Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The If This Is It addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals take stock of where things stand during
Speaker 1: their bye week and at least consider making a change
Speaker 1: at punter. Coming up, we'll hear from special teams coordinator
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons and practice squad punter Drew Chrisman, who was
Speaker 1: waiting in the wings if the Bengals decide to move
Speaker 1: on from Kevin Huber. We'll also look at why the
Speaker 1: running game was so much better last week and update
Speaker 1: you on a couple of key players who appear ready
Speaker 1: to return from injuries after the bye. And finally, I'll
Speaker 1: chat with Paul Hyrons from the Bengals Fan Club in
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom about their recent visit to Cincinnati. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
Speaker 1: They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up
Speaker 1: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the lay this
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since The Offer. I'm a huge fan
Speaker 1: of the movie The Godfather. If I'm flipping channels and
Speaker 1: Godfather one or two is on, I'm definitely going to
Speaker 1: watch at least thirty minutes, even though I've seen each
Speaker 1: one approximately one thousand times. Well, recently, I've been watching
Speaker 1: a series on Paramount Plus called The Offer, and it's
Speaker 1: about the development and filming of the first Godfather movie.
Speaker 1: It's told from the perspective of the movie's producer, Albert Ruddy,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how realistic it is, but the
Speaker 1: making of the movie was a lot like the movie itself.
Speaker 1: The critics reviews have been mixed, but I think it's great.
Speaker 1: If you love The Godfather, I bet you'll love The Offer.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. I've gotten to know Kevin
Speaker 1: Huber's folks over the years that I joke with them
Speaker 1: that I might have seen Kevin punt in person more
Speaker 1: than they have since I called his games home and
Speaker 1: away for his entire career at you see end have
Speaker 1: done the same for most of his career with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Kevin is without question the best punter in team history
Speaker 1: and has played in a franchise record two hundred and
Speaker 1: sixteen regular season games, but there's at least a chance
Speaker 1: that he won't make it to two seventeen. So far
Speaker 1: this year, the fourteen year vet has not punted up
Speaker 1: to his high standards. He ranks next to last in
Speaker 1: the league in punting average and net average. Here's special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator Darren Simmons. Well, think he's been he's been
Speaker 1: struggling a little bit. That's that's no secret. And I
Speaker 1: think he'd be the first to tell you that. He
Speaker 1: made a pretty good analogy. He said, he's he's great
Speaker 1: on the practice range. He's not taken to the first
Speaker 1: heat and he's been His practice has been pretty solid,
Speaker 1: His pregame warmups has been solid. He's just not taken
Speaker 1: to the game. And I think as you get older,
Speaker 1: you know, your margin for air becomes really small. Some
Speaker 1: of these guys are that are real strong and real
Speaker 1: powerful of young young legs, you can get away with
Speaker 1: some things, can get away with the get off times
Speaker 1: being a little slow, get away with the drop not
Speaker 1: being the exactly the right spot. They can adjust and
Speaker 1: you know, his his margin frere with some of that
Speaker 1: stuff is just it's just reduced, you know, compared to
Speaker 1: what it used to be with true un practice squad.
Speaker 1: Is the buy a time to evaluate where things stand. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, we we've constant consummate evaluating
Speaker 1: this whole thing. Um, our plunny game obviously, our playing
Speaker 1: games got improved. Um, you know, we're not We're not
Speaker 1: getting out of it when we need to get out
Speaker 1: of it in terms of flipping the field. And so
Speaker 1: someone will take a look at over over this bye
Speaker 1: week and try to figure out what the best thing
Speaker 1: is going forward. Just to clarify, is it possible that
Speaker 1: when the Bengals return from their bye week next Sunday
Speaker 1: that Drew Chrisman is their punter at Pittsburgh? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's something we'll talk about. I'll think about.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got whatever it is, howby days to
Speaker 1: figure that out. Um, you know, but this is something
Speaker 1: that's that's sort have been building over some time, you
Speaker 1: know for sure, And we got to do something and
Speaker 1: to you know, put her team in a good spot
Speaker 1: to control field position, and we've got to be better
Speaker 1: with that. Darren went on to say that holding for
Speaker 1: field goals and extra points will not be a factor
Speaker 1: in the decision. He's confident that Chrisman can do a
Speaker 1: solid job as a holder. It's all about punting. Drew
Speaker 1: average forty nine point six yards in the preseason, but
Speaker 1: his net average of thirty eight point six is only
Speaker 1: slightly better than Huber's current net average of thirty seven
Speaker 1: point four. I caught up with Chrisman in the locker
Speaker 1: room this week, so Darren told us yesterday that the
Speaker 1: punting situation will be evaluated during the bye. Did you
Speaker 1: see those comments and what were your thoughts? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't see him, but I mean, obviously I've been here
Speaker 1: the whole season and thoughts are just prepared every week
Speaker 1: as if you're going to play. That's what I've been
Speaker 1: doing the whole time. So really nothing changes, and you know,
Speaker 1: get some extra work and this buy work on some
Speaker 1: things that we need to work on, and then yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see what next week brings. Does it add a
Speaker 1: little intrigue for the next week or two for you?
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, I mean every week's you know,
Speaker 1: full opportunities. You know, lots of things happen around the league,
Speaker 1: injuries every so you know, opportunities pop up. But you
Speaker 1: know it's uh, man'd be awesome that happened here for sure.
Speaker 1: I know you have the utmost respect for Kevin. The
Speaker 1: way Darren described it yesterday, Kevin feels like he's been
Speaker 1: practicing well and then like a golfer, it doesn't take
Speaker 1: it out to the first team. Has that been your observation, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's tough. I'm not in issues, and
Speaker 1: I know, I know for a personal experience, you know,
Speaker 1: playing you might have a great warm up, that doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean you're gonna have a great game. You know,
Speaker 1: it's uh doesn't always. I mean the game and situation.
Speaker 1: You know, you feel that drill and pumping a little
Speaker 1: more and everything. You know, sometimes you know your steps
Speaker 1: are a little off, dropped a little inside, and the
Speaker 1: nature of our position just an inch you know off.
Speaker 1: It contains the whole whole matter of the operations. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I would say that's pretty sound. Have you
Speaker 1: been doing anything in particular to improve in practice in
Speaker 1: the pregame warm ups, etc. Yeah. From you know, taking
Speaker 1: this opportunity, no one I wasn't going to be playing.
Speaker 1: You know, the first couple of weeks I've been able
Speaker 1: to tweaks some things in my form and things I
Speaker 1: didn't like in the preseason, and improve some areas that
Speaker 1: I knew that I needed some improvement. And I feel
Speaker 1: pretty comfortable where I'm not right now. For sure. I
Speaker 1: haven't studied every practice squad, but I don't think every
Speaker 1: team has a punter on the practice squad. What does
Speaker 1: it mean to you that the Bengals thing highly enough
Speaker 1: of you to want to keep you here for when
Speaker 1: that day comes? Now, it's been great, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: this is this is pretty rare. I would say, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure too many other teams do that, just
Speaker 1: to carry a punter throughout the season, maybe for a
Speaker 1: week or two something flares up, but not continually. And
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that goes to show kind
Speaker 1: of what I did in the preseason, you know, knowing
Speaker 1: that I was close and so has some things that
Speaker 1: work on and just you know, waiting for the right opportunity.
Speaker 1: Kevin Huber's thirty seven years old, but it's worth pointing
Speaker 1: out that last year his punting average and net average
Speaker 1: were slightly better than his career numbers. Will find out
Speaker 1: soon if he'll be given the chance to show that
Speaker 1: this is only a slump, or if the Bengals decide
Speaker 1: to make a switch to a lesser extent. Evan McPherson
Speaker 1: is also in a slump. In the last two games,
Speaker 1: He's missed forty seven and forty eight yard field goal
Speaker 1: tries and a thirty three yard extra point. But Darren
Speaker 1: Simmons doesn't sound too concerned about money. Mac. You know,
Speaker 1: you can't dwell on anything too much with him. You
Speaker 1: have to let good or bad roll off his back
Speaker 1: and let him go out and react and go to
Speaker 1: the next kick. You know, I thought that came into
Speaker 1: play here go in the playoffs. You know, he had
Speaker 1: a practice I think he missed seven kicks and one
Speaker 1: practice and you know, came back and you know, made
Speaker 1: all madile these four field goals in the game. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's I'm a little concerned about it, but I'm trying
Speaker 1: not to make too big of a deal about it.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's something he's going to get worked
Speaker 1: out here over the course of mixt couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Even if Early had seven misses in a practice, that's
Speaker 1: not embellishment. That's no embellishment. That's that's real. What's he
Speaker 1: that a practice record. This is something that's really got you. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a record that's a lot of misses. No, uh,
Speaker 1: it was it was one practice he had a couple.
Speaker 1: It was he had a couple of bed he hits
Speaker 1: during a row, and so we're not in on that one.
Speaker 1: And he missed again. I said, we're not in on
Speaker 1: that one. And he missed again, and I'm not in
Speaker 1: on that one, and he missed again, And after seventh one,
Speaker 1: I said, right the hell with this. We're done. We're done.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Beak Podcast is brought to you by Cattering Health,
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,
Speaker 1: Cattering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
Speaker 1: Visit cattering health dot org to learn more. Sometime during
Speaker 1: the second quarter of last Sunday's broadcast, I made a
Speaker 1: prediction that came true. I'm not claiming you'd be Nostradama,
Speaker 1: as it was an easy call. I said that Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon would be named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Speaker 1: First and goal from the three officially Burrow takes the snap,
Speaker 1: gives it to Mixon, show is into the end zone. Touchdown, Bengals,
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon half and a half. That's his second touchdown
Speaker 1: of the afternoon, and the Bengals are up by three
Speaker 1: t ds. And you're saying, Joe Mixon a Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: caliber running back? When is the day coming? This has
Speaker 1: been a get right day. Mix and rushed for one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three yards on twenty two carries and
Speaker 1: caught four passes for fifty eight more. His two hundred
Speaker 1: eleven yards from scrimmage marked a career high, and his
Speaker 1: five total touchdowns is a new franchise record. The Bengals
Speaker 1: entered that game ranked thirtieth in the league and rushing
Speaker 1: at a meager eighty one yards per game. They nearly
Speaker 1: tripled that against the Panthers, running for two forty one.
Speaker 1: Here are center Ted Carriss and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.
Speaker 1: I think we're getting there. Yeah, I think yesterday was
Speaker 1: who we want to be. And if we can continue
Speaker 1: to run the ball like that with nine and as
Speaker 1: our QB, it'll be hard to, you know, stop us.
Speaker 1: I think that'll be a great addition to our offense.
Speaker 1: If we can continue to run the ball for you know,
Speaker 1: over one fifty would be a good mark, but you
Speaker 1: know that's going to come down to performance on Sundays,
Speaker 1: and really we did our best yesterday, so hoping to
Speaker 1: do it again for the eight game stretch we have
Speaker 1: coming up. Joe finally ran with the demeanor and the
Speaker 1: passion and the energy and the things that he's always done,
Speaker 1: finally showed up this week, you know, and it broke tackles,
Speaker 1: ran hard, ran aggressively, you know, made it. He was
Speaker 1: a tough out for the Panthers defense this week and
Speaker 1: hopefully that's that's what Joe is for the rest of
Speaker 1: the rest of the season going forward. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: he breathed a lot of life into the plan this week. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's it all looks good on a chalkboard down and
Speaker 1: drawing and presenting it to the team, but when you
Speaker 1: got going out and you know, blocking defensive ends like
Speaker 1: Trent Taylor did and tb did, and Joe making people
Speaker 1: miss and running for yards and running people over, it
Speaker 1: makes it look a lot better. So that's what happened.
Speaker 1: Speaking to Brian Callahan, he addresses the team every Saturday
Speaker 1: morning and according to Mix, and did an especially good
Speaker 1: job of getting the guys ready to go for the
Speaker 1: Carolina game. He had a head of a meeting on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and the way that you could just tell, like the
Speaker 1: hunger and everything in his eyes. And we had a
Speaker 1: great preparation all week. But the way that Callaghan he
Speaker 1: was getting at us on Saturday, and I just loved
Speaker 1: how he came in with an edge and that meeting
Speaker 1: and basically everything that he said, we made it happen today,
Speaker 1: So we spoke it into existence. I asked Brian about
Speaker 1: his speech. I'm glad that he felt that it was effective.
Speaker 1: I don't know that. I'm too many pregame speeches or
Speaker 1: meeting speeches have won too many games. He went out
Speaker 1: and played really well, which is all that really mattered.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean my Saturday mornings are kind of
Speaker 1: a recap of the week, what the plan is going forward,
Speaker 1: how we're going to play the particular game we're getting
Speaker 1: ready to play on Sunday, And most of the time
Speaker 1: it's it's practice clips and you know, kind of spliced
Speaker 1: them with the game clips and just so we show
Speaker 1: how we're going to attack a team and things that
Speaker 1: we think are going to look work well and all
Speaker 1: those types of things. And then I usually try to
Speaker 1: have some sort of message, And you know, it's our
Speaker 1: job as coaches is to try to have a message
Speaker 1: that can be digestible, relatable, something that has an impact.
Speaker 1: And some weeks it's something a little more funny and lighthearted.
Speaker 1: Some weeks it's some movie clips we use a lot
Speaker 1: of I've used a lot of different documentaries, sports documentaries,
Speaker 1: just you know, just have some other voice in perspective
Speaker 1: on whatever the topic might be. So I've done a
Speaker 1: lot of them over four years, and I appreciate that
Speaker 1: Joe Joe felt like that will made an impact on Saturday.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's just sort of part of part
Speaker 1: of the normal weekly routine. And again, if maybe some
Speaker 1: of some have probably fallen pretty flat over the years,
Speaker 1: and some of some of them I think of have
Speaker 1: been better than others. But you have to ask the
Speaker 1: guys and what they think and if if they're really
Speaker 1: as good as I think they are, as bad as
Speaker 1: they can be. Sometimes I try to keep it as
Speaker 1: entertaining as possible, but um, you know, it's a pretty
Speaker 1: normal part of the week and normal routine, normal Saturday meeting,
Speaker 1: and I thought the message this week it was probably
Speaker 1: a little more aggressive than others, but it was it
Speaker 1: seemed to have resonated, so that's good. I don't know
Speaker 1: what he said, but I hope he has something similar
Speaker 1: planned for Pittsburgh. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers
Speaker 1: trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and
Speaker 1: retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com. Now let's
Speaker 1: get to an injury update. The Bengals have not had
Speaker 1: DJ Reader in the lineup since he suffered a knee
Speaker 1: injury in Week three against the Jets, but the team
Speaker 1: is optimistic that he could return after the bye. I
Speaker 1: asked defensive coordinator lou Anna Romo about the big man
Speaker 1: in the middle of his defense. All Right, your poised
Speaker 1: to potentially get some reinforcements back after the bye, most
Speaker 1: notably DJ. Is that your hope? Yeah, I hope. So
Speaker 1: I think he's on track, you know. So I'm running
Speaker 1: around out there this morning and looking good. So hopefully
Speaker 1: he'll he'll stay trend in that way, and you know,
Speaker 1: just give us a great lift when he gets back,
Speaker 1: you know, really really hard to block one on one
Speaker 1: in the run game, and gives you more rush than
Speaker 1: you would think from a guy his size. So and
Speaker 1: then just his leadership out there on the field, he's
Speaker 1: a dominating force. Her football focus has DJ graded as
Speaker 1: the second best interior defensive lineman in the league this year.
Speaker 1: He's one spot behind Chris Jones of the Chiefs and
Speaker 1: one spot ahead of Aaron Donald. Quarterback Mike Hilton missed
Speaker 1: last week's game against Carolina after tearing ligaments and fracturing
Speaker 1: the pinky finger on his left hand in three places
Speaker 1: in the Monday night game at Cleveland. He had surgery
Speaker 1: the following day and says he'll definitely be back next
Speaker 1: week in Pittsburgh. I find this hard to believe, but
Speaker 1: some people apparently question Mike's toughness when he was ruled
Speaker 1: out of last week's game. Hall of famer Ronnie Lott
Speaker 1: famously had the tip of his pinkie finger amputated in
Speaker 1: order to play in a playoff game, but Lott says
Speaker 1: he regrets doing it, and I seriously hope that nobody
Speaker 1: expected Mike Hilton to do the same thing. Mike saw
Speaker 1: some criticism on social media and sent out a tweet saying,
Speaker 1: l L y'all think I quit on my team? Folks
Speaker 1: are hilarious. Here's what he had to say about that tweet.
Speaker 1: You know how people are, They think just because it's
Speaker 1: a pinky compared to what people do get back in
Speaker 1: the day. I got all the little Ronnie Lot stories.
Speaker 1: That's cool and all, but this is twenty twenty two. Like,
Speaker 1: I'd rather be healthy for the back end of the
Speaker 1: season than we entered myself in put the team in
Speaker 1: the worst position. So I got those dems and now there.
Speaker 1: I just laughed and put that tweet out, But I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go out. I'm RuSHA good Never consider cutting
Speaker 1: it off. Oh no, no, no, that's not going to
Speaker 1: cross my mind. Hey, I respect to running a lot.
Speaker 1: You know you're great, But that's not from pound. Mike
Speaker 1: Hilton is among the toughest players in the NFL. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future proof
Speaker 1: fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to
Speaker 1: take your home, business, and community to a new level.
Speaker 1: Elevate your connection with all to fiber. Now time for
Speaker 1: something a little different. One of the best things about
Speaker 1: the Bengals two trips to London has been meeting Bengals
Speaker 1: fans from all over the world, and one of the
Speaker 1: most dedicated is Paul Hyrns. The name might sound familiar.
Speaker 1: Paul was one of the leaders of the Bengals fan
Speaker 1: club in the UK and co host the popular Cincinator podcast,
Speaker 1: which follows the Bengals from an international perspective. Paul and
Speaker 1: a large group of Bengals fans from overseas were at
Speaker 1: the game last Sunday and Cincinnati and I had a
Speaker 1: chance to talk to him about their visit this week. Paul,
Speaker 1: how many Bengals fans made it to the US for
Speaker 1: this trip and how did this adventure come about? Well,
Speaker 1: to answer your first question, it was twenty five. How
Speaker 1: it came about, I think there was always as the
Speaker 1: fan group grew, there was always kind of talk about
Speaker 1: we should go away, we should all get together and
Speaker 1: go away. But there was no really I mean, frankly,
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to underwrite that trip and there, but
Speaker 1: there was always like we should go And of course
Speaker 1: one or two mates came over together and there was
Speaker 1: you know, a few pockets of Bengals fans from the
Speaker 1: UK came over on their own steam, but then COVID
Speaker 1: happened that kind of shelved everything. And then this year
Speaker 1: a company in the UK called Touchdown Trips. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can guess what line of work they came to for.
Speaker 1: They called me and said, listen, you know, we the
Speaker 1: Bengals are one of the only clubs that we've not
Speaker 1: been to. We've been to pretty much every NFL club
Speaker 1: in the US, but so we did like a bit
Speaker 1: of an exercise where we contacted the clubs that we've
Speaker 1: never been to, and the Bengals kind of said, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'd love to help out and make this happen. And
Speaker 1: then he asked me, would we be interested in aligning
Speaker 1: or kind of joining together in a loose arrangement and
Speaker 1: calling it a Bengals UK trip, And I said, well,
Speaker 1: let's go for it. I was a bit I wasn't
Speaker 1: sure what the interest was going to be because you know,
Speaker 1: moneys are very tight at the moment, times are tough.
Speaker 1: I needn't of worried. Really, the interest was like sky high.
Speaker 1: So yeah, in the end, twenty five people came of
Speaker 1: that group of twenty five who had been to Cincinnati before.
Speaker 1: If anybody, Oh, there's a good question, let me think.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe me. So this is my third time here,
Speaker 1: very lucky and very privileged to have done that. Another
Speaker 1: guy had been once, I think so, yeah, only kind
Speaker 1: of two of us. Yeah. So I am a fan
Speaker 1: of Leicester City in the Premier League and the first
Speaker 1: time the Bengals went to London in twenty sixteen, I
Speaker 1: went to one of their matches. It was at Tottenham
Speaker 1: and it didn't seem real to me. I had been
Speaker 1: watching Jamie Vardy and Casper schmike goal on TV and
Speaker 1: they had won the Premier League title of the year before.
Speaker 1: It was like a movie. Was it like that for
Speaker 1: the Bengals fans who came to the US for this
Speaker 1: game and watched the game last Sunday? Oh? I mean yeah.
Speaker 1: The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer, I
Speaker 1: mean I wept when I first came over and saw
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium as it was cooled. It is emotional,
Speaker 1: and I believe you met a guy called Tom a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago who put a video on social
Speaker 1: media with him bawling his eyes out. It means so
Speaker 1: much to people and as soon as we got into
Speaker 1: town and checked into our hotel, I said, look, you know,
Speaker 1: pay court. I mean it's just there and everyone's gonna like, okay,
Speaker 1: we go and it so it wasn't like it wasn't
Speaker 1: kind of like like a virgin touch for the very
Speaker 1: first time for me personally, but still it felt surreal
Speaker 1: and it just I kind of exhaled and think, there
Speaker 1: she is, there, she is. Um. But those guys were
Speaker 1: kind of like in awe. UM. I have to say,
Speaker 1: this stadium looked different, brighter, more lights, and I think
Speaker 1: that goes in you know, it's in line with everything
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and her team have done. So it looks spectacular.
Speaker 1: And those guys do you know what. It was kind
Speaker 1: of like being a dad giving a Christmas present to
Speaker 1: a child on Christmas Day and watching their faces open it.
Speaker 1: You know, it was just brilliant. They were just like oh,
Speaker 1: you know, they were really really taken aback. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure your listeners might be thinking, well, why, it's because
Speaker 1: we we watched these games often on a laptop. You
Speaker 1: just don't think it's it's ever an option to be
Speaker 1: here and experience it firsthand, and then you kind of
Speaker 1: you know, this long distance relationship that we have. It
Speaker 1: really fosters a very kind of quite intense bond. So
Speaker 1: to actually be here is a very emotional and surreal
Speaker 1: experience for a lot of people, me included. Still, you know,
Speaker 1: we're chatting with Paul Hireens from the Bengals UK fan Club.
Speaker 1: What were some of the highlights of the entire adventure
Speaker 1: because coming to the game was not the only thing
Speaker 1: that this group of twenty five did. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a whirlwind weekend. Um, they had
Speaker 1: some free time on on Saturday morning and Monday morning.
Speaker 1: That's it. Obviously, everything was optional. They could do what
Speaker 1: they wanted. But um, yeah, and I kind of I
Speaker 1: kind of did this fat pack, you know, guide to
Speaker 1: over the rhyme, guide to Covington, guide to the breweries
Speaker 1: you can go and visit, guide to Family Orientated Adventures. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: everyone discarded that completely. All they wanted to do was
Speaker 1: spend money in the pro shop since the shirts or
Speaker 1: Cox Sports, you know. So the next time I saw them,
Speaker 1: there was like huge kind of trash liners full of
Speaker 1: hundreds of dollars of merchandise. You know, a couple of things.
Speaker 1: We went to see the bear Cats on on Saturday.
Speaker 1: That was a really great experience. One of our team
Speaker 1: members that you know, as we're talking earlier, Um is
Speaker 1: as big a bear Cats fan as he is a
Speaker 1: Bengals fan. So to see his face when he got
Speaker 1: to be inside Nippet Stadium seeing the Bearcats was was
Speaker 1: really special. And that was a very special experienced full stop.
Speaker 1: You know, the tradition and the I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know how you do it. Each week, Dan, this it's bonkers.
Speaker 1: He's a fantastic and that's why it's fantastically bonkers. The band,
Speaker 1: then there's football, there's band, then you've got some sort
Speaker 1: of weird physical challenges. So it's kind of part game show,
Speaker 1: part live gig, and then part football thing is it
Speaker 1: was amazing. It was just fantastic to be there. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the main event, obviously was was Sunday, So we got
Speaker 1: down to the tailgates at eight am and had a
Speaker 1: great time down there and just being there was terrific.
Speaker 1: I will mention one very special thing that happened. There
Speaker 1: was a guy and his partner. No, I'm going to
Speaker 1: leave this very quickly. One of the special things that happened.
Speaker 1: Two of the guys on the tour brought their sons
Speaker 1: with them, So one guy bought his twelve Andrew brought
Speaker 1: his twelve year old son Felix, and Nick brought his
Speaker 1: seventeen year old son Ben. And I thought that was
Speaker 1: just fantastic and just seeing them go about the town together.
Speaker 1: And I think it was a really special trip for
Speaker 1: those guys in terms of a father son relationship. But then,
Speaker 1: as if you're thinking about the main event in terms
Speaker 1: of itinery it was the Bengals game quite obviously, but
Speaker 1: the main event in terms of things that happened. One
Speaker 1: of our guys, Joe, Joe Jones, I'm sure he won't
Speaker 1: you mentioned him proposed to his partner in Russia on
Speaker 1: the banks of the River Ohio before the game. Thankfully
Speaker 1: she said yes, that would have been to the story.
Speaker 1: No no, no no no, And they are such a lovely couple,
Speaker 1: you know that that kind of bought a lump. It
Speaker 1: was like that share the icing on the cake to
Speaker 1: end the whole trip. It was fantastic, and now all
Speaker 1: other proposals pale in comparison. Well, we kind of said,
Speaker 1: what are you going to do for your wedding? You know,
Speaker 1: you've got to go on the pitch at paycor to
Speaker 1: kind of tie the knot. But no, it's fantastic. Paul.
Speaker 1: What was the Super Bowl viewing experience like for you
Speaker 1: with the time difference, were you together with fellow Bengals fans?
Speaker 1: How did you pull that off? Oh? My goodness, me,
Speaker 1: how did I still ask that question today? We had it?
Speaker 1: So I think I think I speak for most Bengals
Speaker 1: fans when I say that it was unexpected to get
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. I think everyone knew that we
Speaker 1: had a very talented team and we should be more
Speaker 1: competitive last year, maybe challenge for the division. But you know,
Speaker 1: a momentum is everything in sport and confidence and if
Speaker 1: you've got those two together. So I was actually quite
Speaker 1: confident against the Raiders and the Titans actually, but you
Speaker 1: had the Chiefs in our head. Come on. Now. We
Speaker 1: were in a little bar in London, kind of a
Speaker 1: restaurant come bar called Cincinnati Chili Bomb. A British guy
Speaker 1: used to live in Cincinnati has opened. It's nothing like
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Chili, but he's that's his brand. And we got
Speaker 1: in touch and said, well, you know, we've got to
Speaker 1: have the meet up there, right And it was one
Speaker 1: of the most I will never forget that night. It
Speaker 1: was like forty fifty people packed into this small bar.
Speaker 1: It was nuts. It was absolutely nuts. And then we
Speaker 1: obviously got to the Super Bowl. Absolutely mayhem, absolute grown
Speaker 1: men crying in the street. It was that kind of evening.
Speaker 1: And then a day later it was like, oh, we're
Speaker 1: in the super Bowl. We've got to do a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl party, haven't we. So what followed was probably the
Speaker 1: most intense and heck week of my life, trying to
Speaker 1: keep my day job but also trying to find a
Speaker 1: venue to host a super Bowl that would start around
Speaker 1: midnight and finished around half past three on Monday morning.
Speaker 1: Licensing is a bit different over in the UK, so
Speaker 1: trying to find a place that had a license to
Speaker 1: serve booze on that early on a Monday morning Sunday
Speaker 1: into Monday. We found one eventually, thanks to the help
Speaker 1: of several people in the Bengals UK leadership group. It
Speaker 1: was a pub in central London. We took it all over,
Speaker 1: three floors. We decked it all out in kind of
Speaker 1: jungle foliage and orange and black. The staff wore Bengals
Speaker 1: T shirts. They had Bengals bombs at the bar. You know,
Speaker 1: three floors packful of Bengals fans. It's one of the
Speaker 1: honestly one of the greatest achievements of my life putting
Speaker 1: that on such a short space of time, obviously with
Speaker 1: the help of the guys in the group, and it
Speaker 1: was a fantastic night as well apart from those final seconds.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was. I always said if the Bengals
Speaker 1: got back to Super Bowl, because I was a teenager
Speaker 1: when when they last got to the Super Bow. I
Speaker 1: always said, do you know what going to the super
Speaker 1: Bowl with all the expense, and I'm not really a
Speaker 1: flashy guy. I don't care about, you know, all the
Speaker 1: hoopla and whatnot. I would rather come to Cincinnati to
Speaker 1: kind of experience it with Cincinnati and somewhere in a
Speaker 1: in a bar somewhere or whatever, watch parties somewhere. But
Speaker 1: I didn't. I just stayed with my people in the
Speaker 1: UK and we had an incredible time, incredible time, three
Speaker 1: stories worth of fans. We absolutely Yeah. So Paul, has
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow become a star in the UK? Yeah, everyone
Speaker 1: knows who Joe is. I think you know, as I said,
Speaker 1: you'd been to the UK a few times. You know
Speaker 1: that the sport has gone from cult status to almost
Speaker 1: mainstream status, I think, and so people are clued up.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, with the Bengals, with their
Speaker 1: helmets and the jerseys, they're very recognizable. Yeah. Absolutely, Joe.
Speaker 1: Joe is a star I think globally, not kind of
Speaker 1: maybe on the Brady Rogers kind of level, but you know,
Speaker 1: sports fans generally will probably know who Joe Burrow is. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: the NFL added a seventeenth game last year, and now
Speaker 1: it's been decided that that's going to be the international game.
Speaker 1: So every eight years, an NFL team will give up
Speaker 1: a home game and that so called seventeenth game against
Speaker 1: the team from the other conference will become an international game.
Speaker 1: So the Bengals are theoretically due next year they will
Speaker 1: host a team from the NFC North so Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago,
Speaker 1: and that game could very easily be London or Germany
Speaker 1: or somewhere internationally. Are your fellow UK fans eagerly awaiting
Speaker 1: the possibility of this announcement? Yeah, I mean, goodness to
Speaker 1: me again. I'll go back to the fact that you've
Speaker 1: experienced this. It is an incredible experience, I think, and
Speaker 1: I think he would agree with that, wouldn't you. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: It's one of the highlights of my Bengals broadcasting career.
Speaker 1: Doesn't compare to doing the Super Bowl, but those two
Speaker 1: London games have been absolutely fantastic in my yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think part of that. I mean, the game is
Speaker 1: almost a separate thing entirely if your listeners don't know,
Speaker 1: each visiting team gets allotted a pub. So the Bengals
Speaker 1: pub in London the past, that past two times they've
Speaker 1: visited has been the Admiralty, just off the famous Travauga Square, Right,
Speaker 1: You've got Announces a column, you've got the National Gallery,
Speaker 1: and you've got this pub called the Admiralty. And I
Speaker 1: think the first time I didn't know what to expect
Speaker 1: the first time in twenty sixteen, and I basically more
Speaker 1: or less went Thursday night and didn't leave until kind
Speaker 1: of two am on Sunday morning, then realize, oh good,
Speaker 1: oh there's a game today, you know. But what I
Speaker 1: mean it was bumper to bumper in there all the time.
Speaker 1: The American fans full respected, They've got it's a lot
Speaker 1: of money to travel, so they're super excited to be there.
Speaker 1: We're mixing and drinking and singing songs and mostly derogatory
Speaker 1: songs about the Pittsburgh's dealers obviously, but you know, we
Speaker 1: made such incredible friends and we saw them at the tailgate.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, how you do people go People from
Speaker 1: the UK go over and stay with people they met
Speaker 1: when they come over, will stay with people that they
Speaker 1: met in twenty sixteen. I'm going out for dinner with
Speaker 1: a couple tonight, I first in twenty sixty and to me,
Speaker 1: that's why I do this fan group. It's all about
Speaker 1: the friendships that you create in the community that springs
Speaker 1: from it. Um. It was just an incredible experience, bumper
Speaker 1: to bumper. Suddenly you can see Dave Lapham and his
Speaker 1: enormous hands and you're shaking them and you think you
Speaker 1: may be crushed, but he gives that amazing Lapham laugh
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I'll just hug you, Dave. I
Speaker 1: did do that, actually, But anyway, Anti Muna stayed and
Speaker 1: talked to us outside for like thirty minutes. Kevin Hube
Speaker 1: was around, Darren urinated next to Darrenson in the toilet
Speaker 1: in the not in the streets. We're not animals, obviously,
Speaker 1: but so you know what I mean, there's kind of
Speaker 1: and Darren remembers me from that that sounds really weird,
Speaker 1: doesn't If he remembers me from exactly, I won't say anymore.
Speaker 1: Kive Hube remembers me. We've had him on our podcast before,
Speaker 1: and so it's it's those moments, Hey, you know I'm
Speaker 1: here with you now. You've been always been very kind
Speaker 1: and friendly to us, and yeah, it was an incredible experience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then the second time Kenny Anderson was there throwing
Speaker 1: T shirts into the crowd, and it's just a brilliant
Speaker 1: two or three nights. And I think this trip just
Speaker 1: to bring it back around, this trip with the British Bengals, guys,
Speaker 1: they're experienced something similar. You know, they've met people, they've
Speaker 1: swapped following each other on social media, they've swapped numbers,
Speaker 1: you know that kind of thing, and personally that that
Speaker 1: makes me really proud and actually quite emotionally it's really cool.
Speaker 1: The Jaguars play a game in London every year, so
Speaker 1: I know they have a big following. Do you have
Speaker 1: any sense of where the Bengals rank in comparison to
Speaker 1: most NFL teams for how many fans they have in
Speaker 1: the UK. We shout very loudly and proudly, as you know,
Speaker 1: and people who follow us on Twitter and social media.
Speaker 1: It's really difficult to quantify. I think the Jags are
Speaker 1: a bit of an outlier because the actual club runs
Speaker 1: that and there's been no let's say that but anyway,
Speaker 1: the actual club runs that account and their social media
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But you know, we're like the fifth most
Speaker 1: followed team on social media in the UK, bigger than
Speaker 1: a Cowboys, Bucks, Patriots, Steelers. Got to mention that all
Speaker 1: those guys, you know, teams that have been popular for decades,
Speaker 1: like the Dolphins, the Chiefs are quite and the Packers,
Speaker 1: you know, you would expect them to have large fan
Speaker 1: bases abroad. But we're getting there. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: difficult to know. I mean, I think I think we're
Speaker 1: up there, and the popular arty of well, the popularity
Speaker 1: that follows a Super Bowl run only helps grow the
Speaker 1: fan base. You know. There's nothing like a winning team,
Speaker 1: you know, to do that. I think I think there's
Speaker 1: definitely a few thousand people in the UK that support
Speaker 1: the Bengals for sure. Yeah. Final thing, you're on my podcast,
Speaker 1: I've been on yours. You are the co host of
Speaker 1: a popular and really good podcast, the Since Nader Podcast
Speaker 1: that they say that properly Cincinnada podcast. You've had some
Speaker 1: a list guests. Yeah, what are some of your favorite
Speaker 1: episodes or or favorite guests that you've had? Well, the
Speaker 1: one with Dan Hornell was pretty special. Now genuinely because
Speaker 1: you I asked you. I just you know, you have
Speaker 1: to ask the question right, and you were very good
Speaker 1: at doing this, very good for doing this. You did
Speaker 1: a bit of commentary, didn't you. So that was great
Speaker 1: featuring myself and my co host Nathan as players. Anyway, whatever,
Speaker 1: it was very funny and you were a great sport
Speaker 1: for that. When we started, we Nathan and I just
Speaker 1: basically got drunk and swore and very unprofessional. Then we
Speaker 1: got Ken Anderson on and Jeff Hobson and we thought, oh,
Speaker 1: we're getting some really good guests here. Maybe we should
Speaker 1: just tone down like kind of you know, drinking and
Speaker 1: the swearing, which some would would ask us to bring
Speaker 1: that back, I think. But yeah, I think being British helps.
Speaker 1: I think if you call someone or get in touch
Speaker 1: with someone, say would you like to come on a
Speaker 1: British podcast, A British Bengals podcast, They're like, Okay, that
Speaker 1: sounds weird, you know, that's a bit. We've had Zach on,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor. We've had Darren Simmons, laps been on like
Speaker 1: half a Dazen a time. Jeff Hobbs has been on,
Speaker 1: pauled Dania and Jay Morrison had been done. Really great journalists,
Speaker 1: the players we've had, Jesse Bates, Andy Dalton, Carson Palmer, Um,
Speaker 1: let me think, t J Houshman Zada. I mean, the
Speaker 1: list goes on. My personal favorites was Tommy Cook now
Speaker 1: doctor Tommy Cook, who played for the Bengal was only
Speaker 1: like a year I think in the late sixties, but
Speaker 1: of course he was the guy in the Olympics who
Speaker 1: rose his fist and I was super proud to have
Speaker 1: him on, especially as it was during the Black Lives
Speaker 1: Matter kind of campaign, and that was incredible. Genuinely, I
Speaker 1: was genuinely humbled to talk to him. We do an
Speaker 1: International Women's Day special every year. We're lucky in terms
Speaker 1: of the fandom because we've got great female journalists, like
Speaker 1: we've had Rissa Contapelli, who's magnificent at last, Jesse as
Speaker 1: you know, those sort of guys Lindsay Patterson, who's brilliant.
Speaker 1: We had Zach's wife, Sarah Sarah Sherman on this year,
Speaker 1: who was fantastic, gave a really interesting insight into what
Speaker 1: it was like from a family point of view during
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl run. My personal favorite and was having
Speaker 1: Sam Wycheon. He was an idol to me growing up,
Speaker 1: Like serious, you know, I had my players that I loved,
Speaker 1: but Sam was the man that I just looked up to.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought he was just a part aside
Speaker 1: from being a very innovative and fantastic coach and someone
Speaker 1: you would quite obviously run through a brick wall for
Speaker 1: just the kind of guy he was. He was funny,
Speaker 1: he was unpredictable, he was fiery, he was generous and benevolent,
Speaker 1: all those things wrapped up into one. So I love
Speaker 1: the guy. Said. To actually get him on the podcast
Speaker 1: only a few years before he passed away was something
Speaker 1: something that I never ever dreamed of doing, and I
Speaker 1: developed a bit of a personal relationship with him. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that. I will never I mean, I'll never
Speaker 1: forget any of this because if you asked me thirty
Speaker 1: five years ago as a kid selecting the Bengals, as
Speaker 1: my team, that I'd be sitting here with you inside
Speaker 1: paycol Stadium in Cincinnati, I would have laughed in your face.
Speaker 1: So it's just been such a brilliant ride and such
Speaker 1: a privilege to do. The Bengals often pull quotes out
Speaker 1: of this podcast and create graphics for social media. I'm
Speaker 1: going to recommend that I urinated next to Darren Simmons
Speaker 1: is now what they select from this particular podcast. But
Speaker 1: this was really enjoyable. It's so good to see you again.
Speaker 1: And I truly hope that on a Friday next fall,
Speaker 1: we're sitting next to each other in the Admiralty having
Speaker 1: a paint and we have you on one of our
Speaker 1: Bengals radio shows. That would be a thrill for me.
Speaker 1: You know it, Dan, and that point is on me.
Speaker 1: You can guarantee it. Now what again, thank you for
Speaker 1: having me. Just to shout out to everyone in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: who has made us feel so welcome. It's blown people away.
Speaker 1: I've had text this morning from the guys who are
Speaker 1: now at home feeling very spundent to be at home, actually,
Speaker 1: but they were already saying it's one of the it's
Speaker 1: the best trip of their life, one of the moments
Speaker 1: of their lifetime. So you know how you knew that
Speaker 1: supporting a sporting team could create this kind of level
Speaker 1: emotion of emotion and friendship and bond and all the
Speaker 1: rest of it. Say Yeah, I'm absolutely delighted to be
Speaker 1: here and I can't thank you enough. Thank you that's
Speaker 1: going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider
Speaker 1: of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals, They're
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Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast. H