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Bengals Booth Podcast: Viva Las Vegas · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Viva Viva Las Vegas addition,
0:16
Speaker 1: as the Bengals come to the gambling capital of the
0:19
Speaker 1: world and strike at Ridge with a thirty two thirteen
0:22
Speaker 1: win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Coming up, you'll hear
0:25
Speaker 1: radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches, and analysis
0:29
Speaker 1: from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's
0:33
Speaker 1: fun Fact segment, you'll get to know one of the
0:35
Speaker 1: heroes from Sunday's win, the Baby Faced Assassin Evan McPherson.
0:41
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
0:44
Speaker 1: Freed to Play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now
0:48
Speaker 1: from the App Store and Google Play. And here's a
0:51
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:53
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
0:57
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcast. It's the greatest
1:01
Speaker 1: thing since the cinnamon roll at the Brown Bear Bakery.
1:06
Speaker 1: There aren't many truly bad cinnamon rolls out there. I
1:09
Speaker 1: even like the Pillsbury version that comes in the little
1:12
Speaker 1: tube in the freezer section at the grocery store. But
1:15
Speaker 1: I recently had one from the Brown Bear Bakery in
1:18
Speaker 1: downtown Cincinnati and it is, without question, the best cinnamon
1:22
Speaker 1: roll I've ever had. It's got a little orange zest
1:26
Speaker 1: on the top with cream cheese icing, and it is
1:29
Speaker 1: next level. So do yourself a favor and enjoy the
1:34
Speaker 1: flavor of the Brown Bear Bakery cinnamon roll. Now let's
1:39
Speaker 1: get to Sunday's game. It did not start well, as
1:43
Speaker 1: the Bengals coughed up the ball on their opening possession,
1:46
Speaker 1: third down and six from the forty shotgun snap Burrow
1:49
Speaker 1: looking sacked balls out greater scoop it up at the forty,
1:53
Speaker 1: running it back to the thirty. Now they're twenty coming
1:56
Speaker 1: back to the middle of the field, not the fifteen
1:58
Speaker 1: to ten and tackle made by t Higgins at the
2:02
Speaker 1: nine yard line. Levitt scooping up the fumble and running
2:07
Speaker 1: it back to the nine, but the Bengals defense only
2:09
Speaker 1: allowed the Raiders to gain one yard. Vegas settled for
2:13
Speaker 1: a field goal in a three nothing lead. Here's eli
2:16
Speaker 1: apple sudden change. We already know we gotta stop the
2:18
Speaker 1: bleeding whenever something like that happens as a defense, So
2:21
Speaker 1: we just came together and we were just locking in.
2:23
Speaker 1: I saw The Bengals answered, thanks in part to a
2:25
Speaker 1: roughing the passer penalty on Unique and Goakway. When Cincinnati
2:30
Speaker 1: would have had to punt instead, Evan McPherson got to
2:34
Speaker 1: kick the snap to put down the swing of the
2:36
Speaker 1: right leg. Evan McPherson's kick is good. Yeah. He delivers
2:42
Speaker 1: from fifty four yards away and ties a franchise record
2:48
Speaker 1: for most fifty plus field goals in a single season.
2:51
Speaker 1: It's a record that goes back to nineteen seventy when
2:55
Speaker 1: Horstmuellman made four in one season. That's what Evan McPherson
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Speaker 1: has in his first ten games. Four out of five attempts,
3:03
Speaker 1: four out of five. Unbelievable. It was three to three
3:05
Speaker 1: at the end of the first quarter. Another field goal
3:08
Speaker 1: gave Vegas a six three lead early in the second
3:11
Speaker 1: before the Bengals took advantage of more Raiders penalties. An
3:15
Speaker 1: offside's call wiped out a sack on third and twelve,
3:18
Speaker 1: and after the five yard penalty, the Bengals converted on
3:21
Speaker 1: third and seven. A few plays later, a helmet to
3:24
Speaker 1: helmet hit moved the ball inside the red zone from
3:27
Speaker 1: the eleven yard line. Burrow under center receiver goes in
3:30
Speaker 1: jet motion. They run in the opposite direction more than
3:33
Speaker 1: jugging mix into the five to the pylon reaches out
3:37
Speaker 1: for the football touchdown Bengals as Mixon takes it in
3:42
Speaker 1: following the lead block of Stanley Morgan Fron eleven yard TD.
3:47
Speaker 1: Mixon followed his touchdown with a Vegas theme celebration as
3:51
Speaker 1: he pretended to roll a pair of dice with that
3:55
Speaker 1: Durren what was it Thursday's practice? I was just like, bro,
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Speaker 1: what were we doing? Like we need a celebration? We
4:01
Speaker 1: go on to Vegas, Like what is it? And then
4:04
Speaker 1: he was like, real, we gotta do something like what
4:05
Speaker 1: we give us? I'm like, you know what, shake them dice?
4:09
Speaker 1: You know. Ended up saying whoever score, gonna shake the
4:12
Speaker 1: dice and getting the pot and I was able to
4:14
Speaker 1: do it. It was thirteen six Cincinnati at the half,
4:17
Speaker 1: even though the offense hadn't done much. Mixon only had
4:20
Speaker 1: twenty six rushing yards at the break and Joe Burrow
4:23
Speaker 1: was held his seventy eight yards through the air. But
4:26
Speaker 1: in the second half, the Bengals never punted on their
4:30
Speaker 1: first possession. Evan almighty came through again looking for his
4:35
Speaker 1: second long field goal of the game. The snap, the
4:37
Speaker 1: swing of the leg, the kick is on its way.
4:40
Speaker 1: It is good with easy. Evan McPherson with his fifth
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Speaker 1: field goal of fifty plus in the first ten games
4:50
Speaker 1: of the season, a new single season record for the
4:53
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals, and Cincinnati leads this game thirteen to six.
4:58
Speaker 1: Ball hit two thirds up, the two thirds of the
5:01
Speaker 1: way up there. It would have been good from sixty five.
5:03
Speaker 1: It gave the Bengals a thirteen six lead going to
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Speaker 1: the final quarter, and you can probably guess how they
5:08
Speaker 1: added to it early in the fourth. Evan McPherson has
5:12
Speaker 1: hit from fifty three and fifty four. Now he's trying
5:15
Speaker 1: to boot one through from fifty one. Cuba ready for
5:18
Speaker 1: the snap from Harris Kevin Huber catches the ball, puts
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Speaker 1: it down. McPherson swings the leg, his kick is oh yeah,
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Speaker 1: good again three times from fifty plus for the rookie
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Speaker 1: out of Florida, and the Bengals have a ten point lead.
5:34
Speaker 1: As a result, they are on top sixteen to six.
5:39
Speaker 1: It was fun while it lasted. When the Raiders got
5:41
Speaker 1: the ball back, Derek Carr through three passes, a twenty
5:45
Speaker 1: five yarder to Darren Waller, a thirty one yard to
5:48
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl tight end, followed by this pass to
5:52
Speaker 1: a different tight end. The car catches the shotgun snap,
5:55
Speaker 1: He's gonna float one toward the end zone. Logan Wilson
5:57
Speaker 1: in coverage, he had no chance touchdown raiders as tight
6:02
Speaker 1: end Foster Moreau takes advantage of a mismatch against Logan Wilson,
6:07
Speaker 1: lining up wide to the right and hauling in the
6:09
Speaker 1: nineteen yard TV At that point, the game had a
6:12
Speaker 1: here we go again feeling to it since the Bengals
6:15
Speaker 1: blew a double digit fourth quarter lead in their last
6:18
Speaker 1: road game against the Jets, but not this time, as
6:21
Speaker 1: Cincinnati responded with a twelve play touchdown drive, third down
6:26
Speaker 1: and goal from the six shotgun snap. Burrow from the
6:29
Speaker 1: pocket throws toward the boom left corner of the end zone,
6:32
Speaker 1: caught by Chase. Touchdown Bengals Chamar Chase doing his gritty
6:40
Speaker 1: dance in the back of the end zone. As the
6:43
Speaker 1: Bengals answer with a long touchdown drive and go back
6:46
Speaker 1: up by two scores, McPherson proved to be human as
6:50
Speaker 1: he missed the extra point, but that was the last
6:52
Speaker 1: mistake the Bengals made. Car back to throw, He'll pass
6:56
Speaker 1: for Waller, intercepted by here by Apple. Now he this
7:00
Speaker 1: is the ball and then pounces on top of it.
7:02
Speaker 1: There's a late penalty flag down. Eli Apple running toward
7:06
Speaker 1: the end zone to pose for a picture after intercepting
7:09
Speaker 1: that throw for Darren Waller. Eli Apple has obviously faced
7:13
Speaker 1: his share of criticism this year, and Zach Taylor says
7:16
Speaker 1: it was great to see him make such a huge play.
7:20
Speaker 1: Really proud of him because he just hangs in there
7:22
Speaker 1: and is able to go on the next play and
7:24
Speaker 1: that's just really his experience playing football. Point NFL football
7:27
Speaker 1: is kind of know when that concept's coming at you
7:29
Speaker 1: in that coverage and being able to fall off and
7:30
Speaker 1: get that pick. Because I'm from the sidelines, I know
7:33
Speaker 1: what coverage it is. I see what routes developing with Waller,
7:36
Speaker 1: and the corner has got to be the one to
7:38
Speaker 1: make the play, and he did it and then some
7:39
Speaker 1: and so just just awesome job about you either. It
7:43
Speaker 1: gave the Bengals the ball at the twenty seven yard line,
7:45
Speaker 1: and two Joe Mixon runs later, they were in the
7:48
Speaker 1: end zone. On second down, it's a handoff, Mixon finds
7:52
Speaker 1: a cutback lay to the ten. He's swerving toward the
7:55
Speaker 1: end zone, touchdown Bengals with three fifty. He wanted to
8:00
Speaker 1: go and that could be coffin nailsm Mixing slipped a
8:06
Speaker 1: few times down the allegianed stadium grass in the first half,
8:10
Speaker 1: but after switching the longer cleats in the third quarter,
8:13
Speaker 1: he had a big half, finishing the game with thirty
8:16
Speaker 1: carries for one hundred twenty three yards. Here's Tyler Boyd.
8:20
Speaker 1: He can do it all. It ain't just the running downhill.
8:23
Speaker 1: He could hit you up, he can shake you, he
8:25
Speaker 1: can catch the ball. He can do anything we didn't do.
8:28
Speaker 1: You know. That's why he's out there, and that's why
8:29
Speaker 1: he's one of the best running backs in the league.
8:32
Speaker 1: And with cold weather games approaching after Thanksgiving, Mixing is
8:36
Speaker 1: ready for a heavy workload. With the history of me
8:39
Speaker 1: being in Cincinnati, usually November and December become them games
8:43
Speaker 1: where they lean on me. And I've been really you know,
8:46
Speaker 1: doing big things and finishing very strong. So like I said,
8:50
Speaker 1: I just for me personally, I gotta do whatever I
8:53
Speaker 1: can to you know, prepare my body for whatever you
8:58
Speaker 1: know I gotta get ready for the Bengal had a
9:00
Speaker 1: sixteen point lead with four minutes to go, so the
9:02
Speaker 1: Raiders still had a prayer if they could get two
9:05
Speaker 1: touchdowns and two two point conversions. Shotgun snap, Derek Carr,
9:10
Speaker 1: here come Ons Hendrickson caught him bouff out Hubbard, Sam
9:15
Speaker 1: running it back with blockers in front to the fifty,
9:18
Speaker 1: Hubbard to the forty, cutting it back toward the numerals
9:21
Speaker 1: at the thirty five. Sam Hubbard tackled at the thirty
9:25
Speaker 1: two Trey Hendrickson with a strip sack recovered by his
9:29
Speaker 1: buddy Sam Hubbard, and this bad boy is over. Hubbard's
9:33
Speaker 1: forty three yard run back led to a forty seven
9:36
Speaker 1: yard field goal by McPherson, his fourth of the game,
9:39
Speaker 1: and that made the final score thirty two thirteen. Here
9:44
Speaker 1: are Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, and Zach Taylor. That was fun.
9:48
Speaker 1: It was a hard fock game. They were a good
9:50
Speaker 1: team that we knew it was gonna be a dog fight.
9:53
Speaker 1: We knew the kind of defense they were. They were
9:54
Speaker 1: going to give up in a lot of big places,
9:56
Speaker 1: so we had to stay patient and eventually damn broke
9:59
Speaker 1: and we were able to get some points at the end.
10:01
Speaker 1: Defense played great team one. You know, I'm just proud
10:03
Speaker 1: of how we responded after that loss about two weeks ago.
10:08
Speaker 1: Proud of how we responded. We just got to keep
10:09
Speaker 1: on building, getting better, and you know, we got everything
10:13
Speaker 1: that we want in front of us, and we just
10:15
Speaker 1: got to keep on going one week at a time
10:17
Speaker 1: and was just stackton doves. That's pretty much about it.
10:19
Speaker 1: Just a couple of weeks ago, we went to New York,
10:21
Speaker 1: had an eleven point leading the fourth quarter and squandered
10:24
Speaker 1: it really on both sides of the ball, and it
10:26
Speaker 1: came back and one. And today we had that same
10:27
Speaker 1: moment the fourth quarter and we responded with a touchdown,
10:30
Speaker 1: We responded with two turnovers. Just really proud of the
10:33
Speaker 1: way that these guys have responded. Shows the maturity of
10:35
Speaker 1: our football team. And really proud of him to go
10:38
Speaker 1: out after a buy and get a big road win
10:41
Speaker 1: and come back and get ready for a big time
10:42
Speaker 1: divisional game this Sunday at our house. Really proud of
10:45
Speaker 1: our guests today. That divisional game is against the Pittsburgh Steelers,
10:48
Speaker 1: who scored twenty seven points in the fourth quarter against
10:51
Speaker 1: the Chargers on Sunday night and took the lead with
10:54
Speaker 1: three and a half minutes to go, only to surrender
10:58
Speaker 1: it on a fifty three yard touchdown pass from Justin
11:01
Speaker 1: Herbert to Mike Williams to give LA a forty one
11:05
Speaker 1: to thirty seven win. As a result, the Bengals climb
11:08
Speaker 1: back ahead of Pittsburg in the AFC North Cincinnatis in
11:12
Speaker 1: second place, one game behind the Ravens and a half
11:15
Speaker 1: game ahead of Pittsburg and Cleveland. The Bengals are currently
11:19
Speaker 1: the number sixth seed in the AFC playoff race. The
11:23
Speaker 1: Bengals poof podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
11:27
Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will be awarding
11:31
Speaker 1: a weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets,
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Speaker 1: autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs.
11:40
Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals in the app stores now. Now time
11:44
Speaker 1: for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.
11:49
Speaker 1: Quite a day coming out of the bye for the Bengals.
11:50
Speaker 1: A thirty two thirteen win in Las Vegas. First time
11:53
Speaker 1: since twenty fifteen they've won their game after the bye.
11:56
Speaker 1: They were good in every department today. They really were.
11:59
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they played with the sense of
12:01
Speaker 1: urgency that you thought they might play with, no panic,
12:06
Speaker 1: and you know some of the things that they did
12:08
Speaker 1: so well. You know, one penalty for five yards on
12:11
Speaker 1: the road in a loud stadium, hostile environment. No penalty
12:15
Speaker 1: on the offense, none one penalty on the defense, which
12:18
Speaker 1: was more of a mental error. You know, you see
12:20
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman move your instincts to make sure that
12:23
Speaker 1: he gets penalties while losing a two point stands not
12:25
Speaker 1: a three point stand So you can do that. But
12:28
Speaker 1: other than that, I mean, the focus was laser sharp,
12:32
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of not beating themselves. Make sure
12:35
Speaker 1: that okay, you're on the road against a good football team,
12:38
Speaker 1: make them win the game. Don't you help them win
12:40
Speaker 1: the game. And they did that about as well as
12:42
Speaker 1: you can do it. Time a possession thirty seven minutes
12:45
Speaker 1: and twenty seconds to twenty two minutes and forty seconds.
12:49
Speaker 1: That's the type of differential and you'd expect, like out
12:51
Speaker 1: of Navy running the triple option. You don't see a
12:54
Speaker 1: disparity that huge in an NFL game very often. Yeah,
12:58
Speaker 1: And a big part of it was over seven on
13:00
Speaker 1: third down. I mean, they just once they got on
13:03
Speaker 1: tracked and did a better job in first and second down.
13:06
Speaker 1: I mean it was they had a couple of critical
13:09
Speaker 1: three and outs and uh didn't let them get anything
13:12
Speaker 1: done on third down whatsoever. And then they started, you know,
13:15
Speaker 1: grind to putting them in meat grinder and let Joe
13:17
Speaker 1: Mixon run the ball thirty times and eat clock up.
13:21
Speaker 1: It was, I thought, particularly in the second half, fourth quarter,
13:25
Speaker 1: most specifically, they just warmed down. I mean that defense,
13:28
Speaker 1: you could tell where that's a pretty good group. I mean,
13:31
Speaker 1: Crosbie's a heck of a player. I mean it's like
13:35
Speaker 1: it's like trying to block Gumby with fifty inch arms,
13:38
Speaker 1: you know. I mean you can't get to his chest.
13:41
Speaker 1: The guy does not let you get to his chest.
13:43
Speaker 1: I mean he's a nightmare. He's a nightmare for offensive lineman.
13:46
Speaker 1: And once once they get into a situation though, where
13:49
Speaker 1: they could just come off the line of scrimmage and
13:51
Speaker 1: tea off and you know, he just couldn't get blow
13:54
Speaker 1: up the football field and pass rush the whole time
13:56
Speaker 1: in the warm turn a little bit. People love to
13:59
Speaker 1: talk about halftime adjustments. I don't know how much validity
14:03
Speaker 1: there is to it. Most of the time. But I
14:04
Speaker 1: do know this. In this game, the Bengals had five
14:07
Speaker 1: drives in the second half, they scored on all five.
14:10
Speaker 1: In the Jacksonville game, where they were way behind, they
14:12
Speaker 1: had four drives, they scored all four to win that game.
14:16
Speaker 1: So if there is any validity to the notion of
14:19
Speaker 1: the halftime adjustments, they've done a remarkable job in a
14:22
Speaker 1: couple of games this year. Yeah, and in this game,
14:24
Speaker 1: you got a kicker that's blasting him from fifty plus
14:27
Speaker 1: to put points on the board. I mean, geez, what
14:29
Speaker 1: a weapon that is, you know, And for him to
14:32
Speaker 1: be six for seven from fifty yards plus they only
14:35
Speaker 1: miss from fifty seven yards. That's that's in. His swing
14:39
Speaker 1: is just so smooth and so easy. I mean, he's
14:41
Speaker 1: just and he's getting high trajectory. It's not like, you know,
14:44
Speaker 1: he's he's having to hit those low line drives to
14:47
Speaker 1: get it to the goal post. He's kicking it and
14:49
Speaker 1: it's going two thirds of the way up the net.
14:51
Speaker 1: I mean, he's good from he's good from sixty on
14:54
Speaker 1: every one of those kicks. I mean, he's got a
14:57
Speaker 1: definite pure swing and man, a Howards hang and off
15:00
Speaker 1: of that right hip. Let's give credit to Darren Simmons
15:03
Speaker 1: for recognizing the best kicker in this draft and Duke
15:06
Speaker 1: Tobin for the willingness to pull the trigger on drafting
15:09
Speaker 1: a kicker in the fifth round. A lot of people
15:11
Speaker 1: in the day or two immediately after the draft downgraded
15:15
Speaker 1: the Bengals overall draft for the simple fact that they
15:18
Speaker 1: took a kicker in the fifth round. If you happen
15:20
Speaker 1: to take one, who's that good, it's well worth it. Yeah,
15:23
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. I mean, I think they I think
15:26
Speaker 1: there were quite a few team Darren thought there were
15:28
Speaker 1: a few teams that were going to draft him. He
15:30
Speaker 1: was a draftable kicker. So he and Duke thought that
15:34
Speaker 1: you don't have to expend a fifth round or on
15:36
Speaker 1: it because if you wait till the sixth you may
15:39
Speaker 1: not get there. Somebody somebody might do it later in
15:41
Speaker 1: the fifth round, then you would have done it. So, um,
15:44
Speaker 1: that was a gutsy move. They knew what they were doing.
15:47
Speaker 1: They targeted him, and they got him, and boy, he's
15:51
Speaker 1: you talk about a bright future and nothing seems to
15:54
Speaker 1: phase him. That's the thing. Even when you know when
15:56
Speaker 1: things don't go his way, he doesn't fall apart. There's
15:59
Speaker 1: no panic in that kid either. And that's that's the
16:02
Speaker 1: thing I think with a lot of these uh, a
16:04
Speaker 1: lot of these players, is that they just they just
16:07
Speaker 1: move on. They move on to the next experience, whether
16:09
Speaker 1: it's a joyful experience, compartmentalized, move on, or a tragic experience,
16:14
Speaker 1: compartmentalized and move on. Speaking of guts, I thought this
16:17
Speaker 1: was a toughness game for Joe Burrow. The stats weren't great.
16:20
Speaker 1: One hundred and forty eight yards, one touchdown, note picks
16:23
Speaker 1: pass the rating of ninety two point three, so it
16:25
Speaker 1: wasn't bad. But he was taking hits, didn't have much
16:28
Speaker 1: time to throw, made a couple of questionable decisions in
16:31
Speaker 1: terms of scrambling kind of back into traffic, leading to
16:35
Speaker 1: more hits. But he just kept coming back for more,
16:37
Speaker 1: as he always does. Yeah, he did. And you know,
16:40
Speaker 1: a few people in the locker room and I talked
16:41
Speaker 1: to after the game mentioned that for the first time,
16:45
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley kind of changed coverages a little bit. You know,
16:48
Speaker 1: it wasn't just that pure uh you know, cover three
16:51
Speaker 1: that that he did in Seattle so successful. They were,
16:54
Speaker 1: they were throwing some different wrinkles at him. And I
16:56
Speaker 1: think that that's a testament to what you've got for
16:59
Speaker 1: weaponry offense. Lee when when he does something like that
17:02
Speaker 1: in a home game, you know, it's, uh, it's it's
17:05
Speaker 1: it's pretty interesting. Um, but you know it did. It
17:08
Speaker 1: took a while for Joe Burrow, I think to settle in,
17:11
Speaker 1: and um, Joe Mixon just started taking over, took over
17:16
Speaker 1: the football game, and the offensive line just uh, you know,
17:20
Speaker 1: the two yard gains turned into four or five yard
17:22
Speaker 1: gains as they as they you know, started to settle
17:25
Speaker 1: in to what was going on. And uh, it can't
17:28
Speaker 1: give enough credit to the to the defense as well.
17:30
Speaker 1: I mean complimentary football. I'd say the Baltimore game. In
17:34
Speaker 1: this football game, you know, and it's easy to say
17:36
Speaker 1: because the differential nineteen point win in Baltimore, it's more
17:39
Speaker 1: than that. But all three phases, I mean, you have
17:42
Speaker 1: a kicker kicking three field goals over fifty yards. You
17:45
Speaker 1: have your defense getting the football back to the offense.
17:47
Speaker 1: You have the offense keeping the football, and you know,
17:50
Speaker 1: grinding clock and scoring points. That's a that's a good formula,
17:54
Speaker 1: particularly on the road. Do you think that Joe Mixon
17:58
Speaker 1: is going to get get this kind of workload going forward.
18:00
Speaker 1: We're being told to go a little bit quieter. Apparently
18:03
Speaker 1: we can be heard in the press conference room. Do
18:04
Speaker 1: you think Joe Mixon's going to get this kind of
18:06
Speaker 1: workload going forward, thirty catches or thirty carries rather today
18:10
Speaker 1: to tie his career high. Yeah. I think I think
18:12
Speaker 1: that that they understand that that's a component they can do.
18:18
Speaker 1: And I think it's on a game by game basis.
18:21
Speaker 1: I think it's on a on a matchup matchup basis
18:24
Speaker 1: a little bit. This football team, they'd rush people who
18:27
Speaker 1: rushed the ball on him, and I think, I think
18:30
Speaker 1: when you do have a weapon like Joe Joe Mixon, though,
18:33
Speaker 1: I think you do have to let him become a factor.
18:37
Speaker 1: And let's face it, if if you can run the
18:41
Speaker 1: ball on a consistent basis, and I'm not saying he
18:43
Speaker 1: has to carry it thirty times a week every week,
18:46
Speaker 1: but if he gets eighteen to twenty five carries on
18:50
Speaker 1: a consistent basis, I'd say twenty to twenty seven even
18:53
Speaker 1: somewhere in that kind of a number, twenty seven on
18:55
Speaker 1: the high end, and you know, eighteen to twenty catches,
18:57
Speaker 1: twenty five to twenty seven touches running the football in
19:01
Speaker 1: twenty five to twenty seven on the high end, I
19:03
Speaker 1: think I think that is very manageable. And I think
19:06
Speaker 1: you can still, you know, get the football to other
19:09
Speaker 1: guys because they're gonna be on the field and they're
19:11
Speaker 1: gonna run sixty five seventy plays a game. Big picture,
19:14
Speaker 1: this was huge. They're six and four, They've got seven
19:17
Speaker 1: games to go. Five of them are at home, including
19:19
Speaker 1: home games against the Steelers and the Ravens. We talked
19:22
Speaker 1: about it on our midweek podcast. A website that measures
19:26
Speaker 1: playoff probability said their chance of making the playoffs who
19:28
Speaker 1: jumped to fifty five percent if they won today, which
19:31
Speaker 1: they did, And that same website said if they win
19:34
Speaker 1: today and then win at home next week against the Steelers,
19:37
Speaker 1: it goes up to nearly seventy percent. Yeah, and the
19:40
Speaker 1: players are aware that the players, they can't wait to
19:42
Speaker 1: get back home for three straight games. You know. We
19:45
Speaker 1: talked about it in the locker room with a few guys.
19:48
Speaker 1: Five of those seven games are at home, and three
19:50
Speaker 1: of them in a row. They can't wait, honestly, And
19:54
Speaker 1: and that that's the thing is is now you have
19:57
Speaker 1: to start to stack them you know, it's like, you
19:59
Speaker 1: can't you can't have the graph going up and down
20:01
Speaker 1: and up and down. It's a roller coaster in the
20:03
Speaker 1: National Football League now, and uh, who would have thunk it?
20:07
Speaker 1: You know, it's you can't, you can't figure it. You
20:09
Speaker 1: just the teams that you think it's going to be
20:12
Speaker 1: a dog fight till the very end, one team blows
20:14
Speaker 1: the other one out. And sometimes it's the opposite team
20:16
Speaker 1: that you think it might happen to. And um, all
20:19
Speaker 1: you can do is is basically, Okay, put this one away,
20:22
Speaker 1: learn from it, accentuate the positives, build on that and
20:26
Speaker 1: try to stack wins. Try to go, you know, one
20:28
Speaker 1: to oh seven more times. That's the bottom line. Brent Musburger,
20:32
Speaker 1: the legendary eighty two year old radio voice of the
20:35
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Raiders, has a signature call now when the
20:38
Speaker 1: Raiders score a touchdown, now that the team is playing
20:40
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, Brent says, jack pot baby. Well that's
20:45
Speaker 1: what we can say today for the Bengals. Jack pot baby,
20:48
Speaker 1: no doubt, no doubt. It was a big one. I
20:50
Speaker 1: mean there were thirty two points in that jackpot and
20:54
Speaker 1: and and they did they You know, when when you
20:56
Speaker 1: look at it the way they ugle down the road,
21:00
Speaker 1: no other way to put it with Szack. No, they're
21:03
Speaker 1: they've turned into a this is an easy trip to
21:05
Speaker 1: make for our flight three time zone changes and you know,
21:09
Speaker 1: come out in the football field and focus and basically
21:14
Speaker 1: give all out every effort, every single snaps like they did.
21:16
Speaker 1: I think it's a sign of maturation. I think it's
21:19
Speaker 1: a sign of focus and there's a lot of good
21:21
Speaker 1: things there. More on Sunday's when joined Lap and Lance
21:25
Speaker 1: mcalisterre for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine
21:29
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Now time for this week's
21:33
Speaker 1: Fun Facts segment, and it's perfect timing for this week's subject.
21:38
Speaker 1: Have for some fun facts with kicker Evan McPherson from
21:41
Speaker 1: Fort Payne, Alabama, population roughly fifteen thousand in the northeast
21:46
Speaker 1: part of the state. Describe Fort Payne and some of
21:49
Speaker 1: the things you like about your hometown. It's a small
21:52
Speaker 1: town where how I'll explain it is everybody kind of
21:55
Speaker 1: knows everybody. It was a lot of fun growing up.
21:58
Speaker 1: There not much going on, and so all you're all
22:03
Speaker 1: you had to really focus on, was you know, your
22:06
Speaker 1: your sports and then uh, and then really church was
22:09
Speaker 1: a big thing in our community too, and so you
22:12
Speaker 1: go church on Sunday and then pretty much sports, um,
22:16
Speaker 1: every day of the week. Um. But small town feel. Um.
22:22
Speaker 1: You know, there's only one school really in the city,
22:24
Speaker 1: and so everybody goes to that one school, and um,
22:28
Speaker 1: you pretty much know almost everybody in the in the city.
22:32
Speaker 1: Sounds like Lakewood, New York, where I grew up. Fort
22:36
Speaker 1: Payne is the home of the band Alabama, one of
22:39
Speaker 1: the biggest selling country music bands of all time. In fact,
22:42
Speaker 1: there is a museum dedicated to the band in Fort Payne.
22:45
Speaker 1: Are you a country music guy and have you ever
22:47
Speaker 1: gone into the museum? Yeah, I'm one hundred percent a
22:50
Speaker 1: country music guy. If you were to get in my
22:54
Speaker 1: car with me right now, that's what would be on
22:56
Speaker 1: the radio. Um. Yeah, I just grew up listening to it,
23:01
Speaker 1: you know, being from FOURT Payins. Like you said, it's
23:03
Speaker 1: probably a big part of our culture with the band
23:06
Speaker 1: Alabama being from Fort Payne, and it's super cool just
23:09
Speaker 1: to um, you know, I have them represent Fort Payne
23:14
Speaker 1: in a great way and you know, on the national
23:17
Speaker 1: country music stage. But I've never been in the museum.
23:21
Speaker 1: I drive past it every single day, but I've never
23:24
Speaker 1: actually been in it. Something to look forward to on
23:26
Speaker 1: your next visit home. We are chatting with Evan McPherson.
23:29
Speaker 1: You're from a family of kickers. Your older brother was
23:32
Speaker 1: a college punter. Your younger brother is headed to Auburn.
23:36
Speaker 1: He's considered to be the top high school kicker in
23:38
Speaker 1: the country. How did the McPherson boys become such good kickers?
23:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it just comes down to us
23:47
Speaker 1: just playing a lot of sports grown up, and the
23:49
Speaker 1: main one being soccer. You know, we were out in
23:52
Speaker 1: the yard every day shooting at a goal, just kind
23:56
Speaker 1: of working on our legs strength then even though we
23:59
Speaker 1: didn't really realize how we were going to use it,
24:01
Speaker 1: you know later down the road. Um, I think it
24:04
Speaker 1: just all started, you know, playing soccer at young age
24:06
Speaker 1: and just continuing to play it as we grew up.
24:10
Speaker 1: And then, you know, when my older brother got in
24:11
Speaker 1: the ninth grade, he went out and tried out and
24:15
Speaker 1: just saw the the kicker at the time at the
24:18
Speaker 1: other field, at the other end of the field kicking
24:20
Speaker 1: and he thought it was pretty cool, and so he
24:22
Speaker 1: just went over and tried it out. Came home and
24:25
Speaker 1: told the family that he was going to be the kicker,
24:29
Speaker 1: and he kind of went from there. I mean I
24:32
Speaker 1: probably went outside that day and I was like, I've
24:35
Speaker 1: never seen this before, and I probably went out and
24:38
Speaker 1: tried it, and you know, the rest is history. I mean,
24:42
Speaker 1: ever since then, we turned our soccer goal into uprights,
24:47
Speaker 1: and so that's kind of how it's been since since then.
24:51
Speaker 1: I am the least handy person in the world. I
24:54
Speaker 1: can barely change a light ball. How did you guys
24:56
Speaker 1: turn a soccer goal into basically a makeshift goal post. Yeah,
25:01
Speaker 1: so we just had some extra PBC pipe laying around
25:05
Speaker 1: the house or around the garage or something, and then
25:08
Speaker 1: you just grabbed him, took some bungee cord and wrapped
25:13
Speaker 1: it tied around the soccer goal post, and just tied
25:17
Speaker 1: it to the soccer goal. And that's kind of how
25:19
Speaker 1: we made it work. Described the history of the high
25:22
Speaker 1: school state record for longest field goal in Alabama, because
25:27
Speaker 1: it seems like it's gone from brother to brother to brother.
25:30
Speaker 1: It has. I know, when my older brother was in
25:35
Speaker 1: in high school, I think the record might have been
25:36
Speaker 1: fifty six fifty six and for him to get the
25:40
Speaker 1: fifty seven was huge at the time. You know, we're
25:44
Speaker 1: all excited for him, and you know, it's really cool
25:47
Speaker 1: to have your name in a record book, especially for
25:50
Speaker 1: for it to be for the longest field goal in
25:53
Speaker 1: state history. And so you know, after you hit that, obviously,
25:58
Speaker 1: then my goal is to beat him. And you know,
26:01
Speaker 1: I really got fortunate. You know, my coach gave me
26:04
Speaker 1: the opportunity to attempt long ones, and my senior year,
26:10
Speaker 1: I broke his record, said it with a sixty yard
26:12
Speaker 1: field goal. And then obviously from there, my little brother
26:18
Speaker 1: now his goal is to break my record. And he's
26:21
Speaker 1: had so many attempts over the course of his career.
26:25
Speaker 1: I mean, his coaches out there letting him attempt seventy
26:27
Speaker 1: yard field goals, which is which is pretty crazy. And
26:30
Speaker 1: he almost made the seven yard field goal he attempted,
26:34
Speaker 1: but he's just came up a little short. And then
26:37
Speaker 1: last week he hits to sixty one yard field goal
26:41
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, but his teammate false starts so
26:45
Speaker 1: back him up to sixty six, came up short, and
26:48
Speaker 1: then later in the game he came back and hit
26:51
Speaker 1: another sixty one with no false start, and so he
26:55
Speaker 1: broke my record. Last last week and so took my
26:58
Speaker 1: name out of the record book, but same last name.
27:01
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm super super excited for him, and
27:05
Speaker 1: you know, it just shows it as a good coach.
27:07
Speaker 1: So that's awesome. We're doing fun facts with Havan McPherson
27:11
Speaker 1: kicker's dream of walkoff kicks that win games. But your
27:15
Speaker 1: first walkoff moment in sports was actually in soccer state championship.
27:20
Speaker 1: You're a ninth grader. Tell me about the game winning
27:23
Speaker 1: goal and what that moment meant to you. That moment
27:26
Speaker 1: was super special. We had five freshmen starting on that
27:30
Speaker 1: team and just growing up with those those guys and
27:34
Speaker 1: playing with them ever since we were probably seven years old. Um,
27:37
Speaker 1: it was just super special to to honestly win a
27:41
Speaker 1: state championship with the team, but and then on top
27:44
Speaker 1: of that, to score the game winning goal. It was
27:49
Speaker 1: super special, a lot of fun. I mean, I gotta
27:52
Speaker 1: give credit where credits to do. I mean, my teammates
27:56
Speaker 1: did a great job putting me in the position to
27:58
Speaker 1: score that goal, a great pass and all I had
28:01
Speaker 1: to do was kind of go put my head on
28:03
Speaker 1: it and flip it over the goalie. But yeah, that
28:06
Speaker 1: was such a special moment for me and I guess
28:10
Speaker 1: for my sports career. People can watch the video on YouTube,
28:14
Speaker 1: and I recommend listening to the commentators as well. They
28:17
Speaker 1: got very excited about that double overtime state championship winning goal.
28:21
Speaker 1: We're talking to Evian McPherson. When it came time to
28:23
Speaker 1: go to college, you chose to leave the state of
28:26
Speaker 1: Alabama and become a Florida Gator. Why. You know, I
28:29
Speaker 1: really trusted in everything that coach Mullen was doing. You know,
28:33
Speaker 1: I was committed to Mississippi State for over a year,
28:36
Speaker 1: and that just kind of came down to I mean, one,
28:41
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed Startville. I'll talk a little bit about
28:43
Speaker 1: Mississippi State, but I really liked Starvilling, the town that
28:46
Speaker 1: it was in, and but too like the coaching staff,
28:51
Speaker 1: the strength staff. You know, I really blended well with
28:54
Speaker 1: those guys and really liked what they were doing, and
28:57
Speaker 1: I felt really confident in them, and you know, they
28:59
Speaker 1: felt often to me, and so that's really why I
29:02
Speaker 1: decide to go there. And then whenever UM coach Mullen
29:06
Speaker 1: got the job at Florida, he calls me the day
29:09
Speaker 1: landed and offered me a scholarship there. Um. You know,
29:13
Speaker 1: I sat there and thought about it for a couple
29:15
Speaker 1: of days and then I was like, you know, um,
29:18
Speaker 1: where my heart lies was kind of with the coaching
29:21
Speaker 1: staff that went to Florida, and you know, I really
29:25
Speaker 1: wanted to play in big games, and I thought, um,
29:28
Speaker 1: that Florida would give me the opportunity to play in
29:30
Speaker 1: a lot bigger games than if I had gone to
29:32
Speaker 1: Mississippi State. And you know, that's what it kind of
29:35
Speaker 1: came down to. And you know I felt, I guess
29:37
Speaker 1: a little more comfortable at Florida just because I had
29:40
Speaker 1: that that bond with the whole the whole staff that
29:42
Speaker 1: was down there. You had a great career for Florida,
29:45
Speaker 1: and then the Bengal selected you in the fifth round
29:47
Speaker 1: of the draft, the only kicker selected in this year's draft.
29:51
Speaker 1: Describe your draft day experience. Draft day was was awesome.
29:55
Speaker 1: We had some people get together at the house to
30:00
Speaker 1: watch because I had a pretty good idea that I
30:03
Speaker 1: was going to get drafted, and you know, I was
30:05
Speaker 1: hoping I would just didn't know where. It's kind of
30:08
Speaker 1: a mystery, and the whole day it was pretty special.
30:12
Speaker 1: I mean, we had this Mexican restaurant in town where
30:17
Speaker 1: I pretty much called my second home. I'm there whenever
30:20
Speaker 1: I'm back home. I'm there all the time. And you know,
30:23
Speaker 1: they were kind enough to to cater food to the
30:27
Speaker 1: house for everybody that was there, and I think, shoot,
30:33
Speaker 1: we probably started sitting around the tv, probably fourth round
30:38
Speaker 1: and just sitting around, sitting around the TV. Just sitting
30:41
Speaker 1: there with all my friends and family that I've all
30:44
Speaker 1: supported me throughout my career was super special. And then
30:48
Speaker 1: you know, the fifth round, whenever it came around and
30:50
Speaker 1: I got the phone call, whole place kind of erupted
30:53
Speaker 1: and a super special moment for me. Obviously, my fiance
30:58
Speaker 1: sitting around by my side, and she's been with me
31:00
Speaker 1: since my freshman year of high school, and so she's
31:03
Speaker 1: she's watched me grow and helped me grow, you know,
31:07
Speaker 1: into what I am today, And it was honestly just
31:11
Speaker 1: a super special moment for everyone involved. Your NFL career
31:15
Speaker 1: began with a bang as you kicked an overtime game
31:18
Speaker 1: winning field goal to beat the Minnesota Vikings at Paul
31:20
Speaker 1: Brown Stadium. Who is the most nervous you, your parents
31:25
Speaker 1: or your fiance. I would probably say my parents are
31:29
Speaker 1: fiance for sure. I can't tell you which one was
31:32
Speaker 1: probably more nervous, but I think I was super confident
31:36
Speaker 1: in myself, so once I was really nervous at all.
31:38
Speaker 1: I know they panned over to me after they called
31:41
Speaker 1: the time out, and I was kind of smiling, you know.
31:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I was super confident and my abilities to
31:47
Speaker 1: make that kick. It's a pat in my mind and
31:52
Speaker 1: on you. I was gonna do everything in my power
31:54
Speaker 1: to put it through. You had a walkoff game winner
31:57
Speaker 1: in your first home game, a walkoff game winner in
31:59
Speaker 1: your second home game, and you thought you had a
32:02
Speaker 1: walk off game winner in your third home game before
32:04
Speaker 1: a gust of wind led to a miss against Green Bay.
32:08
Speaker 1: Do you cringe when you see footage of the postgame celebration.
32:12
Speaker 1: I don't think I cringe. I laughed more than everything,
32:16
Speaker 1: because you know, you can't really do anything about it now.
32:19
Speaker 1: It's it's it's in the past, and so I kind
32:21
Speaker 1: of it's honestly more funny than it is cringey to me,
32:27
Speaker 1: just based off of what I felt in the moment.
32:30
Speaker 1: Thought it hit it well, and I thought it was
32:33
Speaker 1: just gonna stay its course and you know, split the uprights,
32:36
Speaker 1: but the wind had different plants, and so that's definitely
32:40
Speaker 1: something I learned from. And I don't think you'll see
32:44
Speaker 1: me celebrate early on a field goal again. I do
32:47
Speaker 1: think we will be seeing you celebrate game winning field
32:50
Speaker 1: goals again, though, that's for sure. A few wildcard categories.
32:53
Speaker 1: To wrap up fun facts with Evan McPherson, You have
32:56
Speaker 1: a very youthful appearance. Do you have any amusing story?
33:00
Speaker 1: He's about people not buying that you are a professional
33:02
Speaker 1: football player. I got a couple. I guess too. Um,
33:06
Speaker 1: since I've been here. It's funny because, um, outside the facility, Um,
33:11
Speaker 1: Kevin Hubert, he's really you know, taking me under his
33:13
Speaker 1: wing and you know, we'll go golf a little. Or
33:16
Speaker 1: we went to the Friday night you UC game and
33:21
Speaker 1: at the golf course, Um, we were checking in getting
33:25
Speaker 1: our golf cart, and the guy that was checking us
33:27
Speaker 1: in was like, UM, what he's like, is this your
33:31
Speaker 1: son or something? He's like He's like, no, he's just
33:35
Speaker 1: a guest. He's with me, all right. That was my
33:38
Speaker 1: first experience hearing somebody say something like that about me
33:41
Speaker 1: and Kevin. And then at the UC game, the Friday
33:46
Speaker 1: night UC game, we go down and um, we're talking
33:49
Speaker 1: to Kevin's X neighbor and she asked about it was
33:54
Speaker 1: Kevin's nephew. Kevin was like, no, we're He was like, no,
33:58
Speaker 1: we're co workers and we go on talking whatever, and
34:03
Speaker 1: she didn't believe it whenever he said it, And so
34:06
Speaker 1: Kevin's other friends knew who I was and you, I
34:09
Speaker 1: was a kicker, and later on she was like, so
34:13
Speaker 1: who are you really? Still wasn't still wasn't buying it,
34:16
Speaker 1: and his other friends were like, he's the kicker for
34:20
Speaker 1: the Bengals and she's like what. She's like, I don't
34:24
Speaker 1: believe you. She's like, you look like you're seventeen. Like yeah,
34:28
Speaker 1: I mean he looked like I'm seventeen, but I'm twenty two.
34:31
Speaker 1: And then the last one I'll give you it was
34:34
Speaker 1: when we were at Detroit and I'll walk out of
34:37
Speaker 1: the out of the locker room and the security lady
34:41
Speaker 1: is sating right there and she's like, do you have credentials?
34:43
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, I'm a player, she said. She
34:46
Speaker 1: said nah. She's like, I don't believe you. I need
34:48
Speaker 1: to see credentials. And I was like, well, I've a
34:50
Speaker 1: picture on myself I could show you because I had
34:53
Speaker 1: my phone and so I'll show her a picture. He's like,
34:55
Speaker 1: that's not enough, like I need to see credentials. And
34:59
Speaker 1: luckily at that time Al Golden was walking out and
35:02
Speaker 1: the lady said, hey, sir, is he a player? And
35:06
Speaker 1: he's like yeah, and so she'll let me go. And
35:10
Speaker 1: finally got onto the field and it was funny. And
35:13
Speaker 1: when I got to the field, they were giving me
35:14
Speaker 1: a hard time. They wouldn't let me onto the field.
35:17
Speaker 1: So those just a couple of instances. But you know, hopefully,
35:21
Speaker 1: like you said, we'll be celebrating a lot of more
35:24
Speaker 1: game winners and maybe people start to recognize me a
35:27
Speaker 1: little more. Trust me, someday you'll be very happy you
35:29
Speaker 1: have this youthful appearance. Who is your all time favorite
35:32
Speaker 1: athlete in any sport? So I grew up really liking
35:36
Speaker 1: it's gonna be funny Tom Brady. I was a Patriots
35:41
Speaker 1: fan growing up. I really liked how he competed, in
35:45
Speaker 1: what he brought to the team, and obviously how much
35:49
Speaker 1: he won. And so he's probably one of my favorite
35:53
Speaker 1: athletes growing up. But other than him, a wild card
35:59
Speaker 1: that nobody really think of. His name is Ronald Dino
36:02
Speaker 1: and he played for Barcelona ac Milan, and I appreciate
36:07
Speaker 1: he played for Brazil national team. He was my favorite
36:11
Speaker 1: soccer player, I'd say, and whenever I was growing up
36:14
Speaker 1: playing soccer, he was the guy that I really looked
36:17
Speaker 1: at to. I guess you could say, emulate last thing.
36:21
Speaker 1: If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman,
36:25
Speaker 1: historical figure, whoever that might be, who would be at
36:29
Speaker 1: the top of your list. Probably God. I think that
36:32
Speaker 1: would be pretty cool. You can ask about that gust
36:35
Speaker 1: of wind. Yeah, I'll ask him what was up with
36:38
Speaker 1: that gust of wind against Green Bay, because I was like,
36:41
Speaker 1: I knew what my mind and what my body was
36:46
Speaker 1: telling which way the wind was bon But I was like,
36:47
Speaker 1: I guess he had a different, different plan. So I'll
36:51
Speaker 1: definitely ask him about that. This has been great. I
36:54
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time. Congratulations on a great start in
36:57
Speaker 1: Best of Black this year. Thank you. That's going to
37:00
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth podcast,
37:03
Speaker 1: brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play
37:05
Speaker 1: Next Level Fantasy Football game. Download it now from the
37:08
Speaker 1: App Store and Google Play. If you haven't done so already,
37:12
Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
37:15
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
37:17
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
37:21
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast