Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: Ba Doo Doo doo doo.
Speaker 1: Feeling groovy.
Speaker 2: Addition, as the Bengals win their second in a row
Speaker 2: and pull within a game of five hundred by winning
Speaker 2: in Cleveland twenty one to fourteen, coming up radio replays,
Speaker 2: locker room comments and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then
Speaker 2: in this week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll hear why rookie
Speaker 2: Eric Al is lucky to be alive. The Bengals Booth
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Speaker 2: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
Speaker 2: greatest thing since the elimination of toll booths. As you
Speaker 2: probably know, I spend quite a bit of time on
Speaker 2: the road, and one thing that's made life easier is
Speaker 2: open road tolling. Instead of stopping to pay tolls and
Speaker 2: wondering which lane you have to go through, now more
Speaker 2: and more states have what's known as open road tolling,
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Speaker 2: get done automatically. It saves time, it saves stress, and
Speaker 2: if open road tolling had existed in the Godfather, it
Speaker 2: would have saved Sonny Corleone. Now let's get to football,
Speaker 2: and the radio replays from Sunday's win in Cleveland. Here
Speaker 2: comes Hopkins. He swings the leg and thwack. We are underway.
Speaker 2: Charlie Jones catches right at the goal line and runs
Speaker 2: it out farside Newmos twenty twenty five. Tonight, only the
Speaker 2: kicker can tack him.
Speaker 1: He failed to do it.
Speaker 2: Charlie Jones down the sideline twenty ten hot time for
Speaker 2: the path on touchdown.
Speaker 1: Charlie Jones, who.
Speaker 2: Had a putt return touchdown as a rookie last year
Speaker 2: against Baltimore, takes it one hundred yards for a game
Speaker 2: opening score. Eleven year vet Dustin Hopkins is the kicker
Speaker 2: for the Cleveland Browns. This will be a forty nine
Speaker 2: yard attempt. He made a fifty nine yarder during pregame
Speaker 2: warm ups. The Browns trying to get on the board
Speaker 2: midway through the first quarter. Now the forty nine yard
Speaker 2: field goal try. The snaff, the placement, the right footed kick.
Speaker 1: It's a high.
Speaker 2: Spinning mendover Ren kick and it goes wide. Loan, I'm
Speaker 2: third and four. He'll look to throw. Here comes Henrickson.
Speaker 2: He's got him first sack of the day for big
Speaker 2: play tray his sixth of the year, and the Browns.
Speaker 1: Will puning away.
Speaker 2: Thompson Robinson under center, lined up in the eye behind him.
Speaker 2: Fourth and goal from inside the one to toss to
Speaker 2: the left. Nick Chubb spins into the end zone for
Speaker 2: the Cleveland touchdown. Here's Dustin Hopkins looking to tie the
Speaker 2: game with fifty six seconds remaining in the first half.
Speaker 1: The snap, the placement, and the kick.
Speaker 3: No, it is no good about it.
Speaker 2: So Hopkins, who missed a forty nine yard field goal
Speaker 2: try in the first quarter, misses the pat with fifty
Speaker 2: six seconds left in the second quarter, and the Bengals
Speaker 2: lead at seven to six, second down and five at
Speaker 2: the eighteen yard line of Cleveland yoc Boss checks in
Speaker 2: for sample. He goes in motion from left to right,
Speaker 2: Burrow back to throw passes toward the pole on caught
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase touchdown. Bengals Jamar Chase with a six touchdown
Speaker 2: catch this season. Thompson Robinson fakes a hand off passes
Speaker 2: over the mill, knocked up in the air and it
Speaker 2: is picked up by Sam Hubbard at the forty two
Speaker 2: yard line. Hubbard dropping back in coverage. The pass was
Speaker 2: deflected straight up in the air and Hubbard showed off
Speaker 2: his leaping abilities. He went up and grabbed the ball
Speaker 2: one forty left in the third It's third down for
Speaker 2: the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Third down and four.
Speaker 2: Burrow catches the shotgun snap throws caught by Higgins running
Speaker 2: to the tams five touchdownwn Bengals t Higgins high stepping
Speaker 2: it into the end zone and now he tosses the
Speaker 2: ball high into the air as he looks into the
Speaker 2: dog pound. After that touchdown grab Third down and eight
Speaker 2: at the Cincinnati forty six, Thomson Robinson catches the protection
Speaker 2: is good. He fires deep downfield, intercepted at the twenty
Speaker 2: and the Bengals are running it back Gino Stone to
Speaker 2: midfield down to the forty of Cleveland. The thirty five
Speaker 2: cuts back and gets tackled at the thirty So the
Speaker 2: AFC leader in interceptions last year has his first in
Speaker 2: a Bengals uniform and Cincinnati takes over with four h
Speaker 2: three to go, third and goal from the nine clock,
Speaker 2: running one thirty four to go, shotgun snap Winston back
Speaker 2: all the way back to the nineteen. Lobs it into
Speaker 2: the end zone and it is caught on the back
Speaker 2: line of the end zone for a Cleveland touchdown by Najoku.
Speaker 2: Hopkins puts the ball on the tee the slight angle
Speaker 2: at the thirty five, slightly toward the right side of
Speaker 2: the field. His body is aimed toward the right side.
Speaker 2: Andre Yosi Vash is over there for the Bengals. Here's
Speaker 2: the approach now. He switches sides, kicks it to the
Speaker 2: left and it's crabbed by Gasiki. He's got the football
Speaker 2: and that is coffin nails.
Speaker 3: I am bam bam and that took a for two
Speaker 3: of us bounce.
Speaker 4: That second bounce went airborne and it was an easy
Speaker 4: play for Kasiki to make.
Speaker 1: Burrow takes the snap.
Speaker 2: He takes a knee, he tosses the ball to the
Speaker 2: nearest fifth MI and the two teams begin heading toward
Speaker 2: the middle of the field. The Cincinnati Bengals have won
Speaker 2: two in a row and three out of the last four.
Speaker 2: They beat the Cleveland Browns here in Cleveland by the
Speaker 2: final score of twenty one to fourteen. Two Bengals left
Speaker 2: the game with leg injuries, Orlando Brown Junior and Geno Stone,
Speaker 2: and in Stone's case, he was taken off the field
Speaker 2: on a cart with an air cast on his left leg. However,
Speaker 2: the news coming out of the locker room after the
Speaker 2: game was encouraging. It sounds like neither players expected to
Speaker 2: miss a significant period of time. Brown's quarterback Deshan Watson,
Speaker 2: on the other hand, is likely out for the rest
Speaker 2: of the year with an achilles injury. It marks the
Speaker 2: third straight year he's played less than half a season,
Speaker 2: and DeShawn didn't play at all the year before that.
Speaker 2: Cleveland still owes him ninety two million dollars over the
Speaker 2: next two years, and it's all guaranteed. Now, let's take
Speaker 2: you inside the locker room. The play of the day
Speaker 2: was the game's first play, the one hundred yard kickoff
Speaker 2: return touchdown by Charlie Jones, as he became the third
Speaker 2: player in the league to take one to the house
Speaker 2: under the new kickoff format, and Charlie's one hundred yard
Speaker 2: runback is the longest in the NFL this year. He
Speaker 2: ran a kickback for a touchdown for IOWA in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, and I talked to Chuck Sizzle after the game.
Speaker 5: The game began with a one hundred yard kickoff return
Speaker 5: touchdown by Charlie Jones. Describe that one, Charlie, because I
Speaker 5: noticed Drew Sample is then there with you.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we've seen him line up in that spot.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, first, first and foremost. God is good
Speaker 6: And yeah, you're right, if we put Drew back there
Speaker 6: for the first time, it couldn't have been a better
Speaker 6: block kick play. Like Drew made a great block. The
Speaker 6: hole is huge and really like I really didn't have
Speaker 6: to do much. Everybody did their job and it was awesome,
Speaker 6: a great call by Darren and and uh, just a
Speaker 6: good feeling to be back in the end zone.
Speaker 1: Is that exactly how that return is drawn up?
Speaker 6: Exactly exactly how Darren drew it up. You know, a
Speaker 6: middle return if I get through there, take it back
Speaker 6: right exactly how he told me it was gonna be,
Speaker 6: and everybody just did their job.
Speaker 5: The Bengals did not score a toups down here in
Speaker 5: Cleveland last year. What kind of left do you think
Speaker 5: it gave the team to have a seven to nothing
Speaker 5: lead twelve seconds into the game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's something that we talked about coming
Speaker 6: into the game, like we need a smart right away.
Speaker 6: We know there's gonna be loud here.
Speaker 1: You know, the bands were gonna come out you know,
Speaker 1: with a lot of energy, and we talked about.
Speaker 6: All week in special teams that we gotta be the smart.
Speaker 6: You know, we don't we have a few plays, but
Speaker 6: the players that we do.
Speaker 2: Get, we got to capitalize on them.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 5: Visiting the Charlie Jones, I think you're at a thirty
Speaker 5: one years kick gens last week at gets to the Giants.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like that role is suiting you because.
Speaker 6: In the past we mostly seen he was a Yeah,
Speaker 6: I mean this is something that I did in college, uh,
Speaker 6: you know, from from even when I was back at Buffalo.
Speaker 6: So uh, it's something I like doing, something I'm comfortable
Speaker 6: with and uh, something I hope to continue to do here.
Speaker 5: You've had several buff returns as well today, including one
Speaker 5: that went for a pretty sick empick in the game.
Speaker 5: It seems like this is the way that you can
Speaker 5: really contribute to this.
Speaker 1: Feat right now.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you know, however you can, you can
Speaker 6: do it. You know, if it's if it's on special.
Speaker 7: Teams, then let's go.
Speaker 6: I'm ready for it.
Speaker 1: I just want to help the team.
Speaker 5: I know I can help the team, and I think.
Speaker 6: We're doing a good job. There's definitely a lot more
Speaker 6: out there for me, especially as more return guys are
Speaker 6: blocking great.
Speaker 1: You know, I need to be better than that end.
Speaker 1: But I think, uh, there's a lot of potential with
Speaker 1: the special teams. You know, you're three and four with
Speaker 1: the win, You've got a victory in the AFC North.
Speaker 1: Now what does this victory do for the team?
Speaker 5: This is huge.
Speaker 3: I mean we needed this.
Speaker 6: I mean anytime we come coming especially here to Cleveland,
Speaker 6: uh and leave with a win, that's massive division game.
Speaker 3: I think this.
Speaker 6: You know, we're just gonna keep rolling, just keep stacking
Speaker 6: on stacking good weeks.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think this is the turnaround that
Speaker 3: we needed final question.
Speaker 5: What did your teammate say to you when you came
Speaker 5: to the sideline after that one hundred yard run back?
Speaker 3: Oh there were punds.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's it's special to have, you know, guys.
Speaker 3: Every week, even when you know I'm struggling back.
Speaker 1: There a little bit, they say, you know.
Speaker 8: This is the week, this is the week.
Speaker 3: Are they believe in me?
Speaker 2: And you know, you know it happened this week and.
Speaker 3: Everyone was excited.
Speaker 6: I just got really good teammates and you know, I
Speaker 6: have a lot of goodoids on this team.
Speaker 1: It was fun to watch. Congrats on the team.
Speaker 7: Thank you appreciating.
Speaker 2: Charlie skick return helped the Bengals win on another day
Speaker 2: where the offense was okay but not great. After only
Speaker 2: scoring two touchdowns on Sunday night against the Giants, the
Speaker 2: Bengals offense only scored two against the Browns on a
Speaker 2: pair of third quarter touchdown passes by Joe Burrow. The
Speaker 2: Bengals are actually averaging two and a half fewer points
Speaker 2: in their three wins than they are in their four losses.
Speaker 2: And that's fine by Burrow.
Speaker 7: We played two really good defense defenses back to back weeks.
Speaker 7: Good front's good secondary, good coaching, and so we found
Speaker 7: ways to win. You know, I don't really everybody's talking
Speaker 7: about how good our offense was for the first four
Speaker 7: weeks whatever it was, and we were one in three,
Speaker 7: so that's obviously not ideal. I'd rather be everyone talking
Speaker 7: about how we didn't execute it on offense and win
Speaker 7: two games in a row, then the other way around.
Speaker 2: Joe finished fifteen for twenty five for one hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty one yards, with two touchdowns, no picks, and a
Speaker 2: passer rating of one oh eight point nine. He's now
Speaker 2: second in the NFL in passer rating, behind Detroit's Jared Goff,
Speaker 2: who's had a rating of one forty or higher in
Speaker 2: three straight games. He's the fourth quarterback in history to
Speaker 2: do that. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
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Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
Speaker 2: of the Bengals. Now, let's hear from Zach Taylor as
Speaker 2: he spent a few minutes with Dave Lapham after the game.
Speaker 4: So here with Bengals head coach Zach Taylor, and congratulations coach,
Speaker 4: Division win, conference win on the road, Sweet sugar.
Speaker 8: Feels good. You know it's defense did a great job, man.
Speaker 8: I think that they really deserve a lot of credit
Speaker 8: for keeping us in there. And so they're in the
Speaker 8: second half. Offense was able to get those two scoring drives.
Speaker 8: Credits Charlie and the kickoff return team for the big
Speaker 8: spark at the beginning of the game. And as you
Speaker 8: know in this division, just find a way to win
Speaker 8: and get home, you know. And that's I think that's
Speaker 8: what our guys figured out how to do today.
Speaker 4: You never want to see like what happened to Shaun Watson.
Speaker 4: They said that was an achilles injury, and those are
Speaker 4: never never good that you know. When you see the
Speaker 4: whole team come out in the foot ball field and
Speaker 4: gather around a guy, that's never a good sign.
Speaker 8: It's so fun these guys that put in the work, man,
Speaker 8: and and you go into the you go into the
Speaker 8: stadium like this man, and and you got to lead
Speaker 8: a team, and so to go down with an injury
Speaker 8: like that. It's tough and it's hard to watch.
Speaker 4: What about Cody Ford stepping up for Orlando Brown. I mean,
Speaker 4: you always you always know that you've got somebody and
Speaker 4: you always wonder how will it turn out when he
Speaker 4: has to step up?
Speaker 3: He stepped up.
Speaker 8: Yeah, he certainly happy for Cody. They went in there
Speaker 8: and took the most of the opportunity. That's a tough matchup,
Speaker 8: you know, you go in there and you got a
Speaker 8: block arguably the best rusher in football. And Miles Garrett
Speaker 8: so proud of Cody for for just the calmness that
Speaker 8: he had. And we tried to help him where we could,
Speaker 8: but there were some times he was one on one
Speaker 8: he held his own and I'll just get the playoff
Speaker 8: and that was good stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys, Miles Garrett stat sheet isn't isn't that overwhelming?
Speaker 4: I mean I thought you guys kind of neutralize and
Speaker 4: controls him pretty darn well.
Speaker 8: We got our eyes on him on every single play.
Speaker 8: I don't know what his statue is, but it sure
Speaker 8: feels like you're you're staring at him, making sure he's
Speaker 8: on the side of lins. Where's the line up, what
Speaker 8: size he on? What did you do on the last play,
Speaker 8: and he takes a lot of time and energy as
Speaker 8: you're planning for him and as you're scheming for him.
Speaker 8: And great player.
Speaker 4: That's a good defensive football team. I mean, their d
Speaker 4: line is more than solid. In the back end. Those
Speaker 4: guys are sticky, man, It's unbelievable. And it looked like
Speaker 4: in the first half they were run some combination coverages
Speaker 4: and doing some things changed and some things up.
Speaker 3: Was it?
Speaker 4: Did you have to talk it over at halftime and
Speaker 4: make some adjustments to look like you made some Oh?
Speaker 8: We just I think we all just need to take
Speaker 8: a deep breath and find a way to create some momentum. Offense.
Speaker 8: Got that stop on fourth and two that gave us
Speaker 8: some momentum. And really that's all I said at halftime.
Speaker 8: Let's get the momentum, let's keep the momentum, let's keep
Speaker 8: it away from them. And that's how we started the
Speaker 8: second half. So it's proud of probably those guys in
Speaker 8: all three phases.
Speaker 4: What did you think, other than obviously the kickoff return
Speaker 4: to start the football game, you wanted to get off
Speaker 4: to a good start because you know that crowd was
Speaker 4: going to be empty. They've been on the road for
Speaker 4: three straight games, you know, and chubbs back and all
Speaker 4: those kind of things. For you guys to take the
Speaker 4: wind out of their sales with that kickoff returned. That
Speaker 4: was just what the doctor ordered, wouldn't it.
Speaker 8: There's no better way to start, you know, really to
Speaker 8: create that opportunity for your defense to go out there
Speaker 8: with the lead right out the gate. I thought it
Speaker 8: was big time. So that was a great momentum by
Speaker 8: Charlie and the kickoff return team and Darren and that
Speaker 8: was good to see.
Speaker 4: What'd you think about the running game today?
Speaker 8: There was a couple one offs there where we were
Speaker 8: just maybe one block away at different positions for more opportunity,
Speaker 8: but tried our best to stick with it to give
Speaker 8: ourselves some and we got a couple of big chunks
Speaker 8: there ten yard games that created spark on some of
Speaker 8: those scoring drives. And so it's not always going to
Speaker 8: be super pretty, but defense gave us anough opportunity to
Speaker 8: stick with it and try to grind it out and
Speaker 8: get some good field position.
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow now is fourteen touchdown passes, six of them
Speaker 4: to Jamar, three of them to Tea. I mean that
Speaker 4: trio continued to play at a super high level for you,
Speaker 4: don't they Yeah.
Speaker 8: I wouldn't trade them for anybody that says it all.
Speaker 8: That's all I need to say.
Speaker 4: Coach, appreciate it, Thanks as always for visiting. Big win
Speaker 4: for the Bengals. Anytime you could come to Cleveland and
Speaker 4: win a football game, it's a good thing. Believe me, I.
Speaker 1: Didn't know that until now.
Speaker 8: I'll take it up.
Speaker 2: Next for the Bengals a home game against the Philadelphia Eagles,
Speaker 2: who are four and two after beating the New York
Speaker 2: Giants on Sunday twenty eight to three. Saquon Barkley ran
Speaker 2: for one hundred and seventy six yards on seventeen carries
Speaker 2: against his former team, and the Eagles defense had eight
Speaker 2: sacks in that game. Now time for the radio guys recap.
Speaker 5: Lap.
Speaker 2: As you said after the game, it was gritty more
Speaker 2: than pretty, but they came to Cleveland and they got
Speaker 2: a win for the first time in seven tries.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was gritty, grimy, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 4: But you know they found a way to get it done.
Speaker 4: And really, if not for special teams, I mean, score
Speaker 4: a touchdown, twenty yard return, give some good field position.
Speaker 4: I thought that was a big factor, you know, in
Speaker 4: the football game, in a game like this, to control
Speaker 4: field position to the level that they did. I mean
Speaker 4: it was like thirteen possessions. It's like one hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty four yards in hidden yards. In terms of the field,
Speaker 4: there's a thirteen yards average drive star times whatever number
Speaker 4: of possessions. And you know, you in a game like
Speaker 4: this to have one hundred and fifty hidden yards to
Speaker 4: your advantage in terms of that in short fields for you,
Speaker 4: long fields for you, the opponent makes a difference, has
Speaker 4: a wear and tear on you.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to
Speaker 2: think of a kick return as just a great play
Speaker 2: by the return man as opposed to.
Speaker 1: A real play with a scheme and a plan.
Speaker 2: And this was very much executed exactly the way they
Speaker 2: drew it up and practiced it absolutely.
Speaker 4: I talked to Darren in the postgame and I said,
Speaker 4: this was a little bit different, a little bit new
Speaker 4: with drew sample leading up in there. He goes, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, we put that in and it just worked,
Speaker 4: worked a perfection. I can't complain about it. And I
Speaker 4: mean he's got a friendly rivalry going with the special
Speaker 4: teams coach up here in Cleveland. They're pretty good friends
Speaker 4: as well, as you know, both are assistant head coaches
Speaker 4: and special teams coaches, and they have a heavy dose
Speaker 4: of respect for each other. So I think Darren got
Speaker 4: this one with that kickoff return. And then unfortunately, you know,
Speaker 4: Cleveland's kicker misses a field goal and an extra point.
Speaker 4: Bengals missed a field goal to kind offset that a
Speaker 4: little bit, but you know, it was one of those
Speaker 4: games where every single point mattered and when you didn't
Speaker 4: get them, it was a concern. But that kickoff return
Speaker 4: to start the game like well, like we talked about,
Speaker 4: they'd come off the road, three straight in the road,
Speaker 4: so the fans were ready. Chubbs back fans are ready.
Speaker 4: Best thing to do quiet them down. One hundred yard
Speaker 4: kickoff return touchdown serves the trick right there, and it gave.
Speaker 2: The offense the opportunity to make adjustments and figure out
Speaker 2: a way to get something done against the Browns. They
Speaker 2: didn't score offensively in the first half, but after tweaking
Speaker 2: some things, they got a couple of big touchdown passes.
Speaker 4: In the second they did I mean, neither team ran
Speaker 4: the ball you know, really worth to lick. Bengals had
Speaker 4: two and a two point four yards per carry on
Speaker 4: twenty five chances at it. And you take away Robinson's
Speaker 4: run Thompson Robinson, which you can't do. I mean, he
Speaker 4: got it, but that one was kind of a little
Speaker 4: trickeration as such. And the rest of the carries twenty
Speaker 4: carries for forty three yards for Cleveland. I mean, even
Speaker 4: with that big carry at three point seven per so
Speaker 4: it turned into you know, who was gonna, you know,
Speaker 4: make more play Both neither team really had. The big
Speaker 4: play was not a constant for either football team. The
Speaker 4: Bengals longest played from scrimmage was twenty five yards. They
Speaker 4: had twenty five yard played twenty two and twenty one.
Speaker 4: Cleveland had the thirty four yard run we talked about
Speaker 4: the Thompson Robinson. Then they had twenty five yard completion
Speaker 4: from Winston, and then Washington had a completion for twenty
Speaker 4: one yards.
Speaker 3: That was it.
Speaker 4: Both teams had three plays of twenty yards more and
Speaker 4: in the National Football League. In today's National Football League,
Speaker 4: that's kind of rare to have a defensive Slobrinarco likely
Speaker 4: w here.
Speaker 2: The Browns are one and six they haven't scored more
Speaker 2: than eighteen points in a game this season. I think
Speaker 2: they'll probably score more with Jamis Winston at quarterback going forward.
Speaker 2: I still think that's the best defense in the league.
Speaker 4: I can't argue with you, Dan. I mean, man, you know,
Speaker 4: they did a pretty good job neutralizing Miles Garrett. But
Speaker 4: everybody just does their job, you know, and Miles Garrett
Speaker 4: will flash and make like a huge play. But even
Speaker 4: if he doesn't, everybody's where they're supposed to be when
Speaker 4: they're supposed to be. They're doing exactly what they're supposed
Speaker 4: to do. That defensive front is hard to move around.
Speaker 4: I think the back end that's as good as secondary
Speaker 4: as you going to see. I mean, it's like they
Speaker 4: just they just cover everybody up. It's amazing. I mean
Speaker 4: you have to work hard to make plays against that group.
Speaker 4: And you know, there's familiarity there. Cleveland has familiarity with
Speaker 4: Cincinnati and vice versa. It's I think it's always going
Speaker 4: to be this grimy, gritty, you know type football game.
Speaker 2: We know how good Denzel Ward is, Martin Emerson's almost
Speaker 2: as good. He's great on the other side as well
Speaker 2: he is, And.
Speaker 4: You know there's safe play. Well, yeah, it's well put
Speaker 4: together and Schwartz is creative. I mean in the first half,
Speaker 4: you know, talking to Zach, they did run some combination coverages,
Speaker 4: mix things up that had the Bengals a little bit
Speaker 4: but fuddled. But they did make some adjustments at halftime
Speaker 4: and come out and make some plays and get some
Speaker 4: things done. But I mean, that's a well put together,
Speaker 4: well coached defensive football team at every level you can
Speaker 4: think of. And you know, only scored fourteen points against him. Really,
Speaker 4: you know, the special team's touchdown was the difference in
Speaker 4: the football game.
Speaker 2: As a former O lineman, how much do you appreciate
Speaker 2: Cody Ford's performance playing on the left side, which he
Speaker 2: mostly hasn't done in the NFL. He did in college,
Speaker 2: but he's mostly been right guard right tackle in the NFL,
Speaker 2: and then coming in at left tackle against Miles Garrett
Speaker 2: in Cleveland.
Speaker 4: Big time respect for Cody Ford, big time respect. They
Speaker 4: helped him some, you know, they would chip with the
Speaker 4: back or do it, but he had a lot of
Speaker 4: one on ones man and he more than held his own.
Speaker 4: I thought that they overall did a very very good
Speaker 4: job of controlling Miles Garrett throughout the entire football game.
Speaker 4: He didn't put up, you know, any huge numbers, and
Speaker 4: I can't think of, oh my gosh, you know Miles Garrett,
Speaker 4: player that you see from time to time. They they
Speaker 4: kept him in a harness pretty well.
Speaker 2: They've won two straight, they've won three out of four.
Speaker 2: The only loss is when they botched the hold of
Speaker 2: a field goal attempt, or they would have a four
Speaker 2: game winning streak and a good record at this point.
Speaker 2: Can we safely say they are back in the hunt?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean i'd say that there's a lot of
Speaker 4: meat left on the bone. I think they can play
Speaker 4: a lot better than they did today. But defensively, I
Speaker 4: mean the last two weeks, twenty one points and eight quarters.
Speaker 4: You know, you can't sneeze at that's that's pretty good
Speaker 4: effort right there. And then special teams contributed today. So
Speaker 4: when offense had, you know, not its best day, defense
Speaker 4: stepped up. Special team stepped up. Like we always talked
Speaker 4: about it. You have two of the three phases playing
Speaker 4: at a pretty good level. You have a shot no
Speaker 4: matter what those two of the three phases are. So
Speaker 4: I think that, yeah, I think they've not reached their
Speaker 4: pinnacle by any stretch. I think they're still climbing, but
Speaker 4: they're back in the hunt for sure. I mean they
Speaker 4: get their first division win, first conference win on the
Speaker 4: road in Cleveland, where they haven't won since twenty seventeen.
Speaker 4: There's a lot to celebrate there.
Speaker 2: Time to get their first home win.
Speaker 3: You got that right.
Speaker 4: Maybe two in a row, get two wins back at
Speaker 4: old pay Corps. How about putting two together. That'd be
Speaker 4: sweet shug.
Speaker 2: The Bengals are three and one on the road and
Speaker 2: would be four and oh if not for that fourth
Speaker 2: and sixteen penalty at Kansas City. But they're zero to
Speaker 2: three at home. It's time to get a w in
Speaker 2: the jungle, as the Bengals will wear their white Bengal
Speaker 2: helmet and uniform combo on Sunday against Philly. Cincinnati is
Speaker 2: an early one and a half point favorite. Here's an
Speaker 2: invitation to join us for the Bengals Game Plan show
Speaker 2: on Wednesday night. We'll be at the Scoreboards Sports Bar
Speaker 2: on North Bend Road from six to eight and andre
Speaker 2: Yosi Vash is scheduled to join us in the first hour.
Speaker 2: If you can't make it, you can listen on ESPN
Speaker 2: fifteen thirty or search for ESPN fifteen thirty on the
Speaker 2: free iHeartMedia app. Finally, it's time for this week's fun
Speaker 2: Fact segment, where you get to know the person under
Speaker 2: the pads. Time for some fun facts of Bengals tight
Speaker 2: end Eric All born and raised in the Cincinnati area.
Speaker 2: I want to start with a quote from your former
Speaker 2: college coach at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh. He said, Eric's meant
Speaker 2: to do great things. He's a dreamer.
Speaker 3: Is that true?
Speaker 2: And what did you dream of growing up?
Speaker 9: I guess that is true. I mean, I just love
Speaker 9: playing a game. And I think at the time when
Speaker 9: he said that, I don't think we were big yet,
Speaker 9: Like we hadn't made it to the playoffs yet. You know,
Speaker 9: I just told the team a lot that we were
Speaker 9: going to, you know, win it all and you know,
Speaker 9: and you know, beat Ohio State, wind Natti, beat Michigan
Speaker 9: State and everything else.
Speaker 3: So so yeah, I think that's where that came from.
Speaker 2: Here's another quote from another coach, your former high school coach,
Speaker 2: Jason Krauss at Fairfield. He called you the hardest worker
Speaker 2: he's had in his twenty eight years as a coach.
Speaker 2: Do you enjoy hard work?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean It's definitely not easy, but I feel
Speaker 9: like it makes her breaks like a lot of a
Speaker 9: lot of players, and you know, I feel like just
Speaker 9: the best part of the game is overcoming like the
Speaker 9: hard parts of the game, which is you know, you know, conditioning,
Speaker 9: you know, hitting things like that, making plays in the
Speaker 9: you know, in the toughest situations, or like the biggest
Speaker 9: part of the game.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, we're visiting with Eric Hall. You're fortunate to
Speaker 2: be alive. We discussed this before. When you were an infant,
Speaker 2: you were rescued from the second floor of a burning
Speaker 2: home by Indiana firefighters. Do you remember when you learned
Speaker 2: about that?
Speaker 3: No idea.
Speaker 9: My parents has always you know, told me, and I
Speaker 9: would hear them tell other people the story when they
Speaker 9: ask about my wrists things like that, But I don't
Speaker 9: remember exactly when I first found out.
Speaker 2: I've seen footage of the rescue. I imagine you have
Speaker 2: as well. The firefighter at the top of the ladder
Speaker 2: breaks open the window and this thick, black smoke comes
Speaker 2: pouring out. I don't think you would have lasted much longer.
Speaker 2: How has that impacted the way you view life?
Speaker 9: Just, you know, not taking anything for granted, and you know,
Speaker 9: just doing everything to the best of my ability. And
Speaker 9: you know, not only that, I feel like my parents
Speaker 9: have a big thing on you know, finishing what you start,
Speaker 9: and you know, word is bond, being a man of
Speaker 9: your word and.
Speaker 3: Things like that.
Speaker 9: So I just I feel like just just coming from
Speaker 9: you know, great great people, great parents, great family.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just been a part of me.
Speaker 2: I know, you've met the firefighter who pulled you out
Speaker 2: of the home, Tom Broyles, and the emt that perform
Speaker 2: mouth to mouth Sean Phoinis. Were those meetings emotional for
Speaker 2: you and your family?
Speaker 3: Yes, of course. You know.
Speaker 9: The first time I met Sean Phoenis was I think
Speaker 9: it was my twelfth or thirteenth birthday.
Speaker 3: You know, I quite didn't really understand yet.
Speaker 9: But you know when I got when I got older
Speaker 9: and met Tom Broyles and you know Sean Phoenis, you know,
Speaker 9: it definitely hit hit me differently, differently. And you know
Speaker 9: when I first met Tom, you know, it was on
Speaker 9: camera and everything else. I didn't like kind of show
Speaker 9: my emotions, but they were definitely there.
Speaker 2: We're visiting with Eric Hall. Let's turn to football. When
Speaker 2: did you start to stand out as an athlete among
Speaker 2: your peers.
Speaker 9: I feel like I've always just been athletic and you know,
Speaker 9: just enjoying the games that I played. I played baseball, football,
Speaker 9: basketball growing up, so you know, I felt like I
Speaker 9: just just went out and played and had fun and
Speaker 9: just did whatever I needed to do to win, and
Speaker 9: and I just ended up just being good.
Speaker 3: And yeah, that's the.
Speaker 2: When did football become the sport for you?
Speaker 9: I feel like that was the first sport I fell
Speaker 9: in love with. I mean, I'm probably definitely the first
Speaker 9: and and like my favorite sport. But I started when
Speaker 9: I was four, and you know, ever since then, you know,
Speaker 9: it's always been, you know, just the love of my life.
Speaker 2: Really, you had a bunch of college options. You chose
Speaker 2: to attend Michigan. What was it about being a Wolverine
Speaker 2: that appealed to you? Uh?
Speaker 9: Me being from Ohio, you know, I hated Ohio State.
Speaker 9: And really when I went to Michigan, I just I
Speaker 9: went in already liking them. I love, I loved the colors.
Speaker 9: They were you know, Jordan, and but not only that,
Speaker 9: Like when I when I got there, it was just
Speaker 9: filled with like the facility was filled with just great
Speaker 9: people and you know, the atmosphere at the games were
Speaker 9: very welcoming. The fans are welcoming, you know, the community
Speaker 9: and arbor just welcome in. And you know, I just
Speaker 9: fell in love with the place and believed in, you know,
Speaker 9: the spirit. You know, they they hadn't beat Ohio statan years,
Speaker 9: and you know, and then they had the Michigan State
Speaker 9: rival and then not only that, just the you know,
Speaker 9: you could just feel the camaraderie and like the bond
Speaker 9: that the team had, and you know, it was just
Speaker 9: a team that I wanted to be a part of.
Speaker 2: Why did you hate Ohio State?
Speaker 9: Well, you know, I grew up Abama fan, so and
Speaker 9: they beat us in one of the games with Zeke
Speaker 9: and all them guys, and and I could I couldn't
Speaker 9: hear the end of it. And the fans at school,
Speaker 9: all my friends were Ohio State fans. They all that's
Speaker 9: all they talked about. So I just really like them.
Speaker 9: I didn't like the fans. I just didn't like the
Speaker 9: coaches when I wouldn't visited, so a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2: You had a couple of significant injuries in your college
Speaker 2: football career. A back injury at Michigan a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago, and had torn acl last year after you
Speaker 2: transferred to Iowa. What was the toughest part about rehabbing
Speaker 2: from those injuries.
Speaker 3: I'd say just.
Speaker 9: Keeping confident or keeping that confident, that confidence in yourself
Speaker 9: and and and that you'll be okay or well that
Speaker 9: I will be okay after after. You know, it's just
Speaker 9: the it's not the like the how you feel. It's
Speaker 9: just it's like the just not knowing how everything's going
Speaker 9: to be at the back end of things. So I
Speaker 9: was worried about, you know, not knowing if I was
Speaker 9: going to be back to my old self after and
Speaker 9: you know, and just day by day I would just
Speaker 9: prove to myself that I was that I was gonna
Speaker 9: be okay and fine, and it worked out.
Speaker 2: We're chatting with Erek Hall. You were drafted by your
Speaker 2: hometown team and the fourth round this year. Just gribe
Speaker 2: your draft weekend.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it was it was long third day, but I
Speaker 9: mean it could have been longer. You know, some guys,
Speaker 9: you know, don't don't end up getting drafted. But you know,
Speaker 9: before that, we didn't know if we were gonna where
Speaker 9: we were gonna have the draft party, and and honestly,
Speaker 9: I didn't really know if I wanted to have a
Speaker 9: lot of people there, you know, because.
Speaker 3: I didn't know if I was gonna be drafted or not.
Speaker 9: And but I ended up just saying, you know, you know,
Speaker 9: if if you're gonna get drafted, you'd rather be around
Speaker 9: the people that you love. So I invited a bunch
Speaker 9: of people and we ended up having it at my
Speaker 9: high school's fieldhouse.
Speaker 3: Where it all started.
Speaker 9: And and you know, day three, fourth round, I got drafted,
Speaker 9: and while I was doing a workout with my with
Speaker 9: one of my best.
Speaker 3: Friends out that I grew up with here in Hamilton.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2: You've proven to be a very good blocker as a rookie,
Speaker 2: and a very aggressive one as well. Offensive coordinator Dan
Speaker 2: Pitcher recently said you're not only willing to be violent,
Speaker 2: but eager to be violent. Describe the satisfaction you get
Speaker 2: when you make a crunching block.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, I mean ever since I started playing, you know,
Speaker 9: my dad was my coach, and you know, throughout my
Speaker 9: entire life playing the game, you know, hitting hard and
Speaker 9: making loud pops with your pads like was like part
Speaker 9: of the Like that's just what you did, and that
Speaker 9: was just what everybody you know, looked for was you know,
Speaker 9: crackback blocks back then it was legal, but crackback blots
Speaker 9: and just making these devastating blows. But that's just something
Speaker 9: that's always, you know, been a part of my game
Speaker 9: since you know, starting since the beginning of my playing
Speaker 9: the game, and so just doing that.
Speaker 3: Is just the reason why I play, honestly.
Speaker 2: All Right, a few wild card topics now with Eric
Speaker 2: All to wrap things up, who is your all time
Speaker 2: favorite athlete in any space and why?
Speaker 9: I'm gonna just say you saying Bolt just because how
Speaker 9: fast he is and and you know how long he
Speaker 9: was just the best at what he did and you know,
Speaker 9: the fastest times in the world and things like that,
Speaker 9: So say you say Boat.
Speaker 2: He told me during training camp that you enjoy playing chess.
Speaker 2: When did you pick up chess? And have you competed
Speaker 2: against any of your current teammates yet?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 9: Yeah, So I started playing. I think it was my
Speaker 9: going into my junior year of fall camp.
Speaker 3: At Michigan.
Speaker 9: You know, there was not really much to do during camp,
Speaker 9: you know, given that you were you were spending majority
Speaker 9: of the time in the facility. If you were in
Speaker 9: a facility, you were in a hotel. So I forget
Speaker 9: who taught me. I'm pretty sure it was Carter Selzer.
Speaker 9: I would play a lot with him and I would
Speaker 9: just learn different things from him and watching videos on the.
Speaker 3: Game and getting better like that.
Speaker 9: But you know, we would play with with a lot
Speaker 9: of the guys played on the team. But you know,
Speaker 9: I played a lot of games with Coach Harball and
Speaker 9: you know, different titands and it was just everyone played
Speaker 9: so that and then now I play Tanner a lot.
Speaker 3: Tanner McLachlan, McLaughlin. Muma.
Speaker 9: He's trying to I feel like he just started because
Speaker 9: he does a lot of you know, suspect moves.
Speaker 3: But I'm looking to play more guys.
Speaker 2: I look for guys to play, So all right now
Speaker 2: I know the scouting report. If I'm going to play,
Speaker 2: take on Muma, jog meta before he gets good. You
Speaker 2: have a two year old son named Houston. What do
Speaker 2: you enjoy most about being a dad?
Speaker 9: You know, just watching just watching him grow and take
Speaker 9: all these like these little steps like this little mild sone.
Speaker 9: Like I take him to the the varsity games of
Speaker 9: Fairfield games and you know he's on the sideline with
Speaker 9: me watching the games and he'll you know, imitate the
Speaker 9: players out there.
Speaker 3: He'll get said and then.
Speaker 9: Start running when they all start running. And you know,
Speaker 9: when a guy gets tackled, he falls down to the ground.
Speaker 9: So just things like that, do you know, just watching
Speaker 9: him grow and you know he's he's always he's always
Speaker 9: smiling and laughing. So it's just fun being around him,
Speaker 9: and you know, just a different type of love.
Speaker 2: There's nothing better. Final fun fact for Eric All. This
Speaker 2: one's kind of deep. If you could meet anyone in history,
Speaker 2: living or deceased, who would that person be.
Speaker 9: I'm gonna say King Tut because I always wanted to,
Speaker 9: you know, I always wanted to go back in time
Speaker 9: and see like the how they built the pyramids and
Speaker 9: everything else.
Speaker 3: So to say King Tut.
Speaker 2: You were the first person to say King Tut, so
Speaker 2: you get extra points for creativity. This has been fun.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, best of like the rest of the year.
Speaker 3: Cool. Thank you.
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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