Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The The Thin is Mine addition,
Speaker 1: as we take a look at changes on the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and here from several players on what turned out
Speaker 1: to be a winning season, but one that fell short
Speaker 1: of the bengals lofty expectations. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Core, 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 here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
Speaker 1: delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
Speaker 1: my ability to reheat leftovers. Aside from speaking into a microphone,
Speaker 1: I don't have many useful skills, but one thing I
Speaker 1: do extremely well is reheat leftovers. And don't take my
Speaker 1: word for it. My son Sam jokes that if the
Speaker 1: Food Network comes out with a show named reheat Masters.
Speaker 1: I would definitely win the title. My masterpiece came after
Speaker 1: Saturday's road game in Pittsburgh, when I brought home Sam's favorite,
Speaker 1: a Promante Brother sandwich, a Pittsburgh staple that features meat, cheese, coleslaw, tomatoes,
Speaker 1: and French fries all between two thick slices of Italian bread.
Speaker 1: The next day, I deconstructed that sucker, carefully reheated the meat, fries,
Speaker 1: and bread separately, and when I put it all back together,
Speaker 1: it was like it had just been purchased Food Network
Speaker 1: or not. I am a reheat master. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to football. The Bengals made changes to their coaching staff
Speaker 1: on Monday, parting ways with defensive coordinator lou Ana Romo,
Speaker 1: defensive line coach Marion Hobby, linebackers coach James Betcher, and
Speaker 1: offensive line coach Frank Pollock. As Zach Taylor says, the
Speaker 1: decision was his and his alone.
Speaker 2: Those were extremely hard moves for me to make. Those
Speaker 2: are all men that I have a ton of respect for,
Speaker 2: been through really high exciting times with, and do not
Speaker 2: take those decisions slightly. And I appreciate all that those
Speaker 2: guys brought to the table because They're like brothers to me.
Speaker 2: They worked hard every single day and those were not
Speaker 2: easy decisions to make, and we'll work to make those
Speaker 2: hires as soon as possible when that time is appropriate.
Speaker 2: I've been through a lot with all these guys, you know,
Speaker 2: and they work their tails off. They're part of really
Speaker 2: great moments for us. This is the hard side of
Speaker 2: the profession, and I just appreciate what those guys brought
Speaker 2: to the table and how they represented this organization, how
Speaker 2: they're represented me as a head coach, how they treated
Speaker 2: their players. I appreciate all that.
Speaker 1: Two years ago, Bengals fans breathed a huge sigh of
Speaker 1: relief when lou Anaromo didn't land a head coaching job.
Speaker 1: His ability to confuse the NFL's best quarterbacks was a
Speaker 1: major reason why the Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and AFC Championship Game and back to back years, and
Speaker 1: earned him the nickname lou DEENI. But let's face it,
Speaker 1: the defense has struggled since finishing twenty fifth in points
Speaker 1: allowed this year and twenty first last year in the
Speaker 1: defensive DVOA metric. The Bengals peaked at number seven in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, but fell to number twenty three last
Speaker 1: year at number twenty seven this year. It certainly wasn't
Speaker 1: all loose fault, but Zach says it's time to try
Speaker 1: a new approach.
Speaker 2: Just felt like we needed a change and again, did
Speaker 2: not take that decision lightly, thought long and hard about it.
Speaker 2: Lusman doing this for six years here and the success
Speaker 2: we've had, I mean, he's been a big reason why
Speaker 2: we've had a lot of success. And so again this
Speaker 2: don't this slightly put a lot of thought into it.
Speaker 2: It's not an easy day for any of us, and
Speaker 2: just felt like we need to perform better as a
Speaker 2: football team. And so again it's not in any specific
Speaker 2: one area. I think we've got to be better in
Speaker 2: all three phases of our team. And these are the
Speaker 2: decisions I made today and will work to be better.
Speaker 1: Similarly, Frank Pollack helped the Bengals get to a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl with a starting offensive line that included Isaiah Prince,
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins, Hachema Dentegy in Quinton, Spain. Those four guys
Speaker 1: had a combined total of one start in the rest
Speaker 1: of their NFL careers. I don't think Frank has ever
Speaker 1: received enough credit for that but this year, the Bengals
Speaker 1: were expected to have the best O line of the
Speaker 1: Borough era and finished nineteenth and sacks allowed per passing attempt,
Speaker 1: while PFF grated Cincinnati twenty seventh in pass blocking efficiency
Speaker 1: with Borrow, we know the Bengals are going to be
Speaker 1: a pass first offense, so Pollock's replacement needs to shore
Speaker 1: up the protection and make the running game and dependable.
Speaker 1: Here are Orlando Brown Junior and to Marios Mems.
Speaker 3: Frank Pollack did so much for me in my career,
Speaker 3: you know, honestly, you know, outside of the injury this year,
Speaker 3: Man I was off to a great start, and Man
Speaker 3: I especially in past protection, I made such a large leap,
Speaker 3: which is very rare from sixty seven year sixty seven.
Speaker 3: But Frank had a very large impact on me, man
Speaker 3: and he helped me out of my career so much.
Speaker 4: What was your reaction then you found out?
Speaker 3: You know, it's sad man, you know, just because it's
Speaker 3: our livelihood. He has such a great passion for for
Speaker 3: us as players and for coaching the game of football,
Speaker 3: the offensive line position.
Speaker 5: You know, it's sad. It is sad man.
Speaker 6: Like I said, I truly truly, like I said, had
Speaker 6: a great relationship with him, and it just hurts just knowing,
Speaker 6: like you know, a guy who's stalled on the table
Speaker 6: for me with this organization would help getting like basically
Speaker 6: like help getting me drafted.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 6: Man, just see, he's gone man my short time that
Speaker 6: I've been here. Like I said, Man, I owe that
Speaker 6: man a lot. Man, he say, ever since I've been here,
Speaker 6: all he's done is that's pouring to me. And Coach
Speaker 6: made as hard as possible. Like I said, I sat
Speaker 6: down when I first got here and he said, I mean,
Speaker 6: I'm gonna be hard on you, right, And I said,
Speaker 6: that's the kind of coaching I need. You know what
Speaker 6: I'm saying, Coach, and I thrive on same with my
Speaker 6: sing with my college coach, honestly. But like I said,
Speaker 6: I was very, very very upset when I saw the thing,
Speaker 6: when I found out this morning when I woke up,
Speaker 6: and it's just you know, hey, I haven't got talked
Speaker 6: to him yet, but you know, I know it's a business,
Speaker 6: and I know, like I said, it's out of my control.
Speaker 6: But I do wish him the.
Speaker 1: Best going into the season. Many of us said, if
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow stays healthy, the Bengals will be a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender. Joe did and put up record numbers, but
Speaker 1: it did not lead to postseason play. The result is
Speaker 1: the biggest coaching staff turnover in Zach Taylor's tenure.
Speaker 2: You know, we're all disappointed with the overall toutality of
Speaker 2: the season and the position that we put ourselves in,
Speaker 2: and I know that it's unacceptable to start the way
Speaker 2: that we started. We have a lot of talent on
Speaker 2: this team. We got great coaches, and so again I'm
Speaker 2: not just gonna say what I want to say and
Speaker 2: that we're gonna be better to start the season. We're
Speaker 2: gonna work like hell to make sure that we start
Speaker 2: the season on the right way to put ourselves in
Speaker 2: a great position to finish like we did, you know,
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of positives there with the way
Speaker 2: we finished, and it's signing that we're not in the
Speaker 2: playoffs with an opportunity to keep this thing going because
Speaker 2: we finally found a lot of momentum. And so it's
Speaker 2: just on us as a whole to finish games off
Speaker 2: earlier in the season, and it's on me as the
Speaker 2: head coach to make sure we come out of the
Speaker 2: offseason we come out of training camp and we're ready
Speaker 2: to hit the ground running from Game one.
Speaker 1: Soon, attention will turn to contract negotiations as the Bengals
Speaker 1: look to sign Jamar Chase to an extension, reward Trey
Speaker 1: Hendrickson for his exceptional play, and see if they can
Speaker 1: reach a deal with t Higgins.
Speaker 2: We got a lot of great players, and Tea is
Speaker 2: one of them, certainly, and I'm very hopeful that that
Speaker 2: will work out to where we're able to get him back.
Speaker 2: But there's certainly a process we're gonna have to undergo
Speaker 2: with a lot of players on our team, and I
Speaker 2: can a'masha well, we'll be We'll be in unison with
Speaker 2: whatever those decisions are, and that's a process will start now,
Speaker 2: you know, through the month of January and February and
Speaker 2: talking through every player on a roster and how it
Speaker 2: all fits.
Speaker 1: Now, let's hear from several players, beginning with team captain
Speaker 1: Ted Karras and his reaction to the firing of Frank Pollock.
Speaker 7: You know, I think that's always sad on bloody Monday
Speaker 7: of the NFL, and you know, it's some of the
Speaker 7: consequences of missing the playoffs two years in a row.
Speaker 5: Great man.
Speaker 4: We called him later. I haven't talked to him yet.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised? Did you think because the team's record
Speaker 1: and we didn't make it to the playoffs that there
Speaker 1: was probably going to be some sort of move like that?
Speaker 7: I've never you know, the surprised emotion is not something
Speaker 7: that I often feel in football. You know, I thought,
Speaker 7: what a great job rallying this team did backs against
Speaker 7: the wall for a month and a half, put ourselves
Speaker 7: with a chance, and god.
Speaker 4: Will we you know, control the week?
Speaker 5: In control?
Speaker 7: And I didn't think the Chiefs would quite lay down
Speaker 7: like that, but I thought it would be a little
Speaker 7: at least a little bit more dramatic on Sunday. But
Speaker 7: nine to eight, four winning records in a row, I
Speaker 7: think it's a fantastic job by Zach Taylor in this
Speaker 7: in this program. So but two years missing in a row,
Speaker 7: never a comfortable feeling in the National Football League?
Speaker 1: How long did you stick with Chiefs Broncos before you said, ah,
Speaker 1: this isn't even worth it.
Speaker 7: When they switched it off on the broadcast, I mean
Speaker 7: they switched it to Raiders Chargers, So that was when
Speaker 7: I called it.
Speaker 1: We spent so much time prior to this season talking
Speaker 1: about the need to get off to a fast start.
Speaker 1: Some changes were made. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it didn't
Speaker 1: result in a drastic change. Any thoughts to how to
Speaker 1: actually make that happen this coming year.
Speaker 7: I think we can think about that as spring approaches.
Speaker 7: You know, never want to put ourselves in an own
Speaker 7: three hole. I've been owned to our own three, you know,
Speaker 7: three years in a row, so I'm sure the staff
Speaker 7: will be all over it. I think there's some things
Speaker 7: we can do individually, and I think, you know, that's
Speaker 7: definitely a you know, a monkey on our back going
Speaker 7: into the twenty twenty five season. I think that's you know,
Speaker 7: like I said, after we lost Week one this year,
Speaker 7: you know we're not gonna worry about that till twenty
Speaker 7: twenty five. Well, now here it is, so you know,
Speaker 7: we'll keep an eye out for that. But nothing nothing
Speaker 7: can be done in January for September, so as we
Speaker 7: get closer to spring and obviously training camp, I'm sure
Speaker 7: there'll be some adjustments made.
Speaker 1: After the Dallas game, Joe surprised many of us by
Speaker 1: outwardly campaigning for Tea to return, by expressing confidence that
Speaker 1: that can happen did that catch you guys off guard
Speaker 1: a little bit, the sense that he's really going out
Speaker 1: there and expressing that opinion with such conviction.
Speaker 7: No, I think that you know this is uh, you know,
Speaker 7: this program runs through number nine. So you know, if
Speaker 7: he you know, he holds a lot of weight. I'm
Speaker 7: sure you know upstairs and you know that's a player
Speaker 7: that he has had a lot of success within this organization.
Speaker 7: You know, him him team Jamar together, I think is
Speaker 7: a very good high percentage win rate for the Cincanti Bengals.
Speaker 7: So I'm glad that he, you know, stumped for his teammate,
Speaker 7: and you know, I hope that you know, I think
Speaker 7: that we had a big We got a big off
Speaker 7: season coming up here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: On the subject of slow starts, Orlando Brown Junior says
Speaker 1: that simply cannot happen again in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: You never want to put yourself in that position, and
Speaker 3: you always want to be able to control your own
Speaker 3: fate going into the playoffs. Uh, you know, late in December,
Speaker 3: you don't really want to have to be playing in
Speaker 3: those games where it's like, you know, you rather it
Speaker 3: be more so like we got the playoffs clinch. You know,
Speaker 3: we want to clinch his better seeding position, so we
Speaker 3: we know what we got to take care of. Man,
Speaker 3: we know that coming in hitting the ground, run and
Speaker 3: start in week one and taking care of business early
Speaker 3: on in September, it's going to be a large part
Speaker 3: of us having our long term success in a season.
Speaker 8: Is there something you feel like you guys can do
Speaker 8: in the run up, whether it's in the offseason or
Speaker 8: in camp, to be a better team.
Speaker 3: Early or is that a man? I think it's more
Speaker 3: mentality than anything. You know, it's hard to win. It's
Speaker 3: hard to win in life. It's hard to put yourself
Speaker 3: in good position, you know what I mean, It's hard
Speaker 3: to really understand all those things. And sometimes at the
Speaker 3: highest level of football, you gotta get used and comfortable
Speaker 3: the understanding of pushing yourself to the limit of what
Speaker 3: it takes to win. And I think that these last
Speaker 3: two years mentally, we haven't been in that state of
Speaker 3: mind where our backs are against the wall in December
Speaker 3: and November and we gotta fight for a chance to
Speaker 3: get where we want to get, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: The mindset, the fire that's lit underneath your ass, and
Speaker 3: that point needs to be there in July, June, August,
Speaker 3: all the way through, and so man, I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, I take a lot of pride in that
Speaker 3: as a player, you know, putting more pressure on myself
Speaker 3: to be more for us at those points.
Speaker 4: You have to play more in the preseason, you have
Speaker 4: to change training camp.
Speaker 5: I don't think any of those things need to change.
Speaker 3: I think most importantly is just the mindset, man, understanding
Speaker 3: that when we go out there versus New England, we're
Speaker 3: four and eight already, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: We got to go out there and earn all right.
Speaker 1: Orlando finished the season playing on a broken leg, but
Speaker 1: says it won't require surgery and that he'll be staying
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati to train under strength and conditioning coach Joey
Speaker 1: Bose For the second year in a row. He's also
Speaker 1: treating his fellow offensive lineman to an upcoming Buddies trip
Speaker 1: to Las Vegas. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official
Speaker 1: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet
Speaker 1: designed to elevate your home, business and community to a
Speaker 1: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. One of the biggest positives this season
Speaker 1: was the emergence of Chase Brown as a true number
Speaker 1: one running back, as he finished with nine hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety rushing yards, three hundred and sixty receiving yards, and
Speaker 1: scored a total of eleven touchdowns. Even though he didn't
Speaker 1: start getting the bulk of the touches until Zach Moscot
Speaker 1: injured midway through the season. Chase also put up those
Speaker 1: numbers despite missing season finale with an ankle injury.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I felt really good throughout the week.
Speaker 9: I mean, I literally did everything I possibly could to
Speaker 9: put myself in position to play. But when I started
Speaker 9: moving around on it for real and started pushing it
Speaker 9: just it just didn't didn't feel good enough to plan
Speaker 9: an NFL game and to go out there injured with
Speaker 9: you know, not being fully confident in my ability. It's just,
Speaker 9: you know, it's a selfish thing to do if I
Speaker 9: were to go out there. So I felt like I
Speaker 9: did the not the best thing for myself, but for
Speaker 9: the team as well. And you know, obviously, you know
Speaker 9: Cleil stepped up in a big way, and yeah, I man,
Speaker 9: just just happy that we left that game with a win.
Speaker 1: You would have easily topped a thousand yards. I'm sure
Speaker 1: does that bum you out a little?
Speaker 4: For sure?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: No, I trust me.
Speaker 5: I wanted I wanted.
Speaker 9: That, and then to be ten yards away is like,
Speaker 9: it's hard, man, It's hard. So definitely just motivation for
Speaker 9: next year and it.
Speaker 4: Will be a chip on my shoulder going in the
Speaker 4: off season.
Speaker 8: Chase, you went in the last season with a focus
Speaker 8: on getting better as a receiver.
Speaker 5: You did that in a big way.
Speaker 8: What do you when you go into this offseason? Is
Speaker 8: there something on your mind right now in terms of
Speaker 8: something that you want to.
Speaker 4: Have that be this year's thing.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm just gonna become a better player, build on
Speaker 9: everything that I did this offseason, and you know, come
Speaker 9: back next season just more comfortable, more mature as a player.
Speaker 4: I mean, I've I've taken a ton of snaps, so.
Speaker 9: I'm comfortable and you know coming into you know, training
Speaker 9: camp and OTAs with you know, my experience.
Speaker 4: Now, I'm just excited to build on that.
Speaker 10: What do you think you've proved this year?
Speaker 9: I've always had the confidence in myself that you know,
Speaker 9: I can play in this league, but you know, being
Speaker 9: able to go out there and show it definitely, you
Speaker 9: know adds to you know, my mindset and you know
Speaker 9: what I want to achieve next year, and you know
Speaker 9: what this team can achieve next year.
Speaker 4: So that's what I'm focused on.
Speaker 9: And you know, once training camp next year comes around,
Speaker 9: I just want to hit it full speed and ready
Speaker 9: to go.
Speaker 1: You also feel like you established yourself as a core piece.
Speaker 1: It's not just Jamar and T. It's Jamar, T, you
Speaker 1: and maybe some others as well.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm I'm happy with what I was able to
Speaker 9: show this year, and I'm just trying to build on it.
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a bunch of great players in this
Speaker 4: locker room.
Speaker 9: So being able to you know, make plays and you know,
Speaker 9: have a role in this offense with all the playmakers
Speaker 9: in it, it's pretty cool experience.
Speaker 8: Or the emotions like last night, knowing that this team wasn't.
Speaker 4: Gonna make it, it sucked, man.
Speaker 9: I Mean I was kind of just sitting around after
Speaker 9: just talking to my girlfriend just about you know, it's
Speaker 9: it's just weird how long the season feels.
Speaker 4: But when you think back on it.
Speaker 9: I mean, it felt like we were just preparing for
Speaker 9: the Patriots and then next thing you know, you know,
Speaker 9: you're sitting on your couch waiting to find out if
Speaker 9: you're to make the playoffs or not.
Speaker 5: So we could have.
Speaker 9: Been better in some areas, and you know, it would
Speaker 9: have set us up to kind of control that situation.
Speaker 9: So on next year, we just got to come out
Speaker 9: hot instead of you know, warming up like we did
Speaker 9: this yere So, I mean, I'm excited about I know
Speaker 9: we're I know we're capable of. So you know, everybody's
Speaker 9: gonna go into this offseason hungary, the chip on their
Speaker 9: shoulder and ready to come back next year full speed,
Speaker 9: ready to go and really take this organization, you know,
Speaker 9: the fans, this locker room, to the place that you know,
Speaker 9: we know we can take it.
Speaker 1: Another positive was the emergence of tight end Mike Asiki,
Speaker 1: who earned Joe Burrow's trust as the bengals number three
Speaker 1: receiving target after signing a one year, two point five
Speaker 1: million dollar contract. Mike earned extra cash by hitting incentives
Speaker 1: for forty five and then fifty five catches and for
Speaker 1: five hundred and then six hundred yards. The sicky end
Speaker 1: of the year with sixty five catches for six hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five yards and hopes to still be catching
Speaker 1: passes from Joe Burrow next year.
Speaker 10: I mean, he is as advertised.
Speaker 11: Honestly, He's done everything and more that I anticipated. I
Speaker 11: obviously knew about how well he could throw the ball,
Speaker 11: and you know, everything talent wise, and obviously you have
Speaker 11: that success and you have to have a really good
Speaker 11: understanding of what's going on.
Speaker 10: But I didn't know he was.
Speaker 11: Going to process information so quickly, and you know, know
Speaker 11: the defenses and how quickly you know things change and
Speaker 11: post snap and all that kind of stuff, and he
Speaker 11: did an an incredible job because you know, there's a
Speaker 11: lot of stuff in our offense that and the way
Speaker 11: that guys get defended with you know, Jamar getting doubled on,
Speaker 11: you know, just random plays here and there, and you
Speaker 11: got to be able to see that quick and defense
Speaker 11: is going to try to trick us because they know
Speaker 11: how talented we are and that's going to be their
Speaker 11: their advantage and you can't.
Speaker 10: You can't trick Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Outside of personal expectation.
Speaker 8: I'm sure there was team expectations that you guys didn't
Speaker 8: match this year.
Speaker 5: How close do you think this team.
Speaker 1: Is though, getting to where you want to go?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 10: I mean very close.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 11: I mean you look at probably five different games throughout
Speaker 11: the course of the year where one play you know,
Speaker 11: obviously it's never just one play, but you can look
Speaker 11: back to one play that changes the outcome of the game,
Speaker 11: and you know one obviously one more win would have
Speaker 11: gotten us in.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 11: But that's you know, neither here nor there. I mean,
Speaker 11: it is, it is what it is at this point.
Speaker 11: But I would say that the coaching and the way
Speaker 11: that the culture is built and the way that things
Speaker 11: are run, it's all done the right way.
Speaker 10: Like we're we're not far off.
Speaker 11: And I mean it's easy to say when you're not
Speaker 11: in it, but I think that if we were in it, we.
Speaker 10: Would have made some noise.
Speaker 5: We want to come back?
Speaker 10: Do I want to come back?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Absolutely. I loved it. It was It was incredible.
Speaker 11: I mean, the coaching staff was incredible, the players were great,
Speaker 11: best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 10: Like, I mean, it was fun.
Speaker 4: If somebody told you you're going to have the second
Speaker 4: season gonna be a career book, you have.
Speaker 11: Said, I would have said that I got the opportunity.
Speaker 10: I knew what I was capable of.
Speaker 11: It was just a matter of if the opportunity is
Speaker 11: gonna come your way. And that was just something that
Speaker 11: I haven't had in the last two years.
Speaker 10: I came off a.
Speaker 11: Year ride seventy three catches from eight hundred yards and
Speaker 11: then went two years and just kind of didn't get
Speaker 11: the same opportunities. This year, I got opportunities that I'm
Speaker 11: extremely grateful for and now I'll take for granted. And
Speaker 11: it all, Uh, it all played. It all played out
Speaker 11: the way that I envisioned it.
Speaker 1: Joe said something to the effect of, how you were
Speaker 1: the perfect fit for this offense. How about the flip
Speaker 1: side of that, How has this offense been good for you?
Speaker 10: It's been.
Speaker 11: It's been good because I've been utilized in so many
Speaker 11: different ways. Like you'll see where Okay, hey, we're gonna
Speaker 11: splitch you out and if we get a safety out there,
Speaker 11: match it up, like my first play of the game,
Speaker 11: but the second play of the game the other night
Speaker 11: against Pittsburgh, like, all right, it's a safety.
Speaker 10: It's we got Mike, Like we like this matchup, We're
Speaker 10: gonna go to you it man, coverage.
Speaker 11: Last week, the first play overtime, we ran the same play,
Speaker 11: but I just ran like a I ran like a
Speaker 11: quick conversion versus press coverage, and we went back shoulder.
Speaker 11: We knew that, hey, we're probably gonna get man coverage again,
Speaker 11: he's gonna get pressed. He's gonna be thinking back shoulder,
Speaker 11: so get him a run and then come back down
Speaker 11: your stem. Like it's incredible the way that like our
Speaker 11: coaches think and like the next level thinking for them
Speaker 11: to be like, Okay, well we did that last week.
Speaker 10: They watched that. Okay, now we're gonna come back and
Speaker 10: do this, and.
Speaker 11: There you go, like some points in the game and
Speaker 11: some points and then the year, Like it is that easy.
Speaker 11: And like some of our basic plays is like double
Speaker 11: slants and a slant to the backside and a flat
Speaker 11: route and it's like it's the biggest play of the game.
Speaker 11: And like we just run our most basic offense that
Speaker 11: we installed day one OTAs because like we have a
Speaker 11: great quarterback who processes really quickly, and we have great
Speaker 11: receivers that win.
Speaker 1: What's the thought process for you on Okay, I'm at
Speaker 1: this stage of my career, there might not be a
Speaker 1: ton of contracts left. I'd like to make a lot
Speaker 1: of money and all right, this offense fits me, they
Speaker 1: might be able to win a Super Bowl title. Where's
Speaker 1: that balance for you?
Speaker 11: Yeah, three years or two years ago, came off of
Speaker 11: my best season career year and got franchise tagged, so
Speaker 11: that kind of yeah, so that kind of cuts into
Speaker 11: the contract you think you're gonna sign. It's still you know,
Speaker 11: you're so grateful for you know, the money you get
Speaker 11: for that one year, but it's not the multi year
Speaker 11: deal that you think you're gonna sign. And then we
Speaker 11: got a new head coach in Miami, wasn't utilized the
Speaker 11: way that I was.
Speaker 10: Time to fresh Star Ago. New England played on statistically.
Speaker 11: The worst offense in the league, so there wasn't a
Speaker 11: lot of opportunity there. So the market goes down and down.
Speaker 11: So it's like you have to really look at it
Speaker 11: from a business standpoint of like, okay, like definitely got
Speaker 11: to make up some money just based off of how
Speaker 11: the last couple of years have went. But also you know,
Speaker 11: you want to take everything into account and you know,
Speaker 11: be able to go out there and continue to produce
Speaker 11: the way that I produce this year because that makes
Speaker 11: it a lot more fun.
Speaker 1: Kaseiki's sixty five catches were the second most ever by
Speaker 1: a Bengals tight end. Anne Ross had seventy one in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one. Finally, time to hear from a player
Speaker 1: who did not have a good year, kicker Evan McPherson.
Speaker 1: After signing a contract extension during training camp, Moneymack missed
Speaker 1: six of his twenty two field goal attempts. It was
Speaker 1: hard to blame him for hooking an overtime game winner
Speaker 1: versus Baltimore since the snap and hold were botched, but
Speaker 1: he also missed two fourth quarter kicks for the lead
Speaker 1: against the Chargers. Had the Bengals won that game, they
Speaker 1: would have finished with the same record as LA and
Speaker 1: had the head to head tiebreaker. The Bengals won their
Speaker 1: final five games, but McPherson missed them with a groin injury.
Speaker 1: So you could have kicked you think this week if
Speaker 1: there was another.
Speaker 4: Game, could have.
Speaker 12: I'd say I was optimistic about playing in the playoffs.
Speaker 12: I kind of had my eyes set on it. I
Speaker 12: was going to test it and see how the body felt.
Speaker 12: But I was optimistic about it for sure.
Speaker 1: So what happens from here now in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: making sure you're one hundred percent ready to go for
Speaker 1: next year.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I've talked to a couple of guys that have
Speaker 12: experienced this injury before and they just say that the
Speaker 12: biggest thing you got to do is rest and make
Speaker 12: sure that everything reconnects itself back to one hundred percent
Speaker 12: and then kind of go from there. So it's just
Speaker 12: kind of resting, rehab and making sure that my body's
Speaker 12: completely fixed itself.
Speaker 4: Darren talked about, you know, kind of a long term thing.
Speaker 5: This is kind of this is Yeah, you've had a couple.
Speaker 4: Of meg and stuff, yep, you know anything, and he looked.
Speaker 5: Into that at all about that.
Speaker 12: Yeah, Yeah, I've definitely looked into guys kind of outside
Speaker 12: facility to kind of lean on and help in that
Speaker 12: area and just trying to understand why this is happening
Speaker 12: and kind of ways to fix it or prevent it.
Speaker 12: And so I'm just looking for the for next season
Speaker 12: to be in better shape one and to understand the
Speaker 12: body a little bit more. And I feel like going
Speaker 12: through this is gonna help me a lot.
Speaker 4: Being in better shape.
Speaker 1: I mean, is that just you know, getting a little
Speaker 1: bit older. It's requires a little more maintenance.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I don't feel old.
Speaker 12: You know, I'm only twenty five, so I like to
Speaker 12: think that my body can handle anything, but obviously it can't,
Speaker 12: and so I'm definitely gonna have to figure out kind
Speaker 12: of ways to protect my body from injury, because I mean,
Speaker 12: it's happened three out of the four years, and this
Speaker 12: year was the worst. So I just got to figure
Speaker 12: out a consistent way. Because there's guys in the NFL
Speaker 12: that have gone through kind of similar injuries but have
Speaker 12: played really long careers. So I'm kind of leaning on
Speaker 12: those guys and getting their advice on everything.
Speaker 1: What's your overall description.
Speaker 4: For this season.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean this season was definitely interesting, and that's
Speaker 12: kind of what I talked about my end of year meetings.
Speaker 12: Just it was disappointing for me personally. I feel like
Speaker 12: I definitely didn't put my best foot forward this year.
Speaker 12: I've had a good feeling going into it offseason, preseason,
Speaker 12: and even the first couple of games, I felt like
Speaker 12: I was in a really good spot. But for whatever reason,
Speaker 12: everything just kind of went downhill during the games, and
Speaker 12: with the injury and everything, I wasn't able to I
Speaker 12: guess prove that I've digg myself out of it, so
Speaker 12: you know, I'm really excited about next year and just
Speaker 12: getting back at it.
Speaker 1: Fortunately for the Bengals, Cade York did a solid job
Speaker 1: in the final five games, making nine of eleven field
Speaker 1: goal tries, including a fifty nine yarder to tie money
Speaker 1: Max Franchise record. That's going to do it for this
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by
Speaker 1: pay Corps, 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 thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast.