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Bengals Booth Podcast: It's A Beautiful Morning · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The it's a beautiful mooning addition,
0:16
Speaker 1: as the Bengals wake up on Monday in a tie
0:19
Speaker 1: for first place in the AFC North after a gotta
0:22
Speaker 1: Have It win over the Denver Broncos. Coming up, you'll
0:25
Speaker 1: hear radio replays from the victory, postgame comments from players
0:29
Speaker 1: and coaches, add analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then,
0:33
Speaker 1: in this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know
0:36
Speaker 1: one of many former Ohio State Buckeyes on the Bengals roster,
0:39
Speaker 1: cornerback Eli Apple. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
0:44
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football
0:47
Speaker 1: game downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play.
0:51
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:53
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
0:56
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your po guests.
1:00
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since Jeff Ruby's generosity. Jeff Ruby
1:06
Speaker 1: is one of America's best restauranturs And if we're celebrating
1:10
Speaker 1: a special occasion in my family, there's a very strong
1:13
Speaker 1: chance that the precinct will be our destination. If you
1:16
Speaker 1: live in the Cincinnati area and haven't had the stake
1:19
Speaker 1: borrow yet, shame on you. Jeff and his family not
1:23
Speaker 1: only run exceptional restaurants, but they are great members of
1:27
Speaker 1: the community, the latest example being the one hundred thousand
1:31
Speaker 1: dollar donation the Ruby family made to Western Kentucky tornado relief.
1:36
Speaker 1: This was not unusual. During the height of the pandemic,
1:40
Speaker 1: they donated fifty thousand dollars to restaurant worker relief, and
1:44
Speaker 1: every Thanksgiving they give free turkeys to first responders. So
1:48
Speaker 1: thank you to Jeff Ruby. I love your restaurants and
1:52
Speaker 1: I appreciate your big heart. Now let's get to Sunday's game.
1:57
Speaker 1: When the Bengals got off to Team Bus in Denver,
1:59
Speaker 1: the following words were painted in giant letters outside of
2:02
Speaker 1: the visitors locker room elevation five thousand, two hundred eighty
2:07
Speaker 1: feet altitude. Sickness is real. You can't blame the Broncos
2:13
Speaker 1: for trying to put that thought into the Bengals heads.
2:16
Speaker 1: But thin air also has benefits when you have a
2:19
Speaker 1: kicker like Evan McPherson. In the pregame warmups, He hit
2:23
Speaker 1: a sixty one yard field goal in one direction and
2:26
Speaker 1: a sixty two yarder in the other direction, so it
2:30
Speaker 1: was no big deal when the Bengals called on him
2:32
Speaker 1: from fifty three yards out on their second possession. Evan
2:36
Speaker 1: has been great from fifty plus. He's made seven of
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Speaker 1: them this year, tied for the NFL lead. Snap was
2:42
Speaker 1: a little bit high, but handled by Huber. The kick
2:45
Speaker 1: has enough distance and it is good. So money Mac
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Speaker 1: delivers from fifty three and the Bengals are on the
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Speaker 1: scoreboard first as they take a three nothing lead here
2:56
Speaker 1: in Denver. Here's McPherson on kicking aisle above sea levels.
3:01
Speaker 1: I've never kicked an altitude before, and so I was
3:04
Speaker 1: pretty I guess curious, you could say, and how much
3:06
Speaker 1: of a difference would actually making, you know, I'd say
3:09
Speaker 1: I noticed a pretty good difference, you know, on field
3:13
Speaker 1: goals and kickoffs. Ball is flying kind of both ways
3:16
Speaker 1: into the wind, and definitely would the wind it was flying,
3:20
Speaker 1: and so I was excited, honestly for this game to
3:23
Speaker 1: kind of come up here and you know, try kicking
3:25
Speaker 1: an altitude. Those are the only points in the first quarter.
3:28
Speaker 1: Is the two teams had as many punts as first downs.
3:31
Speaker 1: In the second quarter, Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater through a
3:35
Speaker 1: short pass the tight end Noah Fat that he turned
3:37
Speaker 1: into a twenty eight yard game that led to a
3:41
Speaker 1: fifty four yard field goal by Brandon McManus that tied
3:44
Speaker 1: the score at three. The Bengals failed to get a
3:47
Speaker 1: first down on their next two drives in late behalf.
3:50
Speaker 1: It looked like the Broncos would take the lead when
3:52
Speaker 1: McManus lined up for a fifty one yard field goal
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Speaker 1: attempt with fourteen second tremaining. He's already made a fifty
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Speaker 1: four yarder in this game. The snap, the putdown, and
4:01
Speaker 1: the kick. It's on its way and it is wide right.
4:06
Speaker 1: He missed it wide right. Bengals dodge a bullet as
4:10
Speaker 1: McManus fails from fifty one. There were only nine seconds
4:14
Speaker 1: left and a half, but the Bengals were not content
4:16
Speaker 1: to run out the clock from their own forty one
4:19
Speaker 1: yard line. Here's Joe Burrow. No. I knew we were
4:21
Speaker 1: gonna be aggressive. I knew we weren't just gonna take
4:23
Speaker 1: a knee. We were close field goal ranging. With the
4:25
Speaker 1: kicker that we have, you have to take a chance
4:27
Speaker 1: there with the Broncos secondary playing way down field to
4:30
Speaker 1: prevent a hail. Mary Burrow through a nineteen yard strike
4:34
Speaker 1: over the middle to Tyler Boyd, who immediately went to
4:37
Speaker 1: the ground, allowing the Bengals to call the time out
4:39
Speaker 1: with four seconds left. That set up a fifty eight
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Speaker 1: yard attempt for McPherson. The franchise record for longest field
4:47
Speaker 1: goal was fifty seven yards, shared by Randy Bullock in
4:51
Speaker 1: a regular season game and Mike Nugent in a playoff game. McPherson,
4:56
Speaker 1: trying to give the Bengals the lead and set a
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Speaker 1: team record in the process, s Cark Harris will snap
5:01
Speaker 1: it back. Hubert is ready as he looks back at
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Speaker 1: mcfierson turns his head toward Harris, catches the snap to kick,
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Speaker 1: is on its way. It appears to have the distance.
5:11
Speaker 1: It is good. Franchise record fifty eight yard field goal,
5:19
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson, giving the Bengals a six three lead. After
5:24
Speaker 1: the game, I asked Evan the following question when the
5:27
Speaker 1: Broncos lined up for their field goal attempt with fourteen
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Speaker 1: seconds left, was the possibility that you might get a
5:33
Speaker 1: chance to kick one before the end of the half,
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Speaker 1: even on your mind. It's in the back of my mind.
5:38
Speaker 1: But you know, honestly, at the at the time, I
5:40
Speaker 1: had to, I had to be really bad, and so
5:45
Speaker 1: I would say, um, you know it's I'm not gonna
5:48
Speaker 1: say I want him to make the field goal. You know,
5:50
Speaker 1: I want our defense get a good stop. But I
5:53
Speaker 1: was ready to go in the going at halftime, use
5:56
Speaker 1: the bathroom, come back out. Thankfully, Evan can wait. Prior
6:00
Speaker 1: to this year, no Bengals kicker had made more than
6:03
Speaker 1: four fifty plus field goals in a season. Mc pherson
6:07
Speaker 1: has made nine of them in ten attempts. Here's Zach Taylor.
6:11
Speaker 1: He's a weapon. That's the best way to put it.
6:14
Speaker 1: You know, he's a weapon. My son asked for his
6:17
Speaker 1: jersey for Christmas, if that tells you anything. So you know,
6:20
Speaker 1: that's usually a pretty good indicator that we like our kicker.
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Speaker 1: When yet yet eleven year old boys asking for their jersey.
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Speaker 1: So just proud of the consistency he's brought to us.
6:28
Speaker 1: I certainly hope Zach's son gets his wish. The Bengals
6:32
Speaker 1: first drive of the second half was their longest drive
6:35
Speaker 1: of the day. P Ryan is the running back. Burrow
6:39
Speaker 1: hands it to Somage breaks into the secondary. He's at
6:42
Speaker 1: the twenty, down to the fifteen and tackled at the
6:45
Speaker 1: Denver thirteen yard line. The Bengals drove seventy two yards
6:49
Speaker 1: out eleven plays before stalling at the Broncos eight. This time,
6:53
Speaker 1: Evan Almighty kicked a short field goal to give Cincinnati
6:56
Speaker 1: a nine three lead to that point, been a tough
7:00
Speaker 1: day for Teddy Bridgewater, and it became a frightening one
7:04
Speaker 1: on the Broncos next possession when Teddy landed on his
7:07
Speaker 1: head while diving for a first down and had to
7:10
Speaker 1: be immobilized and taken off the field on a cart.
7:13
Speaker 1: The Broncos quarterback was taken to the hospital to be
7:16
Speaker 1: evaluated and thankfully had movement in all extremities. Bridgewater was
7:21
Speaker 1: replaced by Denver's starting quarterback from last season, Drew Locke,
7:25
Speaker 1: and his second throw gave Denver its first lead. Locke
7:29
Speaker 1: will drop back to throw looking left, throwing deep left,
7:32
Speaker 1: good coverage, but it's caught for a touchdown. Patrick just
7:37
Speaker 1: abused the Bengals defender and coverage. I believe that was
7:41
Speaker 1: Wayne's There's a penalty flag in the end zone. Could
7:45
Speaker 1: it possibly be offensive interference? No such luck. It was
7:49
Speaker 1: taunting on Tim Patrick after his twenty five yard touchdown
7:53
Speaker 1: catch to put Denver on top ten nine. The penalty
7:57
Speaker 1: was assessed on the kickoff, helping the Bengals art from
8:00
Speaker 1: their own thirty two yard line. Their first play was
8:03
Speaker 1: a twelve yard run by Joe Mixon and after it
8:06
Speaker 1: they rushed to the line quickly. Bengals don't huddle. They
8:09
Speaker 1: snap it to Burrow, throw us down field for a
8:12
Speaker 1: wide up. Boyd catch us at the thirty great jump
8:14
Speaker 1: cut back towards the middle of the field of the
8:16
Speaker 1: ten the five touchdown. Bengals a fifty six yard answer
8:23
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow to Tyler Boyd and the Bengals are back
8:27
Speaker 1: in front. In just two plays, the Bengals were back
8:30
Speaker 1: in the lead. Here's Burrow. Yeah. I mean, that's a
8:33
Speaker 1: great call by Zach. No. That's a play that we've
8:35
Speaker 1: wrapped in practice all week, and you know, really credit
8:39
Speaker 1: to him. You know, he saw, he saw what they
8:41
Speaker 1: were doing to us when we got on the ball
8:42
Speaker 1: and kind of hurried up and so we got to
8:44
Speaker 1: that play and that's a that's credit to Zach. Great call.
8:47
Speaker 1: A two point conversion attempt failed and the Bengals took
8:50
Speaker 1: a fifteen to ten lead to the fourth quarter, but
8:53
Speaker 1: with Lock in the game at quarterback, the Broncos started
8:56
Speaker 1: moving the ball and drove inside the Cincinnati ten Gordon
9:00
Speaker 1: out Williams in second goal from the nine. Ten minutes
9:03
Speaker 1: forty seven seconds left Cincinnati clinging to a five point lead.
9:07
Speaker 1: Now Fant goes in motion out to the right. Lock
9:10
Speaker 1: faked to hand drop and ran the balls take it away,
9:13
Speaker 1: called Kareem. Lifted out of his hands, called Kareem. Running
9:17
Speaker 1: down field to the thirty the thirty five, The ball
9:20
Speaker 1: gets knocked out of his hands. Denver recovers at the
9:23
Speaker 1: forty two yard line. Unbelievable, recovered by Garrett Bulls, the
9:29
Speaker 1: left tackle. All right, My question is was he down?
9:33
Speaker 1: Was he touched when he was down? Not exactly but close.
9:37
Speaker 1: After reviewing the play, the officials ruled that Kareem briefly
9:40
Speaker 1: went to the ground after forcing the fumble because of
9:44
Speaker 1: contact initiated by Denver's quarterback, so the run back and
9:48
Speaker 1: his subsequent fumble were nullified. Here's Zach Taylor on a
9:53
Speaker 1: possible game saving play by kalled Kareem. Oh, yes, you
9:57
Speaker 1: know it's game ballworthy. No. Question about that, but you know,
10:00
Speaker 1: fifteen to ten, they're driving there on that situation, and
10:05
Speaker 1: you know, a touchdown puts us in a tough spot.
10:07
Speaker 1: So really big play by him to step up and
10:10
Speaker 1: take that ball away on a fumble or an interception
10:12
Speaker 1: or whatever they're gonna call that, but really tremendous effer
10:15
Speaker 1: by him. After the team's traded punts, the Bengals got
10:18
Speaker 1: the ball back with slightly less than four minutes to
10:20
Speaker 1: go and made a huge play that forced the Broncos
10:23
Speaker 1: to burn their time outs three twenty eight left in
10:26
Speaker 1: the game. It's third and ten Cincinnati, the Bengals at
10:29
Speaker 1: their own twenty two, leading by five. Burrow drops back
10:32
Speaker 1: to throw, steps up in the pocket, Brows caught up
10:35
Speaker 1: in the middle for a first down by Tyler Boyd.
10:38
Speaker 1: Want a clutch throw by Joe Burrow, and Boyd reels
10:42
Speaker 1: it in for a fifteen yard gain. On third down
10:46
Speaker 1: and ten, Patrick's certain with a stop, yes and the
10:50
Speaker 1: veteran working against the rookie, and the veteran wins the battle.
10:55
Speaker 1: Boyd finished with five catches for ninety six yards, more
10:58
Speaker 1: than sixty percent of burrows one hundred and fifty seven
11:01
Speaker 1: passing yards in the game. You know, I knew, I
11:04
Speaker 1: knew one of my game was gonna come like this.
11:06
Speaker 1: You know, I gotta sit back and be patient. You know,
11:08
Speaker 1: I'm a leader, and whatever they want me to do,
11:10
Speaker 1: that's what I'm gonna do, no matter how the game
11:11
Speaker 1: go for me, you know, because I'm at this point,
11:14
Speaker 1: I'm all about winning. And we got so much firepower
11:17
Speaker 1: in the offense that I mean, once we got one
11:20
Speaker 1: guy going, that's that's what we're gonna continue to feat
11:22
Speaker 1: you know. And just just whenever our name was called,
11:26
Speaker 1: we we make plays every game and game out, you know.
11:29
Speaker 1: So it was a long time coming. With two minutes left,
11:32
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor faced a big decision on third and eight.
11:35
Speaker 1: Let Burrow throw, knowing that an incomplete pass would stop
11:38
Speaker 1: the clock, or run the ball to eat up time.
11:42
Speaker 1: Knowing that a first down was unlikely, he elected to
11:46
Speaker 1: run the ball and trust his defense, and that decision
11:49
Speaker 1: paid off. Final play of the game, Lock throws it
11:53
Speaker 1: deep down field, throws it out a bounds four seconds
11:57
Speaker 1: on the clock. The Bengals will take over on downs
12:00
Speaker 1: and they are going to win the game here in Denver.
12:04
Speaker 1: That is coffin nails bam, bam, bam, And I'll tell
12:09
Speaker 1: you what it took the entire football game. This was
12:14
Speaker 1: a slobber knocker. Now, this was a defensive battle. Both
12:18
Speaker 1: football teams gave everything that they've got. They all left
12:23
Speaker 1: every bit of energy that they have out on the
12:26
Speaker 1: football field here at Mile High. The Bengals only had
12:29
Speaker 1: two hundred forty nine yards of offense and went four
12:32
Speaker 1: for thirteen on third down, but they didn't commit a
12:36
Speaker 1: turnover and got out of Denver with a fifteen to
12:39
Speaker 1: ten win. Here are Joe Burrow and Larry Ogan JOEBI.
12:44
Speaker 1: It's like that sometimes not every game is going to
12:46
Speaker 1: be thrown for three touchdown passes and three hundred yards
12:51
Speaker 1: and and all that. They're really really good defense that
12:53
Speaker 1: has invested a lot in their secondary and linebackers. They're
12:56
Speaker 1: very well coached and you got to give them credit.
13:00
Speaker 1: But you know, I was proud of our guys that
13:01
Speaker 1: we made the plays when when they counted no critical
13:05
Speaker 1: third downs down the stretch. UM exciting win. UM. Like
13:08
Speaker 1: I said before, this is a very unselfish team. I mean,
13:11
Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys who just work hard. It's
13:13
Speaker 1: come to work every day and you know, want to
13:14
Speaker 1: win and want to play together. And it doesn't matter
13:16
Speaker 1: who gets this line light, who gets the spotlight. He's
13:18
Speaker 1: just guys coming in and every inn and every day,
13:21
Speaker 1: um just trying to make plays and find a way
13:22
Speaker 1: to make the team win. So it's really exciting to
13:24
Speaker 1: be a part of something special. We're trying to build
13:26
Speaker 1: something here, something that hasn't been done in a while,
13:28
Speaker 1: and we're just moving forward, staying focus. After the game,
13:31
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham spent three and a half minutes with Zach Taylor.
13:35
Speaker 1: That was some physical football out there, Coach, you are
13:40
Speaker 1: beating up in the secondary, beating up in the offensive line.
13:42
Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of players stepped up for you today.
13:44
Speaker 1: They did. We're using our full roster har right now,
13:47
Speaker 1: you know, and but we've got faith and every guy
13:49
Speaker 1: on this team, practice squad, active roster. Uh. No moment
13:52
Speaker 1: has been too big for these guys. The coaches have
13:54
Speaker 1: done a heck of a job getting these guys ready
13:56
Speaker 1: to where we don't have to cover up any of
13:58
Speaker 1: these guys playing. You know, they're just going out there
14:00
Speaker 1: doing what the starters have done and making all the
14:02
Speaker 1: place for us at the end of the football game,
14:05
Speaker 1: No hesitation whatsoever. It's like this deep our defense is
14:08
Speaker 1: going to win this football game for us. You know,
14:10
Speaker 1: they'll they'll be able to hang, tighten, and then hold
14:13
Speaker 1: hold Denver at the end of the football game. I mean,
14:15
Speaker 1: did you even think about throwing it on third and eight? No,
14:17
Speaker 1: not really. You know, it's it's it's their job to
14:20
Speaker 1: step up like they had all game. And I felt
14:22
Speaker 1: like they'd done a great job control in the game,
14:24
Speaker 1: and and we had full faith that they were going
14:26
Speaker 1: to be able to tee off, get pressure on the
14:27
Speaker 1: quarterback and make the place we needed to. So the
14:30
Speaker 1: fifty whatever y'ard touchdown passed to Tyler Boyd. That was
14:33
Speaker 1: such a thing of beauty. I was trying to when
14:36
Speaker 1: I saw it live. I saw the cut block. I mean,
14:39
Speaker 1: I can't I couldn't tell if it was CJ or
14:40
Speaker 1: who it was that they had the great cut block
14:42
Speaker 1: that kind of sprung Joe where he bought a little
14:45
Speaker 1: bit more time and then threw it to Tyler Boyd
14:47
Speaker 1: and Tyler, you know, took off for the fifty plush
14:49
Speaker 1: yard touchdown. Do you know who that was that through
14:50
Speaker 1: that cut block? It was it CJ. Drew. It was CJ.
14:53
Speaker 1: CJ camer crowd. They can both do it. Drew. We've
14:55
Speaker 1: asked Drew to do that against Claiss Campbell. You know,
14:57
Speaker 1: it's similar deal. But CJ. Camer Cross got him on
15:00
Speaker 1: the ground. Joe did a good job pushing up in
15:02
Speaker 1: the pocket, and TB was patient to I'm anxious to
15:05
Speaker 1: see if he slipped behind those linebackers, what the safety did,
15:07
Speaker 1: because they were in some three week there. But it
15:09
Speaker 1: played out like we hoped it would. Coach this defensive
15:12
Speaker 1: football team, they make you earn everything. They don't give
15:15
Speaker 1: anything to you. They don't make any mistakes. I mean
15:18
Speaker 1: to watch him, it's like, oh, they're so sound. Got
15:20
Speaker 1: so much respect for them, you know, because they've they've
15:22
Speaker 1: not only got really high end talent, character, but a
15:24
Speaker 1: really good coaching staff. And and we knew it was
15:26
Speaker 1: gonna be a dogfight. We knew it. It doesn't shot me.
15:30
Speaker 1: If you told me, hey, this might be six to
15:31
Speaker 1: three at half time, it might be fifteen to ten
15:33
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. I would have understood that.
15:35
Speaker 1: And I thought our guys did a great job playing
15:37
Speaker 1: with pois or defense and special teams did a great
15:39
Speaker 1: job control in the game. To allow the offense to
15:41
Speaker 1: play how we needed to play, and you get to win,
15:44
Speaker 1: and you get win that way. Joe Burrow his pocket manipulation.
15:48
Speaker 1: I mean he was Houdini the way he escaped some things.
15:51
Speaker 1: And a couple of big runs on third down. Third
15:53
Speaker 1: down was tough sledding third down. Red zones always tough
15:56
Speaker 1: with these guys. But Joe made a couple of plays
15:59
Speaker 1: with feed on third down on top of the pass,
16:01
Speaker 1: and he made to Tyler Boyd, what does that do
16:04
Speaker 1: when you have a quarterback that can create like Joe does. Oh,
16:07
Speaker 1: it takes a win out of them. You know. That's
16:09
Speaker 1: what great quarterbacks do in December and in January. They
16:12
Speaker 1: step up and they make the plays when when there's
16:14
Speaker 1: maybe not a play to be made. And that's what
16:15
Speaker 1: Joe did for us a couple of times there. So
16:18
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens go for two again, they're unsuccessful and
16:21
Speaker 1: they lose the football game. So now as you're flying
16:25
Speaker 1: home from Denver, you're at first place. You got the
16:27
Speaker 1: tiebreaker against the Ravens, the same record, but you guys
16:29
Speaker 1: beat them in Baltimore. So this football team has done
16:33
Speaker 1: such a great job that you with your leadership of
16:36
Speaker 1: compartmentalizing after it didn't go well and compartmentalizing after it
16:40
Speaker 1: did go well. Yeah, it's good to be where we're at.
16:43
Speaker 1: We put ourselves in a really good position by doing
16:45
Speaker 1: some really good things this year. But everything is still
16:47
Speaker 1: in front of us and first place really doesn't matter
16:50
Speaker 1: at the moment because we still got a couple of
16:51
Speaker 1: divisional games left. But it starts with Baltimore. This is
16:54
Speaker 1: a big home game. We need our fans to be
16:57
Speaker 1: laud and proud and cheer us on because this is
16:59
Speaker 1: a monster of a game in the Sunday Coach, appreciate
17:01
Speaker 1: your time as always. Big win. Congratulations, that's flight home.
17:05
Speaker 1: Won't take us long now. Yeah, it'll feel good. Thanks.
17:08
Speaker 1: At the moment, the Bengals are the number four playoff
17:11
Speaker 1: seed in the AFC. If Cleveland wins on Monday, there
17:15
Speaker 1: would be a three way tie for first in the
17:17
Speaker 1: AFC North, with the Steelers just a half game back.
17:21
Speaker 1: The Broncos faced the Raiders tonight and have a road
17:24
Speaker 1: game in Green Bay on Saturday. The Steelers head to
17:28
Speaker 1: Kansas City next Sunday. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented
17:33
Speaker 1: by Ultimate Bengals, The Free to play fantasy football game
17:36
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the
17:39
Speaker 1: course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money
17:43
Speaker 1: can buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals
17:47
Speaker 1: in the app Store and Google Play. Now time for
17:50
Speaker 1: postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham lap I
17:55
Speaker 1: will use one of your terms. That was a slobber knocker.
17:58
Speaker 1: Two defensive teams throwing a makers and the Bengals made
18:01
Speaker 1: just enough plays to get out of here with a win.
18:03
Speaker 1: I'm telling you it was like Survival of the fitish,
18:06
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, they're they're tired. I mean that
18:09
Speaker 1: was that was a very all of them kept saying.
18:10
Speaker 1: It was a physical football game. That's a good football team,
18:14
Speaker 1: you know. It was. It was a game, damn where
18:16
Speaker 1: both teams had to earn everything. You know, neither team
18:18
Speaker 1: really gave gave the game away other than you know,
18:23
Speaker 1: a turnover here and there that end up being huge. Um.
18:26
Speaker 1: But for the most part, it was like, man, no,
18:30
Speaker 1: not a bunch of explosive plays. It was just I
18:33
Speaker 1: think it was something that defense or coaches at any
18:37
Speaker 1: level can throw tape on and say, this is how
18:39
Speaker 1: you play defense. You know, everybody does what they're supposed
18:41
Speaker 1: to do, how they're supposed to do it, be there,
18:43
Speaker 1: be where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to
18:45
Speaker 1: be there, and man, it was, it was. It was
18:49
Speaker 1: well earned, to say the least, fifteen tackles for Jermaine Pratt.
18:53
Speaker 1: I know, that's a guy you respect because he doesn't
18:55
Speaker 1: say much, but it does a lot of homework to
18:58
Speaker 1: be mentally ready for the game. And obviously he was
19:00
Speaker 1: physically ready for the game as well. He was. I mean,
19:03
Speaker 1: that's that's one that was definitely tired in the locker
19:06
Speaker 1: room after the game, and I saw him a couple
19:08
Speaker 1: of times out in the football field, you know, taking
19:11
Speaker 1: extra deep breath trying to you know, get get the
19:13
Speaker 1: oxygen that he needed to get. And everybody talked to
19:16
Speaker 1: about how impressed they were with you know, Trey Wayne
19:21
Speaker 1: stepping up and Fred Johnson stepping up and Carmen Jackson,
19:25
Speaker 1: Carmen stepping up and doing things when they needed him
19:28
Speaker 1: to be done. Obviously, this aesthetically wasn't a pretty football game,
19:35
Speaker 1: but the outcomes beautiful. Well, how about the offensive line,
19:39
Speaker 1: because as you mentioned, Fred Johnson went the distance at
19:41
Speaker 1: right tackle. That's your third stringer right tackle. Jackson Carmen
19:44
Speaker 1: played most of the game at right guard. He's a
19:46
Speaker 1: backup now. He started earlier this year. I thought the
19:49
Speaker 1: protection was actually pretty good. Now Joe Burrow had to
19:53
Speaker 1: scramble a lot because it was hard for guys to
19:55
Speaker 1: get open against that great secondary. Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing.
19:58
Speaker 1: I mean, even even when he scrambled, they plastered and
20:01
Speaker 1: they weren't given an inch. I mean, that group, those
20:05
Speaker 1: guys are so on the same page. And Jesse Bates
20:07
Speaker 1: made a point about how when I talked to him
20:10
Speaker 1: about how everybody, not just starters, everybody goes and watches
20:15
Speaker 1: that extra Tuesday tape, he said, we haven't have backup
20:18
Speaker 1: quarterback in there with us talking about concepts and just
20:21
Speaker 1: football in general. So I thought, you know, I think
20:24
Speaker 1: that that's starting to show by their play on the
20:27
Speaker 1: football field. And you know that the Denver defensive football team,
20:31
Speaker 1: they spend a lot of time together, you know, study
20:33
Speaker 1: and tape together and communicating making sure that everybody's on
20:36
Speaker 1: the same page. I can't tell you how hard it is.
20:39
Speaker 1: I asked, you know, both Fred, and I asked Fred basically,
20:43
Speaker 1: what was it like communicating in that crowd noise down
20:47
Speaker 1: the stretch when you and Jackson haven't played a whole
20:50
Speaker 1: lot of snaps side by side, and he's like, yeah,
20:52
Speaker 1: we just you know, don't worry about it. Let's make
20:55
Speaker 1: sure we're trying to make sure we're on the same
20:56
Speaker 1: page as much we are, but let's just make sure
20:58
Speaker 1: we just go play football and don't let it bother us.
21:01
Speaker 1: And I was impressed with there were no early movements,
21:07
Speaker 1: no you know, pre snaps, stupid penalties that way. I
21:10
Speaker 1: thought guys handled all that part of it pretty darn well.
21:12
Speaker 1: It's just they were playing against a pretty good defensive
21:14
Speaker 1: football team. Le Broncos took Jamar Chase away. He had
21:18
Speaker 1: very little impact today. Tee Higgins saw his streaks snapped
21:21
Speaker 1: of one hundred yard games at three, So who steps up?
21:24
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd five catches ninety six yards, including the game
21:27
Speaker 1: winning fifty six yard touchdown and two other catches that
21:32
Speaker 1: were huge, the one that set up the field goal
21:34
Speaker 1: just before the half and then the fifteen yard are
21:36
Speaker 1: on third and ten late in the game. Yeah, he
21:39
Speaker 1: was talking about how you know he read coverage before
21:42
Speaker 1: you know, saw a man coverage and knew what he
21:44
Speaker 1: had to do. And Tyler Boyd's a guy that just patient,
21:48
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, he's just so professional about everything,
21:51
Speaker 1: and he knows his time is going to come. You know,
21:53
Speaker 1: it might not come every game, but he knows that
21:56
Speaker 1: there's going to be a point in time where he
21:57
Speaker 1: has to step up and make a play to help
22:00
Speaker 1: football team win the game, and he's gonna be there.
22:03
Speaker 1: I mean, that guy is about as dependable and reliable
22:05
Speaker 1: and tough and accountable, I mean, every good quality that
22:09
Speaker 1: you have to have to be a successful player in
22:11
Speaker 1: the National Football League, Tyler Boyd has him. I mean,
22:13
Speaker 1: he's one of those guys. He's got total and utmost
22:18
Speaker 1: respect of all of his teammates. Every single guy just
22:22
Speaker 1: really thinks Tyler Boyd is special and every every way
22:26
Speaker 1: you can be special. The Bengals don't win this game
22:29
Speaker 1: if Duke Tobin does not go against the draft gurus
22:34
Speaker 1: and select a kicker. People say, don't draft a kicker.
22:37
Speaker 1: You can always find a kicker as an undrafted free agent.
22:40
Speaker 1: They spent a fifth round pick and it worked out
22:42
Speaker 1: big time. Yeah. I asked him after the game, what
22:46
Speaker 1: would it be like if you kicked in Denver every week,
22:48
Speaker 1: and he just started laughing. He said, I did notice
22:51
Speaker 1: the air was a little less resistance there. And you know,
22:54
Speaker 1: he talks about hitting the two sixty yarders going in
22:56
Speaker 1: each direction in the warm up part of it, and
22:59
Speaker 1: he said that he didn't hit the fifty eight yarder
23:02
Speaker 1: or the fifty three yarder as well as he can
23:04
Speaker 1: hit him. And he said, but they still, you know,
23:07
Speaker 1: ended up working out okay. But and then you know,
23:11
Speaker 1: I said, I don't want to short you that thirty
23:12
Speaker 1: one yarder. That was big two in a five point game,
23:14
Speaker 1: you have nine points. I mean, all those field goals
23:17
Speaker 1: are uber important, you know. And look at the fact
23:20
Speaker 1: that he pushed one. He pushed one from fifty one yards.
23:22
Speaker 1: That's you guys are making fifty plush yarders like you know,
23:25
Speaker 1: it's a day at the beach. And he missed one.
23:27
Speaker 1: So that's always that's big in a game like this,
23:30
Speaker 1: even in a game where the other team's secondary was outstanding.
23:34
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is fifteen for twenty two, one hundred and
23:37
Speaker 1: fifty seven yards, one touchdown, no picks pass, the rating
23:40
Speaker 1: of one h three point six and after the game
23:43
Speaker 1: not like high on life at all. Over the fact
23:46
Speaker 1: that they've climbed into a tie for first place. It's hey,
23:49
Speaker 1: we got bigger fish to fry. He is all business
23:53
Speaker 1: all the time, and I thought two of the bigger
23:55
Speaker 1: plays he made were with his feet on third down
23:58
Speaker 1: for him to manipulate the pocket like he did and
24:00
Speaker 1: try to work that opening. I mean, you take your
24:03
Speaker 1: eyes from coverage and then you have to bring them
24:05
Speaker 1: down to what the front four is doing and try
24:07
Speaker 1: to anticipate who's going to move where and how. That's
24:10
Speaker 1: not easy to do, and he processes that stuff so fast.
24:14
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a he's a very very unique player.
24:16
Speaker 1: There was no question about it. There's nothing about football
24:19
Speaker 1: that that dude does not understand. We don't know how
24:22
Speaker 1: this is going to time turn out, but we do
24:24
Speaker 1: though that with three games left, they're tied for first
24:27
Speaker 1: and the final few weeks of the season just got
24:29
Speaker 1: a lot more fun. And there's no doubt. I mean,
24:31
Speaker 1: they're they're already talking about you know, all year long.
24:34
Speaker 1: We've done a pretty good job of you know, not
24:36
Speaker 1: celebrating too long, put it aside and you know, drowning
24:41
Speaker 1: in our sorrows too long. If it didn't go well,
24:43
Speaker 1: put it aside. I have full confidence that they're going
24:45
Speaker 1: to handle this week right and they'll be ready to
24:48
Speaker 1: go against the Baltimore Ravens. That now is going to
24:50
Speaker 1: be another slopper knock or extraordinaire. How about the Ravens
24:55
Speaker 1: going for two instead of kicking the extra point to
24:58
Speaker 1: go to overtime for the second time. I'm in three
25:00
Speaker 1: weeks and failing both times. I think Harbaugh said, analytics, Well,
25:06
Speaker 1: we won't over for one, can't go over two. We're
25:08
Speaker 1: not gonna go over to over two. Analytics be damned.
25:14
Speaker 1: All right, this was fun. Can't wait till next Sunday.
25:17
Speaker 1: I'm already fired up for next Sunday. No, I know this, Uh,
25:20
Speaker 1: this will be these two division games out of these
25:24
Speaker 1: last three. And you know, I mean, Kansa City Chiefs,
25:26
Speaker 1: come on this, this is gonna be. It is gonna
25:29
Speaker 1: be nuts at Paul Brown Stadium, and if it comes
25:33
Speaker 1: down to it, it'll be nuts up at the Mistake
25:35
Speaker 1: on the Lake in that last week of the season
25:38
Speaker 1: as well. But I mean, this is why you play
25:40
Speaker 1: the game, to have significant, meaningful football games in the
25:44
Speaker 1: month of December and into January. More on Sundays when
25:48
Speaker 1: joined Lap and Lance McCalister for Bengals Line Monday Night
25:52
Speaker 1: from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time
25:56
Speaker 1: for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get to
25:59
Speaker 1: know the person under the pads. Have for some fun
26:03
Speaker 1: facts with Eli Apple from Vorhees, New Jersey, near Philadelphia.
26:07
Speaker 1: In fact, it's where the Philadelphia Flyers practice. Eli, you're
26:11
Speaker 1: a great athlete. Were you the fastest kid in the
26:13
Speaker 1: neighborhood growing up? Yeah? I was. And were you good
26:17
Speaker 1: at pretty much everything that you did sports wise? Yeah,
26:21
Speaker 1: I mean proud of my cell phone being good on
26:25
Speaker 1: all the sports. So I had two older brothers that
26:27
Speaker 1: played basketball, football with so I try to just do
26:30
Speaker 1: my best keep bob with them. There's a great pricture
26:33
Speaker 1: of you on the internet. I think you're in seventh grade.
26:35
Speaker 1: You're about twelve years old. You're posing with Ohio States
26:39
Speaker 1: former head coach Jim Tressell. I think from an Ohio
26:42
Speaker 1: State football camp. It was, but it wasn't. It was.
26:45
Speaker 1: I got out there early in my mom, dad, my
26:49
Speaker 1: brother who snuck out on set of the stadium just
26:51
Speaker 1: to like look at just no, no, just the stadium,
26:54
Speaker 1: look look around. I guess Coach Tressell was there and
26:57
Speaker 1: we saw him and we just want to say hi.
26:59
Speaker 1: It wasn't suppose too, but ended up getting a little
27:01
Speaker 1: picture in the stairs a little kitty lady. She was old.
27:04
Speaker 1: She kind of tried to tell us to leave, something
27:07
Speaker 1: like how did you get in and stuff. She was
27:08
Speaker 1: like questioning us, and Coach Strussell was just really cool.
27:11
Speaker 1: Ended up taking a picture anyway, and then I took
27:13
Speaker 1: another picture of him later a couple of days after
27:15
Speaker 1: during the camp. We're doing fun facts with Eli Apple.
27:18
Speaker 1: You were one of the top recruits in the country.
27:21
Speaker 1: Did you enjoy it or did you find it to
27:23
Speaker 1: be stressful? I enjoyed my high school career and the
27:27
Speaker 1: whole process of going through considering what colleges I wanted
27:31
Speaker 1: to go to. I already knew how the state was
27:34
Speaker 1: on one. So you spent three years at Ohio State.
27:37
Speaker 1: You played a big role in the national championship team
27:40
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen. What did you enjoy most about your
27:43
Speaker 1: Ohio State experiences? Winning being a part of just history,
27:49
Speaker 1: being the first college football Playoff champion when nobody expected
27:53
Speaker 1: us to come back from our early season first home
27:56
Speaker 1: loss to Virginia Tech. So just that season, and dude,
28:00
Speaker 1: in the relationships I built throughout that whole song. Your
28:04
Speaker 1: defensive backs coach at Ohio State was Carrie Combs, who's
28:07
Speaker 1: a legendary figure in the Cincinnati area because of his
28:10
Speaker 1: incredible run as the head coach at Coleraine High School.
28:12
Speaker 1: Can you describe your relationship with him because he has
28:16
Speaker 1: often tweeted things and written things praising you. Oh, yeah,
28:20
Speaker 1: it was tough. It was a tough relationship. When I
28:22
Speaker 1: first got there, he was really hard on me and
28:24
Speaker 1: then ended up becoming like a just a second dad,
28:27
Speaker 1: you know, really somebody that cares about his players and
28:29
Speaker 1: he puts his all into just coaching and just being
28:33
Speaker 1: able to connect with his guys. So we still talk
28:35
Speaker 1: a little bit today. What is your favorite Ohio State
28:39
Speaker 1: football tradition? Probably just the best fridays, you know, getting
28:43
Speaker 1: a good meal from the little golf golf spot. I
28:47
Speaker 1: don't remember that. Jack Nicholas, Yeah, Jack Nicholas, and then
28:51
Speaker 1: just the whole routine that we have just getting our
28:53
Speaker 1: bodies right and massage. It is just the whole day.
28:55
Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. So you were the tenth pick in
28:58
Speaker 1: the draft by the New York Giant. It was Apple
29:00
Speaker 1: to the Big Apple. Describe your draft experience. That was crazy.
29:05
Speaker 1: It was something that was unexpected. I didn't know I
29:08
Speaker 1: was going to go to the Giants. I didn't really
29:10
Speaker 1: have any prior talks with them at all. Maybe met
29:13
Speaker 1: with them maybe once or something. But yeah, it was.
29:17
Speaker 1: It was exciting though being from Vorhese, New Jersey or
29:21
Speaker 1: close to a major city. So I'm guessing playing in
29:23
Speaker 1: the Big Apple wasn't a huge culture shock for you.
29:26
Speaker 1: But what was the best part about playing for the
29:29
Speaker 1: New York Giants. I mean, it was, it was great.
29:32
Speaker 1: It was just probably just you know, being in NFL
29:35
Speaker 1: that was the best part, Just that whole experience, just
29:38
Speaker 1: going through my rookie year, learning so much, and of
29:40
Speaker 1: course just being close to home as well. But I'll
29:42
Speaker 1: just say learning, learning throughout the whole year and the
29:46
Speaker 1: ups and downs and everything. But we pretty happy. We
29:49
Speaker 1: had a pretty good year and made the playoffs and stuff.
29:51
Speaker 1: But just that whole year it was pretty cool. After that,
29:54
Speaker 1: you played for the New Orleans Saints and made it
29:56
Speaker 1: to an NFC Championship game that, unfortunately for the Saints,
30:00
Speaker 1: included a controversial call, or the lack of a call,
30:03
Speaker 1: A pass interference against the Rams that might have put
30:05
Speaker 1: you guys in the Super Bowl. Is that still difficult
30:08
Speaker 1: to stomach several years later? Oh yeah, of course, stuff
30:11
Speaker 1: like that you don't forget about. But that's why you
30:14
Speaker 1: work hard to continue to give yourself those opportunities to
30:17
Speaker 1: put yourself in that position to you know, make it
30:19
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl and be able to win it.
30:21
Speaker 1: You seem very comfortable here. Is Cincinnati a good fit?
30:25
Speaker 1: I believe so. I think the coaches in the way
30:28
Speaker 1: my playing style is. I think we starting to learn
30:32
Speaker 1: each other, and just the guys around me as well,
30:35
Speaker 1: just a lot of young guys and guys in the background.
30:38
Speaker 1: I feel like we all communicate well. We just got
30:40
Speaker 1: to consider to strive to get better. What's the feeling
30:42
Speaker 1: like after a game when a coach tosses you a
30:45
Speaker 1: game ball? Oh, it's just a great feeling, just to
30:48
Speaker 1: know that you've done well enough to help the team win.
30:52
Speaker 1: So that's us all it is, and just want to
30:55
Speaker 1: continue to get better and get more. All right. A
30:57
Speaker 1: few wild card topics with Bengals to fensive back Elie Apple.
31:01
Speaker 1: Who is your favorite athlete of all time in any
31:05
Speaker 1: sport and why that's uh salid of gray athletes. I'll
31:10
Speaker 1: probably say Kobe Bryant, just the mentality he brought to
31:13
Speaker 1: the game, and just the will and hard working dedic
31:16
Speaker 1: kitchen took every day into his craft. And um, I
31:20
Speaker 1: don't know, I'll probably say him, do you feel like
31:22
Speaker 1: you have the mamba mentality? I try to, you know,
31:25
Speaker 1: regardless by any means. I'm trying to do whatever I
31:28
Speaker 1: can make place for the team. Do you have any
31:32
Speaker 1: hidden talents? I'm a good juggler? Really? How many objects? Probably?
31:38
Speaker 1: Just three? Yeah? Three or four tops? Is there anything
31:42
Speaker 1: you are terrible at? Probably? Man? Yeah, don't need it
31:48
Speaker 1: much in your current profession. Yeah, this a little bit. Contracts, contracts,
31:53
Speaker 1: that's right. What do you like to splur John my bags?
31:59
Speaker 1: Clothes of course, hoodies, shoes, video games, cars, stuff like that.
32:08
Speaker 1: Do you have a dream purchase that you have not
32:10
Speaker 1: made yet? I guess give my first house. I haven't
32:14
Speaker 1: got myself a house yet, so I want to do that.
32:17
Speaker 1: If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman,
32:22
Speaker 1: religious figure, whoever that might be, Who would that person be?
32:27
Speaker 1: It's probably Malcolm X. I'll probably want to meet him.
32:29
Speaker 1: If we're talking that on a live or a love. Yeah,
32:32
Speaker 1: have you studied him? Have you read the autobiography? What's
32:35
Speaker 1: you're the state of your knowledge about Malcolm X? Yeah?
32:39
Speaker 1: I did. I read the autogobiography earlier this year and
32:41
Speaker 1: I had to read it twice. It was really good
32:43
Speaker 1: and just a big I don't know, he just his
32:48
Speaker 1: life is just what he went through from when he
32:51
Speaker 1: was a criminal before he got arrested, and then after
32:55
Speaker 1: he got arrested becoming a Muslim and throughout his whole
32:58
Speaker 1: life is just just a cospiracies of how he ended up,
33:02
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately passing away and dying and get him assassinated.
33:07
Speaker 1: There's a whole journey to just see that throughout the book.
33:09
Speaker 1: And I don't know. It was really well out circulated
33:12
Speaker 1: and definitely a good read. All right, suggests everybody read it,
33:17
Speaker 1: highly recommended. Last thing, what's your favorite thing about the
33:21
Speaker 1: NFL life? Proving yourself, proving that you're you're good enough,
33:28
Speaker 1: and proving that as a team that we made the
33:32
Speaker 1: necessary improvements throughout the week to you know, prove ourselves
33:36
Speaker 1: and you know, see what challenges awaits throughout on Sunday.
33:40
Speaker 1: But I'll just say just coming together as a team
33:42
Speaker 1: and figuring out wasted win. You're off the hot seat.
33:45
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time, best of luck the rest of
33:47
Speaker 1: the year. Appreciate that that's going to do it for
33:50
Speaker 1: this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you
33:53
Speaker 1: by Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play Next Level Fantasy
33:56
Speaker 1: Football game downloaded down from the App Store and Google Play.
34:01
Speaker 1: And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to
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Speaker 1: this podcast and if you have a minute, give it
34:05
Speaker 1: a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals
34:09
Speaker 1: fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening
34:12
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast.