Speaker 1: Hi, do anybody, I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Boot Podcast to start me Up edition, as we
Speaker 1: look back at a three point win over the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears to open the preseason. Coming up, my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Gave Lapp them will join me to discuss the players
Speaker 1: that stood out to him in that game. We'll hit
Speaker 1: on what's going on with the offensive line, and Lapp
Speaker 1: will take us inside the mind of an NFL rookie
Speaker 1: who is wondering if he is going to make it
Speaker 1: or if he is going to get cut. Plus, in
Speaker 1: this week's fun facts segment, you'll get to know kicker
Speaker 1: John Brown, who made both of his attempts in the opener,
Speaker 1: a field goal and an extra point. And here's the kicker,
Speaker 1: no pun intended. It was the first time he had
Speaker 1: ever attempted a field goal or a pat in a
Speaker 1: game at any level. We'll find out how that's even possible.
Speaker 1: All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. It's the
Speaker 1: greatest invention since having a camera on your phone. Are
Speaker 1: you old enough to remember what it was like to
Speaker 1: lug a camera around, or worse yet, not have one
Speaker 1: when you needed it. It's wonderful not to have to
Speaker 1: worry about that anymore, even if you're tired of seeing
Speaker 1: everybody's selfies, as was the case last year on this podcast,
Speaker 1: when we get to the regular season, I'll do in
Speaker 1: depth recaps of every game with radio replays and locker
Speaker 1: room interviews that we'll be posted in time for your
Speaker 1: ride to work on Monday morning. But since we're talking
Speaker 1: about the preseason opener, we'll keep it to one highlight.
Speaker 1: Here's the game winning touchdown pass from Jeff Driscoll to
Speaker 1: rookie Auden Tate with two minutes and four seconds to go,
Speaker 1: second down and eight at the Bear's thirty three, Driscoll
Speaker 1: fakes to the right, looking around for a running lane.
Speaker 1: Now running backward, he'll throw deep off his back foot.
Speaker 1: Roden hey dud with a touchdown catch right at the
Speaker 1: goal line, going up and over Sean Franklin and using
Speaker 1: all of his six five frame to haul in the score.
Speaker 1: How about Auden Tate just continues to make big plays again,
Speaker 1: contested catch John Franklin. The third falls to the ground.
Speaker 1: I mean, at that point it's over. Driscoll says, I'm
Speaker 1: going to Tate. Tate rewarded me. It was nullified by
Speaker 1: penalty offset penalty. But I'm telling you what this guy
Speaker 1: is a playmaker. Auden Tate was the last of the
Speaker 1: bengals eleven draft picks this year, number two fifty three overall,
Speaker 1: he was almost mister irrelevant. There were only three draft
Speaker 1: picks after him. But Tate is certainly in the mix
Speaker 1: to make the fifty three man roster. In short, he
Speaker 1: could go from number two fifty three to the fifty three.
Speaker 1: Now time to take an in depth look at the
Speaker 1: preseason opener with Dave Lapham as he agains his thirty
Speaker 1: third season in the Bengals radio booth. Lap time to
Speaker 1: review the preseason opener, the thirty to twenty seven win
Speaker 1: over the Chicago Bears. Let's start out with some guys
Speaker 1: that stood out to you. Get me four on offense
Speaker 1: to begin with, well, first and foremost, I'd have to
Speaker 1: go with Andy Dalton, you know, not just the way
Speaker 1: he played six to eight hundred and three yards two
Speaker 1: touchdowns in a pick. Quarterback rating just under one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventeen. The pick was in his fault, as everybody knows,
Speaker 1: John Ross slipped coming out of his route, hits the
Speaker 1: deck and it's an easy read for fuller breaks in
Speaker 1: the football. He gets to pick six out of it.
Speaker 1: But and he really should have been seven for eight
Speaker 1: for like one hundred and fifteen hundred and twenty yards.
Speaker 1: I mean that was he was open. Ross probably make
Speaker 1: the catch. I mean, so now he's got a quarterback
Speaker 1: raiding approach one hundred and thirty or whatever. Not only
Speaker 1: way he played, but as we saw Dan, it was
Speaker 1: to track me on and off the sideline. I mean
Speaker 1: they were stubb stuting personnel, different formations, and Andy has
Speaker 1: just run on top of all of it. You have
Speaker 1: to have a quarterback that knows every nuance of it,
Speaker 1: exactly what's going on, to be the maestro, the conductor
Speaker 1: in the in the huddle, getting everybody on and off
Speaker 1: the field lined up properly, and then run the plane
Speaker 1: and execute it. And Andy, Andy's smartest the Dickens. I mean,
Speaker 1: I have told the story a few times. I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, having him when he's a red shirt freshman,
Speaker 1: when he was at TCU playing against Texas at Texas
Speaker 1: and Gary Patterson's a head coach at TCU at the
Speaker 1: time as he is now, and I said to him
Speaker 1: the production and coach, man, you know, red shirt freshman
Speaker 1: quarterback down here against the Longhorns, and that's when Mac
Speaker 1: Brown had him rolling. They were good, good defense. He goes, Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you it might sound crazy, but that's at
Speaker 1: least of my concerns. This guy's is mature as a
Speaker 1: red shirt senior. He said, we got we got you know,
Speaker 1: upper classman following him around, like you know, he's the
Speaker 1: lead duck and they're all the ducklings. And he said,
Speaker 1: he's smart at whip man. He's got it down. He
Speaker 1: knows everything, he knows what the defense is going to
Speaker 1: try to do to stop him. And so he's always
Speaker 1: had that football I and UM and talking to the
Speaker 1: coaching staff you know that are involved with Andy. Coordinators,
Speaker 1: position coaches on down, all of them are like, man,
Speaker 1: it's it's one smart duck, so redheaded duck. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think that part of it
Speaker 1: is I think Andy's going to have a really good
Speaker 1: year if the offensive line plays Solow the in front
Speaker 1: of him as we've talked about Joe Mixon having that
Speaker 1: twenty four yard touchdown to me was remarkable on a
Speaker 1: couple of fronts. Not remarkable, but positive on a couple
Speaker 1: of fronts. His ability, you know, after the catch, makes
Speaker 1: a corner linebacker miss and then you know, spins out
Speaker 1: on a cornerback and they detach them, just like the
Speaker 1: Newton Patriots we talked about, you know, detach those running backs.
Speaker 1: Mixing can run a route tree, Gio can run a
Speaker 1: route tree. These were These running backs are like receivers.
Speaker 1: They have those kind of that kind of skill set.
Speaker 1: And Joe is the widest receiver in the formation and
Speaker 1: got a match up you know that was favorable in
Speaker 1: his in his way against the linebacker and you know,
Speaker 1: two of them. So I like that. So you saw
Speaker 1: all those kind of things you know from from Bill Laser,
Speaker 1: and then the players putting the players in positions to
Speaker 1: succeed getting favorable matchups, and then they reward him by
Speaker 1: executing it. That twenty four yard touchdown catch was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Think of beauty. AJ Green. He's pretty good, news flash,
Speaker 1: he's good. This dude can play different spots in the formation,
Speaker 1: you know, different routes and He had two catches one
Speaker 1: twenty six yards to one twenty two yards. Two catches
Speaker 1: over twenty yards average twenty four yards to catch. That's AJ,
Speaker 1: you know. And one of them a shallow cross where
Speaker 1: he's just outrunning people. You get him at that level
Speaker 1: of defense, nobody can run with the guy. And then
Speaker 1: the back shoulder when the defender was running with him
Speaker 1: a little bit. Andy and AJ are on the same page,
Speaker 1: almost mental philepathy, you know, the unspoken word put it
Speaker 1: back shoulder and a J makes a play. That was
Speaker 1: a tiny window that Andy Dalton delivered a perfect throat too,
Speaker 1: And that that's another thing about him. All through camp, Dan,
Speaker 1: he's been he's been hitting those those tight windows. He
Speaker 1: really has. He's he's been as accurate as I've seen him.
Speaker 1: He's had a remarkable camp. And I think it, I
Speaker 1: think it translated. And then of course you have to
Speaker 1: go with odd and take you know, the thirty three
Speaker 1: yard touchdown. U. Every everybody on the sideline when we
Speaker 1: were talking doing lock him out to the game, They're like,
Speaker 1: we knew what was going to happen, you know, we
Speaker 1: were just waiting was nineteen gonna go up and get it?
Speaker 1: Like he has every practice and he's done it against
Speaker 1: you know, quality corners Drake ker Patrick and others. So
Speaker 1: who he's going against isn't you know, the top shelf
Speaker 1: cornerback in the NFL. And he's trying to prove that
Speaker 1: he should have a roster spot. So he made a
Speaker 1: you know, great catches. He's a contested catch babn, huge
Speaker 1: catching radius, long arm, strong, hands six five twenty eight pounds.
Speaker 1: The question is, um Cody Corp played well on special teams.
Speaker 1: Cody core has proven he can play gunner. I don't
Speaker 1: think got In Take can play gunner. Too big, not
Speaker 1: enough speed. He may have to play inside some inside
Speaker 1: positions on special teams. Can he prove he can do that?
Speaker 1: Because you know, Josh Malone has been nicked up, so
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons didn't want to use him on special teams
Speaker 1: and expose him to more with the hamstring problem. So
Speaker 1: he's shown he can do it. So these guys all
Speaker 1: play special teams, not just return but special teams coverage things,
Speaker 1: you know, so he's gonna have to throw his hat
Speaker 1: in that mix. But you know the way he can
Speaker 1: perform the red zone. You're thinking, can I find a
Speaker 1: roster spot for him. I mean, can he do more
Speaker 1: than just red zone or third down things for us?
Speaker 1: Can he play some special team snaps? So that's what
Speaker 1: he's looking at down the road. Those are my offensive guys. Defense.
Speaker 1: Gino Adkins again, another news flash, he's pretty good. He's
Speaker 1: Georgia Bulldogs. Man, they've been good to the Bengals. He
Speaker 1: had that quarterback sack, causal holding penalty. He's just you know,
Speaker 1: you try to single him up. I don't care if
Speaker 1: it's preseason, regular season, you know, playoffs, whenever. If you
Speaker 1: single him up, he will destroy you, and he did
Speaker 1: so watching him perform inside is you know, a defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator's best friend is a three technique that can man
Speaker 1: handle people, and Gino Adkins can do that. Carlos Dunlap
Speaker 1: the tackle he had was a tackle for loss, So
Speaker 1: it's like a quarterback sack. It's a disruption, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a it's throwing them off schedule. They're behind the chains.
Speaker 1: So both of your Pro bowlers make players on the
Speaker 1: other side of the line of scrimmage, and coach Austin
Speaker 1: wants to play on the other side of that line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage and be aggressive and and have that translated
Speaker 1: into turnovers and all that sort of thing. So to
Speaker 1: see you know those guys who was impressive to watch
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson hustle. I mean, the guy motor City, you know,
Speaker 1: just ran down plays from behind Daniel on a on
Speaker 1: a scramble captain short of a first down quarterback he hit.
Speaker 1: I think it was Tyler hitting in the arms. He
Speaker 1: was trying to release to football and causing incompletion by hustling.
Speaker 1: So to see him doing those kind of things was
Speaker 1: good and then didn't show up on the stat sheet.
Speaker 1: But watching Will Jackson play is fun to me. Smooth, confident,
Speaker 1: I mean, fluid. It's just he he has that mindset.
Speaker 1: Nobody's gonna beat me about the Bears testing him deep
Speaker 1: on the first play of the game. That yeah, that
Speaker 1: was that was interesting, and he's like, bring it on,
Speaker 1: you know, that's fine, give me a pick. I'll be
Speaker 1: good with that. I think he's going to have. I
Speaker 1: think Mixing and Will are going to have big, big years,
Speaker 1: you know, breakout type years. I think they're both primed
Speaker 1: and ready for that. But watching him play that cornerback position,
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of good cornerbacks, you know, over the
Speaker 1: years with the Bengals and others around the NFL and
Speaker 1: his whole demeanor, mindset, length, speed. There's not a whole
Speaker 1: lot of people like him out in the streets. Man,
Speaker 1: He's a rare, rare breed. There's no doubt. Special teams
Speaker 1: m Hardy Nickerson three tackles all in special teams tripled
Speaker 1: his production of last year. I mean he showed up
Speaker 1: on special teams. C J. Goodwin showed up. But Dan,
Speaker 1: you know, I would expect him to. You know, he's
Speaker 1: fast and he's experienced, been on other NFL teams, twenty
Speaker 1: eight years old, playing at the stage he was playing
Speaker 1: that in the game, I think he was he should dominate,
Speaker 1: and he showed up. He did, he flashed. Now you
Speaker 1: have to now it comes to the chess match of okay,
Speaker 1: play who do I play against better competition to see
Speaker 1: a better evaluation. This guy dominated people that he should dominate.
Speaker 1: Now can he hang with the big boys? You know,
Speaker 1: let's graduate him from kindergarten to the next level of school.
Speaker 1: So that's that's the process. That's that's that's going on
Speaker 1: now for the coaches and the players. Offensive line question
Speaker 1: for you, do you expect to see different starters on
Speaker 1: the line in game two, potentially, you know, you may
Speaker 1: have a situation where you know, Coach Pollock says, I
Speaker 1: just want to I just want to make sure. I
Speaker 1: just want to see, you know, Westerman stepped up big
Speaker 1: at the guard position. He to me, plays with the
Speaker 1: most explosiveness and power of those inside guys. He is
Speaker 1: a knee beender, a true kneebender. When you watch him
Speaker 1: come off the ball, he is in. He's a coaching
Speaker 1: reel for the football position to be in to deliver
Speaker 1: a strong blow as an offensive lineman. And he's never bending,
Speaker 1: he's never leaning. I should say he's never leaning forward.
Speaker 1: When an offensive lineman's chain gets in front of his feet,
Speaker 1: you're in trouble. You can't lean in pass protection. You
Speaker 1: shouldn't lean in the running game. You have to be
Speaker 1: in a good power position, like a squat sitting position, explosive.
Speaker 1: And he does that as well as any or better
Speaker 1: than anybody on the offensive line. And I've got to remember,
Speaker 1: he missed a few practices and lost twelve pounds. He
Speaker 1: had food poison. He lost twelve pounds, So he is
Speaker 1: feeling funky, you know. And I thought last year he
Speaker 1: finished the season strong physically, and you know, based on
Speaker 1: the way he performed, he may get a shot. He
Speaker 1: may get a shot at you know, at right guard,
Speaker 1: um and see see what he can do. I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought Bobby Hart, you know, did find Bobby Hart
Speaker 1: has a tendency when I watch him, he has a
Speaker 1: tendency to lean like I'm talking about in pass protection
Speaker 1: when he and and it's a natural Tennessee, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 1: these guys are at the You're coming at you. They're
Speaker 1: going to deliver a blow. So you want to you
Speaker 1: want to go get them. You have to fight that
Speaker 1: you I can't. Don't don't over expose yourself, don't commit yourself.
Speaker 1: It makes it easier for the defensive playoff. You have
Speaker 1: to be patient except those blows. I mean, give ground grudgingly.
Speaker 1: It's no fun being an old lineman. You're going backwards.
Speaker 1: These studs are coming and beating you up going forward.
Speaker 1: But that's why not many guys can play it. And
Speaker 1: so it's going to be interesting see how that how
Speaker 1: that shakes down. One of the couple other things about
Speaker 1: the game, Dan, four, you get away from the first
Speaker 1: preseason game in the third quarter, there were two players
Speaker 1: that people aren't going to want to talk about much
Speaker 1: or notice much in a three point when the Bengals
Speaker 1: win thirty twenty seven, and it happened in the same drive.
Speaker 1: First and ten from the Bears eighteen yeard line, goes
Speaker 1: sixty nine yards, breaks it out to the right side,
Speaker 1: Brandon Wilson runs them down, saves four points. They have
Speaker 1: to kick a field goal. If he doesn't make that tackle,
Speaker 1: Bengals lose a three point game. As it shakes down,
Speaker 1: he makes a four point saving tackle by just sheer speed.
Speaker 1: This kid, and he flashed on special teams that he
Speaker 1: can run. We saw him last year run. You saw
Speaker 1: him in college. The dudes a stud he's an athlete.
Speaker 1: And then later in that drive, second and twenty from
Speaker 1: the Bengals twenty three yard line, Brey overthrows Gentry wide open,
Speaker 1: I mean wide open by fifteen yards on any side
Speaker 1: of him, and he's got to walk in touchdown. They
Speaker 1: have to settle for four three points again, so a
Speaker 1: four point overthrow. So on that drive they gave up.
Speaker 1: They spit the bid on four points two different plays.
Speaker 1: Early and late in that drive Bengals and Bengals keep
Speaker 1: at twenty three, twenty lead and ultimately win the game
Speaker 1: thirty twenty seven. So it's plays like that, you know
Speaker 1: that you look back on and say, man, you know,
Speaker 1: if either one of those go the other way, Bengals
Speaker 1: don't win that first preseason game. And when you look
Speaker 1: at him like, man, yeah you don't, you don't really
Speaker 1: think of those as big plays because the defense gives
Speaker 1: up a big play, But it could have been bigger
Speaker 1: if Wilson doesn't hustle. For rookies playing in their first
Speaker 1: NFL preseason game, that's obviously very exciting. Then you come
Speaker 1: back a day or two later for reviewing the tape
Speaker 1: and getting graded by an NFL coaching staff, is that
Speaker 1: a big deal? It is? It is a big deal.
Speaker 1: And I think most of the players I know I
Speaker 1: was as a rookie, I was my own worst critic.
Speaker 1: Even if I did a good job, I'm like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I could have done that better. You know, you just
Speaker 1: it's like you you feel like you have to be perfect,
Speaker 1: and you know you can't get in your own head.
Speaker 1: That's the biggest thing. If you overanalyze it, you just
Speaker 1: you're gonna kill yourself. You won't be able to sleep
Speaker 1: at night. You're gonna have ulcers instead of win a
Speaker 1: job on a football team. And my rookie year, I
Speaker 1: learned that valuable lesson. I was drafting third round Daryl White,
Speaker 1: the other All American guard from he was from Nebraska.
Speaker 1: We both get drafted in the third and fourth round
Speaker 1: to battle for a guard spot. We were on the
Speaker 1: AP All American team and I'd got an a normina
Speaker 1: and great guy. So we're going at it, and uh,
Speaker 1: six preceding games, first three, I'm playing a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm getting my share of snaps. And then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, all I'm playing is on the wedge on
Speaker 1: the extra point field goal team. I'm like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I must have not done as well as I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, And I thought maybe I was right. Maybe
Speaker 1: I should have been harder on myself when I was
Speaker 1: doing the self evaluation because the coach's grades must I
Speaker 1: must suck in those grades and those evaluations. So Darrell's
Speaker 1: playing and I'm not, and uh, I just getting married
Speaker 1: to Lynn, and you know, I'm calling Saved, Saved the
Speaker 1: classified ads. I'm coming home. I think I have to
Speaker 1: be looking for a job. So last cut go into
Speaker 1: the room, and as it turns out, I couldn't find
Speaker 1: my desk. It put tape on the desk on the
Speaker 1: names of the players. Well, Stan Walters, our Syracuse boy,
Speaker 1: had hidden my desk in the closet. So I got
Speaker 1: in there. I thought I was cut the turk didn't.
Speaker 1: Frank Smiles didn't asking me for my playbook. I go
Speaker 1: in and get dressed. Now I'm embarrassed because I think
Speaker 1: I'm gone. So I looked for Darrel. He's not there either,
Speaker 1: and uh, I find out I'll make it well like
Speaker 1: Paul Brown comes up to me after the meeting, says, congratulations,
Speaker 1: young man, I said, coach, I thought, don't think, I said, well,
Speaker 1: when I didn't play in the last week, don't think
Speaker 1: I don't think. We were getting taped from a film
Speaker 1: on Daryl. So we shopped him. He's a green Bay packer.
Speaker 1: We traded in green Bay, and so that was a
Speaker 1: valuable lesson. Just play, keep your head down, play, don't
Speaker 1: overthink it, don't try to take on roles and responsibilities
Speaker 1: aren't yours. You just play. Coaches, coach general manners, decide
Speaker 1: who makes it and the owners and and then you
Speaker 1: just play. And as it turned out, Daryl get traded
Speaker 1: made the Green Bay Packers, So you know, you just
Speaker 1: you just never know. When you're in these preseason games,
Speaker 1: you're not just auditioning for one team. You're a just
Speaker 1: thirty two teams, and the players all have to bear
Speaker 1: that in mind. Your competitive nature is I don't want
Speaker 1: to get caught. I don't want to get traded. I
Speaker 1: don't want them not wanting me. I want to be
Speaker 1: you know, I want to prove that I belong here.
Speaker 1: But you know, the jobs are competitive. There's only so
Speaker 1: many of them. You just can't get in your own head.
Speaker 1: That's the biggest advice I can give. So following up
Speaker 1: on that, we know most of the guys that are
Speaker 1: going to be on the fifty three man roster, and
Speaker 1: so do they, But there are jobs at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the roster and on the practice squad that are
Speaker 1: well paying jobs. Even the lowest guy in the roster
Speaker 1: on the practice squad's going to make six figures. Here
Speaker 1: do the preseason games elevate the level of wondering where
Speaker 1: you stand on the totem pole if you are one
Speaker 1: of those guys, or are you doing that every single
Speaker 1: day from the first day of training gap. It's funny
Speaker 1: when when you're in your own head, and I really
Speaker 1: figured out pretty quickly, I'm just not competing with the
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. If I'm toward the back end of the
Speaker 1: number of keeping eighth lineman and I'm the eighth guy,
Speaker 1: I'm competing with, you know, the sixth defensive back, the
Speaker 1: seventh line, I'm competing with the end of the roster
Speaker 1: of all those guys. So at that other linebacker and
Speaker 1: defensive back, they're all playing on special teams. I'm just
Speaker 1: on the field goal extra point. You know. Now you
Speaker 1: start your mind starts racing, and I did. That was
Speaker 1: part of it in my head too. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: wonder if I'm the last lineman, am I they going
Speaker 1: to keep me over this other guy or this guy
Speaker 1: and this guy. So you do start thinking about all that.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying everybody does. Um. Pat mcinelley, who
Speaker 1: is a year behind me. After my rookie year, Pat
Speaker 1: mcinelley came to the team out of Habvid and he
Speaker 1: and I hit it off pretty well, and he always
Speaker 1: killed me for getting accepted and not going to Harvard.
Speaker 1: Beat the heck out of me. But he said that
Speaker 1: you know, I thought, you're smart. That's the stupidest thing
Speaker 1: anybody could do is get accepted and not go I
Speaker 1: beg to differ. You chose wisely, That's right, I said, Pat,
Speaker 1: Harvard's not the only institution of academia in this country, sou.
Speaker 1: We would do, we would do a roster every single
Speaker 1: meet me in my room after dinner. Let's let's let's
Speaker 1: figure this out, and we would We just trying to, like,
Speaker 1: you know, try to plot and plant a little bit
Speaker 1: of maybe think, to try to think what the coaches
Speaker 1: were thinking. And we knew it was an exercise of futility.
Speaker 1: But we'd always bet on who could come up with
Speaker 1: the most players at the end of the year, and
Speaker 1: you know, just to fun exercise. But yeah, you do.
Speaker 1: I mean you start thinking about what's the worst case scenario,
Speaker 1: what's my best case scenario, what's my worst case scenario,
Speaker 1: and then you know kind of go from there, let
Speaker 1: the chips fall as they may. You don't even the
Speaker 1: other thing. You don't even think about injury. I mean,
Speaker 1: at that age, it's impossible you don't get hurt. Man.
Speaker 1: You feel like you know you're invincible physically that way,
Speaker 1: and that's obviously, you know, a big consideration would be
Speaker 1: a concerned as well. But that's one thing I never
Speaker 1: ever thought about. I never thought about, well, cheez, if
Speaker 1: I get hurt, what happens. It never even ended my OWD,
Speaker 1: which is dumb because one hundred percent risk of injury
Speaker 1: every snap in the NFL final question, this is our
Speaker 1: eighth year together. I can't believe I've never asked you
Speaker 1: this after ten years playing for the Bengals and two
Speaker 1: years playing for the USFL. Did the turk essentially get
Speaker 1: you at that point? Or did you walk out on
Speaker 1: your own accord? Yeah? I was, I was done. My
Speaker 1: contract was was over. UM and the league, the league.
Speaker 1: That's when Donald Trump was kind of the master of UM.
Speaker 1: You know, let's try to compete with the NFL. Sue
Speaker 1: the NFL for monopolistic Sherman and I trust, and they won.
Speaker 1: They won the decision, but they were granted a dollar
Speaker 1: which is trouble tripled in UH in those kind of
Speaker 1: legal monopolistic things. They get three bucks plus interest in
Speaker 1: the league. NFL had to pay all their legal expenses,
Speaker 1: so they were a whole on that end. But UM, so,
Speaker 1: you know, at that point in time. Um. You know
Speaker 1: that league. That league was folded, um, And I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure my contract was up. I don't even really
Speaker 1: know what would have happened. But but I was ready.
Speaker 1: I mean, i'll be honest with you, played ten years
Speaker 1: in the NFL and took two weeks off on that
Speaker 1: ten season and then went to training camp in the USFL.
Speaker 1: Insane crazy. I'm not kidding you, Dan. I was like
Speaker 1: I was taking Anderson, which is an anti inflammatory race
Speaker 1: horses take. I mean, the trainers, like we're gonna give.
Speaker 1: I could not pick my hands above my head. I'd
Speaker 1: shuffle up my sidewalk to our house in New Jersey
Speaker 1: and learning the kids, and I'd lay down on the
Speaker 1: couch and I can't move, watched get up go to bed.
Speaker 1: I mean, I felt like I was a one hundred
Speaker 1: years old. And so that season, that first year ended
Speaker 1: and I was, you know, now I'm thirty two years old.
Speaker 1: It's not like if you're twenty three, twenty four, that's
Speaker 1: one thing, but at thirty two, going to be thirty
Speaker 1: three years old? And I went to the Atlantic Ocean
Speaker 1: when that season ended and used it as a natural
Speaker 1: whirlpool and let those waves just whap away on me
Speaker 1: and kind of heal up for about a month. But man,
Speaker 1: it was that was hard. That was really really hard
Speaker 1: that back to back season. And I had an old
Speaker 1: school offensive line coach, Bill Austin, who coached with Ins
Speaker 1: Lombardi in Green Bay. It's like, you don't practice, you
Speaker 1: don't play. And Brian Sipe was my roommate in the
Speaker 1: quarterback and he's like, bay man, give him. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's come on now. You know, you know if you
Speaker 1: don't practice, he ain't playing. So you know, every practice,
Speaker 1: every game, and you know I was, I was beating up,
Speaker 1: but in my mind I wasn't injured. So I felt
Speaker 1: like if I could go out there and play, I
Speaker 1: was going to go and play. But man, that was
Speaker 1: that was a biggest challenge physically I've ever had in
Speaker 1: my life. We have a sound bite from Dave Lappham's
Speaker 1: first USFL season after taking these drugs intended for horses.
Speaker 1: Here it is, I shared a stall with mister ed.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do it again next week after victory
Speaker 1: over the Dallas Cowboys. Sounds like a plan, my man.
Speaker 1: Next Saturday's game and Dallas starts at seven o'clock. Our
Speaker 1: pregame coverage on the Bengals Radio network will begin at
Speaker 1: five thirty. Now. Time for this week's fun Facts segment,
Speaker 1: as we get to know the person under the pads,
Speaker 1: in this case, place kicker John Brown. We discussed his
Speaker 1: remarkable story prior to last week's victory over the Bears.
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with Bengals kicker John Brown
Speaker 1: and John of the nearly three thousand people on NFL
Speaker 1: rosters right now, you might have the most interesting story
Speaker 1: because you are an NFL kicker despite the fact that
Speaker 1: you have never attempted a field goal or a point
Speaker 1: after in an actual game. Does that sound as crazy
Speaker 1: to you as it does to me? Yeah, it definitely does.
Speaker 1: I always want to be playing soccer a whole entire life,
Speaker 1: but just something I've prayed about and God let me here,
Speaker 1: So there I am. Have you visualized that first opportunity,
Speaker 1: hopefully in the preseason opener against the Bears, to kick
Speaker 1: in an NFL game? Uh? Yeah, I guess it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really hit you because I never like visualize
Speaker 1: it like before. But now you're like, in the week
Speaker 1: of the game, you're like, oh, Danny, like the game
Speaker 1: is literally in three days, you know. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: definitely very exciting at the same time, Yep, people asked like,
Speaker 1: how are your nerves and stuff like that, but it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not nervous at all. More excited, yeah, than nervous
Speaker 1: than anything, to be honest, because yeah, this why I
Speaker 1: prepared for, you know, all these years, just to be
Speaker 1: able to kick, you know, so I finally get the opportunity.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with John Brown. Let's tell the backstory a
Speaker 1: little bit because you mentioned that you were a soccer player,
Speaker 1: so you grew up in Mississippi. You did play high
Speaker 1: school football as a wide receiver, but soccer was your
Speaker 1: primary sport. Yep, soccer was my priory sport. I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: like I said, I grew up in Mississippi, but I
Speaker 1: actually went to IMG for high school because I was
Speaker 1: playing with the USA team. We're trying to for the year.
Speaker 1: We were training for the World Cup and everything. So yes,
Speaker 1: I'm used to being away from home and everything, so
Speaker 1: I went there for a few years in high school.
Speaker 1: So that's why me coming out of college, it's kind
Speaker 1: of crazy because that I'm we really do any school
Speaker 1: work because mostly guys on my team they went straight
Speaker 1: pro for soccer. Mom obviously wanted me to do the
Speaker 1: whole college thing and everything. She's real bigger education, So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all. I ended up going to college, playing first
Speaker 1: two years soccer, then switched to football, so I didn't
Speaker 1: started kicking football to my junior year at college. I've
Speaker 1: never kicked in high school, despite everybody try to give
Speaker 1: me a kicking in high school, but I just never
Speaker 1: did it because I was like, I've never said a
Speaker 1: black person black kicker, so I just never. I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to, you know, there's no way that
Speaker 1: I could be a kicker. That's I always looked at it.
Speaker 1: So as a member of the junior national USA soccer team,
Speaker 1: you were trending toward possibly being in the Olympics or
Speaker 1: you mentioned the World Cup or playing in MLS, Yes, sir, yes, sir, yep. Definitely, um,
Speaker 1: because I had the kids that were on our team.
Speaker 1: It was just like the top obviously the top forty
Speaker 1: kids in the country in our class or whatever. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and I actually was, yeah, with the n I was
Speaker 1: actually playing a year the first time I got called
Speaker 1: to them. Yea. I was went with the older group
Speaker 1: of guys actually with the USA team. So definitely, yeah,
Speaker 1: if I played obviously stuck with soccer, yeah, definitely could
Speaker 1: have been obviously that's why everybody sld me playing like MLS.
Speaker 1: But you know, God let me here. So if you
Speaker 1: definitely very thankful they worked out this way. We're doing
Speaker 1: fun facts with a kicker, John Brown. You went to
Speaker 1: Kentucky on a soccer scholarship, played for a year there,
Speaker 1: transferred to Louisville, played soccer for a year there, and
Speaker 1: then you make this change lane. How it happened, It's
Speaker 1: kind of crazy because I went back home. I remember
Speaker 1: I was talking to my family about everything, and I
Speaker 1: just felt like just something to my spirit. Just felt
Speaker 1: like I had to pray about everything. So I went
Speaker 1: to my yea, I talked to my parents about it.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I was like if I keep
Speaker 1: going this way. Obviously for soccer, I loved it, but
Speaker 1: I was just looking at as far as like if
Speaker 1: I make it to MLS, I won't be able to
Speaker 1: really support a family because the salary is, you know,
Speaker 1: solo for soccer players over here. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I'll have to get like another job afterwards. I kind
Speaker 1: of I talked to my parents about it. I prayed
Speaker 1: about it. So I was really laying in bed one
Speaker 1: night until something told me to go to Texas A
Speaker 1: and in football roster. So I'm like, I've never looked
Speaker 1: at the FULLBA roster before, you know. So I went
Speaker 1: to the roster or whatever it was like scrolled out,
Speaker 1: so I told me that the kickers. I was like
Speaker 1: the kickers, So I went to the kickers at the
Speaker 1: first guy clicked on was Josh Lambo. He's actually in
Speaker 1: the NFL right now, and he was a soccer player
Speaker 1: as well, who playing in the USA team like I did,
Speaker 1: Like he did the whole yeah national team and all
Speaker 1: other stuff. He did exact same thing. So now he
Speaker 1: switched to football. So now he's Yeah, now he's in
Speaker 1: the NFL kicking for the star kicker for the Jacksonail Jaguar.
Speaker 1: So I was like, God, is this you telling me
Speaker 1: you want me to kick? I was like, I was like, no,
Speaker 1: it can't be. So I kind of pushed it away
Speaker 1: or whatever. But he just literally it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: guy wants you to do something, He's gonna get his way.
Speaker 1: So he just stuck with my spirit for like lately
Speaker 1: flight though that whole week or whatever. I can, I
Speaker 1: get it out of my get it out of my head.
Speaker 1: So I was all right. So I talked to my
Speaker 1: parents about it. Of course I thought it was crazy.
Speaker 1: They're like what And then my mom was like, whoa
Speaker 1: the guy? You feel like this school guy? I told you, dude,
Speaker 1: he said, you need to go with it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: So that's when I didn't return to soccer. I didn't
Speaker 1: even go back to Louisville the falling semester. I just
Speaker 1: stayed back at home and I trained with my trainer,
Speaker 1: Brent Bear. Yeah he's from Louisiana. Yeah, well he's from Mississippi,
Speaker 1: but he says in the Lafayette So I always dropping
Speaker 1: four and a half hours every weekend to train with
Speaker 1: him on Saturday, then dropped back so night our trip
Speaker 1: every Saturday. Yeah, it's just to train with him. Because
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to school. I was just taking oldline classes.
Speaker 1: So I was just training for football that whole time.
Speaker 1: And then when Kentucky Derby came around, we got some
Speaker 1: film on me, so I sent it out of Louisville,
Speaker 1: where they never replied. So I was like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna drive the tape up there then and give it
Speaker 1: the coaches in persons as they want to reply to me.
Speaker 1: So I drove up to Louisville by myself and gave
Speaker 1: ye try to get them the coaches, but they weren't there,
Speaker 1: so I'll say, oh man, So I had to sleep
Speaker 1: my friend's couch, and then the next morning I went
Speaker 1: back there again they were there, so I gave my
Speaker 1: film that they were in prison. They called me the
Speaker 1: following week, so it took off from there. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's when I reported for workouts in the summer. Then
Speaker 1: I saw it all started. We're doing fun facts with
Speaker 1: kicker John Brown. You did get to kick off ten
Speaker 1: times at Louisville, but as I mentioned earlier, didn't get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to kick field goals or extra points. So
Speaker 1: how does a guy with that resume get a chance
Speaker 1: to kick for an NFL team. It's one of those
Speaker 1: things like you can you can't wrap your head around
Speaker 1: in it, you know what I mean. But it's like
Speaker 1: that's all always. I give all the glory to God
Speaker 1: because I knew a guy put him my spirit and
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, he hasn't filled me yet, So I
Speaker 1: knew were gonna start filing me. So I always get
Speaker 1: the faith and yeah, this is all guys doing. I
Speaker 1: really don't have any words for it. Like I can't
Speaker 1: even explain it. Like I knew what God showed me,
Speaker 1: but never in my life I thought that I would actually,
Speaker 1: like now you hear, you're like, dang, Like it's just
Speaker 1: crazy how guy works. You know you did kick in
Speaker 1: a pro day in Louisville, Matt caught the Bengals eye.
Speaker 1: Did you make a seventy yard field goal in that? Did? I? Did?
Speaker 1: I read that correctly. I don't think it was in
Speaker 1: pro day. We hit some blown field goals whatever, but
Speaker 1: yeah I did hit a seven yard day in practice
Speaker 1: or whatever, but I don't I don't. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's in pro day and I I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: pay I don't even paying attention to the dises or whatever.
Speaker 1: I really don't because I know if I pay attention
Speaker 1: to what dis is, I'm met, I'll try to like
Speaker 1: switch on my mechanics. So I literally just go out
Speaker 1: there and kick. To be honest with you, So we're
Speaker 1: doing fun facts with John Brown, the Bengals kicker. You've
Speaker 1: been with a team for a couple of years now,
Speaker 1: at least in the off season in mini camps and
Speaker 1: last year for a while in training camp. But you
Speaker 1: haven't been with the team during the season. What have
Speaker 1: you been doing during the season the last couple of years. Uh, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've just been staying on top of my trending, um
Speaker 1: my trending. John Carney, he stays out in San Diego. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you probably heard him at the NFL in like twenty two,
Speaker 1: twenty three years. Yeah, so I literally go out there
Speaker 1: all the time to get a lot of work in
Speaker 1: with him. I go out there for like a month
Speaker 1: at a time. This is all the way in San Diego,
Speaker 1: so get a lot of work in with him. And
Speaker 1: obviously yeah, he spoke to Koe Simmons when they were
Speaker 1: out when Coch Simmons came out to California, and they
Speaker 1: had like a lot of good things to say about
Speaker 1: me as well. So yeah, that's what I've been doing,
Speaker 1: going out there at training whatever, just staying on top
Speaker 1: of everything, keeping the faith. Yeah, know, you guy work
Speaker 1: everything out for me. So it's good to be back
Speaker 1: here for sure. John. As you mentioned, there are not
Speaker 1: a lot of African American kickers and When you first
Speaker 1: showed up in the Bengals locker room, people assumed you
Speaker 1: were a defensive back, right, Oh yeah, yeah. We had
Speaker 1: team introductions yea, and then I said, yeah, I was
Speaker 1: a kicker or whatever. Everybody looked back and they were
Speaker 1: like what, They're like, this whole time we thought you
Speaker 1: were Yeah, we thought you were a receiver. DV. Because
Speaker 1: like even though rookies, they were like John, there's like
Speaker 1: where you There's like, where are you doing cracks? I
Speaker 1: was like, what are you talking about? There's like rickommunicat
Speaker 1: this past time. I was like, dude, I'm on the
Speaker 1: opposite field just chilling or whatever. He's like, he's like, yo,
Speaker 1: He's like, I wonder why I never see you in
Speaker 1: drills or whatever. You say. This whole time he said,
Speaker 1: I thought you were a receiver. He was like, I'll
Speaker 1: be looking for you on the field. He so, I
Speaker 1: had no clue you're a kicker. It's definitely, definitely very interesting.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever relieves when I tell him a kicker. If
Speaker 1: I meet him in person, Yeah, they like look me
Speaker 1: up and everything. It's like there's no way he's lying.
Speaker 1: So all right, final fun fact for Bengals kicker John Brown.
Speaker 1: What is your father's first name? Cleveland yet four name
Speaker 1: in Cleveland Brown. Everybody, everyone always gives me a hearts
Speaker 1: out of that. Yeah, if I'd use a card to
Speaker 1: use their card when they look at it like Cleveland
Speaker 1: browns all this one night and make jokes about it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, definitely interesting. A Cincinnati Bengals kicker who is
Speaker 1: the son of Cleveland Brown. We look forward to seeing
Speaker 1: you kick, hopefully against the Bears best to fluct this preseason.
Speaker 1: Thank you, yes, sir, thank you. Brown made both of
Speaker 1: his kicks against the Bears, hitting the bengals first extra
Speaker 1: point and a twenty four yard field goal. However, Randy
Speaker 1: Bullock made all four of his kicks, two pats and
Speaker 1: two field goals, and barring injury, is almost certain to
Speaker 1: be the Bengals kicker when the regular season begins. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and give it a
Speaker 1: rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been very
Speaker 1: helpful and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. And thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to the Bengals Booth pod cat