Speaker 1: Hike and everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals boot Podcast. Uh that's the way uh I
Speaker 1: like it. Huh edition as we look back at the
Speaker 1: bengals most impressive win in the year and a half
Speaker 1: that Zach Taylor has been head coach, an eleven point
Speaker 1: victory over the five and one Tennessee Titans despite only
Speaker 1: having one offensive lineman available that started last week. Coming up,
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches,
Speaker 1: and in depth analysis from Dave Lapham. And this week's
Speaker 1: fun fact segment is with Amani Bledsoe, who tells us
Speaker 1: how he got the nickname Moose in high school. 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 subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the cordless drill.
Speaker 1: I am the world's least handy person. I can change
Speaker 1: a light bulb and fill my gas tank and that's
Speaker 1: about it. But every now and again, I'm forced to
Speaker 1: do a minor project around the house, and what I do,
Speaker 1: my cordless drill, which I mostly use as a screwdriver,
Speaker 1: always seems to make the job ten times easier and
Speaker 1: fifty times faster. It almost makes me want to tackle
Speaker 1: more do it yourself projects. Almost. Now, Let's get the
Speaker 1: Sunday's game. On Friday afternoon, when the Bengals put out
Speaker 1: their final injury report for the week, the news was grim.
Speaker 1: Not only was Joe Mixon out for the second straight
Speaker 1: week with an injured foot, but three starting offensive linemen
Speaker 1: were down left tackle Jonah Williams, center Trey Hopkins, and
Speaker 1: right tackle Bobby Hart. And just when you thought things
Speaker 1: couldn't get worse, on Sunday morning, about ninety minutes before kickoff,
Speaker 1: left guard Michael Jordan joined the list due to illness.
Speaker 1: E gads. Joe Burrow, who was tied for the NFL
Speaker 1: lead in sacks going into the game with Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: would be playing behind an offensive line with four dudes
Speaker 1: that didn't start the previous week. It didn't seem to
Speaker 1: bother him. I'm the Bengals opening drive. Burrows ready catches
Speaker 1: the ball. Three man rush aid in coverage, Burrow rolling right,
Speaker 1: cocks the arm, flings it deep downfield, all leaping catch
Speaker 1: and it'll town at the sixty yard line. Te Higgins
Speaker 1: going airborne, going up and over former Bengals first round
Speaker 1: draft pick Jonathan Joseph to haul it in. Not only
Speaker 1: a great played by te Higgins, but the ball is
Speaker 1: unbelievably thrown to the tiniest of windows by Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: That led to a Randy Bullock field goal and an
Speaker 1: early three nothing lead. But on that drive, left guard
Speaker 1: Shack Calhoun, starting in place of Jordan, made a couple
Speaker 1: of mistakes and the next time the Bengals got the ball,
Speaker 1: Quentin Spain took his place. Spain was signed as a
Speaker 1: free agent this week and practiced for the first time
Speaker 1: as a Bengal on Friday. Here's Zach Taylor. We knew
Speaker 1: q was gonna be ready. He's been here for twenty
Speaker 1: four hours. Now, you gotta be ready. You gotta go
Speaker 1: play ball. And they got him up to speed and
Speaker 1: he bought in, and you know, we just we got
Speaker 1: him in there earlier and then maybe we anticipated and
Speaker 1: just needed his presence in there, a big body, and
Speaker 1: he did a great job all those guys did a
Speaker 1: great job and just couldn't be prouder of that entire room.
Speaker 1: When Tennessee got the ball for the first time, quarterback
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill marched the Titans right down the field first
Speaker 1: and goal from the eight. Tannehill fakes to Henry looking
Speaker 1: left receiver covered, scrambled right, Stars taking the end zone.
Speaker 1: Tercepted in the end zone by Jessee Bates. Nice up,
Speaker 1: Bengals take the ball back. In addition to his huge
Speaker 1: giant Jesse Bates had eleven tackles and earned his first
Speaker 1: game ball in a Bengals uniform. Yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: definitely's temple. You know, our offense did a really good
Speaker 1: job of you know, going down there, driving the ball down,
Speaker 1: kicking a field goal. You know, our defense had over
Speaker 1: back against the wall and we got a turn over.
Speaker 1: It was a bend like you're doing the limbo, but
Speaker 1: not break kind of day for the Bengals defense. They
Speaker 1: gave up two hundred eighteen rushing yards seven point five
Speaker 1: per carry, and two hundred thirty three passing yards, but
Speaker 1: the Titans failed to turn all of those yards into points.
Speaker 1: This will be a fifty three yard field goal try
Speaker 1: for Stephen Gostkowski, whose career long is sixty two. He's
Speaker 1: got the wind at his back, but Darius Phillips is
Speaker 1: standing below the goal post just in case there's a
Speaker 1: return opportunity on this windy day. The kick is up
Speaker 1: and hits the right, up right, and it's no good.
Speaker 1: That missed field goal gave the Bengals the ball at
Speaker 1: the forty three yard line, and they drove fifty seven
Speaker 1: yards to score. A pass interference call in the end
Speaker 1: zone on former Bengals first round draft pick Jonathan Joseph
Speaker 1: set up their first TD, first and goal at the one.
Speaker 1: Burrow in the gun with p Rhyan to his left.
