Speaker 1: Hike and everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Closing Time addition, as the
Speaker 1: Bengals pack up their lockers and say their goodbyes after
Speaker 1: one of the best seasons in franchise history. Coming up,
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates expresses his gratitude for half a decade in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Shuitabeya Woo Jay discusses the Bengals New normal, and we'll
Speaker 1: hear from Ted Carriss, Alex Kappa, Trenton Irwin, and Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor as well. The Bengals Booth Podcast has brought to
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Speaker 1: your podcast. It's the greatest thing since Bodyguard b J. Hill.
Speaker 1: You've probably seen the video clip from the locker Room
Speaker 1: that went viral on Sunday, in which b J. Hill
Speaker 1: stands up for teammate Joseph Osai. Osai was understandably devastated
Speaker 1: after getting called for the unnecessary roughness penalty with eight
Speaker 1: seconds to go that helped the Chiefs kick their game
Speaker 1: winning field goal. When reporters approached Osai after the game,
Speaker 1: Hill stood next to his friend and intercepted questions that
Speaker 1: he thought were unnecessarily intrusive or insensitive. He didn't prevent
Speaker 1: people from doing their jobs, but he supported a teammate
Speaker 1: under tough circumstances. Here are Jesse Bates and Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: After seeing that video, I love that he did that
Speaker 1: pung because I know Joseph how much work he puts
Speaker 1: into this and he had no ill intensons one doing
Speaker 1: that to just play a hard his plan doing his
Speaker 1: one eleven that we talked about all year in that
Speaker 1: defensive room, and it's unfortunate that had to come down,
Speaker 1: and that it's not the reason why we lost. It's
Speaker 1: good that bj as a veteran, is able to step
Speaker 1: in and be there for Joseph because he is a
Speaker 1: young guy. I mean, I don't want him to think that,
Speaker 1: you know, year two, this is where his year two ends,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna write his whole legacy being in the NFL. No.
Speaker 1: I told him to go back to work and don't
Speaker 1: have another opportunity. Don't let that rite, you know, don't
Speaker 1: make him label who you are based off that play.
Speaker 1: And I have no doubt he'll bounce back from it.
Speaker 1: The things that get highlighted usually are what happens at
Speaker 1: the end of the game, but there's certainly at least
Speaker 1: one thing every coach and every player wishes we would
Speaker 1: have done differently in that game. I'm to a man,
Speaker 1: and so it was awesome to see those guys support
Speaker 1: each other. I'm in a really tough, tough moment, and
Speaker 1: you know, Joseph's a guy who who leaves his hard
Speaker 1: and soul and the I'm gonna feel every single day,
Speaker 1: whether it's some practice or in games, and so I
Speaker 1: appreciate that about him. Joseph Osai is twenty two years
Speaker 1: old and absolutely delightful to talk to, and Sunday's game
Speaker 1: might not have been tied with less than a minute
Speaker 1: to go if Osai had not played great up to
Speaker 1: that point. If you would like to get to know
Speaker 1: Joseph better, I'll end this podcast with an encore presentation
Speaker 1: of My fun Fact's interview with him from earlier this year.
Speaker 1: It was back in Week ten, So if you didn't
Speaker 1: catch it, then you'll want to catch it now. Being
Speaker 1: in the locker room on Monday was unlike any day
Speaker 1: after the final game that I can remember. It was
Speaker 1: like guys didn't want to leave. They were playing ping pong,
Speaker 1: sitting in small clusters, talking and laughing and signing jerseys
Speaker 1: to swap. It was an unusually tight group. After an
Speaker 1: O and two start, the Bengals went fourteen and three
Speaker 1: the rest of the way, including a franchise record ten
Speaker 1: game winning streak. Four of their five losses came on
Speaker 1: walk off field goals. Here's Zach Taylor. You immediately feel
Speaker 1: tired this morning because you're always prepping yourself one more week,
Speaker 1: one more week, and coffee cat, whatever you gotta do
Speaker 1: to keep yourself going and the excitement, and then when
Speaker 1: it ends, you just get sick for two weeks everybody
Speaker 1: and your body just shuts down. And I'm sure that's
Speaker 1: that's the point I'll hit tomorrow. But I am doing
Speaker 1: my best just to appreciate, you know, all the other
Speaker 1: things you just mentioned that this team's accomplished this year,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot to be proud of, and again,
Speaker 1: it can still two things can be true. It can
Speaker 1: still sting, and you can still be really proud of
Speaker 1: what this group accomplished and really proud of this group
Speaker 1: as he should be. The Bengals won back to back
Speaker 1: division titles for the first time in franchise history. For
Speaker 1: newcomers like offensive lineman Ted Harris and Alex Kappa, their
Speaker 1: first year in Cincinnati confirmed to them that they made
Speaker 1: a great choice in free agency. I had a fantastic
Speaker 1: sick time. I think this is an amazing culture, fun offense,
Speaker 1: to be a part of, fun team, to be a
Speaker 1: part of reflecting we need to do I need to
Speaker 1: do personally. Just you know, you look back at the
Speaker 1: season and you think about the little things that you
Speaker 1: could have tweaked in that game. I'm not gonna let it.
Speaker 1: You know, no one's gonna let it fester. The game
Speaker 1: went how it was. But just really grateful to be here.
Speaker 1: It was a great opportunity. Hopefully made the most of
Speaker 1: it and um, you know, hopefully get another shock to
Speaker 1: get back to a championship game in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: I've had a lot of fun. I thought, like everyone said,
Speaker 1: that's a great locker room, great offensive line room. We
Speaker 1: had a lot of success, even though it didn't end
Speaker 1: the way he wanted it to, and I just really
Speaker 1: enjoyed my hear. Keras has signed for two more years
Speaker 1: and Kappa is signed for three more, but several key
Speaker 1: players on the team are due to become free agents,
Speaker 1: including Jesse Bates, Von Bell, Hayden Hurst, Jermaine Pratt, Eli Apple,
Speaker 1: and some I JP Ryan here's Keis. It's like the
Speaker 1: last day of school. You know, the team's not gonna
Speaker 1: be the same. There's gonna be changes on every NFL
Speaker 1: franchise this season. That is the nature of the business.
Speaker 1: So guys are gonna have to find their role. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of I don't know if we have
Speaker 1: a lot of free agents. We have some guys that
Speaker 1: are I've been there. This is my first year in
Speaker 1: four years and I'm not a free agent going into
Speaker 1: the offseason, so it's a little different feeling. But I
Speaker 1: empathize with a lot of the guys that are going
Speaker 1: to go on a journey, and you know, understand it
Speaker 1: is a business, but hopefully we can get everyone back
Speaker 1: and it wants to be here on emotional Jesse Bates
Speaker 1: met with reporters on Monday, knowing that he may have
Speaker 1: played his last game in a Cincinnati uniform. The Bengals
Speaker 1: negotiated with his agent for a couple of years in
Speaker 1: hopes of extending his contract, but the two sides could
Speaker 1: not reach a deal, and Bates played on the franchise
Speaker 1: tag this season for roughly thirteen million dollars. If Jesse
Speaker 1: does move on, he's thankful for his five seasons in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I was struck by You're used to the word gratitude
Speaker 1: yesterday after the game. It seemed like that really hit
Speaker 1: home for you. Like I said, it's it's cool to
Speaker 1: be part of something special, UM, something that it's hard.
Speaker 1: It's hard. UM an emotional about it for a long time,
Speaker 1: Still numb to it. UM. Oh yeah, Like you said,
Speaker 1: gratitude is a word that I can really describe about
Speaker 1: everything that happened here. UM. Over my past five years
Speaker 1: being here, UM, I learned so much about myself, learned
Speaker 1: so much about the game, I learned so much about Cincinnati. UM.
Speaker 1: And I'm just so thankful for everybody I ran into. UM,
Speaker 1: inside this building, outside this building, UM, I've created some
Speaker 1: very special relationships UM at a last minute life. And
Speaker 1: that's all you can ask for when you when you
Speaker 1: come to an end, if something, um, if you left
Speaker 1: it better than when you came in. And I think
Speaker 1: that I played a good part of that. And I'm
Speaker 1: not the only reason for that. I know my brothers
Speaker 1: in this locker room, years in and years out, UM
Speaker 1: had a lot to do with that as well. And uh,
Speaker 1: like I said, I can't dwell on anything because I know,
Speaker 1: like I said, I love my teammates. Every year, when
Speaker 1: it was bad, I loved him, it was good, I
Speaker 1: loved him. Um. Like I said, I'm just thankful. So
Speaker 1: I love was mutual. What was some of that comments
Speaker 1: that you received from some of those guys yesterday and today?
Speaker 1: You know, everybody knows, you know what's going on. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: that's part of this business. And uh, you know, you
Speaker 1: spend so much time together over so many years, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it has to come to an end. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that this is the end of everything,
Speaker 1: but we know that there's a possibility. And it's my
Speaker 1: first time being in that instance where I may not
Speaker 1: be here, you know, so any other year I was
Speaker 1: able to process Oh, maybe we can come back next
Speaker 1: year and do this thing all over again. But like
Speaker 1: I said, I learned a lot from being here in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: a lot from everyone that I've came in contact with.
Speaker 1: And all I can say, I'm thankful because that loss
Speaker 1: hurt even more because of your personal situation. No, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to take it away from um, you know,
Speaker 1: just being in my personal situation, this hurts for everybody.
Speaker 1: I love that everyone had for each other, whether this
Speaker 1: is their last year or not. This is the last
Speaker 1: time that this team will be together as a whole,
Speaker 1: and we've been able to get through a lot of
Speaker 1: tough this year that normally you don't go through as
Speaker 1: a team. UM, I'm just proud man. As just I
Speaker 1: can just keep rumbling about this team and rumbling about
Speaker 1: my time here. But uh, like I said, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I'm just thankful. I think that
Speaker 1: UM I showed UM how to be a leader, how
Speaker 1: to be UM the same guy every day, UM, even
Speaker 1: when you're not going your way. UM. I could have
Speaker 1: easily came in here on a franchise tag and been
Speaker 1: a cancer to this team. UM. We started off owing two.
Speaker 1: I could have went to the media, they want to
Speaker 1: get traded. Um, but no, I didn't like I said.
Speaker 1: I love my teammates no matter whether it was going
Speaker 1: good or bad. And UM, I think that if anything,
Speaker 1: I could have left here and that's what I would. UM.
Speaker 1: Hopefully a lot of people got that from me. Was
Speaker 1: no matter what, UM, come in here every day and
Speaker 1: just work. Um, whether it working your way or not. UM,
Speaker 1: try to do your best and be here for your
Speaker 1: team and the ultimate goal of the team. And uh,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens after that defensive coordinat Lou in
Speaker 1: a room, are you guys seem to be extremely close
Speaker 1: both ways. Yeah, Lou came in when I was a
Speaker 1: knucklehead thinking I could make every play in the game. Um.
Speaker 1: The amount of detail work that he taught me. M.
Speaker 1: I used to go home like, man, this new DC
Speaker 1: doesn't like me. Man, it's dude, don't like me at all.
Speaker 1: And just the amount of love that he showed me. Um,
Speaker 1: it may have not been pat me on my back
Speaker 1: and just say it's gonna be all right. UM, you
Speaker 1: know he pushed me. He pushed me two levels that
Speaker 1: you know coaches never have before. And UM, that's all
Speaker 1: you can ask for as as as a DC and
Speaker 1: out of the coach. Um, it's to challenge you every
Speaker 1: single day. I think he did that and to watch
Speaker 1: what he created, Um, the culture that he created in
Speaker 1: our defense room. I'll be able to, um, you know,
Speaker 1: take that maybe somewhere else, I'll be able to take
Speaker 1: that and be a father. I'll be able to do
Speaker 1: multiple things with stuff that he taught me on the
Speaker 1: football fool. So UM. Like I said, Man, it's a
Speaker 1: it's an emotional time to speak about that. But all
Speaker 1: I can say, I'm thankful for speak so movingly about
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and about this locker room and your teammates and
Speaker 1: your culture, and so fans will be wondering about what
Speaker 1: it's going to take to keep you here. Would you
Speaker 1: want to stay here? JESSEP Yeah, Um, I want to
Speaker 1: be here. Um. Unfortunately, this business. UM, you know, there's
Speaker 1: different scenarios where I'm not in this situation where I
Speaker 1: can leave twenty ten million on the table and be
Speaker 1: okay with that, because it wouldn't be fair to myself,
Speaker 1: my family, my legacy. UM. But obviously, yes I want
Speaker 1: to be here, and my family's three hours away from here. UM.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I created bonds in this locker room,
Speaker 1: outside this locker room. UM, so yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: be here. Answers the question, just you bet on yourself
Speaker 1: twice or he's glad you didn't. Um. Yeah, I've learned.
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot about myself. Um these past two years. Man,
Speaker 1: It's like I said, I could have I could have
Speaker 1: easily went a different route. Um, been a cancer. UM.
Speaker 1: But I think it has a lot to do with
Speaker 1: the people in this locker room. The people in this
Speaker 1: organization is um. They they brought me in here, and
Speaker 1: they know they helped me get through tough times. Uh.
Speaker 1: I was in shells. I would not talk to anybody
Speaker 1: UM at times. And UM, like I said, the brotherhood,
Speaker 1: we haven't here. They got me out of that. And
Speaker 1: like I said, it's something that you don't know until
Speaker 1: you know. UM. And I was able to experience that,
Speaker 1: and I'll be able to use that in different instances
Speaker 1: of my life. And hopefully I was able to show
Speaker 1: some of the younger guys how to handle those tough situations.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm thankful that I was able to bet
Speaker 1: on myself and thankful that I was able to be healthy.
Speaker 1: It's the main part of that. When you're good enough
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs, the end of the season is
Speaker 1: so abrupt. But with this team, the ten game winning
Speaker 1: street one game from the super Bowl, does it almost
Speaker 1: seem surreal that you don't have another game in two weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you don't lose a game since what was a Halloween,
Speaker 1: I think it was, um, you kind of forget the
Speaker 1: feeling of losing. I mean, we got on the plane
Speaker 1: last night and just being around these dudes made stuff
Speaker 1: feel a lot better and made made me feel like
Speaker 1: we were going back into meetings the following week. So yes,
Speaker 1: it's tough. It's tough. It's tough, and like I said,
Speaker 1: it's it just shows how important a love bond, close
Speaker 1: knitted group can get you through multiple things. And even
Speaker 1: though it's the end of it for this year, like
Speaker 1: I said, you still see guys playing ping pong, You
Speaker 1: still see guys talking on the plane. And that's what
Speaker 1: we play this game for, is to you know, take
Speaker 1: care of our families obviously, and build relationships that will
Speaker 1: last you a lifetime. And I think we've done that here.
Speaker 1: Great stuff from Jesse Bates the Bengals Booth podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by Cattering 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, Cattering Health is committed
Speaker 1: to guiding you to your best health. Visit cattering health
Speaker 1: dot org to learn more. As I noted earlier, Bates
Speaker 1: is not the only member of the secondary you could
Speaker 1: be headed the free agency. Von Bell, Eli Apple and
Speaker 1: Trey Flowers are also on the list. Here's Shitaba wo Je,
Speaker 1: who has one year left on his deal. Every season
Speaker 1: is different, every every team's different, and I think we've
Speaker 1: been blessed the past two years to be a part
Speaker 1: of the defense that kept as nucleus for you know,
Speaker 1: two years. That's a long time for most teams. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we've definitely been spoiled. But at the same time, we've
Speaker 1: built something special here so that you know, when new
Speaker 1: faces come, they know what the standard is, they know
Speaker 1: what we expect, They know the culture in this locker room,
Speaker 1: and yeah, we need to bring in the right people
Speaker 1: that can respond to that culture and not you don't
Speaker 1: disrespect it because it's something special that will always keep
Speaker 1: us bonded. The people that were on this past team,
Speaker 1: past two teams together. Your description of kind of the
Speaker 1: business of the NFL was obviously very realistic, but it
Speaker 1: sounds like there is a tinge of sadness in your voice.
Speaker 1: It's that accurate. So tends of everything in my voice
Speaker 1: right now because I'm still processing everything. But obviously I
Speaker 1: know that being in the NFL for this amount of time,
Speaker 1: you don't have you never have the same team, you know,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So this team's chapter is closed.
Speaker 1: It's closed, it's over. The brotherhood never stops, but the
Speaker 1: chapter of chasing what our goal was is over, and
Speaker 1: that's the reality that we all have to deal with
Speaker 1: until next year. We don't know who will be here,
Speaker 1: who won't be here, So I can't speculate or guess,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's just that's just a matter of
Speaker 1: time until those things happen and then we can react.
Speaker 1: There will be changes. But this was the youngest playoff
Speaker 1: roster before team teams that made it and you have Burrow.
Speaker 1: Is there that feeling that the core group here is
Speaker 1: going to be able to compete for the top Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously football has a funny way of humbling you.
Speaker 1: But if gods stay healthy, the mindset that we have,
Speaker 1: everything will workout. I think year after year, you know.
Speaker 1: But obviously football is a funny way of humbling you.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to you know, confirm or you know,
Speaker 1: guarantee anything. So but that's my expectation. Zach says he
Speaker 1: doesn't consider himself to be the greatest speaker, but it
Speaker 1: seems like he always has a message that resonates with guys.
Speaker 1: Is there anything he said, whether it was after the
Speaker 1: game yesterday or today in the final meeting that resonated
Speaker 1: with you? I mean he said, he said a few things. Um.
Speaker 1: Number one thing is to be proud of what we
Speaker 1: accomplished as a team. Um. I think when you create
Speaker 1: a new normal for a team, it's hard to like
Speaker 1: your your your emotions changed. Like obviously, before I die here,
Speaker 1: I didn't know the culture of this team, but um,
Speaker 1: they had a normal, right and maybe just a little
Speaker 1: bit better than normal would have been a win. But
Speaker 1: we surpassed that normal by a lot. So now like
Speaker 1: it's like our new normal is what we've been doing.
Speaker 1: And um, even though it feels bad, like if you
Speaker 1: get where a lot of where we were as a team,
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, Like, this is a good
Speaker 1: new normal. So, um, I think you know, he he
Speaker 1: definitely show that miss his home that we should be
Speaker 1: proud of what we've accomplished. Obviously we left a lot
Speaker 1: of meat on the bone, but um, there's a lot
Speaker 1: things that we did that were that were great. The
Speaker 1: new normal for the Bengals is to begin next season
Speaker 1: is one of the top four or five teams in
Speaker 1: the NFL. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you
Speaker 1: by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust
Speaker 1: pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees.
Speaker 1: Learn more at paycorps dot com. Here's one more short
Speaker 1: Exit Day interview. It's with wide receiver Trenton Irwin, who
Speaker 1: went from being a three year practice squad staple to
Speaker 1: becoming one of Joe burrows trusted targets day. Like, this
Speaker 1: is strange to me because it's so abrupt. You feel
Speaker 1: like that train is rolling towards the Super Bowl and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you guys are shaking hands and
Speaker 1: walking out. Yeah, especially the way that ended. You know,
Speaker 1: if you got blown out, you're gonna have to think
Speaker 1: about oh we might not, but like I felt like
Speaker 1: everything was rolling our way, like we had every piece
Speaker 1: we needed. It was coming up short, you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of players and one of those things that it's
Speaker 1: crazy to you just go. You got a whole off
Speaker 1: season think about it. But you know, hopefully everyone gets
Speaker 1: back to there, gets back to thing, take a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks off, they get back to work. Going into
Speaker 1: the season, there was some thought out there nationally that
Speaker 1: maybe the Bengals aren't legit, maybe last year super Bowl
Speaker 1: run is a little bit freakish. Nobody can say that. Now,
Speaker 1: do you feel like you've clearly established that the Bengals
Speaker 1: are right there at the top of the NFL. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm almost speak from the heart and saying that.
Speaker 1: I don't think really a whole lot of people care
Speaker 1: about what everyone's saying outside of here. You know, I
Speaker 1: think we all all believe that or that type of team.
Speaker 1: You know, we have the pieces to be able to
Speaker 1: go in everything. So I mean that's just sort of
Speaker 1: who we are as a group. So you know, we're
Speaker 1: you know, people are gonna say what they're gonna say,
Speaker 1: good and bad, and we appreciate you. The one, But
Speaker 1: we're gonna be who we are and I think we
Speaker 1: got a lot coming this socker room. Of the fourteen
Speaker 1: teams that made the playoffs, this is the youngest roster.
Speaker 1: There will be changes, there always are, but the nucleus
Speaker 1: is going to be back and it's strong. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I'm one hundred sign with you. We gotta I got
Speaker 1: a tight group and that's that's one thing we gotta
Speaker 1: keep maintaining through the years. What did Zach say to
Speaker 1: the team? What was his final message? You know, Um,
Speaker 1: it's one of those things, like you said, it was abrupt.
Speaker 1: It's a tough ending, but there's a lot to learn from.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of good things that came from this year,
Speaker 1: and you know, that's the way it goes in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We play a lot of good teams and sometimes things
Speaker 1: roll one way or the other, and you know, we
Speaker 1: gotta just keep doing our best thing, keep taking our
Speaker 1: next best step. Set a franchise record with ten straight wins.
Speaker 1: It's the first team to win playoff games and back
Speaker 1: to back years in this team's history. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like there wor a lot of great accomplishments that you'll remember. Definitely,
Speaker 1: good accomplishments. You know, I don't think a lot of
Speaker 1: this team knows nothing but that type of excellence. You know,
Speaker 1: we're just trying to go out there and win games,
Speaker 1: and one tenth straight could have one eleventh straight to
Speaker 1: go to the freaking ball. So I mean, we came
Speaker 1: up last week, have on one short. I guess we're
Speaker 1: too short this year. But you know, we just got
Speaker 1: to keep learning and keep growing and take that next step.
Speaker 1: Rats in a great year. Thank you. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
Speaker 1: They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up
Speaker 1: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Finally, as promised,
Speaker 1: an encore edition of My Fun Facts interview with second
Speaker 1: year defensive lineman Joseph Osai. Time for some fun facts
Speaker 1: with Joseph Osai, who was raised near Houston but born
Speaker 1: in Nigeria. What do you remember about your early childhood
Speaker 1: years back in Africa? A lot of rain, um, a
Speaker 1: lot of sin, a lot of soccer, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Soccer after school that was fun with the
Speaker 1: neighborhood kids and then um, just being happy with my family.
Speaker 1: Of 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 free citizenship. So that's what that's what we did.
Speaker 1: You were ten years old, were you heartbroken to leave
Speaker 1: home and leave your friends behind or were you excited
Speaker 1: about coming to the US. It was a bit of
Speaker 1: sweet for sure. Bitter sweet, m excited about the US.
Speaker 1: Grew up watching home alone. You know, I thought every
Speaker 1: single New York I mean US city and state was
Speaker 1: like New York. So I was super excited to eat
Speaker 1: pizza and burgers and all that. But yeah, definitely said
Speaker 1: about leaving my friends that I grew up with, but
Speaker 1: my family was with me, and then that's that was
Speaker 1: my piece of home that I brought with me. Were
Speaker 1: visiting the joseph Osai, there had to be some culture shock.
Speaker 1: I would imagine what stands out absolutely everything every single
Speaker 1: details about going to school, the clicks in schools them
Speaker 1: from like I mentioned, Sam being everywhere in Nigeria. No
Speaker 1: saying here, you know what I mean, just concuting grass.
Speaker 1: So that was that was that, and then just learning
Speaker 1: how to communicate a lot of things and then over
Speaker 1: it definitely took us multiple years to figure it out,
Speaker 1: but you know that was all part of growing and learning.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been back? I have not, but I
Speaker 1: need to. My dad goes back all the time though,
Speaker 1: but I've just never had time, you know, with football
Speaker 1: and growing up, I was always involved in summer activities
Speaker 1: like summer track and basketball and stuff like that, so
Speaker 1: I never really got the chance, but hopefully soon. How
Speaker 1: important we're sports in helping you blend in very important.
Speaker 1: They allowed me to make my first group of friends,
Speaker 1: you know, playing playing playing football at recess at the
Speaker 1: back of the school. That's where I was able to
Speaker 1: game friends. Because then it's not they don't care if
Speaker 1: you can you have an action, or if you know
Speaker 1: how to do this or not how to say this.
Speaker 1: They just care about or you good athlete? Did you
Speaker 1: score the game winning touchdown before the recess bell blue?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean so yeah that sports. Sports
Speaker 1: was a huge part of me integrating and gaining friends.
Speaker 1: But your mom did not want you to play football, correct,
Speaker 1: she did not. She did not. She was too rough
Speaker 1: for her. She wouldn't mean to focus on my studies
Speaker 1: as every African parent does. But yeah, she she didn't
Speaker 1: come to a game all of junior, junior, high all
Speaker 1: of um up until junior in high schools when she
Speaker 1: first came to her game, and she was she praised
Speaker 1: the rosary like the whole way through the game. So
Speaker 1: she is still a very violent sport for her, but
Speaker 1: she's learned to accept it. So during the course of
Speaker 1: the game, she's as nervous as can be, as nervous
Speaker 1: as can be, she's constantly praying. She just super scared.
Speaker 1: But you know, she's she's she's adapted over the years.
Speaker 1: She's not as bad as she used to be, for sure.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Joseph Osai. You attended oak
Speaker 1: Ridge High School and we're a coveted recruit. What was
Speaker 1: the recruiting process like for you? It was it was
Speaker 1: a brand new thing, um, because I'd never I didn't
Speaker 1: even you know, that was a thing first of all,
Speaker 1: and you know, Texas being a just a big football state.
Speaker 1: You know, playing football there is interesting for sure, I'll
Speaker 1: say that. So, um, it was. It was wild. I
Speaker 1: tried to thank you. I had my family around me
Speaker 1: and they didn't know anything about things, so there was
Speaker 1: no pressure to go here or there. But they we
Speaker 1: kept a level ahead and we tried to move through
Speaker 1: logically and write everything down, make sure we were making
Speaker 1: the right decision, not decisions based off of what color
Speaker 1: uniform or school had or how much they could wool
Speaker 1: you in the recruiting you know what I mean recruiting world.
Speaker 1: But um, I definitely had some good people around me.
Speaker 1: My coaches too, were did a good job of helping me,
Speaker 1: like because they had been through whatever, and they said, look,
Speaker 1: you gotta take things into consideration and do this, do this.
Speaker 1: Make sure you have your grades right still, because just
Speaker 1: because you have the letters coming in doesn't mean you're accepted.
Speaker 1: You still have to have a good grades to get
Speaker 1: into these schools and stuff like that. So yeah, it was,
Speaker 1: it was. It was. It was amazing, but again it
Speaker 1: was as part of the process. It was dope. You
Speaker 1: chose the University of Texas, you spent three years with
Speaker 1: the Longhorns. What did you enjoy most about the college experience?
Speaker 1: Game day? Game day in Texas is just amazing. Um
Speaker 1: and uh just and it's a lot better here too.
Speaker 1: But um, I know, some some pros some locker rooms
Speaker 1: they don't even there's no commodity. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I said that word camaraderie. Camaraderie. There's no camaraderie with um.
Speaker 1: With teammates, they as soon as they're done with practice,
Speaker 1: they just shoot out. But what I enjoyed most about
Speaker 1: college was um, hanging out after practices. You know, we
Speaker 1: all were going to the same dorms, we all were
Speaker 1: living the same lives and stuff like that. It's a
Speaker 1: lot better here in this locker room, for sure. You
Speaker 1: know there's we hang out and play ping pong all
Speaker 1: the time. But just that family mentality is what I
Speaker 1: love the most about college. You know, just a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys grinding and trying to get to the next level.
Speaker 1: There was there was something special about that. For sure.
Speaker 1: You had a great career. The Bengal selected you in
Speaker 1: the third round of last year's draft. Describe your draft experience.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of mixed emotions, man, because you know, there's expectations and
Speaker 1: then there's what 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 just 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 grinding 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 achieved 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 risk 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 of 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 durning COVID was
Speaker 1: pretty hard, but um, this is pretty terri you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And having gone through that and now
Speaker 1: trying to come out through the other side, it's it's
Speaker 1: really awesome to see that I could work through that,
Speaker 1: and my mentality a thought like waivered a bit. It's
Speaker 1: still the same and I'm still striving to be where
Speaker 1: I am. I know you're close with your family. Was
Speaker 1: that the key to getting through it? Of course? Of
Speaker 1: course talking to them mostly almost every day, and then
Speaker 1: some days I didn't want to talk to them. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk to anybody. I had my teammates
Speaker 1: so I couldn't get away from and they picked me up.
Speaker 1: So um, yeah, it was it was people around me.
Speaker 1: It just kind of been, um, a very key key
Speaker 1: point in every my all my life, all my aspect
Speaker 1: of life, you know, whether it's going through college and
Speaker 1: going through being transitioned from Nigeria to here, and then
Speaker 1: every every step of my life, the people around me
Speaker 1: have played a huge role and helped me get to
Speaker 1: where I am. All right, we'll wrap it up with
Speaker 1: some wild card questions. Now for Joseph Osi, do you
Speaker 1: have any hidden town once hidden talents. I don't know
Speaker 1: if this will count as a hidden talents. It's just
Speaker 1: a he said, a fun fact. When I get tired enough,
Speaker 1: I sleep with my eyes open. I don't, I don't,
Speaker 1: like 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 and say
Speaker 1: that being asleep. That 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 so pretty wild. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's what I can think of right now. All right,
Speaker 1: I consider that a hidden talent. On the flip side,
Speaker 1: is there anything that you will admit to being absolutely
Speaker 1: terrible at the guitar? I? Um uh. During my injury
Speaker 1: phase last year, I tried to pick up the guitar.
Speaker 1: I had a roommate, why 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 it.
Speaker 1: It just it was horrible, it was I got frustrated.
Speaker 1: It was an impulse buy. First of all, I saw
Speaker 1: him play one night. I bought the thing. After a week,
Speaker 1: I gave it back to him. I was done with
Speaker 1: that thing. Yeah, A horrible a playing the guitar. You
Speaker 1: might have to try trombone or a trumpet, something with less.
Speaker 1: I was a percussionist in the fifteen sixth grade. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I didn't pick up the piano or
Speaker 1: something like that, but that's what it is. Who is
Speaker 1: your all time favorite athlete in any sport and why
Speaker 1: dda drug grew up he's a professional soccer player. Grew
Speaker 1: up watching him playing soccer. You know, I mentioned soccer
Speaker 1: bean in Houston in Nigeria. So watched him play, watched
Speaker 1: him time and time again do what d 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. I maybe not even meet him,
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 cus 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 zone, 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 luck the rest of
Speaker 1: the air appreciate that. Thank you. That's going to do
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