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Bengals Booth Podcast: Go The Distance · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horne and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I Can Go the Distance addition,
0:13
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to end their season with a
0:15
Speaker 1: three game winning streak, beginning with a road win at
0:18
Speaker 1: Miami coming up, tight End Tanner Hudson tells us why
0:21
Speaker 1: he thinks it's important that the Bengals that is strong.
0:25
Speaker 1: Robert Weintraub from the FTN Football Almanac tells us what
0:29
Speaker 1: the Bengals need to do to be back in championship
0:31
Speaker 1: contention next year, and you'll hear a fun facts interview
0:35
Speaker 1: that has not been on the podcast this year as
0:37
Speaker 1: we get to know tight End No Offense. The Bengals
0:40
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud
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Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
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Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
1:00
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
1:02
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:06
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:10
Speaker 1: thing since a coffee Advent calendar. We've had some fun
1:16
Speaker 1: advent calendars in our house over the years, counting down
1:18
Speaker 1: the days to Christmas with such things as pieces of
1:22
Speaker 1: candy or when our sun was young, little Star Wars figures. Well,
1:26
Speaker 1: this year my wife got something called the Roasters Pack
1:29
Speaker 1: Coffee Advent Calendar. You get a small batch of premium
1:32
Speaker 1: coffee from different roasters every day, featuring light, medium, and
1:37
Speaker 1: dark roasts, along with a description of what you're drinking. Now,
1:41
Speaker 1: to be clear, I love my morning cup of coffee
1:44
Speaker 1: more than life itself, and this has been a fun adventure.
1:48
Speaker 1: So if you're a coffee drinker and would like a
1:51
Speaker 1: caffeinated Christmas next year, search for the Roasters Pack Advent Calendar.
1:56
Speaker 1: It's a fun way to start the day during the holiday. Now,
2:01
Speaker 1: let's get to football. When Joe Burrow expressed frustration last
2:05
Speaker 1: week over the way this season has gone for himself
2:07
Speaker 1: and the team, and his desire for it to be
2:10
Speaker 1: fun again, it sent the national media into the usual
2:13
Speaker 1: anti Bengals feeding frenzy you'll recall before the draft in
2:17
Speaker 1: twenty twenty there was rampant speculation, treated as if it
2:21
Speaker 1: were fact that Joe would refuse to play in Cincinnati.
2:26
Speaker 1: And no matter how many times he talks about how
2:28
Speaker 1: much he enjoys it here or how much he likes
2:31
Speaker 1: and respects the coaching staff, some people jump at any
2:34
Speaker 1: opportunity to express their opinion that he's unhappy here, again,
2:40
Speaker 1: often treating their opinion as fact. Joe's not unhappy here.
2:46
Speaker 1: He's unhappy losing. So is Mike Brown and Zach Taylor
2:51
Speaker 1: and Duke Tobin and you and me. Losing sucks. But
2:56
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and t Higgins are signed for
2:59
Speaker 1: the next seasons. And if we know anything about the NFL,
3:03
Speaker 1: quick turnarounds happen every year, especially if you have a
3:08
Speaker 1: great quarterback. The Bengals won six games in nineteen eighty
3:12
Speaker 1: and went to the Super Bowl the following year. They
3:15
Speaker 1: won four games in eighty seven and went to the
3:18
Speaker 1: Super Bowl in eighty eight. They won four again in
3:21
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and well, you know what happened in twenty
3:25
Speaker 1: twenty one. Here are Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow.
3:30
Speaker 2: I'm confident that we're going to make the best decisions
3:31
Speaker 2: for the organization. It's I got a ton of belief
3:34
Speaker 2: in our coaching staff, our scouting department, our ownership that
3:38
Speaker 2: we are very much in alignment with every decision we've
3:40
Speaker 2: ever made here, and so again, when things haven't been
3:43
Speaker 2: good enough over the course of this season, there's really
3:45
Speaker 2: no one to blame other than me, truthfully, and so
3:47
Speaker 2: I know we all play a piece of this, but
3:50
Speaker 2: I'm the guy to get to sit there and talk
3:51
Speaker 2: to the team every single week and present plans and
3:53
Speaker 2: make in game decisions, and so frustrating that I haven't
3:57
Speaker 2: done any job this year, but of confidence, and maybe
4:01
Speaker 2: it rings hollow to everyone listening, but I know that
4:04
Speaker 2: we've been here before and I've seen how we can
4:05
Speaker 2: get out the other side. I'm very confident we're gonna
4:07
Speaker 2: get the next I think.
4:08
Speaker 3: We have great coaches. I think we're consistently put in
4:12
Speaker 3: good positions to make plays and do our best. Obviously,
4:16
Speaker 3: those good games and bad games, just like players have
4:19
Speaker 3: good games in bad games. But I have a lot
4:20
Speaker 3: of confidence and everybody that's putting together the plans for
4:25
Speaker 3: us week in and week out. That's not to say
4:27
Speaker 3: that changes don't need to be made, not saying personnel
4:31
Speaker 3: or people.
4:32
Speaker 4: I'm just saying, you know.
4:34
Speaker 3: What we've been doing hasn't worked the last couple of years,
4:37
Speaker 3: So you know, we have to think outside the box
4:39
Speaker 3: and get creative about where we go from here.
4:41
Speaker 2: All we want to do is win and bring championships
4:43
Speaker 2: here to Cincinnati, and we'll do whatever it takes to
4:46
Speaker 2: put it specific words on how that's going to look.
4:48
Speaker 2: That's all for us behind the scenes to work through
4:50
Speaker 2: it and make sure we do all that. But I
4:53
Speaker 2: have absolute confidence that we have the right people and
4:55
Speaker 2: the right setups to make this happen because we've proven
4:58
Speaker 2: it and we'll prove it again.
4:59
Speaker 3: We haven't been where we want to be the last
5:02
Speaker 3: three years. A big part of that is degrees. On
5:06
Speaker 3: my end, I've played one full season. I've played four
5:09
Speaker 3: games this year. It's hard to make an impact on
5:12
Speaker 3: a season when you play four games, So that's an emphasis. Obviously,
5:20
Speaker 3: you need to figure out a way to be available
5:23
Speaker 3: for everybody here, and so as far as what I
5:26
Speaker 3: can control, that's something that is on top of mind
5:30
Speaker 3: for me.
5:31
Speaker 1: The Bengals best players on offense are all under contract
5:34
Speaker 1: for next year. It's the defense that needs reinforcements. The
5:38
Speaker 1: Bengals are in good salary cap shape and haven't traded
5:41
Speaker 1: away any high draft picks, so they have resources. There's
5:46
Speaker 1: no reason why this team can't be right back in
5:48
Speaker 1: the hunt next year. Now for more on the Bengals
5:52
Speaker 1: present and future, I caught up this week with my
5:56
Speaker 1: friend Robert Wintrob, who writes about the Bengals for Cincinnati
5:59
Speaker 1: Magazine and the FTN Football Almanac. All right, Robert, from
6:05
Speaker 1: an analytical standpoint, what are some of the biggest things
6:08
Speaker 1: that have gone wrong for the Bengals in twenty twenty five.
6:11
Speaker 5: Well, I don't think you need to be an analytical
6:14
Speaker 5: nerd to know the big issues with the team this year.
6:17
Speaker 5: Where the fact that Joe Burrow didn't play for the
6:20
Speaker 5: large majority of the season, and the defense went from
6:24
Speaker 5: merely bad in twenty twenty four to historically bad for
6:29
Speaker 5: most of twenty twenty five. And you know, it's hard
6:32
Speaker 5: to win games, as you can probably understand, when you
6:35
Speaker 5: don't have your franchise quarterback playing and your defense can't
6:38
Speaker 5: stop anybody.
6:38
Speaker 6: So you know, there's a handful of slightly less.
6:44
Speaker 5: Important things that we can look at from an analytical standpoint,
6:47
Speaker 5: but really those are the two big things and they
6:50
Speaker 5: were just impossible to overcome for Cincinnati this season, Robert.
6:53
Speaker 1: The defense has gotten somewhat better, how much and in
6:57
Speaker 1: what areas.
6:59
Speaker 5: We've seen kind of bright spots Individually, I think over
7:02
Speaker 5: the last three or four weeks. DJ Turner has really
7:05
Speaker 5: played great all season. He's the lone island in an
7:09
Speaker 5: otherwise ocean of despair on that side of the ball.
7:13
Speaker 5: And you've seen guys like Demetrius and I I think
7:15
Speaker 5: had his best game as a pro thus far against Baltimore.
7:20
Speaker 5: Miles Murphy's had a nice little month along stretch now
7:22
Speaker 5: of play, and it's important to see progress, and especially
7:26
Speaker 5: young guys. When you have so many young players on
7:29
Speaker 5: the side of the ball, you know, it's difficult because
7:32
Speaker 5: you're asking them all to sort of come of age
7:34
Speaker 5: together and that rarely happens in the NFL. So, you know,
7:38
Speaker 5: the more individual success stories you can have, that only
7:42
Speaker 5: can give you something to build off for the rest
7:45
Speaker 5: of the season and then going into twenty twenty six. Overall,
7:48
Speaker 5: those we've seen in the last couple of games, though,
7:50
Speaker 5: they still struggle to stop teams, you know, unless they
7:54
Speaker 5: force turnovers, and that's really the key element when they've
7:56
Speaker 5: won games this season, it's because they got the ball
8:00
Speaker 5: from takeaways and when they don't do that. And that's
8:02
Speaker 5: not just Cincinnati, that's a lot of teams, but it
8:06
Speaker 5: really was exacerbated this season by the bengals inefficiency to
8:09
Speaker 5: stop teams, you know, in just sort of down to
8:12
Speaker 5: down situations unless they took the ball away.
8:14
Speaker 6: That's what they'll have to really concentrate on going forward
8:16
Speaker 6: and into next season, for sure.
8:19
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is not happy with his own play last week,
8:22
Speaker 1: but I'd have to say overall, his first three games
8:24
Speaker 1: back have been pretty remarkable. What's impressed you most about
8:28
Speaker 1: his comeback after missing two and a half months.
8:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, just that really it's the fact that he's
8:33
Speaker 5: come back, came back at all, and came back for
8:36
Speaker 5: the most part as the same old Joe Burrow. You know,
8:39
Speaker 5: he you know, I think part of the sort of
8:42
Speaker 5: existential crisis I guess he'd say he's had over the
8:45
Speaker 5: last week when he talked about it, and also from
8:49
Speaker 5: his play on Sunday, was a large part relay to
8:51
Speaker 5: the fact that he you know, he came back so
8:54
Speaker 5: quickly and thought it was so important even though he's
8:56
Speaker 5: talked about in the past.
8:58
Speaker 6: You know, he came back too quickly.
8:59
Speaker 5: Maybe he has to learn as a player to maybe
9:03
Speaker 5: take a step back and see the big picture. But
9:05
Speaker 5: he didn't do that, and he came back and seemed
9:08
Speaker 5: to be, at least for one game, the savior that
9:10
Speaker 5: we were all looking for.
9:11
Speaker 6: And the fact that it, you know, just didn't work
9:14
Speaker 6: out over.
9:14
Speaker 5: The last couple of weeks, I think, really you got
9:17
Speaker 5: him to a place where he hasn't really been before
9:19
Speaker 5: in his NFL career thus far, and that's obviously unfortunate.
9:23
Speaker 5: I think he needs a real kind of mojo reset
9:26
Speaker 5: almost and you know that's why you'll see him, I think,
9:30
Speaker 5: play out the season, even though it's you know, ordinarily
9:33
Speaker 5: you'd say to yourself, the risk versus reward is really
9:37
Speaker 5: not worth it, you know, if the game's not meaning anything,
9:40
Speaker 5: all you're doing is worsening your draft position by winning
9:43
Speaker 5: those games, right, But I think in this situation, it's different.
9:45
Speaker 5: I think Barow needs to realize he came back for
9:48
Speaker 5: a reason.
9:48
Speaker 6: He's still the guy. You know, we've talked about it before.
9:52
Speaker 5: I've always called him at LISS he is the weight
9:54
Speaker 5: of the franchise. In a lot of ways the city
9:56
Speaker 5: on his shoulders, and you know, for the first time
10:00
Speaker 5: that weight seems to have gotten to him a little bit.
10:03
Speaker 5: So I think in this case it might be important
10:06
Speaker 5: for him to play out and show he's still the same.
10:08
Speaker 6: Old Joe Burrow and you know, win games.
10:11
Speaker 5: There's not generally a connection between winning games at the
10:14
Speaker 5: end of the season and how you do the following season,
10:17
Speaker 5: but I think internally there's definitely a need for, you know,
10:20
Speaker 5: to cleanse the palette, if you will, a little bit,
10:22
Speaker 5: and to come out victorious and show that this was
10:26
Speaker 5: just a little hiccup and the fact that you know, Burrow,
10:29
Speaker 5: maybe you know, had this momentary bout of crisis mode,
10:34
Speaker 5: was just a blip and he'll be the same old
10:36
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow going into next season.
10:38
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Robert Weintraub from the FTN Football Almanac
10:42
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati Magazine. Should we be encouraged by the play
10:46
Speaker 1: of the offensive line?
10:48
Speaker 6: Sure?