Speaker 1: Burrow hands it off to p Rhyan Samaj p Ryan
Speaker 1: his in touchdown Bengals As Cincinnati goes up by two scores.
Speaker 1: The Titans answered with a ten play touchdown drive consisting
Speaker 1: of nine runs and one incomplete pass. Tannehill gives it
Speaker 1: to Derrick Henry, Andy muscles his way into the end
Speaker 1: zone for the Titans first score. Derrick Henry finished with
Speaker 1: one hundred twelve yards on eighteen carries, and that TD
Speaker 1: made the score ten to seven Bengals with six o
Speaker 1: four left in the half, The Bengals kept the ball
Speaker 1: for all but thirty two seconds of the remaining time.
Speaker 1: Fourth down in five at the Tennessee forty three tightly
Speaker 1: bunch formation for Cincinnati. Burrow is ready for the shotgun snap.
Speaker 1: He's back to throw now, scrambling to his right, plants
Speaker 1: his foot fires down the middle of the field. Pagans
Speaker 1: has the coach at the twenty yard line of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have their issues, but converting on fourth down
Speaker 1: is not among them. Would you believe that Cincinnati is
Speaker 1: twelve or thirteen on fourth down tries this year? That
Speaker 1: twenty two yard strike to t Higgins set up another score.
Speaker 1: They come to the line with forty seconds left and
Speaker 1: a half third down in less than a yard. Burrow
Speaker 1: in the shotgun gives it to Bernard TiO right up
Speaker 1: the middle, head into the end zone. Touchdown Bengals. He
Speaker 1: has Giovanni. Bernard flashes up the middle for a twelve
Speaker 1: yard TD. Nothing fancy there, boy, I mean, come off
Speaker 1: the ball, Come off the ball inside, big boys. We
Speaker 1: got an offensive line to the saying we can play
Speaker 1: football too. Seventh teen seven Bengals at the half. Here's
Speaker 1: Geo on the play. Of the offensive line. My hats
Speaker 1: are off to those guys because they worked their off
Speaker 1: my bed, they worked their tails off. So they just
Speaker 1: they deserved that win. And they went in and obviously
Speaker 1: with minimal experience, and they showed out today. A scoreless
Speaker 1: third quarter meant that the Bengals took the lead to
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter for the sixth time in eight games.
Speaker 1: This time they added to it. Bernard in the backfield
Speaker 1: to the left of Burrow. On third down and one
Speaker 1: at the Tennessee seven, Burrow fakes to Bernard throws into
Speaker 1: the end zone, touchdown, Tyler Boy. The Bengals score in
Speaker 1: the red zone and lead to twenty three to seven
Speaker 1: red zone touchdowns on third down, third down touchdowns in
Speaker 1: the red zone or killer and that was the Bengals
Speaker 1: second third down red zone touchdown of the day. Here's
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. It's really a four point play, and we
Speaker 1: talk about that all the time. You know, if you
Speaker 1: don't get it, you take a field goal. But if
Speaker 1: you get it, you know you have a chance to
Speaker 1: score a touchdown. And so we stole eight points there.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be a twenty twenty Bengals game if they
Speaker 1: didn't make you bite your nails. In the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: first and goal from the nine, Tannehill will look to
Speaker 1: throw from the pocket. His pass caught at the six.
Speaker 1: A j Brown spinds away from both Mackenzie Alexander and
Speaker 1: Will Jackson and runs it into the end zone for
Speaker 1: a Titan's touchdown that made a twenty four to fourteen
Speaker 1: with eleven and a half minutes to go, but a
Speaker 1: forty nine yard kickoff return by Brandon Wilson led to
Speaker 1: a forty four yard touchdown drive Joe Burrow rolling right,
Speaker 1: quick throw caught by Gio five for the pylon touchdown Bengals.
Speaker 1: As Joe Burrow connects with Giovanni Bernard and the Bengals lead.
Speaker 1: Here's back to sixteen. It was another good day for
Speaker 1: Giovanni Bernard filling in for Joe Mixon. Fifteen carries for
Speaker 1: sixty two yards and a touchdown, three catches for sixteen
Speaker 1: yards in another score, and outstanding work in blitz pick
Speaker 1: up as Burrow was not sacked for the first time
Speaker 1: all year. Here's GEO. Wherever I can help my team win,
Speaker 1: I want to be there, whether that is pass block,
Speaker 1: and they asked me to pass block every single play.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna be that guy. They asked me to
Speaker 1: run the ball every single play. I'm obviously gonna be
Speaker 1: that guy. I just want to be able to do
Speaker 1: whatever I can do help this team win, and we
Speaker 1: got that w today, which was huge. A touchdown pass
Speaker 1: from Tannehill to Corey Davis made it thirty one to twenty,
Speaker 1: a low snap preventing the Titans from adding the extra point.
Speaker 1: With an eleven point lead and roughly six minutes to go,
Speaker 1: the Bengals caught a huge break as a Burrow interception
Speaker 1: that would have given the Titans the ball in the
Speaker 1: red zone was wiped out by a pass interference penalty
Speaker 1: on Malcolm Butler. It would have been understandable if Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor decided to put the kibosh on any more pass attempts,
Speaker 1: but on third and six with two o eight to go,
Speaker 1: he showed trust in his rookie quarterback. He's gonna throw
Speaker 1: it up the sideline, bat shoulder, throw odd and take
Speaker 1: comes down with the ball on the Titan sideline. It's
Speaker 1: a catch and that should be coffin now. That was
Speaker 1: one of a career high seven catches for Tate, who
Speaker 1: had four all season going into the game. He comes
Speaker 1: in here every day just waiting for his opportunity and
Speaker 1: everything we asked him to do. And I told him
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, I said, I didn't realize you only had
Speaker 1: four catches. We got to get you more involved because
Speaker 1: you've earned every opportunity that you should be getting. And
Speaker 1: he goes out there and on the play of the
Speaker 1: game makes the most difficult catch we've had all season,
Speaker 1: and Chris the first down that wins us the game,
Speaker 1: and that just speaks Tod and that just speaks to
Speaker 1: kind of what this what this team is going to
Speaker 1: be going forward. Burrow finished twenty six for thirty seven
Speaker 1: for two hundred forty nine yards and two touchdowns, with
Speaker 1: no picks and a passer rating of one six point seven.
Speaker 1: The quick passing game helped neutralize the pass rush as
Speaker 1: Joe is only hit twice. You know, we had to
Speaker 1: do that this week. I think we were in a
Speaker 1: unique circumstance. Four new guys in there to a line,
Speaker 1: and I think they played great, but we had to
Speaker 1: help him, and we got the ball out fast and
Speaker 1: ran the ball efficiently and did what we needed to
Speaker 1: do behind a makeshift line. The Bengals scored thirty one
Speaker 1: points and held the ball for nearly thirty six minutes.
Speaker 1: After the games, Zach Taylor singled out the starting center.
Speaker 1: Billy Price got a game ball because Billy Price is
Speaker 1: about everything that we want our players to be about.
Speaker 1: You know a guy who came in with expectations. He
Speaker 1: has never wavered from that. His opportunity hasn't always been
Speaker 1: exactly what he thought it was going to be, but
Speaker 1: he comes in with a smile in his face every day,
Speaker 1: goes to work, encourages everybody. What can I do to
Speaker 1: get better playing a scout team? Do you play guard?
Speaker 1: You need to be played center? Do you want me
Speaker 1: to start in this game? And his personality never waivers
Speaker 1: for one second and just couldn't be happier for for
Speaker 1: Billy Price because he's earned this opportunity and you never
Speaker 1: know how things are going to shake out. But um
Speaker 1: just really proud of the person, the man he is
Speaker 1: and the player and our guys can learn a lot
Speaker 1: from Billy. The final score Cincinnati thirty one, Tennessee twenty.
Speaker 1: Here are Zach Taylor, Jesse Bates, and Joe Burrow. This
Speaker 1: is the expectation, you know, they're they're happy. We're excited.
Speaker 1: We earned this. We needed it, especially going into a
Speaker 1: buy because these players have done everything we've asked him
Speaker 1: to do and the reward hasn't been in the wind calm.
Speaker 1: They needed it. But but to say that anyone is
Speaker 1: shocked it would be would be untrue. I don't think
Speaker 1: a lot of people expected us to win a day. Um,
Speaker 1: you know this locker room knows that, and we don't
Speaker 1: really care. Honestly, it's all about us and like I said,
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to build on what we're building
Speaker 1: here on the foundation. It's all about us. So excited
Speaker 1: for the future. This is a lot of them and
Speaker 1: am going into the bye week. Much needed bye week
Speaker 1: by the way, Um, you know we needed the win today.
Speaker 1: Is feel good about ourselves and able to enjoy these
Speaker 1: next couple days and kind of relax. Why is it
Speaker 1: a much needed by week for you guys, injury wise,
Speaker 1: body wise, everyone just needs to get their mind right.
Speaker 1: You know, we have a chance to rattle off a
Speaker 1: lot of wins here in the last part of the season.
Speaker 1: It starts in Pittsburgh and that's gonna be a big game.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm excited to play that one, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to enjoy this bye week first. What are you
Speaker 1: gonna do in the bye week? Absolutely nothing. The Bengals
Speaker 1: hit the halfway point of the season with a record
Speaker 1: of two five and one up next after the bye
Speaker 1: the only undefeated team left in the NFL the seven
Speaker 1: and oh Steelers, who beat Baltimore twenty eight twenty four
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Pittsburgh does have a game next week at
Speaker 1: home against Dallas. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint
Speaker 1: of fruit flavor. Now let's get some postgame analysis from
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. All right, we need you
Speaker 1: to put the performance of the offensive line into perspective
Speaker 1: because the left tackle Achemadenagy had played seven snaps before today.
Speaker 1: The left guard Quentin Spain practiced with the team for
Speaker 1: the first time on Friday. Center Billy Price was making
Speaker 1: his first start this year after failing to live up
Speaker 1: to expectations as a first round draft pick over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. Right guard Alex Redman got cut
Speaker 1: before the season. There was no interest from other teams,
Speaker 1: so he came back initially to the practice squad right
Speaker 1: tackle Fred Johnson, a disaster at guard, now back to
Speaker 1: his more comfortable position at tackle. You played professionally as
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman for a dozen years. How incredible was
Speaker 1: it that this hodgepodge of offensive lineman played the way
Speaker 1: they did. Never seen anything like it at any level
Speaker 1: peewee football, high school football, college football, professional, Never seen
Speaker 1: anything like it. The circumstances that led to what you
Speaker 1: just described is almost incomprehensible. And the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: one couple guys jump, you know, a little jump because
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is a master at the hard count. Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow will try to draw the defense offside with hardcounts
Speaker 1: all the time. And as an offensive lineman, that's hard.
Speaker 1: You know, you have to get used to that. You
Speaker 1: have to have heard it. It has to be, you know,
Speaker 1: a repetition in your in your ear that you can,
Speaker 1: you know, react accordingly, and for these guys in precious
Speaker 1: situations third down to be able to hold their water
Speaker 1: as such, when Joe Burrows doing this thing, trying to
Speaker 1: draw the defense offside, and again there was there was
Speaker 1: a jump, a couple of jumps, but nothing's different. The
Speaker 1: way they operated was unbelievable, particularly Spain. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: he's played in the league six years, so he knows.
Speaker 1: He knows there's only so many ways you can block things.
Speaker 1: I remember a former teammate of mine, Mike Wilson, offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: the Bengals get traded in Seattle on Wednesday, started the
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, played the whole game, and I've talked
Speaker 1: to him about it after the game, I said, was
Speaker 1: it just a matter of another lineman saying this is
Speaker 1: we call it this? What did you used to us?
Speaker 1: We used to call this in Cincinnati? Okay, well here
Speaker 1: it's this. So every time they break the huddle coming
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage, they translate to make sure
Speaker 1: that he had the right schematic in mind, based on
Speaker 1: in his mind, he's hooking that into what they did
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati until he was there a longer period of time.
Speaker 1: To handle all that and not make mistakes is incredible
Speaker 1: up and down that line of scrimmage. To have so
Speaker 1: many variables, you know, five variables on every single play,
Speaker 1: for them to play like a fist, you know where
Speaker 1: they were better together, all five components were better together
Speaker 1: than any one individual guy. Remarkable, remarkable effort by those guys,
Speaker 1: remarkable effort by the offensive line coaches both of them
Speaker 1: to get them ready to play, remarkable game plan to
Speaker 1: help them in protection, getting the bott of Joe Burrow's
Speaker 1: hands so fast, literally a lot of this in he
Speaker 1: catching the shotgun, it's out, it's out. I mean, defensive
Speaker 1: linemen are thinking, I mean, they don't need an offensive line.
Speaker 1: I can't get there. If I get in a spurn
Speaker 1: of stance and he takes that shotgun step, I can't
Speaker 1: didn't get close to him before he's getting the ball
Speaker 1: out and hitting somebody with it. And it wasn't like
Speaker 1: that every snap, but a good number snaps. It was
Speaker 1: like that, and that frustrates the defensive line. So every
Speaker 1: component of it, I mean, take multiple bows. Every single
Speaker 1: person involved with that whole thing, the game plan, the
Speaker 1: people had executed it, the people that put together the
Speaker 1: game plan, check check, check check. Everybody should get game balls.
Speaker 1: They should have you know, whole offensive units should get
Speaker 1: game balls. Well, somebody who did get a game ball
Speaker 1: was Billy Price, and head coach Zach Taylor was effusive
Speaker 1: in his praise for Billy after the game. He represents
Speaker 1: everything we stand for with his attitude and his work
Speaker 1: ethic and stuff along those lines. He's basically played two
Speaker 1: games in a row now because Trey Hopkins left with
Speaker 1: about three and a half minutes to go in the
Speaker 1: second quarter last week with a concussion, Billy's played well.
Speaker 1: Is there a chance that Billy Price is salvaging his
Speaker 1: status as a first round draft pick now that he's
Speaker 1: back at center. It's work in progress, but it's heading
Speaker 1: in the right direction. Darrow going up and Billy Price
Speaker 1: handled it exactly the way you would want to handle it.
Speaker 1: He wants to start. Everybody wants to start. Everybody's frustrated
Speaker 1: when they're not starting. Compare and contrast how Carlos handled
Speaker 1: his situation. Now he was a starter that was demoted.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit different than never getting a start.
Speaker 1: But you come in, as you know, the Remington Award
Speaker 1: winner at center, and you know the first round pick
Speaker 1: and all these things. I mean, you come in highly decorated.
Speaker 1: It's it's anticipated you're going to be the guy, and
Speaker 1: then you're not the guy. What did he do? Went
Speaker 1: to the coaches? What do I need to work on?
Speaker 1: Where am I deficient? What do I need to do.
Speaker 1: No sulk and no moaning. Not happy, obviously, not happy,
Speaker 1: not satisfied, you know, working with the look squad, the
Speaker 1: scout team, working against the number one defensive lineman, give
Speaker 1: him the best look that he can give him, trying
Speaker 1: to improve his technique. And is he a work in
Speaker 1: progress still? Yeah? I mean everybody is he is, But boy,
Speaker 1: his level of play has improved. I mean his confidence
Speaker 1: level is probably at an all time high now. And
Speaker 1: these guys, you're in the NFL for a reason, and
Speaker 1: sometimes when your confidence gets shaken, that's the biggest problem,
Speaker 1: the biggest component. I mean, to get your confidence back
Speaker 1: when you lose it can be tough. And I think
Speaker 1: Billy Price is getting that confidence back now. And the
Speaker 1: fact that you were able to maintain your confidence through
Speaker 1: the through the dark times, I think is big. And adversity.
