Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast, the Let the Good Times Rule
Speaker 1: edition as I sit down for a one on one
Speaker 1: visit with Bengals head coach Zach Taylor. What got him
Speaker 1: through those tough first two years, what was his favorite
Speaker 1: moment from last year's Super Bowl run? And why is
Speaker 1: he such a big fan of the late great pistol
Speaker 1: Pete Maravich. We'll cover that and much more, plus shorter
Speaker 1: interviews with two of the bengals most important players, cornerback
Speaker 1: Should have a a Wooge and new right tackle l Collins.
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Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. The Bengals held their first
Speaker 1: four voluntary offseason practices this week, and after the final one,
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to catch up with head coach
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor about the aftermath of the Bengal Super Bowl
Speaker 1: run and the long, difficult road led up to it.
Speaker 1: Zachie joked recently that whenever the Matthew Stafford a T
Speaker 1: and T commercial comes on, you yell at your boys
Speaker 1: to change the channel. In all seriousness, our Super Bowl
Speaker 1: reminders painful. Sure, you know that was a game we wanted,
Speaker 1: you know, we wanted to be champions for the rest
Speaker 1: of our lives, and it was an opportunity for Barnet
Speaker 1: to capitalize on. So yeah, there's some little things that
Speaker 1: that fuel you a little bit more. Maybe it's a commercial,
Speaker 1: maybe it's just a highlight of the game, but that's
Speaker 1: all part of just being competitive in sports. Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: said earlier this week that he watched the game the
Speaker 1: next day, just like he normally would watched it, back
Speaker 1: stied the tape. What did I do well? What could
Speaker 1: I do better? What about you? It wasn't the next
Speaker 1: day for me, probably about a week later, I would imagine,
Speaker 1: you know, and I've watched several times since then. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to learn from it, you know, and things
Speaker 1: that came up. We played a good football team. They
Speaker 1: made great plays as well, but it's important to learn
Speaker 1: from the game. So the next time you're in that
Speaker 1: type of game, that those types of situations, or maybe
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl itself, you make sure that you've learned
Speaker 1: from it and will help yourself in the future. How
Speaker 1: soon after the game did you talk to Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: Probably a week capture, Yeah, I think he was in
Speaker 1: Cancne and house that was on my couch, But yeah,
Speaker 1: we we've talked several times since then. You are one
Speaker 1: of only fifty nine head coaches in history to take
Speaker 1: a team to the Super Bowl eighteen are in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. That does not include active coaches like
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and Andy Reid that will eventually be in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. You're not one to toot your
Speaker 1: own horn, but what does it mean to you to
Speaker 1: be part of that fraternity? Well, I want to be
Speaker 1: part of the fraternity that's won a Super Bowl, you know,
Speaker 1: and so it's there was a lot of great achievements
Speaker 1: that we had this last year, but ultimately you want
Speaker 1: to win the ultimate prize, and so I'd love to
Speaker 1: revisit that conversation with you know. It's it's it's a
Speaker 1: team sport. It's all about our team. But but you
Speaker 1: certainly want your organization to be in those Super Bowl
Speaker 1: winning conversations. When the team wasn't winning the first two years,
Speaker 1: what were the tangible signs that told you that you
Speaker 1: were on the right track. Guys buying in the way
Speaker 1: that guys approached the walkthroughs, their attitude during meetings in
Speaker 1: December when we were out of the playoff, rays, and
Speaker 1: just the little things like that. When you're around this
Speaker 1: profession every day for the last fifteen years, those are
Speaker 1: things you pick up on teams that handle things the
Speaker 1: right way and teams that don't. And and just like
Speaker 1: any any career where you get to work every single
Speaker 1: day and you can kind of see the traits of
Speaker 1: good organizations and poor ones. Those are some qualities we
Speaker 1: saw from our team that we're going to help us
Speaker 1: in the long run. And again it's not always as
Speaker 1: immediate as you want, but again, great things take time,
Speaker 1: and we feel like we built it the right way
Speaker 1: with right people. Was there anybody that you leaned on
Speaker 1: for advice or support? Plenty of people on staff. You know,
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons has been here for a really long time.
Speaker 1: His insights always always really valued. Mark Duffner, you know,
Speaker 1: he just his experience as a head coach and multiple
Speaker 1: different places he's been in the NFL a long time.
Speaker 1: He's always been a great resource. My dad, my father
Speaker 1: in law, Mike Sherman, my dad, Trew with Taylor, those
Speaker 1: are certainly guys that I've I've leaned on. At one
Speaker 1: of the news conferences just before the Super Bowl, you said,
Speaker 1: if I was a head coach in any other organization,
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't have been here in year three. Did
Speaker 1: Mike Brown ever give you, quote unquote a vote of
Speaker 1: confidence in the first couple of years, or say anything
Speaker 1: in particular that really was meaningful. I think what's great
Speaker 1: about here is that it's constant communication. It's not monthly,
Speaker 1: it's not once a month where you would need that.
Speaker 1: When when you have a daily relationship and it's not
Speaker 1: every day, it's it's every couple days sometimes sometimes some
Speaker 1: weeks it's every week. But where the communication is very clear,
Speaker 1: where it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily have to take place,
Speaker 1: and that that one conversation I think that everyone's wanting
Speaker 1: to hear about. You know, it's just it's when you've
Speaker 1: you're always on the same page and you have such
Speaker 1: an open line of communication. I think that's what allows
Speaker 1: us to work best. Have you learned a lot about
Speaker 1: Paul Brown since you've been here? I have. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: tried to read up and study on it as much
Speaker 1: as possible. I'll ask Mike as many questions as I can,
Speaker 1: just really intrigued by someone who's really just put such
Speaker 1: as probably more of a stamp on the game of
Speaker 1: football than anybody who's ever been involved in the sport.
Speaker 1: Why is the city of Cincinnati and the Bengals organization
Speaker 1: such a great fit for you and your family. I
Speaker 1: think it's just a blue collar city. The people are
Speaker 1: so great. They treat each other the right way. It's
Speaker 1: like one big neighborhood, is what it really feels like.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't so many people you run into
Speaker 1: are from here. So there's such great pride with being
Speaker 1: from here and representing the city the right way. A
Speaker 1: lot of people I meet that grew up here that
Speaker 1: usually left for two or three years to go to
Speaker 1: Chicago or Columbus or somewhere else, and then they come back,
Speaker 1: and I think that speaks for the city that people
Speaker 1: love to come back here. It's it reminds me very
Speaker 1: much at home. I think I've said this multiple times,
Speaker 1: but what would you mean by that is just the
Speaker 1: feel of the city in the community. There's such a
Speaker 1: great community feel here that I love being part of.
Speaker 1: My wife loves being part of, our kids love being
Speaker 1: part of, and and you just feel such a part
Speaker 1: of it here working for the Bengals living in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Before you took the Cincinnati job, you interviewed for three
Speaker 1: head coaching jobs. I'm back to back to back days, Bronchos, Bengals, Cardinals.
Speaker 1: In that order. What if John Elway had offered you
Speaker 1: the Broncos job after the first interview, Yeah, that would
Speaker 1: have made things interesting, sure, But this was the one
Speaker 1: that I always had circled that I was hoping it
Speaker 1: would work out. You have no idea what the club
Speaker 1: thinks or how it's going to work with other places.
Speaker 1: But I just felt a connection from living here in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, not really having any association with the Bengals
Speaker 1: or the Brown family, but I just knew this was
Speaker 1: a place that I could see my family enjoying life
Speaker 1: and you know, being a part of an organization that
Speaker 1: I've always had a ton of respects for from Afar
Speaker 1: and so I'm just glad that it worked out the
Speaker 1: way that when you were a thirty six year old
Speaker 1: first time head coach, what's it tough to call a
Speaker 1: vet into the office to discipline or reprimand him. It's
Speaker 1: that's usually not how it unfolds, you know, there's usually
Speaker 1: a process that unfolds before that, where there's clear standards,
Speaker 1: clear rules that are set to where there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of gray. It's more black and white, and that
Speaker 1: makes some conversations easier than others. That's not to say
Speaker 1: that you're not gonna have some difficult conversations. You just
Speaker 1: try to build up a respect the level with everybody
Speaker 1: on the team so that when those moments do come,
Speaker 1: there's a relationship there to pull from. And it's not
Speaker 1: just two people who have never spoken before, which which
Speaker 1: can happen when you have a big roster and maybe
Speaker 1: you're more of a you pull call the players on offense,
Speaker 1: and maybe you haven't built up that connection with the
Speaker 1: defensive guys. So there's certainly always been hard, difficult conversations.
Speaker 1: They're not all fun, but but you always walk away
Speaker 1: feeling like he handled it as best you could. What
Speaker 1: was it like the first time you had to cut
Speaker 1: a guy? That part's not fun. You've had those conversations
Speaker 1: as a position coached before, you know where maybe you
Speaker 1: weren't the one directly cutting them, but you're you're getting
Speaker 1: them immediately after cut Guys that have worked their whole
Speaker 1: life for this opportunity, and some of them expect it
Speaker 1: and they're ready for it. Some of them get blindside,
Speaker 1: some of them maybe know it's coming and it still,
Speaker 1: you know, catches them an emotional moment. You'd want to
Speaker 1: be very respectful of that, the hard work that's gone in,
Speaker 1: the people that have supported them, and where they're at
Speaker 1: now in that moment. But you know, it's it's guys
Speaker 1: have always done a great job of handling it in.
Speaker 1: It's not a fun moment to be it now. If
Speaker 1: I had to pick out a favorite moment from last year,
Speaker 1: it would be the Germaine Pratt interception to wrap up
Speaker 1: the Raiders win at Paul Brown Stadium because it was
Speaker 1: so cathartic for Bengals fans. I was there for the
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer knee injury. I was there for the disasters
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen playoff loss to the Steelers. Do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite moment or moment from last year? I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of favorite moments. If you're gonna pick one
Speaker 1: over the other, it was probably beating Kansas City the
Speaker 1: first time to get into the playoffs to win the division.
