thought the
Speaker 2: practices were very, very competitive, and then when you had
Speaker 2: the joint practices they were uber competitive. A lot of
Speaker 2: energy there pre season work. I mean, there's been a
Speaker 2: lot of snaps out there. Do you feel good about
Speaker 2: where the team is.
Speaker 3: We've gotten the right amount of work with the right physicality,
Speaker 3: with the right opponent in multiple cases, and so I
Speaker 3: think these guys are ready to start preparing for New England.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time as always, sir, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: The Bengals finished the preseason oh to three after going
Speaker 1: two to one a year ago, but it's hard to
Speaker 1: put much stock in the record considering how little the
Speaker 1: starter's played. The good news is that all of their
Speaker 1: projected starters are healthy, unless you think that Amrius Mims
Speaker 1: would have won the right tackle job over Trent Brown,
Speaker 1: and who knows, perhaps in two and a half weeks
Speaker 1: Mimes will be healthy too. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the
Speaker 1: Bengals official HR software provider. By Alta Fiber future proof
Speaker 1: fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community
Speaker 1: to a new level and by Kettering Health the best
Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time for the radio
Speaker 1: guys recap lapt The preseason ends with a twenty seven
Speaker 1: to fourteen loss to the Indianapolis Colts. I think we
Speaker 1: have to start with Jermaine Burton. Four catches for fifty
Speaker 1: six yards, including a touchdown, his second of the preseason.
Speaker 1: The talent jumps off the screen. This kid has to
Speaker 1: master the playbook, where to line up, what routes to run, etc.
Speaker 1: Because if he can master those kinds of things, he
Speaker 1: can be a major weapon for the Cincinnati team.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean there is no questioning his physical attributes,
Speaker 2: his talent. But I mean he's got miles to go
Speaker 2: before he rests in terms of learning how to prepare
Speaker 2: to be a professional. And it's like you can't overdo it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't put enough time into the playbook.
Speaker 2: If you think you got it, you've got to go
Speaker 2: over it again. You just got to make sure you
Speaker 2: can't take it for granted. For him, I guess it's
Speaker 2: almost sad to say, but Unfortunately, his talent is at
Speaker 2: such a high level. He's just been able to not
Speaker 2: do that part of it, you know, and be able
Speaker 2: to thrive, not just exists, but thrive. And then you
Speaker 2: see plays he's making out there. I mean, he's two
Speaker 2: incredible touchdown catches and other plays for the Bengals during
Speaker 2: the course of preseason. He is gifted. I mean, God
Speaker 2: has blessed him with every physical talent that you'd want
Speaker 2: to have if you're a wide receiver. And I mean,
Speaker 2: if he would put more time and effort into the
Speaker 2: other part of it, the mental part of it, I mean,
Speaker 2: think how really great he could be. And honestly, it's
Speaker 2: like if he doesn't and the first time in a
Speaker 2: critical situation he's not where he's supposed to be when
Speaker 2: he's supposed to be there and number nine is looking
Speaker 2: for him and he's nowhere to be found, or number
Speaker 2: nine puts it there and he's not there and the
Speaker 2: other team gets it, that'll be that. I mean, there's
Speaker 2: no trust at that point, and you'd hate to see that,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Talk to him after the game, he sounded self aware.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he will do exactly what he needs to do
Speaker 1: to be the kind of player he can be, because again,
Speaker 1: the talent is extraordinary.
Speaker 2: No question. I mean it's as good as you know
Speaker 2: on so many levels, so many things that he does.
Speaker 2: He runs really good routes, he's long arms, I mean,
Speaker 2: he's fast, he's short spaced, quickness. There's not one thing
Speaker 2: that he doesn't have physically. It's amazing, it really is.
Speaker 1: On the flip side, Travion Williams not blessed with unbelievable
Speaker 1: speed or size or anything like that, but the solid
Speaker 1: pro that's the reason why he's lasted as long as
Speaker 1: he has as a member of this team. Eleven carries
Speaker 1: sixty six yards, five catches for eleven more and played
Speaker 1: a lot for a guy who's certainly going to be
Speaker 1: on this team. In the final preseason game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Zach looked at it like he hasn't had
Speaker 2: a whole lot of carries, you know, in the last
Speaker 2: few years. So he's going to get his carries in
Speaker 2: the preseason. He's going to fine tune his craft in
Speaker 2: the preseason. And Travion has no problem with that. You know,
Speaker 2: check the ego at the door. Don't care who I'm
Speaker 2: playing with, I don't care when I'm playing what stage
Speaker 2: of the game. I'm playing football. I'm a football player,
Speaker 2: I'm a professional football player. I'm going to give every
Speaker 2: ounce of effort to every single snap that I possibly can.
