Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The lucky for you. That's what
Speaker 1: I like. That's what I like. Addition, as the Bengals
Speaker 1: win for the sixth time in their last eight games,
Speaker 1: beating the Steelers in Pittsburgh thirty seven to thirty, coming up,
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, one on one, locker room interviews
Speaker 1: and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in
Speaker 1: this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know the
Speaker 1: Bengals player who claims he can sleep with his eyes open.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you in part
Speaker 1: by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play
Speaker 1: with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both
Speaker 1: inside the Bengals app. Now here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 1: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the
Speaker 1: Philly Cheese Steak. Before heading to Pittsburgh on Sunday, I
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia for a couple of days for the
Speaker 1: UC Temple football game and had two Philly cheese steaks
Speaker 1: during my stay. Now here's the thing. I didn't go
Speaker 1: to one of the famous places like Pats or Geno's.
Speaker 1: I had one at a hotel and the other at
Speaker 1: the stadium, and I'm sure by Philly standards they were
Speaker 1: positively atrocious. But they still got the job done. As
Speaker 1: it turns out, chopped up grilled steak with cheese on
Speaker 1: a good fresh roll rarely disappoints. Now, let's get to
Speaker 1: the radio replays from Sunday's win at Accrosher Stadium. Drew
Speaker 1: Chrisman into punt for the first time in his NFL career.
Speaker 1: Stephen Smith or Simms, rather waiting to return from the fifteen.
Speaker 1: Here comes the right footed punt. It is launched by
Speaker 1: Chrisman and Simms will catch. He drops it, gets rolling
Speaker 1: into the end zone. He scoops it up in the
Speaker 1: end zone. He's able to run it out and he'll
Speaker 1: get tackled at the five yard line. Second down and
Speaker 1: nine at the Pittsburgh twenty nine forty eight seconds left
Speaker 1: in the first burrow back to throw screen pass p
Speaker 1: rhyme with blockers in front. He's up to twenty for
Speaker 1: the sideline. Fifteen and five touchdown Bengals. Somaj p Rhyme
Speaker 1: catches the Burrows screen and I don't think he was
Speaker 1: touched as he took it into the end zone. Second
Speaker 1: down and ten at the Bengals nineteen. The Steelers run
Speaker 1: it left, Boris turns the corner, he's at the ten.
Speaker 1: The five goes airborne and flies into the end zone
Speaker 1: for a Pittsburgh touchdown. First and ten, Cincinnati looking for
Speaker 1: a ninety two yard drive. Burrow back to pass, swings
Speaker 1: it out to the right. P Rhyme with the catch
Speaker 1: at the ten, breaks the tackle. He rokes the sideline.
Speaker 1: He he's the pylon. Touchdown Bengals Smaj p Rhyme with
Speaker 1: his second touchdown catch of the first half. Boy, if
Speaker 1: you went into Vegas in bet that Somaj p run
Speaker 1: would have two first half touchdown receptions, you'd be making
Speaker 1: a lot of cash. Pick And catches the shotgun snap
Speaker 1: he's looking here comes the rush, throws it off, caught
Speaker 1: at the two, and Pickens will run it in for
Speaker 1: an easy Steelers touchdown. Second and ten at the Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: forty seven. Burrow catches looks to pass, his throw deflected
Speaker 1: and intercepted. The ricochet is picked off by Levi Wallace
Speaker 1: and the Steelers have their first takeaway. With thirty one
Speaker 1: seconds left in the half, matthew Wright is ready the
Speaker 1: snap the put down. Here comes his kick and it
Speaker 1: is good to give Pittsburgh a three point halftime lead.
Speaker 1: Second and goal, with the ball in between the one
Speaker 1: and the two, the Bengals trying to take the lead.
Speaker 1: Burrow rolls to the right throws into the end zone.
Speaker 1: It is called for the touchdown. Trenton Irwin Mayby with
Speaker 1: his first NFL touchdown catch and he's given the Bengals
Speaker 1: the lead. Anyway through the third quarter, long count by
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, left foot in front of right, waiting for
Speaker 1: the shotgun snap. Joe catches short drop, quick throw and
Speaker 1: it is picked off on a ricochet. Oh. Steelers are celebrating.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, and they've got the football. T J.
Speaker 1: Watt does it again. Yeah, he did another interception off
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. Here comes the kick from right and it
Speaker 1: is good to make it a one point game. A
Speaker 1: remarkable interception by t J. Watt turned into three points
Speaker 1: by the Pittsburgh Steelers, So the Bengals will attempt to
Speaker 1: fifty four yard field goal. Long field goals notoriously difficult
Speaker 1: here in Pittsburgh. The bad playing surface, the windy conditions,
Speaker 1: swirling wins money. Mac will try from fifty four the
Speaker 1: snap the put down. Here comes his kick. It's going
Speaker 1: to be close and it is good money. Mac hits
Speaker 1: from fifty four yards away week and the Bengals lead
Speaker 1: is back to four second down and goal. The balls
Speaker 1: in between the six and the seven burrow in the
Speaker 1: shotgun now two by two formation. P Ryde in the
Speaker 1: backfield burrow back to throw, flips it out to p
Speaker 1: Ryan looking verse third touchdown catch, run down of the pylon, touchdown.
Speaker 1: Bengals som J. P Ryan with a three touchdown catch game.
Speaker 1: Here we go fourth down and nine three forty two
Speaker 1: to go. Pick it, catches the shotgun snap. He's back
Speaker 1: to throw. Now has to scramble, he's in trouble. He
Speaker 1: throws incomplete, and that is coffin nails. Bam bam, shut
Speaker 1: the door. I'm telling you, if that was just a
Speaker 1: great finish. Defensively, that play kind of is a microcose
Speaker 1: them or what the Bengals did in the second half.
Speaker 1: They suffocated them on their first four drives of the
Speaker 1: second half, the Steelers had one yard, six yards, six yards,
Speaker 1: and six yards. They couldn't move the ball in the
Speaker 1: second half until their final drive, when Pittsburgh took advantage
Speaker 1: of the Bengals prevent defense and scored a touchdown with
Speaker 1: forty five seconds to go to make the final thirty
Speaker 1: seven to thirty. Here's Zach Taylor. It was good. You know,
Speaker 1: we knew it was gonna be a tough game. We
Speaker 1: talked about it last night. Ultimately we won the second
Speaker 1: half and that was what was really important in this game,
Speaker 1: get control in the second half. Thought our defense did
Speaker 1: a great job, came out in the second half to
Speaker 1: twenty in the first half, really held him to a
Speaker 1: fuel goal, but that came out a short field off
Speaker 1: that pick that they had, and then did a great
Speaker 1: job allowing the offense to regain some momentum. And I
Speaker 1: thought the ninety three yards scoring drive there with nine
Speaker 1: and a half minutes seven fourth quarter really put that
Speaker 1: game away from us. And then obviously we're get the
Speaker 1: touchdown on late. We don't want to do that, but
Speaker 1: our defense just kind of playing ben but don't break
Speaker 1: there and give a screech inset one. Offensively, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: through for three hundred and fifty five yards with four touchdowns,
Speaker 1: two interceptions and a passer rating of I know, four
Speaker 1: point one. The Bengals are six and zero when his
Speaker 1: passer rating is over one hundred this year, I was awesome.
Speaker 1: That was awesome. M one of my favorite wins since
Speaker 1: I've been here. A lot of adversity. NFC North game,
Speaker 1: bad weather, cold, windy, We fought through Conway to win.
Speaker 1: It was the Bengals third straight game without Jamar Chase,
Speaker 1: and it was the first time during that stretch that
Speaker 1: T Higgins posted huge numbers. I talked to T after
Speaker 1: the game, See you what a game? Nine catches for
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty eight yards. How did it feel
Speaker 1: to come here after week one and get a little
Speaker 1: revenge for what happened in the season opener? I mean
Speaker 1: it fel good. I wouldn't even call it revenge, man.
Speaker 1: We just, you know, just trying to get back to
Speaker 1: where we was last year, you know, trying to make
Speaker 1: a playoff run again. Um, you know that was our
Speaker 1: whole minset, not to come out here and get revenge. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we want to come back and win but oh man,
Speaker 1: we just you know, we stuck to the game playing today,
Speaker 1: even though we was down a half. It came out No,
Speaker 1: with with that that attitude and that aggressiveness to that,
Speaker 1: we was gonna come out and you know and dominated
Speaker 1: who was able to do that. You certainly dominated. There
Speaker 1: was a stretch there where they threw it to you.
Speaker 1: I think on three or four consecutive plays. Did you
Speaker 1: feel like they could not stop you today? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, after he gave me that second one, I felt,
Speaker 1: you know, I was in I felt I feel like
Speaker 1: I was in his own man. Man, you know, he
Speaker 1: just can't feed me, and you know, I just can't
Speaker 1: make a place for the team. Three touchdown catches for
Speaker 1: Saba j a touchdown catch for Trench and Irwin. I
Speaker 1: think somebody said Joe Burrow would throw four touchdown passes
Speaker 1: and those would be the two guys to catch you
Speaker 1: all four. It would have been a surprise. Been a
Speaker 1: great performance by your teammates. Oh yeah, for show man,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm proud of them guys, you know, especially
Speaker 1: for somebody just stepping up with mixed went out and
Speaker 1: then you know Trent Irwin, you know him stepping up
Speaker 1: with m Chase out. So, man, I'm especially proud of
Speaker 1: how hard he's worked, how hard he's worked to get
Speaker 1: to this moment. You know. Um, three catches, forty two
Speaker 1: yards and a touchdown. Man, That's that's anything anybody could
Speaker 1: dream out, you know what I'm saying. So I'm proud
Speaker 1: of him, proud of them guys, and hopefully keep going.
Speaker 1: A lot of people look at the win after the
Speaker 1: bye last year as a key it's kind of to
Speaker 1: start off the Super Bowl run. Did you feel this
Speaker 1: game would have similar importance? You had to start the
Speaker 1: second half with a good showing. Yeah, man, definitely. You know,
Speaker 1: he's like what Burrel said, you know a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: You know, everything is right there in front of us.
Speaker 1: We gotta go out there and each and every single day,
Speaker 1: and man, we started all strong. So I hope we
Speaker 1: keep going. King Grad's in a great game. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More
Speaker 1: than twenty nine thousand customers trust pay Corps to help
Speaker 1: them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at
Speaker 1: paycorps dot com. Steelers Rookie Kenny pick it through for
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty five yards with one touchdown, no picks,
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of eighty five point nine. The
Speaker 1: Bengals sacked him twice and hit him seven times, with
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson getting credit for both sacks. I caught up
Speaker 1: Trey in front of his locker, DA congratulations on a
Speaker 1: great victory. A lot of people look at the win
Speaker 1: last years after the buy is kind of a jumping
Speaker 1: off point for the Super Bowl run. Did you feel
Speaker 1: similar importance when you took the field today? Oh? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: any divisional game, there's like a heightened sense of importance
Speaker 1: in the w especially where if we want to go
Speaker 1: where we want to go. You know, can't say enough
Speaker 1: about this defense stepping up in a little bit of
Speaker 1: adversity there, you know, coming together as a unit. Things
Speaker 1: that we can always clean up on film. But you know,
Speaker 1: Gret glad to have this w. In the second half,
Speaker 1: on their first seven drives they had two first downs.
Speaker 1: That was one of the most dominant stretches I think
Speaker 1: we've seen in a long long time. What was the
Speaker 1: key for the group during that stretch, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just playing as brothers, and you know, I stated
Speaker 1: at earlier proverb seventeen seventeen. But me personally, I can
Speaker 1: give all glory to Jesus Christ, my Lord and saviors.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's just an opportunity to say that.
Speaker 1: It is just a blessing to me. And you know,
Speaker 1: all these brothers I know I'm united with, So you know,
Speaker 1: it's a great, great feeling. Two zacks, four quarterback hits.
Speaker 1: I think they were all in the second half. It
Speaker 1: seemed like you guys are really able to turn up
Speaker 1: the heat against Kenny Pickett in the second half. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, Russian on the opposite side of Sam Hubbard
Speaker 1: is a huge help. He's always containing the quarterback. He's
Speaker 1: got a high IQ on defensive schemes, and he's always
Speaker 1: learning me to where slides are and things like that.
Speaker 1: So you know the product on the field as you
Speaker 1: see us bolt sack in the quarterback, but he has
Speaker 1: Captain's patch on his chest for a reason. Very talented
Speaker 1: pass rusher, insane on the run, stopping and just a
Speaker 1: great guy to be a part of on a defense.
Speaker 1: Was it a little disappointing that they scored that late
Speaker 1: touchdown considering how dominant you had been in the second half.
Speaker 1: Up until that drive. You know, their backs were against
Speaker 1: the wall. It was one of those things. We got
Speaker 1: to kiten it up and kind of put that game away,
Speaker 1: but we came away with a double. Will clean up
Speaker 1: these things on a victory Monday, which is much better
Speaker 1: than the other way. So you can't say enough about
Speaker 1: this defense or anything that you know, Cleaning it up
Speaker 1: on a win is always great. Road winds in pits
Speaker 1: fur are hard to come by. Trust me, I've been
Speaker 1: coming here for a long time. I think this is
Speaker 1: the third time in twelve years the Bengals have one here,
Speaker 1: but it's two in a row with you. Congratulations on
Speaker 1: the victory in a great game. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Sunday mark the NFL debut of punter Drew Chrisman, who
Speaker 1: was promoted from the practice squad and started in place
Speaker 1: of Kevin Hubert. I think it's safe to say that
Speaker 1: Drew will be getting another opportunity. Here's what he had
Speaker 1: to say after the game. Why didn't NFL debut? I
Speaker 1: think your first punt with sixty two yards, I believe
Speaker 1: you averaged fifty two downed inside the ten. What'd you think? Shoot?
Speaker 1: I'm just happy to be on that cold it's thought
Speaker 1: room and bes a lot better in it out there,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, I know it was. It was awesome.
Speaker 1: It was a it was a great verse and shout
Speaker 1: out to the coverage those two then side to ten.
Speaker 1: You know they weren't getting stopped without the guys running
Speaker 1: down there. So yeah, big, big hats off to them.
Speaker 1: They made some big plays of it where the butterfly's big.
Speaker 1: Not really, I mean, just just trust your training. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean I've been I've played in games like this before,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just felt comfortable with all the
Speaker 1: preparation I put in and you know, the guys around me,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a plusing you know, being around here
Speaker 1: for shoot a year and a half now before I
Speaker 1: had my first game, and you know, I'm really really comfortable.
Speaker 1: If you felt like I've been far of the team,
Speaker 1: It's not like I just showed up this week to play,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's uh, it was. I was pretty
Speaker 1: at ease out there for sure. Did it feel like
Speaker 1: kind of like a one game tryout, do well, and
Speaker 1: you get to punt again. That's kind of how I
Speaker 1: viewed at it. It's just every punt, every opportunity at
Speaker 1: a time. You know, I don't I don't try to
Speaker 1: look too far, too far ahead into what things are
Speaker 1: going to look like, and uh, just do what you
Speaker 1: can in that moment. And yeah, I just tried to
Speaker 1: see seize the day as well as I could. So
Speaker 1: money Mac made all of his kicks, three field goals,
Speaker 1: including a fifty four yard or obviously that's a big
Speaker 1: part of your job as well. How'd you feel about that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's certainly half my job. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's always some kind of concern when you change up
Speaker 1: that operation. And I thought we handled the weather and
Speaker 1: elements well. And yeah, he had a great game like
Speaker 1: he typically does, so, um, you know, it's it's good
Speaker 1: to kind of check that off the box too. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned the weather there. I mean not a great
Speaker 1: field pit play here yesterday, the winds swirling, it's really coold,
Speaker 1: it's hard to catch the ball. I mean, what kind
Speaker 1: of adjustments do you have to make in these type
Speaker 1: of conditions. I mean it's just really all pre game
Speaker 1: you kind of start to figure that out. Um, And
Speaker 1: like I said, I've played in these conditions before. This
Speaker 1: is no stranger to me. Obviously the first time a
Speaker 1: year and a half depend to deal with something like this.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, well no, we were to get a
Speaker 1: great play uh pre game and what we're gonna do
Speaker 1: in the game. We just we just stuped in that
Speaker 1: plan all through the game and you know, it worked
Speaker 1: out for us. So has it kind of settled in
Speaker 1: as it kind of felt like, Okay, I got the
Speaker 1: person out of the way. Has it kind of you know,
Speaker 1: settled in that you played your first game yet? Ah,
Speaker 1: maybe you ask me that tomorrow. Huh. It's still pretty
Speaker 1: still pretty good feeling right now. But no, this is
Speaker 1: this is sweet, It's this fun. This is what I
Speaker 1: love to do. So I've I've missed doing it for
Speaker 1: a last year and a half and it feels great
Speaker 1: to do it again. For sure. You do have a
Speaker 1: ball in your chair. Was that your first NFL punt?
Speaker 1: That was my first NBA punt? Yeah? Luckily Kevin, he's
Speaker 1: been great through this whole process, and you know, he
Speaker 1: threw me that ball knowing you know, just he's been around,
Speaker 1: he knows the important things and I wouldn't even thought
Speaker 1: about that without him given to me. So that's off
Speaker 1: to him and Grat's had a great debut. Thank you
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I'm sure that football will be fun to
Speaker 1: show his family back home in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future proof fiber
Speaker 1: Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take
Speaker 1: your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate
Speaker 1: your connection with Alta Fiber. Now time for the radio
Speaker 1: guys recap with Dave Lapham. We've been doing the games
Speaker 1: together for twelve years. I think this is the third
Speaker 1: time they've won in Pittsburgh. It's hard to do. I
Speaker 1: don't care how good or Meati Hooker the Steelers might
Speaker 1: be in any given season. It's a tough place to play,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals ultimately got it done. It is I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's always a Donnybrook. It's always a
Speaker 1: you know, a slobber knarker. I mean, you know it's
Speaker 1: going to be physical. Um, you know, there's always going
Speaker 1: to be taking it to uh to the very limit
Speaker 1: on every snap and sometimes more. I thought what Pickens
Speaker 1: did to Tyler Board at the end of the football
Speaker 1: game was inexcusable and um, I think the legal handle that.
Speaker 1: I thought the officials handled it right by ejecting him.
Speaker 1: And I think he's he's looking at some some serious
Speaker 1: repercussions from his decision, which was you know, I understand
Speaker 1: it's it's a competitive environment. He made some big plays
Speaker 1: in the game. You know, he was very uh I'm
Speaker 1: sure you know he's a competitive guy who was emotional.
Speaker 1: You got to control yourself and there's no there's no
Speaker 1: room for that kind of thing. You have a guy
Speaker 1: on the ground defenseless. To do what he did was
Speaker 1: you know, a marred a good performance by him. I
Speaker 1: think everybody is probably feeling the way that I feel
Speaker 1: about it, and a lot of people feel about it
Speaker 1: that he hurt himself by what he decided to do there.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Bengals on the offensive end. They
Speaker 1: lost Joe Mixon early, coming off the best game of
Speaker 1: his career two hundred and twenty one total yards in
Speaker 1: five touchdowns a couple of weeks ago against Carolina. Some
Speaker 1: JP Ryan certainly picked up the slack three touchdown catches
Speaker 1: for smaj in this game, and he's a real humble guy.
Speaker 1: Talked him after the game and I said, have you
Speaker 1: ever caught three touchdown passes at any level and he's sitting, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: it's lou Anna Romo walking by Yes, four straight three
Speaker 1: and ounce. I mean, the defense suffocated things in the
Speaker 1: beginning of the UH at halftime, start that second half,
Speaker 1: but yeah, some aj was was very thankful and h
Speaker 1: obviously took advantage of every opportunity that he had. You know,
Speaker 1: and I think I like about him is not only
Speaker 1: catch the ball, run the ball, but he's a great
Speaker 1: bliss pickup guy, and he takes immense pride in that.
Speaker 1: And he and Joe Mixon have known each other for
Speaker 1: a long time now, coming up close to a decade.
Speaker 1: So um, they're they're tight, they're close, they're like brothers,
Speaker 1: and he felt like he had to go in there
Speaker 1: and pick it up for Joe. And the opener against Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: the Steeler sack Joe Burrows seven times. I think it
Speaker 1: wound up being a couple of sacks in this game.
Speaker 1: They did have some deflections, including one that led to
Speaker 1: an interception, but by and large, the offensive line play
Speaker 1: very solidly. Yeah they did, and you know, it's deflections
Speaker 1: are are a nightmare for offensive woman. You know, the
Speaker 1: thing you want to do is try to stay engaged.
Speaker 1: And I thought they stayed engaged, you know, for a
Speaker 1: good part of it, and they, you know, want made
Speaker 1: a play. I mean, you kidd meet Elsie is knocking
Speaker 1: him sideways. He and he just reaches up and intercepts
Speaker 1: the past the guys of marsh and he's a freak show.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's not many guys walk on the face
Speaker 1: of the earth that could make that play that he made.
Speaker 1: So those you just have to say congratulations to him.
Speaker 1: There's nothing much you could have done about that. But
Speaker 1: I thought, on a snap by snap basis, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought that both tackles showed themselves really well in
Speaker 1: this football game. I thought, I thought Elsie and Jonah,
Speaker 1: you know, handled really good edge rush guys who were
Speaker 1: in situations where they could pin them back and rush
Speaker 1: pretty darn well and pretty darn often. I thought that
Speaker 1: they handled Watton Highsmith pretty effectively. Defensively. In the first half,
Speaker 1: the Bengal struggled, Pittsburgh scored twenty points. They really couldn't
Speaker 1: put any pressure on Kenny pick a bit. Then in
Speaker 1: the second half, on the Steelers first seven drives, they
Speaker 1: had two first downs on seven drives. That's dominance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like coach was saying four straight three and outs. I mean,
Speaker 1: and then when the interception happened, to give them a
Speaker 1: short field, three snaps and kick a field goal. So
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, basically didn't let any bleeding occur
Speaker 1: other than what you would anticipate after giving that short
Speaker 1: field up on the turnover. But it is remarkable. I mean,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh is plus seven against the Bengals in two games,
Speaker 1: and they're minus seven against everybody else. The Bengals are
Speaker 1: minus seven against Pittsburgh in two games, and they're plus
Speaker 1: eight against everybody else. It's just one of those weird
Speaker 1: things that happened sometimes in professional sports or sports in general.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like you can't explain it. But with
Speaker 1: that said, in minus seven, they could have won both games.
Speaker 1: They really could have. I mean, it's you know, that's
Speaker 1: almost incomprehensible to think about. But that's the way unfolded.
Speaker 1: So when Jamar Chase got hurt a few games ago,
Speaker 1: I think we all said, well, te Higgins is a
Speaker 1: number one wide receiver on any other NFL team, He's
Speaker 1: won a on the Bengals, And that was certainly the
Speaker 1: case in this game. Nine catches for one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty eight yards and there was a stretch there. They
Speaker 1: threw it to him on three straight plays and the
Speaker 1: Steelers couldn't stop it. Yeah, I mean, he's a He
Speaker 1: was dominant tonight. He was dominant in the middle of
Speaker 1: the football field. He was dominating, the dominant on the
Speaker 1: fade route that he had. You know, remarkably, he didn't
Speaker 1: get in the end zone. Trent Irwin got in the
Speaker 1: end zone and Somage get in there three times. But
Speaker 1: he was he was providing the impetus to between the twenties.
Speaker 1: He was getting a lot of things done. There's there's
Speaker 1: no out about it. And to go on two drives
Speaker 1: like they did as an offense backed up with you know,
Speaker 1: inside the ten yard line and two ninety three yard
Speaker 1: a touchdown drive, that's like, that's hard to do. That's
Speaker 1: hard to hard to put that many plays together and
Speaker 1: sustain the level of execution to get that done against
Speaker 1: a damn good defensive football team. It's not like you
Speaker 1: know that Pittsburgh. They they've got some talent on that
Speaker 1: side of the football. I mean, that was an extraordinary
Speaker 1: performance out there. You'd have to say that true. Chrisman
Speaker 1: passed the audition. Three punts savage fifty yards a punt,
Speaker 1: two of them inside the ten. Yeah, he dominated field position,
Speaker 1: handled every hole that he had to do flawlessly. I
Speaker 1: thought he answered the bell. I mean it was tough
Speaker 1: weather conditions, field conditions weren't great division rival on the road,
Speaker 1: not bad. He stepped up. And now back on the
Speaker 1: road to take on Tennessee a rematch of last year's
Speaker 1: playoff game. The fans they are going to be salty
Speaker 1: after the Bengals knocked their team out of the postseason
Speaker 1: last year. And obviously the Titans very good seven and
Speaker 1: three going into next week's game. Yeah, they're they're really good.
Speaker 1: And you think, okay, well, when you think Pittsburgh steals,
Speaker 1: you think defense and you think running game. When you
Speaker 1: think Tennessee Titans, it's a replay. You know. It's like
Speaker 1: Sam Bradley and doing the same thing over again. It's
Speaker 1: it's like this this Titan defensive football team, and it's
Speaker 1: probably even a cut above for sure. And uh and
Speaker 1: then their running game with Derrick Henry is as physical
Speaker 1: it gets in the National Football League. So um, the
Speaker 1: guy's got to rush up from this one and uh
Speaker 1: and recover quickly because they're gonna be doing it again
Speaker 1: on the road against a team, like you said, Dan,
Speaker 1: that's going to be playing with a with a mindset.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna even the score here. Final thought, and you'll
Speaker 1: like this. It's eight eighteen PM. The game just would
Speaker 1: have been kicking off if this did not get flexed
Speaker 1: to four twenty. Thank the Good Lord for small favors,
Speaker 1: no question about that. Let's get on the plane and
Speaker 1: head back to the NATI. Next Sunday's game at Tennessee
Speaker 1: starts at one o'clock. The Titans are seven and three
Speaker 1: and have a two and a half game lead in
Speaker 1: the AFC South over the Colts. As for the Bengals,
Speaker 1: they're a game behind the seven and three Ravens in
Speaker 1: the AFC North and three games ahead of both Cleveland
Speaker 1: and Pittsburgh. The Bengals moved up two spots on the
Speaker 1: playoff totem pole in the AFC, and right now Cincinnati
Speaker 1: would be the seventh and final seed. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care
Speaker 1: facilities and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed
Speaker 1: to guiding you to your best health. Visit Kettering health
Speaker 1: dot org to learn more. Finally, it's time for this
Speaker 1: week's Fun Facts interview, where we get to know the
Speaker 1: person under the pads. Talk for some fun facts with
Speaker 1: Joseph Osai, who was raised near Houston but born in Nigeria.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about your early childhood years back
Speaker 1: in Africa? A lot of rain, um, a lot of sand,
Speaker 1: a lot of soccer, you know what I mean? Soccer
Speaker 1: aft to school that was fun with the neighborhood kids.
Speaker 1: And then um, just being happy with my family. Of
Speaker 1: course we went through some things, but overall being happy.
Speaker 1: Your family essentially won a lottery to get visas to
Speaker 1: come to the US. Correct sir, Absolutely, explain how that works.
Speaker 1: Just like any lottery. You know there's a there was
Speaker 1: a powerball I think lottery last night and people were
Speaker 1: scrambling to win that. But um, yeah, just like any lottery. Um,
Speaker 1: you play, you win. If you win. Instead of getting money,
Speaker 1: you get um free citizenship. So that's what that's what
Speaker 1: we did. You were ten years old, were you heartbroken
Speaker 1: to leave home and leave your friends behind, or were
Speaker 1: you excited about coming to the US. It was a
Speaker 1: bit of sweet for sure. Bitter sweet. Um excited about
Speaker 1: the US. Grew up watching home alone. You know, I
Speaker 1: thought every single New York I mean US city and
Speaker 1: state was like New York. So I was super excited
Speaker 1: to eat pizza and burghers and all that. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely said about leaving my friends that I grew up with,
Speaker 1: but um, my family was with me, and then, um,
Speaker 1: that's that. That was my piece of home that I
Speaker 1: brought with me for visiting with Joseph Hosai. There had
Speaker 1: to be some culture shock. I would imagine what stands
Speaker 1: out absolutely everything, every single details about going to school,
Speaker 1: the clicks in schools them from like I mentioned, Sam
Speaker 1: being everywhere in Nigeria, no saying here, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, just conquering grabs. So that was that was that,
Speaker 1: and then just learning how to communicate a lot of
Speaker 1: things and then over it took definitely took us multiple
Speaker 1: years to figure it out, but you know that was
Speaker 1: all part of growing and learning. Have you ever been back?
Speaker 1: I have not, but I need to. My dad goes
Speaker 1: back all the time though, But I've just never had time,
Speaker 1: you know, with football and growing up, I was always
Speaker 1: involved in summer activities like summer track and basketball and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, so I never really got the chance,
Speaker 1: but hopefully soon. How important we're sports in helping you
Speaker 1: blend in very important. They allowed me to make my
Speaker 1: first group of friends, you know, playing playing playing football
Speaker 1: at recess at the back of the school. That's where
Speaker 1: I was able to gain friends. Because then it's not
Speaker 1: they don't care if you can you have an action,
Speaker 1: or if you know how to do this or not
Speaker 1: how to say this. They just care about or you
Speaker 1: a good athlete. Did you score the game winning touchdown
Speaker 1: before the recess bell blue? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So yeah, that sports. Sports was a huge part of
Speaker 1: me integrating and gaining friends. But your mom did not
Speaker 1: want you to play football, correct, She did not. She
Speaker 1: did not. She was too rough for her. She wanted
Speaker 1: me to focus on my studies, as every African parent does.
Speaker 1: But yeah, she she didn't come to a game all
Speaker 1: of junior, junior, high, all of um until junior in
Speaker 1: high schools when she first came to her game and
Speaker 1: she was she praised the rosary like the whole way
Speaker 1: through the game. So she is still a very violent
Speaker 1: support for her, but she's learned to accept it. So
Speaker 1: during the course of the game, she's as nervous ass
Speaker 1: as nervous as can be. She's constantly praying. She just
Speaker 1: super scared, but you know she's she's she's adapted over
Speaker 1: the years. She's not as bad as she used to be,
Speaker 1: for sure. We're doing fun facts with Joseph Osai. You
Speaker 1: attended oak Ridge High School and we're a coveted recruit.
Speaker 1: What was the recruiting process like for you? It was
Speaker 1: it was a brand new thing, um, because I never
Speaker 1: I didn't even you know, that was a thing first
Speaker 1: of all, and you know Texas being a just a
Speaker 1: big football state, you know, playing football there is interesting
Speaker 1: for sure, I'll say that. So, um, it was. It
Speaker 1: was wild. I tried to thank you. I had my
Speaker 1: family around me and they didn't know anything about things,
Speaker 1: so there was no pressure to go here or there.
Speaker 1: But they we kept the level and we tried to
Speaker 1: move through logically and write everything down, make sure we're
Speaker 1: making the right decision, not decisions based off of what
Speaker 1: color uniform or school had or how much they could
Speaker 1: wool you in the recruiting you know what I mean
Speaker 1: recruiting world. But um, I definitely have some good people
Speaker 1: around me. My coaches too, were did a good job
Speaker 1: of helping me, like because they had been through whatever,
Speaker 1: and they said, look, you gotta take things into consideration
Speaker 1: and do this, do this, make sure you have your
Speaker 1: grades right still, because just because you have the letters
Speaker 1: coming in doesn't mean you're accepted. You still have to
Speaker 1: have a good grades to get into these schools and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So yeah, it was, it was, it was.
Speaker 1: It was amazing, but again it was as part of
Speaker 1: the process. It was dope. You chose the University of Texas.
Speaker 1: You spent three years with the Longhorns. What did you
Speaker 1: enjoy most about the college experience? Game day? Game day
Speaker 1: in Texas is just amazing. Um and uh just and
Speaker 1: it's a lot better here too. But um, I know,
Speaker 1: some some pros, some locker rooms, they don't even there's
Speaker 1: no commodity. I don't know if I said that word camaraderie. Camaraderie.
Speaker 1: There's no camaraderie with um. With teammates, they as soon
Speaker 1: as they're done with practice, they just shoot out. But
Speaker 1: what I enjoyed most about college was um, um, hanging
Speaker 1: out after practices. You know, we all were going to
Speaker 1: the same dorms, we all were living the same lives,
Speaker 1: um and stuff like that. It's a lot better here
Speaker 1: in this locker room, for sure. You know, there's we
Speaker 1: hang out and play ping pong all the time. But
Speaker 1: just that family mentality is what I love most about college.
Speaker 1: You know, just a bunch of guys grinding and trying
Speaker 1: to get to the next level. There was there was
Speaker 1: something special about that. For sure. You had a great career.
Speaker 1: The Bengal selected you in the third round of last
Speaker 1: year's draft. Describe your draft experience. It was a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of a lot of mixed emotions, man,
Speaker 1: because um, you know, there's expectations and then there's what
Speaker 1: actually happens. And overall I was just thankful, excited, man,
Speaker 1: because then as I kept watching the draft, there or
Speaker 1: some people that I thought we're gonna get drafted, they
Speaker 1: didn't get drafted. So I was is super grateful to
Speaker 1: have been given the chance to go and play at
Speaker 1: the next level, you know what I mean. I mentioned
Speaker 1: me and my college teammates guard and trying to get
Speaker 1: to that next level and we had a little group
Speaker 1: and for me to be one of the first to
Speaker 1: go and achieve that next level, it was pretty special.
Speaker 1: So I know they were just know that everybody was
Speaker 1: super proud of me, and it was it was I
Speaker 1: can't I can't describe that feeling. Man, it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was awesome, It was amazing. We're chatting with Joseph O. Say,
Speaker 1: in your NFL preseason debut, you famously sacked Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: You had a great game, but you suffered knee and
Speaker 1: elbow injuries in that game, and mister rookie season, how
Speaker 1: difficult was it emotionally last year? Knee and wrist injury?
Speaker 1: And it was it was one of the worst things
Speaker 1: I've ever had to go through. And um, I got
Speaker 1: to actually, you got actually that question a lot during
Speaker 1: the pre draft process, what is the worst thing You've
Speaker 1: ever had to go through? And nothing came to mind
Speaker 1: because I came from a good family. You know, me
Speaker 1: and my family pretty close, Um, I mean, not in
Speaker 1: a broken home. So I've never had none of my
Speaker 1: close relatives are close family members I've ever died, So
Speaker 1: I really actually never had that thing to say, you know,
Speaker 1: I would just say not playing football, don covid it
Speaker 1: was pretty hard, but um, this is pretty terrible, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And having gone through that and
Speaker 1: now trying to come out through the other side, it's
Speaker 1: it's really awesome to see that I could work through
Speaker 1: that and my mentality a thought like waivered a bit.
Speaker 1: It's still the same and I'm still striving to be
Speaker 1: where I am. I know you're close with your family.
Speaker 1: Was that the key to getting through it? Of course?
Speaker 1: Of course talking to them mostly almost every day, and
Speaker 1: then some days I didn't want to talk to them,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to talk to anybody. I had my
Speaker 1: teammates so I couldn't get away from and they picked
Speaker 1: me up. So um, yeah, it was. It was people
Speaker 1: around me have just kind of been, um, a very
Speaker 1: key key point in every my all my life, all
Speaker 1: my aspect of life, you know, whether it's going through
Speaker 1: college and going through being transitioned from America year to
Speaker 1: hear and then every every step of my life, the
Speaker 1: people around me have played a huge role and helped
Speaker 1: me get to where I am. All right, we'll wrap
Speaker 1: it up with some wildcard questions. Now for Joseph Osi,
Speaker 1: do you have any hidden talents, hidden talents. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this will count as a hidden talents. It's
Speaker 1: just he said a fun fact. When I get tired enough,
Speaker 1: I sleep with my eyes open. I don't don't like
Speaker 1: I said. I don't know if it's a hidden talents.
Speaker 1: It's kind of involuntary. But if I get tired enough,
Speaker 1: I will I will sleep with my eyes open. And um,
Speaker 1: I didn't believe it at first, but my shiblings make
Speaker 1: sure they recorded recorded some videos of me doing it,
Speaker 1: so now I believe it. But yeah, if I get
Speaker 1: tired enough, my eyes will just stay open. I say
Speaker 1: that being asleep, I like sounds like a lizard quality
Speaker 1: or something enough, if you have a little bit of
Speaker 1: a mixed DNA or something pretty wild. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's what I could think of right now. All right,
Speaker 1: I consider that a hidden talent. I'm the flip side.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you will admit to being absolutely
Speaker 1: terrible at the guitar? I U during my injury phase
Speaker 1: last year, I tried to pick up the guitar. I
Speaker 1: had a roommate Whide Hubert. He was phenomenal at it.
Speaker 1: He tried to teach me. I am just my fingers
Speaker 1: are too fat, and I dislocated my left pinky in college,
Speaker 1: so I can never get it to control and get
Speaker 1: it it. It was horrible, it was I got frustrated.
Speaker 1: It was an impulse buy. First of all, I saw
Speaker 1: him play it one night. I bought the thing. After
Speaker 1: a week, I gave it back to him. I was
Speaker 1: done with that thing. Yeah, a horrible A plane. The guitar,
Speaker 1: you might have to try trombone or a trumpet, something
Speaker 1: with less. I was a percussionist in the fifteen and
Speaker 1: sixth grade. I don't know why I didn't pick up
Speaker 1: a piano or something like that, but that's what it is.
Speaker 1: Who is your all time favorite athlete and any sport?
Speaker 1: And why dda drug grew up he's a professional soccer player.
Speaker 1: Grew up watching him playing soccer. You know, I mentioned
Speaker 1: soccer being in Houston in Nigeria, so Washington play watched
Speaker 1: him time and time again. Um do what did do
Speaker 1: what it takes to win, put his team on his back,
Speaker 1: and I just I loved it. What do you like
Speaker 1: to spend your money on my family? I spent a
Speaker 1: lot of my money in my family, and I don't
Speaker 1: mind it, you know, I just I just like taking
Speaker 1: care of him, like being that kind of playing that
Speaker 1: caretaker role. I believe that my family, my mom and dad,
Speaker 1: have been through a lot, and by God's grace, I'll
Speaker 1: be able to keep taking care of him for as
Speaker 1: long as I need to. All right, final fun fact,
Speaker 1: this one's a little bit deep. If you could meet
Speaker 1: anybody in history, who would that person be? I would
Speaker 1: like to because I know there's a lot of speculation
Speaker 1: about who built the Pyramids. I like to go back
Speaker 1: and just take a peek, or maybe not even meet them,
Speaker 1: but just see how they did it. If it truly
Speaker 1: is with you know, sticks and levers and whatever the
Speaker 1: right or if it was with something else, some technology
Speaker 1: that's lost who knows, you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: the way those stones were cut. Did they do it
Speaker 1: with water? Did they have a system where they ran
Speaker 1: water through a finite point and it just cut through
Speaker 1: the stone, because I know water is very strong with
Speaker 1: a strong current. I don't know. Yeah, So I definitely
Speaker 1: like to go meet whoever built the pyramids and just
Speaker 1: chat with them. That's a tremendous answer. And trust me,
Speaker 1: the first person to say they would like to see
Speaker 1: the Pyramids being built. This is a great conversation. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time. Best of what the rest of
Speaker 1: the air appreciate that. Thank you. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast presented
Speaker 1: by Cattering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals,
Speaker 1: by Bengals Picks and Ultimate at Bengals. They're free to
Speaker 1: play with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs by paycre,
Speaker 1: the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe
Speaker 1: to this podcast that if you have a minute, give
Speaker 1: it a rating or share a comment that helps more
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.