10:48
Speaker 5: I mean, why not in the season where a lot
10:50
Speaker 5: of things have gone wrong, that's one that whereas in
10:54
Speaker 5: past seasons it's gone very wrong, this year, he can't
10:56
Speaker 5: really point to it as being a detriment. Maybe not
10:59
Speaker 5: a top five in the league by any stretch. But
11:01
Speaker 5: they've played well. Anytime you start a rookie at one
11:04
Speaker 5: of the five positions and he not only keeps his
11:07
Speaker 5: head above water but actually plays well in Dylan fairschild
11:10
Speaker 5: at left guard, that's.
11:12
Speaker 6: A success story.
11:14
Speaker 5: Marius Mims taking the next step forward playing well and
11:18
Speaker 5: not being injured and actually playing for the most part
11:21
Speaker 5: of full season was a huge success story in his development.
11:25
Speaker 5: And importantly, obviously they're going to have to devote a
11:28
Speaker 5: lot of resources again to the defensive side of the
11:31
Speaker 5: ball in the off season. That would look different if
11:33
Speaker 5: you were going into this year having to also devote
11:37
Speaker 5: resources to trying to fix several positions on the offensive line.
11:40
Speaker 5: I think they've stabilized that unit at least for the
11:42
Speaker 5: time being. They certainly looked to maybe making changes going
11:46
Speaker 5: down the line with some of the veterans, maybe at
11:49
Speaker 5: center and at left tackle, but I think they feel
11:51
Speaker 5: comfortable going into at least twenty twenty six that they're
11:54
Speaker 5: in decent shape on the offensive line and it's not
11:57
Speaker 5: holding the team back as it had in a lot
11:58
Speaker 5: of ways. Really the entirety of burrows career to this point.
12:03
Speaker 1: The Bengals unfortunately are going to miss the playoffs. The
12:06
Speaker 1: Chiefs are going to miss the playoffs. The Ravens have
12:09
Speaker 1: about a one to three chance of making it at
12:11
Speaker 1: this point. What do you make of the AFC in
12:15
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.
12:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, a great man once said, chaos is a letder right.
12:21
Speaker 5: I think it might have been from a TV show
12:23
Speaker 5: actually even not a great fan.
12:24
Speaker 6: But still that's basically the thrust of this year.
12:29
Speaker 5: You know, a lot of it tied to the quarterback health,
12:31
Speaker 5: certainly in Cincinnati and in Baltimore. Kansas City obviously just
12:36
Speaker 5: had a season from hell in a lot of ways, and.
12:38
Speaker 6: Maybe they were overdue for that.
12:40
Speaker 5: So I think, you know, that's not a huge surprise,
12:42
Speaker 5: but you know, it's just one of those years you
12:45
Speaker 5: get them from time to time. You see teams that
12:48
Speaker 5: are you know, on the drag old side and not
12:51
Speaker 5: expected much, but they have soft schedules and they come
12:54
Speaker 5: together at you know, the kind of all coalesces, whether
12:58
Speaker 5: it's coaching or quarterback play, as we see in Denver
13:00
Speaker 5: and New England specifically this year. You know, there's still
13:05
Speaker 5: the chance for the old guard in Buffalo to make
13:08
Speaker 5: a run and you know kind of put an end
13:10
Speaker 5: to the chaotic nature of the AFC this season, I
13:12
Speaker 5: guess he'd say, but you know, we've seen it, and
13:15
Speaker 5: in a lot of ways, I think in a lot
13:16
Speaker 5: of fans Mines probably not in Cincinnati, but a lot
13:19
Speaker 5: of fans around the country are thinking, it's good, let's
13:21
Speaker 5: get some new blood in there. Something different happening other
13:24
Speaker 5: than the you know, the Burrows, the Jackson's and the
13:27
Speaker 5: and the Mahomes leading their team deep in the playoffs
13:30
Speaker 5: every single year this decade.
13:31
Speaker 6: So you know, overall, it's probably a good thing, But
13:34
Speaker 6: we don't.
13:34
Speaker 5: Really necessarily feel that way because with the season with
13:37
Speaker 5: such chaos, the door was wide open for the Bengals
13:40
Speaker 5: to be right there at the end, and it just
13:41
Speaker 5: didn't happen for the reasons we've talked about before.
13:44
Speaker 1: Up next the six and eight Dolphins, and as we
13:47
Speaker 1: have this conversation, they might be making a change at
13:49
Speaker 1: quarterback to a Toungo. Volo performed poorly on Monday night
13:53
Speaker 1: and I lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. What are some
13:55
Speaker 1: keys to coming away with a win this Sunday in Miami.
13:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, as you mentioned, it looks like Quinnviewers, the rookie
14:01
Speaker 5: will get the start. You know, he's obviously doesn't how
14:05
Speaker 5: much Pedigree wasn't a high draft pick, had kind of
14:07
Speaker 5: a middling college career, but at one point he was
14:10
Speaker 5: the number one overall recruit coming out of high school.
14:13
Speaker 5: He's got a lot of physical talent, and you know,
14:16
Speaker 5: the Bengals do have a history of making rookies and
14:18
Speaker 5: backups look like all pros for one brief Sunday before
14:22
Speaker 5: they return to their natural level, so obviously over confidence
14:25
Speaker 5: in that sense will be something the Bengals will need
14:27
Speaker 5: to avoid. There's a potential mismatch in terms of Miami's
14:32
Speaker 5: running game, which has been solid this season top six
14:35
Speaker 5: in terms of efficiency overall despite Monday Night's game, And
14:40
Speaker 5: obviously the Bengals have a bottom three rush defense, so
14:44
Speaker 5: you know they'll at the same time not want to
14:46
Speaker 5: give youers any opportunity to beat them downfield, and they'll
14:49
Speaker 5: feel more comfortable about devoting more players into the box
14:53
Speaker 5: and shutting down that Miami running game. If you can
14:55
Speaker 5: do that, you go a long way toward beating them,
14:59
Speaker 5: and it'll be interesting. See both Miami and Cincinnati kind
15:01
Speaker 5: of felt the effects of the deep freeze. I felt
15:04
Speaker 5: like last week had nothing new for Miami. Certainly for
15:07
Speaker 5: Cincinnati it was. And now they turn around and play
15:10
Speaker 5: in the high heat and humidity of South Beach, So
15:13
Speaker 5: you know, you wonder if everything will break free and
15:15
Speaker 5: the players will feel liberated.
15:16
Speaker 6: By that temperature change and we'll see a shootout. That'd
15:19
Speaker 6: be interesting.
15:20
Speaker 5: And as I said before, obviously the Bengals are looking
15:22
Speaker 5: to erase the you know, the I feel like the
15:25
Speaker 5: Buffalo defeat and the way that happened really lingered into
15:29
Speaker 5: Sunday against Baltimore. There's no question that they were just
15:33
Speaker 5: not mentally there for the game. They're going to want
15:34
Speaker 5: to erase that. In the NFL, teams that you know,
15:38
Speaker 5: put on a performance like the Bengals did last week
15:40
Speaker 5: tend to erase that the following week.
15:42
Speaker 6: These are all professionals, and I think the Bengals.
15:44
Speaker 5: Will be certainly looking to be doing that and show
15:48
Speaker 5: that's not who they really are on Sunday against Miami.
15:50
Speaker 1: Robert I want to reach out a year from now
15:52
Speaker 1: to record one of these interviews and we'll be talking
15:55
Speaker 1: about playoff seeding and the possibility of benching stars in
16:00
Speaker 1: the final game of the regular season, because the Bengals
16:02
Speaker 1: are on the verge of clinching the AFC North. What
16:06
Speaker 1: are some of the things that they should do in
16:08
Speaker 1: the offseason to get back to that position.
16:11
Speaker 5: Well, I mean they have to figure out from an
16:13
Speaker 5: organizational standpoint, first and foremost, assuming that you know, all
16:17
Speaker 5: the personnel doesn't change, what are the procedural changes that
16:21
Speaker 5: haven't worked over these last three years. I mean, obviously
16:24
Speaker 5: the main thing is that Burrow has been injured, and
16:27
Speaker 5: you know, in a lot of ways, that's just the
16:29
Speaker 5: nature of the league to a point, and it's a
16:31
Speaker 5: bit of a freak occurrence. You know, they can't it
16:35
Speaker 5: can't prepare against it. But also you have to be
16:37
Speaker 5: in a situation where you can withstand it if it's
16:40
Speaker 5: not a season long thing. And obviously that begins and
16:44
Speaker 5: ends with improvements on the defensive side of the ball.
16:47
Speaker 5: I think it's been proven that no matter how great
16:49
Speaker 5: the offense is, no matter how many resources you devote
16:52
Speaker 5: to that side of the ball, it's just impossible to
16:55
Speaker 5: go forward winning thirty five thirty four shoot us week
16:58
Speaker 5: in and week out.
16:58
Speaker 4: In the NFL.
16:59
Speaker 5: You have to be able to, you know, as we
17:01
Speaker 5: talked about before, not have Joe Burrow b Atlas every
17:05
Speaker 5: single week not have so much rest on his plate.
17:08
Speaker 5: You know, the key to the Super Bowl run and
17:10
Speaker 5: even in twenty twenty two is the fact that they
17:12
Speaker 5: were so much more of a balanced team and Burrow
17:16
Speaker 5: was heroic when he had to be, of course, and
17:18
Speaker 5: did so many great things, but also could rely on
17:22
Speaker 5: on a defense and the special teams that could win
17:24
Speaker 5: games for them if they needed to. And you know,
17:27
Speaker 5: they've gotten away from that the last three seasons, not
17:30
Speaker 5: as a strategy, but just because of the way things
17:32
Speaker 5: have played out, and you know, they just really have to,
17:36
Speaker 5: you know, kind of look at themselves in the mirror.
17:38
Speaker 6: As we said, it can kind of do a reset
17:41
Speaker 6: from an.
17:41
Speaker 5: Overall franchise kind of how do we want to proceed
17:44
Speaker 5: forward now that we're paying so much money to you know,
17:48
Speaker 5: kind of the big three on offense. How are we
17:50
Speaker 5: going to be able to build the rest of the
17:52
Speaker 5: team so that we can be competitive and not and
17:56
Speaker 5: not waste those salaries that were paying to Burrow and
17:59
Speaker 5: Jamar Chase and t Higgins and and you know, there's
18:02
Speaker 5: no reason why if those guys remain healthy, we can
18:05
Speaker 5: still win games offensively.
18:06
Speaker 6: But they just have to find a way that they
18:08
Speaker 6: can win games.
18:09
Speaker 5: And other ways besides, you know, just scoring thirty thirty
18:13
Speaker 5: five points every week.
18:14
Speaker 6: It's just not sustainable.
18:15
Speaker 1: Robert Wintrob writes about the Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine and
18:19
Speaker 1: the FTN Football Almanac. He is also on a quest
18:23
Speaker 1: to write about the top one thousand sporting events to
18:26
Speaker 1: take place in the New York City area. Where are
18:30
Speaker 1: we in the NYC one thousand?
18:33
Speaker 6: Boy?
18:33
Speaker 5: Oh boy, We're at about the six hundred and seventy
18:36
Speaker 5: five marks somewhere in there. Still long, long way. The journey,
18:41
Speaker 5: as you know, of a thousand miles, begins with a
18:43
Speaker 5: single step. I'm well into that particular process, but there's
18:48
Speaker 5: a lot of great stuff ahead. I would need to
18:50
Speaker 5: thank you for being not just a devoted reader, but
18:52
Speaker 5: a constant promoter of my insane side projects. I have
18:57
Speaker 5: a second one if I can give a quick plug
18:59
Speaker 5: for that there key book that I put.
19:02
Speaker 6: Out there called The Max Mercy Reader. Quickly.
19:05
Speaker 5: The conceit of that is that you have the sports
19:08
Speaker 5: writer from the movie The Natural Max Mercy, played by
19:11
Speaker 5: Robert Duvall, essentially covering all sports throughout sports movie history.
19:17
Speaker 5: So he writes about Rocky Balboa and about various other
19:22
Speaker 5: Johnny Utah from point break and on down the line
19:26
Speaker 5: in various ways.
19:27
Speaker 6: It's a goof.
19:28
Speaker 5: It's a crazy little thing, but highly enjoyable to those
19:32
Speaker 5: of you out there who like sports and sports movies,
19:35
Speaker 5: which I would assume would be most people listening and
19:37
Speaker 5: watching at the moment. So if you want a little
19:40
Speaker 5: lin Yap on your Christmas gift list, I would highly recommend.
19:43
Speaker 5: It's just two ninety nine on Amazon. The Max Mercy
19:47
Speaker 5: Reader available now. Thanks so much for letting me promote.
19:49
Speaker 1: That, Robert, appreciate your time as always. Happy holidays and
19:54
Speaker 1: go Bengals in the final three games of the year.
19:57
Speaker 5: Two things I often say at this time year, not
20:00
Speaker 5: necessarily in that order. Go Bengals and happy holidays to you,
20:04
Speaker 5: Dan and to everybody out there.
20:05
Speaker 6: Thanks so much.
20:07
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
20:09
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
20:12
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
20:19
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
20:22
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. In Joe
20:26
Speaker 1: Burrow's first two games back, the Bengals scored thirty two
20:29
Speaker 1: points at Baltimore and thirty four at Buffalo, so it
20:33
Speaker 1: was hard to believe it when they got shut out
20:35
Speaker 1: last week at home by the Ravens. Tanner Hudson had
20:39
Speaker 1: three catches in the loss, and I spoke to the
20:41
Speaker 1: thirty one year old tight end this week about trying
20:44
Speaker 1: to bounce back against the Dolphins on Sunday, Tanner. Prior
20:49
Speaker 1: to last week, the offensive scored thirty plus in five
20:53
Speaker 1: of the previous seven games. How shocking was it to
20:56
Speaker 1: have a game where you guys got shut out?
20:58
Speaker 7: Yeah?
20:58
Speaker 8: I mean anytime you get shut out out, uh, in
21:01
Speaker 8: a big game like that, you definitely go back to
21:05
Speaker 8: the drawing board a little bit kind of see what
21:07
Speaker 8: went what went wrong, uh, and where it went wrong.
21:12
Speaker 8: So yeah, I think I think for all those guys,
21:14
Speaker 8: especially with the talent that we have in the room,
21:16
Speaker 8: putting up zero points, it's just it's unacceptable for us.
21:19
Speaker 1: We learned after the fact that Joe Burrow addressed you
21:22
Speaker 1: guys in the locker room after the game. You've been
21:24
Speaker 1: his teammate for three years. Did you see a different
21:26
Speaker 1: side of him, and what was your reaction.
21:28
Speaker 8: I think that's just Joe, you know, being accountable. He's
21:31
Speaker 8: a realistic person. He he understands the game. He understands
21:35
Speaker 8: his ability and our ability. So I think that's just
21:38
Speaker 8: that's just him. I think that's just uh, like I said,
21:41
Speaker 8: that's just him being honest with himself. And if that's
21:44
Speaker 8: how he feels, and that's how he feels, and uh,
21:46
Speaker 8: you know, kudos for him for for sharing that with us,
21:49
Speaker 8: and you know we're we're always gonna have his back.
21:51
Speaker 8: I still believe he's the best quarterback in the league.
21:54
Speaker 8: So I mean, as long as he plays with that confidence,
21:56
Speaker 8: I think I think will be just fun.
21:58
Speaker 1: What did he show you by coming at several weeks
22:01
Speaker 1: ahead of schedule.
22:02
Speaker 8: It's just dedication to his craft, to his game, to us,
22:06
Speaker 8: to this, to this organization. I think I think it
22:09
Speaker 8: just shows the the love of the game that he loved,
22:12
Speaker 8: for the game that he has and you know how
22:16
Speaker 8: much it really means to him, and yeah, just just
22:19
Speaker 8: him wanted to get back like that.
22:21
Speaker 7: It showed a lot of character.
22:22
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Tanner Hudson. You won a Super Bowl
22:25
Speaker 1: ring with Tampa Bay. You've been on some really good
22:27
Speaker 1: teams in your NFL career. How difficult has this season
22:31
Speaker 1: been for you personally?
22:33
Speaker 8: As my whole career has went on. I just take
22:35
Speaker 8: it year by year, which is, you know what I've
22:37
Speaker 8: had to do, uh in my career. So yeah, just
22:41
Speaker 8: just going through a year. Obviously, we've had our ups
22:43
Speaker 8: and downs. Anytime anyone loses their starting quarterback, much less
22:48
Speaker 8: a number number one quarterback in the league, you know
22:51
Speaker 8: you're gonna have your struggles. So yeah, I think it's
22:55
Speaker 8: all of us just kind of taking accountability for what's
22:57
Speaker 8: happened and trying to press forward. And yeah, I mean
23:00
Speaker 8: it's it's definitely been an up and down year, but uh,
23:03
Speaker 8: just looking at the big picture, you just got to
23:05
Speaker 8: try to keep getting better every day, try to fix
23:08
Speaker 8: your flaws, and you know, go out there and put
23:10
Speaker 8: your best foot forward.
23:11
Speaker 1: One of the good moments was on Thanksgiving night when
23:14
Speaker 1: you made your one handed touchdown catch in Baltimore. More
23:18
Speaker 1: than twenty eight million people watch that game on TV.
23:22
Speaker 1: What was the response like for you over the next
23:24
Speaker 1: day or two.
23:25
Speaker 4: That was awesome.
23:26
Speaker 8: I Mean, I you know, got so much encouragement, so
23:30
Speaker 8: much you know, great job. Proud of you and a
23:35
Speaker 8: lot of it from my hometown just because you know
23:37
Speaker 8: they they mean so much to me, and I hope
23:41
Speaker 8: I mean a.
23:41
Speaker 7: Lot to them.
23:42
Speaker 8: And I try to try to set a good standard
23:45
Speaker 8: and a good be a have good character out there
23:48
Speaker 8: and represent for for my hometown and to be out
23:51
Speaker 8: there and you know, have that moment on Thanksgiving, no
23:54
Speaker 8: one everyone's watching it, It meant a lot.
23:58
Speaker 1: Did you get some turn duckin?
24:01
Speaker 7: Yeah, I got a leg.
24:02
Speaker 4: I think.
24:04
Speaker 7: It was actually pretty good.
24:05
Speaker 1: I got a lot, So Tanner. The Bengals tight ends
24:09
Speaker 1: as a group have eighty catches and that's despite the
24:12
Speaker 1: fact that Mikeasicky was out for several weeks due to injury.
24:15
Speaker 1: What are you guys proud of? As a position group?
24:19
Speaker 8: This tight end room is very special, I think just
24:22
Speaker 8: because we are a bunch of older, older guys, Cam
24:27
Speaker 8: being the youngest obviously, but so and kudos to James
24:32
Speaker 8: for how he runs his meetings and how he runs
24:35
Speaker 8: coaching us. Nobody wants to do nobody wants to go
24:40
Speaker 8: out there and play bad, and he understands that, and
24:43
Speaker 8: he understands that if we do mess up, we're more
24:46
Speaker 8: mad at ourselves than he could ever be at us.
24:49
Speaker 8: So yeah, this room, you know, we're very unselfish. Everybody
24:54
Speaker 8: wants everybody to make the play. We all want to
24:57
Speaker 8: be in there to make the play, but we're we're
24:59
Speaker 8: very proud of you each other when.
25:00
Speaker 7: One of us does.
25:01
Speaker 8: And yeah, I think it's it's been one of the
25:04
Speaker 8: best best rooms I've been a part of, especially talent
25:06
Speaker 8: wise too.
25:07
Speaker 1: If anybody doesn't know who James is, that your position
25:10
Speaker 1: group coach James Casey, who I say is like the
25:13
Speaker 1: most interesting man in the world. It's a minor league
25:16
Speaker 1: baseball pitcher for three years that didn't work out, went
25:19
Speaker 1: back to college, eventually wound up playing tight end in
25:21
Speaker 1: the NFL, and and now he's considered to be one
25:24
Speaker 1: of the better tight end coaches in the league. How
25:26
Speaker 1: would you describe James Casey?
25:29
Speaker 7: That's a great question.
25:32
Speaker 8: James, I would say he has incredible character. He is
25:40
Speaker 8: one of the most dedicated coaches to his craft, to
25:43
Speaker 8: the knowledge of tight end, and just to the knowledge
25:46
Speaker 8: of the full game of football in general that I've
25:49
Speaker 8: ever been around. He loves to watch ball, loves to
25:53
Speaker 8: coach ball, He loves being around the guys there's just
25:57
Speaker 8: not I mean, there's not a bad thing you can
26:00
Speaker 8: really say about him, especially when it comes to to
26:03
Speaker 8: loving the game of football, and I think he comes
26:07
Speaker 8: out he shows that every day. He proves that to
26:09
Speaker 8: us every day with just his knowledge and his whatever
26:15
Speaker 8: whatever we're going into that week, his coaching points throughout
26:20
Speaker 8: that week or suggestions. He doesn't he doesn't try to
26:23
Speaker 8: force anything on you. It's all subjective and what he
26:28
Speaker 8: thinks would be best for us. And so it's just
26:30
Speaker 8: it's incredible to be around a coach like that that
26:32
Speaker 8: understands his players the way he does and lets us
26:36
Speaker 8: succeed in the.
26:36
Speaker 7: Way that we do.
26:38
Speaker 1: He's such a fan of a position too. He says,
26:40
Speaker 1: if I were running a company, I'd hire a tight
26:43
Speaker 1: end because they have to do a little bit of everything.
26:45
Speaker 1: It's probably cool for you as a tight end to
26:48
Speaker 1: play for somebody who's such an advocate of what you
26:51
Speaker 1: guys have to do.
26:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, one percent, having you know, not that you have
26:55
Speaker 8: to play the game of football to be a coach.
26:57
Speaker 7: I don't think that's the case at all.
26:59
Speaker 8: But to have someone that played the position at a
27:03
Speaker 8: high level for multiple years, it just he knows the
27:09
Speaker 8: little things, the ins and outs of like if something happens,
27:13
Speaker 8: it's not like that that will happen.
27:16
Speaker 7: So it's very It's incredible to have.
27:19
Speaker 8: Someone like that in the position that he's in to
27:23
Speaker 8: and I'd like to think we all take advantage of
27:25
Speaker 8: that and asking questions and he gives us suggestions whenever
27:29
Speaker 8: we need it.
27:30
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Tanner Hudson. You've had a pretty remarkable career.
27:34
Speaker 1: In your college career. You played quarterback, you punted for
27:37
Speaker 1: four years, you played wide receiver, you played tight end.
27:40
Speaker 1: You didn't get drafted coming out of a Division two school.
27:43
Speaker 1: But now here you are in your eighth NFL season,
27:47
Speaker 1: do you ever stop and just think about how remarkable
27:50
Speaker 1: really this path has been.
27:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, every once in a while, you got to step
27:54
Speaker 8: back from the game and look at your path as
27:57
Speaker 8: a whole and kind of what you put into it,
27:59
Speaker 8: the ups and downs of each and every year. Because
28:03
Speaker 8: you know, I've never never signed a multiple year contract, never,
28:07
Speaker 8: you know, had anything like that happen. Had to grind
28:09
Speaker 8: for a spot every year in camp. So and I
28:12
Speaker 8: don't take that for granted, like I enjoy I would
28:15
Speaker 8: come out and grind whether I was on a five
28:17
Speaker 8: year contract or whether I'm on one. I just I
28:21
Speaker 8: want to be I want to be really good and
28:24
Speaker 8: I want to be one of the best. And yeah,
28:27
Speaker 8: I think just going out there and trying to perfect
28:29
Speaker 8: that each and every day, each and every year, wherever,
28:32
Speaker 8: whatever staff, you know, I'm a whatever coaching staff that
28:36
Speaker 8: I'm a part of, trying to show what I'm what
28:38
Speaker 8: I'm great at. And uh, yeah, it's definitely definitely been
28:42
Speaker 8: a journey. It's fun to fun to sit back with
28:44
Speaker 8: my wife and just kind of go through the years
28:47
Speaker 8: of the ups and downs, the movings, the just just
28:50
Speaker 8: everything that goes with it.
28:52
Speaker 1: After playing in single digit temperatures last week, how much
28:56
Speaker 1: are you and your teammates looking forward to what's expected
28:59
Speaker 1: to be an eighty degree day on Sunday in Miami?
29:02
Speaker 4: Very much?
29:02
Speaker 8: Gonna drink a lot of water, gotta say, hy dated, Yeah,
29:06
Speaker 8: I mean, and we've had some cold ones which we
29:08
Speaker 8: played for the Bengals. You know, we know that cold
29:11
Speaker 8: comes with this territory. So yeah, it can be unfun
29:16
Speaker 8: at times to play in some cold weather, but we
29:19
Speaker 8: understand that's what comes with it.
29:20
Speaker 7: But yeah, it's definitely a blessing.
29:21
Speaker 8: To be able to go to Miami get a nice
29:24
Speaker 8: little eighty degree game. See it feel some sunshine? Yeah,
29:27
Speaker 8: I feel good. Might have to wear some sunscreen, might
29:29
Speaker 8: get some burned out there.
29:30
Speaker 1: I'll keep that in mind in the booth. What would
29:32
Speaker 1: a strong finish mean to you in the final three
29:35
Speaker 1: weeks of the year.
29:36
Speaker 8: I think it would just me this team. I think
29:39
Speaker 8: it would show the character of this team that Zach
29:42
Speaker 8: has talked about the entire year.
29:44
Speaker 7: Like I agree with him completely.
29:46
Speaker 8: We've never showed any kind of doubt in ourselves or
29:50
Speaker 8: took a practice off or anything like that. The defense, offense,
29:55
Speaker 8: everybody comes to work to get better each and every day,
29:58
Speaker 8: just like Zach says, and you know it doesn't doesn't
30:02
Speaker 8: always worked out work out for us like we've seen
30:04
Speaker 8: this year.
30:05
Speaker 7: But I see no quitting this team.
30:07
Speaker 8: I see us going out there and trying to prove
30:11
Speaker 8: a point that yes we're out of it, but this
30:13
Speaker 8: team is still together, this team still wants to win.
30:17
Speaker 7: We still love being out there.
30:20
Speaker 8: So uh yeah, I think I think it's a good,
30:22
Speaker 8: a good bounce back week for us to come out
30:24
Speaker 8: and show what we're about.
30:26
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time as always, best to luck the rest
30:28
Speaker 1: of the year.
30:28
Speaker 7: Good deal. Appreciate it.
30:30
Speaker 1: Finally, time to hear from another tight End as we
30:33
Speaker 1: get to know the person under the pads. Time for
30:38
Speaker 1: some fun facts with tight End. Noah fan from Omaha, Nebraska,
30:42
Speaker 1: the biggest city in Nebraska, the home of the College
30:45
Speaker 1: World Series. Noah, Based on what I've read, you're the
30:48
Speaker 1: youngest of six kids. Is that accurate? And what was
30:51
Speaker 1: that like?
30:52
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm definitely definitely the youngest of six, three brothers
30:55
Speaker 9: and two sisters, and there was a great, great upbringing. Definitely,
31:00
Speaker 9: my siblings thought I was a little bit spoiled, but
31:04
Speaker 9: it was great. I have great relationships with all of them,
31:06
Speaker 9: so couldn't complain.
31:08
Speaker 1: It's funny you say that because I'm the fourth of five,
31:11
Speaker 1: and my older siblings always said, You've got it so easy.
31:15
Speaker 1: Mom and dad have just kind of given up. They're
31:17
Speaker 1: letting you do whatever you want.
31:18
Speaker 4: Yeah.
31:19
Speaker 9: No, I definitely definitely think there's some of the same.
31:21
Speaker 9: But my parents were tough on me growing up, but
31:24
Speaker 9: in a good way, so I was blessed to have them.
31:27
Speaker 1: One of your older brothers was your high school coach.
31:30
Speaker 1: Was he tough on you?
31:32
Speaker 4: Uh? Yeah, I think so.
31:33
Speaker 9: I think my brother just wanted the best for me,
31:34
Speaker 9: wanted me to achieve greatness. And yeah, he was a
31:39
Speaker 9: big part of my development early on growing up, as
31:42
Speaker 9: with my dad and my mom.
31:44
Speaker 4: But yeah, he was. He was a big part of that.
31:47
Speaker 1: You attended Almaha South High School but also took classes
31:50
Speaker 1: at the University of Nebraska Medical Center while you were
31:54
Speaker 1: in high school. Tell me about that.
31:56
Speaker 9: Yeah, the un m C High School Alliance was kind
31:59
Speaker 9: of a pro for high school students to kind of
32:02
Speaker 9: get a fast track to any any medical profession that
32:06
Speaker 9: they wanted to get into going into college. So it
32:09
Speaker 9: was taking college classes out of college at a college
32:12
Speaker 9: campus and uh, you know, kind of working in and
32:16
Speaker 9: seeing what path we wanted to take when we got
32:18
Speaker 9: into college.
32:18
Speaker 4: So it was a great experience.
32:20
Speaker 9: And I still keep in touch with some of the
32:22
Speaker 9: people that run that program and have gone back to
32:25
Speaker 9: visit before.
32:25
Speaker 4: And yeah, I'm just.
32:27
Speaker 9: Super fortunate to be able to partake in that. You
32:30
Speaker 9: dealt with Kidavers, Yeah, what was that like? You know,
32:33
Speaker 9: it's definitely a unique experience, not something that I thought
32:38
Speaker 9: that I would have been doing that young, but uh man,
32:41
Speaker 9: what a cool like a like a cool experience and
32:43
Speaker 9: a blessing for me to be able to do that
32:46
Speaker 9: at such.
32:47
Speaker 4: A young age and really learn.
32:48
Speaker 9: I learned so much in that in that program and
32:51
Speaker 9: the classes that I took, so I was super fortunate
32:54
Speaker 9: to be able to be a part of that.
32:56
Speaker 1: In your scouting report coming out of college on NFL
32:59
Speaker 1: dot Com said you had an idea of possibly being
33:03
Speaker 1: a surgeon after playing football. Is that still a remote
33:07
Speaker 1: possibility in your mind?
33:08
Speaker 9: I'm not so sure yet. It's a lot of schooling
33:10
Speaker 9: that I'd have to go through after playing football in
33:14
Speaker 9: year seven, so we'll see how it plays out. But
33:17
Speaker 9: not shutting in any doors.
33:19
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Noah Fat. When it came time to
33:21
Speaker 1: pick a college, you chose the school with a reputation
33:24
Speaker 1: of being tight end you Iowa, Dallas Clark, George kittle, TJ. Hockinson,
33:30
Speaker 1: Sam Laporta, Eric Golf from the Bengals, and others. How
33:33
Speaker 1: do you explain that lineage of great tight ends?
33:36
Speaker 4: Yeah?
33:36
Speaker 9: I think that just like when I was going to Iowa,
33:41
Speaker 9: the guys that were kind of there before me were
33:43
Speaker 9: like Dallas car Tony Mulaki, I think, Scott Chandler, guys
33:49
Speaker 9: of that nature that had been there before and had
33:53
Speaker 9: made it to the NFL, and it was just kind
33:56
Speaker 9: of one of those things that was that was a
33:57
Speaker 9: selling point that if I wanted to play tight end
33:59
Speaker 9: in an offense that used the tight end quite often,
34:03
Speaker 9: that I wanted to be able to do that and
34:05
Speaker 9: go there. And obviously my freshman year was Georgia's senior year,
34:10
Speaker 9: and then after that it's just been pumping out tight
34:12
Speaker 9: ends definitely more frequently ever since. So it's it's been
34:16
Speaker 9: a really cool experience to be a part of.
34:18
Speaker 4: For sure.
34:19
Speaker 1: Is it almost like a self fulfilling prophecy where the
34:21
Speaker 1: best high school tight ends in the country gravitate to
34:25
Speaker 1: Iowa and then it's almost destiny that they're going to
34:28
Speaker 1: turn out to be pros.
34:29
Speaker 9: You know, Honestly, I think that I wouldn't necessarily say
34:31
Speaker 9: the best, like the best top recruits that tight end
34:34
Speaker 9: really go to Iowa. I think Iwoa does a really
34:36
Speaker 9: good job of identifying guys that have the trades and
34:40
Speaker 9: then developing them. Like when I was coming out of
34:42
Speaker 9: high school, I was a three star athlete out of Nebraska.
34:45
Speaker 9: I had like fifteen offers from different schools, but wasn't
34:49
Speaker 9: like a top recruited five star tight end coming out
34:52
Speaker 9: of out of high school, so they do a great
34:55
Speaker 9: job of identifying guys with those traits and developing them
34:58
Speaker 9: into a all around tight end. So that was something
35:02
Speaker 9: I was I was really proud of going there and
35:05
Speaker 9: being a part of.
35:06
Speaker 1: After three years with the Hawkeyes, you entered the draft
35:09
Speaker 1: and were selected in the first round twentieth overall by Denver.
35:12
Speaker 1: Describe your draft night experience.
35:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a great experience.
35:16
Speaker 9: I mean, obviously it was waiting a little bit twenty
35:19
Speaker 9: picks in, but it wasn't complaining at all. It was
35:21
Speaker 9: just a very like, a very stressful situation. But what
35:24
Speaker 9: a cool experience for me and my family being there
35:27
Speaker 9: all together in the green room and getting that call
35:29
Speaker 9: from Denver at the time, and it was it was
35:32
Speaker 9: a surreal moment, So really cool experience for me and
35:36
Speaker 9: my family.
35:37
Speaker 1: You had three good years in Denver, you probably expected
35:40
Speaker 1: to be there for a long long time, and then
35:41
Speaker 1: the Broncos pulled off a blockbuster trade for Russell Wilson,
35:45
Speaker 1: giving up multiple high draft picks and yourself in that deal.
35:49
Speaker 1: Did you have any inkling that you might be traded
35:52
Speaker 1: or was it a total shock.
35:54
Speaker 4: No, I was.
35:54
Speaker 9: I was pretty shocked, to be honest with you, Hindsight
35:58
Speaker 9: twenty twenty. Obviously, I'll understand, right, It's like you get
36:00
Speaker 9: your shot at a franchise quarterback at the time that
36:04
Speaker 9: you think it is your franchise quarterback, and you're gonna
36:06
Speaker 9: do whatever. You know, you're not going to hold back
36:08
Speaker 9: a tight end for that deal, you know what I'm saying.
36:11
Speaker 9: So I understood, I understood it. I was definitely shocked
36:14
Speaker 9: and taken it back by it. Some would say blindsided,
36:18
Speaker 9: but like, man, it was such crazy experience, and obviously
36:23
Speaker 9: was traded to Seattle and had some good years there,
36:26
Speaker 9: but uh, yeah, it was. It was definitely wild, a
36:29
Speaker 9: wild experience for sure.
36:30
Speaker 1: So three years in Denver, three years in Seattle, and
36:33
Speaker 1: then earlier this year they let you go kind of
36:36
Speaker 1: in a salary cap dump type situation. But it did
36:39
Speaker 1: give you the opportunity to choose for the first time
36:41
Speaker 1: since you were in high school.
36:42
Speaker 4: Did you enjoy that?
36:44
Speaker 9: It was a very interesting experience because it was I
36:48
Speaker 9: supposed choosing, but at a time that was very late
36:52
Speaker 9: in the process, and you know, got people had already
36:56
Speaker 9: really had the roster set and things of that nature.
36:58
Speaker 9: So yeah, it was I used to choose, I suppose,
37:01
Speaker 9: but like wasn't an ideal situation that late in the game,
37:05
Speaker 9: which was kind of a little frustrating. But yeah, so
37:09
Speaker 9: I was happy to be able to land in Cincinnati.
37:12
Speaker 9: What a great place for me to land at with
37:14
Speaker 9: with coach Taylor and and pitch and and James Casey
37:19
Speaker 9: is a great, great Titans coach. I've been really really
37:23
Speaker 9: fortunate to be able to work with them and be
37:26
Speaker 9: in a good situation here. So it ended up working out,
37:28
Speaker 9: But obviously it was definitely a process to get there
37:32
Speaker 9: for sure.
37:33
Speaker 1: All Right, a few wild card topics now for Bengals
37:35
Speaker 1: tight end Noah Fan who is your all time favorite
37:39
Speaker 1: athlete in any sport?
37:42
Speaker 9: I would say you Michael Jordan. I wasn't old enough
37:44
Speaker 9: to like see him in his prime, but just like
37:47
Speaker 9: the greatness of him and the championships that he's won,
37:50
Speaker 9: that his all of his highlights. He's just an iconic player.
37:53
Speaker 9: Whenever someone mentions like a goat of a sport, it's
37:57
Speaker 9: like he automatically comes up. He's definitely a polarizer player
38:00
Speaker 9: that not only changed the game but changed really just
38:03
Speaker 9: like the world kind of honestly, he's like he was
38:07
Speaker 9: a world known athlete. So it was like, what a
38:09
Speaker 9: cool what a cool experience, like experience to be able
38:13
Speaker 9: to see but unfortunately I wasn't able to see it,
38:15
Speaker 9: But what a cool experience to like be able to
38:17
Speaker 9: go back and watch those highlights and experience that greatness.
38:20
Speaker 1: So and he made it okay for people like me
38:22
Speaker 1: to be bald. Yeah, you've spent seven years in the NFL,
38:27
Speaker 1: You've done well financially. What do you like to splur John?
38:31
Speaker 4: Food?
38:32
Speaker 9: That's like, that's one of the things that I'll like
38:34
Speaker 9: pay a good a good dollar for, is like a
38:37
Speaker 9: just a really good meal, especially like with friends and families,
38:40
Speaker 9: which is which is one of the things that I
38:42
Speaker 9: value very much.
38:43
Speaker 4: So food is definitely one of those things.
38:45
Speaker 1: Big fancy steakhouse are something more eclectic and foodie either one.
38:50
Speaker 9: I'm I'm a pretty wide range guy that'll that'll like
38:54
Speaker 9: have anything to eat, And honestly, it's a it's just
38:57
Speaker 9: a what's the choice of the day, honestly.
39:00
Speaker 1: So other than sports, do you have any hidden talents?
39:06
Speaker 4: I don't know about hidden talents.
39:07
Speaker 9: I just kind of trying to view myself as like
39:10
Speaker 9: a like a pretty multi faceted guy. Like I just
39:13
Speaker 9: like a lot of different things. I do a lot
39:16
Speaker 9: of different things, and I don't think there's just one
39:18
Speaker 9: one singular thing that I'm like super talented at though.
39:22
Speaker 1: All right, final fun fact for Noah f This one's
39:24
Speaker 1: kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history,
39:29
Speaker 1: living or deceased, who would that person be.
39:35
Speaker 9: I would want to meet my my Dad's my dad's dad.
39:39
Speaker 9: He passed away when my dad was very young, so
39:43
Speaker 9: it'd have been my grandpa. But I never got to
39:44
Speaker 9: meet him. But I definitely would have want to met
39:47
Speaker 9: him and just kind of talk to him and see
39:51
Speaker 9: what he see how he viewed life, see how he
39:54
Speaker 9: viewed everything. Obviously my dad didn't I wasn't able to
39:58
Speaker 9: have those those mo was within very long, but yeah,
40:03
Speaker 9: I think those would be some really cool conversations and
40:05
Speaker 9: see what he thought.
40:06
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. No, I appreciate your time, Best
40:08
Speaker 1: of luck the rest of the year.
40:09
Speaker 4: Thank you appreciate it.
40:11
Speaker 1: Here's a quick invitation to join Dave Lapham and me
40:14
Speaker 1: for the Bengals pep Rally show this week. We'll be
40:16
Speaker 1: at the on the Rhine Eatery. The food Hall on
40:20
Speaker 1: the second floor above the downtown Kroger on Friday from
40:23
Speaker 1: three to six and our scheduled guest in the final
40:26
Speaker 1: hour will be Bengals legend Sam Hubbard. Not for nothing
40:30
Speaker 1: but an autographed item for the Bengals fan on your
40:33
Speaker 1: Christmas list would make a great gift and Sam will
40:36
Speaker 1: be signing during the commercial breaks. That's going to do
40:39
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Speaker 1: or Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thank
41:10
Speaker 1: you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.