Speaker 1: How much more adversity could this team have had? There
Speaker 1: was not a starter, a week one starter anywhere in
Speaker 1: the offensive line. They still hang over thirty the Titans,
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Adversity builds character, Adversity reveals character.
Speaker 1: Adversity exposes character, both good and bad, and a lot
Speaker 1: of good character was exposed today, Let's get back to
Speaker 1: guard Quentin Spain, who as signed as a free agent
Speaker 1: this week, practiced on Friday, got in there early today
Speaker 1: and played most of the game at left guard. He
Speaker 1: started sixty six games in his NFL career. He was
Speaker 1: good enough in buff full of last year that they
Speaker 1: gave him a three year, fifteen million dollars deal in March.
Speaker 1: Ultimately didn't work out in Buffalo. But do the Bengals
Speaker 1: have a new starting guard. He's six four, three hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds, twenty nine years old, powerful physical. I
Speaker 1: mean some of the runs that were busted up the
Speaker 1: gut between between the tackles he and Billy Price, he
Speaker 1: and a dentis. I mean when they were doubling, they
Speaker 1: were moving down lineman. The first thing you need to
Speaker 1: do on a double team is to move the down line,
Speaker 1: and make sure you do that. If you don't move
Speaker 1: the down lineman, you're being consumed by two linebackers in
Speaker 1: hog Heaven. If you're moving him now, the linebacker's good problems.
Speaker 1: A guy could be in my lap. I need to
Speaker 1: make a decision on what side I'm going to try
Speaker 1: to feel. I mean, it's a totally different football play
Speaker 1: in that point in time. So, yeah, I mean Spain,
Speaker 1: and so something must have happened with Calhoun. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's physical, but the coach is determined. He's
Speaker 1: in over his head. If it wasn't physical, he's in
Speaker 1: over his head. Let's put Spain in there. Spain's got
Speaker 1: a lot of experience. We know Spain can play. And
Speaker 1: Spain went in there and played his off and everybody
Speaker 1: said after the game was communication, communication, communication, And there's
Speaker 1: how about how about Spain coming up to the into
Speaker 1: the huddle and he's got a rookie at left tackle
Speaker 1: and it's played, you know, maybe three offensive snaps at
Speaker 1: the tackle position, not the extra tight end and all
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. And then you have Billy Pricet center.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, I need somebody to Billy translate for me,
Speaker 1: will you, because and now you're gonna have to translate
Speaker 1: for both of us. Although they say idenergy, one of
Speaker 1: his biggest assets is his intelligence. And man, they've got
Speaker 1: three smart tackles, they have two smart centers and intelligence.
Speaker 1: Football intelligence gives coaches a lot of confidence. And uh,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you that's a that's another thing that
Speaker 1: the Bengals have in spades, and it was proven today
Speaker 1: once again to be able to people just don't understand
Speaker 1: how hard that is. And you're you're going against a
Speaker 1: guy like Simmons, who's, you know, one of the premier
Speaker 1: players in the National Football League. You have to communicate
Speaker 1: everything right, execute everything right, you know, not not any
Speaker 1: any false steps, any false movements, any false anything. And
Speaker 1: it's hard, man, it's not and you can't well, I
Speaker 1: guess you can. Spain walked off the street and did it.
Speaker 1: But he's got a lot of experience in other places.
Speaker 1: Though Jesse Bates got a game ball for his first
Speaker 1: quarter end zone interception. But I thought this was von
Speaker 1: Bell's best game in the Bengals uniform. He had an
Speaker 1: interception that unfortunately was wiped off the board because of
Speaker 1: the pre snap penalty on Kyral Lawson. But it seemed
Speaker 1: to me that every time they threw it in the
Speaker 1: direction of whoever von Bell was covering, he was there.
Speaker 1: And his coverage has been a question marked, to put
Speaker 1: it nicely so far this year. But we know nobody
Speaker 1: works hard or he's in the building at like five
Speaker 1: in the morning every day, and he really did a
Speaker 1: solid job it's good to see hard work payoff because
Speaker 1: I agree with that. I thought of you his best
Speaker 1: game as a Bengal, no doubt coming downhill. You know
Speaker 1: I wrote recognition, breaking on the ball, doing all the
Speaker 1: things you need to do. You know, two interceptions nullified unbelievable. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's almost it's almost in. There's so many things
Speaker 1: happened today with the offensive line. I don't think I've
Speaker 1: seen two plays like that in a short time frame,
Speaker 1: nullified like that. And then the bengalstore interceptions is nullified
Speaker 1: by passing their ferens. That was a crazy sequence of football.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think the safeties as a tandem,
Speaker 1: I think it shows what they can do. And the
Speaker 1: amazing stat to me that had been lost because they've
Speaker 1: been so bad in the fourth quarter defensively five out
Speaker 1: of the first sixth possession first possessions now by opponents,
Speaker 1: five out of the last six games they've gotten a takeaway.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's a hell of a way to start
Speaker 1: a football game. And you know that that gave the
Speaker 1: Bengals early momentum and gave them going into the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter with leads. But then they were so bad in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. People, you know, it nullified what they've
Speaker 1: done in the quarters one through three to help get
Speaker 1: to where the team was in the fourth quarter. But
Speaker 1: it was good to get one today. And uh, this
Speaker 1: is the third game in a third first drive in
Speaker 1: a row they've gotten to turn over five out of
Speaker 1: the last six and then to finish it in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter with better performance. Auden Tate target had seven times,
Speaker 1: seven catches sixty five yards, one big third down catch
Speaker 1: after another. I'll tell you what, it's four legitimate receiving
Speaker 1: targets now because although aj Green didn't have a particularly
Speaker 1: big game, he's been great the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: More big catches today for for Higgins and Boyd and
Speaker 1: now Auden Tate comes up big. You know, Tennessee had
Speaker 1: run a bunch of cover two, so I thought tight
Speaker 1: ends and running backs are going to be in big
Speaker 1: in today's passing game. You know they were. They were
Speaker 1: putting you know, seven, eight, nine in the box. I mean,
Speaker 1: Joe made a lot of his plays to the perimeter,
Speaker 1: to the outside and making accurate throws. And Auden Tate
Speaker 1: is so big and so long, six five long arms,
Speaker 1: you know, vice hands when he gets his hands in
Speaker 1: the football, defensive backs can't separate him from it. And
Speaker 1: he made what seven targets, seven catches unbelievable. He was
Speaker 1: he had a perfect day. That gives Joe Burrow a
Speaker 1: lot of confidence. Joe Burrow, you know Tyler Boyd, He's
Speaker 1: got a lot of chemistry going with Tyler Boyd, got
Speaker 1: a lot of chemistry going with t Higgins. And you
Speaker 1: know Aj is doing what he's doing, and you add
Speaker 1: this to the mix. I think I've you know, I've
Speaker 1: talked about it before back in the day when we
Speaker 1: had one of the best offenses, the best offense that
Speaker 1: I ever played on nineteen eighty one, eighty two. Kenny
Speaker 1: Anderson attacked through Lynde and finally the offensivecording what the
Speaker 1: game plans, attacked every part of the field, and every
Speaker 1: player came in when the game plan was being presented.
Speaker 1: What's he got me doing this week? That's what's starting
Speaker 1: to happen here. We expected to go out and score thirty.
Speaker 1: We expected it. This team's starting to expect to go
Speaker 1: out and score thirty. And who's going to do it.
Speaker 1: How many guys are going to be involved? They can't
Speaker 1: take everybody away. Okay, this might not be my day
Speaker 1: because there Tilton covers me. But you guys, man feast,
Speaker 1: have a day and unselfish, you know, step up, make plays,
Speaker 1: multiple guys to do it. That's what the are off.
Speaker 1: This was all about. We had great guys executing it
Speaker 1: and MVP quarterback have a Rookie of the Year quarterback
Speaker 1: executing it. Here to all these weapons, I'm telling you, man,
Speaker 1: their confidence second half of the season is going to
Speaker 1: be very interesting to see what level they take it to,
Speaker 1: because I don't care who they're playing. The rematch against
Speaker 1: Baltimore here is going to be interesting to me because
Speaker 1: they were embarrassed by the Ravens the way they played
Speaker 1: and only putting three points on the board be interesting.
Speaker 1: That'll be a big barometer. And when they play Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: twice in the second half of the season against a really,
Speaker 1: really good defense, because now Tennessee's not that good defensively
Speaker 1: and a lot of teams they've hung thirty on is
Speaker 1: not really a big test defensive like Pittsburgh and Baltimore
Speaker 1: will be. That'll be the litmus test, and I'm very
Speaker 1: excited to see how they'll play against Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: after the bye and then Monday Night football here and
Speaker 1: then finished the season against Baltimore. Trade deadlines Tuesday at
Speaker 1: four o'clock with Green, Tate, Boyd and Higgins. If you
Speaker 1: can get anything for John Us, the Bengals make that deal,
Speaker 1: don't they. I think they do. Gotta take Billy Price
Speaker 1: off the trade ball. The way he's playing. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's remarkable when when all hands are on deck,
Speaker 1: when all guys are healthy, they're gonna have so much
Speaker 1: depth at the interior offensive line positions. M you know, again,
Speaker 1: everybody has trouble at the tackle position in terms of
Speaker 1: level of play, number of guys out there. There's a
Speaker 1: shortage of edge people offensively and defensively, tackles and pass
Speaker 1: rushes and the Bengals of no exception. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be h It's gonna be very interesting, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 1: no question about it. I was amused when you asked
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow what he planned to do during the bye week.
Speaker 1: Absolutely nothing. I'm telling you, Man, recharge the battery mentally, physically,
Speaker 1: every way you can do it. And it's it's great
Speaker 1: going into a bye week with I mean, the the betters,
Speaker 1: the gamblers, the point spread setters, they had it at
Speaker 1: like three and a half. Four all the offensive lineman
Speaker 1: changes happened and went to seven seven and a half,
Speaker 1: And I mean, sometimes sometimes it doesn't work out the
Speaker 1: way you anticipate things. And kudos kudos to all these
Speaker 1: guys for stepping up and being part of a upset
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. But in my mind, there
Speaker 1: aren't really big upsets in the National Football League. But
Speaker 1: to beat this Tennessee Titan team by two scores, that's
Speaker 1: a job well done. I'll tell you what else is
Speaker 1: nice for Joe Burrow. He doesn't have to go, you know,
Speaker 1: sit in a hot tub for a week after this game.
Speaker 1: Hit twice, wasn't sacked at all, first time all year
Speaker 1: he's not been sacked. He was getting hit an average
Speaker 1: of nine times per game, coming in two QB hits
Speaker 1: behind the makeshift offensive line. And I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: Houdini like effort he had to prevent a sack. I mean,
Speaker 1: every one of those offensive lineman should go up and
Speaker 1: kiss him on the forehead because it was a clean
Speaker 1: game because of his footwork and his making miss ability.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, everybody underestimates the athletic ability in new
Speaker 1: short space quickness and the jackhammer feat of Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: I mean, the dude did it in the SEC and
Speaker 1: he's doing it in the National Football League. The guy
Speaker 1: can extend plays with the best of them, and man,
Speaker 1: he just sees the field. He's aj Green said last
Speaker 1: week or a week before a couple of times, and
Speaker 1: it's so true. It's one word and it says so much.
Speaker 1: He's special. There's no doubt Joe Burrow is special on
Speaker 1: every level. You want to talk about, every category, every
Speaker 1: box you want to check, special, special, Special. This was
Speaker 1: a great weekend for me. Bearcats one, they're up to
Speaker 1: number six in the country, Bengals one badly needed second
Speaker 1: wind of the year, second win of the year, and
Speaker 1: we had very few Tricker treats. So I've got a
Speaker 1: gigantic bag of Reese's peanut buttercups and take fives that
Speaker 1: are merged with the ess like the Reeses. Take five.
Speaker 1: If you had that, you have not oh so good.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check that out. And while I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: special for Joe Burron, we're talking food, what about special?
Speaker 1: K Step up, Step up, give Joe Burrow. Call it
Speaker 1: special Joe, not special k How about giving him a
Speaker 1: little endorsement on cereal? Uh yeah, Halloween man, all all
Speaker 1: our extra candry candy. I would have loved my wife
Speaker 1: Lynn going to the grandkids. Come on, Land, You're better
Speaker 1: than that. For more on Sundays win Over the Titans
Speaker 1: joined Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday Night
Speaker 1: from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time
Speaker 1: for this week's fun facts segment, as you get to
Speaker 1: know the person under the pads. Time for some fun
Speaker 1: facts with defensive lineman Amani Bledsoe from the Sunflower State,
Speaker 1: born in Wichita, Kansas, before attending high school in Lawrence.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about growing up in the Heartland,
Speaker 1: Amani and some of the things you like to do
Speaker 1: when you were young. Growing up with five other brothers
Speaker 1: death pretty crazy, you know, growing up very competitive and
Speaker 1: all kinds of sports. I mean, Thanksgivings were even competitive.
Speaker 1: You've got Grandpa cashing passes on flag football, so I
Speaker 1: mean just things like that always get the family involved
Speaker 1: in some kind of competitive sport or activity. Five brothers,
Speaker 1: Where did you fall into totem pole? I am the
Speaker 1: second youngest. So yeah, at fifth so those big brothers
Speaker 1: are beating you up. Yeah, Me and the youngest got
Speaker 1: it a lot, so I definitely made it's tougher, but
Speaker 1: learned a lot from them and helped us keep that
Speaker 1: competitive edge as well. We're doing fun facts with the
Speaker 1: Monty bled soell. I read you moved from Wichita to
Speaker 1: Lawrence in the eighth grade. That can be hard when
Speaker 1: you're young, was it for you? Yes? And no. I
Speaker 1: mean it's always tough leaving friends, but when mom gets
Speaker 1: a new job, you know, got to do what's best
Speaker 1: for the family, you know. And made a lot of
Speaker 1: great friends and Lawrence and had a lot of great
Speaker 1: memories playing ball with them as well. So I mean,
Speaker 1: it's everything happens the way it's supposed to it for
Speaker 1: a reason. There are some high school highlights of you
Speaker 1: on the internet labeled Amani Moose bled Cell. How did
Speaker 1: you get the nickname Moose? And does anybody still use it? So?
Speaker 1: Some still use it to this day. It just when
Speaker 1: we initially moved to Lawrence, we didn't go to like
Speaker 1: any of the Lawrence schools. Me and my younger brother
Speaker 1: Amery went to oscar Loose a little country school and
Speaker 1: one kid just call me Moose. One day, It's like,
Speaker 1: I call him Moose, and it's stuck ever since, through
Speaker 1: high school and a little through college. And so we'll
Speaker 1: see if it sticks here or not. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see. So you were a highly touted
Speaker 1: prospect at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas, where the
Speaker 1: University of Kansas is located. So was there a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure to attend KU? It was. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: right there at home. You know, you got your family there,
Speaker 1: your friends you went to school with, and you always
Speaker 1: have a great relationship with all the coaches from KUM,
Speaker 1: especially to have like Lawrence High tides or like born
Speaker 1: and raised and Lawrence. You know. But I mean, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I believe I made the
Speaker 1: right decision. A lot of praying about it, and everything
Speaker 1: happened the way it's supposed to. So, yeah, we're doing
Speaker 1: fun facts with the Monty bled Cell. I'll say you
Speaker 1: made the right decision. You went to Oklahoma and you
Speaker 1: played with two Heisman Trophy winners. You went to the
Speaker 1: Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the National Semifinal. What were
Speaker 1: some of the highlights of your entire college experience, you know,
Speaker 1: I would say, like just the intensity and competitive nature
Speaker 1: of like not even just like the game, the championship games,
Speaker 1: but like much of the practices you know, like iron
Speaker 1: sharp and irons, you know, like we're all helping each
Speaker 1: other get better, and you always in practice have great competition,
Speaker 1: great physical practices like throughout the week that prepare you
Speaker 1: to play the way you need to play on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So I mean just that competitive nature in the tradition
Speaker 1: of OEU, you know, and winning championships and things like that. Monty,
Speaker 1: despite your excellent career, you went undrafted in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Was that a big disappointment? Yes and no. Obviously you
Speaker 1: have your goals. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I trusted in God and stay the course, put my
Speaker 1: head down, went to work because I mean, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, no matter what it is and
Speaker 1: what you do, it is not about where you start,
Speaker 1: It's about where you finish and how people are gonna
Speaker 1: remember you. So so trying to build on that and
Speaker 1: take a day by day to become a great player
Speaker 1: and just get two percent better each day. We're chatting
Speaker 1: with a Monty Bledsoe. You don't tweet very often, but
Speaker 1: what do you do? It's usually to thank God. Were
Speaker 1: you raised in the church and is it important for
Speaker 1: you to share your faith? That's probably the biggest thing
Speaker 1: with me in my life is keeping God first and
Speaker 1: advancing His kingdom and just trying to be bold in
Speaker 1: my faith. You know, it can be a challenge at times,
Speaker 1: like getting into new places wherever you are with people,
Speaker 1: meet new people. But yeah, I'd definitely say my faith
Speaker 1: is the biggest thing about me on and off the field.
Speaker 1: Just keeping God first, involving him and every little thing
Speaker 1: I can do in my life, whether it's just thanking him,
Speaker 1: waking up in the morning, just being on the field,
Speaker 1: thanking Him before I practice. It would be like before
Speaker 1: a series like just thank you, I can know the
Speaker 1: opportunity to play the game I love, so just having
Speaker 1: those little conversations with God and involving Him with everything
Speaker 1: in my life and things like that. We will finish
Speaker 1: up with a few wild card topics. Is we do
Speaker 1: fun facts with a Mondi bledshow. Who is your favorite
Speaker 1: athlete of all time in any sport? And why? I'd
Speaker 1: probably said all the sports, probably Kobe because one of
Speaker 1: the big things with me is like keeping a strong
Speaker 1: mindset and like keeping a solid mindset and everything you do,
Speaker 1: And like one thing I picked off from him is
Speaker 1: like he's always had a strong mindset and whatever he does,
Speaker 1: whether he's winning, losing, or just being him, like, he
Speaker 1: keeps a strong mindset and it's contagious to others. So
Speaker 1: I'm not this guy, but I mean leading by example.
Speaker 1: I try to do and creating and keeping a strong
Speaker 1: mindset and helping others when I can do. You try
Speaker 1: to have a Mamba mentality somewhere. Yeah, if you could
Speaker 1: meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, world leader, etc. Who
Speaker 1: would that be? And why? Probably Denzel Washington. I think
Speaker 1: that would be a fun one, just because I'm like,
Speaker 1: he's pretty great at what he does, and he also
Speaker 1: keeps a strong mindset and very inspiring all platforms and
Speaker 1: all kinds of people, whether he's acting or just out
Speaker 1: speaking to people. You know, Like he's had that tenacious
Speaker 1: mindset to be great at what he does and not
Speaker 1: be complacent at what he does as well. What do
Speaker 1: you like to spend your money on. I don't like
Speaker 1: to spend much. I'm more of a window shopper, But
Speaker 1: when I do, it's probably food. I mean, I love
Speaker 1: my food. So there's any kind of food, whether it's
Speaker 1: like buying something cook at the house or just going
Speaker 1: to eat out here there you cook, do you have
Speaker 1: a go to dish? If you're trying to impress somebody.
Speaker 1: I can make some really good chicken parmersan a recipe
Speaker 1: I got from my older brother, kind of a family recipe.
Speaker 1: Now we got it down pretty good. Now, all right,
Speaker 1: final fun fact for a money bloed cell. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you played with two Heisman Trophy winners at Oklahoma, Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield and Kyler Murray. My question pertains to Baker. What
Speaker 1: do you think of his acting in all of his commercials.
Speaker 1: It's definitely fitting because he's definitely a character. I mean,
Speaker 1: sometimes you don't know what you're gonna get out of him.
Speaker 1: But he's a funny dude. You got contagious energy, you know.
Speaker 1: But I think it's very fitting and very entertaining to watch.
Speaker 1: As the broadcaster for the Bengals, I'm not allowed to
Speaker 1: like the Cleveland Browns quarterback, but I've got to admit
Speaker 1: he's really good in commercials. Yeah, I'll give them that.
Speaker 1: It's all I'm going to give them, Amani, this has
Speaker 1: been fun. You're off the hot seat. Appreciate the time,
Speaker 1: best of luck the rest of the year. I appreciate it, Dan, Bye.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Amani bleds and that's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to
Speaker 1: you by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. If you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if you have
Speaker 1: a minute, give it a rating or share a comment
Speaker 1: that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan
Speaker 1: Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.