Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booths podcast. The Haven't Got Time for the
Speaker 1: pain addition, as the Bengals suffered their first loss of
Speaker 1: the season in Chicago and look to bounce back quickly
Speaker 1: against the dreaded, hated, but always respected Pittsburgh Steelers. Coming up,
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replay from Sunday's game, postgame comments from
Speaker 1: players and coaches, and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lappo. Then,
Speaker 1: in this week's fun facts segment, chitubay A Wouge tells
Speaker 1: us the all time worst mispronunciation of his name. It
Speaker 1: is guaranteed to make you chuckle. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refreshed to game and
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing sin Breakfast on
Speaker 1: the Road with Mike Brown and Dave Lapham. You might
Speaker 1: have heard me mentioned this before, but when the Bengals
Speaker 1: play a road game, one of the joys of my
Speaker 1: job is having an early breakfast on the morning of
Speaker 1: the game with Bengals president Mike Brown, his close friend
Speaker 1: Jack Schiff, and my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. It's basically
Speaker 1: an hour of gut busting laughter as Mike and lap
Speaker 1: share stories from the remarkable football lives. This week's topics
Speaker 1: included NFL games played years ago at Wrigley Field, Paul
Speaker 1: Brown ripping a young Lap in front of the rest
Speaker 1: of the team, former Bengals who comically struggled to deal
Speaker 1: with crowd, noise and laps days as a fourteen year
Speaker 1: old moving company lugger. Trust me, I wish I could
Speaker 1: record these breakfasts because it would make a great podcast.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to Sunday's game. Chicago Bears fans have
Speaker 1: been clamoring for the team to yank Andy Dalton and
Speaker 1: make rookie Justin Fields they're starting quarterback. In fact, the
Speaker 1: talk all week in Chicago was that Dalton would be
Speaker 1: loudly booed as soon as he made a mistake. The
Speaker 1: headline in the Chicago Sun Times on Sunday read as follows,
Speaker 1: Dalton can't afford a dud on the Bears opening drive
Speaker 1: Dalton was more stud than dud and he has the ball,
Speaker 1: he's packed to throw his pass pot for a touchdown
Speaker 1: five Allen Robinson. Quite a start for Andy Dalton and
Speaker 1: the Bears as they marched seventy five yards to score. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that was a dart right there. I mean,
Speaker 1: he put the ball right where he needed to. And
Speaker 1: the crowd right now in full support of Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: how can you not be? Dalton got some help on
Speaker 1: the opening drive, a thirty two yard pass interference penalty
Speaker 1: on Eli Apple when it was third and twelve. Here's
Speaker 1: linebacker Logan Wilson on the bengals lousy start on defense.
Speaker 1: They just made some place. You know, I think that's
Speaker 1: just just the nature of this team. It's you're always
Speaker 1: going to be faced adversity. And you know, they scored
Speaker 1: and that's that's not the way we wanted to start.
Speaker 1: But you know, we rebounded, and I think that that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing. The Bengals did not allow another
Speaker 1: offensive touchdown, partly because they knocked Dalton out of the game.
Speaker 1: Second and eleven, Dalton back to throw, and he has
Speaker 1: sacked back at the forty five yard line, a tremendous
Speaker 1: pass rush by DJ Reader, who DJ won quickly and
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton gets up limping. Dalton hurt his knee and
Speaker 1: while it didn't appear to be too severe, he was
Speaker 1: done for the day with five and a half minutes
Speaker 1: left in the half. Alas, the red rifle wasn't the
Speaker 1: only quarterback getting hit. Burrow clapping his hands on third
Speaker 1: and ten, he catches the shotgun snap under pressure and sacked.
Speaker 1: Paris ran a little twist up front and Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: comes up with his eighty third and a half NFL
Speaker 1: sacked After getting sacked five times in Week one, Burrow
Speaker 1: was sacked four times and hit nine times in Shook.
Speaker 1: You live really good players up front, Hickson, Mack and
Speaker 1: then Robert Quinn and Nichols because are big guys that
Speaker 1: they're playing really sound. They got some really good players
Speaker 1: up front, and you know they're making plays. I gotta
Speaker 1: give credit to them. It was seven nothing Chicago at
Speaker 1: the half. The Bengals got the ball to begin the
Speaker 1: third quarter, received a gift when Robert Quinn shoved Burrow
Speaker 1: when he was clearly out of bounds for a fifteen
Speaker 1: yard penalty and quickly got on the scoreboard on Evan
Speaker 1: McPherson's second fifty three yard field goal in as many weeks.
Speaker 1: To snap, the put down the spot, the kick on
Speaker 1: its way, the distance not a problem, and the kick
Speaker 1: is good. That made it seven three, And moments later
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense almost took the ball away from Fields
Speaker 1: and he's straight back to throw. The Bengals send five,
Speaker 1: Fields loses, the football gets on the ground. The Bengals
Speaker 1: were all to scoop it up. Logan Wilson went for
Speaker 1: the scoop and s but didn't pick up the ball
Speaker 1: and Fields falls on it at the thirty two. It's
Speaker 1: still a seventeen yard loss and the Bears will have
Speaker 1: to put could have been a defensive score, but you
Speaker 1: know coaches will say fall on the football. Here's Wilson
Speaker 1: on his attempted fumble recovery. At the time when I
Speaker 1: saw the ball, there wasn't anyone around it, which is
Speaker 1: usually for us that signifies an opportunity to try to
Speaker 1: scoop and score. Had there been people around it, that's
Speaker 1: when you kind of want to dive on it. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say it was necessarily like obviously you want to
Speaker 1: score on defense as much as we can. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, if I was able to
Speaker 1: just get the ball back to our offense, that'd have
Speaker 1: been the most important. And while the Bengals failed to
Speaker 1: recover the Bears fumble, Chicago did not have the same problem.
Speaker 1: Burrow back to throw his pass over of the middle,
Speaker 1: caught at the fifty by two bumbles the football. The
Speaker 1: Bears come away with it and running it back his
Speaker 1: Houston Carson. He's to the Cincinnati forty and he gets
Speaker 1: pulled down Bear. That turnover led to a Chicago field goal,
Speaker 1: and early in the fourth quarter the Bears were up
Speaker 1: ten three. The Bengals quickly drove to midfield and a
Speaker 1: twenty two yard pass to Tyler Boyd, but ran into
Speaker 1: trouble when Burrow tried to find Boyd over the middle again,
Speaker 1: Hopkins fires the snap back Burrow under pressure, he throws intercepted.
Speaker 1: The Bears have it at midfield, running it back to
Speaker 1: the forty, now down the sideline to the thirty, the twenty,
Speaker 1: the ten and into the end zone for the score.
Speaker 1: Roe Kuan Smith intercepting burrows pass at midfield and running
Speaker 1: it in for a defensive touchdown. Just a great read
Speaker 1: by roe Kuan Smith. That was burrows first interception in
Speaker 1: five games going back to last year and the first
Speaker 1: pick six of his NFL career. He made a really
Speaker 1: good play. Intel. It's he studied that play before and
Speaker 1: he's seen it, and he pushed really really fast, and
Speaker 1: he's been a really good play. Rokuan Smith's fifty three
Speaker 1: yard pick six made it seventeen to three and ended
Speaker 1: burrows streak of two hundred consecutive passes without an interception.
Speaker 1: It also started a very different streak. Burrow fakes to
Speaker 1: mix and throws it toward the left sideline, intercepted again
Speaker 1: as the Bears pick it off at the Cincinnati thirty
Speaker 1: seven Jalen Johnson jumping the route and coming up with
Speaker 1: another takeaway for the Bears defense. Burrow stomps the right foot,
Speaker 1: extends the hands, catches the snap, looks to throw his
Speaker 1: pass batted, intercepted again Holloway Mackerel right into the hands
Speaker 1: of Angelo Blackson as it was batted out of burrows hands.
Speaker 1: Interception number three in a row for Chicago, and he
Speaker 1: has tackled at the nine yard line. Burrow not only
Speaker 1: through multiple interceptions for the first time in an NFL game,
Speaker 1: three passing attempts in a row were picked off. The
Speaker 1: last one led to a field goal that gave the
Speaker 1: Bears a twenty to three lead with six forty to go. No,
Speaker 1: that's just me trying to force the ball, trying to
Speaker 1: get something going. You want a lessen today that you know,
Speaker 1: when your defense is playing as good as they are,
Speaker 1: you don't have to force those balls. You can kind
Speaker 1: of just let the game come to you. They're playing
Speaker 1: really sound. They got some really good players up front,
Speaker 1: and you know they're making plays. Yeah, gotta give credit
Speaker 1: to them. At that point, the Bengals appeared to be toast,
Speaker 1: but Burrow is not about to go down without a fight.
Speaker 1: Bengals have five receivers spread out. Burrow's gonna fling it
Speaker 1: high and deep for Chase. He's got to step on
Speaker 1: his defender again. Catches at the ten, Two defenders go down,
Speaker 1: and Chase runs it into the end zone for a
Speaker 1: forty two yard Bengals touchdown. How about that two games
Speaker 1: in the NFL too long touchdown catches for Jamar Chase.
Speaker 1: That's my expectation. I'm playing on scoring every game. I'll
Speaker 1: play on every time I touched the ball and make
Speaker 1: a big plane. I'm saying, that's that's my objective. Dest
Speaker 1: Burrow through thirty passes in the game and only three
Speaker 1: were deep balls. It allowed the Bears defensive backs to
Speaker 1: sit on the shorter routes, and Joe and Jamar agree
Speaker 1: that throwing deep has to be a bigger part of
Speaker 1: the Bengals game plan. You gotta throw the ball their head,
Speaker 1: and you know, at least make them. I feel like
Speaker 1: you you're gonna be able to do that and call
Speaker 1: some plays that they go over their head. He needed
Speaker 1: two last minutes to take shots. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You knew what they was sitting the whole game, and
Speaker 1: I was telling Joe t knew, So you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, We just got a capitalize on the stuff
Speaker 1: we see. Early in the game, the long touchdown passed
Speaker 1: to Chase made it twenty to ten and gave the
Speaker 1: Bengals a glimmer of hope with four thirty nine to go.
Speaker 1: One minute later, it was more than a glimmer. He
Speaker 1: feels back to throw. Here comes a blitz. His pass
Speaker 1: intercepted began Wilson running the ten. He gets tackled at
Speaker 1: the nine, and the Bengals have it first in goal
Speaker 1: at the nine after an interception by Logan will Said
Speaker 1: Burrow in the gun mix into his right, Burrow has it,
Speaker 1: He drops back to throw, he passes it is taught touchdown.
Speaker 1: Bengals t Higgins right at the goal line, using that
Speaker 1: big frame to box out a defender, and the Bengals
Speaker 1: have pulled within four, pending the with three thirty nine
Speaker 1: to go. How about that after throwing picks on three
Speaker 1: straight passes, Burrow through touchdown passes on his next two
Speaker 1: to make it a three point game with three thirty
Speaker 1: nine left. If the Bengals could get the ball back,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't need to drive very far to give mcfierson
Speaker 1: a chance to force overtime. But Justin Field saved the
Speaker 1: game for Chicago with his legs escaping a tackle attempt
Speaker 1: by Trey Hendrickson and running for a ten yard gain
Speaker 1: on third and nine. The Bears ran out the clock
Speaker 1: from there to win the game twenty to seventeen. Here
Speaker 1: are Zach Taylor and Logan Wilson. It's a seventeen game season.
Speaker 1: We just lost a tough game on the road. We
Speaker 1: lost the tourna got killed in the turn of o
Speaker 1: battle and just the margin frayer in this league is
Speaker 1: razor thin. You know, I don't think anyone can question
Speaker 1: the heart on this team. Shoot, we were down twenty
Speaker 1: to three and we came back and gave us all
Speaker 1: the chance. Obviously we didn't get a win, but there's
Speaker 1: no question we have hard on this team. We just
Speaker 1: got to clean some things up offense, defense and special teams,
Speaker 1: and which I know we will. And we got a
Speaker 1: big challenge next week at Pittsburgh. So we're gonna watch
Speaker 1: the film in tomorrow. I learned from it and move on.
Speaker 1: The Bengals held the Bears to a meager two hundred
Speaker 1: and six yards and just one offensive touchdown. Perhaps Chicago
Speaker 1: fans should be careful what they wished for. Fields had
Speaker 1: a passer rating of twenty seven point seven. Dalton's was
Speaker 1: one eighteen point two, but the difference in the game
Speaker 1: was obviously turnovers. The Bengals committed four and forced one.
Speaker 1: As a result, the record is one and one. Now
Speaker 1: time for postgame analysis with lap lab. Let's start with
Speaker 1: pass protection. Four more sacks today, nine quarterback hits. I
Speaker 1: know you haven't looked back at tape yet. But it
Speaker 1: does it feel to you like guys are getting beaten
Speaker 1: one on one or that they are making mistakes in
Speaker 1: communication leading to guys having the ability to get to
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. Yeah, I mean there were a couple of
Speaker 1: a couple of twists, a little te stunts that they
Speaker 1: didn't pick up well enough, but overall, I mean those
Speaker 1: were an issue. But overall I thought the push was
Speaker 1: way too much on a regular basis. I mean, at
Speaker 1: some point you have to stand and and form the
Speaker 1: depth of the pocket, and Joe Burrow just didn't have
Speaker 1: any kind of a pocket that he felt comfortable, you know,
Speaker 1: manipulating stepping up and moving up into um and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's not a it's not a good feeling
Speaker 1: for him. He's just doesn't look comfortable out there. And
Speaker 1: the vision becomes an issue, the interception you don't see people.
Speaker 1: I mean, when the when the push is in the
Speaker 1: quarterback's face and he doesn't have vision down the field,
Speaker 1: the vision's obstructed. You know, same thing happened to fields
Speaker 1: he didn't see Wilson. So the pressure doesn't necessarily always
Speaker 1: have to be a sack. It might speed up the
Speaker 1: the read process of a quarterback causing incompletion. It may
Speaker 1: make him throw the ball where he thinks he's gonna
Speaker 1: be fine and he's not because he can't see the
Speaker 1: field well enough, like on those interceptions. So until the
Speaker 1: late touchdown pass to Jamar Chase, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: dinking and dunking going on by the Bengals. It was
Speaker 1: kind of similar to what we saw and watching the
Speaker 1: Bears game last week against the Rams, particularly when they
Speaker 1: go to these empty backfields with five receiving targets, you
Speaker 1: pretty much know that it's going to be a short
Speaker 1: throw to the first person that Joe thinks is open.
Speaker 1: And Jamar Chase was kind of critical of it after
Speaker 1: the game, saying that the Bengals should have tried for
Speaker 1: some more deep shots earlier in the game. Is that
Speaker 1: just a matter of the coaching staff fearing that if
Speaker 1: they have Joe try to throw deep, they're exposing him
Speaker 1: to more hits. Yeah, I think that's probably part of it,
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that you know, they saw that,
Speaker 1: you know. On the reverse part of it, Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: was fairly effective with that type of an offensive mindset
Speaker 1: against the Rams, who have a good pass rush, and
Speaker 1: he took care of the football pretty well and dingked
Speaker 1: and dunked. No big plays down the football field, but
Speaker 1: they moved the ball, they possessed the football, they had
Speaker 1: nineteen more snaps, had the ball for a good amount
Speaker 1: of time, longer, and all those things that can help
Speaker 1: you win a football game. But I guess going into it,
Speaker 1: the coach has probably had their fear of pressure. That
Speaker 1: was going to be an issue to deal with, and
Speaker 1: that was the game plan that they felt they needed
Speaker 1: to come up with. And you know, I appreciate Chase's criticism,
Speaker 1: but block somebody on fourth down. You got to drive
Speaker 1: stand alive there too, So you better watch out when
Speaker 1: you point fingers, there's three pointing right back at you.
Speaker 1: So make sure that you take care of all your
Speaker 1: business before you start calling other people out. To his credit,
Speaker 1: he did acknowledge that he did not do a very
Speaker 1: good job in the blocking game, so at least he
Speaker 1: owned up to it. Let's talk about the defense. They
Speaker 1: gave up a seventy five yard touchdown drive to begin
Speaker 1: the game. After that, they were fantastic to keep the
Speaker 1: Bengals alive. That was the only touchdown they gave up,
Speaker 1: and despite being put in bad positions numerous times because
Speaker 1: of three interceptions at a fumble, they kept the Bengals
Speaker 1: in the game. It really did. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: give up less than turn in ten yards offense in
Speaker 1: today's National Football League, and you have three opportunities in
Speaker 1: the red zone, you give up a touchdown on one
Speaker 1: of them. They only scored touchdown thirty three percent of
Speaker 1: the time. You know, another time, one of the interception
Speaker 1: was taken back for a pick six. Other interception went
Speaker 1: to the nine yard line and they held that to
Speaker 1: a field goal. So inside the ten yard line, the
Speaker 1: deep red zone, they were outstanding on that drive. They
Speaker 1: played well enough to win. I mean literally, you only
Speaker 1: hang ten points on them, basically. You know, of the
Speaker 1: twenty points that were scored ones a pick six and
Speaker 1: a return inside the ten yard line, well heck, if
Speaker 1: you don't take the football away on a turnover, you're
Speaker 1: gonna give up a field goal in today's league. So
Speaker 1: they played well those kind of those kind of numbers
Speaker 1: and they lose a football game. That just tells you
Speaker 1: that there was no complimentary football played today. The defense
Speaker 1: played well enough to win. Special teams didn't. An offense
Speaker 1: sure didn't. Yeah, special teams. I'm glad you brought that
Speaker 1: up because McPherson crushed another fifty three yard field goal
Speaker 1: that was great. But Brandon Wilson had a couple of
Speaker 1: mistakes and the kick return game and early in the game,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals repeatedly had terrible field position. He was
Speaker 1: responsible for a couple of them. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know,
Speaker 1: you put you put yourself on a long field in
Speaker 1: a noisy stadium, a home opener against the defensive football
Speaker 1: team that has some talent. I mean, they've got some
Speaker 1: players you're asking for trouble, and that's exactly what they got,
Speaker 1: you know. It's it's just it's an unfortunate situation that
Speaker 1: the defense, playing as well as they played, didn't come
Speaker 1: away with a w. Because, you know, playing like that
Speaker 1: on the road, I think is bodes well. Again, though,
Speaker 1: I think that Andy Dalton going out of the football
Speaker 1: game when he did it was a big factor because
Speaker 1: he was hot and he was playing well, and that
Speaker 1: first drive they had, I mean, he just he ripped
Speaker 1: him down the football field and fields has got a
Speaker 1: package that they're getting him ready for on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: But I don't think he feels totally comfortable with the
Speaker 1: entire offense yet, and I think they were hamstrung with
Speaker 1: some of their play calling and it showed up a
Speaker 1: little bit. But you got to credit the defense. They
Speaker 1: took advantage of it and they slammed the door. I
Speaker 1: mean they suffocated him in the running game too. They
Speaker 1: did a great job of Montgomery. The quarterbacks hurt him.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton had a couple of scrambles for double digit
Speaker 1: yards on scrambles and fields had you know, had a
Speaker 1: big one on third and nine that they got him
Speaker 1: a big first down when they just could not Hendrickson
Speaker 1: could just not quite get there. So the quarterbacks were
Speaker 1: the ones that did the most damage. I think on
Speaker 1: just improvisational, you know, creating and extending the play as such.
Speaker 1: Hendrickson wasn't able to make that play, but in large
Speaker 1: he was terrific. Again today that's looking like money well spent.
Speaker 1: I agree. I think he's he's prideful, he plays hard.
Speaker 1: There there's no doubt. I think he's a you know,
Speaker 1: he extends expends every ance of energy he's got on
Speaker 1: a snap by snap basis, and it means it means
Speaker 1: a lot to him. You know, he's um he only
Speaker 1: started one year down there on New Orleans and had
Speaker 1: a big year the year he started. And he relishes
Speaker 1: the fact that he's a starting defensive end in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. He appreciates it and it meets a
Speaker 1: lot to him. And you can tell by the way
Speaker 1: he plays. Jamar Chase hauls in a forty two yard
Speaker 1: touchdown pass and in his first two NFL games a
Speaker 1: fifty yard TV in a forty two yard TV. They
Speaker 1: didn't go to him very much in the game in Chicago,
Speaker 1: but based on the first two weeks, he's given them
Speaker 1: the deep threat that was sorely missing. Yeah, he really has.
Speaker 1: And he did it two different ways. His verse one
Speaker 1: was just to flat out a little stutter step and
Speaker 1: just beat him deep with pure speed. This one, he
Speaker 1: tracked the football and adjusted to the football. Safety never
Speaker 1: found the football. Cornerback was playing outside technique, knew he
Speaker 1: had inside help from the safety. Safety never found the ball,
Speaker 1: took a horrible angle. Jamar Chase tracked the ball perfectly,
Speaker 1: came underneath and adjusted around the safety, mated playing on
Speaker 1: the football and took it at the house. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a He's a threat down the football field. There's
Speaker 1: no two ways about that. Let's go back to the
Speaker 1: O line for a second. Xavier Suafilo got a little
Speaker 1: banged up early in the game. He was limping pretty
Speaker 1: noticeably after one of the players, but he stayed in there.
Speaker 1: He gotted it out, to his credit, but it seemed
Speaker 1: like a tough day for him. Again, without going back
Speaker 1: and looking at the tape of the game, yet, do
Speaker 1: you think that Jackson Carmen at some point relatively soon
Speaker 1: might move into that right guard spot. You know, you
Speaker 1: have to you have to weigh, all right, the veteran, experienced,
Speaker 1: the savvy, the knowledge not busting plays. How how much
Speaker 1: more important is that than having a better physical potential
Speaker 1: specimen in there at the guard position, particularly a suel
Speaker 1: of Field is limping around because it's it's a tough situation.
Speaker 1: He knows what to do and how how to do it,
Speaker 1: just can't get there sometimes, you know, And so that
Speaker 1: that's a little bit of an issue. But you know,
Speaker 1: is Pittsburgh in playing the Steelers in Pittsburgh with that
Speaker 1: defense and the things that they can do from a
Speaker 1: multiplicity standpoint, in versatility standpoint, is that is that a
Speaker 1: good situation to put Jackson Carmen in there and say, boy,
Speaker 1: I hope we don't have too many free runners, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's kind of the risk that you
Speaker 1: take there. But it's going to be interesting to monitor
Speaker 1: because Suephilo, he was playing against a horse. Now Hicks
Speaker 1: is a beast, flat out beast. And it was a
Speaker 1: long day at the office for X. So it was
Speaker 1: a road game where they were a slight underdog. They
Speaker 1: wound up losing by three points. Gets it's not a shocker,
Speaker 1: but with Andy Dalton going down at about five and
Speaker 1: a half minutes to go in the half, that game
Speaker 1: was there for the taking and they did not come
Speaker 1: away with the win. Absolutely. And you know, we've seen
Speaker 1: two weeks in a row. I've seen things I've never
Speaker 1: seen before, and come to find out, you know, the
Speaker 1: field goal at the end of regulation by one kicker
Speaker 1: and then the other kicker winning the game and overtime
Speaker 1: at the gun had never happened before. And I'd be
Speaker 1: shocked if you have a quarterback that throws three straight
Speaker 1: passes that are picked off and then comes back and
Speaker 1: throws two straight passes that are touchdowns. I don't think
Speaker 1: I've never seen that before at any level. And I've
Speaker 1: never seen kickers do what they did the week before
Speaker 1: at any level. So one thing that's going on with
Speaker 1: these Cincinnati Bengals, Man, there's first happening every single week.
Speaker 1: It seems like and uh Man, that one that was
Speaker 1: really crazy Joe Burrow three straight passes picks and one
Speaker 1: to the house, one to the nine yard line. Those
Speaker 1: are those are brutal picks. And then to come back
Speaker 1: and throw back to back touchdown pass us on his
Speaker 1: next two throws. It says something about him, says something
Speaker 1: about the team, says something about a lot of things.
Speaker 1: But this game, like you said, Dan, this was a
Speaker 1: winnable football game. They should have won the football game,
Speaker 1: and they didn't win the football game. How bad will
Speaker 1: it hurt? Next a road game at Hines Field, where
Speaker 1: the Steelers lost their home open er twenty six to
Speaker 1: seventeen to the Raiders. T J. Watt suffered a groin
Speaker 1: injury in that game, so the Bengals might not have
Speaker 1: to face the NFL's reigning sack leader next week. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's
Speaker 1: light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now
Speaker 1: time for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get
Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Talk for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with Bengals cornerback chitabey A Wooge. I read
Speaker 1: that when you were a kid, you were so rough
Speaker 1: and tough that you weren't allowed to play certain things
Speaker 1: with their kids. Was that true and what happened? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's true. I think it wasn't really a rule set
Speaker 1: by a school or by a teacher or a parent.
Speaker 1: It was kind of you know, the kids that I
Speaker 1: was playing with didn't want me to play with them
Speaker 1: because I was everything. Home i played, someone was getting
Speaker 1: hurt or injury was happening. So yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: think that definitely led me into football. It seems like
Speaker 1: the perfect outlet to take out that aggression. Your parents
Speaker 1: are Nigerian immigrants who earned college degrees in the US.
Speaker 1: How did their values in their work ethic impact you?
Speaker 1: It impacted me so heavily. I definitely grew up with
Speaker 1: the duality of being Nigerian American to the tea. When
Speaker 1: I was home raising the Nigerian home, my Auntie's uncles, cousins,
Speaker 1: we'd go to parties on the weekend, whether it be
Speaker 1: a meeting or a celebration. The Nigerian culture definitely was
Speaker 1: in me. And then when I would go into school
Speaker 1: and I'd get a very good taste of the American culture.
Speaker 1: So um, definitely that duality has raised me to understand others,
Speaker 1: to be heavy on family, to have faith in God,
Speaker 1: and you know, just to always work hard. Have you
Speaker 1: made it to Nigeria to see where your family's from?
Speaker 1: I have. I have. The first time I went was
Speaker 1: my sophomore year in high school. I was sixteen or
Speaker 1: fifteen or something like that. And you know, it was
Speaker 1: beautiful just to see cousins who I've never met before,
Speaker 1: family members, see where my parents grew up, and see
Speaker 1: where my grandparents and my leney has basically started. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a village house in the village of Football
Speaker 1: here and that's where everybody congregated and it was just
Speaker 1: a beautiful, beautiful time in my life. We're visiting with
Speaker 1: chittabe A Wugia. Many stories about you say that your
Speaker 1: first name means God will guide me. Do you take
Speaker 1: that to heart? Oh? I definitely do. And my culture,
Speaker 1: the Ebo culture, this our names me and everything. And
Speaker 1: you know, my brother has a similar name, my mom, dad, sister.
Speaker 1: All of it usually resonates with something to do with God.
Speaker 1: You know, we're very spiritual people. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: my name prays for me every day and when they
Speaker 1: able to live comfortably. Because you grew up in near
Speaker 1: San Jose, California, what were some of the things you
Speaker 1: were interested in as a kid. As a kid, I
Speaker 1: was very impressionable. I love watching things on YouTube and
Speaker 1: just learning about different things, especially dance. You know, where
Speaker 1: I grew up, I had a dance called turfing, and
Speaker 1: they had this thing called the Hype movement, and the
Speaker 1: LA had crump and the South had crump, and I
Speaker 1: was interested in just like all the cultures, just everything
Speaker 1: you know that was happening. So I think when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, I was just very impressionable when it
Speaker 1: came to hip hop culture, dance culture. Yeah. So so
Speaker 1: if you have a pick six, is there a dance
Speaker 1: in mind for the celebration. I've been thinking, man, I've
Speaker 1: been trying to plan it out already. I got a lot.
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta do something honor the African people,
Speaker 1: So I gotta dance it there I gotta do something
Speaker 1: under the area people to dance it there. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna plant. I'm playing something out for sure. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with chitabey A Wouje. You attended Oak Grove High School,
Speaker 1: where you ran for more than a thousand yards or
Speaker 1: senior year, but you also blocked ten kicks. How do
Speaker 1: you block ten kicks? I mean, honestly, just being an
Speaker 1: athlete and then having a good get off, And I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it was just something I found
Speaker 1: out I was good at thinking my sophomore year in
Speaker 1: high school. I would just rush off the ball real
Speaker 1: fast and then block block punts, kicks, field goals, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I wonder why they have me do that more in
Speaker 1: college or NFL. But it's all good. I think I
Speaker 1: sell it in that corner pretty good. So I'm playing
Speaker 1: this for Darren Simmons to make sure that he's aware
Speaker 1: of that. You chose to attend the University of Colorado.
Speaker 1: What did you enjoy most about college? The thing I
Speaker 1: enjoyed most about college was to come Arderie. I got
Speaker 1: to see and be a part of something real special.
Speaker 1: Came into a program that I was rebuilding, and by
Speaker 1: the time my senior year happened. You know, we started
Speaker 1: to win, ended up being seventh in the rank, seventh
Speaker 1: in the country at one point, and those guys, you know,
Speaker 1: that's something that I think will always hold on to
Speaker 1: just how we had all those experiences that led to
Speaker 1: that point, and that's led us to be great friends.
Speaker 1: Even now to this day. That senior class, I'm blessed
Speaker 1: to play with Josh Tupo, who was on that team.
Speaker 1: We still have that connection and you know, all those
Speaker 1: guys have that connection. So that camaraderie was very something
Speaker 1: that that taught me a lot how to be a team.
Speaker 1: And you know when I got to the NFL in
Speaker 1: your sophomore year, you lacerated your kidney. That's serious stuff.
Speaker 1: How bad was it? It was bad, man, It was
Speaker 1: bad because I didn't understand what it was or the
Speaker 1: severity of it. I guess when I fail, and it happened.
Speaker 1: You know, I just went to the bathroom in the
Speaker 1: locker room, and you know, I started to see blood
Speaker 1: in my us, you know, in my in my pea
Speaker 1: and went back up and I said, Yo, this is happening.
Speaker 1: Took me to the hospital and thank God that they
Speaker 1: took it serious enough to where I was able to
Speaker 1: we're able to diagnose it properly, and you know, that
Speaker 1: helped me out for the last three games with my
Speaker 1: sophomore year. And it was just a real interesting time,
Speaker 1: first time that I really had an injury that kept
Speaker 1: me out of football and I could walk. I mean,
Speaker 1: I could think I could do everything. I just couldn't.
Speaker 1: I had to be careful, you know, and I just
Speaker 1: want I realized that, you know, football is such a
Speaker 1: precious sport to me. I don't want to not play.
Speaker 1: So from that time, I started to be real conscious of,
Speaker 1: you know, every step I take. We're doing fun facts
Speaker 1: with Chitabe Woujia. You were a second round draft pick
Speaker 1: by the Dallas Cowboys in twenty seventeen, and there was
Speaker 1: a memorable moment in the NFL draft history because it
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia. Cowboys legend Drew Pearson announced the pick
Speaker 1: and he took the occasion to troll Eagles fans. Are
Speaker 1: you amused or did it kind of detract from your moment? Noah, Man,
Speaker 1: I'm all for the splendor and the and the joy
Speaker 1: and the hate that he got for that too. I
Speaker 1: know drew from that moment I got to know Drew Pearson.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a great guy, great energy, obviously a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame player now who thank God that he
Speaker 1: was able to make it in this year. I know
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to him, and it means a
Speaker 1: lot to me and my family, you know, because we're
Speaker 1: forever tied with that momentum. I think they also, you know,
Speaker 1: put people on notice that they Drew's not in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame yet, like, let's you know what I'm saying, like,
Speaker 1: let's get him in the Hall of Fame. I think,
Speaker 1: um that that that that just a lot of good
Speaker 1: came from that moment, and I'm glad that I was
Speaker 1: part of it. The Dallas Cowboys are known as America's team.
Speaker 1: Their fan base is really worldwide, not the US wide.
Speaker 1: What was it like to be a Cowboy for four years? Oh?
Speaker 1: It was a blessing. Um. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Speaker 1: Um that picked me obviously from UH College and that
Speaker 1: moment will always hold hold dirt in me, and those
Speaker 1: moments that I shared with that team will always hold
Speaker 1: there to me. So I'm always thankful for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: A lot of my friends were still on that team.
Speaker 1: So I'm a fan of those guys and you know,
Speaker 1: ruin for them for the best. So you became a
Speaker 1: free agent and it sounds like the Bengals really came
Speaker 1: after you with a lot of passion. Yeah. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's one thing that stuck out to me was
Speaker 1: how much they wanted me here and everything that coach Zack,
Speaker 1: coach Lou, coach Jackson, all the guys who I talked to,
Speaker 1: even the front office people, was about the culture here
Speaker 1: that they're starting to get the coachure right, the locker
Speaker 1: rooms good, all this kind of stuff. And when I
Speaker 1: was able to visit here and be here now, it
Speaker 1: all holds true. You know, I really believe that I'm
Speaker 1: in the perfect place right now to be my best
Speaker 1: and hopefully to help this team be their best. So
Speaker 1: I'm real excited for things to come. I'm real comfortable
Speaker 1: here already. You know, the guys are real cool, the
Speaker 1: coaches are cool. So just excited to get this stand
Speaker 1: rolland all right, a few non football topics to wrap
Speaker 1: things up with. Chittobey Wouje, you are an avid chess player.
Speaker 1: How did that start and what you enjoy by chess.
Speaker 1: So chess started in college when me and my teammates
Speaker 1: slash peers in my class. It used to be kind
Speaker 1: of bored in class. We had our laptops out, and
Speaker 1: you know, during a subject that maybe we knew about already,
Speaker 1: we would play some chess, you know, virtually on our laptops,
Speaker 1: and it is real competitive, and you didn't want to lose,
Speaker 1: because if you lose, chess kind of makes you feel
Speaker 1: like something smarter than you, and that that doesn't really
Speaker 1: feel going when you know that something smarter than you.
Speaker 1: So we would compete there and then it kind of
Speaker 1: died down. And then when I got to the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: there was a couple of chess players and again real competitive,
Speaker 1: don't want to lose. And I think I fostered a
Speaker 1: lot of relationships through chess. I've learned a lot about life,
Speaker 1: how to put things in order. You don't want to
Speaker 1: lose your queen. You want to lose obviously, don't want
Speaker 1: to lose the game by losing your king. You know,
Speaker 1: the rook's worth more than the pond and the bishop
Speaker 1: in the night. But each piece moves, you know, in
Speaker 1: great symmetry. To um have a full team basically, so, Um,
Speaker 1: I think it's helped me articulate and put things in
Speaker 1: order very well. Are you the grand Master of the
Speaker 1: Bengals locker room. I wouldn't disrespect the name grand Master
Speaker 1: up I put in my name next to it, but
Speaker 1: I will say that I don't think anyone can beat
Speaker 1: me on this team. So yeah, all right. If you
Speaker 1: could meet anyone in history, athlete, actor, statesman, politician, whatever
Speaker 1: it might be, who would that be. That's a very
Speaker 1: deep question, um. To be honest, the first name of
Speaker 1: POPTI my mind was Muhammad Ali. But as you finished
Speaker 1: the question, I think my real answer would probably Jesus.
Speaker 1: I think that would mean that I made it to heaven.
Speaker 1: It should be a good thing, So I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: those would be. That was my first reaction, and when
Speaker 1: I got my thoughts together, it was like, yeah, Jesus,
Speaker 1: two great answers. Last thing, what's the all time worst
Speaker 1: mispronunciation of chittlebay wuje? Dang? It's been a lot, man.
Speaker 1: I'll say this. One time someone couldn't say my name
Speaker 1: in elementary school that instead of calling me chuddle Bay,
Speaker 1: they called me cheddar bay biscuits. So that was my
Speaker 1: nickname for that guy called me Cheddar Bay biscuits from
Speaker 1: Red Lobster, So hey, you should get an endorsement deal out.
Speaker 1: Hey man, I enjoyed them. They are good. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they are really good. They're really good. So is this.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. Have a great season. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That's what you're doing for This episode of the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refreshed
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Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: the Bengals boot Podcast