Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The We're still having fun and
Speaker 1: you're still the One addition as I talk to punter
Speaker 1: Kevin Hubert as he looks to return for a fourteenth
Speaker 1: season and break the franchise record for most games play.
Speaker 1: Plus we'll hear why new tight end Hayden Hurst is
Speaker 1: so excited to be in Cincinnati. And then something a
Speaker 1: little different with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham as we
Speaker 1: compare our Mount Rushmoores in a wide variety of categories.
Speaker 1: I'll explain later in the pod. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next
Speaker 1: level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now
Speaker 1: on the App Store and Google Play. And here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since Fenway Park. The Reds opened to two game
Speaker 1: series at Fenway on Tuesday, and seeing the ballpark on
Speaker 1: TV reminded me of why it's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: places on Earth. You never forget your first time at
Speaker 1: a place like that, right. My first trip to Fenway
Speaker 1: was on a high school band trip when I was
Speaker 1: in ninth grade. Growing up a sports fanatic near Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York, I couldn't wait to see the Green Monster
Speaker 1: in person. Our entire high school band was scheduled to
Speaker 1: attend a game against the White Sox on a Friday night. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it got reined out. I was devastated, but I somehow
Speaker 1: convinced our high school band director, mister Popolardo, to allow
Speaker 1: me and my buddy Matt Moretti to skip the group
Speaker 1: activity on Boston's historic Freedom Trail following day and go
Speaker 1: to Fenway on our own for the makeup double header.
Speaker 1: I was fourteen years old. Parental supervision was apparently a
Speaker 1: little less strict back then. Thus, two ninth graders were
Speaker 1: allowed to leave their group on an out of town
Speaker 1: band trip to attend a Major League baseball game in
Speaker 1: a city they had never been to before. Mister Popolardo
Speaker 1: probably would have been reprimanded for insufficient chaperoning in this
Speaker 1: day and age, but we hopped in a cab and
Speaker 1: headed to Fenway. From what I've read, Roger Clemens and
Speaker 1: I apparently had the same experience when we saw Fenway
Speaker 1: Park for the first time. We both climbed out of
Speaker 1: a taxi in front of a short brick building that
Speaker 1: blended into the surrounding neighborhood and said, where's Fenway Park.
Speaker 1: In my case, the cabby pointed out the light towers
Speaker 1: as proof that he had taken us to the right location.
Speaker 1: I've been to Fenway dozen of times since and have
Speaker 1: the same sense of awe and wonder every time I
Speaker 1: walk through those gates. I've even had the thrill of
Speaker 1: broadcasting games from Fenway Park. The broadcast booth high above
Speaker 1: home plate is not a great place to see the action.
Speaker 1: Imagine trying to describe a baseball game from the Space shuttle,
Speaker 1: but it's still magical. You have a magnificent view of
Speaker 1: the Green Monster, the sitgo signed, the Pesky Pole, the
Speaker 1: skyline of Boston, and that perfectly manicured grass field. So
Speaker 1: here's a Dan Horde hot take. Fenway Park is easily
Speaker 1: the best ballpark in Major League Baseball, And for those
Speaker 1: of you who say, what about Wrigley Field, I've been
Speaker 1: to both and it's not even close. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to football. It's been nearly a month since Kevin Huber
Speaker 1: signed a one year contract extension as he looks to
Speaker 1: extend his career to a fourteenth season. Ken Anderson, Ken Riley,
Speaker 1: and Reggie Williams are the only players to spend at
Speaker 1: least fourteen years in Cincinnati, and in the final game
Speaker 1: of last season, Hubert tied Riley for most regular season
Speaker 1: games played in a Bengals uniform with two hundred seven.
Speaker 1: Before I get to my conversation with Kevin, here's a
Speaker 1: quick warning that there's about a two minute stretch where
Speaker 1: I get some interference on my microphone. It's not terrible.
Speaker 1: You can still hear and understand, Kevin, but I just
Speaker 1: wanted to let you know in advance that the noise
Speaker 1: goes away after a couple of questions. Now, let's hear
Speaker 1: from the Cincinnati native who holds the top spot in
Speaker 1: every Bengals career punting category. So I'm watching a replay
Speaker 1: of the Super Bowl the other day and I see
Speaker 1: the opening coin toss, and you're one of the four
Speaker 1: captains out there. I think technically you're the guy that
Speaker 1: deferred after the Rams lost the toss. But what was
Speaker 1: that moment like to be one of those four guys
Speaker 1: standing out there as a Super Bowl is about to
Speaker 1: kick off? And it was pretty special. And you know,
Speaker 1: at first you kind of, yeah, you figure out who
Speaker 1: who's going out there to do the coin tochs. It's
Speaker 1: like a normal game, and it's like you you start
Speaker 1: you know, looking around and um, taking a moment and
Speaker 1: realizing like what you're actually going out there for, and um,
Speaker 1: it was just a lot of fun to just to
Speaker 1: be out there with the guys and just you know,
Speaker 1: after you know, being here for so long, just to
Speaker 1: be a part of that was pretty special. You seem
Speaker 1: to take tremendous pride in the fact that you're a
Speaker 1: Cincinnati guy and you were on a Cincinnati team that
Speaker 1: made it. At least that's the way it felt going
Speaker 1: up to the Super Bowl. Was that the case, Oh,
Speaker 1: it definitely was. Um, you know, there's definitely a different, uh,
Speaker 1: different perspective. I feel like that I was able to
Speaker 1: have compared to a lot of other guys in my
Speaker 1: team just from being here my entire life, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing the ups and downs over the years. When I
Speaker 1: was growing up them to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: To have my entire family here, all my friends here. Um,
Speaker 1: it was definitely I think, uh, I definitely took a
Speaker 1: lot of pride in that, and um it's something I'll
Speaker 1: definitely never forget and uh hopefully I'll get another chance
Speaker 1: to that. Perforehim done. Who is there? What friends and
Speaker 1: family members made the trip? Uh? Shoot, my entire immediate family, um,
Speaker 1: all my siblings, uh, most of the kids, most of
Speaker 1: my my nieces and nephews. Um, my wife was out there.
Speaker 1: I had several several buddies that came out that made
Speaker 1: the trip out. Um. Some flew in and out the
Speaker 1: same day. UM say every just much whatever they could
Speaker 1: to get out there. Um. So I think all told,
Speaker 1: probably you know, probably twenty thirty people, but I at
Speaker 1: least that I knew, and several others that just came
Speaker 1: out just you know, because there's quite a few people
Speaker 1: out there. How long did it hurt? I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think that we were stopped pritting because you know,
Speaker 1: you feel how close you were, Um, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just something that I think, I think for the
Speaker 1: team gives a tremendous a managements the next season because
Speaker 1: we have somebody guys that are young and they but
Speaker 1: they're hungry and they want that again. They want that
Speaker 1: feeling again. So I think, yeah, it's I think it's
Speaker 1: always gonna hurt and always gonna be like, you know
Speaker 1: what if, But I think it's gonna be a huge
Speaker 1: catalyst for us to, you know, get back through this year.
Speaker 1: So there was a team party after the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: at Pauli Pavilion. I can only imagine how awesome it
Speaker 1: would have been had the outcome been different, but it
Speaker 1: was still very nice a celebration of the season, and
Speaker 1: at one point you and several of your teammates are
Speaker 1: up on the stage with Kid Cutty and it occurred
Speaker 1: to me watching from the audience that you're young. I mean,
Speaker 1: in football terms, you're referred to as like, oh, he's
Speaker 1: thirty six, he's gonna be thirty seven. In real life,
Speaker 1: you're a young man. Does this game and being around
Speaker 1: these guys keep you feeling young? Absolutely. I think me
Speaker 1: and Clark joked about it last year when when we
Speaker 1: drafted Evan, and it's me and Clark at thirty six,
Speaker 1: thirty seven and Evan at like twenty one. Just getting
Speaker 1: his you know, be able to go by by alcohol
Speaker 1: for the first time. So yeah, definitely the youth the
Speaker 1: team and the youth of Evan, And it definitely keeps
Speaker 1: you young. It keeps you, um, slightly immature, I would say,
Speaker 1: but uh, in a good way. Um. You know, so
Speaker 1: I think it definitely keeps you going. And you know,
Speaker 1: you've got guys that that aren't looking at the end
Speaker 1: of their career, they're looking at the beginning and wanting
Speaker 1: to grow, and you're you're right there with them, just
Speaker 1: helping them along the way. And it's it's definitely a fun,
Speaker 1: fun part of it. We're chatting with Kevin Huber so
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson had these dramatic game winning kicks in the postseason,
Speaker 1: fifty two yards at Tennessee, end of the game at
Speaker 1: Kansas City, and obviously you're the guy holding. How nerve racking?
Speaker 1: Is it for the holder in those situations? Um, I'd
Speaker 1: say for a young holder, it's probably more so. But
Speaker 1: I you know, I've done it long enough, and you know,
Speaker 1: we've had some game winners along the way of my career.
Speaker 1: But it's with being with Clark so long, it's it's
Speaker 1: definitely like you know, tiers, shoes. It's it's just something
Speaker 1: that you don't really think about, which in those moments
Speaker 1: I think is a huge benefit because you're not really
Speaker 1: thinking about the moment. You're just thinking about get the
Speaker 1: ball down so Devin can do his work. So it's
Speaker 1: you kind of and well you can almost like shut
Speaker 1: everything off and you just kind of just just things
Speaker 1: just happened. So it's, um, you know, it's it's not
Speaker 1: too nerve wracking. UM, I would say, um when it
Speaker 1: comes that just because of the experience and um, the
Speaker 1: amount of reps, I mean, park about together. The day
Speaker 1: that you resigned, I had a speaking engagement with some
Speaker 1: Bengals fans and I said, well, good news, Kevin Huber
Speaker 1: has resigned as the Bengals holder. Now that they've improved
Speaker 1: the offensive line, they're not going to be punting this
Speaker 1: year anyway, which got a good laugh. But is holding
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the job forty percent of the job,
Speaker 1: how do you think of it? Um, you know, comparatively,
Speaker 1: you know, I've had you coaches, I had you know,
Speaker 1: Coach Lewis and and and coach Taylor. Um, I think
Speaker 1: under coach Lewis when we were a huge defensive amount
Speaker 1: of team. I think hunting um was probably more important
Speaker 1: because we did a lot of a lot of We
Speaker 1: harped a lot on you know, winning the field position
Speaker 1: battle um, you know, winning games division game, you know
Speaker 1: nine to six where it's a couple of field goals
Speaker 1: where there's not a lot of scoring, but it's just
Speaker 1: you just keep pinning them back and enforcement of bad situations.
Speaker 1: But now with with coach Taylor and you know, it's
Speaker 1: offense and let's see how many points you can score.
Speaker 1: And then add and Evan whose range is something that
Speaker 1: we've never had before. You know, we've just got to
Speaker 1: get across midfield. So I think the holding aspects is
Speaker 1: definitely probably tipped more on the sixty percent side. And
Speaker 1: then the punning part is just get good hits and
Speaker 1: get yourself in the best best situation for that particular
Speaker 1: punt and just kind of just don't screw up. So
Speaker 1: I think holding has definitely the biggest u part of
Speaker 1: my job right now. So you resigned right after the draft,
Speaker 1: kind I think many of us assume, well, the Bengals
Speaker 1: are waiting to see what happens in the draft, and
Speaker 1: it's it turned out you were the one that was waiting. Correct,
Speaker 1: there was an offer on the table, but you wanted
Speaker 1: to see what transpired. Yeah. We had communications back and forth,
Speaker 1: you know, leading after the draft five for like a
Speaker 1: month or so. UM. But I you know, knowing, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just talk to my agent, knowing that there
Speaker 1: were uh was more of a punt heavy UM incoming class.
Speaker 1: UM been normal. UM. And you know I'm not dumb.
Speaker 1: I'm not being the punter for the next sixty years.
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna happen where at some point I'm not
Speaker 1: the punter. UM. And knowing that there was you know,
Speaker 1: more punters and you know, the opportunity for them the
Speaker 1: good one. UM. You know, I wanted to see. I
Speaker 1: wanted to sit back and see what uh what transpired
Speaker 1: and draft and um just because if they drafted when
Speaker 1: I totally get it, it's you know, it's um, it's
Speaker 1: just part of the job that we live in. And UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted to see what we're going on. UM. And
Speaker 1: UM I feel like if if they drapped someone, because
Speaker 1: when I got drafted, they cut the other guys in
Speaker 1: the team. So UM, I didn't want to put myself
Speaker 1: in a situation where I would be almost trapped if
Speaker 1: they drafted someone that they were going to make them part.
Speaker 1: So Drew Chrisman is here. He was on the practice
Speaker 1: squad off and on for much of last year, so
Speaker 1: they must have seen something in him they liked. Is
Speaker 1: this training camp battle and he different from anyone that
Speaker 1: you've been through in the past, considering that you will
Speaker 1: be thirty seven when the season begins, well, considering that,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've really ever had a quote unquote
Speaker 1: training camp battle. We've had some guys in, but they're
Speaker 1: more combo guys that were more or less taking some
Speaker 1: reps off the kickers and helping out with kickoffs and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So yeah, I think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be definitely different. And you know, I got my work
Speaker 1: cut out from me. I'm definitely getting older quote unquote
Speaker 1: in terms of football years. But you know, Drew does
Speaker 1: a good job. He's got he's got a big leg
Speaker 1: and it's a really nice ball. But I know that
Speaker 1: if I just do what I can do and you know,
Speaker 1: just stick to you know, not try to you know,
Speaker 1: out kick him, just do my job and be consistent
Speaker 1: and put the ball needs to be put, and then
Speaker 1: you know the holding part. I feel, you know, very
Speaker 1: confident and so as long as I do what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do, I should be fine. This is audio, not video.
Speaker 1: But when you said I'm getting older, you did air
Speaker 1: quotes when you said the word older. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean because I don't. I feel like I'm very old.
Speaker 1: But I know it's viewed in the football world. Is
Speaker 1: thirty six is like, oh my gosh, he's he's done,
Speaker 1: He's old. He's But I don't feel like that. I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm you know, I feel like I'm sitting
Speaker 1: at Mobile just well now as I did five six
Speaker 1: years ago. So I don't think the age is an
Speaker 1: issue for me as far as losing leg strength. So yeah,
Speaker 1: age is just a age, is just a number. You're
Speaker 1: tied with Ken Riley for career games played in a
Speaker 1: Bengals uniform. That's a regular season record. Is being alone
Speaker 1: on the top of that mountain a big deal to you? Definitely?
Speaker 1: I think that'd be a pretty awesome, you know, a
Speaker 1: record to hold. And at the same time, I can't
Speaker 1: let Clark have that instead of me. So I need
Speaker 1: to make sure I make the team and get that
Speaker 1: record and keep Clark off the list. Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Best of luck this season. Thanks so much. I appreciate
Speaker 1: all Right, here's a trivia question for you the next
Speaker 1: time you're hanging out with a Bengals fan. Who is
Speaker 1: the last person to punt for the Bengals other than
Speaker 1: Kevin Huber. The answer Romanian born Zoltan Mesco, who punted
Speaker 1: in the playoff laws to the Chargers in January of
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, when Huber was out with a broken jaw.
Speaker 1: We turn from the longest tenured Bengal and Kevin Huber
Speaker 1: to a newcomer, tight end Hayden Hurst, who spent two
Speaker 1: years in Baltimore and two years in Atlanta before signing
Speaker 1: a one year free agent deal with the Bengals to
Speaker 1: replace c j Uzama. He spoke with reporters in front
Speaker 1: of his locker on Tuesday. Yeah, it's just awesome being around,
Speaker 1: you know, an organization like this that was in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl last year, because they've set a standard, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's fun coming in as the new guy. I
Speaker 1: get to kind of reinvent myself and live up to
Speaker 1: that standards. So it's been fun. Who has helped you
Speaker 1: the most with feeling like you're a Bengal, like you've
Speaker 1: earned your stripes. Really, everybody on the offense is pretty helpful.
Speaker 1: You know. James is an awesome tight end coach. It's
Speaker 1: nice having a guy like that in our room, just
Speaker 1: level headed and helps me, you know, maintain focus and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and just learning the playbook and things.
Speaker 1: Joe has been awesome, Brandon has been awesome to helped
Speaker 1: me learn stuff, to Drew Mitch. So everybody's really you know,
Speaker 1: welcome me with open arms. It's been nice. Let this
Speaker 1: phase help you and Joe develop a rapport and knowing
Speaker 1: each other. Oh, it's incredible. It's incredibly helpful. Just like
Speaker 1: today we're going over stuff just how he wants things
Speaker 1: to run. And I went up and told him, I said, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm all ears. You know, whatever you need me to do,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm here to do. He's the real deal,
Speaker 1: you know, he captains the ship and you know, like
Speaker 1: like I said, whatever coverage he sees, you know, he's
Speaker 1: checking into certain things. So as a professional, it just
Speaker 1: helps me be on my p's and q's because I know,
Speaker 1: I got to know the ins and outs of that playbook.
Speaker 1: The more that I know and the more that I
Speaker 1: can do, the more I'll just be, you know, available
Speaker 1: and be able to be on the field. You know,
Speaker 1: I just this is my fifth year and my fifth
Speaker 1: offense that I've had to learn, So it's it's fun,
Speaker 1: but you know, it's nothing new to me. Just got
Speaker 1: to go in and study and learn stuff. When you signed,
Speaker 1: it seemed like the opportunity slash need at the position
Speaker 1: really excited you. Now that you're here and you see
Speaker 1: the guys, has that been reinforced even more. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: a great group. You know I've been in I've been
Speaker 1: lucky and blessed to be in some pretty good groups
Speaker 1: in the NFL. These guys are awesome. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's kind of all hands on deck right now helping
Speaker 1: me learn this stuff. I'm excited to get in there
Speaker 1: and play with those guys. There's a lot of good
Speaker 1: athletes in our room, a lot of smart guys. So
Speaker 1: it's a good group to be around. Five offenses in
Speaker 1: five years. Well, what's the hardest part about that? Just
Speaker 1: getting the rapport with a quarterback. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what I told Joe today. I said, Hey, man, you know,
Speaker 1: I know I do some things well but I don't
Speaker 1: have this all figured out. So whatever you need, whatever,
Speaker 1: whatever you want, you know, that's that's what I'm here
Speaker 1: to do. That's why they signed me. Um, whatever I
Speaker 1: can do to help this team, help Joe, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm here to do this year. Watching you practice, it
Speaker 1: seems like you really get up the field quickly. It's
Speaker 1: noticeable for a guy your size. Has anybody pointed that
Speaker 1: out or saying, WHOA? I think this staff finally understands
Speaker 1: what I'm capable of. It's taken five years, unfortunately, but
Speaker 1: everything happens for a reason. I think God put me
Speaker 1: here in Cincinnati for a reason. Like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna do my job, buckled down, learn this playbook,
Speaker 1: and just work my ass off. That's all I can do.
Speaker 1: Maybe you did a lot of research about, you know what,
Speaker 1: where you wanted to sign and why, how was it
Speaker 1: matched up with your experience now that you're in it,
Speaker 1: I made the right choice. Just I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we all know what Nine's capable of. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: incredible and he's a professional. And like I said, it
Speaker 1: was good for me being in Atlanta because Matt was
Speaker 1: that way, you know, he's a professional. You knew what
Speaker 1: he was going to have every single day, So it
Speaker 1: really raised the standard of what you had to do,
Speaker 1: your knowledge of the game, your knowledge of the playbook.
Speaker 1: I love it, you know because, like I said, there's
Speaker 1: an expectation and you know, I have to live up
Speaker 1: to it. So it's fun. Is that professionalism between the
Speaker 1: two of those guys, who really stands out is the
Speaker 1: big similarity one hundred percent. Some guys aren't like that.
Speaker 1: Some guys are. You know, he's he's about he's about
Speaker 1: his business. You know, he's not really when he's in
Speaker 1: the building, he's not screwing around. You know, he knows
Speaker 1: what he has to do and he expects you to
Speaker 1: know what you need to do too. So just watching
Speaker 1: him on the field from afar, you know, not even
Speaker 1: being in the same huddle, you know what he's about.
Speaker 1: And when you're in the same huddle and you hear
Speaker 1: him and it's confidence and what he expects. It's just
Speaker 1: it reinforces that. It's pretty awesome. Do you think people
Speaker 1: around the league have any idea what you're capable of? No,
Speaker 1: And I can't wait. It's gonna be very fun. It's
Speaker 1: like I said, I'm you know, I'm not throwing jabs anywhere,
Speaker 1: but for whatever reason, it kind of hasn't clicked yet
Speaker 1: in an offense with me and an offensive coordinator. And
Speaker 1: you just have to have somebody fall in love with you,
Speaker 1: and it hasn't happened for me yet. And like I said,
Speaker 1: I think I've kind of found home. You get to
Speaker 1: play both of your former teams. Yeah, smile has already
Speaker 1: come to your face looking forward to that. I'm already
Speaker 1: a self motivated guy. There's not really you know, outside
Speaker 1: stuff that drives me a whole lot. But there's any
Speaker 1: more fuel to my fire that I needed, I definitely
Speaker 1: have it. I was a minor league baseball announcer for
Speaker 1: several years, so we have minor league baseball in common.
Speaker 1: How did that experience, and I know it was tough
Speaker 1: for you, How did that shape you and help you
Speaker 1: reach the point you preach? It's made me a hell
Speaker 1: of a resilient athlete because in high school I just
Speaker 1: showed up and I was better than everybody. You know.
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't have to work hard, I
Speaker 1: don't have to do this. And then I get into
Speaker 1: pro baseball and I get my ass kicked a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I was able to kind of, you know, go
Speaker 1: back to who I am and work myself out of
Speaker 1: it and get to the NFL. But it's just I'm
Speaker 1: pretty resilient, you know. You know when I get kicked,
Speaker 1: you know, I scratch and clawback. There's not a whole
Speaker 1: lot of people that can keep me down. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to scratch and claw my way to the top.
Speaker 1: And you know, luckily I was given this opportunity, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's all going to scratch and claw. If
Speaker 1: you're not familiar with Hayden hurst pro baseball career, he
Speaker 1: was a highly touted pitching prospect in the Pirates organization
Speaker 1: with a ninety five mile an hour fastball when he
Speaker 1: came down with a yips much like former Big leaguer
Speaker 1: Steve Blasts and rick An Keel, where he completely lost
Speaker 1: the ability to throw strikes. It was even hard for
Speaker 1: him to play catch, so he quit baseball, walked on
Speaker 1: to the football team at South Carolina, and eventually became
Speaker 1: a first round draft pick by the Ravens. Here's an
Speaker 1: invitation to grab your yoga matt and join WHO Day
Speaker 1: On Saturday, June twenty fifth at nine am for Namas
Speaker 1: Day Yoga on the field at Paul Brown Stadium. Register
Speaker 1: now at Bengals dot com Slash Yoga. It's presented by
Speaker 1: Cottonell in partnership with Kroger and Title Babe Period Supply Bank. Finally,
Speaker 1: time for something a little different with Dave Lapham. You're
Speaker 1: probably familiar with the concept of sports mount rushmoors basically
Speaker 1: the top four in any given category. For example, the
Speaker 1: mount Rushmoor's of NFL quarterbacks might be Tom Brady, Joe Montana,
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning, and Johnny Unitis. Well, this week, Lap and
Speaker 1: I decided to go mountain climbing. All right, Lap, we
Speaker 1: are going to cover a wide variety of Bengals related
Speaker 1: Mount rushmoors. These are the top four things in any
Speaker 1: given category. Let's start with a really obvious one, basically
Speaker 1: the Mount Rushmore of Bengals. These are the four most
Speaker 1: impactful individuals in franchise history. Who is on your Mount
Speaker 1: Rushmore of Bengals. I think the Fans did a good
Speaker 1: job with the Ring of Honor, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think all four of those people that were selected
Speaker 1: for the Ring of Honor huge impacts. Obviously, Paul Brown,
Speaker 1: not just on the Cincinnati Bengals founded the franchise, but
Speaker 1: in National Football League in general. When you think about
Speaker 1: inventing the face mask team meetings during the course of
Speaker 1: the week, going and staying at a hotel even for
Speaker 1: home games, you know, to stay together as a group
Speaker 1: and meet as a group before the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had so many innovations way back that to this
Speaker 1: day are part of the normal you know, day to day,
Speaker 1: week to week occurrences in the National Football League. And
Speaker 1: a guy like Bill Belichick always talks about this is
Speaker 1: the way Paul Brown did it, and it's still happening
Speaker 1: in the year, you know, in a decade of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's crazy when you think about it. So
Speaker 1: I'd have to say he be one of the most
Speaker 1: impactful people in the National Football League in general, in
Speaker 1: the history of the league. So he's, uh, he's obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, a huge factor there. Um Ken Amerson called
Speaker 1: the most important player in franchise history by Mike Brown agreed,
Speaker 1: you know, and and that that speaks volumes so huge
Speaker 1: impact on the on the organization. For a guy to
Speaker 1: come out of tiny Augustana in the third round, I
Speaker 1: think he's like sixty fourth pick of the draft or
Speaker 1: whatever it was to play like he played for as
Speaker 1: long as he played, UM and and the way he played,
Speaker 1: and the type of person you know that that he
Speaker 1: was for all those years as a leader and on
Speaker 1: and off the football field for the organization. Huge impact
Speaker 1: on what happened with the Cincinnati Bengals. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: Boomris Hiasin has made a massive impact. Not not yet
Speaker 1: in the Ring of Honor, but a strong candidate to
Speaker 1: be there very very quickly. But his impact was incredible.
Speaker 1: I think from a just one guy rallying other guys standpoint,
Speaker 1: he's as good as I've ever seen. Everybody just gravitated
Speaker 1: to that guy. He just had the IT factor CAPITALI,
Speaker 1: capital T. You know, he was dripping in it whatever.
Speaker 1: It is, hard to define describe it, but he had it.
Speaker 1: There's there's no question. You know, so very very very
Speaker 1: impactful guy there. And you know, obviously you can go
Speaker 1: through all the Super Bowl quarterbacks Joel Burrow. Look at
Speaker 1: the impact he's having on this franchise right now. Man,
Speaker 1: I mean at Super Bowl fifty six, it's only the beginning.
Speaker 1: He's just he's in the infancy stages, and his impact
Speaker 1: was felt on just about every level of the organization
Speaker 1: anyway that it can be felt. He's he's a football
Speaker 1: savant and he has the factor as well, that that
Speaker 1: very intangible thing that it's hard too hard to put
Speaker 1: your arms around, hard to define, how to how to grasp.
Speaker 1: But you know when guys have it and when they don't,
Speaker 1: and when you have it, you don't want to lose it.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is you got. Munio's out there right absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean, Anthony Munos is uh, you know, the impact
Speaker 1: that he had on the organization is just, you know,
Speaker 1: absolutely mind boggling. He and Max Montoya, the Mexican connection
Speaker 1: with the common thread between the Super Bowls really Um,
Speaker 1: there were other players that played in both Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: but up front, those guys set the standards, set the tempo,
Speaker 1: set everything. Um and huge impact and obviously Anthony Munos
Speaker 1: maybe the best human being I've ever known, so in
Speaker 1: terms of on the field off the field, he is, uh,
Speaker 1: He's the epitome of greatness. UM. Goat is an understatement
Speaker 1: I think for what Anthony Muneos brought to the franchise,
Speaker 1: brought to the city. Um, it's it's just you know,
Speaker 1: pretty very impressive, to say the least. And and Kenny Riley,
Speaker 1: who was another guy played sixteen years in the National
Speaker 1: Football League at the level that he played at um
Speaker 1: and his he may have been as quiet and as
Speaker 1: um uh non, Hey look at me, look at me,
Speaker 1: leader I've ever seen in my life. This guy man
Speaker 1: just led by how he lived his life, led by example,
Speaker 1: led by what he was doing. He wasn't a real
Speaker 1: vocal guy. He was one of those guys that showed you,
Speaker 1: you know, here's here's how it's supposed to be done,
Speaker 1: here's how you go about it, here's what you do,
Speaker 1: here's what you stay away from, here's what you don't do.
Speaker 1: He was He was unbelievable, not just for defensive backs
Speaker 1: but for everybody. Just look at Kenny Riley and get
Speaker 1: a great example of how to prepare in the classroom,
Speaker 1: how to practice, how to take care of yourself, all
Speaker 1: the things you need to do to be a pro,
Speaker 1: on top of being a phenomenal human being himself. All right,
Speaker 1: you can only have four heads. So the Lapham Bengals
Speaker 1: mount Rushmore as of now, because you know, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: obviously could change things very soon. But Brown, Munio's Anderson,
Speaker 1: and Boomer is that if you've got to pick the fourth,
Speaker 1: it's Boomer. I'd probably yeah, I'd probably do that. The
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks, you know, just by the nature of the
Speaker 1: position and what they when they when it works out,
Speaker 1: when it's successful, what they've done to make it that way.
Speaker 1: It's almost like when you have a special quarterback, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have specials, no doubt. All Right, the Dan Horde, Bengals,
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore, I think the first three or no brainers.
Speaker 1: I think Paul Brown, Anthony Munio's, Ken Anderson are those
Speaker 1: heads are definitely carved in that granite. My fourth, I'd
Speaker 1: give strong consideration to you, honestly, playing career and broadcasting career,
Speaker 1: you're probably my fifth head right now. But my fourth,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, is Chad Johnson for kind of
Speaker 1: cultural impact. I mean, obviously a great career ten years
Speaker 1: with the Bengals, six time Pro Bowl are still the
Speaker 1: all time leader in franchise history in catches and yards.
Speaker 1: But he made Cincinnattie cool. He was charismatic. You know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting now, how often when we ask these newcomers,
Speaker 1: what did you know about the Bengals as a kid
Speaker 1: or whatever. What are your memories of the Bengals growing up?
Speaker 1: They always say, Oh, I love Chad Johnson. Chad Johnson
Speaker 1: was my guy. So for now Chad gets my fourth
Speaker 1: head and my Bengals. Mount Rushmore knowing that Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: if he keeps this up, could and probably hopefully will
Speaker 1: be eventually the fourth had But at the moment, I've
Speaker 1: got Chad Johnson, slash Ojo Sinko's handsome face up by
Speaker 1: Matt mount Rushmore can't argue. I mean, that's that's obviously
Speaker 1: a huge, huge image in persona in Bengals history, There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. I guess I'm old school in that. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Paul was part of championships in Cleveland, championships
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, and Kenny Anderson Boomer, they were part of championships,
Speaker 1: not winning the Super Bowl, but AFC championships and Anthony
Speaker 1: as well, So that that that was a that's a
Speaker 1: factor in uh in my decision making there, and Chad
Speaker 1: wasn't not due to Chad's performance, but just didn't work
Speaker 1: out for him during his career for the football team,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people thought that it could have
Speaker 1: and should have and they had they had the goods
Speaker 1: to get it done, but it just didn't didn't work out.
Speaker 1: Very very worthy Mount Rushmore pick. All right, we move
Speaker 1: on to another category, our Mount Rushmore of Bengals play.
Speaker 1: These are individual plays en franchise history that we are
Speaker 1: carving into that granite. What are your Mount Rushmore Bengals
Speaker 1: plays I'll never forget as a rookie. In October sixth
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy four, my rookie year, Lamar Parish jaw dropping.
Speaker 1: We're playing the Washington Redskins at Riverfront Stadium. We end
Speaker 1: up beating him twenty eight to seventeen, and Lamar Parish
Speaker 1: scored two touchdowns, one on special teams, a ninety yard
Speaker 1: punt return which that dazzled me and everybody in the stadium,
Speaker 1: and then forced fumble. He picks it up and returns
Speaker 1: of forty seven yards. Another couple moves for another touchdown.
Speaker 1: So he scores two non conventional scores by the same
Speaker 1: individual and the other two phases of football besides offense,
Speaker 1: defense and special teams. I'm like, oh my god, this
Speaker 1: dude is unbelievable. And that left a huge impression on
Speaker 1: me watching Lamar Parish early in my rookie year. Just
Speaker 1: I mean I was dumbfounded by the guy's physical presence
Speaker 1: and his ability, um you know. Another one was Kenny
Speaker 1: Riley had a pick six against the Cleveland Browns that
Speaker 1: won the game late. We're you know, t tie football game.
Speaker 1: Late in the game nineteen eighty three, my last year
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. I guess that's why has an impression
Speaker 1: on me as well as my final year with the
Speaker 1: Bengals and Rattler, who, like I said, I idolized Kenny Riley.
Speaker 1: I mean he was. He was like if there was
Speaker 1: pillars of the franchise and people that you know, you
Speaker 1: want to try to emulate how they lived their life
Speaker 1: and played the game of football. Kenny Riley was one
Speaker 1: of the ones that I had definitely as a as
Speaker 1: a foundational building block. And he had that interception off
Speaker 1: Brian Side took it to the house beat the hated
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns. I mean I remember I remember that play
Speaker 1: extremely vividly. Another one that comes to mind Corey Dillon
Speaker 1: a forty one yard touchdown to break Walter Payton's two
Speaker 1: in seventy five yards a single rushing record, got Corey
Speaker 1: two seventy eight. It happened on that forty one yard
Speaker 1: touchdown against the Denver Broncos, and the Bengals were I
Speaker 1: don't think they'd won a game up until that matchup
Speaker 1: against Denver. They're like, oh, in six or something like that,
Speaker 1: I think. And I remember being down on the field
Speaker 1: before the game and John Tilink, their defensive line coach,
Speaker 1: was out there and Corey came running by, and really
Speaker 1: you could feel the earth move. Corey Dillon was one
Speaker 1: of those guys where you could just you could just
Speaker 1: feel it. You could just feel it happening. And so
Speaker 1: John Tilling's like his players are just a little bit
Speaker 1: away from him warming up, and he was talking to
Speaker 1: a couple of other coaches and Corey runs by, and
Speaker 1: I was standing a little bit away from everybody watching.
Speaker 1: He's like, looks at Corey, looks at the beginning, goes, hight, boys,
Speaker 1: let's go. We gotta get ready to play. He's like
Speaker 1: he could he could not believe the force, the power
Speaker 1: that he felt when Corey Dylan came thundering by him. Uh,
Speaker 1: down on the down on the football field, and I
Speaker 1: remember feeling that exact same thing. And I remember talking
Speaker 1: to dick Lebaul about that, and he said, Jimmy Brown,
Speaker 1: our Syracuse guy. He said that you could feel the
Speaker 1: earth move when when Jimmy Brown ran the football. So
Speaker 1: I guess those are the four players that kind of
Speaker 1: stick to my mind, umu, and two of them are
Speaker 1: Lamar Parish in the same game obviously, but that that
Speaker 1: that game was like at that point I realized these
Speaker 1: guys are good. I mean, this is another level to watch.
Speaker 1: To watch that and uh, they remember the two old quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: scraggy quarterbacks, Billy Kilmers Sonny Jourgensen. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: and I'm a snot nos twenty two year old, twenty
Speaker 1: three year old kid just taking it all in. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can remember everything about that that game because of
Speaker 1: the excellence Lamar. All right, So this is good because
Speaker 1: my mount rushmore of Bengal's plays four different plays, two
Speaker 1: for like impact and two for just how spectacular the
Speaker 1: individual plays were. So the individual spectacular ones Number one
Speaker 1: Jerome Simpson flying somersaults in two eleven as you nailed it,
Speaker 1: you know, at the moment on the broadcast, the Russian
Speaker 1: judge gives him a ten for the forward somersault. So
Speaker 1: that was awesome. Second one, Giovanni Bernard's Halloween touchdown Thursday
Speaker 1: night run against Miami. It was thirty five yards technically,
Speaker 1: but on Sports Center later that night they measured it
Speaker 1: one hundred one point nine yards because he went sidelined
Speaker 1: to sideline, he went backward, he went forward. It was
Speaker 1: a thirty five yard run that lasted sixteen seconds. Typically
Speaker 1: a thirty five yard run lasts about seven seconds. Just
Speaker 1: an incredible individual play by Giovanni Bernard. Then for impact
Speaker 1: Stanford Jennings kickoff return touchdown and Super Bowl twenty three.
Speaker 1: It gave the Bengals a Super Bowl lead for the
Speaker 1: first time ever, ninety three yards, one of the great
Speaker 1: kick returns in pro football history. And then my final one,
Speaker 1: very recent Germaine Pratt's clinching interception against the Raiders in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year, thirty one years of playoff frustration
Speaker 1: over biggest crowd in Paul Brown Stadium history. That feeling
Speaker 1: of you know, Catharsis was awesome. So that that right
Speaker 1: now is at the top of my list for Bengals
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore plays. Yeah, I mean that all all huge plays.
Speaker 1: Um It's funny though, I mean all of those plays
Speaker 1: impactful through the broadcast part of it, you know, experience,
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you there's something about being involved, you know,
Speaker 1: on the field in the game when a guy does
Speaker 1: something that's like what it just man, it just puts
Speaker 1: a sledgehammer in print on your mind, you know, it
Speaker 1: really does. All. Fortunately, over the fifty plus years, the
Speaker 1: Bengals have had a lot of a lot of big
Speaker 1: plays as you would expect offense, defense, and special teams,
Speaker 1: no doubt. All right, next category our mount Rushmore of
Speaker 1: most painful Bengals moments. Unfortunately, there have been a few.
Speaker 1: But what is your mount rushmore in that category? Okay, well,
Speaker 1: I'll have to go to the two Super Bowls. Well,
Speaker 1: actually you can go. I'm gonna go to all three
Speaker 1: Super Bowls, I guess for three of them. Super Bowl sixteen,
Speaker 1: the goal line stand, I mean, just good. God makes
Speaker 1: me vomit every time I think about it. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't just because of the excellence of the forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers defense and they which they were very stout and
Speaker 1: very good, but God dang it, we made it so
Speaker 1: easy on them by making mistakes, you know, on three
Speaker 1: out of the four snaps. And when you do that
Speaker 1: in that big a game, that big of a moment,
Speaker 1: you can't put yourself on your schedule. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: good enough to to whip you, and they whipped us
Speaker 1: because they were good enough to do it, and we
Speaker 1: helped him. So that ineptitude of not being able to
Speaker 1: score at the start, you know, cut cut into a
Speaker 1: twenty point episode at halftime by a touchdown that would
Speaker 1: have made it twenty to fourteen with oodles of time
Speaker 1: to go in the game would have been a different
Speaker 1: football game. But we didn't get it done. So that
Speaker 1: was still to this day extremely painful, There's no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. Super Bowl twenty three man Tim Crumry shattering
Speaker 1: his leg, I mean, Stanley Wilson lapsing into, you know,
Speaker 1: a problem with his addiction issues, Lewis Billips dropping a
Speaker 1: sure interception pick, any of those all painful moments, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, David Grant played played very good or very
Speaker 1: fine football game, played very well, I should say, um.
Speaker 1: But Tim Crombry was the glue, you know, he was.
Speaker 1: He was such a such an integral part of the
Speaker 1: the being of that football team, not just defense, but
Speaker 1: just the being of the Cincinnati Bengals in that Super
Speaker 1: Bowl season. To have him go down as early as
Speaker 1: he did, it was almost like the indestructible Ultimate Warrior
Speaker 1: went down. Oh my god, that's impossible. And they overcame
Speaker 1: it pretty well. Um, but that was a very painful moment.
Speaker 1: And then the painful moment of Super Bowl twenty three,
Speaker 1: Joe barrogetting spun around. And there's an operty six Super
Speaker 1: Bowl fifty six, the most recent one, Um, Joe Barrow
Speaker 1: getting spun around by Aaron Donald and there were opportunities
Speaker 1: there to extend to play and maybe win the game. Um,
Speaker 1: and it's you know that that was very painful. It
Speaker 1: was one of six sacks that were allowed in the
Speaker 1: second half of that football game. Extremely painful. So I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess those would be painful moments for me in
Speaker 1: Bengal's history that occurred in super big uber games. For sure,
Speaker 1: you got a fourth. You got those three Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: a fourth a fourth painful moment, of course, you had
Speaker 1: several from Super Bowl twenty times. There's there's a laundry list. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a laundry list of them. I'll hate you with mine.
Speaker 1: And then maybe you agree with one of these or
Speaker 1: a jogs your you know thought process for another one.
Speaker 1: So I had the goal line stand that was number
Speaker 1: one on my list I had from Super Bowl twenty three.
Speaker 1: I wrote down Montana to Taylor because that was the
Speaker 1: final nail in the coffin. That was John Taylor's only
Speaker 1: catch of that Super Bowl. The game weather with thirty
Speaker 1: four seconds to go. And again, you know, it was
Speaker 1: a mistake in the secondary. And that's how a lot
Speaker 1: of big plays happened, you know, due to the other
Speaker 1: team making a mistake and credit the team that wins
Speaker 1: by capitalizing on no question, I wrote down the Jeremy
Speaker 1: Hill umble in the infamous fifteen playoff meltdown at Paul
Speaker 1: Brown Stadium. AJ mcgarreon hits Aj Green for the touchdown
Speaker 1: pass with one fifty to go. On the next play
Speaker 1: from scrimmage, Perfect intercepts Landry Jones with one thirty six
Speaker 1: to go. The Bengals have a one point lead with
Speaker 1: the ball at the Pittsburgh twenty six and on the
Speaker 1: very next play from scrimmage, Jeremy Hill gets stripped by
Speaker 1: Ryan Shazier. Ross Cockrell recovers. We know what happened after that.
Speaker 1: So those are three and then my fourth painful Mount
Speaker 1: Rushmore Bengals moment Greg Cook's injury third game of his
Speaker 1: rookie year, fifth pick in the draft, the Bengals are
Speaker 1: off to a three and oz start. He tears his
Speaker 1: rotator cuff, misses three games, the Bengals lose them all.
Speaker 1: He does come back, wins offensive Rookie of the Year,
Speaker 1: has a great year, and never significantly plays again because
Speaker 1: at that point a rotator cuff injury wasn't easily repaired exactly.
Speaker 1: And Buck Buchanan, you know'll fill on his arm as
Speaker 1: it was extended and ripped his shoulder up and to
Speaker 1: the this day, I remember talking to Paul Brown, God
Speaker 1: rest his soul, about the excellence of Greg Cook, and
Speaker 1: he just couldn't say enough. Superlatos and Mike Brown the
Speaker 1: same way I mean Greg Cook was. I did uh
Speaker 1: play in a couple of charity basketball games scenarios with
Speaker 1: an unbelievable athlete, I mean, just really gifted, really good
Speaker 1: basketball player. But I can imagine what he was like
Speaker 1: out in the football field as a as a quarterback,
Speaker 1: and all of his teammates and coaches that were what
Speaker 1: we're part of that time. You know that lightning bolt
Speaker 1: of time with Greg Cook, say man just cursed if
Speaker 1: he'd been able to avoid injury and sustain it. Who knows?
Speaker 1: Who know? All Right, our mount rushmore of Bengals good guys. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: this is another category where we could pick dozens really,
Speaker 1: but we've got to have four heads on the mountain
Speaker 1: of Bengals good guys. Yeah, I mean there's there's so
Speaker 1: many obviously, you know in my mind Anthony, when you
Speaker 1: knows goes, yeah, he goes, he goes to the leadership.
Speaker 1: He's he's carrying the banner as uh as you look
Speaker 1: at look at the good guys on on the football team.
Speaker 1: You know, guys that that stood up, uh you know,
Speaker 1: to to the mass media in in difficult times as
Speaker 1: well as the good times and and handled both with
Speaker 1: ease and both with uh with applauma as such. Boomerisias
Speaker 1: and Chris Collinsworth, you know. Uh, those those kind of
Speaker 1: guys come to mind. The Swat team Fulture, uh Sally Et.
Speaker 1: Those guys were really good guys you know as well,
Speaker 1: and had an influence on their uh you know, on
Speaker 1: their football teams in a in a very positive way.
Speaker 1: Like you said, I mean, you can you can name
Speaker 1: so so many. Giovanni Bernard, who you talked about, Um
Speaker 1: with that run against the Miami Dolphins, zig zagging all
Speaker 1: over the football field. Just just an unbelievable human being. Um.
Speaker 1: The list, the list is so long, you feel like
Speaker 1: I don't know if I you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to leave anybody out because there are there are a
Speaker 1: ton of guys that I mean. You look at guys
Speaker 1: like Bruce Kazerski, you know, a great guy in a
Speaker 1: in a stand up guy. I've been very fortunate to
Speaker 1: be around a lot of offensive lineman as a as
Speaker 1: a player, a teammate, and as from a broadcast position.
Speaker 1: That's my go to group. You know, when it's when
Speaker 1: when that's uh dicey on, when it's a tough sledding
Speaker 1: as touch, I go to get some lubricant to make
Speaker 1: that a little bit easier from the offensive line. And
Speaker 1: they're always they're always they'll always stand up to it
Speaker 1: and handle it in the right way. So there's Kenny Emerson,
Speaker 1: you know, my roommate for so many years, just a
Speaker 1: just a great guy, just a you know, assault of
Speaker 1: the earth type guy. UM, great father, great family man,
Speaker 1: you know, just a just a phenomenal human being. The
Speaker 1: list goes on and on, and that we're very fortunate,
Speaker 1: I think to be blessed that way. I think that's
Speaker 1: part of when the Bengals have had good teams. That
Speaker 1: has been part of the reason why the chemistry factor
Speaker 1: and chemistry is easy to established, easily established when you
Speaker 1: have good guy Joe Burrows, a great guy, really good
Speaker 1: guy Jamar Chase, great guy, um you know, Sam Hubbard.
Speaker 1: There's leaders. There's great guys and leaders on every phase
Speaker 1: of this current Cincinnati Bengal football team. And that's where
Speaker 1: chemistry comes from. That's where culture comes from. It starts
Speaker 1: with guys that are all in, you know, and all
Speaker 1: about each other. It's it's it's we us, It's not
Speaker 1: I me, and you have to have That's what it's
Speaker 1: all about. All right. Here are the four guys on
Speaker 1: my Bengals. Good guy Mount Rushmore, Anthony Munyo's finest human
Speaker 1: being I've ever met, the most impressive person in any
Speaker 1: walk of life I've ever met. So he's an obvious guy.
Speaker 1: Bloomer Asiasin not only a great player, but really for
Speaker 1: his big heart. Think of what he's done with his
Speaker 1: foundation for cystic fibrosis. They've raised more than one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifteen million dollars to extend lives. Just incredible. I'm
Speaker 1: putting Andy Dalton on the list for Andy and JJ Foundation.
Speaker 1: Think of all they've done for six children and their families,
Speaker 1: those hubs and hospitals, the date nights, the Christmas gifts,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. And then I'm putting Andrew Whitworth
Speaker 1: on the list. The NFL Man of the Year last year.
Speaker 1: Just phenomenal the years he was in Cincinnati. On a
Speaker 1: personal note, my wife took me out for my birthday
Speaker 1: one year. We're at a fancy restaurant in Cincinnati. It's
Speaker 1: like a Tuesday night or something like that. While we're
Speaker 1: in the restaurant, it happened to be there, came by
Speaker 1: with his wife, said hello, exchange pleasantries. Didn't think much
Speaker 1: of it. At the end of the night when we
Speaker 1: went to pay, he had picked up the tables. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this was an expensive meal. So that was very
Speaker 1: kind of him. You know, I'm not putting him on
Speaker 1: the Mount Rushmore for that reason, but what a good
Speaker 1: man he is. Yeah, he is. I mean and Anthony
Speaker 1: Muniels and Andrew were Worth have a very very close
Speaker 1: relationship and type bond. Cut from the same cloth. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's um and it's it's about as uh as
Speaker 1: good a piece of cloth as you can find. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's no imperfections in that cloth, and they're both
Speaker 1: cut from it. Um major major impacts on their organizations.
Speaker 1: In what's case, two organizations and Anthony's he was briefly
Speaker 1: in Tampa Bay, but obviously the biggest part of his
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame career was with the Cincinnati Bengals and
Speaker 1: ironic two left tackles. You know, so they Bengals had
Speaker 1: a nice run for a lot of years by somebody
Speaker 1: that mean that left hackle position, the blind side of
Speaker 1: the right hand quarterback, that not only was made of
Speaker 1: the right stuff physically, but mentally and spiritually and everything
Speaker 1: to be able to play at a high level for
Speaker 1: a very long time. We moved to our Mount Rushmore
Speaker 1: of Bengals nicknames. Top four Bengals nicknames en franchise history. Okay,
Speaker 1: well I'm gonna go. My number one UM is Ben
Speaker 1: Jarvis green ellis the law firm. I mean when they
Speaker 1: when named Ben Jarvis green Ellis Law Firm, it was
Speaker 1: like it was so perfect. I'm like that that's classic.
Speaker 1: That really is. I mean, that's just that's just a
Speaker 1: classic plastic nickname law firm. Um. I like positional nicknames
Speaker 1: more so than individual nicknames. The Web Wilson Whitley, Eddie Edwards,
Speaker 1: Ross Browner, Gary Burley, names w EBB, the web super
Speaker 1: Bowl sixteen that it has, you know, the double meanings
Speaker 1: and all that. Uh, those guys did a great job
Speaker 1: up front, and they formed a web that people had
Speaker 1: to deal with and and uh couldn't couldn't quite solve.
Speaker 1: I like, uh, I like Swat Team as well. You know,
Speaker 1: I liked I like that nickname for that that group
Speaker 1: of guys, uh, for obvious reasons, and it caught on.
Speaker 1: I mean they literally were posterized and uh and to
Speaker 1: this day, Uh, every every Bengal fan you know knows
Speaker 1: knows all about the Swat Team. Um. So, I guess
Speaker 1: I guess those would be those would be the four.
Speaker 1: I guess I've used up my four there? Or is
Speaker 1: that only three? That's three? That's three? Yeah? Um another nickname, Um,
Speaker 1: I guess. I mean there's there's there's plenty of uh
Speaker 1: like Ikey Woods. I mean that's that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: a classic classic nickname. The Mexican Connection is another nickname
Speaker 1: from more than one guy Monels in Montoya, but you
Speaker 1: know Elbert Woods, I guess I'd probably go by Yaki
Speaker 1: as well. I think that's that's one of the classic nicknames,
Speaker 1: probably in in franchise history. All right, My Mount Rushmore
Speaker 1: Bengals nicknames. The Rattler. I thought that was great for
Speaker 1: Ken Riley because you know, he got it from his
Speaker 1: alma mater, but it also was descriptive of his, you know,
Speaker 1: style of play, like a rattlesnake attacking getting all those
Speaker 1: sixty five interceptions. The throwing Samoan for Jack Thompson, it's
Speaker 1: a great nickname. Now, he didn't do well in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and people, you know, jokingly changed it to the overthrown Samoan,
Speaker 1: but it was still a great nickname. Ocho Cinco. For
Speaker 1: this reason, the fact that Chad would legally change his
Speaker 1: name in order to be able to put it on
Speaker 1: the back of his uniform, I thought would say exactly
Speaker 1: only Chad Genius. I got to throw the red rifle
Speaker 1: on there because I came up with it. But it's
Speaker 1: stuck for whatever reason, it's stuck. So are my four
Speaker 1: mount Rushmore Bengal nicknames are mount Rushmore of best Bengals
Speaker 1: draft picks. Now this can take into account, you know
Speaker 1: where they were selected, the value, uh so top four
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore Bengals draft picks for Dave Lappom, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go uh into this for that reason. Um, that
Speaker 1: these these guys drafted, you know where they were drafted
Speaker 1: for them to pan out to the level that they
Speaker 1: panned out, Um, Bob Trumpy with a twelfth round pick
Speaker 1: in the three hundreds, you know, Uh, that's that's pretty
Speaker 1: good value there. Multiple time Pro bowler Charles Booby Clark
Speaker 1: was drafted I think the seventeenth round Paul Brown, as
Speaker 1: only Paul Brown could goes down to Bethune Cookman. He
Speaker 1: sees this tight end named Charles Clark. That's another great
Speaker 1: nickname though, Booby, That's that's a nickname candidate right there,
Speaker 1: U Booby Clark. He says, this is my big back,
Speaker 1: this is my Marion Motley, this is my you know,
Speaker 1: later on Pete Johnson, Booby Clark was a talented guy,
Speaker 1: and uh and they they got a lot of production
Speaker 1: with a very late pick in in in Booby Clark.
Speaker 1: Tim Crumry the tenth pick of the draft. I think
Speaker 1: it's two hundred and seventy six pick. I think he
Speaker 1: was in the in the draft. Tim crum rye uh
Speaker 1: to to play at the level that he played at.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you my last year was his
Speaker 1: rookie year, and he was not happy about being a
Speaker 1: tenth round pick. And Dave Remington was the first round pick,
Speaker 1: and every time we did one on one Nutcracker drill,
Speaker 1: he jumped in there no matter what they had arranged
Speaker 1: by script. So he wanted to go against that first
Speaker 1: round pick in the draft and try to, you know,
Speaker 1: show him that he guys I belong Well, he showed
Speaker 1: he belonged very very early and very very often. So
Speaker 1: I'd say, I'd say he's another one of mine that
Speaker 1: you know that obviously panned out and panned out very
Speaker 1: very well. And then I'm just gonna go with the
Speaker 1: three headed monster of three offensive linemen in the nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight Super Bowl team, Max Montoya seventh round pick,
Speaker 1: Joel Walter seventh round pick, Bruce Kazerski ninth round pick.
Speaker 1: Three starters. You know you got the Hall of Famer
Speaker 1: and the you know, the early pick of his draft,
Speaker 1: Anthony Munios. But three of the other four guys you
Speaker 1: know picked in the late one hundreds and into the
Speaker 1: two hundreds and formed U formed a pretty formidable group
Speaker 1: up front there in the offensive line. And that just
Speaker 1: speaks to the genius I think of Jim McNally as
Speaker 1: the offensive land coach. All right. My Mount Rushmore of
Speaker 1: Bengals draft picks also includes Tim cump Crimry for the
Speaker 1: value number two seventy six overall, as you mentioned, arguably
Speaker 1: the best defensive player in franchise history. Similarly, I have
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins on my Mount Rushmore fourth round pick number
Speaker 1: one twenty overall, eight time Pro bowler, most of any
Speaker 1: Bengals defensive player All Decade team in the twenty tens.
Speaker 1: So I've got Gino on there. I've got T. J.
Speaker 1: Hushman Zada on my all draft pick Mount Rushmore seventh
Speaker 1: round pick number two oh four overall twenty five wide
Speaker 1: receivers taken before him still holds the franchise record for
Speaker 1: most catches in a season. And then this is not
Speaker 1: a late pick, but I'm putting Anthony Munio's on the list.
Speaker 1: Number three overall only because so many teams took him
Speaker 1: off their board because of his injuries. Only played one
Speaker 1: game a senior year at USC. The Bengals watched him
Speaker 1: in the Rose Bowl. Mike Brown famously said that he
Speaker 1: and Paul laughed watching the game because they knew his
Speaker 1: knee was one hundred percent. And they took the plunge
Speaker 1: at number three overall and wound up with the best
Speaker 1: player in team history. And I remember Forest Greg went
Speaker 1: out there to work him out, and Forrest Greg lined
Speaker 1: up as a defensive end and a wide technique to
Speaker 1: pass rush, and Anthony moved out there effortlessly and flewidly
Speaker 1: and flawlessly and put two hands into Forrest chest and
Speaker 1: jammed him to the ground. Forrest Greg went and Anthony's like,
Speaker 1: oh no, you know, he's like helping him up, and Forest,
Speaker 1: it's good. You're good. We're good. He came back, he said,
Speaker 1: we're drafting him. No fens or butts, We're drafting this guy.
Speaker 1: So what a great move by the Cincinnati Bengals to
Speaker 1: draft Anthony Windows. All right, our next category, the mount
Speaker 1: rushmore of assistant coaches in Bengals history. Well, we talked
Speaker 1: about Kenny Anderson being the most important player in franchise history.
Speaker 1: The guy that tutored him, Bill Walsh. Bill Walsh was
Speaker 1: an unbelievable mind football mind and an unbelievable football coach,
Speaker 1: and obviously he went on to great success after after
Speaker 1: leaving this Cincinnati Bengals. But Paul Brown knew what he
Speaker 1: was doing there. Bill Walsh was on that original staff
Speaker 1: and just a dynamic football coach. And I remember Kenny
Speaker 1: talking about how Bill Walsh got him ready to play
Speaker 1: at the National Football League level, you know, over and
Speaker 1: over and over again. The repetition started with defeat, and
Speaker 1: Kenny said, they did footwork for like twice a day
Speaker 1: for a week before they even put a football in
Speaker 1: his hand. And then they started, you know, working through
Speaker 1: the other body mechanics and then ultimately throwing the football.
Speaker 1: And it was a month for he threw the football.
Speaker 1: So he basically took him apart and put him back
Speaker 1: together again. The player from tiny Augustana was draft in
Speaker 1: the third round, and that's a spectacular draft pick as
Speaker 1: well as it turned out to take Kenny Anderson in
Speaker 1: the sixties in the third round, sixty fourth or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. I think that in that particular draft and
Speaker 1: then have Bill Waltz to tutor him and to guide
Speaker 1: him and to mold him into the player that he became.
Speaker 1: And Kenny Will talked freely about it. I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of it's right place, right time, luck Bill Walsh.
Speaker 1: How can you ask for anything better than Paul Brown
Speaker 1: and Bill Walsh as you're a young player coming into
Speaker 1: the league. I feel the same way about another assistant coach,
Speaker 1: my first offensive line coach, Bill Tiger Johnson. Paul Brown
Speaker 1: is the head coach, Bill Tiger john Bill Tiger Johnson's
Speaker 1: my offensive line coach and just an unbelievable teacher the
Speaker 1: game of football, great player himself, Pro Bowl player with
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers at center, snapping the ball to
Speaker 1: y A Tittle. So I'm like, I'm gonna listen to
Speaker 1: what this guy says. And he was great. Just a great,
Speaker 1: unbelievable coach to have for your first to experience in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. To have a teacher like that,
Speaker 1: and then another line coach is a great assistant in
Speaker 1: my mind. Jim McNally. You know, Jimmy, Jimmy was, he's
Speaker 1: still He's a guy that's just walking Encyclopedia technique and
Speaker 1: he's always trying to refine and UH and to improve
Speaker 1: and H and rebuild. And then on the defensive side,
Speaker 1: Dick Lebau he's you know, the zone blitz he was
Speaker 1: doing here with the Cincinnati Bengals with David Fulcher before
Speaker 1: Troy Paalamalo in the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was doing a
Speaker 1: lot of the same things and we're getting the same
Speaker 1: type of results. Dick Lebou was a phenomenal you know,
Speaker 1: defensive back in his day. Hall of Famer and two
Speaker 1: categories player and coach, you know, um, and just as
Speaker 1: good a defensive coordinator. He was probably the premier guy
Speaker 1: his time. UM. Hank Bulla, the doctor of defense that
Speaker 1: we had in Super Bowl sixteen, another unbelievable football mind.
Speaker 1: He was doing blitzes and doing things defensively that were
Speaker 1: ahead of his time, you know, So offensively and defensively.
Speaker 1: There's been some outstanding, outstanding coaches. There's no question I'll
Speaker 1: throw Darren Simmons in there as far as special teams coaches.
Speaker 1: He's as good as I've seen and he's been doing
Speaker 1: it here for a long time. And Mike Brown is
Speaker 1: a football man, and Mike Brown realizes that he's got
Speaker 1: something unique and significant in Darren Simmons, and he's kept
Speaker 1: them and made sure that he's kept them, and that
Speaker 1: that phase, that third phase has always taken care of
Speaker 1: and take care of at a very very high level,
Speaker 1: as high level as you can get. With Darren Simmons. Again,
Speaker 1: another unbelievable teacher. And that's that's what a football coach is.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you. You know, I look at myself as
Speaker 1: a teacher, and these guys are all great teachers. All right,
Speaker 1: You've got my mount rushmore of assistant coaches covered. I've
Speaker 1: got Bill Walsh, Dick Lebou, Jim McNally, and also Darren Simmons.
Speaker 1: I agree with Darren nineteenth year with the team, certainly
Speaker 1: one of the best special teams coordinators in the end.
Speaker 1: I will give you my honorable mentions. Mike Zimmer, Frank Ganz,
Speaker 1: who was a you know, special team's trend setter, certainly
Speaker 1: helped establish the importance of that coaching position on the staff.
Speaker 1: Jim Anderson tremendous running backs coach for three decades, and
Speaker 1: I'm throwing Hugh Jackson in there. It obviously did not
Speaker 1: work out as an NFL head coach, but he was
Speaker 1: a great assistant coach no matter where Marvin Lewis put him.
Speaker 1: And the same thing with Dick Lebau. You know, it
Speaker 1: didn't work out as a head coach, but does not
Speaker 1: diminish you know, the achievements and accolades that should be
Speaker 1: given to those achievements as an unbelievable assistant coach, no
Speaker 1: question about it. We moved to the Mount Rushmore of
Speaker 1: Bengals villains. These are opponents that either starred against the
Speaker 1: Bengals or God under our skin or God under Bengals
Speaker 1: fans skin. The Mount Rushmore of Bengals villains. Yeah, I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: in my mind, I'm going to go back to playing days.
Speaker 1: I mean Pittsburgh Steelers, you know the Steel Curtain. I
Speaker 1: mean that defense. Uh, Joe green Ernie Holmes, Dwight White.
Speaker 1: Elsie Greenwood wasn't quite like those guys from a personality standpoint,
Speaker 1: but he you know, he kind of followed the back.
Speaker 1: But they just soon spit on you, look at you
Speaker 1: and literally they would spit on you and kick you
Speaker 1: in the in the below the waste regions. I mean
Speaker 1: literally that that would that occurred, all of it. I
Speaker 1: mean that that that football team. And then you know,
Speaker 1: in the next level he had Jack Lambert, toothless Jack
Speaker 1: back there who would just he would a lot of
Speaker 1: spittle would come between those teeth that would be taken
Speaker 1: out to play the game. He was, he was, he
Speaker 1: was something else they had. They had big time intimidating
Speaker 1: type players, Mel Blunt on the back end, Donnie Shell
Speaker 1: at safety. I mean that was basically a defense full
Speaker 1: of guys that would would bend the rules as far
Speaker 1: as they could be bent. But they were great players too,
Speaker 1: I mean just phenomenal, phenomenal athletes. They were so well
Speaker 1: put together. George Parlos, their defensive coach that put it together,
Speaker 1: came up with you know, adjustments and and schematic you know,
Speaker 1: techniques that were just you know, just outstanding. This phenomenal um.
Speaker 1: And then I'd have to go with the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm stuck in my playing days again. Battle
Speaker 1: of Ohio. Um, you know Joe Turkey Jones, who monk
Speaker 1: Terry Bradshaw was on his head. Uh, you know that
Speaker 1: they were. They were something to deal with as a
Speaker 1: defensive football team as well. Um, Jerry Shark was a
Speaker 1: was a great player at the defensive defensive tackle position,
Speaker 1: and Walter Johnson. The guy played against was Man Mountain Dean.
Speaker 1: I mean he was a heavyweight wrestling champion and he
Speaker 1: just he was a powerful, powerful man. They were really
Speaker 1: good up front. They had excellent linebacker corps. Clay Matthews
Speaker 1: Senior was playing at that particular time, to Ambrose was
Speaker 1: at the middle linebacker position. They had Tom Darden and
Speaker 1: guys like that on the back end that would stone you.
Speaker 1: They definitely hit you. I'd say, you know that, uh
Speaker 1: that the Cleveland Browns um that Raiders in my era
Speaker 1: with John Matuzac and otis Sister Drunk and you know
Speaker 1: from the University of Mars and um and Al Davis
Speaker 1: famously said, look, um, take it to the limit every
Speaker 1: single snap play in the gray area. Take it as
Speaker 1: far as the gray air as you possibly can. And
Speaker 1: if you if if the penalties start to be a problem,
Speaker 1: we'll adjust to it and I'll pay the fines. So
Speaker 1: that that was open season for the for the Raiders
Speaker 1: to be the Raiders, and they were. They were a
Speaker 1: defensive team that would would definitely would definitely try to
Speaker 1: dominate you, and uh uh they back it up. Jack Tatum.
Speaker 1: When Jack Tatum hits you as a safety, felt like
Speaker 1: a two hundred and fifty pound linebacker was putting the
Speaker 1: hammer down on you. He was you know, he was
Speaker 1: a son of a gun boy. He could play. There's
Speaker 1: no question about it though. Those are some of the
Speaker 1: teams and guys that you know that that that come
Speaker 1: to my mind. Those three, um you know, obviously the
Speaker 1: Cleveland moved to Baltimore and the Baltimore Ravens. Think of
Speaker 1: all the all the punishing players that Baltimore Raven defensive
Speaker 1: football teams have had, you know, from it starts with
Speaker 1: the Goose up front, Tony Siragusa, Ray Lewis at the
Speaker 1: linebacker position, all the great linebackers they had, they had
Speaker 1: tremendous players in the back end. I mean that, that's
Speaker 1: that's franchise. Baltimore has a history of of mean minded
Speaker 1: defensive football player. There's no doubt about it. All right,
Speaker 1: this is good because your Mount Rushmore has four teams
Speaker 1: featuring guys that went beyond the line of what you're
Speaker 1: supposed to do. I picked out four individuals that stand
Speaker 1: out as my villains, my hated opponents. Big Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: dominated the Bengals for eighteen years, twenty six and ten
Speaker 1: against Cincinnati, including two playoff wins at Paul Brown Stadium
Speaker 1: fifteen and four at Paul Brown Stadium, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that the Bengals beat him his last three times, so
Speaker 1: he was twenty six and seven before losing his last
Speaker 1: three head to head games against Cincinnati. I've got Chemo
Speaker 1: von Olhoffen. I don't think it was a cheap shot
Speaker 1: to Carson Palmer. I think he just got rolled into
Speaker 1: his lower leg unfortunately, but that injury changed the trajectory
Speaker 1: of the franchise, as Paul Docherty from The Enquirer often
Speaker 1: refers to him, Chemo von axe Murderer, just because of
Speaker 1: the result of that hit. I've got another Steeler. Joey
Speaker 1: Porter came on onto the field and the twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: playoff game that led to the Adam Jones penalty and
Speaker 1: the Joey Porter rule where assistant coaches can no longer
Speaker 1: come onto the field when players are injured. He also
Speaker 1: jumped Leavy Jones at a casino in Las Vegas before that,
Speaker 1: so I've got him on the list. And then I've
Speaker 1: got a guy that I like personally, but I put
Speaker 1: him on Mount Rushmore just because of what his success
Speaker 1: meant to Bengal's history. And that's Joe Montana one of
Speaker 1: the two Super Bowls six and Ozho and the six
Speaker 1: games he started against Cincinnati. So those four guys make
Speaker 1: up my Mount Rushmore of villain slash hated opponents. Next
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore category interview subjects. These are guys that we've
Speaker 1: enjoyed interviewing or think we're great interviews over the years.
Speaker 1: Who comes to mind for you? Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think Andrew Worth, you know, is a guy that is very,
Speaker 1: very high on that list for all the reasons we've
Speaker 1: he talked about, um, you know, not only his football
Speaker 1: acumen in his in his football understanding of the game
Speaker 1: and opponents and all that sort of things the XS knows,
Speaker 1: but everything else in life. You know, he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that just has um a lot to say
Speaker 1: and says it extremely well. You know. I think, uh,
Speaker 1: probably Boomersiasen is as good an interview as a player
Speaker 1: as you could possibly hope to have, and that led
Speaker 1: to a career in the broadcast world. It's been dynamic,
Speaker 1: to say the least. You could always kind of Boomers
Speaker 1: sias and never shirked his responsibility, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what made him a great leader as well. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, boy, that game didn't go well and I
Speaker 1: didn't play well, but I'm not going to adduct the media.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get up and face the music and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna answer questions. And he always did. And I think
Speaker 1: he garnered a tremendous amount of respect from everybody, not
Speaker 1: just as teammates, but the media, the city, the region,
Speaker 1: every everybody. UM. And uh, you know, I think that's
Speaker 1: I think that's big Chris Collinsworth same way. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously great stories, funny guy. Um. And another
Speaker 1: one who understood the role of the media had in
Speaker 1: the success and popularity of the National Football League. As
Speaker 1: a player, understood the significance of of of adding two
Speaker 1: instead of you know, subtracting from or minimizing coverage, always
Speaker 1: added two coverage, always gave something more to the media
Speaker 1: than the than the average player would you know, would
Speaker 1: go a little bit deeper. So and again that led
Speaker 1: to a phenomenal career in the broadcast world as well.
Speaker 1: So I think I think, uh, those three guys are
Speaker 1: you know, probably my my first three, Um, a fourth boy,
Speaker 1: I probably probably have to go with a defensive player,
Speaker 1: because everybody, I think I just had offensive players at
Speaker 1: this point, huh, A defensive player From a from a
Speaker 1: media standpoint, I'd have to say Solomon Wilcot's for the
Speaker 1: same reason. I mean, Sally. You go to Sally after
Speaker 1: a game and he could tell you the wise and
Speaker 1: wherefores of everything, Why things worked, why they didn't, adjustments
Speaker 1: that were made, adjustments that should have been made. Um,
Speaker 1: same plays that were made, plays that shouldn't have been
Speaker 1: that shouldn't have been made. So Solomon Wilcot's keen understanding
Speaker 1: of the game of football, but not just again, not
Speaker 1: just x's and os, but applying it to all right,
Speaker 1: I understand that the game of football and the National
Speaker 1: Football League is extremely popular for a reason, and so
Speaker 1: he added to that and he still does to this day.
Speaker 1: So he understood that dynamic as a player, and he
Speaker 1: understands that dynamic as a you know, in the broadcast
Speaker 1: world as well. And it is quite remarkable how many
Speaker 1: guys have gone from player to broadcast in from the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Banals, it really is. And Bob Trumpy, you know,
Speaker 1: was the original and another great example of a guy
Speaker 1: that's I mean, Trump was the media battled to get
Speaker 1: in front of his locker, you know, after a game
Speaker 1: back in the day because Trump was drunk. He pulled
Speaker 1: no punches, no holds barred man. He put it out
Speaker 1: there and it led to sports talk, the godfather of
Speaker 1: sports talk here in the city of Cincinnati, into a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame broadcast career covering the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And of that list that you just gave with Boomer Collinsworth, Wilcots,
Speaker 1: and Andrew Whitworth. If whit wants to get into broadcasting,
Speaker 1: he'll be a superstar too. My interview list includes two
Speaker 1: of the four that you mentioned. I've got wit on
Speaker 1: the list. Articulate, thoughtful, he always tautes something. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's one of those guys you talk in for five
Speaker 1: minutes and at the end of it you're like, huh,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that. That's great. I've got Chris Collinsworth
Speaker 1: on there again, smart, colorful, honest, just great as a
Speaker 1: player and great. Now I've got Frank Pollock on my list.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy his news conferences. They're colorful, they're interesting.
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed the one on one conversations that I've had
Speaker 1: with him. I did that fun Facts last year where
Speaker 1: I just gave him like former teammates that he played,
Speaker 1: and he had a great story about everybody really good.
Speaker 1: And then my fourth, which might surprise some people, is
Speaker 1: Adam Jones because totally unfiltered, impossible of BS sometimes got
Speaker 1: himself into trouble with some of the things he said,
Speaker 1: but I've always said that I thought that Andrew Adam
Speaker 1: Jones brother was a tremendous interview subject. Final Mount Rushmore category,
Speaker 1: our Mount Rushmore of what ifs in Bengals history. You're
Speaker 1: nodding your head. These are probably going to be some
Speaker 1: wistful moments of things that, had they gone slightly differently,
Speaker 1: Bengals history would have changed for the better. Well, I
Speaker 1: guess you know, I'm going to reverse a lot of
Speaker 1: the painful moments, you know, I mean, you know, what
Speaker 1: if what if? What if one mental error didn't occur
Speaker 1: in the four play sequence of the goal line stand
Speaker 1: in Super Bowl sixteen up in Pontiac, Michigan, and Bengals
Speaker 1: had scored a touchdown? What if? I mean, would that
Speaker 1: football game have ultimately changed? Would the outcome have been different?
Speaker 1: Don't know, but would have had a hell of a
Speaker 1: lot better chance. There's no question about it. What if
Speaker 1: Lewis Billips had squeezed the interception in Super Bowl twenty three.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's game over, you know at
Speaker 1: that point if he holds onto that football, God rest
Speaker 1: his soul. He didn't, Um, you know that. I think that, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know that that might have had a different outcome.
Speaker 1: If Tim Crumbright doesn't shatter his leg, you know, in
Speaker 1: that football game, might have had a different outcome. Um.
Speaker 1: What if the Bengals offensive line were capable of providing
Speaker 1: better protection for Joe Burrow in Super Bowl fifty six,
Speaker 1: particularly in the second half of that football game. Um
Speaker 1: that that that last game, of that last play, It's
Speaker 1: just mind boggling to me when I look back on it,
Speaker 1: because they had the perfect call, the slide protection double team.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald was handled improperly from a technique standpoint, allowed
Speaker 1: him to win outside and uh and he affected the game.
Speaker 1: And he affected the second half of that football game
Speaker 1: way way too much. There's there's uh, there's no question
Speaker 1: about it. So I'd say that, uh, you know, reversing
Speaker 1: reversing some of the uh, the order of the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl outcomes. I think I think would be a would
Speaker 1: be a good starting point, all right, my Bengals mount
Speaker 1: rushmore of what ifs. I'll go back to something that
Speaker 1: I covered earlier. What if Greg Cook didn't get hurt
Speaker 1: or if rotator cuffs were repaired then like they are now,
Speaker 1: you would probably have a couple of Super Bowl rings.
Speaker 1: And what where would Kenny Anderson have been? Where would
Speaker 1: his NFL career have been? If Greg Cook had not
Speaker 1: been injured, there would have been no Kan Anderson here
Speaker 1: in Cincinnatis. That would have been a huge what if
Speaker 1: because it would have changed the history of the franchise dramatically,
Speaker 1: you know, from a player perspective, a player standpoint, I
Speaker 1: also have what if Jeremy Hill didn't fumble? Marvin Lewis
Speaker 1: doesn't have that stigma of no playoff wins? He would
Speaker 1: have had his first. Could the Bengals have gone to
Speaker 1: New England the next week with a J. McCarron at
Speaker 1: quarterback and defeated the Patriots. Probably not. It probably just
Speaker 1: would have been one playoff win. But still it'd be
Speaker 1: nice for Marvin dab One. Yeah, would it? Would? It
Speaker 1: would have you know, gotten that just on a monkey
Speaker 1: that's a five hundred pound gorilla, you know, on the back.
Speaker 1: And with Bill Belichick coaching a J. McCarron would have
Speaker 1: been challenged, There's no question about it. The entire football
Speaker 1: team offense would have been challenged. Bill Belichick's as good
Speaker 1: as there is when you get to the playoffs and
Speaker 1: changing game plans and adjustments, and he's the wizard, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Here's one that you can speak to. What if Paul
Speaker 1: Brown did not retire in nineteen seventy five Bengals were
Speaker 1: eleven and three. You were on the team his final year.
Speaker 1: That's the best winning percentage they've ever had in a season.
Speaker 1: He was sixty seven years old, so he was getting
Speaker 1: up there. But Bill Belichick is sixty nine right now,
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll is seventy. Guys are doing it nowadays at
Speaker 1: that age. What would have happened if Paul decided to
Speaker 1: stick it out for a few more years. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's a really good what if because back then
Speaker 1: coaches didn't coach, you know, into their seventies and and
Speaker 1: you know Paul, I think Paul was a believer in
Speaker 1: you get to a certain age it's time to move on.
Speaker 1: A player gets to a certain stage of his career,
Speaker 1: it's time to think about that player, you know, moving
Speaker 1: on or retiring or trading or whatever. It wasn't that
Speaker 1: he was incapable. He was still sharp his attack mentally.
Speaker 1: I mean, nothing had slipped in that regard. And uh
Speaker 1: and I was pretty surprised because we were pretty good,
Speaker 1: you know, eleven and three record, and two of the
Speaker 1: losses to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, both
Speaker 1: of them within range, I mean within a touchdown each
Speaker 1: time one score games. It's not like we were being
Speaker 1: man handled and lost to the Raiders. I think it
Speaker 1: was that year as well, who were pretty good football team.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's a that's a great what if. There's
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it. I think part of it
Speaker 1: too was Bill Johnson had already turned down coach head
Speaker 1: coaching opportunit unities. I noted the forty nine Ers for
Speaker 1: one opportunity that came up as the great former All
Speaker 1: Pro center there. They wanted him to come back and
Speaker 1: be the head coach. He'd proven himself as an assistant.
Speaker 1: Need he said no, Paul's told me I'm the guy
Speaker 1: when he steps down. I liked the potential opportunity here,
Speaker 1: So yeah, because I mean the following year we went
Speaker 1: ten and four, still had a really good football team,
Speaker 1: ten and four and didn't make the playoffs. Ten and
Speaker 1: four record the Oilers, you know, we got the additional
Speaker 1: wild card spot. Steelers won the division. Oilers got the
Speaker 1: wild card. With the ten and four mark, we sat brutal.
Speaker 1: All right, my final, my fourth and final what if
Speaker 1: on my Mount rushmore of what ifs? What if? In
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety nine draft, Brown select him Couch number one.
Speaker 1: Eagles take Donovan McNabb number two. Now the Bengals around
Speaker 1: the clock, Mike Ditka calls from the Saints offers all
Speaker 1: of their nineteen ninety nine draft picks, six picks, including
Speaker 1: number twelve overall, plus their first round pick in two
Speaker 1: thousand and their third round pick in two thousands, So
Speaker 1: that's eight draft picks for the number three overall spot.
Speaker 1: The Bengals say thanks, but no thanks, and take Achille
Speaker 1: Smith instead. Now, the Redskins eventually took the Saints offer,
Speaker 1: and they didn't become a powerhouse as a result, So
Speaker 1: you still got to nail the draft picks. But Achille
Speaker 1: Smith was, you know, such a disaster unfortunately that he
Speaker 1: can't help. But wonder what would have happened if the
Speaker 1: Bengals had taken that offer from the Saints. Absolutely, and Bruce,
Speaker 1: Bruce Costlet. I wonder what Bruce Costlet's thinking these days
Speaker 1: if they he was the head coach at the time,
Speaker 1: and you know, I know that he would have made
Speaker 1: the trade. There's no old question about it. He would
Speaker 1: have made that trade. You definitely, it's it's a quarterback
Speaker 1: driver the league, even more so now than then, but
Speaker 1: it was then as well. Um, But man, that's a
Speaker 1: lot of capital. That's a ton of capital. At some
Speaker 1: point in time, the odds dictate that you're you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna find a quarterback or enough people around a
Speaker 1: quarterback that is capable to make me even play at
Speaker 1: a higher level. I mean, that's one that if history,
Speaker 1: if you could go back in history and change it,
Speaker 1: I think you might want to think about that possibility.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you an unbelievable nugget that occurred
Speaker 1: to me as I was coming up with my what
Speaker 1: ifs in Bengal's history. That draft was one draft before
Speaker 1: the Patriots selected Tom Brady. A Keiley Smith is only
Speaker 1: two years older than Tom Brady. How about that? That crazy?
Speaker 1: That is crazy? That is crazy. The one thing that
Speaker 1: every time I start thinking about drafts. The nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: four Pittsburgh Steel the drafts five Hall of famers and
Speaker 1: one of them wasn't even drafted. Donnie Shell seventeen rounds
Speaker 1: in the draft in nineteen seventy four. Donnie Shell didn't
Speaker 1: even get drafted in seventeen rounds. Science is a college
Speaker 1: free agent and goes to the Hall of Fame. But
Speaker 1: they drafted Lin Swan in the first round, Jack Jack
Speaker 1: Lambert in the second round. Let's see, Mike Webster was
Speaker 1: drafted in the in the fifth round. I think Stalworth
Speaker 1: was drafting the fourth I believe. So four Hall of
Speaker 1: famers in the first five rounds of the draft. Talk
Speaker 1: about putting the bat in the ball in a draft?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? And then to get all time
Speaker 1: great safety in the history of the National Football League
Speaker 1: is a college free agent out of South Carolina State. Crazy.
Speaker 1: You know, Cincinnati is the city of seven Hills. We
Speaker 1: got a lot of room for these mount Rashmars. We
Speaker 1: can carve them into hill sides in the Cincinnati area
Speaker 1: will be good. Yeah. Really, there's a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of hills, a lot of hills that could could
Speaker 1: support Mount Rushmore's Absolutely yeah, and it would. It would
Speaker 1: keep a lot of sculptors busy for a while. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of The Bengals
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast