Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The have a hully jelly Christmas
Speaker 1: edition as the Bengals give their fans the number one
Speaker 1: gift on their wish list, a stunning win over the hated, despised,
Speaker 1: buck always respected Pittsburgh Steelers. On Monday Night football. Coming up,
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments, and in depth analysis
Speaker 1: from Dave Lapham, and in this week's fun fact segment,
Speaker 1: you'll get to know the person under the pads as
Speaker 1: I go one on one with linebacker Josh Bines. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh
Speaker 1: the game, and here's a quick reminder that you can
Speaker 1: have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to
Speaker 1: your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: since End of Year lists. I am a total sucker
Speaker 1: for the various end of year lists that come out
Speaker 1: in the final few weeks of December. Top ten movies,
Speaker 1: even though I've rarely seen more than one or two
Speaker 1: Top ten news stories. Even though this year most of
Speaker 1: them are likely to be depressing top ten books. Even
Speaker 1: though I've been reading all the light, we cannot see
Speaker 1: a few pages a night before bed for at least
Speaker 1: a month, and that book came out in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: If I see an end of year list, I'm reading it,
Speaker 1: even if I know very little of the content. I
Speaker 1: should probably make a top ten list for why I
Speaker 1: love lists. Now let's get to the game. It began
Speaker 1: with a salute to the Radio City Roquets Christmas Spectacular
Speaker 1: as in one two three kick, one two three kick.
Speaker 1: Each team began with two three and outs on offense,
Speaker 1: but Pittsburgh's third possession was even worse. Pittsburgh has it
Speaker 1: first intent to the nineteen yard line. The exchange was fumbled,
Speaker 1: the ball on the ground at the twenty. The Bengals
Speaker 1: have started celebrating and they recover the Pittsburgh Steelers fumble.
Speaker 1: Josh Bines at the bottom of the pile comes up
Speaker 1: with a football that led to an Austin Cybered field
Speaker 1: goal and a three nothing Cincinnati lead. Before the first
Speaker 1: quarter was over, the Steelers coughed it up again. Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: back to throw short pass over the middle, caught by
Speaker 1: Juji Smith Schuster. The ball was popped away by Von Bell.
Speaker 1: It's scooped up by the Bengals and returned to the twenty,
Speaker 1: but they're saying it's an incomplete pass. After reviewing the play,
Speaker 1: the receiver completed the process of a catch. As a result,
Speaker 1: it is a catch in a foam role, as is
Speaker 1: his custom. Juju Smith Schuster danced down the Bengals logo
Speaker 1: and a TikTok video before the game, then got blown
Speaker 1: up by Von Bell and fumbled on Primetime TV. Here's
Speaker 1: the Bengal safety. We have a limless group, and man,
Speaker 1: we stepped up to the place to night, Monday Night Football,
Speaker 1: the biggest stage. We're out there and hit out. The
Speaker 1: parking man was out there doing things we love at
Speaker 1: the highest level and we're just playing for one another,
Speaker 1: planning for the name went back your jersey, you know,
Speaker 1: because guys come from different stories and they're just telling
Speaker 1: the story to night and we're going out there and
Speaker 1: making plays. Ryan Finley, making his first start of the
Speaker 1: year at quarterback, turned the takeaway into points with two
Speaker 1: third down pass completions to t Higgins that drove the
Speaker 1: Bengals to the four yard line. Finley under center, takes
Speaker 1: the snap, hands it off Geo trying to run wide
Speaker 1: to the right. Little ship off. Yeah. He takes it
Speaker 1: into the end zone before tossing the ball into the air.
Speaker 1: Touchdown Cincinnati as the Bengals go up nine nothing pending
Speaker 1: the extra point. Giovanni Bernard finished with twenty five carries
Speaker 1: for eighty three yards, and that touchdown run and the
Speaker 1: point after gave the Bengals a ten en lead. Surely
Speaker 1: big Ben would strike back right wrong. Roethlisberger back to
Speaker 1: throw fires apastit's intercept it picked off at the thirty
Speaker 1: eight yard line. The Bengals are running it back high
Speaker 1: stepping his way as McKenzie Alexander he got hit after
Speaker 1: being out of bounds and now he got some pushing
Speaker 1: and shoving in the Bengals bench area. But McKenzie Alexander
Speaker 1: intercepts Big Ben and runs it into Steelers territory. There
Speaker 1: was a fifteen yard penalty for a necessary roughness that
Speaker 1: gave the Bengals the ball at the Pittsburgh twenty six
Speaker 1: three plays later, they were in the end zone again.
Speaker 1: Finley catches a shotgun snap. He's back to throw the
Speaker 1: protection's good shot pass caught over the middle, Bernardo breaks
Speaker 1: the tackle at the five, runs into the end zone,
Speaker 1: and throws the ball away up in the air again,
Speaker 1: touchdown Cincinnati and the Bengals lead the Steelers by sixteen points.
Speaker 1: The extra point he made it seventeen nothing, and all
Speaker 1: seventeen points were the result of takeaways by the Bengals defense.
Speaker 1: Here's Ryan Finley. We preached the heck out of that
Speaker 1: all week. Was just winning the turnover battle versus these guys.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you get three takeaways on defense,
Speaker 1: you know the offense owes it to you to win
Speaker 1: night football game. So you know, just happy we could
Speaker 1: do enough to get that defense to win, because they
Speaker 1: service heck deserved it. It was seventeen nothing Bengals. At
Speaker 1: the half they had seventeen points. Roethlisberger had nineteen yards.
Speaker 1: But in the third quarter he finally looked like the
Speaker 1: quarterback who's made life miserable for the Bengals for seventeen years.
Speaker 1: First with a screen pass to Chase Claypool for thirty
Speaker 1: seven yards, and then Ben's gonna float it deep down
Speaker 1: field into the end zone touchdown Deyonte Johnson, and just
Speaker 1: like that, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers come to life
Speaker 1: a screen passed down the sideline for a thirty six
Speaker 1: yard game, followed immediately by a touchdown pass to Deonte Johnson.
Speaker 1: The next time the Steelers got the ball, they drove
Speaker 1: to the Bengals seven before settling for a field goal
Speaker 1: that cuts Cincinnati's lead down to seven points. The Bengals
Speaker 1: failed to score in the third quarter for the seventh
Speaker 1: consecutive game, but they started to drive late in the
Speaker 1: third that reached the end zone early in the fourth.
Speaker 1: Finley in the gun second down in two runs after
Speaker 1: Faki to p Ran, He's to the fifteen to ten
Speaker 1: middle of the field into the end zone, touchdown Ryan
Speaker 1: Finlay as he runs the zone read to perfection. The
Speaker 1: Steelers all converged on samaj p Ryan and Ryan Finlay
Speaker 1: went untouched into the end zone for the Bengals score.
Speaker 1: Finley is not known as a running quarterback, but finished
Speaker 1: with forty seven yards on ten carries. Well, that helps
Speaker 1: when you have a thirty yard touchdown and don't get touched,
Speaker 1: So that helps with the average. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: always been, you know, a part of my game. You know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of using athleticism to get out of some stuff.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's it's not heavy what I do,
Speaker 1: but I think it's it's something that I can definitely
Speaker 1: do on occasion. And this was a game that called
Speaker 1: for the touchdown play. Did you run that during the
Speaker 1: week or was that just it was a concept you
Speaker 1: guys have talked about or ru we had not ripped
Speaker 1: that play. That was just Zach being you know, real
Speaker 1: headsy and just kind of tagging it on there, and
Speaker 1: you know why not. Up by two touchdowns in the fourth,
Speaker 1: it looked like the Bengals were on the verge of
Speaker 1: wrapping it up when they stopped the Steelers on fourth
Speaker 1: and four with less than six minutes to go, but
Speaker 1: Will Jackson was called for pass interference near the goal
Speaker 1: line first and goal from the one. After the penalty
Speaker 1: on Will Jackson five thirty four to go, the Steelers
Speaker 1: a yard away from making it a seven point game.
Speaker 1: They give it to Snell. He's into the end zone,
Speaker 1: touchdown Pittsburgh. The lead was down to seven, and the
Speaker 1: Bengals were only able to pick up one first down
Speaker 1: on their next drive, punting the ball back to Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: with two seventeen remaining from his own twenty four Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: through incomplete to Smith Schuster, then incomplete to Johnson, then
Speaker 1: incomplete to Claypool, making it fourth and ten with one
Speaker 1: fifty six to go. The Bengal sending defenders up to
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage, showing blitz Jesse Bates playing deep
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field. Roethlisberger back to throw
Speaker 1: from the pocket his past two high incomplete coffinels Bam, bam,
Speaker 1: how about that? Who would a fuck? That? Attack on
Speaker 1: field goal by Cyberg with twelve seconds remaining made the
Speaker 1: final score Cincinnati twenty seven, Pittsburgh seventeen. Here are Zach Taylor,
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley, Von Bell and Giovanni Bernard on a memorable
Speaker 1: Monday night. It's the resilion of the group. Has I've
Speaker 1: ever been around, you know? They never stopped believing each other,
Speaker 1: never stopped believing what we're asking to do. It showed
Speaker 1: up on a huge stage tonight against divisional. Right, and
Speaker 1: and again I just can't can't say enough how proud
Speaker 1: I am of the coaches, the players, the staff, everybody
Speaker 1: who's hunging there together. Here we are week week fifteen,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, and um just what a great night
Speaker 1: for those guys. You know, I'm obviously very happy, um,
Speaker 1: but just happy for everyone involved. You know, just the
Speaker 1: faces and the you know, the after the post game
Speaker 1: locker room. Um, it's just you know, it's fun. We
Speaker 1: haven't had too many post game locker rooms like that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know as of recent and it's just fun. It's
Speaker 1: always fun to get a win, and um, even better
Speaker 1: beating the Steelers on Monday night. So just happy for
Speaker 1: everyone involved. Really, it shows the world tonight. We played
Speaker 1: with anybody. We played all phases of the game. We
Speaker 1: played great team football, um uh, hand in hand football,
Speaker 1: offs and defense, put them in position to make points
Speaker 1: of plays, taking the ball away, just really have to
Speaker 1: just let them loose, having fun, and then that's that's
Speaker 1: one of my most complete games we played at the
Speaker 1: highest level. So was gonna keep on building that, keep
Speaker 1: going getting better to be able to beat a team
Speaker 1: like that. We know they're a good team, they know
Speaker 1: they're a good team. But you know, when you play
Speaker 1: those divisional games, the records don't matter. It's about who
Speaker 1: wants them more. And it just showed just the type
Speaker 1: of mentality that we had going to the game. We
Speaker 1: started off hot, you know, coming we started off hot,
Speaker 1: come back after the second half, you know, we started
Speaker 1: off so, but we continue to keep fighting. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: just so thankful that I've been able to witness you know,
Speaker 1: some of the guys make these plays, and you know,
Speaker 1: just throughout this season, it's just been a tough year,
Speaker 1: a tough road. But man, I'm just I'm just grateful
Speaker 1: that I've been able to be a part of those
Speaker 1: tough times, just because you know, when things like this happen,
Speaker 1: it just feels that much sweeter. Now, time for postgame
Speaker 1: analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapple. My point spread,
Speaker 1: this is the Bengals biggest upset since you're playing days.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen eighty you were part of a Bengals
Speaker 1: team that was a thirteen point underdog and beat the
Speaker 1: Steelers in Pittsburgh seventeen sixteen tonight the angles of fourteen
Speaker 1: point underdog and they beat Pittsburgh by ten. How did
Speaker 1: they do it? Turnovers? And that was the secret to
Speaker 1: beat in Pittsburgh anytime we beat them. I remember we
Speaker 1: beat the Steelers another time handily, like thirty four to ten,
Speaker 1: and they couldn't even execute a center quarterback exchange problem issue.
Speaker 1: Mike Webster and Terry Brusch, two Hall of famers, couldn't
Speaker 1: get the ball snapped. Wilson whitlerw was causing all kinds
Speaker 1: of havoc in there when Ben fumbled Pouncy's snapping, thinking
Speaker 1: two Pro bowlers, Man Carmer's kind of looking the same here.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're having issues with the simplest things. And
Speaker 1: turnovers were huge in this football game. You go plus three,
Speaker 1: you're gonna win ninety five ninety seven percent of the time,
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. In the first quarter, Ben
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger was four for ten from minus five yards. How
Speaker 1: good question. I mean, he wasn't even sacked, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's amazing that they were just
Speaker 1: just avocating. I mean, the Bengals do. The Bengals basically
Speaker 1: beat Pittsburgh at their own game. They ran the football
Speaker 1: when Pittsburgh in the heyday would run the ball right
Speaker 1: down your throat and then play suffocating defense, and whenever
Speaker 1: you made a mistake, they pounce on it and they
Speaker 1: make you pay, and they make you pay dearly, and
Speaker 1: then you know, you get all, you know out of sorts.
Speaker 1: And you make another mistake and then they make you
Speaker 1: pay even worse. And that's that's what the Bengals did
Speaker 1: to them tonight. They ran the ball down their throat,
Speaker 1: They played suffocating defense at times, and every mistake that
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh made, the Bengals really capitalize them made and pay
Speaker 1: dearly for it offensively forty one rushing attempts and thirteen
Speaker 1: pass attempts. It's nice to say you're going to do
Speaker 1: something like that going into a game against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: but to actually pull it off effectively, I did not
Speaker 1: see that coming. It's funny. I was. I figured, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is gonna have to be a dirty, grimy, bloody game,
Speaker 1: you know, for the Bengals to have to be able
Speaker 1: to compete. What I thought was as I was thinking
Speaker 1: about the game this afternoon, had all day to think
Speaker 1: about it, and and I'm like, all right, well, if the
Speaker 1: Bengals can somehow incorporate a quarterback run package, maybe include
Speaker 1: Hogan in it. Because Hogan had rushed for over one
Speaker 1: hundred yards against the Bengals and he's averaging almost ten
Speaker 1: yards to carry, you know, in his career, so you
Speaker 1: know he can run the football a little bit and
Speaker 1: he rushed for a touchdown against the Bengals, and I thought, well,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe they'll do some kind of quarterback run
Speaker 1: package kind of thing and and shrink the game, you know,
Speaker 1: eat up the clock, get into the fourth quarter with
Speaker 1: an opportunity to steal a football game. Was what I
Speaker 1: was thinking. And you know, I said to my wife Lynns,
Speaker 1: where as I was getting ready for the game, I said,
Speaker 1: you know what if they can run it, and the
Speaker 1: running backs, you know, rush for over one hundred and
Speaker 1: the quarterback rushes for fifty or more, they got a
Speaker 1: shot if they can you know, compress the game, eat
Speaker 1: up the clock. You know, don't don't throw the ball
Speaker 1: very much against this defensive front. I mean they're number
Speaker 1: one in the league in sack sack differential, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: You don't you don't want to get in second and
Speaker 1: third and lungs against these guys and have to throw
Speaker 1: the football. And so I was, you know, just thinking
Speaker 1: along those lines, and be a son of a gun.
Speaker 1: If Ryan Finley it doesn't turn into Lamar Finley. It
Speaker 1: was crazy. He's out there doing zone reads and the
Speaker 1: quarterback draw unbelievable design to run the jet. The jet
Speaker 1: motion and the linebacker has to clear out of there
Speaker 1: with him and just a design quarterback draw. And Ryan
Speaker 1: Finley was saying that on his touchdown run, it wasn't
Speaker 1: even anything they ran at practice. It was a run
Speaker 1: play and Zach just put a tag on it, said,
Speaker 1: you know, put a read on it at the end.
Speaker 1: So all he did was look at high Smith. As
Speaker 1: soon as you saw high Smith closing down the line
Speaker 1: of Scramm pulled it out of there, walked into the
Speaker 1: end zone untouched or to scored in one fingernail touch football.
Speaker 1: Nobody laid anything on him. I mean, it was just incredible.
Speaker 1: Got to give Zach a lot of credit for the
Speaker 1: game plan, calling the game, improvising during the game, adjusting
Speaker 1: during the game. He's been bombarded about that, where are
Speaker 1: the adjustments? What are they doing when you hear things
Speaker 1: like that that they made an adjustment like that as
Speaker 1: he was calling the play, just put a little tag
Speaker 1: on the thing. That's pretty strong. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of defensive heroes in the game for the Bengals. Let's
Speaker 1: start with Carl Lawson. He had a sack, He had
Speaker 1: six quarterback hits. You've pointed out in the past that
Speaker 1: villain Auava at his height, has a particular problem with
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson. He does, you know, six eight and villain
Speaker 1: Auava is a waiste bender. He's not a knee bender.
Speaker 1: So when you're six to eight and you're you know,
Speaker 1: the little teapot short and stout, you know, and just
Speaker 1: bending over at the way instead of with the knees
Speaker 1: when the little kids play. I mean, he's he's got
Speaker 1: issues with that because then his shoulder pads are leaning forward.
Speaker 1: Carl can you know, use his hands and pull some
Speaker 1: moves on him, rip, swim, all those kind of things.
Speaker 1: And Carl Lawson gives him fits he does, and you know,
Speaker 1: villain Auava ends up kind of turning his older pads
Speaker 1: toward the line of scrimmage parallel to the line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage and then given a short edge. And Carl Lawson,
Speaker 1: who's made him pay for that in the past, and
Speaker 1: he was he was a thorn in Ben's side, There's
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. I thought he gave very consistent pressure.
Speaker 1: I thought Sam Harbard, Margus Hunt and a lot of
Speaker 1: guys showed up in this football game for the Bengals
Speaker 1: defensive front. They played as hard as they can play.
Speaker 1: They definitely emptied the effort bucket for sure. The Bengals
Speaker 1: also had ten pass deflections. I don't remember them ever
Speaker 1: getting to double digits in that stat and it came
Speaker 1: from every every level. You mentioned. Margus Hunt he knocked
Speaker 1: one down at the line of scrimmage, George Evans had
Speaker 1: when I think at the linebacker position, Darius Phillips had three,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie Alexander had two. They were deflecting a ton of
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger's throws. Yeah, they did. William Jackson, you know,
Speaker 1: got his hands and he should have had an interception. One.
Speaker 1: He'll get a pass broken up, but I mean should
Speaker 1: have been an interception, and then you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of plays later he has the fourth down problem, the interference.
Speaker 1: But Sam Hubbard got his hand on one as well,
Speaker 1: you know, as well as Marcus so Um. They were
Speaker 1: they were getting their hands on footballs and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think they were. They were. The coverage was outstanding
Speaker 1: and for on and off during the course of the game.
Speaker 1: They were really in Ben's head, I mean more so
Speaker 1: than I've seen in a long time. It was. He
Speaker 1: was definitely bothered by what they were doing. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that he was confused, but I think it was
Speaker 1: like wow, I mean, there's just like fly paper. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're suffocating us, man, They're smothering us down the football field.
Speaker 1: I have nowhere to go with the football. And that's
Speaker 1: that's that's not typical Steeler action there. I have no
Speaker 1: idea what Mike Brown has been thinking about Zach Taylor's
Speaker 1: long term future. But do you think if there was
Speaker 1: any inkling of making a change, that his mind might
Speaker 1: have been changed tonight? I mean, you look at it.
Speaker 1: You look at a scenario like tonight against an organization
Speaker 1: that is, you know, the the gold standard of professional football.
Speaker 1: You've lost eleven in a row to him, it's on
Speaker 1: national television. It could have been a total embarrassment. I
Speaker 1: mean last last week's Monday night football game was an
Speaker 1: instant classic. This one had the makings of being forgettable
Speaker 1: immediately kind of football game. And for them to play
Speaker 1: like they did, I think it does mean something to
Speaker 1: Mike Brown on national television, and you know, in the
Speaker 1: restroom at halftime, Steve Leapy was like, I can't believe this.
Speaker 1: You know, that's why you don't bet on these games.
Speaker 1: All my stuff, I have for I can't use. All
Speaker 1: he had was Pittsburgh stuff in the second half of steven,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's all understandable, but I mean everybody
Speaker 1: was stunned. I mean all the media guys, national, local
Speaker 1: or whatever there. Everybody was stunned. And I mean me too.
Speaker 1: There's no way, but I thought the Cincinnati Bengal was
Speaker 1: going to hang twenty seven points on the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: in this football game. I thought they won. It would
Speaker 1: be like fourteen ten, seventeen, fourteen, you know, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was a very very good football game that they
Speaker 1: get short fields on some of those turnovers, took advantage
Speaker 1: and get points out of it again kind of reverse
Speaker 1: the flip the script on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh makes you pay
Speaker 1: for every turnover. They just make you pay. Dearly Bengals
Speaker 1: did it to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you know, there
Speaker 1: was a lull there in the third quarter, Dan three
Speaker 1: to three and outs. They go third and eight, three
Speaker 1: straight possession like a little boy, now is there going
Speaker 1: to be you know, enough time for Pittsburgh to make
Speaker 1: the complete comeback. And then the Bengals, you know, snap
Speaker 1: out of it and make plays and win the football
Speaker 1: game going away, pretty pretty impressive. Well, they didn't want
Speaker 1: to score in the third quarter, now, you know, the
Speaker 1: Bengals don't like to do that. Yeah, that's right. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're right about that. It's it's just incredible. What what
Speaker 1: what happens in the third quarter? It is, it's it's
Speaker 1: just it's beyond mind boggling. I'll tell you though. When
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh came out with the formation they came out with
Speaker 1: and spread the field as far as they could with
Speaker 1: two wide receivers lined up behind each other in like
Speaker 1: double life formations, almost in front of each football team's bench. Boy,
Speaker 1: that's a big adjustment and it worked. I mean, they
Speaker 1: big play by Claypool and then Ben throws a touchdown
Speaker 1: past the very next snap, and I'm thinking, oh boy,
Speaker 1: I wonder what else they have up their sleep. But
Speaker 1: that was something that you just you run at once,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't really a gadget play, but it was
Speaker 1: a different look formation. You can make quick adjustments to it.
Speaker 1: But I thought for the most part, you know, you
Speaker 1: hear all the time, oh the Bengals, man, you know,
Speaker 1: they've had halftime leads. But then the other team adjusted
Speaker 1: the Bengals never adjust well. I thought in this instance,
Speaker 1: they adjusted to adjustments and the whole thing, the whole
Speaker 1: thing panned out. Let's talk about the other side from
Speaker 1: eleven and ozero to eleven and three and if you
Speaker 1: go back to win number eleven, that was the Baltimore
Speaker 1: game where I think it was twelve guys for Baltimore.
Speaker 1: We're out with COVID, including seven Pro Bowlers. The Steelers
Speaker 1: struggle to win that game. They haven't scored twenty points
Speaker 1: now in any of their last four games. Are the
Speaker 1: Steelers limping to the finish line? I mean, their their
Speaker 1: offense looks so different, and everybody's realizing that they are
Speaker 1: going to the short intermediate east and west stuff, and
Speaker 1: they're aligning their coverages and and crowding. You know, they're
Speaker 1: making Pittsburgh playing a closet and it's it's interesting to watch.
Speaker 1: And I thought right away when Pittsburgh came out and
Speaker 1: Ben rolled out and went deep, they were trying to
Speaker 1: make a statement, Okay, this we're not doing that tonight.
Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna have to make some adjustments here.
Speaker 1: But Ben was not even close and the coverage was good,
Speaker 1: so that wasn't a panic type scenario, and they did try,
Speaker 1: not even a handful of deep balls through the rest
Speaker 1: of the game. And uh lou and Umu was persistent
Speaker 1: and staying with what he thought was going to be
Speaker 1: the right the right kind of configuration the schematic for
Speaker 1: the night, and it paid big, big dividends. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they're there. They are limping and uh uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's they just offensively, it looks like they're really really
Speaker 1: struggling to get it figured out. It really does. So
Speaker 1: there's a guy known as Bengal Boy who always does
Speaker 1: the great banner on the opposite side of the stadium
Speaker 1: from our broadcast booth. The banner tonight says Panay for
Speaker 1: your thoughts, a reference to Panay Sewell, the great offensive
Speaker 1: line prospect out of Oregon. The great thing about this
Speaker 1: victory is that it doesn't drop the Bengals in the
Speaker 1: draft order. There's still third, the Jets falling from one
Speaker 1: to two after they shocked the Rams on Sunday, an
Speaker 1: Owen thirteen team beating a nine and four team. So
Speaker 1: Jacksonville has the first pick, the Jets have the second pick,
Speaker 1: the Bengals have the third. But now there's a chance
Speaker 1: if the Bengals win again, that they would fall out
Speaker 1: of the third spot. Carolina, Atlanta, Houston and Philadelphia have
Speaker 1: four wins. The Bengals now three ten and one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what people are already. I've already gotten a bunch
Speaker 1: of texts. They could go to number seven, they could
Speaker 1: drop to number seven. What are they thinking? You know?
Speaker 1: And it's like, well, you know whatever, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: they can still get a good offensive lineman or a
Speaker 1: defensive lineman or whatever the case may be with that
Speaker 1: with that seventh pick in the draft. But when you
Speaker 1: look at it, Dan, it's like, they beat Tennessee and
Speaker 1: they beat Pittsburgh here at Paul Brown Stadium, two playoff teams,
Speaker 1: two teams that have given other people, you know, difficult time.
Speaker 1: Now Pittsburgh's in a little bit of a lull. There's
Speaker 1: no question they're not, you know they I don't think
Speaker 1: they really were a dominant eleven and old football team anyway,
Speaker 1: And now reality is kind of creeping back in. They
Speaker 1: could finish eleven and five. I mean, they've got they've
Speaker 1: got two two good opponents left. They got Indianapolis and
Speaker 1: they have Cleveland. There's no no gimmes there. Both of
Speaker 1: those teams are fighting for playoff positioning as well in
Speaker 1: seeds and all that, So that would be an interesting
Speaker 1: dynamic to go eleven and O and then oh and five.
Speaker 1: That would be a tail of two two seasons in
Speaker 1: one there. But yeah, I mean to me, uh, if
Speaker 1: if you're if you're out there playing football and you're
Speaker 1: all they're a coaching football, it is so foreign to
Speaker 1: say we're gonna lose this because we want to get
Speaker 1: an offensive tackle. Who may be great, who may be
Speaker 1: not as great, who may get hurt, who may get whatever.
Speaker 1: All you're trying to do is keep your damn job.
Speaker 1: And it's a competitive world out there. You know. When
Speaker 1: I was a player, I didn't give a damn with
Speaker 1: fans thought about draft picks, you know. And I mean
Speaker 1: it was like you're just trying to survive, man, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's all there is to it. And it's
Speaker 1: easy for somebody from the outside looking in say, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, what are you what are you doing? You
Speaker 1: can position yourself for this net hell, bro, this is
Speaker 1: like dog fight time. It's like survival of the fittest.
Speaker 1: It's Darwinism at its finest. You're just trying to survive
Speaker 1: and advance for another week. You're not worried about, you know,
Speaker 1: draft picks and free agency and all that stuff that
Speaker 1: isn't even come close to enter in your mind yet
Speaker 1: if you're a player or a coach. I'm reminded a
Speaker 1: little bit of two thousand and eight. The Bengals were
Speaker 1: won eleven and one with three games to go. They
Speaker 1: won the last three, built some moment, then won the division.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and nine, I'm not going to say
Speaker 1: that I'm not about to say that that's going to happen,
Speaker 1: But the point I want to make is they were
Speaker 1: one eleven and one, they won their last three, they
Speaker 1: dropped in the draft order. They could have had the
Speaker 1: second pick, they fell to the sixth, wound up taking
Speaker 1: Andre Smith. The five guys that were taken ahead of them,
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford went number one overall. He's had a good career.
Speaker 1: You couldn't even name picks two, three, four and five.
Speaker 1: I'm sure at the time they all seemed like they
Speaker 1: were going to be ten time Pro Bowlers. None of
Speaker 1: those guys between Matthew Stafford and Andre Smith did a thing.
Speaker 1: No I agree. I mean, the draft is an imperfect science,
Speaker 1: to say the least. But this guy, Cane Sewell, looks
Speaker 1: like he's he's about as scientifically a perfect as you
Speaker 1: can be. I mean, the guy, the guy is a freak.
Speaker 1: It's it's almost like a can't miss you know, can't
Speaker 1: miss target on him. But I've seen offensive lineman as
Speaker 1: they thought, look at Mandridge already thought, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: so you win some, you lose some, and uh, and
Speaker 1: that's the way it goes in terms of the draft.
Speaker 1: But um, it's just it's it's great to get that
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steeler weight off your shoulders, you know, get
Speaker 1: it off your back. I mean that that thing was
Speaker 1: starting to get i mean too heavy. It was almost
Speaker 1: almost unbearable. And I can't imagine how happy that locker
Speaker 1: room was. I mean I remember, you know, I remember
Speaker 1: locker room celebrations. I mean the biggest locker room celebration
Speaker 1: that it'll always be in my mind. Obviously, it was
Speaker 1: the out of the Freezer Bowl when we beat the
Speaker 1: Chargers going to the Super Bowl, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I you know, it was like a dream. It's like
Speaker 1: this can't be happening. Plus I was frozen stiff every everybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody was like a popsicle trying to thaw out. But
Speaker 1: so there were there are a lot of things going
Speaker 1: on there um, but yeah, that it. There's like Tiger
Speaker 1: Tiger Johnson said to me one time, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: do this as long as you can, because you're never
Speaker 1: ever going to have feelings in any other occupation in
Speaker 1: the world than you're going to have in this one.
Speaker 1: The friendships, the enemies, the hate, the love, the physicality,
Speaker 1: he said, on a day to day basis. Man, he said,
Speaker 1: it's it's a heck of a ride, and you got
Speaker 1: to think about doing it as long as you can.
Speaker 1: And he was right. Old Tiger was right, man. It's
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable. Christmas came four days early. Christmas came four
Speaker 1: days early. Ben oh ho ho Ben Up. Next, the
Speaker 1: final road game of the year is the Bengals head
Speaker 1: to Houston to face the Texans. Houston is four and
Speaker 1: ten after a seven point loss to the Colts on Sunday.
Speaker 1: The Texans have one eight of the last nine meetings
Speaker 1: with the Bengals, including a pair of playoff wins. 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. Time for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with linebacker Josh Bines, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Speaker 1: Was football always your sport or were you one of
Speaker 1: these guys who was a standout and everything you ever? Did?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna standout and everything I did? Actually,
Speaker 1: I was actually really good in basketball, and also I
Speaker 1: ran track in high school as well, so I was,
Speaker 1: you know, a multiport athlete for sure, and that was
Speaker 1: pretty decent in all of them. Your grandfather was a linebacker,
Speaker 1: Your dad was a linebacker. Did you have an understanding
Speaker 1: of xs and o's at a really early age as
Speaker 1: a result, Yeah, I would definitely say so. My dad
Speaker 1: was very pivotal in that point in my life, especially
Speaker 1: as I got older into high school and linebacker was
Speaker 1: definitely my position. He definitely took the time and talk
Speaker 1: to me about simple things, especially talking about just the
Speaker 1: simplest controlling a defense, being that leader and a lot
Speaker 1: of those things obviously was natural to me, but just
Speaker 1: the simple things about playing the position and how to
Speaker 1: see and had the vision and when you back there.
Speaker 1: And my dad was very pivotal, you know, in that
Speaker 1: time frame of my life, and obviously I took some
Speaker 1: of what he taught me and ran with it along
Speaker 1: the way into the NFL. We're doing fun facts with
Speaker 1: Josh Bines. You are a highly talented recruit. Did you
Speaker 1: enjoy the attention and do you have a great recruiting story.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I have a great recruiting story
Speaker 1: per se, but it was a lot, you know. I
Speaker 1: honestly was just playing football because I loved it. And
Speaker 1: my brother was a really good quarterback, so he was
Speaker 1: getting recruited a year before. And I've seen all the recruits,
Speaker 1: the coaches and everybody coming to the house to bring
Speaker 1: him to the schools, you know, the Louisville, Florida, any
Speaker 1: school you can name, and and of course, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there in my mind like, you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: it's like that for me. Yeah, it's my big brother
Speaker 1: going through. I'm hope it's like that. And then I
Speaker 1: ended up ended up turning out to be like crazy,
Speaker 1: like I had coaches every week, my phone blow up.
Speaker 1: Um one thing I do remember vividly. It's just coming
Speaker 1: thinking about this now is closer to call all kinds
Speaker 1: of times of the night, and my mom, of course
Speaker 1: we're sleep and my mama answered the phone and she
Speaker 1: was just yelling like, don't call my house this lad,
Speaker 1: it's too late. He's sleep. He got school tomorrow and
Speaker 1: hangled the paul because it was it was like it
Speaker 1: was a lie. It was like literally, recruiting was two
Speaker 1: times crazier from my brother went to me because my
Speaker 1: recruiting level was about higher. So you chose Auburn. You
Speaker 1: were recruited by an assistant coach named Eddie Grant who's
Speaker 1: now the offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky, and
Speaker 1: your head coach when you signed with Auburn is about
Speaker 1: to become a US senator, Tommy Tubberville Ille. What was
Speaker 1: your reaction to seeing coach tubs run for and win
Speaker 1: a Senate seat. I don't know. I just couldn't believe
Speaker 1: it when I seen it on Twitter and online and stuff,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Tommy Tuberville is going up a senator?
Speaker 1: What is going on? I just remember him being my coach.
Speaker 1: What thirteen years ago when I first came to Auburn.
Speaker 1: Now he's the Senator of Alabama. That's crazy. We're doing
Speaker 1: fun facts with Josh Bines. While you were at Auburn,
Speaker 1: you met a volleyball player named Brianna Johnson who became
Speaker 1: your wife. How did the romance begin? Oh, my gods,
Speaker 1: the romance. It was just that was my best friend
Speaker 1: honestly in college. We hung out every single day from
Speaker 1: day one. She was literally one of the first couple
Speaker 1: people I met on campus, and that summer before the
Speaker 1: summer of two thousand and seven, and just we became
Speaker 1: close and we stayed close throughout those whole the entire
Speaker 1: you know, Tim, we was in Auburn and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you know, we just I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, can we make this work as
Speaker 1: you know, me and you? And obviously we did at
Speaker 1: this point and we've been married now six over six
Speaker 1: years now, and that's the best decision, definitely I ever made.
Speaker 1: You have three sons, they have athletic DNA. Yes, I
Speaker 1: got three boys, one is ten five and a nine
Speaker 1: month old right now, and yes, my boys there there
Speaker 1: everything to me and they right now, my older son's
Speaker 1: playing baseball. Actually, both my boys are are doing baseball,
Speaker 1: and and obviously if it wasn't COVID right now, I'm old,
Speaker 1: it is probably doing football this fall. But hopefully we
Speaker 1: get through that and he can get back to that.
Speaker 1: And he played basketball as well, so they have definitely
Speaker 1: have some athletic DNA to live live after. But I'm
Speaker 1: just happy to whatever they decide to do, I'm all
Speaker 1: for it. Josh, you had a great career at Auburn.
Speaker 1: You earned all SEC honors, and yet you weren't drafted.
Speaker 1: How much did that hurt? It was tough for me.
Speaker 1: It was hard because you know, I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: my junior year, I was definitely um, you know, in
Speaker 1: a position to be drafted, and I thought about leaving earlier.
Speaker 1: My junior year I went undrafted, and and it just,
Speaker 1: you know, it should propelled me to mentally just go
Speaker 1: out there and just do what I have to do
Speaker 1: to survive and make a team, especially in Baltimore. I
Speaker 1: was the biggest goal, was just trying to prove myself
Speaker 1: that belong in this league and prove that, you know,
Speaker 1: I could play this game for a long period of time.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Josh Bines. So you did sign with
Speaker 1: the Ravens as a college free agent. They let you
Speaker 1: go at the end of training camp before putting it
Speaker 1: on the practice squad. But that didn't happen for a
Speaker 1: couple of months. What did you do in between? I
Speaker 1: was looking for a job, like you know, like normal people,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to figure out my next phase. I
Speaker 1: was actually the day I signed with Baltimore, I had
Speaker 1: got an interview with Kaplin University as academic visor. And
Speaker 1: literally that day I came home, I got a phone call,
Speaker 1: still had my suit on everything. I got a phone
Speaker 1: call from Azzi. Gazzi knew something. He told me. He said,
Speaker 1: you don't gotta wor out. You gonna do anything you
Speaker 1: want to bring you back to Baltimore. And I was
Speaker 1: just in tears. I couldn't believe it because I was like,
Speaker 1: I thought it was over my life, you know. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I made the decision. I'm gonna move forward.
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna work out of sub stage shape. But
Speaker 1: I was moving forward my life in and I'll be
Speaker 1: It's crazy enough that one called lead me to ten
Speaker 1: years later. So you were about to take a job
Speaker 1: as an academic advisor, and Ozzy called that day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: same day, literally got home. All I had, all I
Speaker 1: did was loosing my tie, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: Ozzy be on the phone, on the phone with Ozzy,
Speaker 1: and I just started boom, crying and getting and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden went from that to all right and
Speaker 1: let me get ready in pack. And but I honestly,
Speaker 1: I wasn't all the way all the way through it,
Speaker 1: because I told you, I can't remember her name exactly now,
Speaker 1: but I told her to the person interview with me,
Speaker 1: and I told her, I said, let's just hold the
Speaker 1: job for me and just in case, because this is
Speaker 1: this game isn't forever, so I might need it in
Speaker 1: an off season, maybe in a few weeks, and I'll
Speaker 1: never forget. She told me, She told me God has
Speaker 1: another plan for you. You won't have to worry about this,
Speaker 1: and you go ahead and keep doing your thing. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be in a You're gonna be in the NFL
Speaker 1: for a long time. I mean I literally talked to
Speaker 1: her that interview and for her to say that, you know, um,
Speaker 1: ten years ago and it's still it's like you said,
Speaker 1: I'm still playing. It's just it's just it's just it's
Speaker 1: just crazy and that's just guys will just guys will
Speaker 1: over me. We're doing fun facts with joh Spines. Your
Speaker 1: second NFL season ended with a Super Bowl ring, but
Speaker 1: it started with a very serious injury. What happened, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so in practice in training camp, we're in our first
Speaker 1: or second padded practice and guy hit me in the
Speaker 1: baging gold line, live gold line, right in the middle
Speaker 1: of my back. And I get up and I just,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm thinking, now, I'm okay, she got hit
Speaker 1: in the back, and all of a sudden that the
Speaker 1: right side I believe it was, wasn't My leg wasn't
Speaker 1: really moving. So I ended up going to training room.
Speaker 1: And once I went to training room and put some
Speaker 1: ice in my bag and it was over with and
Speaker 1: I couldn't really walk. It was so much pain or
Speaker 1: I didn't know what was wrong, And and my fiance say, well, now, wife.
Speaker 1: Of course, at the time I'm calling her, she's you know,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what's gonna want to need to do.
Speaker 1: And I told I said, it might not be the
Speaker 1: big of a deal. And then obviously I do the
Speaker 1: X rays and do everything else. And if I didn't
Speaker 1: tell me, oh, I had fractured my lord trainverse processors
Speaker 1: and I was like what it's like, yeah, your lower
Speaker 1: back and I was like, broke my back. I was
Speaker 1: like yeah. So it was crazy because I was like,
Speaker 1: am I still gonna play? As all my mind was
Speaker 1: like am I still be able to play football? And
Speaker 1: as it's over for me? So that was my biggest
Speaker 1: obstacle during that whole time mentally trying to figure out
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna play this game. So broken back is
Speaker 1: not an injured shoulder. You're not upping about doing your thing.
Speaker 1: I mean you're laid out. How bad was that? Oh?
Speaker 1: It was bad. It was bad. And like I said,
Speaker 1: luckily I have have my my then at toime fiance
Speaker 1: and my now wife. She was there all the way through.
Speaker 1: She um and I couldn't even get out of the bathroom,
Speaker 1: get out the bed to go to the bathroom. So
Speaker 1: I had a big old jug next to my bed
Speaker 1: just so I could turn sideways to use the bathroom.
Speaker 1: I know it's too much affation, but I just all
Speaker 1: I had. I couldn't do anything. It was painful, and
Speaker 1: you know I was I was trying and trying. She
Speaker 1: would get my ice and try to take care of
Speaker 1: me and she You know, when you have somebody that
Speaker 1: does that all for you, and those and those moments
Speaker 1: when you're down and trying to figure things out and
Speaker 1: what's going on, you know, I'm just blessed to have
Speaker 1: someone like that in my life, still to this day
Speaker 1: and for the rest of my life. And that's why
Speaker 1: I said, that's the greatest decision I ever made, is
Speaker 1: Mary and my wife. So you got healthy. The Ravens
Speaker 1: made it to the Super Bowl. They beat the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers, and you made a special team's tackle that
Speaker 1: ended the game. And just to set the scene for
Speaker 1: people that don't remember, the Ravens took an intentional safety
Speaker 1: at the end of the game and had to do
Speaker 1: the free kick. They kick it to the very dangerous
Speaker 1: Ted Gin Junior, and he was going. He ran about
Speaker 1: thirty yards before you got him to the ground, right, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: And it was nervous because it's ted again and tied again.
Speaker 1: At that time, was one of the most dangerous at turners.
Speaker 1: And we was like, all right, we thought somebody would
Speaker 1: get him early. But now he started going to the
Speaker 1: sideline and obviously when he got into my grass, I
Speaker 1: just slung him down. Ball came out and he just
Speaker 1: knew it was game over. And I think it's just
Speaker 1: crazy to start the year that I had, I couldn't
Speaker 1: really do anything, you know, with my back, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden the years to start and I still,
Speaker 1: you know, getting through my injury finally even a practice too.
Speaker 1: From practice actually starting that year to trying to you know,
Speaker 1: starting my first NFL game, making playing a lot more,
Speaker 1: and then go from that to actually making last type
Speaker 1: of the super Bowl. It's just it's just a crazy
Speaker 1: moment and I can't really as just as suddenly you know,
Speaker 1: you're writing a storybook or something, just you know, took
Speaker 1: my kids, hopefully as they get older, and they were
Speaker 1: thinking somebody else when it's really just me, all right.
Speaker 1: A few wild card questions to wrap up fun facts
Speaker 1: with Josh Bines. When's the last time you had short hair? Oh?
Speaker 1: Short hair? The last time? Probably short hair. I had
Speaker 1: to be an elementary And the only reason I got
Speaker 1: short hair is because I was as smart as I was.
Speaker 1: I got it had I got in trouble for maybe
Speaker 1: getting in trouble at school, maybe a little angry problems
Speaker 1: here and there. Well, but so I got a couple
Speaker 1: of fights in here and there. My dad was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna keep doing that. So eventually cut my
Speaker 1: hair like really low to almost looking bald, and I
Speaker 1: was embarrassed, and of course my mom didn't let it
Speaker 1: have to get so I've always pretty much for us
Speaker 1: outside of that. I think that's why been third grade.
Speaker 1: But since that time, I've always from a little kid
Speaker 1: all the way, I've always had hair frow to the
Speaker 1: Jerry curl place back in the day, to braids and
Speaker 1: then bradies went to what I have now Jerry's for
Speaker 1: the last thirteen or so years. All right, final fun
Speaker 1: fact for Josh Bines. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, whatever, Oh,
Speaker 1: who would that person be? That's so hard, But honestly,
Speaker 1: it has to be Obama at this point, it has
Speaker 1: to be Obama. Obama is the greatest and and what
Speaker 1: he represents and him him Michelle have a great connection
Speaker 1: and what they have inspires even me and my wife.
Speaker 1: And when you have that bond with someone else as
Speaker 1: unbreakable and they show it and you can tell as
Speaker 1: authentic and what he represent as a man and especially
Speaker 1: lead his nation is during his presidency. Is just awesome
Speaker 1: and definitely be a person I would love to meet.
Speaker 1: You're off the hot seat, appreciate your time. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, and best of luck the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. I'll appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer.
Speaker 1: Refresh the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast.