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Bengals Booth Podcast: I've Been Waiting · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: I Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: The I've been waiting audition as we discussed Thursday's release
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: of the NFL schedule with one of the people largely
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: responsible for putting it together, the NFL's VP of Broadcast Planning,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Mike North, plus a pair of one on one conversations
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: with two Bengals newcomers, cornerback Sidney Jones the fourth and
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
• 0:34
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  Speaker 2: delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business,
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  Speaker 2: and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with
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  Speaker 2: Alta Fiber. Now here's a quick reminder that you can
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to
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  Speaker 2: your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Maons. Cincinnati's Flying
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Pig Marathon took place last weekend, and kudos to everybody
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: who managed to cross the finish line despite heavy rain
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: and thunder. That includes Evan McPherson's wife Gracie, who ran
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: her first marathon, and the Bengals kicker who ran the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: half marathon. In fact, his runner's bib read money.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Mack.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: My wife Peg is a marathoner who is qualified for
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and run the Boston Marathon eight times. And I am
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: truly of the belief that a marathon is the one
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: sporting event where every single finisher is a winner. The
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: training is brutal, the event itself is brutal, and to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: cross that finish line knowing that you put in the
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: time and effort and made it has to be incredibly gratifying.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: So congratulations to last week's finishers, and I hope that
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: going downstairs is no longer painful. Now let's get to
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: my first guest. Thirty two teams playing seventeen games. There
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: are two hundred and seventy two regular season matchups each
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: year in the NFL. Putting together a schedule that maximizes
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: TV viewership while minimizing competitive imbalance is a complex puzzle.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: In fact, there are approximately one quadrillion possible combinations. That's
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the number one, with fifteen zeros after it. Mike North
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: is the NFL's vice president of broadcast Planning, in one
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: of the league's top executives in creating the schedule each year.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: He was kind enough to join me on Tuesday night,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: less than forty eight hours before the schedule is released. Mike,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: when you joined me on this podcast last year, you
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: said something that made local headlines at the time. The
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: quote was, the Bengals will have to get comfortable not
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: playing Sunday at one o'clock. Getting primetime games is a
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: big deal last year. Now it's assumed by Bengals fans
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Spike market size. Are the Bengals at or near the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: top of the list of the teams that the TV
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: networks are clamoring for.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: They are. I mean, there's no toys around it. This
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: is a success driven league. And certainly there are legacy
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: brands and you know, teams that have national appeal almost
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: seemingly regardless of their record. But we all follow teams
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: with good records, star quarterbacks, playoff appearances, super Bowl appearances.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: There's there's no question the Bengals are going to find
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: themselves in a lot of different windows. Not all the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: games at one o'clock on Sunday, those days are those
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: days are over.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Just so people know for sure, what is the max
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: for primetime games?
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: A club can be scheduled for six, can be flexed
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: into a seventh. We've had Sunday night flex since two
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: thousand and seven. Bengals have been on both sides of
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: that equation, getting flexed in and getting flexed out. Monday
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: night football flexible scheduling starts this year, and you can
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: be flexed into a seventh primetime appearance. And then when
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: we get to week eighteen, all bets are off. We
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: can do whatever we all think is the right thing
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: to do as we sequence week eighteen to ensure that
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: we have that cascading waterfall of playoff implications from Saturday afternoon,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: in the Saturday night, in the Sunday afternoon, in the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Sunday night. So you know, quote unquote primetime, it's really
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: less about who's playing at night than it is about
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: who's playing on something other than Sunday afternoon. So you
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: could play on a Monday night, you can play on
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: a Sunday night, you can play on a Thursday night,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: you can play on a Saturday afternoon, you can play
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning at nine thirty am. Technically those
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: are all quote unquote primetime appearances. They're just non Sunday
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: afternoon appearances. But letter of the law, you can be
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: scheduled for six primes flexed into a seventh, and then
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: we'll all do whatever we think is right. In week eight, we.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Are chatting with Mike North, VP of broadcast planning for
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: the NFL. The Super Bowl champion Chiefs host the NFL
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: kickoff game on Thursday, September seventh. The Bengals have a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: road game this year at Kansas City would obviously be
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: a great opener, But the Chiefs have home games against
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Philly that's a Super Bowl rematch. They've got Buffalo at home.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Their division rivals obviously are at home. Have there ever
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: been more enticing choices for that Thursday night opener?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question, Dan, Maybe maybe not. I mean, look,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it's it's Kansas City, and right now they are musty TV.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you, me and nine friends could play
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Kansas City and that would do a pretty good number
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: for kickoff. You know, they are musty TV. And to
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that end, you could make an argument that maybe you
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: don't need to use a Cincinnati, a Philadelphia a game
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: like that in a window where we're all going to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: be so excited for the season to start, you know,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: five months from now or four months from now that
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe you don't need your quote unquote best
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: asset in that opening window. That's not to say, you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: we're gonna put a quote on quote lesser game there.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But I'm not sure the Chiefs have a lesser game
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: on their home schedule. So you mentioned them all, Buffalo, Sincy,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Philly would all be great. Anybody in that division would
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: be fun. I'm intrigued by Chicago and Detroit also coming
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: into Kansas City. You know, Chicago was pretty exciting last year.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I know the record doesn't necessarily reflect you know, success,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and maybe that's not worthy of that window. Detroit was,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe the hottest team in the league last year,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: eight out of the last nine or whatever it was
