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Bengals Booth Podcast: It's a Wrap · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The it's a audition as the
0:14
Speaker 1: Bengals season comes to an end with a last second
0:16
Speaker 1: loss to the Cleveland Browns. Coming up radio replays and
0:20
Speaker 1: locker room comments. Then, in this week's fun Facts conversation,
0:24
Speaker 1: you'll get to know a recent addition to the roster
0:27
Speaker 1: who earned a game ball in his second appearance in
0:30
Speaker 1: a Bengals uniform. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
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Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
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Speaker 1: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you
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Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
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Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
1:01
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since NFL turnarounds.
1:07
Speaker 1: Last year, New England and Jacksonville won four games apiece
1:11
Speaker 1: in Chicago won five. Their combined record was thirteen and
1:15
Speaker 1: thirty eight, and all three teams had top ten draft picks.
1:19
Speaker 1: The Patriots, Jags, and Bears are Division champs this year. Additionally,
1:25
Speaker 1: San Francisco is headed to the playoffs at twelve and
1:27
Speaker 1: five after winning six games a year ago. None of
1:31
Speaker 1: that is unusual in the NFL. For the thirty six
1:35
Speaker 1: year in a row, at least four teams that missed
1:37
Speaker 1: the playoffs made it the next season. I'm sure that
1:41
Speaker 1: streak will continue next year, and go ahead and mark
1:44
Speaker 1: it down right now, Cincinnati will be one of those teams.
1:49
Speaker 1: Now time for the radio replays from Sunday's two point
1:53
Speaker 1: loss to the Cleveland Browns. It's the final day of
1:57
Speaker 1: the NFL's regular season, and for the Cincinnati Bengals, it's
2:01
Speaker 1: an opportunity to finish with a flourish as the Bengals
2:05
Speaker 1: look to end the season with a three game winning
2:07
Speaker 1: streak by sweeping the Cleveland Browns. In the Battle of Ohio.
2:13
Speaker 1: Second down and ten, short drop pump fake Schador scrambling
2:17
Speaker 1: right sack for the first time today, the ball comes out.
2:21
Speaker 1: He was hit by Cam Sample and the Bengals recover
2:24
Speaker 1: at the twenty nine A strip sack for Cam Sample
2:28
Speaker 1: and a recovery for Howard Cross. The Bengals will have
2:32
Speaker 1: a short field and that is ten giveaways by Shador
2:37
Speaker 1: Sanders in slightly more than six NFL starts. Burro catches
2:41
Speaker 1: a shotgun snap throws.
2:43
Speaker 2: At his car. Chase Brown hit into the end zone
2:47
Speaker 2: in the right corner for the Bengals touchdown.
2:51
Speaker 3: Chase Brown showing himself to be a complete running back.
2:55
Speaker 1: One twenty left in the quarter clock, running first and
2:58
Speaker 1: goal from the Cleveland seven and Burrow waiting for a
3:01
Speaker 1: shotgun snap at the twelve. Joe Catches, looks, fires.
3:06
Speaker 2: For the end zone, picked off and the Browns are
3:08
Speaker 2: running it back. This is Devin Bush streaking down the field.
3:12
Speaker 2: He's got a blocker to help Bush cutting back toward
3:16
Speaker 2: the middle of the field and he will take it
3:18
Speaker 2: into the end zone. Four a pick six, first and
3:22
Speaker 2: ten Bengals at their own forty one. Cleveland has a
3:24
Speaker 2: seven to six lead. Early second quarter.
3:27
Speaker 1: Burrow fakes to Chase Brown, has time, swings it left,
3:30
Speaker 1: caught at the forty running back toward the middle of
3:33
Speaker 1: the field and losing the ball with no offense. The
3:36
Speaker 1: Browns pick it up. They're running it back and Jerome Baker,
3:39
Speaker 1: who punched out the ball led to the scoop and
3:43
Speaker 1: score by Sam Webb, and the Browns have their second
3:47
Speaker 1: defensive touchdown in a span game time wise of about
3:52
Speaker 1: two minutes.
3:53
Speaker 3: And man, I'll tell you what, no offense. You got
3:55
Speaker 3: to protect that ball, You got it, protect it with
3:57
Speaker 3: your life.
3:58
Speaker 1: Thirty three seconds left in the head the Bengals have
4:01
Speaker 1: one time out remaining trailing by eight. Shotgun snap pass
4:05
Speaker 1: floated into the end zone.
4:06
Speaker 2: T Higgins waches out and he's got it for the Bengals. Touchdown.
4:13
Speaker 2: He beat Sam Webb.
4:15
Speaker 1: Beautiful touch on the throw from Joe Burrow, and now
4:19
Speaker 1: T Higgins is playing patty cake with the bottom of
4:24
Speaker 1: the goal post. Ninety four seconds to go, first and
4:27
Speaker 1: goal from the four. Cincinnati tries to take the lead.
4:30
Speaker 1: Trailing by five at home. Joe Burrow and the shotgun
4:33
Speaker 1: back at the nine. Chase Brown lines up to his right.
4:37
Speaker 1: Burrow catches the shotgun snap looking floating it into.
4:40
Speaker 2: The en zone. Jamar Chase has it in the back
4:44
Speaker 2: left corner of the end zone. Touchdown, beauty Bengals. Cincinnati
4:51
Speaker 2: has taken the lead. The Bengals will go for two
4:55
Speaker 2: to try to go up by a field goal. Bjorkeez
4:59
Speaker 2: is the holder. Rex Sunahara is the long snapper. Here
5:04
Speaker 2: comes the game winning dry from forty nine yards away.
5:08
Speaker 2: The kick is up and it is.
5:12
Speaker 1: Good.
5:13
Speaker 2: At the Cleveland Browns had the lead. There is a
5:16
Speaker 2: penalty flag at the thirty one yard line.
5:19
Speaker 3: Shoot that's all about.
5:22
Speaker 1: The Browns are celebrating, so they've been informed that the
5:25
Speaker 1: penalty is on Cincinnati.
5:29
Speaker 4: There is no found on the player.
5:30
Speaker 5: The field goals good, game over.
5:34
Speaker 1: Game over Schmidt happened.
5:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, a forty nine yard field goal at the gun
5:40
Speaker 2: for rookie Andre Schmidt being hoisted onto the shoulders of
5:45
Speaker 2: his teammates as the Cleveland Browns drive far enough under
5:51
Speaker 2: rookie quarterback Shador Sanders for rookie kicker Andre Schmidt to
5:57
Speaker 2: win the game. Whose final score Cleveland twenty, Cincinnati eighteen.
6:05
Speaker 1: There's that code, Zach Taylor. On a day that saw
6:08
Speaker 1: the Bengals out gain the Browns by one hundred and
6:10
Speaker 1: sixty four yards and win time of possession by more
6:14
Speaker 1: than eleven minutes, only to lose.
6:16
Speaker 6: There's little things that got us. We've missed two extra points,
6:19
Speaker 6: did two turnovers for touchdowns, and then they had a
6:23
Speaker 6: two minute drive to win the game, and it's just frustrating,
6:27
Speaker 6: and it's it's just frustrating, that's the biggest thing. And
6:30
Speaker 6: then that we weren't able just to finish it in
6:31
Speaker 6: some area, finished that game and and find a way
6:34
Speaker 6: to get a win. It's a little bit fitting, to
6:37
Speaker 6: be honest with you, and in terms of how our
6:38
Speaker 6: season's gone, and several times we've had games where we
6:44
Speaker 6: played well in different areas and we just we just
6:47
Speaker 6: haven't found a way to put it all together. And
6:49
Speaker 6: then there's been games this last couple of weeks we had,
6:52
Speaker 6: but this is one we need to finish off, you know,
6:53
Speaker 6: a individual game, and this is this is how these
6:56
Speaker 6: divisional games go and it usually comes down to a.
7:00
Speaker 7: Play at the end.
7:01
Speaker 1: For the Browns. The win was doubly satisfying because with
7:05
Speaker 1: a little more than five minutes to go in the game,
7:07
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett etched his name into the NFL record book
7:11
Speaker 1: first and ten at the forty five of Cleveland shotgun Snap.
7:14
Speaker 1: Here comes Miles Garrett and he's got Joe Burrow. Brown's
7:19
Speaker 1: fans standing up hands celebrating has Miles Garrett has just
7:24
Speaker 1: become the NFL's single season record holder for sacks. The
7:30
Speaker 1: Browns are coming off the sideline to celebrate. They could
7:34
Speaker 1: be penalized for that.
7:37
Speaker 3: They could, they could. I guess the officials are taken
7:40
Speaker 3: into consideration the enormity of the play.
7:43
Speaker 6: There's five minutes left in our season. We're playing for
7:45
Speaker 6: our lives here and I never told that we're going
7:49
Speaker 6: to stop the game and in a critical moment like that,
7:53
Speaker 6: And the refs just said that they made a decision
7:54
Speaker 6: that they were going to stop the game, and they
7:56
Speaker 6: said they tried to do it as quickly as possible.
7:58
Speaker 6: I didn't feel that we didn't sub. We're trying to
8:01
Speaker 6: be on the ball and go and play with tempo,
8:03
Speaker 6: and the umpire just held the ball so that we
8:05
Speaker 6: couldn't do anything. And I'm yelling at Joe, get on
8:07
Speaker 6: the ball. We didn't sub, We're going and then we
8:11
Speaker 6: couldn't play. And so again, trying to get an answer
8:14
Speaker 6: was not easy. They just said that they made a
8:17
Speaker 6: decision as a as a crew to stop the game.
8:19
Speaker 6: When that happened. I guess it didn't matter when it happened.
8:21
Speaker 6: It just they were going to stop the game. And
8:25
Speaker 6: though I was never informed to that, they didn't say
8:26
Speaker 6: one word. We meet with him in the ninety minute
8:27
Speaker 6: meeting before the game, they never said one word about that.
8:30
Speaker 1: The sack was Garrett's only tackle of the game, and
8:33
Speaker 1: he finished with two quarterback hits. But make no mistake,
8:36
Speaker 1: his impact was enormous. The Bengals chipped him on nearly
8:40
Speaker 1: every passing play meeting one fewer receiver immediately went out
8:45
Speaker 1: for a pass, and Joe Burrow threw an unusually high
8:49
Speaker 1: number of swing passes and checkdowns before Garrett could get
8:53
Speaker 1: to him. Here are Burrow and Zach Taylor on the
8:57
Speaker 1: Garrett factor.
8:58
Speaker 8: He's the focus of our game plan every time. It's
9:00
Speaker 8: no secret you have to and it's challenging because you
9:05
Speaker 8: have to commit resources to that and that takes away
9:08
Speaker 8: resources from from elsewhere. But for the most part, I
9:11
Speaker 8: thought we were pretty good against him today.
9:13
Speaker 6: He's the best player, and on the defense side of
9:16
Speaker 6: the ball, he's the best player, and he recks every
9:18
Speaker 6: single play. You gotta account for him. They got a
9:20
Speaker 6: really good defensive line, You got a really good defense.
9:22
Speaker 7: Run.
9:22
Speaker 6: I'm not gonna just minimize it and say this good
9:24
Speaker 6: defensive line. It's a really good defense that's been challenging
9:27
Speaker 6: for every team they've played all season. You know, you
9:29
Speaker 6: just look at his last couple of games they've played.
9:33
Speaker 6: They do a great job. They make it hard. You
9:35
Speaker 6: got to earn everything. I thought we found some success
9:38
Speaker 6: at different points in the game and and you know,
9:41
Speaker 6: just weren't able to score more than the eighteen or
9:44
Speaker 6: whatever you scored.
9:44
Speaker 8: You're feeling quickly often and you know that certainly affects
9:49
Speaker 8: how far you can push the ball down the field,
9:52
Speaker 8: the protections that you can call, the plays that you
9:54
Speaker 8: can call, and how quickly you want to get the
9:56
Speaker 8: ball out of your hands. You know, he's the best
9:58
Speaker 8: of what he does and try to mitigate that as
10:01
Speaker 8: much as you can with your play calls, your protection plan,
10:04
Speaker 8: and then high quarterback plays.
10:05
Speaker 1: I discussed miles and more with Bengals tight end Drew Sample.
10:10
Speaker 9: He's someone that if you're not aware of on every play,
10:12
Speaker 9: he can you know, change the game. And so you know,
10:14
Speaker 9: being a individual opponent, we obviously assum twice here, so
10:17
Speaker 9: you know each game is a challenge with that and
10:19
Speaker 9: we understand you know, the game record that he is
10:22
Speaker 9: and that he can be and I think you've seen that,
10:25
Speaker 9: you know, with his sack numbers everything throughout the season,
10:28
Speaker 9: will have you know, they'll play teams that maybe don't
10:30
Speaker 9: see them as much. They'll have you know, two, three,
10:32
Speaker 9: four sacks or whatever it may be. So they don't
10:36
Speaker 9: you know, sometimes they don't understand like how big of
10:38
Speaker 9: a you know record he could be. So I mean
10:40
Speaker 9: that's that's a part of the plan. They have a
10:42
Speaker 9: really good defense, you know, they they challenge you. They
10:44
Speaker 9: have good front, seven good dbs. You know, we've typically
10:48
Speaker 9: battled battled with them over the years and we've been
10:51
Speaker 9: fortunate to come out on top the last you know,
10:53
Speaker 9: I think four or five times. You know, they're able
10:55
Speaker 9: to get us this week.
10:57
Speaker 1: You guys throw a lot of short passes, check downs.
10:59
Speaker 1: You caught a few of those. I assume you have
11:02
Speaker 1: to do that against Cleveland because of that threat. If
11:05
Speaker 1: you don't, he is going to get to your quarterback.
11:08
Speaker 9: Right Yeah, I mean I think some of that too
11:09
Speaker 9: is you know, them trying to you know, they play
11:11
Speaker 9: out a man mixing coverages, so you're trying to toe
11:14
Speaker 9: the line of like, hey, let's go let our guys win,
11:17
Speaker 9: but also understanding that they're you know, and Joe does
11:19
Speaker 9: a great job of that having kind of that internal
11:20
Speaker 9: clock and you know, going through the progression the way
11:23
Speaker 9: he needs to go through it to you know, look
11:25
Speaker 9: for our playmakers and then if nothing's there, knowing that
11:27
Speaker 9: he's either got to get out or dump it down
11:29
Speaker 9: to the running back to height end, whoever it may be.
11:32
Speaker 9: And I thought, you know, he did a good job
11:33
Speaker 9: of that really the whole game. You know, was able
11:36
Speaker 9: to kind of spin out a one early maybe and
11:39
Speaker 9: then you know, just kind of wasn't able to get
11:41
Speaker 9: out on the one that he did get.
11:43
Speaker 1: The outcome is obviously disappointing, But as an offense, when
11:47
Speaker 1: you end the season with what you think at least
11:49
Speaker 1: is a game winning drive, is that a good note
11:52
Speaker 1: to end on.
11:53
Speaker 9: I mean, obviously we didn't win, so that's obviously, you know,
11:56
Speaker 9: it's tough. And then when you look at you know,
11:58
Speaker 9: I think it was you know, we gave him fourteen points,
12:01
Speaker 9: So I mean, yes, there are things within the game
12:03
Speaker 9: obviously where you know, you bounce back and you go down,
12:06
Speaker 9: and you know you go up at the end. Obviously
12:08
Speaker 9: that's great, but you know there's there's definitely just a
12:11
Speaker 9: lot of stuff to clean up from our end, and
12:14
Speaker 9: and you know, I thought the defense played well for
12:17
Speaker 9: you know, ninety percent of the game, so I think
12:19
Speaker 9: I mean that they scored what ten points without our
12:21
Speaker 9: fourteen or whatever.
12:22
Speaker 1: It was six points on offense for them.
12:25
Speaker 9: Right, So you know, I think that's definitely something that
12:28
Speaker 9: we got to look at and how we can fix
12:30
Speaker 9: those things, because obviously that's happened to us a couple
12:32
Speaker 9: of times this year. But yeah, I mean, there was
12:35
Speaker 9: definitely some good drives in there.
12:36
Speaker 7: There was some good stuff and.
12:37
Speaker 9: We got into a rhythm, but the turnovers killed us.
12:40
Speaker 1: To the coaching staff, and sideline appeared to be incensed
12:44
Speaker 1: when they were allowed to celebrate after miles one sack.
12:48
Speaker 1: You're not supposed to be allowed to come charging off
12:51
Speaker 1: the sideline, did you, guys, you know, want to snap
12:54
Speaker 1: the ball and move there.
12:56
Speaker 9: I mean, it's something where initially you just see, got
12:59
Speaker 9: a lot of guys in the field, so it's all,
13:00
Speaker 9: let's not the ball, and then you kind of see
13:02
Speaker 9: I guess they're celebrating, and then I guess they're letting
13:04
Speaker 9: them celebrate. So I mean, obviously it's a great accomplishment,
13:07
Speaker 9: but I don't, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not
13:10
Speaker 9: gonna comment on that.
13:11
Speaker 4: I mean, I you.
13:12
Speaker 9: Know, obviously that's a you know, big record for him.
13:14
Speaker 9: We were trying to obviously not let him get the record,
13:16
Speaker 9: and he got it. So I guess if we didn't
13:19
Speaker 9: want that, we you know, I don't know. He's a
13:21
Speaker 9: good player and obviously had a great year.
13:24
Speaker 1: You guys don't want to be in this position next year,
13:27
Speaker 1: and there's talent on this team that's gonna put you
13:30
Speaker 1: in a position to have a great season next year.
13:33
Speaker 1: What's the key? What what must you guys do better
13:35
Speaker 1: to avoid missing the playoffs next year?
13:38
Speaker 9: I think just being maybe more consistent, just whether that's
13:42
Speaker 9: throughout games, throughout drives. Just you know, we went through
13:47
Speaker 9: some really great stretches where we're in rhythm and we're
13:49
Speaker 9: you know, moving the ball well and everything's kind of clicking.
13:51
Speaker 9: And there was obviously games this year too where it
13:53
Speaker 9: was hard to get things going, whether that was you know,
13:55
Speaker 9: it's hard to get the run game going, or it
13:56
Speaker 9: was hard to get the pass game, you know, just
13:58
Speaker 9: a collection of things at one point. But like in
14:01
Speaker 9: our games that we lost or played poorly, and that
14:03
Speaker 9: was kind of the the thing is just not being
14:05
Speaker 9: able to get in a rhythm and be consistent and
14:07
Speaker 9: even being consistent.
14:08
Speaker 10: Game to game.
14:10
Speaker 9: You know, obviously the NFL is tough and teams play
14:13
Speaker 9: us sometimes differently than than other teams. So but I
14:16
Speaker 9: think I think that just off the top of my head,
14:19
Speaker 9: just trying to be more consistent and trying to you know, obviously,
14:24
Speaker 9: you always want to limit you know, negative plays, penalties, turnovers,
14:27
Speaker 9: things of that nature, and I felt like in some
14:30
Speaker 9: of our losses that those were kind of things that
14:31
Speaker 9: bubbled up a little bit. So I mean, I'm sure everyone,
14:35
Speaker 9: you know, everyone hates the taste in our mouth. You know,
14:38
Speaker 9: obviously we had a good little two games, lost this game,
14:41
Speaker 9: and but we're nowhere near where we want to be,
14:43
Speaker 9: and so I think, you know, everyone's going to look
14:45
Speaker 9: in the mirror first, you know, coaches, players, everyone, and
14:48
Speaker 9: then you know, we'll come back and reset and come
14:51
Speaker 9: back in the offseason and kind of figure out what
14:52
Speaker 9: needs to be done.
14:54
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow through for two hundred and thirty six yards
14:56
Speaker 1: with three touchdowns, that pick six on a tip pass,
15:00
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of one oh four point two.
15:03
Speaker 1: In the eight games he played this year, Joe completed
15:06
Speaker 1: sixty seven percent of his throws, with seventeen touchdowns, five picks,
15:10
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of one hundred point seven. Here's
15:14
Speaker 1: Joe on his abbreviated season.
15:16
Speaker 8: I'm really proud of what I did this year. Came
15:19
Speaker 8: back from an injury faster than any human ever has.
15:23
Speaker 8: I'm really proud of that. I think I came back
15:26
Speaker 8: and played some really good football. I had one bad game,
15:31
Speaker 8: and no, he certainly don't want any of those, but
15:34
Speaker 8: I'm certainly not going to lose my mind over that.
15:36
Speaker 8: I think, you know, when I came back, I played
15:40
Speaker 8: some really high level football, and I'm certainly proud of
15:43
Speaker 8: what I did this year.
15:43
Speaker 1: It was a good final day of the year for
15:45
Speaker 1: Chase Brown, who scored his eleventh touchdown and ran for
15:48
Speaker 1: seventy two yards, putting him over the one thousand yard
15:51
Speaker 1: mark for the first time in his career. He finished
15:54
Speaker 1: with oney nineteen In the first six weeks of the season,
15:58
Speaker 1: Chase never to fifty yards. In the Minnesota game, he
16:03
Speaker 1: had three yards on ten carries, but in the final
16:07
Speaker 1: eleven games, Chase average seventy four yards per game and
16:11
Speaker 1: five point two yards per carry. Dave Lapham caught up
16:15
Speaker 1: with Chase Brown after the game.
16:17
Speaker 7: I think we were we were just connecting on all levels.
16:22
Speaker 11: We're keeping Joe up Oline, was doing a great job
16:25
Speaker 11: in the run blocking, We're making big plays down the field,
16:28
Speaker 11: and when that all comes together, that's the Cincinnati Bengals offense.
16:32
Speaker 11: So that's what was going right. And I'm honestly grateful
16:37
Speaker 11: that we were able to find that because that's, like,
16:40
Speaker 11: you know, that's hard to find sometimes, especially with you know,
16:43
Speaker 11: the way that we started and the struggles that we're going.
16:47
Speaker 7: In hindsight, it does feel good to, you know, be
16:49
Speaker 7: able to find.
16:49
Speaker 3: That thousand yards rushing for the first time. What's that
16:54
Speaker 3: feel like?
16:54
Speaker 7: Feels great.
16:55
Speaker 11: I was ten yards off the last year, got injured
16:58
Speaker 11: in Week sixteen against the Broncos, So it feels good
17:03
Speaker 11: to finish off the year with you know, that statistical measure,
17:07
Speaker 11: but still a lot more that.
17:10
Speaker 7: You know, we want to achieve as a team, so.
17:14
Speaker 11: You want to be in the playoffs, you want to
17:17
Speaker 11: make a long postseason push. So that's kind of where
17:22
Speaker 11: I'm at right now. Just sucks that we're not doing that,
17:25
Speaker 11: but I guess it feels good to hit a thousand.
17:29
Speaker 3: And really, like you mentioned, nine to ninety the year
17:31
Speaker 3: before almost two thousand yards rushing. What you went over
17:33
Speaker 3: one thousands, So about two thousand yards rushing in a
17:36
Speaker 3: two season stretch. It speaks to consistency, and I think
17:40
Speaker 3: that's the definition of Chase Brown. I think you are
17:43
Speaker 3: as consistent of football players not only does this year's
17:46
Speaker 3: team and this team has had, but that I've ever seen.
17:48
Speaker 3: I mean, you go out and take care of business.
17:52
Speaker 11: I think as a professional, the most important thing is consistency.
17:57
Speaker 11: You don't want to go out one year, have a
17:59
Speaker 11: good year, and then come back the next one and
18:01
Speaker 11: flunk it. So I think the most important thing is
18:03
Speaker 11: putting in the work to be able to be consistent.
18:06
Speaker 11: So I think the best part too is I think
18:09
Speaker 11: the overall quality of what you no I put out
18:14
Speaker 11: there on tape was much better than last year. So
18:17
Speaker 11: I feel like I took a step forward. But it
18:22
Speaker 11: sucks because you know, you want to play in the postseason.
18:25
Speaker 11: That's kind of probably be how I finish everything here
18:29
Speaker 11: is you want to be in the postseason, and it
18:30
Speaker 11: sucks that we're not there, And you know we'll figure
18:32
Speaker 11: out a way to do that this offseason and come
18:34
Speaker 11: back next year a better team.
18:36
Speaker 3: I know you take great pride in your performance, take
18:38
Speaker 3: great pride and being a pro get take great pride
18:40
Speaker 3: and being a Cincinnati Bengal. And the thing that again
18:44
Speaker 3: is the most impressive thing to me is how complete
18:47
Speaker 3: you are as a running back. I mean, you run
18:49
Speaker 3: the ball great, like the numbers show it. But you're
18:52
Speaker 3: also a great receiver of the football. You run great routes.
18:54
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow trust you, respects you. You catch the football,
18:57
Speaker 3: you tuck it away, you don't turn it over. You're
18:59
Speaker 3: a great blue pick up guy who stick your nose
19:01
Speaker 3: right in the chest of linebackers and safeties in your mind.
19:06
Speaker 3: How proud are you about being a complete football player?
19:09
Speaker 11: What's required here to play running back for the Cincinnati Bengals.
19:15
Speaker 7: You look at everybody in our room.
19:17
Speaker 11: We're all able to run the ball, We're all able
19:19
Speaker 11: to you know, pass detech, we're all able to catch
19:21
Speaker 11: the ball. So that's what we take in pride and
19:25
Speaker 11: take pride in here, is you know everything that you
19:28
Speaker 11: can do. You want to be a complete back, but
19:31
Speaker 11: I mean we got we We have three complete backs
19:34
Speaker 11: and even the guys on.
19:35
Speaker 7: A practice squad could do it as well. So that's
19:37
Speaker 7: That's what we take pride in here as a.
19:39
Speaker 11: Group, and we're going to keep being that, you know,
19:42
Speaker 11: as long as we're all here in Cincinnati.
19:44
Speaker 1: As for the defense on Sunday, it's hard to pin
19:46
Speaker 1: much blame on them. They didn't give up a touchdown
19:49
Speaker 1: and held Cleveland to two hundred yards after holding Arizona
19:54
Speaker 1: to two thirty three last week. To put that in perspective,
19:58
Speaker 1: the Texans have the stingiest defense in the NFL this
20:01
Speaker 1: year and gave up an average of two seventy seven
20:05
Speaker 1: per game. Here's my conversation with defensive tackle BJ Hill.
20:11
Speaker 1: Bj eight tackles and a sack today. You had a
20:14
Speaker 1: terrific game. The defense in general had a terrific game. Unfortunately,
20:17
Speaker 1: when you needed that stop at the end, you couldn't
20:20
Speaker 1: quite get it. How disappointing is it to end the
20:22
Speaker 1: season on that note.
20:23
Speaker 4: It's definitely disappointing that we've definitely been playing really good
20:26
Speaker 4: ball the last couple of weeks. I know, we just
20:29
Speaker 4: got to make a play done in the stretch. Yeah
20:32
Speaker 4: it sucks, but you know we learned from the move
20:34
Speaker 4: on you Riff next year.
20:35
Speaker 1: Five sacks today, constant pressure on Shador Sanders. Did you
20:40
Speaker 1: feel like the defense showed in this final game kind
20:44
Speaker 1: of the progress you've made in the last half of
20:45
Speaker 1: the season.
20:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. I'm excited for the future of
20:48
Speaker 4: this team.
20:48
Speaker 7: Man.
20:48
Speaker 4: We got a like good young guys here on the team,
20:52
Speaker 4: So man, the future is very bright for us.
20:55
Speaker 1: They had two defensive touchdowns when you had the early
20:58
Speaker 1: lead in this game. What kind of an emotional blow
21:01
Speaker 1: is that.
21:02
Speaker 4: You know, you just put the ball down mentality for
21:03
Speaker 4: the defense, I don't know what happens. We just gotta
21:05
Speaker 4: go out there and get stops.
21:08
Speaker 1: You want to keep playing. You hit this point of
21:10
Speaker 1: the year, and obviously you've been on teams that have
21:12
Speaker 1: made it to the Super Bowl, in the NFC Championship game,
21:15
Speaker 1: is it kind of strange for the season to be done.
21:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, especially we got a great group of guys,
21:22
Speaker 4: like especially like all the time we got in here.
21:24
Speaker 4: We just feel short a little bit. But like I said,
21:27
Speaker 4: stuff happens. You let me move on and you learn
21:30
Speaker 4: from it. Don't make excuses on you're on it, and
21:33
Speaker 4: just get better.
21:34
Speaker 1: You've taken a big leadership role on defense, particularly in
21:37
Speaker 1: the second half of the season. How much did you
21:40
Speaker 1: see some of these young guys grow a lot.
21:42
Speaker 4: Man. I can name so many young guys that grew
21:47
Speaker 4: up during the season. Man, you got we had two
21:48
Speaker 4: rooky linebackers that grew up real fast, Miles Murphy, Chris Janecas,
21:54
Speaker 4: even though he got hurt, he grew up like like
21:56
Speaker 4: Jay Black, Like, We've got so many guys that stepped
21:58
Speaker 4: up and play really good football.
22:01
Speaker 1: Still, you would expect most of the Bengals free agent
22:04
Speaker 1: dollars add high draft picks this year to be spent
22:07
Speaker 1: on defense. Here's Burrow on the need for the Bengals
22:11
Speaker 1: to address their weaknesses.
22:13
Speaker 8: This of paramount importance. I think you have to identify
22:18
Speaker 8: where you're weak and figure out a way to be
22:22
Speaker 8: strong in that area. That's the NFL year in and
22:25
Speaker 8: year out. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but
22:30
Speaker 8: you have to attack that period with intent.
22:33
Speaker 4: To get better.
22:33
Speaker 1: Joe expects to meet with the front office in the
22:35
Speaker 1: next day or two and knows that his voice matters.
22:39
Speaker 8: I know they certainly value my opinion. I think I
22:42
Speaker 8: think about things critically. I think that I can provide
22:46
Speaker 8: some insight into things going on in the lockerman on
22:49
Speaker 8: the field that could help us win and so I
22:54
Speaker 8: plan to voice some things, just like I do every offseason.
22:57
Speaker 1: The Bengals finished the season six and eleven, ending US
23:00
Speaker 1: streak of four straight winning seasons. They'll have the tenth
23:03
Speaker 1: pick in next year's draft, the first time they've selected
23:07
Speaker 1: in the top ten since choosing Jamar Chase fifth overall
23:11
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. As for the schedule, in addition
23:15
Speaker 1: to their AFC North matchups, the Bengals home games are
23:19
Speaker 1: against Jacksonville, Tennessee, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Kansas City.
23:26
Speaker 1: Of those five opponents from outside the division, only Jacksonville
23:30
Speaker 1: has a winning record. The Bengals road opponents outside the
23:34
Speaker 1: division are Houston, Indy, Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, and Washington. Of
23:42
Speaker 1: those six teams, only Houston has a winning record. The
23:47
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
23:49
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider by
23:53
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed elevate your home,
23:57
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level and to buy
24:00
Speaker 1: Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering
24:03
Speaker 1: Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now
24:08
Speaker 1: time for this week's fun facts conversation where you get
24:11
Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Time for some
24:15
Speaker 1: fun facts with wide receiver and return specialist Keyshawn Williams
24:19
Speaker 1: from the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, PA. What do
24:23
Speaker 1: you love about your hometown?
24:25
Speaker 10: Just to support and love that I get from a
24:27
Speaker 10: lot of people in a city that know me, don't
24:29
Speaker 10: know me. It has showed me a lot of love
24:31
Speaker 10: and support along my journey.
24:32
Speaker 1: Philadelphia obviously has teams in all of the major sports.
24:36
Speaker 1: Did you get to attend games as a kid growing up?
24:39
Speaker 10: I want to a few for these games, a few
24:40
Speaker 10: Six's games. I've ever been to an Eagles game. I
24:42
Speaker 10: did go just on training camp practices.
24:44
Speaker 1: So when you go to an Eagles game, it'll be
24:46
Speaker 1: as a competitor.
24:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, my first time in the stadium will be.
24:49
Speaker 1: That, yes, Keyshawan. According to your bio, you played football, basketball,
24:53
Speaker 1: and ran track as a kid. When did you decide
24:57
Speaker 1: to focus on football.
24:58
Speaker 10: I decided to focus on footb my junior year. That
25:01
Speaker 10: got my first offer from the Temple. But before that offer,
25:06
Speaker 10: I just knew I was going to college basketball. So
25:08
Speaker 10: that kind of cuick changing and shift in my mindset
25:12
Speaker 10: at that moment.
25:12
Speaker 1: What was it like to get that first offer?
25:15
Speaker 10: It was everything, you know. I got it on Thanksgiving
25:18
Speaker 10: with my family, and it just was a symbol of
25:22
Speaker 10: all the hard work and the dedication and perseverance throughout
25:25
Speaker 10: my life.
25:25
Speaker 1: Of that time, we're visiting with Kayshawn Williams. Your high
25:28
Speaker 1: school was Chestnut Hill Academy. It sounds prestigious and preppy.
25:34
Speaker 1: How would you describe it?
25:35
Speaker 5: Exactly like that.
25:36
Speaker 10: It was private school, independent school, and the interact very
25:39
Speaker 10: competitive football basketball wise. But you know, my mom invested
25:44
Speaker 10: in my academics at a very young age, and I
25:46
Speaker 10: was able to get into that school in a full
25:48
Speaker 10: academic scholarship. I just so happened to be also freely
25:51
Speaker 10: talented at football basketball.
25:52
Speaker 1: So sounds like it prepared you well for college.
25:55
Speaker 10: Absolutely, you know, going into Wake Forest as a eighteen
25:59
Speaker 10: year old was also a prestigious academic university and it
26:03
Speaker 10: definitely prepared me for the life of us do an
26:06
Speaker 10: athlete there.
26:07
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor started his college career at Wake Forest. You
26:10
Speaker 1: spent your first four college seasons at wake Forest. Why
26:13
Speaker 1: did you choose Wake.
26:15
Speaker 10: Just a balance of academics and also powerful football. You know,
26:20
Speaker 10: it's the best of both worlds in terms of what
26:22
Speaker 10: I was getting and what I wanted. You know, also
26:23
Speaker 10: my mom always being extremely only about academics and importance
26:28
Speaker 10: of education.
26:28
Speaker 5: That was just something I wanted to do. So be
26:31
Speaker 5: able to corporate both sides and one was a perfect situation.
26:34
Speaker 1: You finished your college career with one season at Indiana,
26:37
Speaker 1: and we're part of one of the most remarkable turnarounds
26:40
Speaker 1: in college football history, from three to nine the year
26:42
Speaker 1: before you got there to eleven wins in a trip
26:45
Speaker 1: to the College Football Playoff last year under head coach
26:48
Speaker 1: Kurt Signetti. Help us understand what's made Kurt Signetti so successful.
26:55
Speaker 10: His mom said, he believes everything he says. When he
26:58
Speaker 10: went up there on Big Tim Media and so the
27:00
Speaker 10: nation that will be here again and December. You know
27:04
Speaker 10: a lot of people look at him crazy. And you
27:06
Speaker 10: know when I visited, when I was in a portal,
27:08
Speaker 10: you know, he pitched the same thing he told to
27:09
Speaker 10: me what.
27:10
Speaker 5: He said on Big Tim Media Day.
27:11
Speaker 10: And you know, he just has his mindset where he
27:13
Speaker 10: can make you believe in yourself even when.
27:16
Speaker 5: The others doubt. And you know, if you trust him and.
27:19
Speaker 10: You were, you just align with what he has going on,
27:22
Speaker 10: it turns out to be successful, and you see his track record.
27:25
Speaker 10: He's been stussflevery where he went. So it's hard to,
27:27
Speaker 10: you know, not believe in a guy like that.
27:29
Speaker 1: Just google him. As he said, you had five catches
27:33
Speaker 1: in the college football playoff game against Notre Dame. Was
27:36
Speaker 1: that the highlight of your football career so far?
27:39
Speaker 2: Uh?
27:40
Speaker 10: No, I wouldn't say it's the highlight of my football career,
27:42
Speaker 10: but it was definitely a big moment for me.
27:45
Speaker 5: You know, you when you're younger, you dream of those.
27:47
Speaker 10: Moments of playing in college football playoff games and making
27:49
Speaker 10: plays to help your team win the game. But you know,
27:52
Speaker 10: I just feel like every day I continue to play
27:54
Speaker 10: this game at this level is the best day. So
27:57
Speaker 10: you know, I'm just grateful for everything.
28:00
Speaker 1: You signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers
28:02
Speaker 1: and then the preseason opener this year, you caught a
28:05
Speaker 1: touchdown pass against Jacksonville. How significant was that moment for you?
28:10
Speaker 5: It was extremely significant.
28:12
Speaker 10: You know, it was a reassurance moment, you know, coming
28:14
Speaker 10: out of the draft, you know, undrafted, you know, not
28:17
Speaker 10: being a guy with anybody has high expectations for us
28:20
Speaker 10: in terms of productivity, and in terms of future wise
28:23
Speaker 10: with the league. But you know, to go out there
28:25
Speaker 10: and do what I know I was capable of and
28:27
Speaker 10: show up when my name was called. Like just being
28:30
Speaker 10: an opportunist who always praised myself on being you know,
28:34
Speaker 10: it just meant everything.
28:36
Speaker 1: Did not getting drafted put a chip on your shoulder.
28:39
Speaker 10: Most definitely, But at the same time, you know, I
28:42
Speaker 10: like to be a guy who's realistic. You know, understood
28:44
Speaker 10: that was a high possibility going into the draft. But
28:47
Speaker 10: like I said, I'm an opportunist. You know, I knew
28:49
Speaker 10: as long as I was able to get my foot
28:51
Speaker 10: in the door and make it, make it on some team,
28:53
Speaker 10: I know I'll pay away for myself at the end
28:55
Speaker 10: of the day.
28:56
Speaker 1: So you played in eight games for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
28:58
Speaker 1: and then a few weeks ago, when they were trying
29:00
Speaker 1: to move you from the roster the practice squad to
29:03
Speaker 1: make a room for a veteran guy that they picked up,
29:05
Speaker 1: the Bengals jumped in and claimed you off waivers. How
29:10
Speaker 1: difficult is it to change teams at this stage of
29:13
Speaker 1: the season.
29:15
Speaker 10: It's definitely not ideal, But you know, my goal was
29:20
Speaker 10: to be on an active roster contributing to a team.
29:23
Speaker 10: And you know, I'm glad that the Bengals was able
29:25
Speaker 10: to see something in me that they decided that they
29:27
Speaker 10: wanted to bring me on to help their team win games.
29:30
Speaker 5: And you know, I'm extremely grateful.
29:31
Speaker 1: You know it.
29:31
Speaker 10: It was an unexpected turn of events, but you know,
29:33
Speaker 10: this was part of the business, and you know, like
29:36
Speaker 10: I like to be a realist, I understood how to
29:38
Speaker 10: I'm starting to understand how the business works.
29:39
Speaker 5: So there's no hard feelings.
29:40
Speaker 10: You know, I understand that Pittsburgh gave me the first
29:43
Speaker 10: opportunity to make my make a name for myself in
29:45
Speaker 10: this league, and if it wasn't for them, I probably
29:47
Speaker 10: wouldn't be here either.
29:48
Speaker 5: So you know, it was difficult.
29:51
Speaker 10: And hard to process, but you know, it's just you
29:53
Speaker 10: gotta roll with the punches.
29:55
Speaker 1: Have you even fully unpacked yet?
29:57
Speaker 10: Now I'm living out of a suitcase an out of
30:00
Speaker 10: a suitcase right now. But you know it's only a
30:02
Speaker 10: short three weeks, you know, finishing up this week. But
30:06
Speaker 10: you know it's been a fun three weeks.
30:08
Speaker 1: Did you know anybody here from college or working out
30:11
Speaker 1: or anywhere along.
30:12
Speaker 10: The way outside of the big names of the guys
30:14
Speaker 10: you hear on TV. No, I didn't know anybody personally,
30:18
Speaker 10: but you know, I'm kind of used to, you know,
30:21
Speaker 10: jumping in the rooms and you know, just going in
30:23
Speaker 10: proving myself to whoever is there and making a name
30:26
Speaker 10: for myself that people want to get to know who
30:28
Speaker 10: I am.
30:28
Speaker 1: So no problem. We're doing fun facts with Keyshawn Williams.
30:33
Speaker 1: I read a pre draft scouting report that said the
30:35
Speaker 1: following quote. He has proven very difficult to bring down,
30:40
Speaker 1: and we've seen that in your first few games with
30:42
Speaker 1: the Bengals. You had a twenty eight yard punt return
30:44
Speaker 1: in the first game, of forty three yard punt return
30:46
Speaker 1: in the second game. You got a game ball after
30:49
Speaker 1: that game. Do you think you have an innate ability
30:52
Speaker 1: to make people miss?
30:55
Speaker 5: I think I do. I mean, you kind of have
30:57
Speaker 5: to have that ability to play.
30:58
Speaker 10: This game at my size and at my position has
31:01
Speaker 10: always been an important part of my game. Being able
31:05
Speaker 10: to use my lateral quickness to make people miss in
31:07
Speaker 10: short area spaces and you know, just just using that
31:10
Speaker 10: to the best of my ability to give me an
31:12
Speaker 10: advantage on the field.
31:13
Speaker 1: Do you enjoy returning punts? It takes a certain type
31:16
Speaker 1: of person to have the willingness to go back there
31:19
Speaker 1: and be ready to run it back with guys bearing
31:22
Speaker 1: down on them.
31:22
Speaker 5: Absolutely, enjoy love. I love returning puns.
31:25
Speaker 10: You catch the ball in space, and once you get
31:27
Speaker 10: the balls, you versus everybody else is like a backyard
31:30
Speaker 10: football when you were a kid playing in the backyard.
31:32
Speaker 10: So you know something I've been doing my whole life,
31:34
Speaker 10: and something will I hope I continue to keep doing
31:36
Speaker 10: for a good amount of time.
31:38
Speaker 1: All right, Time for a few wild card topics now
31:40
Speaker 1: with Keyshawn Williams. Who is your all time favorite athlete
31:44
Speaker 1: in any sport? And why?
31:47
Speaker 10: My favorite all time athlete is Russell Westbrook. Just his
31:50
Speaker 10: mentality in terms of how he plays, you know, aggressive, strong,
31:54
Speaker 10: finishing at the room, with a lot of enthusiasm. You know,
31:57
Speaker 10: it's an exciting guy for me to watch, especially when
31:59
Speaker 10: I'm that's whole player in my basketball days.
32:01
Speaker 1: All right, that's a good segue to my next question.
32:04
Speaker 1: You're only five to nine, but you had a thirty
32:07
Speaker 1: nine inch vertical at your pro day. Can you dunk?
32:10
Speaker 7: Yeah?
32:10
Speaker 10: I can catch it, I could, don't you know? Tell
32:12
Speaker 10: me a little oop the room grazer, get it in
32:14
Speaker 10: there for sure?
32:16
Speaker 1: Does it have to be an oop or if you're
32:17
Speaker 1: on a breakaway, can you throw thee down?
32:19
Speaker 10: You give me a breakaway and I'm feeling good that day.
32:21
Speaker 10: I get up there and put it in the room
32:22
Speaker 10: for sure.
32:24
Speaker 1: All right, you are named key Shawn. There are some
32:28
Speaker 1: famous Keyshawn's out there. Keyshawn Johnson was probably the first
32:31
Speaker 1: famous football Keyshawn. Did your folks name you after anybody?
32:35
Speaker 1: Or did they just like the name.
32:36
Speaker 5: You let My mom tell us.
32:37
Speaker 10: She would say she named me after Keyshawn Johnson, actually,
32:40
Speaker 10: but I believe it was just a combination of my parents'
32:42
Speaker 10: two names.
32:43
Speaker 5: My dad's name's Kenneth, my mom's name Sean.
32:46
Speaker 10: Took the key off and put it in from hers
32:48
Speaker 10: and then yeah, but I guess the football correlation always
32:51
Speaker 10: let her to believe was he has some type of
32:53
Speaker 10: impact on that.
32:53
Speaker 5: So sure, I'll give it to her.
32:55
Speaker 1: I guess that's why you wound up playing professional football.
32:58
Speaker 1: All right. As I mentioned the top, you're from Philadelphia.
33:01
Speaker 1: Famous Philadelphia foods include the cheese steak, the roast pork sandwich,
33:06
Speaker 1: the soft pretzel. What's the first thing you want to
33:09
Speaker 1: eat when you go home.
33:11
Speaker 10: I'm definitely going to Max's and give me a cheese steak,
33:13
Speaker 10: either Max or ish Caabibbeles.
33:14
Speaker 5: And I'm going to give me a cheese steak for sure,
33:16
Speaker 5: all right.
33:17
Speaker 1: So Max's is that like where the locals go because
33:20
Speaker 1: it's an out of town or we hear about Gino's and.
33:22
Speaker 10: Pats, Yeah, Gino's and passes more of a touristy spot.
33:25
Speaker 10: Maxi's has become pretty popular because it was on the
33:29
Speaker 10: Kevin Hart documentary. But Iscaibibbels is another big spot that
33:33
Speaker 10: I like to go to.
33:34
Speaker 1: So that's my favorite, all right, Next time I'm in Philly,
33:37
Speaker 1: Max's or Ishka Bibbles. Final fun fact for Keishawn Williams.
33:42
Speaker 1: And this one's kind of deep. If you could meet
33:44
Speaker 1: anybody in history, living or deceased, who would that person be?
33:50
Speaker 2: For me?
33:50
Speaker 10: It'd be my grandmam on my dad's side. She passed
33:53
Speaker 10: when I was two years old. You know whether conscous
33:57
Speaker 10: jet or got to meet her personally, but you know
34:00
Speaker 10: a lot of stories of the woman she was and
34:01
Speaker 10: what she stood for and how much she believed and
34:05
Speaker 10: protected her grandchildren, her children, her niat, nephews, nieces, and
34:11
Speaker 10: you know I will love to meet her and let
34:13
Speaker 10: her allow her to, you know, see the man I've
34:15
Speaker 10: become from the two year old kids she saw.
34:19
Speaker 1: She would be very proud. There's no doubt about that. Keyshawn.
34:22
Speaker 1: Congratulations on your great start with Cincinnati. Appreciate your time,
34:25
Speaker 1: best of what going.
34:26
Speaker 5: Forward, Appreciate you for having me.
34:27
Speaker 3: Thank you.
34:29
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
34:31
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by pay Corps, Proud
34:33
Speaker 1: to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta
34:37
Speaker 1: Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
34:41
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
34:44
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
34:47
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34:50
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34:56
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35:00
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
35:03
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast