Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The you've had your first lesson
Speaker 1: in learning the Blues. Addition, as the Bengals playoff chances
Speaker 1: take a hit with a gut wrenching overtime loss to
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine Ers. Coming up, you'll hear
Speaker 1: radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches, and analysis
Speaker 1: from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's
Speaker 1: fun fact segment, you'll learn that Frank Pollock is not
Speaker 1: only a great offensive line coach, but a sensational storyteller.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now
Speaker 1: from the App Store in Google Play. And here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcast ASTs. It's the
Speaker 1: greatest thing since eighty Bryant. The current season of Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live isn't doing much for me, but the one
Speaker 1: cast member who consistently makes me laugh is Ady Bryant.
Speaker 1: Whether it's her physical comedy, intentionally weird pronunciations, or one
Speaker 1: hundred percent commitment to the musical. Shorts like the one
Speaker 1: about regifting a Christmas candle, Aidy Bryant elevates every sketch
Speaker 1: she's in. So here's to my SNL MVP Ady Bryant,
Speaker 1: with a thumbs up to Kate McKinnon and Keenan Thompson too.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to Sunday's game. After the two teams
Speaker 1: traded punts on their opening series, the Bengals force the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers to punt again. The second time they
Speaker 1: got the ball, Wishnavsky lets it rip, Phillips, moving forwards,
Speaker 1: struggles to catch it, leases the ball. He muffed it.
Speaker 1: There's a wrestling match for the ball and the forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers recover at this Cincinnati twenty three yea. So
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers took over on the cusp of
Speaker 1: the red zone, and while the Bengals defense did not
Speaker 1: give up a first down, Robbie Gold kicked a short
Speaker 1: field goal to give Sam Fran a three nothing lead.
Speaker 1: Phillips was briefly injured when he muffed the punt, and
Speaker 1: Stanley Morgan took overs. The Bengals kick returner. He promptly
Speaker 1: muffed the ensuing kickoff before recovering and getting tackled at
Speaker 1: the fourteen. Cincinnati overcame that and drove to the San
Speaker 1: Francisco nineteen before settling for a field goal in the
Speaker 1: red zone that tied the game at three at the
Speaker 1: end of the first quarter. The Bengals d only gave
Speaker 1: up two first downs in the first quarter, but Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan is too good of a play designer and the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers have too many good players to shut
Speaker 1: them down all day. Second down at eight, the Bengals
Speaker 1: twenty seven Garoppolo fakes a handoff, no he did give
Speaker 1: it to Deebo Samuel, spreading to the right, turns the
Speaker 1: corner down the sideline into the end zone, touchdown. St. Francisco.
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel is listed as a wide receiver, but he
Speaker 1: frequently lines up at running back, and that twenty seven
Speaker 1: yard run gave the Niners a ten three lead. The
Speaker 1: Bengals cut the margin to four when they drove into
Speaker 1: the red zone again before settling for a short field
Speaker 1: goal with one forty two left in the half, and
Speaker 1: it looked like Cincinnati might score again when the defense
Speaker 1: forced to quit three and out one oh seven left
Speaker 1: and a half. The forty Niners half to punt way
Speaker 1: up into the air. Phillips calls for a fair catch
Speaker 1: and the balls it's recovered by San Francisco at the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati thirty yard line. Second muff punt of the game
Speaker 1: for Darius Phillips. Phillips did not return another kick or
Speaker 1: punt for the rest of the game. Here's Mike Kilton
Speaker 1: in my opinions, one of the hardest job is to
Speaker 1: be a punt returner. You know, you got guys screaming
Speaker 1: down and you just got a number one kissed the
Speaker 1: ball in. You know he didn't do it, but we're
Speaker 1: not losing confidence in him. We know if he gets
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands in space, you know he's
Speaker 1: able to make plays for us. Those were the first
Speaker 1: two umbles that Darius Phillips has lost this year. The
Speaker 1: Bengals defense has been phenomenal this year after turnovers, only
Speaker 1: allowing two touchdowns the first seventeen times they took the
Speaker 1: field after a turnover, and it looked like they were
Speaker 1: going to come through again when they forced an incomplete
Speaker 1: pass on third and seven that would have forced a
Speaker 1: field goal. Try, but on the play, Von Bell was
Speaker 1: called for taunting to give the forty nine ers a
Speaker 1: first down. Was it a good call? Here's Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: I didn't personally see it, but it sounds like it was.
Speaker 1: It was probably wispen called historically this season with taunting.
Speaker 1: But I gotta be careful because I haven't seen you yet.
Speaker 1: But something feedback was that that's kind of wispen called.
Speaker 1: It was the second time this year that Bell has
Speaker 1: been called for taunting, and this time it cost the
Speaker 1: Bengals four points. Cooppolo catches the shotgun snap, he's back
Speaker 1: to throw, has time, looks around, floats it down toward
Speaker 1: the two caught pie Kittle extends the ball to the pylon,
Speaker 1: touchdown out. San Francisco. Man talk about mistakes, fumbles, penalties, taunted, penalties,
Speaker 1: all it is a self destruction. It made the halftime
Speaker 1: score seventeen six, San Francisco. Here's Sam Hubbard. You can't
Speaker 1: beat yourself. I think that really is what comes down
Speaker 1: to it. The good teams they don't beat themselves. They
Speaker 1: will make those mistakes. And we want to be a
Speaker 1: good team. You know, we do a lot of good things.
Speaker 1: There's bright moments, But when it comes down to it,
Speaker 1: there's situations where we can't make the mistakes we've been
Speaker 1: making the last two weeks to win games. As for
Speaker 1: tight end George Kittle, he destroyed the Bengals all day,
Speaker 1: finishing with thirteen catches for one hundred and fifty one yards.
Speaker 1: We tried everything. He's one of the best tight ends.
Speaker 1: We've known that for a long time. And you know,
Speaker 1: he had similar production last week. I think he almost
Speaker 1: had two hundred yards receiving. And it's it's not like
Speaker 1: he surprises people. When a guy is that explosive and
Speaker 1: that big, that kind of hands, that catch radius, he
Speaker 1: makes a lot of ways, and I promise you, we
Speaker 1: try to like hell to take him away, and he
Speaker 1: just he finds way to make those plays. The deficit
Speaker 1: got bigger in the third quarter. The Bengals opened the
Speaker 1: second half with three straight running plays and had to
Speaker 1: put on fourth and one. The forty nine ers answered
Speaker 1: with a field goal to take a twenty to six lead.
Speaker 1: The Bengals responded with a nice drive, marching to the nineteen,
Speaker 1: but a sack knocked him out of the red zone
Speaker 1: and forced them to call on kicker Evan McPherson Harris's snap,
Speaker 1: Hubert puts it down. The kick has plenty of distance
Speaker 1: and it is wide left. Told it left. The misery
Speaker 1: extended for the Bengals today, as they are having a
Speaker 1: wide variety of failures in every aspect of the game.
Speaker 1: To that point, there had been three muffs in the
Speaker 1: kicking game, a taunting penalty on defense that turned a
Speaker 1: field goal try into a touchdown, and three trips into
Speaker 1: the red zone on offense without scoring a touchdown. It
Speaker 1: seemed highly unlikely that the Bengals would rally from fourteen
Speaker 1: down in the fourth core, but then again, they have
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and he was close to perfect for the
Speaker 1: rest of the game. Fourth down in five in the
Speaker 1: red zone, the Bengals line up to go for trailing
Speaker 1: twenty to six at the seventeen of San Francisco. Three
Speaker 1: receivers left, one right. Burrow has the ball. He's back
Speaker 1: to throw, scrambling left, turns back toward the right, running
Speaker 1: to the right, looking down field, throws into the end zone.
Speaker 1: Oh Baby to catch in the back line around touch
Speaker 1: down Bengals Jamar Chase hauls it in have The Bengals
Speaker 1: are alive with nine twenty to go. It was hard
Speaker 1: to tell on TV just how remarkable that play was.
Speaker 1: Is Burrow threw the ball in the opposite direction of
Speaker 1: where Chase was running in the back of the end zone.
Speaker 1: When I threw it, he was still running left, and
Speaker 1: he did a great job of you know, we were
Speaker 1: just on the same page. I knew exactly when he
Speaker 1: was seeing, and he knew exactly what I was seeing,
Speaker 1: and I he was running left. It through it right,
Speaker 1: and he put his food in the ground and went
Speaker 1: and got it. I don't really know why he did that,
Speaker 1: but he was just saying, you know, he was throwing
Speaker 1: the ball away from the defender because the defender got
Speaker 1: a ten of SIPs which way. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: that's really kind of smartn't you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: food me off the So that was actually a good
Speaker 1: play by him. That made a twenty to thirteen, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense got two straight stops to give Burrow
Speaker 1: a chance. The first time they got him the ball,
Speaker 1: the Bengals had to punt, but the second time, Cincinnati
Speaker 1: started at its own thirteen with two forty to go
Speaker 1: and drove down the field to tie the game one
Speaker 1: twenty five on the clock, a two by two formation,
Speaker 1: Burrow back to throw, looking firing deep for Chase in
Speaker 1: the end zone. Touchdown down Joe Burrow and the Bengals
Speaker 1: as he delivers to Numero uno, Jamar Chase, one nineteen
Speaker 1: on the clock as he beat Thomas and now the
Speaker 1: Bengals will line up for the extra point with a
Speaker 1: chance to tie it with one nineteen to go. You
Speaker 1: couldn't put that ball on a better spot. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chase ran a great route and Joe Burrow threw the
Speaker 1: ball over the outside shoulder. The only guy that could
Speaker 1: make a plan that football was Jamar Chase. Unbelievable catch,
Speaker 1: better throw. Here's Burrow and the Bengals come back. And
Speaker 1: we've kind of been a second half team the whole season.
Speaker 1: We figure out what we're seeing and then we go
Speaker 1: and attack it. You know, it's a's four quarter game.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have ups and downs throughout the game, whether
Speaker 1: it's in the first half of the second half, and
Speaker 1: you just got to finish strong and try to find wins.
Speaker 1: The only negative about the touchdown was that it left
Speaker 1: enough time on the clock for the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: to answer and a nineteen yard pass from Garoppolo to
Speaker 1: Kittle on third and ten gave seventeen year veteran Robbie
Speaker 1: Gould a chance to end it. On the final play,
Speaker 1: forty seven yards away from the left hash to win
Speaker 1: it for San Francisco. The kick is on its way.
Speaker 1: It's a line drive kick. It is oh good, he
Speaker 1: missed it. Edward I handed over time tide at twenty.
Speaker 1: The Bengals won the toss and got the ball, meaning
Speaker 1: they could win the game by scoring a touchdown. Burrow
Speaker 1: hit Te Higgins for twenty six yards. After a run
Speaker 1: by Joe Mixon got stopped for no gain, Burrow hit
Speaker 1: c j Uzamba for a gain of twenty three. It
Speaker 1: was first and ten at the San Francisco twenty six.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter and overtime, Burrow went eleven for
Speaker 1: fifteen for two hundred ten yards, two touchdowns and no picks,
Speaker 1: for a passer rating of one fifty four point eight.
Speaker 1: But rather than letting Burrow go for the juggular, the
Speaker 1: Bengals handed it to Mixon for a gain of four,
Speaker 1: then handed it to Joe again for a gain of three.
Speaker 1: On third and three, Burrow dropped back to throw and
Speaker 1: got sacked. Joe was asked about the play calling on
Speaker 1: the final drive. Whatever play calls is called, we're gonna
Speaker 1: execute to the best of our ability. We had a
Speaker 1: good drive there, we just weren't able to close it out.
Speaker 1: Joe wasn't about to publicly second get the coaches, but
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor second guest himself when he was asked the
Speaker 1: following question by my former colleague at Fox nineteen, Joe Daneman,
Speaker 1: is there ever a thought as a play caller when
Speaker 1: the quarterback's hot to stick with a hot hand and
Speaker 1: ride him. Yeah, yep, I agree with you. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's that. That's one that'll keep you up
Speaker 1: at night. You know, we got a quarterback that can
Speaker 1: win us a lot of games, and you know there's
Speaker 1: maybe one more pass instead of a run there. Sure,
Speaker 1: if we hit that run, I feel great about it.
Speaker 1: But we didn't, and so then you go back to hindsight,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure I'll feel a lot of that tonight.
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson kicked a forty one yard field goal to
Speaker 1: give the Bengals their first lead all day, twenty three
Speaker 1: to twenty, But that meant the forty nine ers would
Speaker 1: get a chance to either tie it or win it.
Speaker 1: From the twelve yard line. Garoppolo fakes a handoff short
Speaker 1: throw caught by a UK ten five dives for the pieline.
Speaker 1: He goes out of bounds first. Wow, he's out of
Speaker 1: bounds at the two where it will be first in goal.
Speaker 1: After a few it is a touchdown. Came over. Wow.
Speaker 1: I'll bitterly disappointing defeat for the Cincinnati Bengals. They rally
Speaker 1: from fourteen down in the fourth quarter, take the lead
Speaker 1: in overtime, and cannot stop to San Francisco forty nine
Speaker 1: ers from driving seventy five yards for a game winning touchdown.
Speaker 1: The final score San Francisco twenty six, Cincinnati twenty three.
Speaker 1: Not as painful as Montana to Taylor, but still painful.
Speaker 1: Here are Sam Hubbard and Mike Hilton drive at the end.
Speaker 1: You know you got to stop them there, and uh
Speaker 1: we didn't. So I'm proud of you know, I love
Speaker 1: the guys on my team that we went out there
Speaker 1: in battle. Nobody I don't even know what we were
Speaker 1: down at one point, but we just kept sticking together,
Speaker 1: getting stops, climbing back into it. Nobody you know, pointing fingers,
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, it's tough. It's tough, tough to win
Speaker 1: in this league. These last two week we kind of
Speaker 1: dug ourselves in some depoles that we weren't able to
Speaker 1: get out of. And you know, it's too lossy that
Speaker 1: we feel like we played to our standard. We should
Speaker 1: win those games. And we know as a team we
Speaker 1: got to start faster and we gotta finish finished like
Speaker 1: we've been finishing, but that first half, we just gotta
Speaker 1: come out with more urgency and in more fight. Had
Speaker 1: the Bengals won, they would have moved into a tie
Speaker 1: for first in the AFC North with the Ravens, who
Speaker 1: not only lost in Cleveland on Sunday, but saw Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson taking off the field on a cart with an
Speaker 1: ankle injury. Baltimore has dropped too straight and the Bengals
Speaker 1: couldn't take advantage of the opportunity. Here's Burrow and when
Speaker 1: the one of the teams that you're fighting for the
Speaker 1: division with loses, you you got to take advantage of that,
Speaker 1: and we haven't been able to the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: So you know, like you said, missed opportunities. The Bengals
Speaker 1: would no longer be a wild Card team. If the
Speaker 1: season ended today, they fall into ninth on the AFC
Speaker 1: Totem Pole and seven teams get in. Cincinnati's final four
Speaker 1: games are at Denver, home against Baltimore, home against Kansas City,
Speaker 1: and on the road in Cleveland. All four teams have
Speaker 1: winning records. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals,
Speaker 1: the free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will
Speaker 1: be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the season,
Speaker 1: with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the App Store
Speaker 1: and Google Play. Now time for postgame analysis with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave lapham Lap. This is a second guesser's
Speaker 1: field day, as the Bengals drove in overtime down to
Speaker 1: the twenty six yard line. They had at first in
Speaker 1: ten and called two straight running plays that didn't work
Speaker 1: very well. Eventually, Joe Burrow got sacked and the Bengals
Speaker 1: kicked a field goal that did not turn out to
Speaker 1: be the game winning points. Zach Taylor is pretty candid
Speaker 1: When asked about it after the game, he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of agree with you. I'm probably gonna have
Speaker 1: a hard time getting to sleep tonight. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he is. You know that that ended up getting a
Speaker 1: little bit curious, particularly the way that they were They
Speaker 1: were moving the ball through the air in big chunks.
Speaker 1: Not just that driving overtime, but the drives in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. I mean, Joe Burrow was unbelievable in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. In fact, it was unbelievable for the game.
Speaker 1: But I think the game came down to two things. Turnovers.
Speaker 1: The Bengals went minus two with the kicking game funnels
Speaker 1: of all things. Man, that's a killer. In red zone.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are when the number one and number
Speaker 1: three offenses in the NFL and touchdown red zone touchdown
Speaker 1: percentage efficiency, and the forty nine ers went two for
Speaker 1: four scored two touchdownes. The Bengals go one for five
Speaker 1: in the red zone, only twenty percent conversion as opposed
Speaker 1: to the fifty percent in a game that you lose
Speaker 1: in overtime. In my mind, that's a massive difference right there.
Speaker 1: George Kills awesome, He's had as many as fifteen catches
Speaker 1: in a game. He's mad that had more than two
Speaker 1: hundred yards in a game. He had more than one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty. Last week against Seattle, he had thirteen
Speaker 1: catches for one fifty one today. Why can't a team
Speaker 1: stop George Kittle? It's remarkable, you know, and and you
Speaker 1: look at it. I mean, they've got good recite wide receivers,
Speaker 1: but it's not like they have you know, Jerry Rice
Speaker 1: and John Taylor out there. You know, Kittle, he just
Speaker 1: he seems to He's so savvy, he's so smart, he's
Speaker 1: so strong, he's so physical. He's just just as as
Speaker 1: good a football player as as I've seen, honestly. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't care what the position this guy approaches. Every
Speaker 1: single down that it's the last play to win a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Every single snap this guy takes, He's one
Speaker 1: of those one of those guys that you just you
Speaker 1: feed off his energy and enthusiasm. I mean, he is
Speaker 1: so serious. He takes the game of football so seriously
Speaker 1: that it's contagious. It's it's unbelievable to watch the guy perform.
Speaker 1: This is a really costly, painful loss, a chance to
Speaker 1: move into a tie with Baltimore. We don't know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen with Lamar Jackson, who has carted out today,
Speaker 1: you're down by fourteen and the fourth quarter rally to
Speaker 1: tie it, to take the leading overtime. You were in
Speaker 1: the locker room. How devastated was that room? It was?
Speaker 1: It was quiet, quiet in there, and guys were you know,
Speaker 1: the one of the many smiles, that's for darn't sure.
Speaker 1: And and they just were very reflective, stunned. In a
Speaker 1: lot of cases. Um, you know, it's like in those situations.
Speaker 1: I've been in those situations, and it's almost like a
Speaker 1: bomb goes off, you know, and you just don't know
Speaker 1: exactly what happened, why it happened, how it happened, or
Speaker 1: anything like anything else. And uh, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to be that dramatic, particularly with what goes on in
Speaker 1: today's world, but I mean, it's it's it's just it's
Speaker 1: almost uh, it's it's almost beyond comprehension that that something
Speaker 1: like that unfolded the way it did, you know, particularly
Speaker 1: after the amount to come back, you know, and you
Speaker 1: get back in two weeks in a row. Now you know,
Speaker 1: they're down twenty four nothing to score twenty two to
Speaker 1: make it again, and then never take a lead though
Speaker 1: and this one though, they come back from down two
Speaker 1: scores in the fourth quarter, tie it, take the lead
Speaker 1: in overtime, and then don't finish it so they're closer.
Speaker 1: But still, man, they just have to they have to
Speaker 1: quit the self destruction. I mean, these teams are good
Speaker 1: enough teams. We say it every week. These teams were
Speaker 1: all fighting for the playoffs. They're good enough to beat you.
Speaker 1: If you help them, you're done. You're cooked. Forget it,
Speaker 1: it's over. You can't help football teams beat you by stupid,
Speaker 1: silly mistakes, whether it's dumb penalties, turnovers, whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be. You just they're gonna have to be eliminated.
Speaker 1: And think about it this way too. In the last
Speaker 1: two weeks, they've had four turnovers that weren't forced. Two
Speaker 1: muffed punts today that led to ten points, that Jamarches
Speaker 1: juggle that are raised to seventy one yard touchdown and
Speaker 1: became an interception last week, and Joe Mixon's fumble where
Speaker 1: it wasn't really forced. He was just kind of doing
Speaker 1: a jump cut and lost control of the ball. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's bad enough to commit turnovers, it is ten times
Speaker 1: worse when the other team doesn't even force it. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean that's just like saying, here you go, I
Speaker 1: don't want this football game, you know, I really I
Speaker 1: can compete with you, but I'm still gonna let you
Speaker 1: win it. Here you go, I'll just give it to you.
Speaker 1: The only one that came close for them from a
Speaker 1: turnover standpoint was Jimmy Garoppolo dropping and think took up
Speaker 1: for tour Us bounce. But other than that, I mean,
Speaker 1: they played like a playoff team in terms of taking
Speaker 1: care of the football. The Bengals didn't, you know, And
Speaker 1: I'll guarantee you Darren Simmons is fit to be tied.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's probably pulling hair out by the roots
Speaker 1: as we speak. I mean, because I've heard him so
Speaker 1: many times say to return, guys, the primary thing, the
Speaker 1: biggest thing I need out of you is an ability
Speaker 1: to track the football and catch the damn thing. Heard
Speaker 1: him today In a game the Bengals wind up losing
Speaker 1: by three points. They handed San Francisco four points? Was
Speaker 1: it four? Final margin? Four? No? Three? Because there's no
Speaker 1: extra yeah, said twenty six, twenty three. But they gave
Speaker 1: San Francisco four points. When vone Bell gets called for
Speaker 1: taranting absolutely and that one, you know, I understand the intent,
Speaker 1: but the pendulum has swung too far, you know. And
Speaker 1: it's when you're when you're in a hotly contested game
Speaker 1: and the emotions are high. There's nothing wrong with a
Speaker 1: little celebration of a play that you made. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's not like you're in a guy's face and
Speaker 1: mocking him, and it's just you know. The thing is, though,
Speaker 1: you have to realize that if you're going to do this,
Speaker 1: separate yourself from somebody and do a celebration. Don't walk
Speaker 1: up to it. When he walked up to an opponent
Speaker 1: and did it, he's done, he's done. He maybe had
Speaker 1: something to say too. You can't do it use somebody
Speaker 1: else as a prop in your celebration. You can't include
Speaker 1: anybody else. If you want to just you know, let it,
Speaker 1: let energy and you know, emotion boil. Do it alone,
Speaker 1: Go find a quiet spot to do it. Man, those
Speaker 1: things are killer. That was so costly unbelievable. All right,
Speaker 1: So we have been going through the negative and there's
Speaker 1: lots of it. Let's talk about the biggest positive. Joe
Speaker 1: Burrows unbelievable. He estimated his velocity at eighty to eighty
Speaker 1: five percent because of the injured finger. Today, three hundred
Speaker 1: forty eight passing yards, two touchdowns, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: one yards in the fourth quarter alone when they had
Speaker 1: to have it. The dude stepped up and delivered time
Speaker 1: and time again. The future is so bright with this
Speaker 1: guy at quarterback. And he sprayed the ball around. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the thing too. He goes five times to Higgins
Speaker 1: for one hundred and fourteen yards. Every one of te
Speaker 1: higgins catches were nineteen yards or more, you know, all
Speaker 1: of more. That's two weeks in a row that he's
Speaker 1: caught every ball he's caught his fifteen yards and more,
Speaker 1: and today it's nineteen yards a more every single catch.
Speaker 1: He averaged well over twenty yards a catch. Five catches
Speaker 1: by Higgins, five catches by Chase, four catches by Zama,
Speaker 1: four catches by Tyler Boyd, four catches by p Ryan.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's unbelievable distribution of the football. That's
Speaker 1: that's spraying around to all quadrants and being patient with
Speaker 1: what they're doing. And he's unbelievable. He is such a
Speaker 1: competitive guy. And with that said, uber competitive, but always
Speaker 1: unbelievably composed. He has the perfect balance. I mean it's
Speaker 1: like that's juggling act to be that competitive. But never lou,
Speaker 1: you know, never go over the top where you're hurting
Speaker 1: yourself because your emotions. He has the perfect recipe, the
Speaker 1: perfect formula for success. It's amazing to watch the guy
Speaker 1: nothing flusters, the guy saying stone face during the entire
Speaker 1: football game, pregame, post game, in the press room, doing
Speaker 1: press conferences. He is amazing. Nor the word to describe it.
Speaker 1: As we chat post game. We don't know the status
Speaker 1: of Trey Hendrickson. It obviously was scary when they brought
Speaker 1: out a cart just before halftime and then he got
Speaker 1: up and walked to the sideline and walked to the
Speaker 1: locker room. So that was encouraging, but I'd be surprised
Speaker 1: if he's able to come back next week. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: back injuries are tricky. I mean, I don't know where
Speaker 1: it is. You'd assume it's lower back, but you just
Speaker 1: don't know. Um you know, I have I've had an
Speaker 1: issue in my back that was between my shoulder blades
Speaker 1: one time, and that was about as problematic as anything
Speaker 1: because you know everything you're doing with your upper body
Speaker 1: and your shoulders and arms you know, and and then
Speaker 1: back injuries in general. I mean, when you're messing with
Speaker 1: your spine and your back and the muscles that's around
Speaker 1: it and everything. Man, that's that's no joke, and that's
Speaker 1: that's nothing to mess with. So yeah, to think that
Speaker 1: he would be able to come back if it unless
Speaker 1: it was just totally musculature and all it did was
Speaker 1: spasm and tightened up to the point where he couldn't
Speaker 1: move and it relieved itself for some reason. I mean,
Speaker 1: if it was something like that, But if it's if
Speaker 1: it's anything else with other soft tissue or other things
Speaker 1: around there, and you certainly have to be careful with
Speaker 1: back problems, that's for sure. So four games to go.
Speaker 1: The Broncos won by four touchdowns today, the Chiefs kick tail.
Speaker 1: The other games are within the division. They're going to
Speaker 1: have to win those games. The Bengals have gone from
Speaker 1: being in a pretty good shape to now a difficult
Speaker 1: uphill climb to qualify for the postseason. There's no question.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's gonna be so many games you look
Speaker 1: back on and you say, ah, if and but it's
Speaker 1: Christmas time. If from Butler Candy and that has to
Speaker 1: be Christmas every day. But all the teams can say that,
Speaker 1: you know, and the thing, the thing you gotta be
Speaker 1: careful about Cleveland. Cleveland's got a winning record now and
Speaker 1: they're the only ones that have a tiebreaker against the Bengals.
Speaker 1: They beat the Bengals and thrash them here here Bengals
Speaker 1: have to go up in the lake and the last
Speaker 1: game of the season and if that's a game you
Speaker 1: gotta win to qualify the playoffs, or win the division
Speaker 1: to qualify the playoffs, or where it may be, that
Speaker 1: that's not going to be an easy, easy dynamic whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Um So, yeah, they're they've they've they've started to paint
Speaker 1: themselves in a corner. They're giving themselves no margin for
Speaker 1: error because of error that they've had in trying to
Speaker 1: get to that final four games of the season. They're
Speaker 1: finally there and it's the final quarter of such. But
Speaker 1: it's not going to be easy on an every day,
Speaker 1: every week basis. It is going to be like you're
Speaker 1: playing a playoff game. And that's that's how you have
Speaker 1: to approach it. That's the intensity level of it. That's
Speaker 1: we saw last week, that's what we saw this week,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be the same the last four
Speaker 1: games remaining no different or on Sunday's win. Joined Lap
Speaker 1: and Lance McAllister for Bengals Line Monday Night from six
Speaker 1: to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this
Speaker 1: week's fun Facts segment, where you are about to get
Speaker 1: to know a Bengals coach who turned out to be
Speaker 1: an exceptional storyteller. Time for some fun facts with offensive
Speaker 1: line coach Frank Pollock. Born in Camp Springs, Maryland, near Washington, DC,
Speaker 1: before attending high school in Phoenix, Arizona. Where did you
Speaker 1: spend the bulk of your childhood and what did you
Speaker 1: like to do as a kid. Grew up in Phoenix.
Speaker 1: I moved out there when I was two. My parents
Speaker 1: were in the Navy, and when they met and got
Speaker 1: married and had me and we moved out to Phoenix.
Speaker 1: So I grew up Phoenix seventies and eighties. And I
Speaker 1: love sports, love football right from the get go, and
Speaker 1: just did all the sports growing up as a kid,
Speaker 1: like probably every other kid, and just got a blast.
Speaker 1: I always assume, and maybe it's stereotypical that the child
Speaker 1: of military parents has a very disciplined life as a kid.
Speaker 1: Was that the case for you. Yeah, I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: they were military parents because they got out like right
Speaker 1: after I was born, within two years, because then my
Speaker 1: younger sister was born in the same DC area and
Speaker 1: then we left, So I know, we really remember my
Speaker 1: dad ever being in the military. I was like two,
Speaker 1: so but yeah, I mean I was disciplined. My dad
Speaker 1: grew up in Cleveland and then went to Benedict in
Speaker 1: high school and so kind of a you know, midwestern
Speaker 1: upbringing out there in the West Coast. You know, discipline
Speaker 1: was big in our house, and you know, so he
Speaker 1: kept me in line if every got a little squirrelly.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Frank Pollock. You're a big man.
Speaker 1: You're a former NFL offensive lineman. Were you always the
Speaker 1: big kid in the neighborhood. No, Actually, I was a
Speaker 1: late bloomer. I was decent sized young with them. By
Speaker 1: the time I got the high school, everyone was taller,
Speaker 1: bigger than me. It's funny to see some of my
Speaker 1: high school JV team pictures and some of my good
Speaker 1: buddies that they were all taller and bigger than me,
Speaker 1: and now I tower over them. So I was a
Speaker 1: late bloomer and grew a ton right before my senior
Speaker 1: year and then obviously throughout college. When it came time
Speaker 1: for college, you became a lumberjack at Northern Arizona University
Speaker 1: y NAU. It was the only scholarship offer I had
Speaker 1: outside of a couple of local junior colleges, so I
Speaker 1: took it and ran with it. Northern Arizona has a
Speaker 1: remarkable record of sending coaches to the NFL. Who did
Speaker 1: you overlap with as a player and then as a
Speaker 1: young assistant coach? Yeah, I was very fortunate to be
Speaker 1: coached by some incredible coaches early on in my in
Speaker 1: in college, my UH our my office, A line coach
Speaker 1: my my sophomore junior years was Bill Callahan and then
Speaker 1: before him, actually for one year really my true sophomore year,
Speaker 1: I had a late redshirt hardship there, but was Andy
Speaker 1: Reid was my line coach before coach Callahan came in,
Speaker 1: and then UH the OC for most of those years
Speaker 1: four out of the five was Brad childress Um. Marty
Speaker 1: morning Wig was a young GA running back coach on
Speaker 1: that staff. Steve Hagen, who coached a long time in
Speaker 1: the league tight ends and receivers, was our was our
Speaker 1: receiver's coach. Um, I was very fortunate. And then uh,
Speaker 1: they had a few good coaches kind of came in
Speaker 1: after me when I had left on a different staff.
Speaker 1: And actually Brad Craigthorpe's dad was on that staff. Uh,
Speaker 1: the younger Zampeeze kens Ampez was on that staff. I'm
Speaker 1: drawing a blank to head coach Carl Durell at Colorado
Speaker 1: was on that staff. All these young guys that have
Speaker 1: gone and have great career so um, and he's had
Speaker 1: a lot. Mike Shanahan coach there early in his career. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm drawing a blank. Now I'm the old New England
Speaker 1: old line coach's Karnekia's he coached there early in his career.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of one of those unique, weird places.
Speaker 1: I always call it the cradle to coaches on the
Speaker 1: West coast. I know Miami, Ohios got that title on
Speaker 1: the east of the Mississippi. I'm gonna I'm gonna claim
Speaker 1: it on the west Mississippi. RIGHTFULLYSA, we're visiting with Frank Pollock.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Bill Callaghan, who is the brother the dad
Speaker 1: I should say of offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. He was
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor's head coach at Nebraska. He is a big
Speaker 1: reason why you became a coach. Correct, Yeah, he's he's
Speaker 1: He's been huge impact on my life from a player
Speaker 1: in coaching, I'm a member writing him a letter when
Speaker 1: I was playing that I wanted to come in ga
Speaker 1: for him at Wisconsin and then uh, and he wrote
Speaker 1: me back, nice letter saying that'd love to have you
Speaker 1: ga for me. In fact, I saved that letter, and
Speaker 1: years later when I ended up coaching with him for
Speaker 1: him in Dallas as his assistant, I showed him that letter.
Speaker 1: He was flabbergast that I still kept it. So he's
Speaker 1: been huge for me. Learned a ton and still learning
Speaker 1: a ton from him. He's been been very fortunate in
Speaker 1: that regards. You learned a degree in advertising if you
Speaker 1: didn't get into coaching, Is that what you would have done? No,
Speaker 1: it was the classic. I didn't want to I didn't
Speaker 1: want to go down to the pe route. I wanted
Speaker 1: something a little bit different, So I just decided advertising
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of math in it. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: do that, But yeah, I kind of always knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to coach. I tried to stay away from it
Speaker 1: later in my life and then got back into it.
Speaker 1: That's where my badgion is. After being named an All
Speaker 1: American in Northern Arizona, you were a sixth round draft
Speaker 1: pick by the forty nine ers in nineteen ninety. Describe
Speaker 1: your draft experience. It was funny you ask. It was
Speaker 1: a little different than how they do things now. But
Speaker 1: it was kind of a drawn out process over three days,
Speaker 1: and in fact, it went like Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
Speaker 1: was kind of like the last day. So my agent
Speaker 1: at the time in Phoenix had a you know, a
Speaker 1: big to do party and whatnot during the first day
Speaker 1: of the draft, and he had a bunch of, you know,
Speaker 1: high first round draft guys. I knew I clearly was
Speaker 1: not going to be taking that day, but just enjoyed
Speaker 1: the festivities. But I was under the impression that maybe
Speaker 1: the next day I might go, And then I didn't
Speaker 1: get any information and so I had to get up
Speaker 1: early on Monday morning go to his office. He was
Speaker 1: a little kid in Phoenix, and I was just a wreck.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're getting into the later rounds, the sixth
Speaker 1: rounds gone, the seventh rounds gone. It's about we had
Speaker 1: twelve rounds. We're in like the ninth and tenth round.
Speaker 1: My agents calling around teams. He calls the Washington Redskins
Speaker 1: and hits up Charlie Castle. I guess he showed interest
Speaker 1: in me pre draft draft and he goes, what do
Speaker 1: you mean the Niners took him way back in the
Speaker 1: sixth round and he goes, what, they haven't even called him?
Speaker 1: And he tells me that. I go, I'm not believing
Speaker 1: I get a phone call. So he calls the Niners
Speaker 1: and he said, yeah, yeah, we're gonna call him. We
Speaker 1: were just we just worked out a draft a trade
Speaker 1: and we haven't a chance to call him yet. So
Speaker 1: that's songs up in a nutshell. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: there's some six round old line guy. We'll get back.
Speaker 1: We'll get to them whenever we can get to him.
Speaker 1: So that was kind of my draft experience, but nonetheless
Speaker 1: I got my foot in the door. That might be
Speaker 1: the greatest example of how the draft has changed that
Speaker 1: I have ever heard. You were an NFL player for
Speaker 1: nine years, seven in San Franz, two in Denver. You
Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl ring with the ninety four San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty nine ers when they beat the Chargers. What
Speaker 1: do you cherish the most about your experience as an
Speaker 1: NFL player? The great teammates, the camaraderie with all my teammates.
Speaker 1: I told the guys all the time, that's what you're
Speaker 1: gonna miss. Number one. The great experiences and that we had.
Speaker 1: We wanted a lot of football games. Loved my experiences
Speaker 1: with all the different coaches that I came through the
Speaker 1: nine years that I was there and in Denver, and
Speaker 1: then just just those great experiences and being a part
Speaker 1: of being able to, you know, play pro football is
Speaker 1: a dream come true. And being able to be on
Speaker 1: so to a great winning organization. Again, a championship there
Speaker 1: with the Niners was tremendous. Something always were relish. We're
Speaker 1: doing fun facts with Frank Pollock. The list of Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame players that were your teammates is remarkable. I'm
Speaker 1: going to name a few, and I would like you
Speaker 1: to just share a memory or a description, whatever comes
Speaker 1: to mind. Joe Montana prankster. First thing that comes to
Speaker 1: my training camp. He'd take guys bikes and throw them
Speaker 1: up into the trees. We had at Rockland Community Seri
Speaker 1: Community College in rock And, California, because he didn't have
Speaker 1: to stay in late meetings. He knew the Skiss system
Speaker 1: so kind of an old veteran. They let him out
Speaker 1: of the meetings early and you'd find it was on
Speaker 1: the campus as like he'd ride bikes to the meetings
Speaker 1: back to the dorms and he would put guys bikes
Speaker 1: in the trees. Great guy. Loved to go out with
Speaker 1: the full line especially and take him out, treat him
Speaker 1: out for some drinks and dinners and it was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Great guy. Did he prank you, No,
Speaker 1: he never pranked me, but he did save me from
Speaker 1: getting just abused as a rookie from Charles Haley. But
Speaker 1: he was guy, was constantly like to pick on rookies.
Speaker 1: One day in the locker room, we would sign these
Speaker 1: autograph footballs in front of the equipment room every day.
Speaker 1: It was part of our deal. And then Charles Haley
Speaker 1: sees me over there, so he's just you know, taking
Speaker 1: his ribbings, getting his opportunities at me as a rookie.
Speaker 1: And Joe it's lockers right there, and he said, hey, hey, Charles,
Speaker 1: leave him alone. And then I was like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is a great guy. And then so Charles never mess
Speaker 1: with me again because Joe told him not to not
Speaker 1: to mess with me. It's like, okay, I'll take it.
Speaker 1: I have new found respect for Joe Montana John Elway
Speaker 1: John Ell was another guy loved hanging out with the
Speaker 1: old line Um good time guy loves loves to hang
Speaker 1: out with the fellas. He was rehabbing his shoulder had
Speaker 1: an injury, and then I was on an ir with
Speaker 1: a back surgery that year. So at some point doing
Speaker 1: rehab together, like they have you off to the side,
Speaker 1: he was gonna start throwing some balls. So they asked
Speaker 1: if I would just go stand over there and he's
Speaker 1: gonna throw these deep out routs to him. I just
Speaker 1: had to stand there. Oh my god. I mean he
Speaker 1: must have been like thirty forty yards away, and how
Speaker 1: hard he through. My hands were hurting in red and
Speaker 1: hurt afterwards. I mean, I was just trying to protect
Speaker 1: my face from not getting just I mean, it is
Speaker 1: ridiculous how hard that guy throws. That was like, like, wow,
Speaker 1: it's impressible. They talk about the Lway cross, the point
Speaker 1: on the end of the football where you've got the
Speaker 1: scenes that come together, and how he used to leave
Speaker 1: an indentation of that cross on guy's chest and stuff
Speaker 1: that's legit because he zipped the ball in there. Man,
Speaker 1: it was crazy. Jerry Rice, unbelievable work ethic. I shared
Speaker 1: stuff like this with my guys all the time. This
Speaker 1: guy was so talented, but you were never ever going
Speaker 1: to outwork him. He was just my niacle over it.
Speaker 1: Just relentless prepractice, post practice. It was it got. He's
Speaker 1: just an animal on how he would work out in
Speaker 1: his conditioning. His work ethic was unbelievable, unbelievable. Ronnie Lott.
Speaker 1: Ronnie Lot is one of my most favorite individuals. I
Speaker 1: got the utmost respect for that guy for how he
Speaker 1: was on the field and in the locker room. But
Speaker 1: him after a years later before I got on the
Speaker 1: coach and I got to do some business stuff with
Speaker 1: him and got to learn just get to know him
Speaker 1: a little bit better. Such a class to act and
Speaker 1: just a man, a man's man, a gentleman. He does
Speaker 1: a lot for the community with his all star helping
Speaker 1: kids charity. He is genuine, he's he taught me as
Speaker 1: an early player leadership from the locker room and chemistry
Speaker 1: matters more than anything on a football team. I played
Speaker 1: with him for two years, and when he left to
Speaker 1: the Raiders. We had a slow start the next year
Speaker 1: and we had a team only players meeting and I'm
Speaker 1: a young guy. I'm as when they're listening, and all
Speaker 1: the old guys our leaderships then got up in every
Speaker 1: one of them to a man reference where Ronnie would
Speaker 1: say this, Ronnie would do that. He wasn't on our
Speaker 1: team anymore. I'm like, when I coach someday, never forget that.
Speaker 1: So it's all about leadership. Got come from the players,
Speaker 1: and team chemistry matters more than anything. Line one culture matters.
Speaker 1: Dion Sanders he was. He came in with all the
Speaker 1: hype right primetime. You're like, God, what's this guy gonna
Speaker 1: be like? You know? And then when he came in,
Speaker 1: he was just like one of the guys that all
Speaker 1: that was just his persona off the field to get
Speaker 1: himself endorsements. He was just a regular guy, worked his
Speaker 1: butt off. His work ethic was right up there with
Speaker 1: the rest of the fellas and how we ran things there,
Speaker 1: and his talent and speed were incredible. We had a
Speaker 1: pretty good player. Dexter Carter was our kick returner, first
Speaker 1: round draft pick out of Florida state same year as me.
Speaker 1: Fast and he was good. And then Dion got there,
Speaker 1: Well he's gonna start returning kicks, and then you could
Speaker 1: literally see the difference of speed and I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, that's when I ever realized how fast he was,
Speaker 1: and some of these players in this league was we
Speaker 1: could literally see the difference where Dexter Carter is not slow,
Speaker 1: he's fast, and you're like, holy cow up close and
Speaker 1: seeing that. Um And he would lay out his whole uniform, pregame, ritual,
Speaker 1: his shoes, his socks like it was like one of
Speaker 1: them chalk lines of a dead body. His pants, his
Speaker 1: band dans, his sweet towels, all that laid out, his
Speaker 1: wrist bands on his elbows and wrists, whatever it was,
Speaker 1: his gloves, his helmet. That's how he would he would
Speaker 1: lay it out. And he would walk around the locker
Speaker 1: room and dollars signed boxer shorts to get his getting
Speaker 1: ready for a game. And it was kind of like
Speaker 1: where I learned. Also is like every players got their
Speaker 1: own unique way to get themselves ready. They're all professionals.
Speaker 1: You just have their own unique way getting so als
Speaker 1: ready to play and fantastic player, you don't do that
Speaker 1: with your clothes. Now, I don't. I don't have the
Speaker 1: physique or a skill set he has. I keep my
Speaker 1: ikea clevered up there. All right, a couple of wild
Speaker 1: card categories to wrap things up. Who is your all
Speaker 1: time favorite athlete in any sport? Jeez, that's a great question.
Speaker 1: I was a big Cowboy fan girl up, so I
Speaker 1: love twenty Doors, said Rodostall back. We didn't have any
Speaker 1: professional sports teams axcept the Suns, so at the time
Speaker 1: that the Suns is a big Walter Davis fan. And
Speaker 1: then I was a Dodgers fan, so Dusty Baker was
Speaker 1: my favorite player growing up in the seventies. Those are
Speaker 1: really the guys I idolized at the time growing up
Speaker 1: as a kid. Do you have any hidden talents or
Speaker 1: off field interests that might surprise us? My wife would
Speaker 1: definitely say I have no hidden talents whatsoever. I'm worthless
Speaker 1: at home. I can't do anything, so I would say
Speaker 1: probably not, except I do like to golf a little
Speaker 1: bit on my time off in the summer. But I'm horrible,
Speaker 1: but I love it. It's fun to get outside and
Speaker 1: a beautiful setting on the golf course and drink and
Speaker 1: eat while you play. It's always fun to do that.
Speaker 1: If you're horrible, but you love it, we'll play. We'd
Speaker 1: be a good match. Last thing, and this is kind
Speaker 1: of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, politician,
Speaker 1: religious figure, whatever it might, who would that person date.
Speaker 1: That's a great question, and I've always I have pondered
Speaker 1: that if I could go back in time, and I'd
Speaker 1: always want to go back in time to meet some
Speaker 1: of the legendary athletes and coaches. And then so with
Speaker 1: my position right now, I had to say Vince Lombardi
Speaker 1: and just pick his brain on his approach to the
Speaker 1: game and practice and just experience and meet a guy
Speaker 1: like him. But he's done so much to the sport
Speaker 1: in person. But really, anybody, I'm a real big sports historian.
Speaker 1: I love that stuff. So I'd love to meet any
Speaker 1: of those guys. I mean, Babe Ruth, who would not
Speaker 1: want to go back in time and just just to
Speaker 1: be able to be around Babe Ruth? I mean, he
Speaker 1: was heard he's pretty fun too to be around. But
Speaker 1: Vince Lombarrie is the first guy that comes to mind.
Speaker 1: Just would love to pick his brain on everything he'd done.
Speaker 1: And I can't. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention
Speaker 1: Paul Brown, all right, so he would. He's incredible how
Speaker 1: much he's invented for this game, and since since I
Speaker 1: come to the Bengals and learn a little bit more
Speaker 1: about him. Already knew some of the stuff that he's
Speaker 1: done and created and invented, but he'd be another guy
Speaker 1: to be really cool. We have a I guess mister
Speaker 1: Brown upstairs has got a lot of his artifacts and
Speaker 1: memorabilia upstairs, and my first time I was here, I
Speaker 1: got to go check out some of that stuff. I
Speaker 1: know some of those things that I I was writings are
Speaker 1: up there. I'd love to go up there one of
Speaker 1: these days in the off season and read some of
Speaker 1: his notes on plays and whatnot. This has been great.
Speaker 1: It's awesome to have you back on the Bengals coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Continued success and thanks for the time. Thank you, verm.
Speaker 1: Which is awesome to be appreciate it. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Ultimate Bengals. The free to play
Speaker 1: Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App
Speaker 1: Store and Google Play. If you haven't done so already.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to the Bengals Booth