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Bengals Booth Podcast: Just What I Needed · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I guess you just want
0:10
Speaker 1: I needed addition as the Bengals opened the season with
0:14
Speaker 1: a road win in Cleveland. Coming up radio replays, locker
0:18
Speaker 1: room comments, and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then, in
0:22
Speaker 1: this week's fun Facts Conversation, it's a visit with an
0:25
Speaker 1: all time favorite, Adriel Jeremiah Green. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:30
Speaker 1: is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be
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Speaker 1: the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future
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Speaker 1: proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
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Speaker 1: community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the
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Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
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Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick
0:50
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
0:53
Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
0:56
Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
1:01
Speaker 1: since Don Giller. Okay, this is going to take me
1:06
Speaker 1: a few minutes because it falls under the heading of
1:09
Speaker 1: story Time with Dan. About fifteen years ago, while I
1:22
Speaker 1: was in New York City to broadcast the Big East Tournament.
1:24
Speaker 1: I attended my first taping of The David Letterman Show
1:28
Speaker 1: with former Cincinnati Inquirer beat writer Bill Cook, and we
1:31
Speaker 1: learned that Dave would come out and take a question
1:34
Speaker 1: or two from the audience before the show began. The
1:37
Speaker 1: following year, I was able to get tickets again, and
1:41
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, I was picked to sit in the
1:43
Speaker 1: front row. So when Dave came out to take questions
1:46
Speaker 1: from the audience, I stuck up my hand and began
1:49
Speaker 1: frantically waving like horse Shack from Welcome Back Cotter. Sure enough,
1:53
Speaker 1: Dave picked me and asked where I was from. I
1:56
Speaker 1: told him Cincinnati and that I was in New York
1:59
Speaker 1: to broadcast It's the Big East Tournament on WLW Radio,
2:03
Speaker 1: knowing that Dave had listened to the station as a
2:05
Speaker 1: kid growing up in Indiana. After he informed the audience
2:09
Speaker 1: that WLW was one of the nation's most legendary radio stations,
2:13
Speaker 1: I invited him to be a guest color commentator on
2:16
Speaker 1: the UC Bearcat's Big Eiaest Tournament game the next day,
2:20
Speaker 1: and added that I might actually need him because my
2:23
Speaker 1: broadcast partner had once been kicked out of an NCAA
2:27
Speaker 1: tournament game for yelling at the referees. If you don't
2:31
Speaker 1: know that story, my pal, the late great Chuck Mayshock
2:34
Speaker 1: got kicked out for yelling at official Mike Kits in
2:37
Speaker 1: a tournament game between Cincinnati and Gonzaga. Well, David Letterman
2:43
Speaker 1: began laughing hysterically and asked me for all of the details.
2:46
Speaker 1: By the time I finished telling the story about Chuck
2:48
Speaker 1: getting tossed out, the opening theme song started and it
2:52
Speaker 1: was time for the show to begin. About thirty seconds later,
2:56
Speaker 1: Dave ran out onto the stage, and here's how his
2:59
Speaker 1: opening monologue began.
3:01
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I don't usually do this, but because it's a
3:04
Speaker 2: Friday night, you're all in such a great mood, I
3:06
Speaker 2: thought I would kick off the program this evening with
3:08
Speaker 2: an impression is my impression of a basketball radio color commentator.
3:16
Speaker 1: At that point, the camera cut to me, laughing like
3:18
Speaker 1: a hyena in the front row.
3:21
Speaker 2: Getting tossed out of his coverage of the NCAA double
3:24
Speaker 2: basketball MC double. Okay's a It's gonna be good, ain't
3:34
Speaker 2: His partner or seated court side broadcasting the game back
3:36
Speaker 2: to well, let's just say Cincinnati the color commentator is
3:42
Speaker 2: such a homer that when there's trouble for the home team,
3:47
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bearcats, he becomes so incensed that he jumps
3:52
Speaker 2: to his feet and starts heckling the referee.
3:54
Speaker 3: Okay and go something like this.
4:04
Speaker 4: Are you crazy?
4:22
Speaker 3: Thank you very much?
4:24
Speaker 1: And just like that. Dave's ad libbed imitation of Chuck
4:27
Speaker 1: Mayshock became a running gag throughout the rest of the episode,
4:31
Speaker 1: complete with the addition of Cincinnati sponsors.
4:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, he wasn't traveling. What are you blind? That's not traveling.
4:40
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll be right back after this message from Kroger's.
4:49
Speaker 1: After each condition of Dave's out of control basketball announcer,
4:53
Speaker 1: the camera cut to me doubled over in laughter at
4:56
Speaker 1: the Ed Sullivan Theater.
4:58
Speaker 2: Anderson brings the ball up the half court, takes a dribble.
5:02
Speaker 2: Nobody open, bounce past to Johnson.
5:05
Speaker 3: Johnson dribbles for the key, comes back out.
5:07
Speaker 4: Oh from three point range.
5:08
Speaker 5: He takes a shot.
5:09
Speaker 3: It's good.
5:10
Speaker 6: His foot was on the line. His foot was on
5:14
Speaker 6: the line. What's the matter with you? Hey was on
5:17
Speaker 6: the line.
5:25
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll be right back after this message from Queen
5:30
Speaker 2: City Tires.
5:32
Speaker 1: It went like that for the rest of the episode,
5:34
Speaker 1: and just before doing the top ten list, Dave read
5:37
Speaker 1: a card that explained what happened to Chuck and introduced
5:41
Speaker 1: me in the audience. So let me go back to
5:44
Speaker 1: where we started. It's the greatest thing since Don Giller.
5:49
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get my hands on the videotape
5:51
Speaker 1: of that episode for years, and recently learned that Don
5:55
Speaker 1: has archives of nearly every show that Letterman hosted, more
5:59
Speaker 1: than six thousand in all. So I looked him up
6:03
Speaker 1: on Facebook and sent a message explaining the situation. One
6:07
Speaker 1: day later, he sent the video to me with permission
6:10
Speaker 1: from Letterman's production company. So Don and Dave, thanks for
6:17
Speaker 1: a great memory. All right, the Bengals are one to zero.
6:21
Speaker 1: Let's get to the radio replays from Sunday's win in Cleveland.
6:27
Speaker 1: After months of talking about and hearing about the need
6:31
Speaker 1: to get off to a fast start, the Cincinnati Bengals
6:34
Speaker 1: finally get the opportunity to do it as they look
6:38
Speaker 1: to kick off the season with a road win in Cleveland.
6:43
Speaker 1: It's the Bengals and Browns on Opening Day, and it
6:46
Speaker 1: is time for the pigskin to fly. Here at Huntington
6:50
Speaker 1: bank field second and a long yard. The ball is
6:53
Speaker 1: in between the four and the five of Cleveland. Burrow
6:57
Speaker 1: waits for a shotgun snap at the ten goes in motion.
7:01
Speaker 1: They hand it off to Chase Brown. He's running left.
7:04
Speaker 1: He'll go into the end zone. Touchdown. Chase Brown in
7:08
Speaker 1: the Bengals. As Cincinnati begins the season with a twelve
7:13
Speaker 1: play touchdown drive that took half of the first quarter
7:17
Speaker 1: off the clock. The Browns are going to go for
7:19
Speaker 1: it on fourth downend goal from the one. Flacco hands
7:23
Speaker 1: it off Rocket Sanders into the end zone for a
7:26
Speaker 1: Cleveland touchdown. But there's a penalty flag at the five
7:30
Speaker 1: yard live.
7:31
Speaker 7: Yeah, and let's see it's called from the other side
7:33
Speaker 7: of the formation.
7:34
Speaker 3: The play was run to the right.
7:36
Speaker 7: Was a Cleveland Brown offensive lineman with a off side
7:40
Speaker 7: to the lineup off side.
7:41
Speaker 3: Let's see it is a touchdown.
7:43
Speaker 1: There's no fire. Had two extra offensive linemen are coming
7:48
Speaker 1: into the game. The Bengals will have seven offensive linemen
7:51
Speaker 1: on the field.
7:52
Speaker 7: Boy, that field is sinking now, it's not tilted his sinking.
7:57
Speaker 1: Cody Ford lines up like a full back at about
8:00
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty pounds. Third down, end goal inside
8:05
Speaker 1: the one. Burrow wants to throw his pass, caught by
8:09
Speaker 1: a wide open Noah Fant, who throws the ball high
8:13
Speaker 1: into the air in celebration as the Bengal score their
8:18
Speaker 1: second touchdown. And this will be a forty five yard
8:20
Speaker 1: try for a kicker with the number twenty five. That's unusual.
8:24
Speaker 1: The kick is on its way, it has the distance,
8:27
Speaker 1: and it is good. So the Browns pull within four
8:32
Speaker 1: with twenty three seconds left in the half, and Cleveland's
8:36
Speaker 1: going to get the ball to begin the third quarter
8:39
Speaker 1: with an opportunity to potentially take the lead. On first
8:42
Speaker 1: and goal from the five, Flacco looking to pass his
8:46
Speaker 1: throw caught in the middle of the end zone by
8:49
Speaker 1: Cedric Tillman for a Cleveland go ahead touchdown. Second down
8:54
Speaker 1: and sixteen after that six yard sack for Trey Hendrickson,
8:58
Speaker 1: Flacco fakes a hand off. Here comes the rush his
9:01
Speaker 1: pass over the middle and it is intercepted offer ricochet
9:06
Speaker 1: by Jordan Battle. He's running it back at the twenty
9:08
Speaker 1: five and he'll be tackled after getting down to the
9:11
Speaker 1: twenty five yard line. Evan McPherson will try to give
9:14
Speaker 1: Cincinnati the lead. This will be a thirty five yard
9:17
Speaker 1: field goal attempt from the right hash out of the
9:21
Speaker 1: hold of Ryan Rico. Two fifty two remaining, third quarter,
9:25
Speaker 1: Cincinnati trails by two. Here comes the thirty five yard kick,
9:30
Speaker 1: the swing of the right leg, a high spinning, end
9:33
Speaker 1: over end kick, and it gives Cincinnati a one point lead.
9:37
Speaker 1: Flacco catches the shotgun snap passes over the middle, dropped
9:41
Speaker 1: by Judy. I'm the Bengals takeover back to back drops
9:46
Speaker 1: by the Cleveland brown amazing.
9:49
Speaker 7: And two very fine throws from Joe Flacco.
9:53
Speaker 1: With two thirty to go, the Browns trying to take
9:56
Speaker 1: the lead. Bojorquez catches, puts it down. It's kick on
10:01
Speaker 1: the way, No, no good. He missed it wide right.
10:05
Speaker 1: He missed a pat wide right, and Schmidt misses a
10:10
Speaker 1: go ahead field goal tried wide right. Two twenty two
10:15
Speaker 1: to go.
10:16
Speaker 7: I mean go to the sideline right now. It's tough
10:18
Speaker 7: for him to look teammates in the eye.
10:20
Speaker 1: No prouds go no huddle, yep, two minutes drill, no huddle,
10:23
Speaker 1: and have it at their own forty three yard line.
10:26
Speaker 1: Flacco looking to throw his pass.
10:29
Speaker 8: And is intercepted. It went off the finger tips of Tillman.
10:33
Speaker 8: DJ Turner comes up with a football him that is
10:38
Speaker 8: coffin nails.
10:40
Speaker 7: Bam bam bam about Turner Man.
10:45
Speaker 1: Thirty seconds to go, the rookie snapper Wagner fires it back.
10:49
Speaker 1: Here comes a high end, over end punt. It's going
10:52
Speaker 1: to bounce at the nine, nice and the Bengals will
10:56
Speaker 1: down it at the one. And it also took eleven
11:00
Speaker 1: seconds off the clock.
11:01
Speaker 9: Man p J.
11:02
Speaker 1: Jewles standing in perfect position. He gambled a bit, allowing
11:07
Speaker 1: that oblong ball to bounce in his direction, but ultimately
11:11
Speaker 1: he played it perfectly. Forty nine yard punt, eleven seconds
11:15
Speaker 1: taken off the clock, and the Browns have to start
11:18
Speaker 1: from their own one. Eight seconds to go. Flacco back
11:20
Speaker 1: to throw from the end zone. Now he throws up
11:23
Speaker 1: the field, bobbled and caught. The Bengals make the tackle
11:27
Speaker 1: at the twenty nine yard line and that ends the game.
11:32
Speaker 1: The Cincinnati Bengals are one and oh doesn't that sound good? Yes,
11:38
Speaker 1: it does, as they come to Cleveland and win on
11:41
Speaker 1: opening day seventeen to sixteen. So the Bengals obviously got
11:47
Speaker 1: some help from Brown's rookie kicker Andre Schmid, but if
11:50
Speaker 1: you think about it, Cincinnati wouldn't have lost an opening
11:53
Speaker 1: Day in twenty twenty two to Pittsburgh if Evan McPherson
11:57
Speaker 1: didn't miss an extra point and a chip shot field
12:01
Speaker 1: goal in overtime. In money max case, it was due
12:05
Speaker 1: to an injury to long snapper Clark Harris. The key
12:08
Speaker 1: to the win on Sunday in Cleveland was a defense
12:11
Speaker 1: that bent at times but rarely broke, holding the Browns
12:15
Speaker 1: to forty nine rushing yards on twenty four carries while
12:18
Speaker 1: intercepting Joe Flacco twice. Jordan Battle had the first of
12:22
Speaker 1: those picks and I talked to him after the game.
12:27
Speaker 1: Gave up sixteen points and got two takeaways on defense,
12:30
Speaker 1: What did you think you guys did best on defense today?
12:34
Speaker 9: Stopped the run. I think they had like a two
12:36
Speaker 9: point zero average rushing today.
12:38
Speaker 10: So d Lion frous seven did a great job, you know,
12:41
Speaker 10: stopping run.
12:42
Speaker 9: So Joker put the ball in their so give us
12:44
Speaker 9: a chance to make plays on the ball.
12:46
Speaker 1: Your interception was huge. It ultimately led to the field
12:48
Speaker 1: goal that gave the Bengals to lead back for good.
12:51
Speaker 1: Describe that play.
12:53
Speaker 9: Yeah, it was great play obviously, you know playing cover two,
12:57
Speaker 9: you know, just breaking on the ball.
12:59
Speaker 10: A quarterback made up throw inside, was forced to receive.
13:02
Speaker 9: I think it was three to tip it and then
13:05
Speaker 9: you know just to focus to you know, maintain and
13:07
Speaker 9: catch the ball, you know, and uh put us.
13:09
Speaker 10: Put the office in striking position.
13:10
Speaker 1: And DJ got the one that more or less clinched
13:13
Speaker 1: to win the first of his NFL career. That's what
13:16
Speaker 1: al it's been preaching.
13:17
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, exactly plus two getting takeaways, you know, ball disrupting.
13:22
Speaker 9: We've been working at the whole camp and uh, they
13:24
Speaker 9: sold today.
13:25
Speaker 1: Describe your emotions on the Browns final field goal attempt.
13:30
Speaker 10: Uh, Hey, I was.
13:31
Speaker 9: I was super excited, you know obviously you know, just
13:35
Speaker 9: coming off the coming off the field, you know, getting
13:36
Speaker 9: to stop.
13:37
Speaker 10: They had good field position.
13:39
Speaker 4: Uh.
13:39
Speaker 9: And then obviously you're gonna stop, get off the field
13:41
Speaker 9: on fourth down and then you see a kicker go
13:44
Speaker 9: out there and you know miss a kick. Uh, It's
13:46
Speaker 9: it's very relieving and it's very you know, that's cheerful
13:48
Speaker 9: for us.
13:49
Speaker 10: That's joy and that means hard. Especially know on the office.
13:51
Speaker 1: We got he had missed the pat from roughly the
13:55
Speaker 1: same distance. In your mind, does that make you think
13:58
Speaker 1: he might miss again?
13:59
Speaker 5: So sure?
14:00
Speaker 9: You know obviously, Uh, with the way the game is going. Uh,
14:03
Speaker 9: obviously it's a division game, you know, you know, all
14:07
Speaker 9: all tension is up. You know when he goes out there,
14:08
Speaker 9: it's just him, you know, he has to he has
14:10
Speaker 9: to make a tough kit and obviously is always going.
14:13
Speaker 10: You don't know how it's gonna go. It can be
14:15
Speaker 10: a make, it can be a miss.
14:16
Speaker 1: You're one and h for the first time in your
14:18
Speaker 1: NFL career. Hey, describe how it feels in this room.
14:21
Speaker 9: Hey, it feels excellently, you know, especially being one to
14:23
Speaker 9: know on a division. Uh that that can that can
14:26
Speaker 9: put us on top, you know, based on how the
14:27
Speaker 9: other games go. But uh, yeah, that was that was
14:29
Speaker 9: the main thing coming in the weakue one you know. Uh,
14:31
Speaker 9: like you said, my first time at the bingals, being one.
14:34
Speaker 10: To O to start the season. So it's obviously great.
14:37
Speaker 1: And grants on the win.
14:38
Speaker 10: Thank you, thank you.
14:39
Speaker 1: That's Jordan Battle. Battle finished the game of the team
14:43
Speaker 1: high twelve tackles. Demetrius Knight had ten in his first
14:46
Speaker 1: NFL game, and Trey Hendrickson had a sack and three
14:50
Speaker 1: quarterback hits. The offensive numbers weren't as good. Joe Burrow
14:54
Speaker 1: is held to one hundred and thirteen passing yards, and
14:57
Speaker 1: the Bengals only managed forty six yards on the ground
15:00
Speaker 1: gone twenty three carries like Cleveland. That's two yards per attempt.
15:05
Speaker 1: But are you really worried about the Bengals offense figuring
15:08
Speaker 1: it out? I'm not. Here's Burrow.
15:10
Speaker 5: We'll take it.
15:12
Speaker 11: Anytime you can win like this, you kind of steal one.
15:15
Speaker 11: So we stole one today and we're gonna have to
15:18
Speaker 11: be better. These early games are always tough. You got
15:21
Speaker 11: to be able to establish the run, and that's what
15:23
Speaker 11: we want to be on offense. We want to be
15:25
Speaker 11: able to run the ball. On first half it was great,
15:28
Speaker 11: and then you the second half, the all pasts of
15:32
Speaker 11: the offense just weren't good enough.
15:34
Speaker 5: So we gotta get better.
15:36
Speaker 11: Even win any of these games last year, and so
15:40
Speaker 11: usually when you can win a game like this, that's
15:41
Speaker 11: a recipe for success and it means you're going to
15:44
Speaker 11: be some a good team if you can find a
15:46
Speaker 11: lot of different ways to win than we did today.
15:48
Speaker 1: Joe's first touchdown pass of the year went to newcomer
15:51
Speaker 1: Noah Fan who led the team with four catches in
15:54
Speaker 1: his Bengals debut. Here's my conversation with a twenty seven
15:58
Speaker 1: year old tight end. Not a bad debut in a
16:01
Speaker 1: Bengals uniform. Noah caught a pass in the first play
16:04
Speaker 1: of the game and caught a touchdown pass from Joe Burrow.
16:07
Speaker 1: Describe your emotions after your Bengals debut.
16:10
Speaker 12: It's been a whirlwind the last month for me, but
16:13
Speaker 12: I've been super excited to be able to come in
16:15
Speaker 12: and work and get to know the offense and all
16:17
Speaker 12: those things and be able to make some place today
16:19
Speaker 12: was really cool. I'm more focused on, like, like first
16:22
Speaker 12: and for us, we got to win. There was some
16:24
Speaker 12: things that we can clean up out there, so it's
16:27
Speaker 12: like it's gonna be nice to go back to the
16:28
Speaker 12: film and watch that and like get to pick up
16:31
Speaker 12: on all those things where we can improve on to
16:32
Speaker 12: like really put us in a good position to like close.
16:34
Speaker 5: Out games a lot better than we did.
16:36
Speaker 3: So there were some good things.
16:37
Speaker 5: There were some bright spots, but I was that I
16:39
Speaker 5: was happy about.
16:40
Speaker 12: But definitely looking forward to to getting back to the
16:42
Speaker 12: drawing board and improving on some of these things.
16:44
Speaker 5: That feel like we kind of left out there a
16:46
Speaker 5: little bit.
16:47
Speaker 1: I wondered if you would be a bit of a
16:49
Speaker 1: hidden weapon today in the sense that the opponent didn't
16:53
Speaker 1: see you much in a Bengals uniform in the preseason.
16:55
Speaker 1: Did do you feel like they used you in a
16:57
Speaker 1: sense that way?
16:58
Speaker 12: Well, I think, which is one of the reasons why
17:01
Speaker 12: I wanted to come here, is like I think that's
17:03
Speaker 12: it's hard to like, you have so many really good
17:07
Speaker 12: players on the offense, It's like it's hard to just
17:09
Speaker 12: like hone in on anybody, and like it gives me
17:11
Speaker 12: an opportunity to find like the nooks and crannies of
17:14
Speaker 12: the defense that might not be covered.
17:17
Speaker 3: So it was.
17:17
Speaker 12: It was a cool experience for me, and I've been
17:19
Speaker 12: trying to kind of find my footing there and find
17:21
Speaker 12: my way and doing that. But I'm excited, like I
17:25
Speaker 12: said before, I'm excited to really get this thing going
17:27
Speaker 12: on offense and really score a lot of points.
17:30
Speaker 5: So it'll be good.
17:31
Speaker 3: It'll be good.
17:32
Speaker 1: The touchdown was interesting. Seven offensive lineman Cody Ford three
17:36
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty pounds lining up at full back. They're
17:38
Speaker 1: obviously thinking the Bengals are going to try and stuff
17:41
Speaker 1: it down their throat and there you are. Wide though.
17:43
Speaker 12: Yeah, no, that was a great play design by our
17:46
Speaker 12: offensive staff and.
17:48
Speaker 5: We detailed it up and obviously those are.
17:50
Speaker 12: The nice ones right now in the goal line, It's
17:52
Speaker 12: like that's those are the pretty ones of the nice ones.
17:54
Speaker 12: There's a lot of dirty work to be done down there,
17:56
Speaker 12: so looking forward to that and looking forward to getting
17:59
Speaker 12: to that all.
18:00
Speaker 1: So, so, how happy are you for the defense considering
18:03
Speaker 1: how heavily scrutinized they've been to only give up sixteen points,
18:06
Speaker 1: to get two takeaways and opening down.
18:08
Speaker 12: I mean, I don't know what more you could ask
18:10
Speaker 12: for them. Two takeaways, like you said, held them to
18:13
Speaker 12: sixteen points. I think they they held into two yards
18:16
Speaker 12: per carry or something like that. It's like, that's a
18:18
Speaker 12: great showing for a defense. So I'm happy for all
18:20
Speaker 12: those guys. They've put the work in and here disfe
18:23
Speaker 12: Like from the time I've been there, been here, they
18:26
Speaker 12: bust their butts.
18:27
Speaker 5: So I'm happy for him.
18:28
Speaker 12: It was expected, like I think that they're gonna put
18:31
Speaker 12: keep putting great games together. So yeah, it's been it's
18:34
Speaker 12: it's been awesome, and I'm looking forward to the rest
18:36
Speaker 12: of the season.
18:37
Speaker 1: For the last question for Noah Fant on the missed
18:39
Speaker 1: field goal by Cleveland, he had missed a pat from
18:43
Speaker 1: roughly the same distance. Do you think there's a chance
18:47
Speaker 1: they'll miss again.
18:49
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't. I'm not sure it helped us.
18:52
Speaker 5: So that's all I really care about.
18:54
Speaker 12: I don't wish bad things on anybody, but that was
18:57
Speaker 12: a great miss that we needed. So it was it
18:59
Speaker 12: was a good thing for us, and we came out
19:00
Speaker 12: with the win. That definitely helped us a lot because
19:04
Speaker 12: of that. So I was happy with that and happy
19:06
Speaker 12: to be able to get the win in the win column.
19:08
Speaker 12: So that's what that mattered to us.
19:09
Speaker 1: Congrats on a great debut and a win.
19:12
Speaker 5: Thank you.
19:13
Speaker 1: So the Bengals practiced in the morning a training camp,
19:16
Speaker 1: played their starters in the preseason games, and had more
19:19
Speaker 1: physical practices. It didn't produce a masterpiece, but it did
19:24
Speaker 1: result in a Week one win. Dave Lapham discussed it
19:28
Speaker 1: with head coach Zach Taylor.
19:31
Speaker 7: Coach, that was a physical football game. Do you think
19:35
Speaker 7: training camp, the way you conducted your training camp this
19:37
Speaker 7: year helped you in this encounter.
19:40
Speaker 13: Our guys were ready, you know, physically, they were ready,
19:42
Speaker 13: mentally they were ready. We knew there was gonna be
19:45
Speaker 13: times or it wasn't clean. There was gonna be times
19:46
Speaker 13: We faced adversity, we're just gonna have to stick together
19:49
Speaker 13: and someone's gonna have to rise up and win it.
19:50
Speaker 13: Our defense made some huge plays for us down the
19:52
Speaker 13: stretch that allow us to win that game. So just
19:54
Speaker 13: really proud of the effort all those guys gave. And
19:57
Speaker 13: there's plenty to clean up and I'm happy, more than
19:58
Speaker 13: happy to clean it up after a win.
20:00
Speaker 7: That's exactly right. I mean, win makes things so everything
20:04
Speaker 7: tastes better, everything looks better. A win is what it's
20:07
Speaker 7: all about. Plus two in the turnover department, that's big.
20:11
Speaker 7: I mean, in the AFC North, games are going to
20:14
Speaker 7: be won by teams that are a plus one plus
20:17
Speaker 7: two plus three in the turnover battle. How proud are
20:19
Speaker 7: you are?
20:20
Speaker 3: That?
20:20
Speaker 13: Extremely proud. That's a week one winning stat right there
20:23
Speaker 13: is When it's a one score game like that, just
20:26
Speaker 13: look at the turnover margin and see who won the
20:28
Speaker 13: turnover managin, that's probably who won the game. And you
20:31
Speaker 13: look at the New England game last year, that's exactly
20:33
Speaker 13: what happened. You look at the Cleveland game this year.
20:35
Speaker 13: That's how we got to turn in our favor.
20:37
Speaker 7: Joe Burrow had what I would call in a fishing
20:40
Speaker 7: day at the quarterback position. I mean, he did what
20:43
Speaker 7: he had to do for you to win the football game,
20:45
Speaker 7: had a touchdown, passed, no turnovers, kind of operated within
20:50
Speaker 7: the confines of what you wanted to do game plan
20:52
Speaker 7: wise and structure wise. How would you evaluate his performance today?
20:56
Speaker 5: Good? Good?
20:56
Speaker 13: Week one is no slouch, you know, especially playing defense.
21:01
Speaker 13: Really proud of the guys up front. You know, they
21:02
Speaker 13: really kept him clean. We had a three play stretch
21:04
Speaker 13: there at the end of the game that was not
21:06
Speaker 13: our best. All we're all accountable for that. But at
21:10
Speaker 13: the same time, I thought, over the course of the day,
21:12
Speaker 13: they gave us what we needed to be able to win,
21:15
Speaker 13: and we know offensively will improve him. Before that was
21:17
Speaker 13: not our best. We left a lot of meat on
21:19
Speaker 13: the bone. But again I'm more than happy to make
21:21
Speaker 13: those corrections coming out of a win.
21:23
Speaker 7: When you go against that type of a defensive unit
21:27
Speaker 7: where they have an unbelievable coach, they have a tremendous
21:29
Speaker 7: defensive coordinator, great position coaches, they're good teachers, and they
21:33
Speaker 7: have all their guys on the same page doing, you know,
21:36
Speaker 7: things exactly the way they're supposed to be done. That's
21:38
Speaker 7: a difficult way to start, isn't it.
21:40
Speaker 3: It's challenging.
21:41
Speaker 13: You had an experienced coordinator, experience defense, and again it
21:45
Speaker 13: starts as ninety five. You know, he had to count
21:47
Speaker 13: for him on every single play. He tries to find
21:49
Speaker 13: a way to wreck every run, every pass, run at him,
21:52
Speaker 13: run away from him, chip him, lick him, whatever you
21:55
Speaker 13: got to do. He's difficult, and he finds a way
21:58
Speaker 13: to affect the game at a key moment. And he
22:00
Speaker 13: did it today and we're fortunate that we were able
22:02
Speaker 13: to come some of that.
22:03
Speaker 7: Two of the best edge defensive guys in the National
22:06
Speaker 7: Football League, maybe in the history of the National Football
22:09
Speaker 7: League in Miles Garrett and Trea Hendrickson. Both of them,
22:12
Speaker 7: I thought put on a show. I mean, you know,
22:14
Speaker 7: they're not playing against each other, they're not lining up
22:16
Speaker 7: against each other. It's not that type of mono a
22:18
Speaker 7: mono battle.
22:20
Speaker 3: Bit man.
22:20
Speaker 7: They did a lot of things to help their football teams,
22:22
Speaker 7: didn't they.
22:22
Speaker 3: They sure did.
22:23
Speaker 13: And Trey again is a huge piece of what we're doing.
22:26
Speaker 13: Just his presidence out there and to be able to
22:28
Speaker 13: play with a lead at the end of the game
22:30
Speaker 13: allows him to do what he does best. You know,
22:32
Speaker 13: and Key got to throw at situations he's going to
22:35
Speaker 13: affect the passer, they got to account for him with
22:38
Speaker 13: somebody that can get down in the route. And so
22:40
Speaker 13: I was happy with what he gave us today.
22:42
Speaker 7: Coach, I thought you did an unbelievable job the way
22:45
Speaker 7: you handled training camp in that the physicality like we
22:48
Speaker 7: talked about. But with that said, you didn't overdo it.
22:51
Speaker 7: You didn't beat guys up, you didn't knock guys heads
22:53
Speaker 7: off and all that sort of thing. Everybody came into
22:56
Speaker 7: this football game all hands on deck. How big was that?
22:59
Speaker 5: Huge?
23:00
Speaker 13: You know where you needed everybody in this game. And
23:02
Speaker 13: so again proud of the way the guys have taken
23:04
Speaker 13: care of it, embraced it. They understand why we practiced
23:06
Speaker 13: the way we did. They understood when we were going
23:08
Speaker 13: to get them a chance to get their bodies back,
23:10
Speaker 13: and they came out and gave us their best effort.
23:12
Speaker 7: Evan McPherson, I mean, in a game where it came
23:15
Speaker 7: down to special teams, came down to kicking, Kevin McPherson
23:18
Speaker 7: stepped up for you.
23:19
Speaker 3: Didn't he he did?
23:20
Speaker 13: You know, Evan's had a great consistent camp and we
23:22
Speaker 13: got a lot of trust in him.
23:24
Speaker 1: Up next, the home opener is The Bengals open in
23:27
Speaker 1: Orange next Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also
23:31
Speaker 1: one to zero after beating Carolina twenty six to ten.
23:35
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider off the Bengals. Now time for
23:57
Speaker 1: the radio guys recap lap. I can't believe I'm about
24:01
Speaker 1: to say this, but the Bengals won on opening day
24:04
Speaker 1: in spite of their offense. The offense scored touchdowns on
24:08
Speaker 1: two of the first three drives. Really struggled after that,
24:12
Speaker 1: but defense and special teams turned out to be the difference.
24:15
Speaker 7: Absolutely, And the biggest difference was the pitiful performance of
24:21
Speaker 7: the kicker for the Cleveland Brown special teams.
24:23
Speaker 3: I mean, he left four points out.
24:25
Speaker 1: There for that's a Syracuse grad. Be kind Yeah, I know, really.
24:28
Speaker 3: Man, Let's go Orange. Well, let's go he did it
24:31
Speaker 3: for us.
24:32
Speaker 7: I love it, but man, that was a hard fought,
24:37
Speaker 7: very physical football game. I mean, both teams left it
24:40
Speaker 7: out there. They gave superlative effort. Everybody played every snap
24:44
Speaker 7: as hard as they possibly could. Nobody gave up on
24:47
Speaker 7: any snaps. It was a typical AFC North football game
24:55
Speaker 7: and had to play it on the road in Cleveland
24:57
Speaker 7: to open the season, so I mean there was some
25:00
Speaker 7: brutality to it. It was not pretty. In fact, it
25:03
Speaker 7: was brutally ugly. But I'll take a UW and ugly
25:08
Speaker 7: win anytime over a pl a pretty lost.
25:11
Speaker 1: Love a good u W. And to the Bengals, credit
25:15
Speaker 1: special team's great play at the end of the game
25:17
Speaker 1: to down the ball at the one and take eleven
25:20
Speaker 1: seconds off the clock. I mean, other than some penalties,
25:23
Speaker 1: they played mistake free football.
25:25
Speaker 7: They did, and Darren Simmons has to be excited about
25:28
Speaker 7: how they went out and performed. There were some new
25:31
Speaker 7: guys on his special teams units, there always are, but
25:35
Speaker 7: you know, I thought that the Bengals basically handled the
25:38
Speaker 7: field position part of it. They never put themselves in
25:41
Speaker 7: harm's way from a field position standpoint. And then Cleveland,
25:44
Speaker 7: you know, I mean they get the ball down on
25:46
Speaker 7: him at the one yard line. It was just a
25:49
Speaker 7: phenomenal effort to down that football. I mean, had total
25:52
Speaker 7: field awareness, knew exactly where he had to go to
25:55
Speaker 7: keep that ball out of the end zone.
25:56
Speaker 3: It was close.
25:58
Speaker 7: I mean he was kind of tight roping that tight
26:01
Speaker 7: roping that goal line a little bit. I mean, if
26:03
Speaker 7: you stepped on it, it would have been a two
26:06
Speaker 7: point play.
26:07
Speaker 3: But it worked out.
26:09
Speaker 7: And the Cincinnati Bengals, you know, are are winners in
26:13
Speaker 7: this football game, and honestly, then I think they're gonna
26:15
Speaker 7: win a lot of football games.
26:17
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about all the practices where the Bengals begin
26:20
Speaker 1: with these ball disruption drills like four stations where guys
26:24
Speaker 1: are punching it out and knocking up into the air,
26:26
Speaker 1: et cetera, all in hopes of winning the turnover battle. Well,
26:30
Speaker 1: they're up to zip to begin the season. Great reactions
26:33
Speaker 1: by Jordan Battle and DJ Turner to come up with
26:36
Speaker 1: those picks.
26:37
Speaker 7: Absolutely, I mean those were not, you know, easy picks.
26:42
Speaker 7: They had a lot of work to do there. First
26:43
Speaker 7: of all, their coverage was right on point, and that's
26:46
Speaker 7: the first thing that I think jumps out at me
26:50
Speaker 7: when I think about those plays and look forward to
26:52
Speaker 7: watching them. Again, I thought that their coverage was dynamic
26:55
Speaker 7: on those plays. And you know, if if a receivers
27:00
Speaker 7: going to tip the ball, you know, defensive backs or ballhawks, man,
27:04
Speaker 7: they're trained. They do all kinds of drills every single
27:08
Speaker 7: day on you know, if the ball's airborne, it's your ball,
27:10
Speaker 7: go up and get it. And the Bengals did that twice.
27:13
Speaker 7: And that's you know, you can say a lot of
27:15
Speaker 7: things about Joe in the game. It was not a
27:18
Speaker 7: pretty game for Joe. In fact, Joe probably would not
27:21
Speaker 7: say it's one of his better performances, obviously, but the
27:25
Speaker 7: biggest thing that Joe did was not put the ball
27:27
Speaker 7: in harm's way.
27:29
Speaker 3: He gave his team a chance.
27:30
Speaker 7: Every time they had the football, you know that they
27:32
Speaker 7: had a chance to do something with it because he
27:34
Speaker 7: wasn't giving it back to the Cleveland Browns right away.
27:37
Speaker 1: The offense was so sharp in training camp and in
27:39
Speaker 1: the preseason games, at least when the starters were out there.
27:43
Speaker 1: Did we more or less learn today that the Browns
27:45
Speaker 1: defense is back? Is that why the offense struggled to
27:49
Speaker 1: the extent that it did.
27:50
Speaker 3: I really believe that.
27:51
Speaker 7: I mean, I think Cleveland has the ability with the
27:55
Speaker 7: personnel that they have and the defensive coordinator they have,
28:00
Speaker 7: the scheme that he puts out there with those players.
28:03
Speaker 7: And in doing the post game show a Zach he said,
28:06
Speaker 7: believe me, they got plenty of players, and they got
28:09
Speaker 7: plenty of really good football players, and they can do
28:12
Speaker 7: a lot of things very well, and their coordinator puts
28:15
Speaker 7: them in good position to take advantage of their physical
28:18
Speaker 7: and mental skill sets. So uh that that was a
28:20
Speaker 7: good defensive football team. They may not face, you know,
28:24
Speaker 7: uh another defense as good as that Cleveland defense till
28:28
Speaker 7: they play the other AFC North teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers
28:32
Speaker 7: in the Baltimore Ravens. That's what this that's what this
28:35
Speaker 7: division is all about. That's why I think it's so
28:38
Speaker 7: encouraging to everybody in Bengal fans in particular, that the
28:41
Speaker 7: Bengals did so much to improve their defense and to
28:45
Speaker 7: you know, get get closer to what is going on
28:48
Speaker 7: in the the other cities in the AFC North on
28:51
Speaker 7: on that side of the football, and I think, uh,
28:54
Speaker 7: I think they got the right guy to put it
28:56
Speaker 7: all together. I'm very encouraged by what I've seen out
28:58
Speaker 7: of Al Golden.
29:00
Speaker 1: Give a hat tip to Duke Tobin in the personnel department,
29:03
Speaker 1: because after training camp began, they signed Noah Fan four
29:07
Speaker 1: catches in a touchdown today. They added Dalton Rise near late.
29:11
Speaker 1: He winds up playing most of the game at right guard.
29:13
Speaker 1: They picked up Mike Knell a week ago. Less than
29:16
Speaker 1: a week ago. He played a chunk of snaps today.
29:19
Speaker 1: So you usually don't think about guys added after the
29:22
Speaker 1: start of training camp being huge factors on opening Day,
29:25
Speaker 1: but they were.
29:27
Speaker 7: They were, and some of them, you know, right before
29:29
Speaker 7: the game. I mean literally had very little time to
29:32
Speaker 7: familiarize themselves, you know, with the scheme and their teammates,
29:36
Speaker 7: you know. And it hats off to the position coaches
29:40
Speaker 7: and coordinators that spent time with those guys getting them
29:42
Speaker 7: up to speed where they could go out there and
29:45
Speaker 7: handle business, you know, against a defense of this caliber
29:48
Speaker 7: up in Cleveland. I've seen a lot of AFC North
29:53
Speaker 7: games up here, and it's always tough letting this defense
29:57
Speaker 7: never bolds their tent. They never they never rolled over
30:01
Speaker 7: and played dead. I mean, they're gonna make you earn
30:04
Speaker 7: every center meter that you that you gain out there
30:07
Speaker 7: in the stat sheets. So I think that those guys,
30:10
Speaker 7: you know, made significant contributions, and and one of them inside.
30:14
Speaker 7: You know, we talked about the interior of the offensive
30:16
Speaker 7: line being a big key to success. I mean to
30:19
Speaker 7: go out there and play with I mean very little
30:23
Speaker 7: time to get familiar in acquainted with what was going on,
30:26
Speaker 7: that's a.
30:26
Speaker 3: That's a huge, huge plus.
30:29
Speaker 7: And you know, to work as efficiently as you did
30:33
Speaker 7: next to mems And and next to Ted Carris, that's
30:36
Speaker 7: that's big time. That's that's NFL football right there, and
30:39
Speaker 7: that's an NFL football player.
30:41
Speaker 1: I'm sure in you're playing days, there were games like
30:43
Speaker 1: this where the offense didn't play nearly as well as
30:46
Speaker 1: you anticipated, but the breaks went your way, the other
30:49
Speaker 1: team missed the field goal or an extra point. What's
30:52
Speaker 1: the emotion as an offensive player when you you sneak
30:55
Speaker 1: out of the stadium with a win like that?
30:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I've been in you know, many games
31:00
Speaker 7: over the years, NFL, college, high school, where you know,
31:04
Speaker 7: it's like you go into the locker room after the
31:06
Speaker 7: game and you know it didn't you didn't play all
31:08
Speaker 7: that great individually and as a unit, and you just
31:11
Speaker 7: go up to defensive players and you're hugging and you say, man, thanks,
31:15
Speaker 7: I appreciate your man for saving our hide, saving our tail,
31:18
Speaker 7: because you know, we didn't we didn't do what we
31:21
Speaker 7: thought we were going to do today.
31:22
Speaker 3: We had higher hopes, bigger.
31:23
Speaker 7: Aspirations than than the you know, than the the bad
31:28
Speaker 7: performance that we put out there today. So but the
31:31
Speaker 7: good news is, you know it'll the warm will turn
31:34
Speaker 7: the other way too, and the offense will you know,
31:37
Speaker 7: save the save the defense on more than one occasion.
31:40
Speaker 7: That's what good teams do. And in my mind, this
31:44
Speaker 7: is a good football team.
31:46
Speaker 1: Well here you go. They gave up sixteen and opening
31:48
Speaker 1: day last year and lost. They gave up sixteen and
31:50
Speaker 1: opening day this year, and what I love it?
31:53
Speaker 7: I love That's That's about as simple, you know, uh
31:56
Speaker 7: a statement as you can make. And and you know,
31:59
Speaker 7: I feel like defensively played winning football. Special teams played
32:03
Speaker 7: winning football. Offensively didn't play winning football, but you know,
32:08
Speaker 7: didn't do anything you know that was such a you know,
32:12
Speaker 7: a bad scenario that you put the defense in a
32:17
Speaker 7: situation that they couldn't crawl out of.
32:19
Speaker 3: So all in all, it's a win.
32:24
Speaker 7: What you want to do is you want to come
32:25
Speaker 7: up to Cleveland on opening Day, do your rival quiet
32:29
Speaker 7: the fans get a win. When we get on the bus,
32:33
Speaker 7: as we drive out of this stadium, they'll all be
32:35
Speaker 7: going nuts. I'm sure we'll see a lot of middle fingers.
32:37
Speaker 3: It will be fun. They'll all be real happy and excited.
32:41
Speaker 1: And as I have to say, you won by one, and
32:43
Speaker 1: now what that fingers.
32:45
Speaker 7: That's a good call, Dan, They'll be flipping us off
32:47
Speaker 7: like crazy. But you know it's everybody will be laughing
32:51
Speaker 7: and smiling in that in those buses.
32:53
Speaker 3: For sure.
32:54
Speaker 1: We remember when Cleveland was thought to be Joe Burrow's kryptonite.
32:58
Speaker 1: He lost his first four starts of his career against
33:00
Speaker 1: the Browns four and one since, so that narrative is
33:03
Speaker 1: long gone.
33:03
Speaker 7: It is, it's long gone, and you know, chuck up
33:07
Speaker 7: another one. Joe Burrow is a class act. Joe Burrow
33:11
Speaker 7: is a phenomenal football player. It means everything to him.
33:18
Speaker 7: His life is his football. You know, he's got a
33:22
Speaker 7: dad that was a successful coach at the collegiate level.
33:25
Speaker 7: I mean that family is all about the game of football,
33:28
Speaker 7: and I think it.
33:29
Speaker 3: Always will be.
33:30
Speaker 1: Could to be one and no, my man.
33:32
Speaker 3: Excellent, awesome to be one and oh again the man.
33:37
Speaker 1: Last time the Bengals started the season with a win.
33:40
Speaker 1: They finished the season in the Super Bowl. My first
33:44
Speaker 1: game is the Bengals radio announcer was also in Cleveland,
33:48
Speaker 1: a game that Cincinnati won on a fourth quarter touchdown
33:52
Speaker 1: pass from Bruce Gradkowski to the subject of this week's
33:57
Speaker 1: fun Fact segment. Time for some fun facts with one
34:01
Speaker 1: of the greatest players in Bengals history, aj Green. If
34:05
Speaker 1: a Bengals game is on, are you watching or does
34:09
Speaker 1: it depend on what you have going on in your
34:11
Speaker 1: regular life.
34:13
Speaker 3: I'm always watching at some point, you know what I mean.
34:16
Speaker 3: But uh yeah, most part I'm watching that all times.
34:19
Speaker 1: You played in ten games with Joe Burrow his rookie
34:22
Speaker 1: year year, last year in Cincinnati. A year later he
34:25
Speaker 1: was in the Super Bowl. What was different about Joe
34:29
Speaker 1: from just about anybody else you played with.
34:31
Speaker 3: I think his his leadership, not the aspect of him
34:36
Speaker 3: just talking so much, is more leading that example, And
34:39
Speaker 3: you want a quarterback who's the same guy every day,
34:43
Speaker 3: and I think that's what separates him from the other
34:46
Speaker 3: guys because you're gonna, you know what you're gonna get
34:48
Speaker 3: out of Joe every week. And to play that position,
34:52
Speaker 3: you have to be that low key. You can't be
34:53
Speaker 3: a guy that's gonna be ra ra ra rao doing
34:55
Speaker 3: a game because you have so much on your plate.
34:57
Speaker 3: So for him to keep everything leveled, that would make
35:00
Speaker 3: him so great.
35:02
Speaker 1: You are a lead by example guy. Sounds like a
35:04
Speaker 1: good match.
35:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was. This happened to be. I'm
35:08
Speaker 3: a little older, coming up a couple of injuries, but
35:12
Speaker 3: you know, I enjoyed my time playing with Joe and
35:14
Speaker 3: I knew from day one that he's gonna be one
35:15
Speaker 3: of the greatest that ever played this game. And never
35:18
Speaker 3: put on the Bengal jersey.
35:19
Speaker 1: You didn't overlap with Jamar. What do you like about
35:23
Speaker 1: his game and his approach?
35:25
Speaker 3: I think he just very confident and the play that position,
35:29
Speaker 3: you have to be very confident, and I think that's
35:31
Speaker 3: how he he's so great. He doesn't talk that much,
35:35
Speaker 3: but you can tell you know, he got he got
35:37
Speaker 3: it in him, you know what I mean. But his
35:40
Speaker 3: runs out the catch, he's just a playmaker, man. He's
35:44
Speaker 3: just a especially when he gets the ball in no
35:46
Speaker 3: balls in his hands, he can take it at any
35:48
Speaker 3: point at a time.
35:49
Speaker 1: So we're visiting with aj Green. Who do you have
35:53
Speaker 1: and why the twenty fifteen skill position group, yourself, Marvin Jones,
35:58
Speaker 1: Mohammed Sanu, Tyler, Riifert, Giovanni Bernard, Jeremy Hill or Jamar.
36:04
Speaker 3: Chase, T.
36:05
Speaker 1: Higgins, Mike Kasicki, Andre Yosi, vash Chase Brown, samajp.
36:09
Speaker 3: Ryn, Oh Man, that's tough. I think I'm taking us
36:14
Speaker 3: top to bottom. I think running back tight end, I
36:19
Speaker 3: think we had what me my omarv Yeah, if was
36:24
Speaker 3: a Pro Bowl tight end, uh Geo could do it all.
36:28
Speaker 3: I think I'm taking us.
36:30
Speaker 1: Hard to go wrong either way, that's for sure. We're
36:33
Speaker 1: having this conversation during the NFL Draft. What do you
36:36
Speaker 1: remember about the lead up to the twenty eleven draft,
36:40
Speaker 1: your contact of the Bengals and then all culminating with
36:43
Speaker 1: being the fourth pick overall.
36:44
Speaker 3: Oh, for me, I just remember having my whole family
36:46
Speaker 3: there just felt surreal, just because that's what you dream
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Speaker 3: of your whole whole life and there and then you're
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Speaker 3: there in that moment, this having my name called, it
36:57
Speaker 3: was like, oh my gosh, like at number four that
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Speaker 3: it was very special. That's a big mess. Probably probably
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Speaker 3: one of the best moment of my life.
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Speaker 1: You know, it was still back in New York then,
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Speaker 1: had you ever.
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Speaker 3: Been no no, haven't. That was my first time in
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Speaker 3: New York City. That's a lot. That was the first
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Speaker 3: time my family ever flew on a airplane, probably some
37:18
Speaker 3: of them. So it was just so real experiences to
37:22
Speaker 3: have everybody there that saw little Aj grow up into
37:26
Speaker 3: this this first round pick AJ.
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Speaker 1: Do you know what team you caught the most touchdown
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Speaker 1: passes against?
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Speaker 3: Most touchdowns? Ravens?
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Speaker 1: Ravens is correct, Yeah, okay, you caught nine against Baltimore.
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Speaker 1: John Harbaugh famously said, a couple of years into your career,
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Speaker 1: one of these days will figure out how to cover
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Speaker 1: Aj Green. What was it about the Ravens? Was it
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Speaker 1: how they covered you? Why did you dominate Baltimore so consistently?
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Speaker 3: I think we played each other so much, and the
38:01
Speaker 3: games are always tough, so it's like just a matter
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Speaker 3: who made the most plays. Is no out tricking anybody,
38:07
Speaker 3: so it's like me versus you a lot of the times.
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Speaker 3: So and they played a lot of man, they had
38:11
Speaker 3: a lot of great corners in there, so just got
38:14
Speaker 3: the best of them sometimes, so it was.
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Speaker 1: Good pretty frequently. Do you have a most memorable touchdown catch?
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Speaker 3: I think the playoff game Steelers, we should have won
38:25
Speaker 3: that that was our chance. That's probably probably one of
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Speaker 3: the best moments of my career, just seeing the fans
38:32
Speaker 3: and how close we were, just for pulling off that
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Speaker 3: that playoff win that we haven't had in there and
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Speaker 3: so long. So probably that that that touchdown.
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Speaker 1: Was so I hate to pick the scab, but we're
38:43
Speaker 1: going to go back. You catch that touchdown with one
38:46
Speaker 1: fifty to go, you've got a one point lead. On
38:49
Speaker 1: the very next play, Vontez comes up with the interception,
38:52
Speaker 1: So now it's basically a minute and a half to go.
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Speaker 1: You've got the ball and the lead. In your mind
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Speaker 1: is the drought over?
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Speaker 3: Oh, the game's over. We celebrating already before we even
39:01
Speaker 3: get to that locker room, like everybody's on the sideline
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Speaker 3: going crazy. And then the fumble happened, and then it
39:09
Speaker 3: kept getting worse. I kept gott it getting worse after that,
39:12
Speaker 3: And that's why the mostly disappointed time I in my
39:15
Speaker 3: player career, just coming back into the locker room doing that.
39:18
Speaker 3: We should have won that game.
39:20
Speaker 1: Let me bring up another touchdown. This might have been
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Speaker 1: the most memorable in the regular season. Lent less than
39:26
Speaker 1: ten seconds to go in Atlanta, I think seven seconds
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Speaker 1: to go you catch your touchdown pass from Andy and
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Speaker 1: what's become your hometown thirty seven thirty six win. Just
39:36
Speaker 1: a crazy game and a game winning TD with less
39:38
Speaker 1: than ten seconds to go.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that was That was another big one, especially being
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Speaker 3: in Atlanta, all the Georgia fans. I had a lot
39:45
Speaker 3: of family at that game and a lot of friends
39:47
Speaker 3: at that game. So I remember straining like a little
39:49
Speaker 3: bench route against cover two. I don't know what the
39:51
Speaker 3: corner was doing, and he just put the ball placed
39:53
Speaker 3: a great ball, and I slid and caught it.
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Speaker 1: So and Joe Mixon, who wasn't active, came flying down
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Speaker 1: the field to try to tackle you.
40:00
Speaker 3: I'm like, Joe, I thought you hurt. You're flying down there,
40:02
Speaker 3: almost knock me over. But that was a great game
40:05
Speaker 3: as well.
40:06
Speaker 1: Aj who is the toughest cornerback he faced the toughest
40:11
Speaker 1: Probably Patrick Peterson is the best corner I ever Well,
40:14
Speaker 1: him and Dora Reebs, dere Riz pat P and uh
40:19
Speaker 1: Joe Hayden.
40:21
Speaker 3: You know the my three top corners that I faced.
40:24
Speaker 3: Patrick Peterson was your draft Yeah yep, actually yeah, you
40:28
Speaker 3: just retired, and he's he'd be your first Battle Hall
40:31
Speaker 3: of the Famer for sure.
40:33
Speaker 1: You and Andy Dalton will always be linked. What don't
40:36
Speaker 1: people know or understand about Andy?
40:40
Speaker 3: I think how good he was. I think people really
40:45
Speaker 3: you don't appreciate how good he was at at at
40:49
Speaker 3: the time that he was starting. And you look around
40:51
Speaker 3: the lead it's only what six seven great quarterbacks, you
40:55
Speaker 3: know what I mean. But to have him the way
40:57
Speaker 3: the way we was consistently winning each and every year
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Speaker 3: nine wins, nine wins plus every year. I think he's
41:05
Speaker 3: very underrated and probably one of the smartest guy I've
41:08
Speaker 3: ever been around.
41:09
Speaker 1: And he's still playing and.
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Speaker 3: Still playing and speaks volume. Man if like I said,
41:15
Speaker 3: if you don't want to be a starter, to be
41:16
Speaker 3: a backup quarterback, and I'll take that job any day.
41:21
Speaker 1: They need that for wide receivers where you don't take
41:23
Speaker 1: care of.
41:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, right, you once you get over thirty, it's like,
41:26
Speaker 3: oh it's time, but you get out of here, buddy.
41:28
Speaker 3: But when you turn thirty in your quarterback like, hey,
41:30
Speaker 3: you can mentor this young guy. So but I'm happy
41:33
Speaker 3: for him. I talked to Andy. We talk all the time,
41:35
Speaker 3: and you know, I went to his game last year
41:38
Speaker 3: when he played the Bengal So it was fun. Like
41:40
Speaker 3: we can.
41:41
Speaker 1: We always talking, So who is your funniest teammate?
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Speaker 3: Andrew Hawkins? No hesitation, no hesitation, Like we just talked
41:49
Speaker 3: and he sent us a video and he was shooting
41:51
Speaker 3: a two B movie and I'm like, it's just a
41:53
Speaker 3: guy that he does everything like, So probably my fun
41:58
Speaker 3: like my best teammate and the funny.
42:01
Speaker 1: You were uber competitive. Anybody that accomplishes the things you
42:04
Speaker 1: accomplished has to be how do you get your competitive fix?
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Speaker 3: Now? Play a lot of golf and I think that's
42:12
Speaker 3: that gets me because I'm not very good at it,
42:14
Speaker 3: so it keeps me coming back each and every week.
42:17
Speaker 3: But I think I just moved to a new phase
42:19
Speaker 3: of my life just being now and just being a dad,
42:22
Speaker 3: and that's probably I get that same feeling, you know,
42:25
Speaker 3: especially when I see him playing well as well and
42:28
Speaker 3: just watching them. They smile on the face when they
42:30
Speaker 3: see me on the field or me coming to a game,
42:33
Speaker 3: or we have those conversations coming back from a baseball
42:36
Speaker 3: game when it's not so good and for him to
42:39
Speaker 3: be like I'm telling him is okay, you know you eight,
42:42
Speaker 3: You're gonna make mistakes. So just being a family man
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Speaker 3: and being a dad is probably the best joy in
42:47
Speaker 3: my life right now.
42:48
Speaker 1: Do you get nervous when you watch your boys play sports?
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Speaker 3: Of course I get the same feeling like I get
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Speaker 3: I used to get on Sundays and I'm not even playing,
42:55
Speaker 3: so but I don't show that to him. He's just
42:58
Speaker 3: out there having fun. But I definitely get nervous sometimes.
43:01
Speaker 1: Is there anything on your bucket list in retirement? A
43:04
Speaker 1: place you'd like to go, something you would like to
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Speaker 1: do or see.
43:07
Speaker 3: I've hit some of those those buckles that I went
43:10
Speaker 3: snowboarding for the first time last year, So the family
43:13
Speaker 3: and I we went to Aspens for uh a couple
43:16
Speaker 3: of days and got the snowboard and got the ski.
43:21
Speaker 3: So I do all the adventure stuff. Now, go give
43:23
Speaker 3: me another. I might give me an e bike, just
43:25
Speaker 3: fly around downtown and just a little things like that.
43:28
Speaker 1: Was that prohibited in your contract in your playing day,
43:30
Speaker 1: stuff like that?
43:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. And my wife wouldn't let me do that.
43:33
Speaker 3: She wasn't gonna let me do that when I was playing.
43:34
Speaker 3: So now that I'm not playing, I get to do.
43:37
Speaker 3: Brought me a snowboard, so we go each year, go
43:41
Speaker 3: and buy me an e bike, and I'm gonna go downtown,
43:43
Speaker 3: get the boards. We're gonna e bikes, We're gonna ride
43:45
Speaker 3: down the sidewalks and stuff like that.
43:47
Speaker 1: I'm imagining the Bengals fan that goes to a ski
43:50
Speaker 1: resort and suddenly sees aj Green on skis. That's gonna
43:53
Speaker 1: be quite the freak out moment.
43:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, I have all the masks on,
43:56
Speaker 3: so it's right. They don't see me. They don't see
43:58
Speaker 3: me falling all the time. They like, who's this guy?
44:00
Speaker 3: Who's this baby on the baby on the bunny slopes? Oh,
44:03
Speaker 3: just have a grown man over here.
44:06
Speaker 1: So I used to say your full name when you
44:08
Speaker 1: caught touchdown passes. Do people randomly say Adriel Jeremiah Green.
44:14
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah all the time, especially at the baseball fields now,
44:17
Speaker 3: so it's like they are like Adril Jeremiah at first space.
44:20
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, that's me.
44:23
Speaker 1: Final question, This one's kind of deep. If you could
44:26
Speaker 1: meet anybody in history, anybody living or deceased, who would
44:32
Speaker 1: that person be?
44:34
Speaker 3: For me? It's probably I think my brother at my
44:37
Speaker 3: stage of my life, because I had an older brother
44:39
Speaker 3: got killed in a car accident. I think that would
44:42
Speaker 3: be the person that I ad met because growing up together,
44:46
Speaker 3: you know, losing him at I was five, he was nine.
44:49
Speaker 3: Just to see how he would react to where I'm
44:52
Speaker 3: at today and what I've accomplished probably would have been
44:55
Speaker 3: something special.
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Speaker 1: He would have been very proud and thrilled, no doubt,
44:59
Speaker 1: as am I to a chance to visit with you again.
45:01
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Cincinnati. It's always so great to see you.
45:03
Speaker 1: Thanks for all the memories.
45:05
Speaker 3: Thanks Dan, thanks for having me.
45:07
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that visit with a great AJ
45:10
Speaker 1: Green as much as I did. That's going to do
45:13
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