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the last time we saw them. You know, they win
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in a Lambeau and ruined the Packers season. You know,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: any division games would be interesting, right Herbert and the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Chargers always play the Chiefs tough. The Raiders have a
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: new quarterback, they always play the Chiefs tough. And I
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: think everybody's gonna be really intrigued with Denver this year
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: when you think about the new coach and can he
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: get out of Russell Wilson what we're all used to
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: seeing from Russell Wilson. I love the options. I love
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the flexibility. Kind of changed our process a little bit
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: as we searched through the you know, infinite Most years,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: to your point, there's one or two pretty obvious options
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: for kickoff and then you kind of go from there.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: We kind of did it the other way this year.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Sometimes when we solved kickoff was almost the last piece
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: of the puzzle. There were a lot of good options
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and pretty sure, whatever we choose, we're gonna do.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, the Bengals have four road games that could at
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: least potentially be international games, but I'm guessing those opponents
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: don't want to lose home games against Cincinnati. Can teams
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: veto certain opponents on the international games, Yeah.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: When a club is selected or designated or volunteers. Forgive me,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent sure how the sausage gets
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: made with an international team. But when a team is
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: designated for international play and it's one of their home games, yeah,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: they have some rights and some obligations and some commitments,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and yeah, they can take a look at their home
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: opponents and they can work with an international team. We
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: generally don't do division games over there. That's you know,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: from a fans to those are always some of the
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: most exciting games of the season. To you know, take
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: those and move them overseas might not be exactly the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: right thing to do for the fan base and the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: season ticket members. So generally we don't play the inner
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the division games over there. And then you know, if
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: there's one or two really big ones, maybe somebody by
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: rotation hasn't been there for a while, you know, or
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: maybe he isn't going to be there for another eight years.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: To take that one away from the fans maybe isn't
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the right thing to do. So there's a lot of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: back and forth, a lot of give and take, just
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, how to thread that.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: You know, which of these games make the most sense
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: to keep in your home stadium, Which of the ones
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: would be really interesting to take overseas. Maybe there's a
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: fan base already kind of built in in the UK
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: or in Germany for one of your home opponents. But
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: you're you're not wrong when you think about, for instance,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you know, Kansas City and they think about, hey, you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we are hosting Cincinnati this year. You know, on the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: one hand, the Chiefs might say, we'd really love to
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: have him here. Then again, you know, all the stuff
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: that went on last year with burrow Land, maybe it
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be abit thing to get the Bengals in another city.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of give and take. Look, I
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: think the really the smartest way to look at it
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: is a game like Cincinnati Kansas City, for instance. That's
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: my CTV. I mean, you're talking about one of the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: top five games of the year, and I'm not sure
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: nine thirty am in the East six thirty am in
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the Pacific time zone is the right place for us
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to deploy one of our, you know, arguably top games.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: So I'd be surprised if a game like Cincinnati Kansas
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: City made its way across the pond. But it would
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: be a hell of a statement and it would be
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: really fun for our fans over there. But I don't
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: don't buy your tickets yet.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: That so, Mike, the last time the Bengals gave up
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: a home game to play internationally was a London game
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: back in twenty sixteen, so it's been a long time.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: We know they won't lose a home game next year.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Because they only have eight home games, should we more
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: or less expect hosting an international game in a couple
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: of years considering the time frame and the fact that
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: they'll have nine home games in two years.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's certainly gonna come from the AFC.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: We're gonna draw from the AFC for twenty twenty five,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: so they're certainly in the mix. The resolution that the
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: ownership pass basically says everybody's gonna give up a home
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: game once every eight years, So there's gonna be four
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: games a year every eight years. Everybody's gonna give one up.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So to your point, if you didn't get it, you
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: know this year, you're certainly in the mix for twenty five,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and then if you didn't get it then at some
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: point twenty seven, twenty nine. Yeah, it's it's gonna happen.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: A lot of it depends on, you know, where are
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: we record wise, where are we with our stars, where
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: are we with our international marketing. Some of these international
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: cities strangely just you know, kind of adopt NFL teams
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and if all of a sudden, you know, Madrid, Spain
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: or wherever else we're considering, seems to be a you
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: know Bengals hot spot, then you know, we'd be smart
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to try to make sure we can get a Bengals
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: game to them. That's not to say the Bengals wouldn't
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: be great in London or Germany or Mexico or anywhere
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: else we play, but I think those things kind of
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: evolve over time, and our international folks work with our teams,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and the teams will tell us, the fans will tell us,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and yeah, look, at some point everybody's gonna go certainly
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: once as a home team, but that doesn't prevent them
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: from going into visiting team either. So maybe not this year,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: but certainly at some point. Yeah, we'll see some games
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: over the pump.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: We are visiting with Mike North, the NFL's VP of
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: broadcast planning. There are two hundred and seventy two regular
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: season NFL games. You often talk about each how each
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: one is an asset. How do you determine the value
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of each game? Do you assign it a numerical value?
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Do you give each game a grade? How do you
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: go about doing that?
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Uh, it's a part art in part science. You know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: they I refer to them as assets. They're really not
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: like you know, commodities like financial assets. They belong to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the fans, right and at the end of the day,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the job is to make sure that the fans get
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to see the games that are most important to them.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And obviously all seventeen Bengals games are going to be
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the highest rated games from a viewership standpoint in the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati. But you know where else do fans
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: care about the Bengals? Is it your division opponents? So
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: we're starting to build a national brand where heck, even
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: in New York, if the Jets are on buy and
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the Giants are on Monday Night and we need to
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: pick the right game to put in the number one
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: media market in the country at one o'clock, maybe it
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: becomes a Bengals game. And so you sort of track
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: how the Nielsen ratings and the viewership numbers come in.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: You watch things like you know, fantasy football ownership and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: hats and jersey sales and Instagram followers and secondary ticket
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: pricing and you know, legalized sports betting action and all
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the ways that our fans are interacting with us and
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: telling us what's important to them. If it were that
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: simple to just simply put a number on it, that
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: would be great, Dan, I would love that. I'd love
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to try to build that model. I'm not sure it's
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: ever quite that simple, but there is a little bit
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: of science to it, a little bit of Hey, if
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: you have a Bengals game, then you've got the Upper
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Midwest covered regionally on a map for CBS at one o'clock,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: So maybe you don't need a Browns game that day,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: or at least not on the same network. Or if
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: you have a Steelers Ravens game, maybe that's not a
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: good time for the Bengals to be playing Sunday one.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Why don't we move the Bengals to four o'clock or
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: eight o'clock or Monday, or maybe this is a good
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: week for their bye, but their bye has to track
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: with their Thursday game, because you don't want it right
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: before right after, and you're gonna need those two sort
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: of breaks. Want to full buy, one a mini buy,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: so it all kind of ties together. It would be
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: great if there were ever one true mathematical formula that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: we could write and just kind of hit the button
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: on the computer and walk away for a couple of
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: weeks and come back and hey, here's the winner. It's
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: never that simple. There's got to be some room for
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the humans to kind of guide the search and say, nope,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: maybe a little more of this than a little less
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of that. Soart part science, but yeah, we're trying to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: build a model where we can sort of actcurreately predict
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: what the value of each of these games is to
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: our fans, and then make sure that we deploy them strategically.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: We've got some changes to talk about this year. Strictly speaking,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: CBS is no longer the primary home of AFC games,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: and Foxes no longer the primary home of NFC games.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: They're no longer the default home of anytime the AFC
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: team is on the road. So for decades, anytime an
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: AFC team was on the road, that game belonged quote
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: unquote to CBS. So then if the league wanted to
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: put it in primetime, take it for Sunday night or
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Monday night, then it was kind of taking it away
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: from CBS. And you had to manage the number of
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: games you took away from CBS and all the kind
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: of back and forth with the numbers and the math.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: That part's gone on. Every game is a toss up,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: but CBS is still the primary home of the AFC,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: They're gonna have at least twice as many Bengals games
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: than any other partner. So more Bengals games than not
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: will be on CBS, more Ravens games, more Steelers games,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: more Chiefs games, more Jets games will be on CBS
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: than not. And on the other side, more Cowboys games,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: more Eagles games, more Bears games, more Niners games will
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: be on Fox than not. Those are still the primary
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: home for at least half their games. But this notion
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: of oh, we're taking away this game, that part's gone.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: So every game is a toss up. But when you
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: sprinkle them all in, you're still going to see more
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Bengals games on CBS than anywhere else.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: So the NFL passed a rule this year allowing teams
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: to play two Thursday games after playing the previous Sunday.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Is that going to happen to a team or multiple
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: teams and how do you handle the inevitable pushback, Well,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: it's gonna happen.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: It's not a new rule. It happened last year. The
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Cowboys and the Titans each played two short week games
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: last year. The Cowboys obviously always play on Thanksgiving, and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: they played another short week game later in the season.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: They played the Titans in Week seventeen on a Thursday night,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: and the Titans played a Week ten I think I
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: think it was Thursday night game at Lambeau. So you
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: had two teams last year playing two short weeks, and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: ownership voted this year to allow for more than that
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to play two short weeks. So yes, you are definitely
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: gonna see more than two teams play multiple short weeks.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: The challenge for us is gonna be first and foremost,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: you know, spreading them out, using the two Thursdays and
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the bye week to kind of ensure that the team
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: that has the multiple short weeks has multiple rest opportunities.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: You know, you might see a Thursday and week five,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: a bye in week nine, and then another Thursday in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: week fifteen or something like that. Or maybe you see
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: a bye in week seven and a Thursday and week
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: eleven and another Thursday late in the year. So we're
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: gonna try to spread them out. We're gonna try to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: balance it so that no team feels like, hey, that's
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: too many short weeks all right in a row. And
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: then we're gonna you know, spread them out fairly. If
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: you happened to like the Cowboys and the Titans have
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: two short weeks last year, probably not our best schedule
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: if we give you two short weeks again this year.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: So I wouldn't expect the Cowboys and the Titans to
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: have two short weeks. So it'll be a different mix
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of teams. Three, four or five teams maybe that are
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: gonna have multiple short weeks, and then see where that goes,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: see what the feedback is, and see if we want
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to adjust that moving forward. But this notion that you know,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: there's a misnomer out there that every team gets a
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: primetime game, that that's not the case. That hasn't been
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the case for years, And you know, the commissioner always says,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: you know, you earn your television exposure you play your
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: way into primetime. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: see a couple of teams on Amazon more than once,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: and that probably means a couple of teams not on
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Amazon at all. But if you have a good season,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: if you're playing your way into primetime, there's opportunities, whether
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: it's the TVD Saturday Pool or flexible scheduling for Sunday
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: night or Monday night there's always ways that we can adjust.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: But yeah, when the schedule comes out in May, you'll
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: surely see teams, multiple teams with multiple short weeks for
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the first time.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Monday night games can be flexed. Moving games from Sunday
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: afternoon to Sunday night or vice versa is one thing.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Changing days of the week is more challenging. What are
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the specifics of Monday night flexing.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the specifics are it's, you know, just like we've
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: been doing for Sunday Night since two thousand and six.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: If we see a game, you know, about a month
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: out that looks, you know, a little less compelling than
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: we hoped when we put it on the schedule in May,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: we'll start talking to those two teams, We'll look at
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the other games that weekend, and we'll see if it
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense. You know, often what we try to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: do with flexible scheduling is you see a game in
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: a one o'clock or a four o'clock window on a
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon on CBS or Fox, and just by virtue
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: of the market sizes and the other games in the window,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a really good game with playoff implications might only be
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: available in fifteen twenty twenty five percent of the country.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: And that's not really fair to those teams that have
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: earned additional exposure. And it's not really fear to the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: teams to leave them in primetime if you know they're
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: seasons slipping away. There's nothing good, there's nothing fun or
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: rewarding about a couple of teams just playing out the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: string in primetime. It's not fair to the fans, it's
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: not fair to the television viewers, it's not fair to
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the partners that that's just not what any of us want. So,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you know, for Sunday Night Flex, we've been pretty judicious.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: One one and a half times a year. Last year
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: was a bit of an outlier. I think we had four,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: But most years, you know, Sunday Night is once or
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: twice for Monday Night Flex. Understanding the impact of moving,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: you know, teams off days and fans having to change
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the plans, you know, maybe maybe once a year. I
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be reckless. I don't think it's
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: gonna be cavalier. This wouldn't be about hey, can we
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: add one hundred thousand viewers? This would be about hey,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: this game is nowhere near as good as we thought,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and there's another game that weekend that's just sitting there
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: right for the taking. And if we don't move it
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: into a better window, most of our fans are gonna
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: miss it. And that's probably not what we're trying to
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: do either. So hard and fast rules, not yet first
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: time we're doing it. I think we'll talk to the teams.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I think we'll talk to our partners. We'll learn a
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: lot this year, even if we don't make any moves,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: we'll learn a lot just about talking to the teams,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: talking to the operations folks. You know, yes, there's a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: lot of people that have to change their plans, but
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: you know, so do your guys right. You got to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: change hotels and charters and meeting space and practice schedules.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: And where were they we the week before? And where
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: are we the week after? And is it fair to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: put this team now we know a Monday night game
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: on the road if the following week they're already scheduled
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: for another road game, and you know, those are all
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the things that are going to have to go into
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: our decision making. Again, I don't think we'll be reckless.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I think we'll be pretty judicious. But it's there for
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a reason, and it's really there to, you know, protect
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the teams that maybe are in a national window that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: you know no longer even want to be, and reward
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the teams that have earned themselves some additional exposure.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: You added a Christmas triple header last year when Christmas
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Day fell on a Sunday. It's on a Monday this year.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Is the Christmas triple header here to stay?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: It's certainly here for another year. I don't know if
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: it's here to stay. It's gonna be a tough sell
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: on a Tuesday. But for twenty twenty three, yeah, another
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Christmas Day triple header. It'll be uh CBS one o'clock Monday,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Fox four thirty Monday, and then the regular Monday night
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: ESPN game at a fifteen that night. So, yep, another
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Christmas tripleheader this year.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: You have added a Black Friday game this year. Do
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: you consider it important to have a quote unquote glamorous
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: matchup to get that game off to an impressive ratings start? Yeah?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, the simple answers, Yes, I think we
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: will try to thread that needle, find that right game.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: It's another short week, so you might, you know, have
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to find the team playing. You know, like we said,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: multiple short weeks, maybe playing on a Friday is a
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: little less onerous than playing on two Thursdays. But yeah,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the simple answer is, I think we're gonna test it
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: out see if our fans are interested. You know, it's
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: not a holiday for everybody, but you know, it's a
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: traditional sports day. There's always a lot of sports on
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: television that day, and I think an NFL game kind
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of in the afternoon, right there might be a great
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: inuation for us for a really fun weekend. You've got
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the three games on Thursday, now on Friday, big games
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: on Sunday, another one on Monday. That's a really fun
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: weekend of football and it kind of you know, kicks
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: off the you know run to the playoffs and the
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and the final quarter of the season, if you will,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I would. I would expect there to be
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe not the A plus game, but certainly
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: a game that that sounds like a football game for
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Black Friday.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Last year, the Bengals and Bills obviously had the Monday
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: night game that was halted because of Jamar Hamblin's collapse.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Is there any sort of make good on that from
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: the NFL's perspective, whether it's to the media partner ESPN
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: or to the teams, any repercussions of following that game.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Look, there's always conversations going on with the teams, with
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the networks, with all of our partners. There was a
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: lot of discussion. You'll remember this. There was a lot
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: of discussion last year about should we have finished that
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: game and finished you know, for the twenty twenty two season.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: It ended up having you know, pretty significant playoff imp cations.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: It would have been interesting how we decided to you know,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: thread that needle. There was a lot of talk about
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: should we let everybody finish the season week eighteen and
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: then everybody take a break and the Bengals and the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Bills come back in week nineteen and kind of finish
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: pick up where they left off. There were those who
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: thought maybe that would be a little too traumatic, maybe
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit triggering, to actually literally go back to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that spot in the second quarter and pick it up
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: right after Damar had had his incident. You know, as
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: it turned out, we were only talking about the two
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: in the three seed, and you know, call it karma,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: call it poetic justice. But you know, the Bengals getting
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that win and moving on in the playoffs probably put
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: an end to anything that we were gonna, you know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: think about. Obviously hopeful that DeMar continues to recover, and
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: my goodness, this yere seems like he may be playing again,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: maybe even as soon as this year, which is a miracle.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: But surely that the fact that they play again this year,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be a story. And again perfect example of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: you know, call them assets, call them what you will,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: We're probably not doing our jobs. If you put that
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: game on a Sunday at one o'clock and it's only
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: available in twenty percent of the country, and it's got
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a Cowboys game and a Steelers game and a Chiefs
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: game around it, that's a game that everybody's going to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: be interested in. So I think it's a pretty safe
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: bet that that game is going to find itself in
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: a national window when the schedule comes out.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: The Cincinnati Reds are home on the NFL's opening weekend.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Years ago, it seemed like the Bengals never opened the
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: season at home. If the Reds were home, does that
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: have any impact in this day and age.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Sure, Yeah, no question. I mean, look like we said,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: it's part art and part science. I'm sure the world
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: would keep spinning if we went ahead and scheduled a
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Bengals game at the exact same time as a Reds game.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: But that's not in our best interest. That's not in
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati's best interest. I'm sure the you know,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: police force probably wouldn't appreciate all those people downtown. You know.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I know we've done it for a preseason game, right
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: maybe like a game in the afternoon and a game
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: at night, and you can make a really fun sports
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: day out of it. But I would not expect the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Bengals and the Reds to be playing at the same time,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: at least as it pertains to the Reds regular season schedule.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: You know, will work around the Reds as best we
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: can weeks one, two, three, and four, when at least
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the red schedule is known. Weeks five, six, seven, eight,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the Red schedule is not known. We have no idea
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: which these baseball teams are going to be in playoffs.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: We have enough trouble guessing which NFL teams are going
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: to be in the playoff chase, so you know, we
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: may find ourselves one of these Octobers where we might
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: have to do a Bengals in a Reds doubleheader, and
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll work with the city. We'll work with
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: our friends at the Major League Baseball and try to
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: make sure that everybody can you know, have a good
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: experience with it. But yeah, whether it's you know, fans
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: having to choose, media, having to cover downtown footprint, traffic, congestion, police, whatever,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: it is probably not our best schedule if we have
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: to have the Reds and Bengals playing at the same time.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: So we'll avoid it in the regular season. Regular season
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: for baseball. Once you know, the Reds make the playoffs,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: well we might have to have a conversation and figure
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: out the right way to handle, you know, a Sunday
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in October if both teams are playing at home.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Will be a good issue for the Cincinnati Yeah, fan
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: base to have. All right, final question for you, Mike,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I appreciate your time. This is a bit of a
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: curve ball. Last year's Super Bowl drew a record for
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: most total viewers. More than one hundred and fifteen million
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: people watch the Super Bowl, but the highest share for
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl game is Super Bowl sixteen Bengals and
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: forty nine Ers. With changes in TV viewership. Is that
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: record considered impossible to break?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Good question. I'll never stay impossible, because you know, we
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: may well find ourselves one day with you know, the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: best storyline we could imagine, whatever that is in a
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: super Bowl. So I'll never say never. But your point
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: is valid. When when we talk about, you know, share,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: what you're talking about is people watching television. How many
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: were watching you know, that one program. You know when
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: we grew up Dan and they were what three four
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: channels right, So on the television, you didn't have that
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: many choices. And if you're watching television, you were probably
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: watching whatever the big event was. You know. Now our
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: kids are growing up with hundreds, hundreds, hundreds of channels
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: and they don't even have to just go to the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: television to ingest their media. They can follow other things,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: including the super Bowl online. So is that share number safe?
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: It probably is. There's just so many options out there,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: so many different, you know, outlets for entertainment. I think
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: if anybody were interested in watching the super Bowl, they'd
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: be watching the super Bowl. It's not like anybody you
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: know forgot the super Bowl was on, you know, all
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the promotion in the marketing and whatever. You think is
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: helping drive viewership at least in the regular season, probably
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: not necessary at super Bowl time. So those who want
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: to watch will watch, you know. It's part of the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: reason why we've you know, changed it into more of
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: a you know, family friendly event, if you will. And
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: whether it's you know, pregame or the halftime show or
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: whatever it is that goes into the Super Bowl. Now,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: hopefully there's something for everybody. Hopefully anybody who wants to
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: watch can watch it. But you're probably right. My guess
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: would be that share record is safe.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: The outcome of Super Bowl sixteen was not what we desired,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: but it's nice to have the record for the greatest
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: super Bowl TV share of all time?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Wasn't it? Also? Wasn't that game also played during like
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: an ice storm.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Pontiac Silver Dome with horrific weather that is.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: So nobody could leave their homes. They were trapped and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: there were only three or four television channels. I mean,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I guess that's how you said a record. If we
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: ever find ourselves with you know, a real you know
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: blizzard across all fifty states and all the you know
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: internet goes out and you know, all the television channels
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: go dark except for a couple maybe we could threaten
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: that share record, but I think it's probably safe. Mike.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine how busy you are right now, so
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: for you to do this less than forty eight hours
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: before the release show on TV, I'm really grateful. I
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: know my audience loves hearing your insight, and I look
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: forward to doing it again with you at this time
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: next year.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I always happy to talk about it. I'm still,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you know, marvel humbled that people are so interested and
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: it's become a, you know, one of the tenth pole
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: events of the NFL season schedule release. It didn't used
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: to be, right, It used to just kind of sneak
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: out a little stealth, kind of under the radar on
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: a you know, random Thursday in April. But the fact
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: that everybody's so interested now, you know, hopefully justifies all
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the hard work that the team puts in. We're we're
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: really lucky, We're really grateful. We've got an incredible staff
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that really do give you know, twenty four to seven
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: for a good ten or twelve weeks here. This thing
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: couldn't happen without folks like Annie Bo's and Charlotte Carey
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: and Blake Jones and Lucy Popco and well, we're really,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: really fortunate that everybody works so hard and cares so much,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: and really looking forward to the schedule getting out there
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: and hearing everybody's reactions. I know it won't all be posled,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: but like you when we were looking and I were
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: saying right before we came on, you know, nobody gets everything.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Everybody gets something. Nobody's ever going to be perfectly happy
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: with their schedule, but hopefully in the sense that anybody's disappointed,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: you know, hopefully it's just a little bit, and hopefully
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: it's pretty evenly across all thirty two teams and all
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: of our media partners. And then the season will start
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and best laid plans right out the window. We'll see
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: what storylines emerge. And like we said, these games belong
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: to our fans, and we'll make sure that we can
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: move them around as best we can in as fair
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: way as we can to make sure that everybody can
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: watch the ones they want to watch.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: The schedule release is set for eight o'clock on Thursday,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: with separate shows on the NFL Network and ESPN two.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycrep to help
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: them recruit, pay, engage and retain employees. Learn more at
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: paycorp dot com and by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: They're free to play with tickets and side merchandise up
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. The Bengals
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: signed three free agents this offseason who already have Super
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Bowl rings. One is Orlando Brown, who won a ring
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: last year with the Chiefs. The others are cornerback Sydney
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Jones the fourth, who was a rookie with the Eagles
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: back in twenty seventeen when they beat the Patriots, and
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: quarterback Trevor Simeon, who is a rookie of the Broncos
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen when they beat the Panthers. Brian Callahan
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: was on Denver's coaching staff at the time. Sidney Jones
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: fourth is a former Washington Husky whose teammates there included
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: current Bengals Jake Browning and Drew Sample. He's played for
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: four NFL teams over the last six seasons, and he
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: turns twenty seven. In a couple of weeks. Our first
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: opportunity to visit with Sidney Jones, one of the newest
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Bengals after signing, is a free agent this offseason. What
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: appealed to you about coming to Cincinnati.
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: Playoff team, playoff caliber team, super Bowl opportunity. It's a great,
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: great team, great organization. Heard many, many great things about
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: this place, so definitely decided to step in the building
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: to contribute.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: The Bengals mentioned when they signed you they had great
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: reports going back to when you came out of college
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: and were drafted in the second round. Did they indicate
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: to you that you are a player that they've been
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: following for a long time.
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: Actually, Uh, before I signed with Vegas last year, they
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: got a hold of me. You wanted me to come here,
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: but at that point I already committed to Vegas. So
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: it's cause like kind of kind of one of those deals.
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: I couldn't, you know, break that promise, but it all
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: ended up working out, coming coming back full circle. So uh,
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: definitely grateful for that.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Looking at the roster, Chita bea Wuche is coming back
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: from his torn ac all everything looks good. They expect
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: him to be good to go for Week one. Cam
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Taylor Britt had a very good rookie year, but that
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: leaves a lot of snaps for somebody to play on
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: the outside at corner. Do you see yourself having a
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: significant role?
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: Uh, definitely, that's that's always my mentality. All is my
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: goal to come in and contribute and do whatever it
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: takes for this team to win.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about how you feel about
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: your NFL career today, because it looks to me like
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: when you've been healthy, you've played well, but staying healthy
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: has been the challenge.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Definitely, an injury is part of the game. You know,
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: They're definitely unfortunate. They come at weird times and you
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: hope you do everything you can to avoid them. But
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: sometimes it's just it's just part of the game and
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: it happens. But definitely, when I'm healthy, I know what
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: type of caliber player I am.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: For visiting the Sidney Jones, what do you think you
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: bring to the table here?
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: I bring uh physicality, ball skills, competitive nature, Uh, just
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: just everything you're looking for in a football player. I
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: think I'm all around, all around, versutil player.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Did you know anybody here? You got any friends in
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: this locker room?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Jake Browning.
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: Drew Simple, you dub guys, I know chiad be Woza
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: Little Pac twelve love you played a Colorado up? I
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: was that you dubh Who else? Irwin?
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: We go way back with it.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: He he doesn't remember me because we used to play
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: seven or seven against each other in SoCal He didn't
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: he didn't remember me.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: We played against each other at Stanford.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: When I was a U dub two. Uh, that might
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: be about it.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Does Trenton Irwin really not remember you? Or did you
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: shut him down so that he is claiming not to remember?
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: You never know?
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: You never know?
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: He got me. I think he used to get out
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: for me in high school a little bit, but I
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: got after him in college a little bit, so you know,
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: a little good trade off.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: How did those Washington guys help? Did they share any
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: insight about playing for this team and.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: In this city?
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: They say, you'll love it, So let's I trust those guys.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: So what was your impression of the Bengals as a
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: player around another team? Looking at how this team has
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: you know, grown and become a contender in recent years. O,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: It's great to see.
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: I love I love looking at teams and seeing their
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: growth and seeing you know, they came from necessarily in
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: a non competitive spot to going to a competitive spot,
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: and then that's something I really enjoy, uh something about
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: my personality. I'll take pride in like just building something
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: and wanting to be a part of growth.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: We kind of my time at UDAL was kind of
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: like that.
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: We're just kind of you know, base, baseline, average, whatever.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: And I feel like I was a part of something
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: that grew and and and took it over so that
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: we didn't win a national championship, but we finished them
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: or fourth in the country, got to the playoffs, and
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: I felt like I was part of that growth and
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: that whole project of building that. So, uh just I
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: love seeing that wherever it's, whatever sport is in.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I love sports.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: So just watching watching a player or organization kind of
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: take uh take its growth and take its course has
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: been a good thing to watch.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: It's just a young secondary, especially after the departures of
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Jesse Bates and Von Bell. Do you think your leadership
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: is going to be significant.
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: Along with Tudo, along with Mike Hilton and Mike t
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: I think my experience, I have a lot of experience
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: and can shed a lot of knowledge and wherever I
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: sit in and as you know, as I grow with
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: the team and get comfortable and build trust with the guys,
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: I definitely think that will be valuable.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Jones will wear the number twenty four in Cincinnati. The
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Up Next recently
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: signed quarterback Trevor Simeon, who will compete with Jake Browning
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: to be Joe burrows backup. Simeon is thirty one years
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: old and has started a total of thirty in the
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: NFL for the Broncos, Jets, Saints, and Bears. In fact,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: his best NFL start statistically was against the Bengals because
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: he threw for three hundred and twelve yards and four
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: touchdowns in a win at Peycorp Stadium in twenty sixteen.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: First day in a new place, describe this feeling. I
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: know you've been through it a few times before.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good. It's exciting to get to meet everybody,
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: meet my teammates and get a lay of the land.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: So two hours in so far, so.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Go who did you know? If anybody?
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Not really anybody you know? I know, no Cali, James
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: Casey I played with in Denver for a little bit.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: But yeah, just getting to know everybody, shaking hands and
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: trying to learn everybody's.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Names, presenting with Trevor Simmy and based on everything I've read,
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: you and Brian Kellen have a great relationship.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, CALLI was my assistant coach quarterback coach in my
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: rookie year, and we had a Greg Napp uh and
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: obviously Peyton was in there in brock Oswiler. So we
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: had a good group. And you know, you're something about
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: your first year. You allus remember that that kind of closeness.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Did you get the sense that Brian really sold you,
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: for lack of a better expression, to Zach and to ownership,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: as this guy would be the perfect fit on our roster.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: I hope.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: So I don't know, yeah, I hope. So you know
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: we've kept in touch, you know, via text over the
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: last several years. But uh, yeah, I thought it was
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: it was a cool opportunity to link up with somebody
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: that I had crossed over with before, and obviously, you know,
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: I just want to be on a good team with
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: some good coaches.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: So years probably fly by. When you're playing in the NFL.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: You've gone from young starter now to experienced mentor. Is
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: that difficult to process?
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: I try not to process it now minute. You know,
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: every once in a while you kind of figuring out
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: what what uh? What's what's transpired? But you know, I'm
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: thankful for every every bit of it, every team I've
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: been on, every coach, every teammate. It's it's been a
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: fun ride. So excited to keep it going.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: The quarterback fraternity is an interesting one. What have been
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: your impressions of Joe Burrow from AFAR.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: I love watching him play. I think he's, you know,
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: it is a terrific football player, and you know, as
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: a quarterback, you certainly appreciate, you know, a couple the
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: top handful of guys watching him play on TV, and
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: he's he's a guy that you know, I will certainly
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: stop what I'm doing and watch a ball game.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: For anything in particular standout, Yeah, I think.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: He's I think he's just got a great feel for
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: passing the football. You know, I think, uh, sorts of
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: anticipation they can make obviously every throw and there's a
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: little bit of creativity in there too. So just a
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: fun guy to watch.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Where does your four touchdown game against the Bengals stack
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: is one of your favorite NFL highlights? Uh?
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: You know, it's up there. It's fun. It's fun. I've
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: always enjoyed winning on the road, so I think all
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: the road winds I've had in my career are definitely
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: up there. But yeah, it's it's fun looking back at it.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: Cool to be here now playing on the home side.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: You've got a Super Bowl ring, correct.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I like to get another one.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: We would like you to get another one. I was
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: just talking to Sydney Jones, the fourth who's new this year.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: He has one as a rookie with the Eagles. When
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: you've been on a team that's done that, how much
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: is it what your appetite to be part of it again?
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: Huge? You know? And I was. It was my rookie
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: year too, so I was so spoiled in that sense. Uh,
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: And it is. It's it's a totally different feeling, and
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: it's it's something that you know, when you go through
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: the first time, you're like, well, maybe maybe I get
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: back again, and you're trying to not take it for granted,
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: but kind of seeing what it what it took, and
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: what the team looked like, and you know, got to
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: get a ball to bounce your your way a few
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: times and you got a really freaking good team. So yeah,
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: looking looking forward to trying to do it this year.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Simeon will wear the number nineteen in a Bengals uniform.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: That's going to do it. For this episode of The
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by Kettering Health, the
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and
• 41:13
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• 41:16
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• 41:20
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• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. If
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast
• 41:33
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• 41:35
  Speaker 2: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horn and thanks for listening to The Bengals
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Booth podcast