Speaker 1: I had almost phrased it that way, winning the division
Speaker 1: over getting into the playoffs, because just from where we'd
Speaker 1: been day one to three years later, win the division
Speaker 1: with the issues we'd had playing the teams in our division.
Speaker 1: You know, we got blown out several times the first
Speaker 1: two years, really saw that we had a big hill
Speaker 1: to climb there with the respect that we had for
Speaker 1: those teams, and so to be able to win a
Speaker 1: lot of those divisional games this year and then beat
Speaker 1: a really good Kansas City team to win the division
Speaker 1: just felt like, you know, a lot of hard work
Speaker 1: had paid off. Certainly that wasn't the ultimate prize, but
Speaker 1: it was it was a giant step in the right
Speaker 1: direction for us. We're sitting in your office on the
Speaker 1: whiteboard you still have remember when from your first season
Speaker 1: seven games in when you're at a particularly frustrated time
Speaker 1: trying to game play and for a game against the Rams,
Speaker 1: You've added some things to that whiteboard since memories from
Speaker 1: each of those seasons. Are you kind of sentimental that way?
Speaker 1: Do you like to have those kind of seminal memories.
Speaker 1: I do. I like to remember the challenges we face,
Speaker 1: the good moments we've had. That's probably why I journal,
Speaker 1: and I like to look back at old notes to
Speaker 1: remind myself of things that. You know, maybe something I
Speaker 1: wrote in fall camp of twenty twenty that is really
Speaker 1: optical now that I've lost sight of the same thing
Speaker 1: goes when you're in the middle of the season you
Speaker 1: want to remember how you felt at different moments of
Speaker 1: the season and to help you in future years. And
Speaker 1: so there's you know, you try to boys. It is
Speaker 1: usually Brian Callahan and I in here game planted the
Speaker 1: most together and here in this room, and so certainly
Speaker 1: we've we've shared some good moments. Each year. We try
Speaker 1: to pull one when it feels like the right moment
Speaker 1: and put it up on the board, and who knows
Speaker 1: what we'll put up there next year. When Joe Burrows drafted,
Speaker 1: you were asked about his swagger and you pushed back
Speaker 1: a little bit and described it more as earned confidence.
Speaker 1: Why is that distinction important to you? I think some
Speaker 1: guys can put on an appearance of what they think
Speaker 1: they're supposed to project and what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 1: Some can pull it off, or maybe they fool people.
Speaker 1: Some m it's just their natural personality. For Joe, you
Speaker 1: can just tell it's a guy who's put in the work.
Speaker 1: He's not trying to be somebody that he thinks others
Speaker 1: need him to be or want him to be. It's
Speaker 1: just who he is and that that comes across very
Speaker 1: clearly to everyone who interacts with him, and everyone who
Speaker 1: sees him to where its not somebody trying to be
Speaker 1: somebody that they're not, and that's appreciated. He's he's earned
Speaker 1: the right to be who he is, and you know
Speaker 1: that's sometimes that can be hard to find, you know.
Speaker 1: And we've got a guy who carries himself verywhere I
Speaker 1: can't imagine what his life is like right now and
Speaker 1: what it's going to be like going forward. Just the
Speaker 1: star that he is becoming. Do you worry about that
Speaker 1: at all? You're not always envious to that, you know,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, some people probably would be.
Speaker 1: But I think being in this profession, you know the
Speaker 1: challenges that come with that. Maybe you know he's he's
Speaker 1: obviously very grounded and handles himself the right way, and
Speaker 1: that's just this the life that he has, you know.
Speaker 1: And then there's other guys certain way that have followed
Speaker 1: the same path that I'm sure he can look to
Speaker 1: and ask questions to get advice there. I'm not that person,
Speaker 1: you know it, But you know, there's there's great things
Speaker 1: that come from being in that position. There's certainly challenges
Speaker 1: that people will never be able to relate to other
Speaker 1: than the people that are in that position. I like
Speaker 1: to joke that I've had one really good idea in
Speaker 1: my life, and that is a chain of Toast restaurants.
Speaker 1: So instead of bagel shops, everybody likes Toast, right, So
Speaker 1: every airport Kiosk is going to have a Dan Horde
Speaker 1: Toast restaurant someday. So that's my great idea. Your idea
Speaker 1: to give game balls to fans at bars and restaurants
Speaker 1: after playoff wins was incredible. Did it just come to
Speaker 1: you out of the blue. You've kind of described driving
Speaker 1: by bars and rest trents in your neighborhood and thinking
Speaker 1: about it. But was it like a, you know, a
Speaker 1: light bulb went off and hey, that would be cool.
Speaker 1: It's hard to pinpoint when exactly a thought like that
Speaker 1: comes to your head. I think since the day I've
Speaker 1: gotten this job. And I've said this before, but leaving
Speaker 1: the stadium from work every day and driving through downtown,
Speaker 1: past past the banks, and past the Red Stity, I
Speaker 1: do always picture post game because I've driven through there
Speaker 1: the first year after a lot of losses and seeing
Speaker 1: people in jerseys and you know, dejected, and always pictured
Speaker 1: driving through there when we're having the Super Bowl parade
Speaker 1: and seeing what those streets would look like. That's the
Speaker 1: first thing that comes to your mind. From there, it's okay,
Speaker 1: when we win a playoff game, you know, what's something
Speaker 1: that you can really find a way to celebrate with
Speaker 1: the city. I drive past mlts, you know, every day,
Speaker 1: twice a day, you know, going to work and coming
Speaker 1: back from work, and you always see the people in
Speaker 1: there having a good time, and I just thought, you know,
Speaker 1: it would be cool to go in there and deliver
Speaker 1: a game. I don't remember the exact year or moment
Speaker 1: that that part came it came across. I did not
Speaker 1: plan on it going the way that it did. I
Speaker 1: thought it was gonna be a lot more low key.
Speaker 1: I was picturing like nineteen eighty nine when nobody had
Speaker 1: cell phones. There's gonna be a moment that, you know,
Speaker 1: the people in the bar talked about and I walked
Speaker 1: in and then one hundred cell phones popped up. So
Speaker 1: I didn't think that went through all the way. But
Speaker 1: I'm glad that everyone got to enjoy it. And it's
Speaker 1: you know, I know that there's a lot of restaurants
Speaker 1: and bars that want to be a part of this,
Speaker 1: and this is going on for you know, in my mind,
Speaker 1: as long as the Bengals organ organization, this is going
Speaker 1: to continue to take place when we went playoff games,
Speaker 1: so there's gonna be plenty of opportunities for everyone to
Speaker 1: share in the experience. I think they're about fifteen of
Speaker 1: those balls out there from the three playoff wins, and
Speaker 1: anytime I see one at a place, it puts a
Speaker 1: smile on my face and I usually engage the bartender
Speaker 1: or the person in charge of the restaurant about it.
Speaker 1: Have a lot of people lobbied you for future games
Speaker 1: to try to be in position to be the next
Speaker 1: place that gets one. It's hard. It's hard to get
Speaker 1: in touch with me because my lack of social media.
Speaker 1: It's easier to get in touch with my life. And
Speaker 1: so she's the one who usually relays the message. And yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there will always be opportunities for a lot of
Speaker 1: other places to get it. You know, Northern Kentucky bars
Speaker 1: outside of Cincinnati. There's plenty of ways that we can
Speaker 1: reach a lot of a lot of great Bengals fans
Speaker 1: and and different bars and restaurants. Of the fifty five
Speaker 1: previous teams that were the runners up in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: sixty nine percent have made the playoffs, only three have
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl the next year. Have you or
Speaker 1: will you seek advice from coaches that took their team
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl but didn't win it. It's something
Speaker 1: we spend a lot of time researching and studying those
Speaker 1: types of teams to say, I've had direct conversations with
Speaker 1: coaches who have then rebounded to go to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: because those the people you'd be reaching out to doctor
Speaker 1: right to people that didn't get it done. And so
Speaker 1: you know, it's we're the twenty twenty two Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 1: and we have a plant in place to help us
Speaker 1: in the off season. We'll haven't want to help ourselves
Speaker 1: in training camp and then in the season, and we're
Speaker 1: going to follow that plan. And um, we know that
Speaker 1: it's these seasons are long seasons. You're gonna face a
Speaker 1: lot of adversity. We're gonna handle it the way that
Speaker 1: seat's best for us. We've got a really motivated group
Speaker 1: of players that that no, it's a long journey to
Speaker 1: get back, know what it took to get there in
Speaker 1: the first place, but are very hungry and willing to
Speaker 1: do whatever it takes to try to get back in
Speaker 1: the current NFL with the emphasis on the quick passing
Speaker 1: game and getting the ball out quickly, could you have played? No? No, no,
Speaker 1: uh no. You know, I think I'm happy with the
Speaker 1: career that I had. Um, I had my opportunity, you know,
Speaker 1: and in training camp with the off season with the Bucks,
Speaker 1: and UM, I could see the quarterbacks around me were
Speaker 1: we're better players and I better athletes than I, and so, UM,
Speaker 1: I'm satisfied being a coach and being able to compete
Speaker 1: that way. UM, I've taken my talents to the pick
Speaker 1: a ball court. You know, I think that's better suited
Speaker 1: for me right now. But UM, there's not any any
Speaker 1: thoughts from me sitting around thing I could do this,
Speaker 1: you know, those those are long gone. Do you want
Speaker 1: your boys to be quarterbacks? I think I think that
Speaker 1: they want to be quarterbacks. So that works well for
Speaker 1: me as well. It's it's the position I'd like to
Speaker 1: talk about and teach the most. And you know, I
Speaker 1: don't even I do spend time talking about the throwing
Speaker 1: mechanics with my boys. But for me, the biggest thing
Speaker 1: is just getting reps, just reps, reps. Throw however you
Speaker 1: can throw as many times you get to throw, whether
Speaker 1: it's dropping it in the basketball hoop in the driveway,
Speaker 1: to work on touch, whether it's putting a target in
Speaker 1: the backyard. Just accumulate reps and that's where the accuracy
Speaker 1: comes from. There. There's obviously mechanical things that you can
Speaker 1: do to work on that I'll point out occasionally to them.
Speaker 1: I just want them to throw and catch, and they
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time doing that, and I think
Speaker 1: that's that's really as good of a teacher as you
Speaker 1: can have at a young age as anything. Dave Lapham
Speaker 1: tells a great story about the aftermath of Super Bowl sixteen,
Speaker 1: the one he played in. He goes back to the
Speaker 1: hotel room after the game. His son is about five
Speaker 1: years old at the time, and he says, Daddy, why
Speaker 1: did you guys stank so much in the first half,
Speaker 1: And Lab jokes that it was all all he could
Speaker 1: do not to put the pillow over Dave Junior's ahead,
Speaker 1: What were your boys like after the Super Bowl? They
Speaker 1: take it as hard as anybody. Certainly, I don't always
Speaker 1: see the immediate moment. You kind of hear more about
Speaker 1: it from from friends and family that are around him,
Speaker 1: but they're into it, you know. It's it's amazing. They
Speaker 1: have a pretty good football IQ. They see things, they
Speaker 1: got great recollection. I was in here watching them with
Speaker 1: my son earlier and he remembers I asked him his
Speaker 1: top three plays from this game that's on right now,
Speaker 1: you know, the Ravens game here at home, and he
Speaker 1: named top three right in a row, number one being
Speaker 1: the T. Higgins moss as he called it, you know,
Speaker 1: on third and long. So it's it's fun to talk
Speaker 1: ball with him. My son, my oldest son, was in
Speaker 1: here during the draft when the last day of the draft,
Speaker 1: he was shooting baskets down in the weight room in
Speaker 1: the seventh round, and I bet him that he wouldn't
Speaker 1: make a shot, and he said, if I make the shot,
Speaker 1: do I get to pick the seventh rounder. So they're
Speaker 1: invested everything that we do, you know, And I did
Speaker 1: not let him pick the seventh rounder even though he
Speaker 1: made the shot. But that's kind of their mindset is
Speaker 1: they want to be involved. They love what I do,
Speaker 1: they love being part of it, and so you try
Speaker 1: to include him as best you can. So I do
Speaker 1: these fun facts interviews during the course of the season,
Speaker 1: and I typically end with the same question. I'm going
Speaker 1: to end our conversation with this question as well. If
Speaker 1: you could meet anybody in history, athlete, politician, statesmen, entertainer,
Speaker 1: whoever that person might be, who would it be. I
Speaker 1: think two people. For me just being here, Paul Brown
Speaker 1: would be fascinating to have dinner with and just ask
Speaker 1: him how he came up with all the things he
Speaker 1: came up with, you know, and it's because it's documented,
Speaker 1: but to hear him say firsthand, maybe what led to
Speaker 1: a lot of the call hm inventions, call him you know,
Speaker 1: however you want to phrase it. It's just fascinating to
Speaker 1: learn as much as you can about him and what
Speaker 1: led to a lot of the decisions that he made.
Speaker 1: Pete Marevitch was always my favorite. I think my dad
Speaker 1: liked him. My brothers named after his dad, Press Merevitch,
Speaker 1: So the Taylor family always had a fascination with the
Speaker 1: Merevitch family. You know, He's always watched his drill tapes
Speaker 1: he had that was like Pete Merevitch's homework, the pistol
Speaker 1: Pete's homework basketball, I think is what it was called.
Speaker 1: That was all the drills I did as a kid.
Speaker 1: So he was a guy had his post ripe on
Speaker 1: my wall, and so if you're if you're crossing sports there,
Speaker 1: I think Pete Merevitch would be the guy I'd like
Speaker 1: to meet. Now, that's interesting. I did not realize we
Speaker 1: share a fascination with Pete Merevich. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted kids to call me Pistol when I was playing
Speaker 1: youth basketball, but it only it ended with me asking
Speaker 1: them to do it. They certainly weren't weren't inspired to
Speaker 1: do it based on my play. I always wanted to
Speaker 1: dribble basketball in a movie theater, you know, because he's
Speaker 1: there's a scene from from the movie The Pistol where
Speaker 1: he dribbles it in the theater. There's one where he
Speaker 1: spins it on his hand for an hour and then
Speaker 1: he throws it off his head and knocks it in
Speaker 1: the basket. So I tried that, you know, for hours
Speaker 1: and hours as a kid. But you know, I basketball
Speaker 1: was kind of my first love as a kid, and
Speaker 1: so I was obsessed with pistol Pete because here's a
Speaker 1: guy who maybe didn't have the physical tributes of a
Speaker 1: lot of great players. He worked more on the technical aspect,
Speaker 1: and that was really the only way I could survive
Speaker 1: as a kid, and so I think I was drawn
Speaker 1: closely to that. This has been great. I really appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. Congratulations on a remarkable season, and we all
Speaker 1: can't wait to get started on the next one. I
Speaker 1: know it's we're enjoining the offseason right now. We got
Speaker 1: a lot of work to do and we're excited for
Speaker 1: next year as well. Well. Zack's brother got his first
Speaker 1: name from former LSU basketball coach Press Merovich. Pistol Pete's dad, Zach,
Speaker 1: is named for one of his father's former teammates at Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: Zach Henderson, one of the best safeties in Sooner's history,
Speaker 1: who also spelled his first name z Ac. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the freedom play
Speaker 1: fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a
Speaker 1: weekly winner during the course of the year, with tickets,
Speaker 1: autograph merchandise, and money can't Buy experiences all up for grabs.
Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play.
Speaker 1: One of the best offseason moves in the NFL last year,
Speaker 1: with Cincinnati signing Chitubey a wuge to a three year,
Speaker 1: twenty one point seven five million dollar deal. Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus graded him as the NFL's second best cornerback last year,
Speaker 1: behind the Rams Jalen Ramsey. This week, we discussed his
Speaker 1: breakout season and the status of his friend and teammate
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates Cheetah. How long did it take you to
Speaker 1: put the Super Bowl behind you? M That's an interesting question.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking as long as I'm in this league, I
Speaker 1: probably won't put it behind me because it's not become
Speaker 1: a part of mine motivation, you know, to reach that
Speaker 1: stage again and to complete the full mission. So I
Speaker 1: would say from the whole season, it took me a
Speaker 1: little bit of time to rejuvenate, probably about two months.
Speaker 1: You know, I was still training this stuff, but really
Speaker 1: feeling like I'm ready to go to the for this
Speaker 1: next season. It took me about two months. But that
Speaker 1: Super bowls it's part of a new motivation now, So
Speaker 1: I will ever go away rejuvenate physically or emotionally. Um.
Speaker 1: Everything you know, obviously, you know, a little Nixon bruces
Speaker 1: from the previous season. I was doing rehab and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Um Mentally, you know, the season is as
Speaker 1: gruesome as it is physically as it is mentally. And
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of time to just relax your mind,
Speaker 1: get it back to doing regular human things, and they're
Speaker 1: getting ready to go to do that gruesome thing again
Speaker 1: and and go to a play some dark places where
Speaker 1: you know you have to go to in this game
Speaker 1: to be able to succeed so um spiritually. Also, everything's
Speaker 1: so taxing emotionally all that stuff, but that's that that's
Speaker 1: what we signed up for. So you know, we're professionals
Speaker 1: for a reason. And you know, I'm more excited and
Speaker 1: more juiced even than last year I was. So I'm
Speaker 1: really looking forward to where we have to go or
Speaker 1: where we're gonna go this year. My broadcast partner Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham played in the Bengals for Super Bowl loss, and
Speaker 1: he described it like he look at the ceiling and
Speaker 1: replay the game in his mind because it was so
Speaker 1: disappointing to make it back far and not come away
Speaker 1: with a win. Did you have the same experience? Definitely,
Speaker 1: And people reminds you. You know, everywhere you go, people
Speaker 1: are oh, what happened here? Or why didn't this happen?
Speaker 1: Da da da. You know, it's always speculation and stuff,
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, football is one
Speaker 1: of the greatest forces because it's entertaining. You know, it's
Speaker 1: one of the most entertaining spectacles that we have in
Speaker 1: the world. And if you put it that way, then
Speaker 1: in essence we are entertainers. So it has to be
Speaker 1: a winner or loser, an antagonist or protagonists, all that stuff,
Speaker 1: and we just happened to be the protagonists, but still lose.
Speaker 1: You know, the main character died. But the good thing
Speaker 1: is that we have new life and we have another
Speaker 1: sense to go at it. You had a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: interception that has to be a tremendous highlight for you.
Speaker 1: It is, it is, and it kind of you know,
Speaker 1: obviously gets overshadowed by the loss, which is definitely always
Speaker 1: the goal is to win the game, but there's still
Speaker 1: a blessing to do that and more for my family
Speaker 1: and the people that Karen love about me, you know,
Speaker 1: something that they could brag about to their friends or
Speaker 1: their peers or work buddies and stuff like that. So um,
Speaker 1: to me, it's just me just doing my job according
Speaker 1: to what the coach is telling me to do so
Speaker 1: and I ended up in a great position. So um,
Speaker 1: yeah for visiting with Chittabeya Woo Jay. You had such
Speaker 1: a great year last year for the Bengals. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like you established yourself as one of the best
Speaker 1: corners in the NFL. Established is a weird word. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't every want to feel like I'm established, but
Speaker 1: I would say that, Um, last year, I was in
Speaker 1: my most complete mental space, like Claire Clairehead Claire, I
Speaker 1: clear clear mind. I had a real clear focus. You know,
Speaker 1: great team, great guys, and everything just led me to
Speaker 1: have a great year. You know, I have a pretty
Speaker 1: good year, and you know, I look when I look
Speaker 1: back at the tape, then every one thing I always
Speaker 1: want to say is that, you know, I put out
Speaker 1: something there that I'm proud of someone with a ton
Speaker 1: of the tape. I could own up to everything that
Speaker 1: that was on that tape because I was preparing correctly, mentally, spiritually, physically,
Speaker 1: everything that has to go with it. And the prody
Speaker 1: that you got was my very best. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: plan to do this this year again. This year, and
Speaker 1: my best has gotten better because of training and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So I'm really excited. If you feel like
Speaker 1: your peers have recognized take you're one of the best
Speaker 1: corners in the NFL. I think my peers respect me
Speaker 1: as such. I mean they asked me to do a
Speaker 1: lot last year. Um, you know, me and Eli and
Speaker 1: Mike and the whole secondary pretty much. Um, last year
Speaker 1: was the first year, first year I was traveling with guys,
Speaker 1: you know, some of the top guys in the league.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that numbers don't really explain. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't explain who you were going against and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But um, I think my job that I
Speaker 1: had to do compared to the other guys that we
Speaker 1: call great in this league, you know, it's right up there.
Speaker 1: So and that's just a product of, you know, the
Speaker 1: guys that I played with, the coaching style, and the
Speaker 1: people that helped me in the off season. So, um,
Speaker 1: just really excited to do it again. The Bengals had
Speaker 1: six draft picks. They use three on defensive backs. I
Speaker 1: think it's a sign of in the NFL right now,
Speaker 1: with all the great quarterbacks and all of the great receivers,
Speaker 1: you need unbelievable depth in the secondary. Did you feel
Speaker 1: the same way when you saw them make those moves? Oh,
Speaker 1: most definitely. You know it was crazy because last year,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a rookie. Essentially we had Antonio Phillips,
Speaker 1: but then um he was traded or let go after
Speaker 1: the camp and we didn't have a rookie. So you know,
Speaker 1: all the rookie duties were falling on to us veterans. Now,
Speaker 1: it's good to have some guys to do the rookie
Speaker 1: duties and obviously help out where needed. Um, we're gonna
Speaker 1: need everybody, you know. That's that's just let's the name
Speaker 1: of the game. Every year in the NFL, people get hurt,
Speaker 1: things happen. Um, situations happened that you know obviously with
Speaker 1: money wise and you know all that's the crazy things. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's an ever evolving game that we just had a
Speaker 1: you know, adjust property. I'm sitting in Jesse Bates seat.
Speaker 1: I wish it was occupied and that he was here,
Speaker 1: but we understand the realities of contract negotiations in the NFL.
Speaker 1: How do you guys in the secondary feel right now
Speaker 1: about his situation in his absence? Oh, we love Jesse.
Speaker 1: Jesse's our leader, he's our you know, game change, our closer,
Speaker 1: He's everything to us, everything to our team. We're just waiting.
Speaker 1: We know that the people upstairs gonna make the right
Speaker 1: decision and pay him just mavers win at this point.
Speaker 1: So you know, we talked to Jesse every day. We're
Speaker 1: telling him what's going on in the practice. He's asking
Speaker 1: us questions, so he's still very involved with us. It's
Speaker 1: just a matter of win. So we're just waiting patiently
Speaker 1: for one of our leaders. That's pretty strong comment on
Speaker 1: your part. You think it is happening ultimately by July fifteen.
Speaker 1: I hope it does. Yeah, that's up to That's up
Speaker 1: to the people upstairs, but obviously they know more than me.
Speaker 1: I'm just his brother and his teammate. Last thing, I'll
Speaker 1: let you go to do anything fun in the off
Speaker 1: season until now. I know you've got another break coming.
Speaker 1: But how about so far? Yeah, you know, I got
Speaker 1: to link up with a lot of my family I
Speaker 1: haven't seen a long time. So I went to Nigeria,
Speaker 1: saw my grandma, who haven't seen in ten years. I
Speaker 1: was fulfilling my heart, you know, just seeing everybody, my cousins,
Speaker 1: Auntie's uncles, and then I also was had a chance
Speaker 1: to go in New York, where my mom's eide of
Speaker 1: the family basically lives in saw my cousins I haven't
Speaker 1: seen in ten years, ten plus years, so you know,
Speaker 1: this year it was really about family and that's where
Speaker 1: I got my rejuvenation from. You know, they look at
Speaker 1: me as like the guy who made it from our family,
Speaker 1: but I'm only as strong as them, you know, and
Speaker 1: they're so strong that it gives me shrinks. So really
Speaker 1: appreciate that time that I had with them. How aware
Speaker 1: where was your family in Nigeria about the super Bowl
Speaker 1: run and the unbelievable season he had. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: a from LA. It's a nine hour difference, so they
Speaker 1: were up watching. They didn't know what was going on,
Speaker 1: but they'd like to hear that Ebo names should have
Speaker 1: been I was yet on TV. So to give them pride,
Speaker 1: to give them joy and if it feels their spirit too.
Speaker 1: So when I went back, Oh, Star BOYD, Star Boyd,
Speaker 1: Star Floyd, they were having so much fun with it.
Speaker 1: So that's that's ultimately it's about from me. That's fabulous.
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time. Great to see you, Welcome back to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Thank you. My final conversation this week is with one
Speaker 1: of the three offensive linemens signed in free agency, right
Speaker 1: tackle l Collins, better known as LC. He's been reunited
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati with his former offensive line coach in Dallas,
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock. Man, I'm just happy to be be back, coach.
Speaker 1: Frank m happy to be around these guys in his
Speaker 1: locker room. Uh Now, I can tell us all about
Speaker 1: ball here, and I love that. What is it about
Speaker 1: Frank that you respected admire so much? Just the way
Speaker 1: he teaches the game and way he teaches the position,
Speaker 1: the position because he played the position, so he knows, um,
Speaker 1: the things that that work and the things that um,
Speaker 1: you know that's not realistic. And you know he coaches
Speaker 1: us hard on technique and that's something that we're gonna
Speaker 1: use each and every every week and each and every
Speaker 1: day to prepare ourself for a season. That's a big thing,
Speaker 1: isn't it? Knowing what's realistic for an offensive line coach? Alutly,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that look good on paper,
Speaker 1: but when you're getting the when the when the when
Speaker 1: the real game starts to go, you know all that stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, and when you get to games, you gotta
Speaker 1: be able to lean on your technique and you're training.
Speaker 1: So that's the one thing that because Frank have done
Speaker 1: great um from from my time with him, were beginning
Speaker 1: to form a relationship with Burrow. Anythings stand out yet?
Speaker 1: Oh man, he's he's all about He's all about ball um.
Speaker 1: His focus each and every day he comes in just
Speaker 1: the word um. And he's ahead of his time. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be he's gonna be a great one, ahead of
Speaker 1: his time in a way. Just the way he sees
Speaker 1: the game UM and its ability to to to go
Speaker 1: out and die and those certain things. And you know
Speaker 1: when you when you're able to see that out of
Speaker 1: a young player, you know, you know that the siling
Speaker 1: is hot on. You refer to yourself as the bodyguard
Speaker 1: when you signed. Are you embracing that? Absolutely no doubt
Speaker 1: about it, owning up to it, and and uh, that's
Speaker 1: what it's gonna be about. When an offensive line is
Speaker 1: building chemistry and continuity. How much is practice and how
Speaker 1: much is you know, bonding away from practice? Oh it's big,
Speaker 1: you know, you know it's big to be able to
Speaker 1: know the guys that you're lining up again and know
Speaker 1: that family members That goes a long way. You know
Speaker 1: that kids, you know their wife or whatever case may be.
Speaker 1: And that's always big, and that's that's when you know
Speaker 1: you've got something truly special. You know, we're working on
Speaker 1: being you know, the best unit we can be, and
Speaker 1: that's all we gotta do is go out and put
Speaker 1: the work in each and every day. And the coach
Speaker 1: was asked about you guys after practice today, the new
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. He said, the thing that stands out is
Speaker 1: how much you all love it. Love the grind, love ball. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: One thing about coach Frank Um. If you're a guy Todd,
Speaker 1: you know, love ball, and you can run, you belong here,
Speaker 1: and you're tough, you're physical. There's the type of guys
Speaker 1: you look for, smart guys as well. So all those things,
Speaker 1: every guy in that room has it. You know, you
Speaker 1: just got to continue to pull it out of each
Speaker 1: other and continue to grind each and every day. And
Speaker 1: a lot of professions. Change is good. You feel refreshed.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that way? I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: this is a revamp in my career. I'm being able
Speaker 1: to come here and being, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: older guys in the room, being a vet, being around
Speaker 1: and just knowing you know, what he expects out of
Speaker 1: the guys. And I mean for me, it was like
Speaker 1: I was already raised in that because I had Frame
Speaker 1: my first three years, so I was brought up the
Speaker 1: right way. And now it's just like getting back to it.
Speaker 1: So I couldn't be more happier, or it can be
Speaker 1: more excited. Man, It's like as a happy as I've
Speaker 1: been in the Wall group. To hear you describe it,
Speaker 1: it seems so obvious that this was the right place
Speaker 1: for you in your mind, the perfect fit. You know.
Speaker 1: It's a difference when it was good fits and perfect fits.
Speaker 1: It was a perfect fit. Hollins turns twenty nine in
Speaker 1: July and is signed for the next three years. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty two season. Gets free to play
Speaker 1: next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes and get
Speaker 1: it now on the App Store and Google. And if
Speaker 1: you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast