WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Remember The Time 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:06.680 Higat everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:13.200 Bengals Booth podcast the Do You Remember the Time edition 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.360 as I sit down with Bengals President Mike Brown to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.720 reminisce about the nineteen people under consideration for the Bengals 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:25.120 initial Ring of Honor class. Mike has tremendous stories to share, 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.240 like feeling the earth move when Corey Dillon ran by, 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.440 laughing at the sight of a scrawnye Chris Collinsworth with 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.040 his shirt off at the NFL scouting combine, and traveling 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.720 to tiny Augustana College to scout the greatest quarterback in 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:44.479 franchise history, Ken Anderson. I think you'll really enjoy our conversation. 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.280 The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light. Seltzer 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.199 Refreshed the Game and here's a quick reminder that you 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.560 can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.480 to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.320 your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.880 thing since learning how to type. It's been a long 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.080 time since I graduated from high school. I don't remember 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:15.200 anything about algebra, trigonometry, and despite taking Spanish for several years, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.800 and even spending time abroad as an exchange student. All 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.840 I can do now in the Spanish language is count 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.399 to eight. It's pitiful. But the one thing I learned 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:27.399 in high school that hasn't slipped at all is the 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.840 ability to type. I remain relatively fast and accurate, and 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.280 it's been an essential skill in my profession. So thank you, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.720 missus King, my typing teacher at Southwestern High I've never 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.120 had to hunt and peck thanks to you. Now, let's 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.680 get to the Bengals Ring of Honor. This Monday morning, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.080 May twenty fourth, at nine am, Ring of Honor voting 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.920 begins for Bengal season ticket members. Voting will last until 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.360 June eighteenth. That's roughly four weeks, and anybody it has 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.320 season tickets or purchases them by June eighteenth is eligible 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.680 to vote. The first two members of the inaugural class 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.840 are Paul Brown and Anthony Munio's. The final two members 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.000 will be chosen from a ballot that features seventeen former players. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.920 Nobody knows more about the group or has better stories 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.840 to tell about them than Bengals President Mike Brown. We 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.760 sat down in his office this week to look back 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:32.080 at nineteen legendary figures in team history. The Bengals are 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.040 adding a Ring of Honor in twenty twenty one. The 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.440 initial class will include Hall of famers Paul Brown and 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.959 Anthony Munio's along with two players that will be voted 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.840 in by season ticket members. And today we are going 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.680 to reminisce about the candidates with Bengals President Mike Brown. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:50.000 Let's start with your dad, arguably the most innovative coach 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:54.200 in sports history. You obviously have a unique perspective at 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.680 your father, But what stands out when you think of 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.960 your dad as a football coach? Oh, many things. He 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:07.680 was very successful as a coach. He was extremely organized 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.720 and he had an ability to cut through things to 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:18.360 get to what mattered. For example, his practices were the 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:23.520 shortest of any team, and he did that because he 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:29.240 felt people could only concentrate so long before they lost 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:34.800 their ability to apply themselves. I think that was true. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:40.480 He didn't break up his players and practices they were 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:47.960 almost non contact. The contact they had was just a 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:53.120 player two on Fridays and the rest of it was 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.200 running against dummies. Everyone understood you weren't supposed to hit 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:03.640 the guy and they didn't. They knew that they shouldn't, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:09.839 and so the teams were healthy teams. Generally, he was imaginative. 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:16.680 He did things ahead of his times that became every 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:24.039 day procedures for modern practices. The things that he did 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:30.600 that were different that people know about are the face mask, 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:37.040 and that came about when Otto Graham had his face 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:41.320 cut up when a forty nine Ers player plowed into 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:46.119 him as they went out of bounds. The next week 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:51.000 at practice, my dad said, the equipment manager for the Browns, 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.040 get the face masks, not the heavy kind of iron 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.520 face masks that then existed, but one that would be 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:05.560 light and wouldn't interfere with Otto's vision. They came up 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.360 with an extruded plastic bar that was as strong as 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:16.960 need be, and that's what they used. It became the 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:22.560 basis for what is today the standard face mask. It's 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:29.240 a light piece of equipment and it provided vision. In 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.760 other words, the vision wasn't interrupted or interfered with, as 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:39.560 the old style face masks seemed to do. He was 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:44.479 good at innovation on the field. The plays they used. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.120 The one story that a lot of people know is 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.360 how the draw play came into existence. The draw plays 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:59.679 a regular part of football today. It first was used 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:05.799 by the Old Browns. It happened when Battle Graham faded 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.760 back to pass and Marion Motley and he collided. One 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.320 of them had to be wrong. Neither admitted to it. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.160 The ball popped up in the air. Marian saw it 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.960 in the air above his head, reached up, grabbed it, 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.719 tucked it away, looked up, saw an opening that was 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.960 just a natural opening, and ran through it for a 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.839 good game. And the next day, when my father and 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.440 his coaches were looking at the play, they saw what happened, 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:42.680 they made it into a regular play. He had the 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:48.520 ability to see something that went awry and make something 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.440 useful out of it. The other thing that a lot 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:58.040 of people remember about him is that he integrated his team, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:07.719 the Browns, that when football was still segregated, and he 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:13.559 signed Bill Willis and Marion Motley. They were the two 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.520 players that broke the color line in the old All 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:23.800 American Football Conference that was in nineteen forty six. It 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.240 took ten years or longer for teams to catch up 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:32.560 with that, and it never occurred to him that it 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:37.960 should be otherwise. Beyond that, he was smart enough to 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.160 know that these two guys could play football and that 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.760 would help his team make it better. That weighed with him, 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.800 and he would freely say so, but that was good. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.400 I once heard Jim Brown said that was the right 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.440 reason to do what he did, not some kind of 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.840 do good or a reason, but because he thought they 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:03.160 deserved the same answers to anybody else. And that was 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.520 what my father did believe, and that's what he acted 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:11.440 on when others weren't prepared to do that. So in 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:17.600 many ways, the few I just recited our examples. He 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:23.080 was ahead of his times, but he wore that in 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.800 a very unassuming way. It never occurred to him that 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.760 anything was special about it. It was just, well, why 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:31.920 don't we do this, It's a better way to do it. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.880 And off they went and did it, and it worked 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:40.600 and made his teams better, made them more successful than 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:48.600 the competition. He had a wonderful clear mind. He was 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:53.960 a great coach and I thought a great father. I 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.800 respect him to my core to this day. I tell 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:04.360 the story where he would come in the room and say, Mike, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:09.199 it would be two feet up in the air doing 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.680 whatever he told me to do, before he even it 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:15.079 even registered with me what it was that he was 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.560 told me to do so. He had my attention, but 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.880 he had the attention of his players too. They had 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.120 a good relationship with him after they played. He was 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.040 friends with them. They were many of them dear friends 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.439 of his in later life. But when they played, he 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:39.160 kept his distance and he insisted that they live up 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.200 to the code. You made Anthony Munio as the third 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.800 pick in the draft back in nineteen eighty. Several other 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.600 NFL teams rolled him out, at least in the first 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.680 few rounds because he had had three knee surgeries at USC. 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.200 That decision certainly paid off. He is widely considered to 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.360 be one of the best tackles in NFL history. We 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:02.280 think he was the greatest tackle and NFL history. Anthony 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:08.720 was well known in coweage as a top player, but 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.400 his senior year he was injured. I think it was 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.600 in their first game and he didn't play until the 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.199 final game USC had that year. That was the Rose 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:25.079 Bowl when they played Ohio State. It just happened that 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.680 my brother, Pete and I were out in California visiting 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.640 my father who had a home out there, and the 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.040 three of us sat on the couch to watch the 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:42.760 Rose Bowl and we began to laugh and chuckle because 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.560 Anthony was dominating. He just was, Oh, I've never seen 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:54.080 anything better. And we knew or thought we could get him. Well. 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:58.800 We had this reputation for a bad knee, and we 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:03.640 asked our team to doctor doctor George Bellu to tell 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.640 us whether he was okay or not. And doctor Bellu said, 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.360 in his opinion, he was okay, and we took that 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:15.319 as the standard and we accepted it. I think some 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:20.720 other teams questioned it. Who knows. Anyway, we had Anthony 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.400 and what a great player he was. You knew it 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.960 the minute he walked in that you had something special 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:32.320 with him. He had all the physical dimensions at the 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.200 time he would have been a big man with long arms, 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.280 and more than that, he had this athletic ability that 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.680 just popped right out. He could move like a little man, 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.600 and he could bend his knees and he could retain 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.040 his balance. He was very well coached in college, and 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:58.200 he came here with a style of play that was 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:05.720 right at the top. He was a equally great run 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:11.880 blocker and pass protector. I remember when we played Buffalo 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:16.240 and Bruce Smith, Yes, you remember Bruce Smith. Was the 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:21.080 defensive for Buffalo thirty young in his career back then, 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:25.840 and maybe just learning Anthony was at his peak ability 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:32.079 and Anthony dominated him. He just kept him from getting 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:37.880 anywhere near the passer and on run plays he flowed 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.120 him right into the ground. It was an example of 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:47.720 Anthony at his best against another player who became a 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:52.760 Hall of Fame player. We had not only a great player, 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.560 an Anthony, we had a great individual, good person, person 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:02.200 that has dedicated his life after football to work in 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:07.120 the community. If you know him personally, he's someone who's 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:14.200 easy to like, you are drawn to him. So we 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.960 had ourselves a great player, and it's so easy joy 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:25.240 When you get one like that, it just makes everything 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:29.640 else work a little bit better. And we were better 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.880 because we had Anthony, a Hall of Famer in every 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.440 sense of the word. So your dad and Anthony Munio's 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.319 make up half of the inaugural Ring of Honor class. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.760 Seventeen others are on the ballot. We're going to look 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.079 at them alphabetically, beginning with a quarterback that you traveled 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:48.160 to Rock Island, Illinois to scout at tiny Augustana College, 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.800 Ken Anderson, and here's what you wrote in your scouting 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:55.760 report quote discounting experience, this is the best quarterback prospect 0:13:55.880 --> 0:14:00.920 I have seen in college. Well, I liked him. The 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:06.880 story behind that amuses me still. My brother Pete was 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:13.439 her scouting director. We were always talking about players. He 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:19.120 said to me, well, there's this guy out at Augustana. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.560 I said, Augustana, where it's that. I guess there are 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.280 at least two of them there. Made me more. But 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:32.880 this was right on the Mississippi River, a Quad Cities area, 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:37.920 and Pete had heard about the guy from another scout 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:43.720 in a conversation. He wasn't especially well known by the public, 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:48.440 if known at all. I went out there and watched 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:54.880 a game. He was acron He threw the ball with 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.920 what I call a classic motion, which was a type 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:03.040 motion the way you draw it up, and his release 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.840 was close to perfect, meaning the ball came off in 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:12.560 a dead spiral. He was athletic, He could move around. 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:18.440 He could find people down field. Of course, in that league, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:25.160 the people downfield might have been five foot tall. There's 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:29.160 a story of Kenny later in life. He would get 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:34.520 together with his players Sam Augustan, and I remember seen 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:39.120 him with the offensive tackle on that team who came 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:44.480 up to Kenny's shoulder, but you could tell it didn't 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:49.320 matter what the level of competition was. He showed that 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.960 he was special. We brought him in after we drafted him, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:58.800 and I sort of took pride in his being our pick. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.480 We were out at spinning Field, our old practice facility, 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.200 and the first day Kenny was there, they put him 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.440 out in the field, the coaches to see what he 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:14.239 would could do, and it was just dreadfully he couldn't. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:20.400 He could hit the sight of a barn. And remember 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:28.520 my dad looking at me. This process unfolded, but nothing 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.600 was said. We went forward and the course reverted to form, 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.840 and it became a great player for us, that's for sure. 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.560 Up next another Anderson, the great Road Greater at right tackle. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.320 Willie Anderson a gigantic three hundred and forty pound man 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.040 and certainly one of the best offensive linemen of his era, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:54.680 any era. He was special. Willie was massive and he 0:16:54.840 --> 0:17:00.320 had quick feet, the feet of the answer. He had 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.840 long arms. When anyone got to him, it didn't do 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.280 him much good because he was so big and strong 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:11.160 and they couldn't throw him off balance, and he could 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.960 dance with them, glide with them to the outside when 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.600 they tried to get around to the outside, so they 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:22.320 couldn't go outside, they couldn't go inside, They didn't go anywhere. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.560 They just stayed where they were, and we had a 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:31.160 right tackle that was as good a right tackle as 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.840 this league has seen. He should be in the Hall 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.840 of Fame along with Anthony. As a pair there was. 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.359 There wouldn't have been two better than those two. I 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.679 am glad that he's a candidate for our Ring of Honor, 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:55.160 and I'm sure he will be selected soon. We moved 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.200 to the all time leading scorer in team history and 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.040 the Bengals kicker for thirteen years wearing that little size 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.840 five shoe on his kicking foot, Jim Breach. We came 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:10.439 up with Jimmy. He was let go by Oakland and 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.000 I don't know what I'll befell him out there, but 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:18.159 he came here and he wasn't long as kickers go, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.479 but he was a great competitor. You could turn up 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.840 the heat on him and it didn't matter. We'd be 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.040 in a game where we had to have a field 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:34.399 goal to win it, and when he was kicking, he 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.600 didn't have much concern about it because he just was 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.439 good for it. He made him all it seemed. That 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:49.160 might seem to the casual observer as nothing so special. 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.880 Why shouldn't he That's what he's paid to do. They 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.159 might say, Well, believe me, that's not what most of 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:00.600 them do do. They don't manage to hold up when 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.679 the pressure's on. But Jimmy did for us for a 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.320 good number of years. I think he still has the 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:13.200 most points of anyone ever with the Bengals, never missed 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.520 a kick in overtime, A perfect nine for nine Jim Breech. 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.720 I've heard the next player on the list referred to 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.600 as the toughest player pound for pound in team history, 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:28.040 running back James Brooks. James was a player we acquired 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.439 from San Diego. We traded Pete Johnson, who was a 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:38.800 fine player, and we got in return James Brooks. They 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:43.600 were opposites. Pete was a big power back. James was 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:50.320 an offsized, fast, quick scooter. He could catch the ball, 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:57.840 had wonderful hands, great receiver. He was excellent running two. 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:02.920 You would have misjudged him if you looked at him 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.639 and said, well, he's too small to be a great runner. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.159 But he was a great runner, not just outside but 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.639 inside as well. And he did one other thing that 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:18.400 was exceptional. He was a terrific pass protector. He was small, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.360 but he knew how to go about pass protection. He 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.960 took these rushers on. They could be big people, defensive lineman, 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.080 and he would pop right up into him and jolt them. 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:38.920 He didn't back down, he wasn't afraid, and he knew 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.280 which ones to pick up. That too, takes a little 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.639 bit of skill. You have to sort him out, and 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.119 he could and did so. He had everything that a 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.720 back should have. He could run the ball, he could 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:01.680 pass protect, he could catch the ball. And you referred 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:06.080 to him as tough. Well, I don't know for sure 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:10.679 sometimes exactly what tough is, but if you're talking about 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:17.880 it meaning a football player who did everything ask of him, 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.520 James Brooks was a game in nineteen eighty one. Your 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.480 top two draft picks were wide receivers, the sculptor David 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.160 Verser out of Kansas in round one, and then a skinny, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.200 gangly kid out of Florida in a round two who 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.159 turned out to be pretty darn good, Chris Collinsworth. The 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:39.760 story on Chris goes back to when they had what 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:42.560 was the equivalent of the combine. In those days, it 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:49.119 was down in Tampa. They way and major players and 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:53.600 work them out. They did that back then differently, but 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.280 they did it then as they do it today over 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:01.760 in Indianapolis when we have the combine. Chris walked out 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:07.000 on the not the stage as it would be today, 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:13.080 but he walked out in front of the assembled scouts, 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:22.359 which were probably twenty some days in the room, looking 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.200 up at the scales where the players would be weighed. 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:28.920 And Chris got on the scales and you could hear 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:33.840 the snickers. And Chris understood, he knew what was going 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:38.520 on in their minds, and he, to his credit, laughed 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.760 and they laughed with him. I forgot what he weighed, 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:46.639 but it certainly wasn't very much, and he was tall 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:51.280 six four plus and just as skinny as you could 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:55.600 draw one up. So when it came to the draft, 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.360 we picked David Verser in the first round, who had 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:04.040 all the majorables you could imagine, very fast, good size, 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:10.439 very productive, and a player in college. And then in 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:15.000 the second round Linda and Fante, who was an assistant 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:19.239 coach for us, the equivalent of the offensive coordinator, if 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.200 you will. I don't think we gave him that title. 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:27.480 No one had titles back in those days. He argued 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.240 for Chris and my father, who could say yay or 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:34.440 nay on the draft as to which player we took 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:40.000 or didn't take. He kept hearing Lindy when we were 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:43.080 in the first round, and then in the second round. 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.040 He didn't give up. He still went on and my 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:48.920 father said, all will take him too. We doubled up 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:53.400 on receivers. And what a good thing it was for 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:59.399 us that we did. When Chris came on a recall, 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:04.240 being out a Spinney field our practice site and watching 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.439 and you knew immediately you had a special player. He 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:12.720 was for a big guy, tall guy quick. He could 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:19.040 move side sideways quickly, and he had acceleration, he had 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:23.760 top end speed, he could catch everything, and he seemed 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:27.919 to have his wits about him all the time. You 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:32.399 knew right away that you had a special player. And 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:37.399 occasionally you you have that experience. You drafted guy, he 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:41.000 comes in and you just know you have one, and 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:44.120 when you get the good ones, that's what makes your 0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:50.960 team special. And he was one of those. A great receiver. 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:56.159 He played the role of country bumpkin early in his career, 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:58.679 but went on to get a law degree. It's had 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:01.960 a great broadcasting career. He's the honor of Pro Football Focus. 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:05.720 Obviously a guy that's had a tremendous career after football. Yes, 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:12.359 he's been very successful in his endeavors after football. I 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:19.560 remember what you were referring to Country Bumpkin. He put 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.920 on an act if you will, that the ah shucks, 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:26.800 poor country boy me. How could you expect me to 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:31.640 know anything? And that's when he was being interviewed by 0:25:31.680 --> 0:25:36.400 the media. But he wasn't that way with the guys 0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.480 or anybody else. That was just something that he tried 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:43.359 out for a while and to his credit, discarded not 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:47.960 soon enough and became his real self, which is all 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:51.720 you would need to be very successful in a media career. 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:55.560 And just look at the success he's had. You know 0:25:55.640 --> 0:25:58.280 you're great. If you forced the league to change the 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:02.120 rules and wide receiver is Curtis was getting mugged so 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:05.240 badly by defensive backs that your father convinced the league 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:08.679 to pass a role only allowing contact for the first 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:12.960 five yards from the line of scrimmage. So they say, now, 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:18.520 the reality of that one is that the offense in 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:23.960 the National Football League had ground down. The defense had 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:29.080 come to dominate, and back in those days you had 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:33.480 to pass protect with your hands against your chest, and 0:26:34.160 --> 0:26:41.399 you had to run patterns against cornerbacks who could bump you, 0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:46.639 push you, cut you, shove you all over the field. Well, 0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:51.400 that made it hard to throw the ball. And there 0:26:51.520 --> 0:26:54.800 came the time when finally my father who was on 0:26:54.880 --> 0:26:59.240 the competition committee, Don Shula Tex Sram they were on 0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:03.959 the competition committee, and they met about the predicament the 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:07.400 league had found itself in, and they came up with 0:27:07.480 --> 0:27:11.320 the changes in the rules which allowed the use of 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:18.160 the hands to some degree on past protection and limited 0:27:19.040 --> 0:27:23.359 bumping a receiver to five yards down field. Well, that 0:27:23.480 --> 0:27:27.480 opened the game up. For most of his career, Isaac 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:31.040 played under the old rules. Just at the end, when 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:36.240 he was probably at the downside of his career, he 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:40.439 had the benefit of the new rules. But if he 0:27:40.480 --> 0:27:44.119 had had the benefit earlier, I think he would have 0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:48.560 rewritten the record book, not just the Bengals, but the 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:52.960 National Football League record book. He was a splendid white out. 0:27:53.000 --> 0:27:57.640 He had a great, great speed. He was fast enough 0:27:57.680 --> 0:27:59.920 to try out for the Olympics, and he was close 0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:06.119 to making it. He had great hands, and I told 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:10.000 the story maybe you've heard it, where he went down 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:14.560 on the sideline against Cleveland on a go pattern and 0:28:14.800 --> 0:28:17.119 he was on the right side and reached up with 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:21.080 his outside arm his right arm and just pulled the 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:24.320 ball in with one hand in stride and ran away 0:28:24.359 --> 0:28:28.160 from the cornerback. And later in the game he did 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:30.960 the same thing on the other side with his left 0:28:30.960 --> 0:28:36.200 hand and just two one handed catches that kept him 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:42.280 right in stride. And I've never seen anything like that since, 0:28:43.200 --> 0:28:45.880 let alone see it twice by one player in the 0:28:45.960 --> 0:28:50.520 same game. I remember we played Houston one time we 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:54.960 had to win to get in the playoffs, and he 0:28:55.120 --> 0:29:00.680 caught a ball with Hurdley. It was like soccer extra time. 0:29:00.760 --> 0:29:03.400 I mean the clock was gone and he caught the 0:29:03.480 --> 0:29:06.920 ball and it ran through about their whole team for 0:29:07.640 --> 0:29:12.640 fifty yard touched score and it was a great, great 0:29:13.160 --> 0:29:19.800 critical play for us. He was a top receiver. Many 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:25.080 people would say he was the Bengals all time top receiver, 0:29:25.840 --> 0:29:29.160 and I wouldn't argue with him. We are reminiscing about 0:29:29.200 --> 0:29:31.920 the Bengals Ring of Honor candidates with President Mike Brown. 0:29:32.360 --> 0:29:35.080 The team's all time leading rushers, Corey Dillon, who ran 0:29:35.640 --> 0:29:38.600 Angry for seven years in Cincinnati and had two of 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:41.040 the best games of all time two hundred and forty 0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:44.360 six yards as a rookie and then two seventy eight 0:29:44.400 --> 0:29:47.760 against the Broncos in two thousand, an NFL single game 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:51.440 record at the time. I remember that game. They couldn't 0:29:51.480 --> 0:29:55.920 stop us, and Corey just ran right over top of him. 0:29:57.120 --> 0:30:00.520