Speaker 2: A great example for a Burton, tremendous example. I mean,
Speaker 2: Trevion Williams will do anything he's asked to do to
Speaker 2: help his football team get better and win games. And
Speaker 2: I mean he had fun talking to him after the
Speaker 2: game to look on his face and the satisfaction a
Speaker 2: job well done. And he enjoys football, enjoys everything about it.
Speaker 2: And you can't have enough guys like that on your roster.
Speaker 1: The Bengals first touchdown was scored on defense Jordan Battle
Speaker 1: of the fourteen yard pick six. It's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how he develops this year because he's
Speaker 1: probably not going to get a ton of playing time
Speaker 1: with Genostone and Von Bell set to start at safety,
Speaker 1: but he'll get in there in certain situations. And furthermore,
Speaker 1: he needs to be a sponge around Von Bell because
Speaker 1: Von's not going to play forever and when he's finished,
Speaker 1: Jordan Battle has the ability to be Von Bell like.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, I mean, Jordan Battle has got football IQ
Speaker 2: there's no question. Now it doesn't have you know, as
Speaker 2: many repetitions and the experience that that Von Bell has
Speaker 2: under his belt. But the thing that impressed me about him,
Speaker 2: he took another step in terms of special teams playing
Speaker 2: the preseason from what he was doing last year. And
Speaker 2: that tells me that this guy is serious about, you know,
Speaker 2: about his career and playing the game of professional football. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're gonna run plenty of three safety packages in this
Speaker 2: division the way they run the football, so he'll be
Speaker 2: on the field, you know, in those three safety package things.
Speaker 2: But it'll be interesting to see how how creative lou
Speaker 2: gets and how much how much time he will get,
Speaker 2: how many snaps he will get, and you know, God
Speaker 2: forbid one of those guys get snicked up. You have
Speaker 2: a guy like him, that's a that's a good feeling
Speaker 2: for lou Anirumo and the coaches to have. On the
Speaker 2: defensive side of the football. You can't have another froster
Speaker 2: depth at any position really in this league. But yeah,
Speaker 2: he's I think he's I think he's got what it takes.
Speaker 2: You know, he's he's in a situation where he's naturally
Speaker 2: a pretty big body guy and he's always trying to
Speaker 2: make sure that you know, he's at the weight that
Speaker 2: they want him to be at and all the things
Speaker 2: to go along with it from a conditioning standpoint. And
Speaker 2: he's there, and he's he's worked hard to get there,
Speaker 2: and I think he's going to have a big year.
Speaker 2: I think that you know, he's he's not gonna plateau.
Speaker 2: I think he's going to continue to as send Let's
Speaker 2: put it that way.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have to make roster cuts between now and
Speaker 1: next Tuesday. The lineback position is going to be really interesting.
Speaker 1: That fifth linebacker spot. Muma John Meta has had an
Speaker 1: excellent preseason, will lead the team in tackles at the
Speaker 1: end of three preseason games. Devin Harper gives you more
Speaker 1: special teams value, and he played well in the final
Speaker 1: preseason game. The Bengals obviously owe it to themselves to
Speaker 1: see who's out there on the waiver wire. Maybe linebacker
Speaker 1: is a spot that they will target, But that's one
Speaker 1: of the more intriguing decisions. I think that's coming up
Speaker 1: over the next few days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you, Dan. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: Shaka Hayward is played well at training camp. It's it's
Speaker 2: not like, you know, forget about him. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: in the competition. Muma has played exceptionally well, as you say,
Speaker 2: and Harper has been going into tonight's game three special
Speaker 2: teams tackles. You know, we're amongst the league leaders. So
Speaker 2: and he's done that well, and he's going to continue
Speaker 2: to do that well. And and when you're making the evaluation,
Speaker 2: I mean, Darren, Darren will probably stand up and say, look,
Speaker 2: he's going to get a lot of special teams for me,
Speaker 2: snaps for me. How many snaps will Muma get defensively,
Speaker 2: And he's not might not get as many special team
Speaker 2: snaps from me as Harper might. So all of that,
Speaker 2: you know, is in the discussion, and then somebody might
Speaker 2: be out there it's like, wow, you kidding me, this
Speaker 2: guy's out here. This guy is going to make our
Speaker 2: linebacker corps you know, a lot better, a lot deeper.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, it's it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 2: see the juxtaposition of you know, all the rosters in
Speaker 2: the National Football League, just not here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: The final preseason game is always an interesting night for
Speaker 1: somebody like justin Blazek Division III guy out of Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: Platfell really hadn't done all that much in practice or
Speaker 1: in the two preseason games prior to this one, but
Speaker 1: he was excellent tonight, had a strip, sack, a bunch
Speaker 1: of tackles. If this turns out to be his final
Speaker 1: football game, and hopefully for his sake, it isn't, but
Speaker 1: if it is, he had a great night on national TV.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean I think you know, he realized I
Speaker 2: got to go, and he got himself up and he
Speaker 2: played at another level. And that's all you can do,
Speaker 2: is the best you can do. Lay it all out there.
Speaker 2: It's not good enough, so be it. But the last
Speaker 2: thing you want to do is say, oh man, I
Speaker 2: wish I just you know, finished that player given a
Speaker 2: little bit more offert on this one. That's the worst
Speaker 2: feeling in the world is you put your head on
Speaker 2: the pillow, you know, after the last preseason game, when
Speaker 2: it's like this is your last opportunity, you think, did
Speaker 2: I leave it all out there? That's terrible feeling. He's
Speaker 2: not gonna have that feeling. He'll sleep like a baby
Speaker 2: because he gave it all. I mean, he he put
Speaker 2: it all on the on the field. And if it
Speaker 2: if it's good enough for somebody or somebody's practice squad,
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be, mission accomplished if not give
Speaker 2: it everything, you had no regrets.
Speaker 1: What'd you think of Cedric Johnson tonight?
Speaker 2: I think he showed that you know, he's he's got
Speaker 2: he's got some juice, he's got a little bit of
Speaker 2: a little bit of game to him. I think he's
Speaker 2: somebody that I think the Bengals are going to try
Speaker 2: to develop. But again, you know, if you if you
Speaker 2: waive them to get him on your practice squad, they
Speaker 2: have to clear waivers. So, uh, you know, it's like now,
Speaker 2: now you have to make that decision do I do
Speaker 2: I keep this extra extra you know, young guy? And
Speaker 2: the fifty three happens and you know he know now
Speaker 2: now is he gonna clear waivers? Again? It playing playing
Speaker 2: the roster game is a tough one. You gotta you gotta,
Speaker 2: you know, guess right and hope that nobody out there,
Speaker 2: you know, uh, claims the guy that you're trying to
Speaker 2: slide through and play roster games with. So he he
Speaker 2: may fall into that category, or he may be somebody like, hey,
Speaker 2: he showed enough where you know, we're thin at that
Speaker 2: spot right now. But again on the wave wire. There
Speaker 2: may be somebody with a little more experience who's at
Speaker 2: the same level as he is right now. But you know,
Speaker 2: you don't know what his ceiling is. I mean, he's raw,
Speaker 2: he's he's young, he's raw. You developed this guy, his
Speaker 2: ceiling may be a heck of a lot higher, and
Speaker 2: you don't want to miss out on that opportunity as well.
Speaker 2: So it drives you nuts trying to figure all this out,
Speaker 2: and uh, and just you just hope that that everything
Speaker 2: all the pieces fall your way.
Speaker 1: You know, at the beginning of the broadcast, you did
Speaker 1: lapse keys to the game tonight, the first thing on
Speaker 1: your list, no more injuries to peer you got your wish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they I think they came out clean
Speaker 2: that way, which is which is good because man, to
Speaker 2: lose three guys for the season in uh, in the preseason,
Speaker 2: that's that's tough. That's tough. And uh, you know, how
Speaker 2: long how long will Murphy be out? They're saying four
Speaker 2: to six weeks. Hopefully that's you know, no longer than that,
Speaker 2: and hopefully it's on the short side of that. Hopefully
Speaker 2: it's so a month down the road. And then you
Speaker 2: know that might be a couple of games that he
Speaker 2: that he might miss, but you know, at least it's
Speaker 2: weeks and not months, so you know that looking on
Speaker 2: the bright side of it. But yeah, that was enough
Speaker 2: from the injury standpoint, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Does an zero to three preseason record bother you at all?
Speaker 2: It really doesn't, because I mean, you know, I look
Speaker 2: at I look at how the other teams approached it,
Speaker 2: how the Bengals approached it. I'm not shocked that that
Speaker 2: was the outcome in terms of how they handled personnel
Speaker 2: for those games. I'm looking at more of from preparation
Speaker 2: for the the regular season. How hard did they work
Speaker 2: at practice? And they had so many team periods and
Speaker 2: you know, situational periods. They at practice, they did a
Speaker 2: lot of football. You know, it wasn't it wasn't you know,
Speaker 2: shorts and T shirts and running around and playing underwear ball.
Speaker 2: They did a lot of football, and they I thought
Speaker 2: they grinded pretty well, and they get tired of each
Speaker 2: other a little bit, and then you know, start playing
Speaker 2: in the joint practice and they get tired of the
Speaker 2: joint practice situation a little bit. So I do think
Speaker 2: that I do think that from a physicality standpoint and
Speaker 2: a workload standpoint. I'm not I don't feel like they're
Speaker 2: not ready, you know for that opener against the Patriots,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, number nine he's healthy and ready.
Speaker 2: That's that's that's a big tie breaker right there for sure, man.
Speaker 1: And hopefully throwing to number one sometime soon.
Speaker 2: No question about that. I mean, that guy is not
Speaker 2: only one of the best receivers in the game, he's
Speaker 2: one of the best football players in the game. And
Speaker 2: the bubble up is going to happen. I just hope
Speaker 2: that that bubblers percolating sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the time, Go get some sleep.
Speaker 2: You do the same, sir. Great job.
Speaker 1: So now the Bengals will go through the process of
Speaker 1: trimming the roster. They'll have to cut thirty three players
Speaker 1: to get down to fifty three by Tuesday at four o'clock.
Speaker 1: Then the following day they can bring a significant number
Speaker 1: of those players back on the sixteen man practice squad.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see if they claim anybody on waivers.
Speaker 1: Linebacker and running back would seem like possibilities, but it
Speaker 1: obviously depends on who's available. Last, but not least, it's
Speaker 1: time for this week's Fun Facts Conversation, where you get
Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Time for Fun
Speaker 1: Facts with Rocky running back Elijah Collins from the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 1: What are some of your favorite things about home.
Speaker 6: Or say the food primarily, I'd be the first thing,
Speaker 6: either my mom's cooking or the surrounding areas. You know,
Speaker 6: I'm always down for a coney dog, big Detroit guy obviously,
Speaker 6: But those two things and the ultimately my family probably
Speaker 6: my third biggest thing.
Speaker 1: You attended a prestigious high school Detroit Jesuit. Was it
Speaker 1: strict and did you have a dress code?
Speaker 4: It was very strict.
Speaker 6: They wanted you to be on time, They wanted you to,
Speaker 6: you know, dress properly. They want you to learn how
Speaker 6: to tie a tie at a young age. I mean,
Speaker 6: it's all part of it. But it helped me develop
Speaker 6: and be the man who I am today.
Speaker 1: So you were wearing a tie every day to high.
Speaker 6: School every single day. If I didn't have a sweater.
Speaker 6: Sweaters were the only times you can get out of
Speaker 6: wearing the tie. But or yeah, because I mean if
Speaker 6: you had a dress code, then you definitely had.
Speaker 4: A tie on.
Speaker 1: We're visiting of Elijah Collins. As a sophomore, you played
Speaker 1: on an undefeated state championship basketball team. I've read that
Speaker 1: you were the defensive stopper. Was that the case?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, undoubtedly. That team that he was very loaded,
Speaker 6: has a very prestigious atta. He's playing that team with
Speaker 6: me as well, Scottie knows, and Cash's Winston.
Speaker 4: I mean, the list kind of goes on.
Speaker 6: My whole team is either playing Division one sports football
Speaker 6: or basketball, So I mean being part of that team
Speaker 6: was kind of it was a dream, and being the
Speaker 6: defensive stopper was definitely one of the things that we needed.
Speaker 6: Catches a lot of facilitating and scoring the ball. I mean,
Speaker 6: we had somebody to shut down their best player every
Speaker 6: single game, and that was my primary role.
Speaker 1: So as the story goes, former Michigan State coach Mark
Speaker 1: D'Antonio comes to your school in the winters during the
Speaker 1: basketball season. He sees you with the basketball team and
Speaker 1: says to your coach, what position does that kid play
Speaker 1: on the football team? And your coach said, he doesn't
Speaker 1: play football, and coach D'Antonio said, well he should. Why
Speaker 1: weren't you playing football in tenth grade?
Speaker 6: So in the tenth grade, me and my dad made
Speaker 6: a decision to I mean, to chase goes and things
Speaker 6: that we had, and one of the things that we
Speaker 6: had coming off of a short ended freshman campaign where
Speaker 6: we ended up being the final four and losing. That
Speaker 6: was my last year playing with my brother in high school,
Speaker 6: so it was kind of, you know, at that time,
Speaker 6: one of the biggest moments in my life, very detrimental
Speaker 6: to a young kid who was just getting the field
Speaker 6: for everything my freshman year on varsity. So it's like
Speaker 6: it really kind of it really meant a lot to me.
Speaker 6: So after losing that game and realizing that, like it's
Speaker 6: a chance that we have a chance to go all
Speaker 6: the way, me and my dad said go, And it
Speaker 6: was like, we're gonna give the whole summer, put away football,
Speaker 6: put away track, all of that just to play basketball
Speaker 6: and commit and see how far it goes and what
Speaker 6: we would get from. And we got what we wanted,
Speaker 6: won the state championship undefeated and got them so.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. Then it was back to football in
Speaker 1: eleventh and twelfth grade. I was reading about a game
Speaker 1: you had in high school with six touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: following ways, three rushing one, receiving one is a kick
Speaker 1: returner had to pick six on defense. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that I've heard of a game like that. What were
Speaker 1: the next few days? Like after that game?
Speaker 6: After that, I knew that I could do something special
Speaker 6: on the football field. I mean I was breaking records
Speaker 6: left and right, like people were telling me that I
Speaker 6: had a good chance I played at the next level.
Speaker 6: So it was just like, well, how can I do that?
Speaker 6: Like what does it take? And as you can see
Speaker 6: from that game, I was willing to do anything. Return
Speaker 6: the kicks, played defense and honestly scored the ball and
Speaker 6: whatever fashion.
Speaker 1: When it came time to pick a college, you decided
Speaker 1: to stay in the state of Michigan and play at
Speaker 1: Michigan State. What appealed to you about going to East Lansing.
Speaker 6: Well, I wanted to be away from home, but not
Speaker 6: as far so my people could come still to the game.
Speaker 6: And then on top of that, me and Mark D'Antonio
Speaker 6: had a really good relationship outside of just like football, like,
Speaker 6: we talked a lot. He was always in my ear
Speaker 6: as a process went on. He was very thorough with communicating.
Speaker 6: As you can see, he came to the basketball game
Speaker 6: so he was more interested in me as a person
Speaker 6: than so much as a football player. And from then on,
Speaker 6: I mean, me and him built the relationship and then
Speaker 6: when the time was time, I mean, it's kind of
Speaker 6: a easy decision.
Speaker 1: You spent five years at Michigan State and earned your degree,
Speaker 1: but because of the COVID rules, you had an extra
Speaker 1: year of eligibility and decided to spend it last year
Speaker 1: at Oklahoma State. Why did you want to play for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys?
Speaker 6: First and foremost, I mean, just the lineage in the history.
Speaker 6: Coach Gundy has a great team and he has a
Speaker 6: great process over there. He knows how to win games
Speaker 6: and get things rolling. They've always had a good running game,
Speaker 6: So for me, it was like just betting on myself
Speaker 6: and also going somewhere that I mean that also bettered
Speaker 6: me as a football player, and that's a running back.
Speaker 6: With the running back over there, they do everything they run, black, catch,
Speaker 6: and even motion to mount. So just added more to
Speaker 6: my game. And knowing that they had the skills and
Speaker 6: the coaching that could do that, that's really what I
Speaker 6: wanted to do going to Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: One of your teammates last year was Ali Gordon, who
Speaker 1: led the nation in rushing. When you were at Michigan State,
Speaker 1: one of your teammates was Kenneth Walker, who was second
Speaker 1: in the nation in rushing. So you were teammates with
Speaker 1: guys that had phenomenal years and I'm sure you were
Speaker 1: thrilled for them when you were running back on the
Speaker 1: same roster. That means fewer carries for you. Is that tough?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't even say it was tough.
Speaker 6: It was just the best way to learn, because I mean,
Speaker 6: you gotta understand that there's other great players out there.
Speaker 6: You're not the only one. So it's just like learning
Speaker 6: from other guys, watching them go out there and the
Speaker 6: way they practice, the way they compete, and I mean
Speaker 6: just taking what I can from them, given that both
Speaker 6: of them both can. In all they both younger than
Speaker 6: me both, but seeing how they practice and approach the
Speaker 6: game from a different viewpoint allowed me to change and
Speaker 6: add things to my game that ultimately led me here
Speaker 6: and honestly gonna leak I'll lead to the NFL, and
Speaker 6: I mean can to continue to do great things with
Speaker 6: the Seahawks, cause I mean like watching it and competing
Speaker 6: with both of them. I mean, those are two of
Speaker 6: my brothers. I go talk to them both right now,
Speaker 6: and it's just like, you know, we always sharpened each other,
Speaker 6: like we always competed, we always supported one another. So
Speaker 6: it was just like, I mean, I was just happy
Speaker 6: for my brothers, like both of them, honestly, because without that,
Speaker 6: I mean, I might not have learned or it might
Speaker 6: have been different for me, you know, telling So it's
Speaker 6: just like, I'm actually very for both of my brothers
Speaker 6: in those situations, because it's just I mean, if it's
Speaker 6: not me, I definitely wanted to beat them.
Speaker 1: Visiting with running back Elijah Collins, you were a game
Speaker 1: captain last year when Oklahoma State played Oklahoma the final
Speaker 1: game of the famous Bedlam rivalry. At least for now,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State won. Fans charged the field, they ripped down
Speaker 1: a goal post. Did you stay out there for the
Speaker 1: celebration or did you hustle to the locker room for safety?
Speaker 6: So honestly, the fans got to me before I could
Speaker 6: even move, So I mean the game was over, like
Speaker 6: we stormed the field, But like I mean, as it
Speaker 6: was happening, I'm looking across the field and I look
Speaker 6: back into a wall of fans. I'm like, ah, so
Speaker 6: the fans kind of got to jump on me. I
Speaker 6: missed all of this. I'm sitting there looking for my
Speaker 6: girlfriend at the time, who was still my girlfriend today,
Speaker 6: and we ended up finding each other by the grace
Speaker 6: of God, if I'm being honest, And that's probably one
Speaker 6: of the biggest and best moments of my life really
Speaker 6: being because I mean, I know how important Reverie games are,
Speaker 6: I mean, coming from a different conference and trying to
Speaker 6: like get adjusted to that, and it also being the
Speaker 6: last Bellum. Like, it was a lot of hypes around
Speaker 6: in the game and before the game, I mean people
Speaker 6: were talking online and everything, but I don't do too
Speaker 6: much talking, just all about play. And we went out
Speaker 6: there and did that as a team. We won the
Speaker 6: Last Bellum.
Speaker 1: You signed with the Bengals as a college free agent
Speaker 1: right after the draft. What appealed about Cincinnati.
Speaker 6: Cincinnati was the same way, just like Oklahoma State, they
Speaker 6: could do everything with the back I mean, sort of
Speaker 6: fits my play style. Kind of the schemes that we do.
Speaker 6: We get the back outside, get the back to the
Speaker 6: receiver position. We get the back one on one I mean,
Speaker 6: pick up and pass pro run downhill, and the schemes
Speaker 6: are sort of similar, so everything is kind of it
Speaker 6: sounds the same, but it's called something different. So for me,
Speaker 6: it's just adjusting about or adjusting with just I guess
Speaker 6: the NFL level NFL skill in the speed of the game.
Speaker 4: But I mean the.
Speaker 6: Bengals were probably just my best option genuinely speaking, I
Speaker 6: mean they had interest in me and interest was mutual.
Speaker 1: So a few wild card topics now for running back
Speaker 1: Elijah Collins, who is your all time favorite athlete in
Speaker 1: any sport?
Speaker 4: That's tough.
Speaker 6: I mean, growing up playing a lot of basketball, it
Speaker 6: probably would be Kobe Bryant genuinely because it's mentality.
Speaker 4: I admire that.
Speaker 6: A lot about him is his day and day out
Speaker 6: work mentality, and it's like, well, I'm gonna work while
Speaker 6: you sleep, and I kinda I kind of live by
Speaker 6: that sort of now to this day, like that mama
Speaker 6: mentality where it's just like, no matter what day it is,
Speaker 6: i'ma my best for forward and really chop as hard
Speaker 6: as I can, because I mean, you never know when
Speaker 6: it might be your last day at practice or your
Speaker 6: last game, your last scrimmage, So it's just like giving
Speaker 6: it y'all all the time. And with every time that
Speaker 6: you got so that I mean, number one, you're prepared,
Speaker 6: and number two that I mean like you're not like
Speaker 6: I said, you're not youn't gotta get rid.
Speaker 4: You always prepared. That's just probably my biggest thing.
Speaker 1: You had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. How
Speaker 1: do you celebrate your birthday in the middle of your
Speaker 1: first NFL training camp? Do you so?
Speaker 6: I mean it being my birthday on August first, it's
Speaker 6: been that way, so like my entire life's been that way, genuinely, so,
Speaker 6: I mean, me and football got a real special relationship,
Speaker 6: if that makes sense. I've really never celebrated my football football,
Speaker 6: but my birthday outside of football, it's always been just
Speaker 6: I mean, well five happy birthday, you know.
Speaker 4: Back to practice. But luckily this year I was able to.
Speaker 6: Have my parents come down and after practice they were
Speaker 6: able to watch practice with me and be there, and
Speaker 6: then after practice I was able to take the pictures
Speaker 6: with them and go out to eat for like an
Speaker 6: hour or two. So it's kind of nice having them
Speaker 6: be here for a change versus just just being me
Speaker 6: and my teammates all the time.
Speaker 4: But that's genuinely how I do it. Just for practice.
Speaker 1: Do you have any hidden talents?
Speaker 6: I grew up playing the violin, so like, I haven't
Speaker 6: played the violin in a long time, but like I
Speaker 6: always want to get back to it. But as you
Speaker 6: can see, I'm doing other things playing football, but playing
Speaker 6: violin is probably my most hidden talent. I don't really
Speaker 6: tell it to me people that or people don't really
Speaker 6: know that about me.
Speaker 1: I haven't had many players tell me they played the
Speaker 1: violin over the years. What did you do in the
Speaker 1: Rookie Talent Show?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 6: On the Rookie Talent Show, So we did a little
Speaker 6: like game show kind of thing where we did some
Speaker 6: impersonations and me and my good friend Noah Kane running
Speaker 6: back made as you as we beginning to know each other,
Speaker 6: we kind of talk a little bit, and we kind
Speaker 6: of figured out we make a little skit, you know,
Speaker 6: to make people actually laugh, try out to do nothing
Speaker 6: to quaranty you know what I mean. We wanted to
Speaker 6: get some chuck with out of people. So we impersonated
Speaker 6: one of our strength coaches in I mean, the room
Speaker 6: loved it. He loved it, and we talked about it too.
Speaker 6: Actually we wouldn't try to, like know, had no hard
Speaker 6: feelings or nothing.
Speaker 1: It was all love, so outstanding. Final fun fact for
Speaker 1: Elijah Collins, This one's kind of deep. If you could
Speaker 1: meet anybody in history, living or deceased, who would that
Speaker 1: person be?
Speaker 6: It had to be one and only Jesus Christ. The
Speaker 6: reason being is just I really wouldn't have any questions.
Speaker 6: I just wanted to, like, I mean, just see him,
Speaker 6: you know, if that makes sense. I know that I'm
Speaker 6: you know, covering his blood and everything, but it's just
Speaker 6: like seeing him definitely would have made like I don't know,
Speaker 6: I guess more of an impact not only on me
Speaker 6: but people around me, because then it's like, well, now
Speaker 6: that I've seen him, now it's something that's kind of
Speaker 6: like concrete that I can walk off of and I
Speaker 6: read about him every single day. But it's just like
Speaker 6: it would have been just that much more seeing him.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, it absolutely does, and you're off
Speaker 1: the hot seat. I appreciate your time, Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: and best of luck going forward.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 6: I appreciate everything, appreciate this interview and getting the you know,
Speaker 6: speak to you as well.
Speaker 4: It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Elijah finished the preseason with twenty nine yards rushing and
Speaker 1: thirty nine receiving That's going to do it For this
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by
Speaker 1: pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider,
Speaker 1: by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate
Speaker 1: your home, business and community to a new level, and
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this
Speaker 1: podcast and if you have a minute, give it a
Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast