Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The last night she said audition as the Bengals lose
Speaker 2: a game and their quarterback on a rough night in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from
Speaker 1: players and coaches, and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then,
Speaker 1: in this week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll get to know
Speaker 1: a Bengals defensive back who in twenty twenty one gave
Speaker 1: the commencement speech at his high school. The Bengals Booth
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Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since the end of Billions. And notice that I
Speaker 1: didn't say ending several years ago, after the TV series
Speaker 1: Billions had been on the air for a few years
Speaker 1: on Showtime. A friend of mine insisted that I had
Speaker 1: to start watching it. So I did and initially enjoyed
Speaker 1: it right up until the next to last episode in
Speaker 1: season two, called Golden Frog Time, or as I think
Speaker 1: of it, the Ice Juice Episode. It's a great episode,
Speaker 1: and if the show had ended there, it would have
Speaker 1: been perfect. But Billions kept going for a third, fourth, fifth, sixth,
Speaker 1: and finally seventh season. I can't remember exactly when it
Speaker 1: jumped the shark, as they say say, but it hasn't
Speaker 1: been good for years, and yet I kept watching and watching.
Speaker 1: I figured I'd invested so much time that I had
Speaker 1: to see how it finished.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: The end finally arrived, and the ending was mediocre at best.
Speaker 1: As for how I feel about Billions finally being over,
Speaker 1: I turned for help from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. If
Speaker 1: there's a sequel, I will not be watching Now. Time
Speaker 1: for the radio replays from Thursday Night's game in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: It is prime time in Baltimore, and tonight the national
Speaker 1: spotlight shines on two bitter rivals led by brilliant quarterbacks
Speaker 1: who were born just twenty eight days apart. It's Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow and the Bengal versus Lamar Jackson and the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and it is time for the pig skin to fly
Speaker 1: here at M and T Bank Stadium. The Ravens have
Speaker 1: the most rushing touchdowns of any team in the league,
Speaker 1: and again, Gus Edwards has them in four straight games.
Speaker 1: They toss it to him and he has touchdowns in
Speaker 1: five straight games as he follows the left side of
Speaker 1: his line into the end zone for Baltimore's twentieth rushing
Speaker 1: touchdown of the season. The Bengals will attempt a fifty
Speaker 1: yard field goal from the right hash to snap the placement.
Speaker 1: Here comes the kick. It has plenty of distance and
Speaker 1: it is good. So the Bengals answer Baltimore's touchdown drive
Speaker 1: with a field goal drive. Second in goal from the fours,
Speaker 1: the Bengals try to take the lead for the first time.
Speaker 1: We've got five point fifty five left in the half.
Speaker 1: Burrow to pass quick throw mix and catches at the
Speaker 1: four touchdown Bengals as he got to the pilot before
Speaker 1: Roe Kwan Smith could bring him down. A four yard
Speaker 1: touchdown pass from Burrow to mix in, who's doing a
Speaker 1: choreographed dance in the end zone. Joe Burrow is walking
Speaker 1: into the locker room. They're just showing a picture on
Speaker 1: the TV screen of Joe Burrow heading toward the locker room.
Speaker 4: And he tried on the sideline as he was throwing.
Speaker 4: He is throwing motion. He couldn't finish extending his right
Speaker 4: arms the motion. So I don't know what it is.
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's an elbow, a shoulder, what
Speaker 4: the problem is. But he's struggling for sure.
Speaker 1: He was really upset as he had the football in
Speaker 1: his hand, started to do the throwing motion and grimaced
Speaker 1: in pain without releasing the ball.
Speaker 4: Browning's warming up.
Speaker 1: Third dout in six the Ravens at the thirty seven
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati. Lamar Jackson drops back to pass guns went
Speaker 1: over the middle, deflected and then caught by a galore
Speaker 1: of the Ravens, and he's going to run it into
Speaker 1: the end zone before doing a forward somersault into the
Speaker 1: end zone for this score. Two receivers out wide to
Speaker 1: the left, two out wide to the right. Lamar back
Speaker 1: at the sixteen waiting for the shotgun snap. He has
Speaker 1: the ball Lamar begins moving left, throws into the end zone,
Speaker 1: caught Patement touchdown as he beat cam Taylor britt first
Speaker 1: and goal from the three. The Ravens in no hurry.
Speaker 1: They break the huddle with six on the playclock. Lamar
Speaker 1: sprinting up to his center. Two on the play clock. One.
Speaker 1: He's got the ball. It's a handoff Gus Edwards touchdown.
Speaker 1: Spikes the ball triumphantly in the middle of the end zone,
Speaker 1: and the lead grows for the Ravens. With four minutes
Speaker 1: and forty nine seconds to go, Jake Browning in the
Speaker 1: shotgun back at the seven, Joe Mixon right next to him.
Speaker 1: To his right. Browning catches the shotgun snap he's looking
Speaker 1: to throw. He passes for Chase. He makes the catch.
Speaker 1: Did he get his feet down in bounds?
Speaker 4: Yes, yes he did.
Speaker 1: Touchdown Bengals. As Jake Browning throws the first touchdown pass
Speaker 1: of his NFL career, a two yard back shoulder throw
Speaker 1: to Jamar Chase. Lamar takes the snap. It's a handoff
Speaker 1: Edwards trying to turn the right corner. He will not.
Speaker 1: Sample is there and Jordan Battle is there and that
Speaker 1: will do it. The coaches are marching toward the fifty
Speaker 1: as the Baltimore Ravens have taken a big step toward
Speaker 1: ending Cincinnati's reign as the AFC North champs in back
Speaker 1: to back years. No team has ever won it three
Speaker 1: times in a row, and the Bengals chances of winning
Speaker 1: it three times straight take a major hit tonight. The
Speaker 1: final score the Ravens thirty four, the Bengals twenty. At
Speaker 1: this point, there's not much to report on Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: His wrist was taped up in the locker room after
Speaker 1: the game, and Zach Taylor referred to it as a sprain.
Speaker 1: Jeremy Fowler from ESPN reported that Burrow is expected to
Speaker 1: get an MRI on Friday. The Bengals led the game
Speaker 1: tens seven when Burrow exited, and that's where my conversation
Speaker 1: with Joe Mixing begins.
Speaker 5: Yeah, man, I felt like, you know, pretty much we was,
Speaker 5: you know, hitting on all cylinders in that situation, man.
Speaker 3: So you know, we.
Speaker 5: Pretty much just got to figure out and try to
Speaker 5: keep clicking as best as we can and find a
Speaker 5: way to be successful with where we're working with.
Speaker 1: Caught the touchdown, Joe, everything was you know, you guys
Speaker 1: felt great, you had to lead. How quickly did you
Speaker 1: even realize that Joe was hurt?
Speaker 3: Well, like I said, I didn't know to.
Speaker 5: I think we went right back out there right before halftime,
Speaker 5: and then you know, everybody was like where Joe and
Speaker 5: then sure enough, uh, he went in there. So you know,
Speaker 5: that's pretty much when we found out. And then after
Speaker 5: that it was.
Speaker 3: What it was.
Speaker 1: Injury wise, things had been pretty good until the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and now Sam t Joe Cam. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems like it one after the other. How do
Speaker 1: you guys deal with that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, man, it's definitely tough, especially the the caliber of players,
Speaker 5: you know, the caliber of player of those guys, and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, we just gotta figure out a way to
Speaker 5: you know, pretty much pick up where everybody's leaving off.
Speaker 3: And I know we have the guys in this here
Speaker 3: locker room. They all made of the right things. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's why they hear.
Speaker 5: And I feel like, you know, just gotta figure out
Speaker 5: a way to get everybody on the same schedule and
Speaker 5: the same the same wave, and you know, pick up
Speaker 5: where they left off. You just gotta I guess at
Speaker 5: this point, next man up. And I know you know,
Speaker 5: coaches and our players got nothing but confidence in whoever's
Speaker 5: gonna step in in whatever role. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm a leader in this here locker room,
Speaker 5: captain and captain for a reason, and I'm here to
Speaker 5: do whatever I can to keep this here shifts going
Speaker 5: and uh, you know, basically keep everybody together, and I'm
Speaker 5: gonna do my best, and I know i'll, you know,
Speaker 5: do whatever I can to make that happen.
Speaker 2: It's gonna fall on your shoulders a little bit more
Speaker 2: now with a backup quarterback.
Speaker 6: So how do you build on that?
Speaker 5: Well, I don't know where what direction that we're going,
Speaker 5: but when it comes down to it, I mean when
Speaker 5: everybody we did some good things today. Obviously there was
Speaker 5: negatives of uh, you know, in terms of the outcome,
Speaker 5: but when it come down to it, man, there was
Speaker 5: some positives out there and we're basically gonna figure out
Speaker 5: watch the tape, learn from everything that you know went
Speaker 5: down and everything that went positive. Just keep building on
Speaker 5: it and just keeping everybody together. And you know, we
Speaker 5: have I believe seven or eight seven games. We got
Speaker 5: seven games left and we five and five. We put
Speaker 5: ourselves in this here situation and we got to fight
Speaker 5: our way out of it. So I know for a
Speaker 5: fact that you know, come what is it tomorrow, We're
Speaker 5: gonna watch the tape, learn from it, and turn the
Speaker 5: page and get ready for Monday, you know, big divisional game,
Speaker 5: and got to do whatever we can to bring everybody.
Speaker 5: Everybody plays a huge part in this here in locker room,
Speaker 5: and we felt like for this team, you know, we
Speaker 5: got the players, we got the coaches, and also the fans.
Speaker 5: You know, they play a major part as well, and
Speaker 5: we know they're gonna come to pay Course Stadium and
Speaker 5: you know, basically we got to make a push as
Speaker 5: best as we can.
Speaker 3: So let's just get ready for that.
Speaker 5: And yeah, that's pretty much about it, all things consider.
Speaker 1: Jake Browning did reasonably well. He completed eight out of
Speaker 1: fourteen passes for sixty eight yards with a touchdown, no
Speaker 1: picks at a passer rating of ninety three point eight.
Speaker 1: He also ran for forty yards on four carries. His
Speaker 1: touchdown pass to Jamar Chase was the first of his
Speaker 1: NFL career, and that's where his post game chat with
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham begins.
Speaker 7: Just trying to put together drive at the end of
Speaker 7: the game, score some points and now we're down. Came
Speaker 7: games kind of over. But yeah, Jamar ran a good
Speaker 7: route verse one on one and did what Jamar does
Speaker 7: and got open and just tried to put it front
Speaker 7: piling for him. He's a good job catching it.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 4: It's a it's a tough dynamic. Not only you know
Speaker 4: is uh you and Joe have a working relationship. You
Speaker 4: guys are good friends as well, and when something like
Speaker 4: that happens to a friend, that's gonna be a tough
Speaker 4: thing for you.
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely bummed to see him go down. But I'm
Speaker 7: kind of the one guy in the locker room that's
Speaker 7: kind of prepare as if he's going to go down,
Speaker 7: so uh, you know, throughout the week, just getting ready
Speaker 7: in case he does. And I feel like I didn't
Speaker 7: really miss a beat. Hopping in bush would have gotten
Speaker 7: some oilar drives together. But yeah, anytime, anytime anybody goes
Speaker 7: down and socks. And obviously Joe's a big part of
Speaker 7: the team, so him going down socks. But that's kind
Speaker 7: of why I'm there, still going when he goes down.
Speaker 4: You u you extended a lot of plays. I mean,
Speaker 4: you got some rushing yards extended plays, got a bot
Speaker 4: time for your receivers to make plays for you.
Speaker 8: Overall.
Speaker 4: I know, I know it's a it's a whirlwind right now,
Speaker 4: but you probably want to look at tape to evaluate performance.
Speaker 4: But do you feel pretty good about what you.
Speaker 3: Did out there?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think anytime you have. I don't know how
Speaker 7: many three an ounce we had in a row, but
Speaker 7: it was too many. But yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 7: it's kind of the first time everyone else see me play.
Speaker 7: But I've felt good about how I was playing, practice
Speaker 7: stuff like that, and wish you would have won.
Speaker 1: According to the New York Times Playoffs simulator, the Bengals
Speaker 1: five and five record leaves them with a twenty seven
Speaker 1: percent chance of making the playoffs, and that does not
Speaker 1: take into account the possibility of Burrow missing time. It's
Speaker 1: an uphill climb, but the season is far from over.
Speaker 1: Here's the bengals longest tenured player, Tyler Boyd.
Speaker 3: We still believe because we still prepare.
Speaker 9: You know, every guy in this locker om still got
Speaker 9: to prepare to play, you know, whether you're starting or
Speaker 9: you're not, you know, because we count we count on
Speaker 9: everybody in this locker room and make plays. You know,
Speaker 9: it's always the next man up. And this is the league,
Speaker 9: you know, guys is here for a reason. So I
Speaker 9: believe in each, each and every one of these guys.
Speaker 1: You made it through the stretch early this year where
Speaker 1: Joe played but wasn't healthy. Now he was playing really
Speaker 1: well and that happens. How much of an emotional blow
Speaker 1: is that?
Speaker 9: I mean it hurt, you know, like I always praise,
Speaker 9: you know, Joe give us our best chance to win
Speaker 9: any football games, you know. But moving forward, Jay got
Speaker 9: us and we got to rally him up, and we
Speaker 9: got to rally around him and make even more plays
Speaker 9: for him, and we just gotta get back in the
Speaker 9: funeral room, figure out what we needed to get done,
Speaker 9: and get back out there and execute.
Speaker 1: You were up ten to seven when Joe left. I
Speaker 1: think the team had been moving the ball really well.
Speaker 1: Did you feel like, you know, things were clicking tonight
Speaker 1: and you might be on your way to a special night?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 9: Always, you know, every every single night, I feel like
Speaker 9: it's our night, you know, because we're very well coached,
Speaker 9: very very well prepared, you know, and we got we
Speaker 9: got great players on our team, So weekend, week out,
Speaker 9: I always feel like we're gonna be the most dominant team.
Speaker 9: But unfortunately it didn't go out this that way this week,
Speaker 9: but we'll we'll regroup.
Speaker 6: How does it change? How did it change you?
Speaker 10: Obviously is gonna be different a young guy in his
Speaker 10: first game, And how did it change for you, which
Speaker 10: is specifically once.
Speaker 6: He came in.
Speaker 9: Yeah, for me, it kind of didn't change. I just
Speaker 9: knew I had to make every single play that came
Speaker 9: out way. You know, if my number, my numbers call,
Speaker 9: I can do is go out there and do my job,
Speaker 9: you know.
Speaker 3: Hopefully, Uh he did.
Speaker 9: He did a hell of a job when he came in,
Speaker 9: you know, but it's it's a tough it's a tough
Speaker 9: boll some more defense, you know, any other team, you know,
Speaker 9: he might have made more things happen. But with with
Speaker 9: with him come in, we knew he was gonna get
Speaker 9: a lot more pressure, and it kind of, uh slowed
Speaker 9: down some of our possessions.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, I trust Jake.
Speaker 9: You know, he's been here, he'd been in the system,
Speaker 9: and uh, he's comfortable and and yeah, I'm ready to
Speaker 9: play with him.
Speaker 8: Earlier in the year, you're Jos dealing with the calf
Speaker 8: and the offense had it struggles with that and now
Speaker 8: this does this feel like one of those seasons right now?
Speaker 3: Like he just can't believe that this stuff keeps happening.
Speaker 9: Uh, I mean, things happen. You can't really uh I
Speaker 9: can't really explain, but you you just gotta move on.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 9: It hurts us a lot. You know, that's our best player,
Speaker 9: and man, just all we can do is just keep preparing, man,
Speaker 9: and keep moving forward, and uh just go out there
Speaker 9: and making place for Jake in any way.
Speaker 1: We can just gonna say, you guys have been pretty
Speaker 1: healthy this year, but now Sam was out, team was out,
Speaker 1: Joe went down, Cam went down. It seemed like, you know,
Speaker 1: when it when it rains, it pours.
Speaker 9: I mean, when you got some of your most talented
Speaker 9: guys injured on both either side of the ball. I mean,
Speaker 9: it's it's a tough loss, crucial loze, you know, but again, man,
Speaker 9: it's it's the league, man, And you.
Speaker 3: Can see around the league.
Speaker 9: You see backup guys winning games all all over the place.
Speaker 9: So I mean it really doesn't matter. We just gotta
Speaker 9: find a way, you know, we might got to change
Speaker 9: up what we do a little bit based off of
Speaker 9: who's playing and who's not, you know, And I still
Speaker 9: believe because I feel like we have the great coaching
Speaker 9: staff that can put us in position to still keep
Speaker 9: us float.
Speaker 1: What tells you that this locker room has what it
Speaker 1: takes to overcome it.
Speaker 9: Just just just the people around it. Many everybody have
Speaker 9: great characters here.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 9: Everybody is unselfish. Everybody care for one another, and we
Speaker 9: can always protect each other and.
Speaker 3: Just just raft for each other.
Speaker 9: That's that's that's I think the most dominant thing that
Speaker 9: you need to have in the locker room. We're in
Speaker 9: the team per se, and I think we have that.
Speaker 9: We got a real special special team and out of
Speaker 9: been here for a long time, it's the most special team.
Speaker 3: Ever been a part of.
Speaker 9: But again, man, we'll we'll, we'll find a way.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: Time to hear from head coach Zach Taylor as he
Speaker 1: spent a few minutes with Lap after the game.
Speaker 4: Boy, I'll tell you there's there's one you can't really
Speaker 4: count on anything in terms of the National Football League,
Speaker 4: And to lose Joe Burrow like that, I mean that
Speaker 4: had to be a shock.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's not a fun situation. Was your starting quarterback.
Speaker 10: That's part of the way Jake went in there. That
Speaker 10: was his first first NFL ball, you know, and uh,
Speaker 10: you know, it was probably the way he went in there,
Speaker 10: completed his first first pass in the first play on
Speaker 10: a tough, naked play and did a good job, you know,
Speaker 10: round us to get some points on the board. Two
Speaker 10: scores there, and and it's a good defense, you know,
Speaker 10: it's one of the better defenses in the league. And
Speaker 10: so proud of the way that the guys responded to
Speaker 10: him and that he led those guys.
Speaker 4: Had his first NFL touchdown pass. He'd thrown some in
Speaker 4: the preseason, but for just won in a regular season
Speaker 4: and put a good ball in the front pileon to
Speaker 4: Jamar Chase.
Speaker 10: Yeah, there's certainly positives there for Jake, and probably the
Speaker 10: way that the guy has competed around him and gave
Speaker 10: us opportunities to try to get back in the game.
Speaker 3: It's just too little, too late.
Speaker 4: I know it's very early, but I guess it's a
Speaker 4: risk injury that Joe suffered.
Speaker 6: Yes, it is it.
Speaker 10: I don't know anything beyond that just the sprain or
Speaker 10: don't Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: So in that in that type of situation. How much
Speaker 4: how much of the game plan is available to Jake.
Speaker 4: I mean, Jake doesn't rep anywhere near as much as
Speaker 4: as Joe does. How much do you have to kind
Speaker 4: of melt things down or is Jake responsible for all
Speaker 4: of it and able to execute it all?
Speaker 10: Yeah, he's responsible for all of it, you know, especially
Speaker 10: when you're playing a team like that. Everything you got
Speaker 10: to be able to get certain checks. And I thought
Speaker 10: Jake did a great job. We've got the confidence in
Speaker 10: him and how he prepares, and that's what he's done.
Speaker 10: He's put himself in a position to where when he
Speaker 10: walks out there, that's that's a.
Speaker 3: Big reason why he won the job.
Speaker 10: His playmaking ability, his ability to take in the game
Speaker 10: plan and not even get reps and be able to
Speaker 10: go execute it. We've got that confidence in him and
Speaker 10: it was all available. We called all of it, and
Speaker 10: he did a good job handling that.
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon, I thought ran hard. I thought he finished
Speaker 4: a lot of runs for you tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 10: There was a lot of positive things, you know, and
Speaker 10: I know the score was what it was, two score
Speaker 10: game disappointing. There's some things that we can continue to
Speaker 10: build on and be encouraged by we're going to take
Speaker 10: this long weekend here and get a chance to get
Speaker 10: rested and get our bodies back and make the run
Speaker 10: that we're used to making here down the stretch.
Speaker 4: That's a good offensive football team too, with a very
Speaker 4: talented athletic quarterback. But I think they put up over
Speaker 4: four hundred yards and over thirty points, and that's not,
Speaker 4: you know, something that lou would be very pleased about it.
Speaker 3: I'm sure no.
Speaker 10: And and you know, it's when you're giving them the
Speaker 10: lead and you're playing from a hide, everything's available to him,
Speaker 10: you know. And so it's those kind of games where
Speaker 10: you get to try to get the lead and limit
Speaker 10: what they're able to do and make them a little
Speaker 10: bit more uncomfortable. And we weren't able to do that today,
Speaker 10: and that's that's that's usually what happens when they're out there.
Speaker 4: When Joe threw the touchdown pass to put you up
Speaker 4: ten to seven, I mean, I bet it was like
Speaker 4: we got ourselves the old slaven, darker man. We got
Speaker 4: a barnburner going here, and Joe when he was trying
Speaker 4: to throw the football on the sideline, obviously you know
Speaker 4: it wasn't working for him. There were you were you
Speaker 4: surprised at the fact that through the touchdown pass and
Speaker 4: then just unable to go after that.
Speaker 10: Not surprised, I mean, that's that's what he felt, and
Speaker 10: obviously that's that's something happened there.
Speaker 4: So where do you go from here? You have a
Speaker 4: little little mini buy, hopefully not only Joe. I mean,
Speaker 4: at one point, gosh, it seemed like every other play
Speaker 4: a key player was struggling with some sort of an injury.
Speaker 4: It's good to have the mini bye week.
Speaker 10: I guess it's a physical game, you know, when you
Speaker 10: come on the road on a short week, and and uh,
Speaker 10: you know what I told the team was, let's let's
Speaker 10: not forget we had a good rhythm there, four wins
Speaker 10: in a row. We lost in a last second field goal.
Speaker 10: We lost a tough game and a short week on
Speaker 10: the road to a really good football team. So let's
Speaker 10: let's reset this weekend, focus on Pittsburgh, put her best
Speaker 10: foot forward, and do the things that we know we're
Speaker 10: capable of doing. And so I know that that's what
Speaker 10: this seems about and what they're going to do.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by proud
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Speaker 1: Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time
Speaker 1: for the radio guys recap the Bengals loss. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow exited with five minutes to go in the
Speaker 1: second quarter with a wrist injury. We don't know the severity,
Speaker 1: but it was wrapped up pretty heavily in the locker
Speaker 1: room after the game, and there are a lot of
Speaker 1: long faces in that locker room.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no doubt. And the sad thing is when
Speaker 4: he left, the game was a ten to seven Bengals advantage.
Speaker 4: So if he was able to play at the Joe
Speaker 4: Burrow level and finish that football game, who knows. We
Speaker 4: may be talking about a totally different story right now,
Speaker 4: but that injury is obviously the story of the game,
Speaker 4: and it's a It was one of many both teams
Speaker 4: suffered injuries. Andrews went out early in the football game,
Speaker 4: didn't play at all, didn't finish the game, Cam Taylor
Speaker 4: britt had had to leave the game with a with
Speaker 4: an injury to his squad, I mean, you know, and
Speaker 4: then on top of the injuries that they had going
Speaker 4: into the football game, it was Murphy's law. It's almost
Speaker 4: like a mash unit. And there the people that are
Speaker 4: going to have the biggest roles, I think in the
Speaker 4: ten days between games, they are going to be the
Speaker 4: medical people, you know, in the rehab people getting guys
Speaker 4: ready to go play. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: On the second day of training camp, Joe Burrow strained
Speaker 1: his calf. The Bengals probably don't start one in three
Speaker 1: if not for that injury. Now here we are with
Speaker 1: seven games to go and we don't know his status
Speaker 1: with a wrist injury is. It's starting to feel like, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it might just be one of those years.
Speaker 4: Boy Tonight tonight was was an indicator that the football
Speaker 4: guys aren't going to make it easy. They're going to
Speaker 4: make it very, very difficult. And when you lose your quarterback,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's just it's the most important position in football,
Speaker 4: in sports really, and you can make a good argument
Speaker 4: for that obviously, but I remember losing you know, like
Speaker 4: Kenny Anderson to injury and Turk Schooner stepping in at
Speaker 4: the backup position, and our mindset was every individual win.
Speaker 4: You're one on one battle, and then if everybody does that,
Speaker 4: your unit is going to outplay the other team's unit.
Speaker 4: And then if enough units outplay the other team's unit,
Speaker 4: you can overcome the issue at the quarterback position. So
Speaker 4: I mean you have to take the mindset that every
Speaker 4: other phase of the football team needs to step up
Speaker 4: and do more because you're missing a huge component potentially.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow apparently addressed the team after the game. He
Speaker 1: didn't want to share what he said to his teammates,
Speaker 1: but I imagine it was something along the lines of, listen, fellas,
Speaker 1: we got seven games to go. We don't know what
Speaker 1: the status of some of these injured guys, but we
Speaker 1: can't pack it in yet.
Speaker 4: If I'm a teammate of Jake Browning, though, I say, hey, dude,
Speaker 4: I'm proud of you, man. I mean talk about adverse conditions.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's the life of the backup. You never
Speaker 4: know when you're going to be called into the mix.
Speaker 4: But he was ready, and I asked, Zach, I said,
Speaker 4: did you have to pare anything down. Nope, He's responsible
Speaker 4: for learning the whole thing. We called the whole play sheet.
Speaker 4: And he went out there and had his first career
Speaker 4: touchdown pass in the regular season, made plays with his
Speaker 4: feet and his legs and his throwing arm. I thought
Speaker 4: he had quitted himself pretty darn well, really, and to
Speaker 4: me against that defense, that would give me some confidence.
Speaker 4: If I'm a teammate a Jake Browning, I.
Speaker 1: Would think that final touchdown drive is helpful if he
Speaker 1: has to make a start in their next game.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's like a big deal. You know
Speaker 4: they're already down. It went from a three score game
Speaker 4: to a two score game. But I'm with you.
Speaker 3: It showed.
Speaker 4: It showed all of his teammates. I'm going to compete
Speaker 4: every snap. I'm never going to quit on a game.
Speaker 4: I'm never going to quote on you. You're not going to
Speaker 4: quit on me. Let's go get something done. It's big.
Speaker 4: I think it made a big statement.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a big negative on defense once again.
Speaker 1: A ton of big passing plays after eight of them
Speaker 1: in the Houston game. I don't know how many twenty
Speaker 1: yard passes they gave up in this one, but it
Speaker 1: was definitely north of five.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: You're looking at against two opponents, the Houston Texans and
Speaker 4: now the Baltimore Ravens, almost a thousand yards of defense
Speaker 4: given up and you know, over thirty points and you
Speaker 4: know thirty points and weren't in two football games. That's
Speaker 4: that is very uncharacteristic of this football team. And they
Speaker 4: got to lick their wounds. They got to get I
Speaker 4: think Sam will be back for the Pittsburgh Steeler game.
Speaker 4: Hopefully some of the other injuries will heal up on
Speaker 4: the mini bye week. They'll get those extra days and
Speaker 4: be able to everybody go out there and perform against
Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Steelers at home, a paid court stadium.
Speaker 1: Their chances of winning the AFC North are very slim.
Speaker 1: That's just the gods honest truth. There's no way around.
Speaker 1: Their chances of making the playoffs are far from over.
Speaker 1: They're five and five, They've got seven games to go.
Speaker 1: If they could find a way to win five out
Speaker 1: of those seven and get the ten wins, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of teams right now in the AFC that
Speaker 1: are in that range of like four to six losses,
Speaker 1: but that's probably what it's going to take going forward.
Speaker 4: And everybody they play is nobody's got a losing record. So,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the toughest remaining schedule in the National
Speaker 4: Football League, and they are They've got their backs firmly
Speaker 4: up against the wall. Now they've dug themselves a hole,
Speaker 4: whatever cliche you want to say. They got to come
Speaker 4: out swinging, and they got to get it figured out
Speaker 4: and get it figured out quickly. And I agree with you, Dan,
Speaker 4: I think ten's the number. I don't think nine. With
Speaker 4: the lack of tiebreaker scenario that they're in, there's going
Speaker 4: to be other teams with a nine to eight record
Speaker 4: that have a much better division record or conference record
Speaker 4: what the Bengals might be looking at at the nine
Speaker 4: and eight record.
Speaker 1: For many years, the Bengals couldn't beat Ben Roethlisberger. Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson now eight and one in nine starts against Cincinnati, and.
Speaker 4: That's the only guy that Joe Borrow seems to struggle against.
Speaker 4: I mean, everybody else he you know, he's going he's
Speaker 4: winning football games against.
Speaker 1: He left with the lead tonight.
Speaker 4: He did he did, you know, And so this one's incomplete,
Speaker 4: this one doesn't really Unfortunately, he's going to take the
Speaker 4: l because he was starting quarterback. But your point is
Speaker 4: well taken. He he left with the lead. But Lamar
Speaker 4: Jackson is man. His athletic instincts are way off the
Speaker 4: charge that guy is a freak.
Speaker 1: Following up on the big plays allowed stat the Bengals
Speaker 1: gave up passes of twenty one, twenty nine, thirty three,
Speaker 1: thirty seven, and fifty one yards and allowed runs of
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty six. That's seven plays of more
Speaker 1: than twenty yards. The Bengals return to action a week
Speaker 1: from Sunday at home against Pittsburgh. The Steelers are in
Speaker 1: Cleveland this Sunday to face the Brown without quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's fun facts conversation, where you
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads. Time for
Speaker 1: some fun facts with safety Nick Scott. Your hometown is
Speaker 1: listed as Fairfax, Virginia, but you were born in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: and I have seen the tattoos you have of the
Speaker 1: Boston Sports team, so I know you spent time there.
Speaker 1: Where did you grow up?
Speaker 8: I grew up technically in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now I say
Speaker 8: technically because I think it depends on your definition of
Speaker 8: growing up. So I was in Lancaster, PA from birth
Speaker 8: until I was about ten, so birth till kindergarten or
Speaker 8: till fourth grade, so there's.
Speaker 6: Not much going on.
Speaker 8: The reason I consider myself from Boston is because I
Speaker 8: was there from fifth grade to tenth grade. That's where
Speaker 8: I made some really strong friendships and relationships. That's where
Speaker 8: my formative years were. Got my first kiss there or
Speaker 8: all that stuff. So anything that makes you like a
Speaker 8: young man or anything like that, that's where I was.
Speaker 6: I was in Boston for that.
Speaker 1: Were you moving around for your father's jobs.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was moving around for my father's jobs. Obviously.
Speaker 6: He started out in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 8: Then he got a job out and uh or actually
Speaker 8: started going to school in Massachusetts first, then started working
Speaker 8: there and then eventually moved to d C where he
Speaker 8: was working. So that's why I got the two years
Speaker 8: of high school in Fairfax, Virginia.
Speaker 1: You have a son named Jack. You told me earlier
Speaker 1: that your father used to call you Jack Rabbits. Did
Speaker 1: you have a hard time staying still as a kid.
Speaker 8: I did have a little bit of hard time staying still.
Speaker 8: I just like to be active. I was the youngest,
Speaker 8: and you know, the world was my playhouse, and you know,
Speaker 8: I used to go out in the in the backyard
Speaker 8: and chase rabbits. We had a family of rabbits, so
Speaker 8: I go out there to get my energy out, go
Speaker 8: chasing rabbits in the yard, which is where the name
Speaker 8: stemmed from. But yeah, I always been a little bit
Speaker 8: of an energizer bunny. I think the guys can tell
Speaker 8: you, you know, rarely sitting still.
Speaker 6: I like to be active and have fun.
Speaker 1: So after a great junior year of high school in Fairfax, Virginia,
Speaker 1: the recruitment process kicked in. I know you visited Alabama.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are other spots as well. You ultimately
Speaker 1: went to Penn State. Did you enjoy the process or
Speaker 1: was it stressful?
Speaker 8: I enjoyed the process. I mean high school football is
Speaker 8: you know, it was just fun. You know, when you're
Speaker 8: in high school, you're just the guy, and so that
Speaker 8: process was a lot of fun. I got the luxury
Speaker 8: of watching my oldest brother go through that process of
Speaker 8: being recruited and everything like that. He ended up playing
Speaker 8: football at Holy Cross College in Worcestern, Massachusetts. So I
Speaker 8: was enjoying the process. And you know, having a god
Speaker 8: brother that played at Penn State. Growing up in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 8: whole family being Penn State fans.
Speaker 6: It made it.
Speaker 8: Easy for me to make that decision. So it wasn't
Speaker 8: a lot of stress that went into it. It's just,
Speaker 8: you know, a kid that you know had an opportunity
Speaker 8: to go play at his dream school, and so I just,
Speaker 8: you know, took that opportunity wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1: I've been to Happy Valley, Pennsylvania where Penn State is located.
Speaker 1: Beautiful campus, but kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1: Was it culture shock at all.
Speaker 8: It was a little bit of a culture shock, just
Speaker 8: from like an actual like education standpoint, like getting to
Speaker 8: college and being kind of on your own. You're like,
Speaker 8: hold on, like my mom's not emailing the teachers like
Speaker 8: making sure I'm getting my homework done or anything. Like
Speaker 8: I'm free, I can do whatever. I don't have to
Speaker 8: go to class to day all that stuff. So got
Speaker 8: through that phase, learned the hard way that you got
Speaker 8: to take that stuff serious. But no, it was a
Speaker 8: lot of fun. One thing I didn't know going to
Speaker 8: college is I wanted to get away. I wanted to
Speaker 8: be far away. I never really had a high school
Speaker 8: where football was really like what they did, and so
Speaker 8: I wanted to be at a school where football was
Speaker 8: what people ate and slept on and breathed.
Speaker 6: In Ne'spenn State.
Speaker 1: You certainly chose the right place down at Penn State.
Speaker 1: So you started out as a running back before switching
Speaker 1: to defensive back. In your college career, you rushed for
Speaker 1: a touchdown, You threw a touchdown pass, You had three interceptions,
Speaker 1: you had a sack. Do you have a favorite highlight
Speaker 1: from your time with the Nipney Lions.
Speaker 6: Favorite highlight?
Speaker 8: I had a game winning interception against Iowa on the
Speaker 8: goal line.
Speaker 6: It was a rainy, sloppy day.
Speaker 8: Usually usually that's how those games go up in Happy
Speaker 8: Valley in mid October and November. You know, slow game.
Speaker 8: It wasn't really something that was going our way. But yeah,
Speaker 8: they were driving on us with maybe a minute left
Speaker 8: and they had an opportunity to punch the end zone.
Speaker 8: They ended up making an errant throw that I can't
Speaker 8: ever got tipped or whatever, But I intercepted on the
Speaker 8: goal line and I saw nothing but green. I got
Speaker 8: tripped up. I wanted to score. I wanted to be
Speaker 8: the first person in Penn State history to rush for
Speaker 8: a touchdown. Throw for a touchdown, scoop and score, pick
Speaker 8: six and all that stuff.
Speaker 6: But I didn't get it done. But that's all right.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Nick Scott. So after graduating
Speaker 1: from Penn State, you were drafted in the seventh round
Speaker 1: by the Rams. Describe your draft experience.
Speaker 6: Oh, it was a real quiet experience. You know.
Speaker 8: It was just myself, my mom, my dad, and my
Speaker 8: aunt Alisha. She's been like my my biggest fan since
Speaker 8: I don't know when.
Speaker 6: She's always she's everywhere.
Speaker 8: She makes, travels travel, she travels a long way to
Speaker 8: see my games and everything like that. She was a
Speaker 8: cheerleader in high school, so that should tell you everything
Speaker 8: about her personality.
Speaker 6: So it was special to have her there.
Speaker 8: But yeah, it was a it was a quiet experience
Speaker 8: because I knew there was a high likelihood that I
Speaker 8: was gonna go undrafted, so I didn't want to deal
Speaker 8: with a whole bunch of people in the house and
Speaker 8: everything with expectations. So yeah, when I got the call,
Speaker 8: you know, my family was obviously excited. It's nothing like
Speaker 8: seeing my my name at the bottom of the ticker.
Speaker 8: I don't even know if I think it might have
Speaker 8: been on commercial when I saw when I saw my
Speaker 8: name go across drafted seventh round, fix two.
Speaker 6: But it was still special as it gets on.
Speaker 1: So late in your third NFL season, rams safety started
Speaker 1: dropping like flies with injuries. You moved into the starting lineup,
Speaker 1: and then you wound up starting every playoff game on
Speaker 1: the road to the super Bowl and obviously the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl win over the Bengals. He had an interception in
Speaker 1: the playoffs off Tom Brady. When you look at back
Speaker 1: at that now, does it almost seem a little unreal
Speaker 1: how that all transpired?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean it's I was just talking to somebody today,
Speaker 8: and you know, I always say, like, my journey and
Speaker 8: story into the NFL, you know, hasn't ever been flashy,
Speaker 8: but I think, you know, when you get down to
Speaker 8: the nitty gritty, you know a majority of the guys
Speaker 8: who make up this league stories are more similar to
Speaker 8: mine than not. You know, there's always the first rounders
Speaker 8: and everything like that, those guys that make it big,
Speaker 8: But the bulk of this league is guys that have
Speaker 8: just been grinding a way and trying to make a
Speaker 8: name for themselves and contribute to their team. So yeah,
Speaker 8: sometimes it seems unreal, but it was just something that
Speaker 8: was extremely special and I remember for the rest of
Speaker 8: my life, and you know, just kind of it puts
Speaker 8: that stamp in my career, regardless of what happens now
Speaker 8: in the future, anything like that, that I was able
Speaker 8: to compete at the highest level possible and be a
Speaker 8: champion doing it.
Speaker 1: If you close your eyes and remember that Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: do you remember running out of the tunnel. Do you
Speaker 1: remember the confetti falling after you guys won. What's the
Speaker 1: most vivid memory of that day.
Speaker 8: I would say just the post game, the confetti, being
Speaker 8: with my family and my wife and holding the trophy
Speaker 8: and just like just bouncing from guy to guy, looking
Speaker 8: them in their eyes. And we all know what we
Speaker 8: went through that season, and what we talked about that
Speaker 8: season and how hard we worked and seeing everything that
Speaker 8: we talked about. Coming to fruition is like the most
Speaker 8: surreal experience that you could share with somebody. Ever, aside
Speaker 8: from getting married, shout out my wife, Holly, that was
Speaker 8: the best experience in my life. Yeah, and watching me
Speaker 8: watching my son be born, that those are the best
Speaker 8: experience of my life.
Speaker 6: But yeah, that was right up after that.
Speaker 1: So a few months after winning the Super Bowl, you
Speaker 1: were the commencement speaker at your high school. How do
Speaker 1: you prepare to write a commencement speech? And what was
Speaker 1: the core of your message?
Speaker 8: Yeah, so there's a lot of preparation that goes into it.
Speaker 8: I was fortunate because I watched my dad give a
Speaker 8: numerous amount of commencement speeches. I watched him, you know,
Speaker 8: I grew up watching him speak in public on people's behalf,
Speaker 8: different events and everything like that. So it was always
Speaker 8: something that's something that seemed normal to me, something that
Speaker 8: I might have to do one day. So I was
Speaker 8: confiding him in him a lot and sending my draft
Speaker 8: back and forth with him. He was helping me out,
Speaker 8: you know. And the message, I believe the title of
Speaker 8: it was embrace your role but never settle for it,
Speaker 8: which I think is something that I believe wholeheartedly. And
Speaker 8: that's kind of how you know, my career went, especially
Speaker 8: starting in college. I wasn't in a position that I
Speaker 8: wanted to be, but I had a role on the team,
Speaker 8: and I wanted to be the best of that.
Speaker 6: Role and embrace that.
Speaker 8: But at the same time, you know, behind the scenes,
Speaker 8: I was always working to get better because I wasn't
Speaker 8: gonna settle for that role.
Speaker 1: A few wild card topics. Now for Nick Scott, who
Speaker 1: is your all time favorite athlete in any sport? And why?
Speaker 6: Oh, that's a tough question.
Speaker 8: I'm thinking like every sport, but I would I would
Speaker 8: say Tiger Woods. Yeah, Tiger Woods, just because he's a
Speaker 8: guy who I feel like I resonate with, just because
Speaker 8: the amount of doubt he had coming into his run
Speaker 8: and becoming a tour member. You know, he was a
Speaker 8: really young kid, so people didn't believe in him. There's
Speaker 8: one interview I can't remember who he was sitting down with,
Speaker 8: but I think he was maybe nineteen or and he
Speaker 8: said something like, I don't ever come into a tournament,
Speaker 8: you know, not expecting to win. I think that's foolish,
Speaker 8: and the interviewer laughed at him. He said, you'll learn,
Speaker 8: And then they showed a bunch of clips of him
Speaker 8: just winning major after major after major, And yeah, I
Speaker 8: resonate with that.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 8: I feel like, you know, I got the world against me,
Speaker 8: and I'm just constantly trying to prove other people wrong
Speaker 8: and prove myself right.
Speaker 1: Tell me something about you that very few people know.
Speaker 6: I can sing pretty well. I don't sing four people.
Speaker 8: I don't sing in public or sing often, but people
Speaker 8: I'm comfortable with they think I can sing pretty well.
Speaker 8: Of course that's like my mom and my wife. So
Speaker 8: who knows how how genuine they're being, but they're making
Speaker 8: me feel good at least.
Speaker 1: All right, well, I already know you won't sing for
Speaker 1: me that. What do you like to splur?
Speaker 6: John oh Man? Shoes and golf shoes have slowed down
Speaker 6: a little bit.
Speaker 8: When I first got in the league and there was
Speaker 8: all this money coming in from game checks, after coming
Speaker 8: from like a two hundred dollars a month stipend, shoes
Speaker 8: were just getting ridiculous. But now it's like golf rounds,
Speaker 8: golf equipment, bags, balls, all that stuff. I just there's
Speaker 8: no limit.
Speaker 1: I share your passion.
Speaker 6: There.
Speaker 1: Last thing for Nick Scott. This one's kind of deep.
Speaker 1: If you could meet anybody in history living or deceased,
Speaker 1: could be an athlete, an entertainer, a statesman, a relative
Speaker 1: you never had the chance to meet, who would that
Speaker 1: person be?
Speaker 8: I met this individual before, unfortunately I didn't get to
Speaker 8: grow up with him. And that would be my great
Speaker 8: grandfather on my mother's side. Just because of how close
Speaker 8: I was to my Grandma Mary, and she lived into
Speaker 8: her nineties, and that she was such a beautiful person
Speaker 8: and you know, had such a such an impact on
Speaker 8: our family. Yeah, I wish I could have met the
Speaker 8: man that she was married to, or at least been
Speaker 8: able to recollect a little bit more what he was
Speaker 8: like and had that relationship.
Speaker 1: A heartfelt answer, I appreciate that. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Nick Scott.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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