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Bengals Booth Podcast: I Like It, I Love It · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Hoard, and thanks for downloading
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The, I like it, I love it,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I want some more of it. Edition, as the Bengals
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: open the season with a 33-27 win over the Tampa
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers. Coming up, radio replays, locker room comments, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: post-game analysis from former UC and NFL quarterback Tony Pyke. Then,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in this week's Fun Facts Conversation, it's an exclusive interview
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: with team president Mike Brown as we discuss Dexter Lawrence,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, and much more. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: brought to you by Paycor, proud to be the Bengals'
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: official HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber internet designed
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And by Kettering Health. The best care for the best fans.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official health care provider of the Bengals. Now,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing, wherever you get your podcasts. It's
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the greatest thing since our radio broadcast crew. I grew
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: up dreaming of being a sports broadcaster. I like to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: joke that when the doctor pulled me out of my
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: mother's womb and slapped me on the butt, My first
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: words were, that's 15 yards for unnecessary roughness. So being
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: one of 32 NFL radio voices is truly a dream
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: come true, especially in a great place to live and
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: raise a family like Cincinnati. In my case, I also
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: have the good fortune to work with an amazing crew.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Not only my on-air partners Dave Lapham, Tony Pike, and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Wayne Box Miller, but the guys behind the scenes. Our producer,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Dave Yeddy Armbruster. our on-site engineer Dave McGyver-Abbott, my spotter
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Dave Eagle-Eye Kelly, our statistician Ben Jarvis, Brad Ellis, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the guys back in the studio, Taryn Bland, Drew Westerheide,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Dave Keaton, and Sean McMahon. It's truly a team effort,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: and hopefully we're working together into mid-February this season. Now,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: time for radio replays from Sunday's win over the Bucs. Today,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the journey begins for the Cincinnati Bengals, one that will
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: take them through the rugged blue-collar cities of the AFC
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: North to the vibrant capital of Spain, and eventually, they hope,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to a Hollywood ending at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: It starts at home as the Bengals open in orange
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it is time for
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the pigskin to fly here in the jungle. Tampa Bay
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: got off to a great start, kicking a field goal
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: to take a 3-0 lead and then forcing the Bengals
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to punt after just three plays on their opening drive
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of the season. But on the Bucs' second drive, the Bengals'
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: defense swung the momentum. Mayfield back to pass on third
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and ten. Not away from a possible sack.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Now he's drilled. The ball comes out.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: The Bengals scoop it up, running it back for the
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: end zone. And a touchdown. Demetrius Knight with a scoop
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: and score after the ball was punched out by Miles Murphy.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: On that play, Barrett Carter wrapped up Mayfield, allowing Murphy
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: to punch the ball out, and Knight ran it in
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to give Cincinnati a 7-3 lead. Here's Carter on seeing
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Demetrius score his first. NFL touchdown.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Damn near about a tear to my eye. No, that's
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: my brother. I'm glad that we were able to make
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: that play, and I mean this in the most humble
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: way possible, but as a defense, we expect to make
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: that play. Those are the plays that is going to
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: get our team to be playing in late February, so
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: I'm so glad that we kick-started the season with D-night
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: scoring a touchdown. That's my brother for life, and it
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: means the world.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: That he was able to scoop a score. As it
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: turned out, the defense was just getting warmed up On
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the Bucs' next drive, Brian Cook forced a fumble that
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was recovered by Boye Mafe at the 33 and led
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: to the Bengals' first offensive touchdown. Third down and one
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: from the two-yard line of Tampa Bay. Shotgun snap to Burrow.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Quick pass.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: Slant.
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: Caught.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Touchdown, Mike Gasicki!
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: The Bengals have their first offensive touchdown of the year.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Kosicki doing the gritty along with Andre Josibos. And now
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: he does the sexy-dexy dance. Kosicki combining the two as
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Bengals have taken a 10-point lead. The extra point
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: made it 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: On the Bucs' next drive, they fumbled for the third
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: straight time. This time, Carter knocked the ball out of
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Mayfield's hands inside the five-yard line, and Cook recovered in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the end zone. That gave Cincinnati the ball at their
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: own 20 and led to an 80-yard drive. First and
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: goal from the five. Double tight ends in for Cincinnati.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Eric Hall on the left, Drew Sample on the right.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Now all goes in motion to the right. They run
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: in that direction.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Chase Brown goes into the end zone without being touched.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: What a hole opened up inside the five-yard line, and
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: the Bengals have taken a 20-3 lead.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: The Bucs overcame their fumbolitis, and a 10-yard touchdown run
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: by Bucky Irving made it 21-10 late in the half.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: The Bengals got the ball back with 145 remaining and
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: drove all the way to the two before settling for
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: a chip shot field goal to make it 24-10 at
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the half. Another field goal to begin the third quarter
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: gave the Bengals a 17-point lead, but it didn't last.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: After Tampa Bay cut it to 14 with a field goal,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: A rookie linebacker made a huge play for the Bucs.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Third down and five. The Bengals at their own 34,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: up by two touchdowns here in the third quarter. Burrow
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: is set. Karras snaps it back. Joe drops back. Steps
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: into the throw.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Intercepted. And running it back for a touchdown goes Josiah Trotter.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: A pick six for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: There is a penalty flag down. The officials picked up
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the flag. It was 27-20. heading to the fourth quarter.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: The offense needed to score to give the Bengals some
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: breathing room, and while they didn't put together a great drive,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: they didn't have to, thanks to Money Mac. Will Wagner
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: will snap. Ryan Rico will hold. McPherson trying to give
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati a two-score advantage. The snap is perfect. The 58-yard
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: kick is on its way. It is good!
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: Nice!
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Evan McPherson has field goals of 55 and 58 today
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: after hitting them from 56 and two from 58 in
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: the preseason.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: The lead was 10 in the fourth quarter. Time for
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals pass rushers to close it out. Baker Mayfield
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: from the pocket.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Pop fakes. Gets nailed.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: The ball comes out.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: And the Bengals appear to have recovered at the 45
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: yard line. Boye Mafe with the strip sack as he
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: snuck in from behind. Punched it away from Baker Mayfield.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: And T.J. Slayton comes away with a football.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: A late touchdown pulled the Bucs within six with 319
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: to go. But Tampa Bay never got the ball back
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: as Joe Burrow aggressively completed passes to Dante Myers, Samaje Pirine,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and T. Higgins to run out the clock in a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: 33-27 win. I talked to Zach Taylor after the game.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Al Golden has an acronym to describe his defensive philosophy best.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: The B stands for ball disruption, and his defense did
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of that today.
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, there's so many unknowns going into this
• 8:04
  Speaker 7: first game. And so when your first seven points of
• 8:07
  Speaker 7: the season are on a sack fumble for touchdown, that's
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: big time. And so that built up over the course
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: of last season. It really took hold today. And really
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: excited to see those guys take four balls off of them.
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: Really won us the game.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: In light of the circumstances, how big was the scoop
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and score? Because they had taken an early lead. They
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: got a three and out. And then suddenly everybody was
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: energized by that play.
• 8:28
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it was great.
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: They were up 3-0.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: We went 3-0.
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: And so to jumpstart our team right there, I thought
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: that's what that did. And it really capitalized on us.
• 8:38
  Speaker 7: And then several other turnovers in the first half. Offensively,
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: we didn't pawn the rest of the half. We scored
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: points on every drive. So that was an enormous play
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: by those guys.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: I have not seen stats, but it seems like Barrett
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Carter had a bunch of tackles. Demetrius obviously scored the touchdowns.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: What did you think just from watching it live of
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: your second-year linebackers?
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: I saw guys playing with a lot of confidence, flying around,
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: having fun, you know, and not thinking too much like
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: a rookie can do. These guys have now earned some
• 9:05
  Speaker 7: confidence from the experience they've gotten. They have the trust
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: of all the coaches and their teammates, and they went
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: out there and made some plays today.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Scored more than 33 points in Week 1. Seven did
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: come on defense, but what did you think of your
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: offense today?
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: I thought, first of all, our offensive line did an
• 9:18
  Speaker 7: excellent job. There was a ton of great run opportunities
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: that we had.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Especially early on.
• 9:24
  Speaker 7: We scored some of those touchdowns. I thought they did
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: a great job with all the protection looks that we get,
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: which is really exotic from Coach Bowles. They do a
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: great job. They handled it really well, kept Joe clean,
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: and then I thought guys made the plays that we
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: needed to make. Joe made some big-time throws there in
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: four minutes, T with the big-time catch. About every player
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: we had stepped up and made some great plays.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: You were aggressive on that final drive. You trusted that
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Joe would throw completions and keep the clock running.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: You know, it's A little bit similar to the situation
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: we were in against Buffalo on Sunday night here a
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: couple years ago. You know, we're six point game with
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: three something left and you don't just want to concede
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: and run three runs or run the clock and then
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: you got to pump back to them and get another
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: stop we want to be aggressive we've got a lot
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: of weapons on offense I trust Joe to handle that
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: situation and he made me right on that one so.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that Mike Kosicki was a big weapon today
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: caught a touchdown pass as well Was Tampa Bay putting
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: so much attention on Jamar and T that that left
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: opportunities for Mike?
• 10:19
  Speaker 7: We have so many weapons, and Mike has such great
• 10:23
  Speaker 7: chemistry with Joe. Mike broke off several of those routes,
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: if I'm not mistaken, in two minutes. But that's just
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: because if you're going to try to take away guys,
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: you're going to play all these different zones, then it's
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: really hard to be right against all the guys we have.
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: And Joe and Mike were on the same page on
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: all that stuff, and it worked out really well for us.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: It was a sea of orange out there. It was noisy.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: What did you think of the atmosphere?
• 10:44
  Speaker 7: I mean, they probably won us the game. The fans
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: won us the game today. I mean, with the false starts,
• 10:48
  Speaker 7: the delay games, made them use a timeout with 14
• 10:51
  Speaker 7: minutes left in the first quarter. Our fans are a weapon,
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: and we're going to continue to utilize them every home
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: game we got.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Congrats on a win.
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Dan.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow threw for 254 yards with one touchdown, one pick,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: and a passer rating of 89.5. He was only sacked once.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: His leading receiver was Mike Kosicki, who caught five balls
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: for 78 yards. And I started our post-game conversation by
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: discussing the Bengals' defense. Four takeaways for the defense, including
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: a scoop and score by Demetrius Knight. What did you
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: think of their performance today, Mike?
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah, no, defense was spectacular.
• 11:30
  Speaker 9: From start to finish, really, obviously, you saw what they did.
• 11:33
  Speaker 8: They scored our first touchdown of the season, so shout-out
• 11:35
  Speaker 8: to them. They kept getting it back for us, kind
• 11:38
  Speaker 8: of a bend-don't-break mentality. Tampa got in the red zone.
• 11:41
  Speaker 8: They punched one out. There was just a lot of
• 11:44
  Speaker 8: energy from.
• 11:44
  Speaker 9: Them, and it starts with Al and the energy he
• 11:48
  Speaker 9: brings on a daily basis, and it trickles down to them,
• 11:50
  Speaker 9: and they were making plays all day.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: It felt like all of the new additions on defense
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: made big plays today. Brian Cook, Boye Mape, et cetera.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Those guys were heavily involved in the takeaways.
• 12:01
  Speaker 9: That's why they get paid the big bucks, you know.
• 12:03
  Speaker 9: So shout-out to them. Shout-out to the scouting department.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: For getting them here.
• 12:08
  Speaker 9: And, you know, you can't say enough about all those guys.
• 12:11
  Speaker 9: You know, today is the first day that the public
• 12:13
  Speaker 9: has seen it. We've been seeing this since, you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 9: since everybody got here in OTAs. So shout-out to them, man.
• 12:19
  Speaker 9: They deserve a ton of credit, and they were making
• 12:20
  Speaker 9: plays flying around.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: We're in the locker room with Mike Kosicki. You led
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the team in receiving yards today. What was Tampa Bay
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: doing defensively that made you a primary target for Joe?
• 12:30
  Speaker 8: It was really that two-minute.
• 12:31
  Speaker 9: Drive at the end of the half. They were sitting
• 12:35
  Speaker 9: in zone. When you have Jamar and Tee out there,
• 12:37
  Speaker 9: teams don't want to play man coverage. So they were
• 12:40
  Speaker 9: sitting in zone, and me and Joe just kind of
• 12:41
  Speaker 9: being on the same page and finding some voids out there,
• 12:44
  Speaker 9: making plays, getting down there at the end of the
• 12:46
  Speaker 9: half and trying to get some points on the board.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: All right, you ran a slant for a two-yard touchdown catch,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: your first TD of the year, and then you treated
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: us to the gritty, sexy, dexy combo. Tell me how
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that came about.
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I actually had three celebrations on that, Mike.
• 13:01
  Speaker 9: My family and my son were sitting in that end
• 13:03
  Speaker 9: zone over there, so I pointed at them.
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: I put up the C. My son's name's Cooper, so
• 13:07
  Speaker 8: I put up the C for him. Then I did
• 13:09
  Speaker 8: the gritty, and then I did the sexy-dexy. I think
• 13:13
  Speaker 8: that I kind of did. I hit every celebration I
• 13:15
  Speaker 8: had today, whether it was on a first down or
• 13:18
  Speaker 8: a touchdown, whatever.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Everybody knows I.
• 13:20
  Speaker 9: Like to have fun out there, and that was just
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: me just kind of joking around.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Being silly.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I must say, your gritty has come a long way.
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly.
• 13:26
  Speaker 9: I'd say it still needs a little bit of work,
• 13:28
  Speaker 9: but it's always fun, man.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Like, Tampa Bay's a good team. That's a good win
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: in week one.
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: It's a great win. It's a great team win.
• 13:37
  Speaker 9: Special teams, Evan McPherson, you know, unbelievable, putting the ball
• 13:41
  Speaker 9: to the goal post for us in a couple difficult situations. Defensively, obviously,
• 13:45
  Speaker 9: you know, winning the turnover battle like that. And then offensively,
• 13:48
  Speaker 9: you know.
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: Obviously, you know, we score all those points, things like that.
• 13:51
  Speaker 9: But we get the ball with a chance to finish
• 13:53
  Speaker 9: the game, and we do it.
• 13:55
  Speaker 8: Drive all the way down the field.
• 13:56
  Speaker 9: Tee with a phenomenal catch on that last drive where.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: He hits the ground hard.
• 14:01
  Speaker 9: Most of the time, most guys around the league, that
• 14:03
  Speaker 9: ball's going to come loose.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Strong hands. Great player. Made the play.
• 14:06
  Speaker 9: And then Joe sneaks it on the last play, and
• 14:08
  Speaker 9: it's over.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: The sea of orange looked great. How big of a
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: factor was the noise?
• 14:14
  Speaker 9: Yeah, we got the best fans in the entire NFL, man.
• 14:16
  Speaker 9: So shout-out to them. Shout-out to Cincinnati. They deserve this
• 14:19
  Speaker 9: just as much as we do. And they were a
• 14:22
  Speaker 9: big part of what we did today. So shout-out to
• 14:24
  Speaker 9: our fans.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: The Bengals' two highest paid free agent additions on defense
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: came up big. Boye Mafe had a sack, forced a fumble,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and recovered another. And Cincinnati native Brian Cook also forced
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and recovered fumbles and finished the game with six tackles. Brian,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: four forced fumbles, four recovered fumbles by the Bengals today.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: You forced one and recovered another. With the emphasis that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Al Golden puts on getting takeaways defensively, how big of
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: a day was that for the defense?
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: It was a great day. You know, we won the
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: tournament battle by a huge margin.
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: We definitely can eliminate some points that was put on
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: us as well. But, man, getting the ball back is
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: so vital. You know, we have an explosive offense, as
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: you can see. So giving them even more opportunities, four
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: more opportunities, man, it's a great feeling.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: We want nothing more than to have success for this team.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: And as a defense, that's what we're trying to do.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: You fell behind three, nothing. Then they got a three
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: and out defensively. And on the next Tampa Bay possession,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: you scored a defensive touchdown. How big of a momentum
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: swing was that?
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: Oh, it was huge.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: It was huge.
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: You know, um, at that point, I mean, some of
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: the guys probably gas, you know, he's out there for
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: a minute. Uh, it was kind of tough in the office,
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: kind of, uh, trying to get things, uh, aren't now,
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: but that's, that's what.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Makes it a complimentary football. You know, no matter what
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: happens to.
• 15:43
  Speaker 6: The situation, like knowing the defense has their back, it
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: has to be all the confidence.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: I know, uh, Maybe he had some plays he could
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: take back. But, man, I'm trying to instill it. I'm like, hey, man,
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: this isn't before. You know, you got more opportunities to
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: put the points on the board. So just stay in
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: the zone.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, look up. He had a touchdown.
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: Another forced fumble. Another forced fumble. You know what I'm saying?
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: So, man, our main emphasis is getting on the ball
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: as much as possible.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: What was the environment like for you in your first
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: regular season game as a Bengal in your hometown?
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Overwhelming.
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I was about to tears during the National Anthem.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Just remember, you know, like.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: Me growing up and playing at Hilltop Hawks, that little.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Field over there.
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: But, yeah, man, playing football over there growing up, growing
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: up in College Hill over there across Aiken High School
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: and try passing times, go past like.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: The little park over there.
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: And now here I am at Bengal, you know what
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: I'm saying, playing in the city, man.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful feeling.
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: I want nothing more to, you know, obviously put on
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: a show for the fans and help my team win
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: these games.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Is one of those games where you get the win
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: and there are also things to work on, which is
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: kind of the ideal situation.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, you don't learn regardless. I
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: always learn with a dub. Yeah, I always learn with
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: a dub.
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: I never take, you know what I'm saying? You don't
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: learn regardless whether you win or loss, but I always
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: take the dub no matter how they come, how they look.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: That's what we're looking for.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Now, time for post-game analysis from former NFL quarterback Tony Pike. Tony,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals are 3-0 after a 33-27 win over the
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The key to the victory, forcing and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: recovering four fumbles. Al Golden talks about ball disruption all
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the time. That is the B in his acronym of
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: BEST for his defensive philosophy and his guys delivered.
• 17:24
  Speaker 10: They delivered in a big way, and you can make
• 17:26
  Speaker 10: the argument that every new addition impacted the game in
• 17:28
  Speaker 10: a major way today. Boye Mafe, Dexter Lawrence. was impacting
• 17:32
  Speaker 10: Baker Mayfield to have to get out of the pocket
• 17:34
  Speaker 10: and allowing others to get those strips and recover the fumbles.
• 17:37
  Speaker 10: Brian Cook was awesome. We led the broadcast off talking
• 17:42
  Speaker 10: about giving Joe Burrow and the offense more possessions. And
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: if you can give the offense four extra possessions per
• 17:48
  Speaker 10: game with turnovers, you're going to win a lot of
• 17:50
  Speaker 10: football games. And I thought just there, as you put it,
• 17:53
  Speaker 10: their ball disruption was elite today against a quarterback in
• 17:57
  Speaker 10: Baker Mayfield, a running back in Bucky Irving, who are
• 18:00
  Speaker 10: very hard to bring down in space.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: The Bucks never punted, but when you get four takeaways,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: that offsets some drives that might have wound up in punts.
• 18:10
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it's the way they needed to do it. And
• 18:13
  Speaker 10: in talking to some of the guys postgame, there's a
• 18:15
  Speaker 10: lot to clean up. And there's a lot of things
• 18:17
  Speaker 10: on defense maybe you felt you gave up a little
• 18:19
  Speaker 10: bit too much, but they bowed up when they had to.
• 18:21
  Speaker 10: They got the stops when necessary. And more importantly than anything,
• 18:25
  Speaker 10: the turnovers. Momentum in football is so big. And you
• 18:29
  Speaker 10: change the momentum completely the game four different times. And
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: one of those, you scored a defensive touchdown. You give
• 18:35
  Speaker 10: yourself an incredible opportunity to win. We talked about it
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: going into the year. This defense will win games for
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: the Bengals this year. They haven't had that in years past.
• 18:44
  Speaker 10: It's always felt like, man, you need 30. You need 35.
• 18:48
  Speaker 10: This defense can win football games. And they showed that.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: It's so interesting that they scored exactly 33 points because
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the biggest stat that's been bandied about over the past
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: two years to describe the struggles of the defense was
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the fact that Cincinnati had a losing record over the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: last two years when they scored 33 or more. They
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: were six and seven when they scored that many points.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: So to score 33 and win, albeit maybe a little
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: bit closer than you like, but still to get that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: win with 33 points is a sign that this defense
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: is going to be better.
• 19:19
  Speaker 10: Yeah, they're just so good at every level. I thought
• 19:21
  Speaker 10: one of the most impressive things was the play of
• 19:24
  Speaker 10: Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight. Demetrius Knight scores a touchdown,
• 19:26
  Speaker 10: but Barrett Carter was all over the field. Their instincts,
• 19:29
  Speaker 10: and again, in the NFL, if you're late on your instincts,
• 19:32
  Speaker 10: that means you're late in space and you're going to
• 19:34
  Speaker 10: get put on an island. They closed that gap. They
• 19:37
  Speaker 10: played with a bunch more confidence. They have help on
• 19:40
  Speaker 10: the back end, and talking to Barrett Carter after the game,
• 19:44
  Speaker 10: the front, just how free he is to operate, to
• 19:47
  Speaker 10: hit the lanes, to not have to deal and take
• 19:50
  Speaker 10: on blocks, but to get to the ball carrier freely
• 19:52
  Speaker 10: because the offensive line is worried so much about those
• 19:55
  Speaker 10: front three or four guys.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: How about Evan McPherson? He goes four for four after
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: being eight for eight in the preseason. In the preseason,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: he hit from 56 once and 58 twice. Today it's
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: from 55 and 58. He's been really good from day
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: one as a Bengal, but it seems like he is
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: primed to have his best season ever.
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: There was a play early in the game where Joe
• 20:16
  Speaker 10: Burrow took a sack, and it set up the 58-yard
• 20:19
  Speaker 10: field goal. And to the naked eye, it's like, oh,
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: he can't take a sack, or what are you doing there?
• 20:24
  Speaker 10: But if you rewatch the play, there was nothing open.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: And instead of.
• 20:28
  Speaker 10: Joe Burrow trying to force something down the field that
• 20:31
  Speaker 10: could get tipped or could get intercepted or batted down,
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: He was okay taking a sack. And it's weird to
• 20:37
  Speaker 10: think that. You never go into a game thinking, well,
• 20:39
  Speaker 10: it's okay to take a sack. In that sense, it
• 20:41
  Speaker 10: is because you've got three points in your back pocket.
• 20:44
  Speaker 10: Don't make a bad play worse. Give Evan McPherson a kick.
• 20:48
  Speaker 10: Give him a shot at it. They did that. They've
• 20:50
  Speaker 10: done it multiple times. And it changes the thought process
• 20:53
  Speaker 10: of a quarterback and an offense immensely.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: That was before the 55-yard field goal, Money Mac's second
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of the day. Let's talk offense. Joe Burrow, by and large,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: played well. The pick six wasn't good. But aside from that,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: took care of the ball and threw some strikes.
• 21:09
  Speaker 10: Yeah, made some big plays, I thought, at the biggest
• 21:11
  Speaker 10: points of the game. Late in the game to T. Higgins,
• 21:15
  Speaker 10: unbelievable pass and catch. I thought he looked comfortable under center.
• 21:19
  Speaker 10: You know, the one was called back with replay review,
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: but to turn his back to the defense, push up
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: in the pocket, find T. Higgins down the field, that
• 21:26
  Speaker 10: was my biggest thing going in. Offense, we know, will
• 21:29
  Speaker 10: get to the level they want to play at. But
• 21:30
  Speaker 10: how did the under center operation look? And it's not
• 21:33
  Speaker 10: easy when Vita Vea is lined up right in front
• 21:35
  Speaker 10: of you, right over your center. So I thought they
• 21:37
  Speaker 10: were clean in that operation. I thought he spread the
• 21:40
  Speaker 10: ball out. I think you can see what defenses want
• 21:43
  Speaker 10: to do. They want to take away Jamar Chase and
• 21:45
  Speaker 10: Tee Higgins. All of a sudden, Mike Kosicki is a
• 21:47
  Speaker 10: huge weapon. And when the defenses drop as deep as
• 21:50
  Speaker 10: they are, Chase Brown and Samaje Piran become huge weapons
• 21:53
  Speaker 10: as well. They put up 33 points. Jamar Chase had
• 21:56
  Speaker 10: four targets on the day. you can sign up for
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: winning games like that. Again, you know the offense will
• 22:01
  Speaker 10: get to the levels they're capable of, but to put
• 22:03
  Speaker 10: those points up on the board, get a win against
• 22:05
  Speaker 10: a good Tampa team, and not play your best offensively,
• 22:08
  Speaker 10: you're happy about that.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: End of the game, they get the ball up by six.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: We've been talking about throughout training camp that in the
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: four-minute drive situation, the lineup would burrow under center, try
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: to run. They think they can do that better now
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: than they have in the past. Well, what'd they do?
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: He was in the shotgun, and he comes out throwing,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: but When push comes to shove and the game is
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: on the line, do what you do best.
• 22:31
  Speaker 10: And who did he throw it to?
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: Dante Myers.
• 22:34
  Speaker 10: Think about the journey of Dante Myers to go from
• 22:37
  Speaker 10: an unknown going into training camp to making the roster.
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: And now not only making that catch, but he got
• 22:41
  Speaker 10: the jet sweep earlier in the game as well. Yards
• 22:44
  Speaker 10: after the catch, the confidence in Joe Burrow. I love
• 22:47
  Speaker 10: coming out where everyone in the stadium, including the defense,
• 22:50
  Speaker 10: thinks you're running the ball and you come out and
• 22:52
  Speaker 10: you throw the ball. Later in the drive, he threw
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: a ball to Samaje Piran, lined up as a receiver
• 22:56
  Speaker 10: who ran a hitch route. and then hits Tee Higgins
• 22:58
  Speaker 10: down the middle. There's nothing better for an offense than
• 23:02
  Speaker 10: knowing that you have a chance to put the game away,
• 23:04
  Speaker 10: to keep the ball in your hands, to end the
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: game by taking a knee and don't give the other
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: offense a chance. I love the aggressiveness in which they
• 23:11
  Speaker 10: attacked that last drive.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Zach Taylor said the crowd won them the game. With
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the crowd noise forcing some false starts and other mistakes
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: by the Tampa Bay Bucs, I'm not sure that I'm
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: quite willing to go that far, but the atmosphere was outstanding.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: So fun.
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: And it gets the hairs to stand up all over
• 23:29
  Speaker 10: your body. When you hear the stadium roar, when these
• 23:32
  Speaker 10: guys run out of the tunnel right after the national anthem,
• 23:35
  Speaker 10: the first big third down, it's unlike anything you can
• 23:40
  Speaker 10: even imagine. And it was awesome for me personally to
• 23:43
  Speaker 10: just be inside the stadium and to hear that. And
• 23:47
  Speaker 10: then you see it impact a team where you get
• 23:49
  Speaker 10: delay of games, you get false starts. Tristan Wirfs is
• 23:52
  Speaker 10: a really good player. in the National Football League. He
• 23:55
  Speaker 10: struggled with the crowd noise today. Baker Mayfield has played
• 23:58
  Speaker 10: in loud environments. He struggled with the crowd noise. There's
• 24:01
  Speaker 10: loud environments all over the NFL. They did not handle
• 24:04
  Speaker 10: the crowd noise today, and the stadium pulse, the crowd
• 24:08
  Speaker 10: should get an assist for that.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: 3-0 in the preseason, 1-0 in the regular season. The
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: beat goes on. Let's see if we can go to
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Houston next week and get another.
• 24:16
  Speaker 10: Let's take the show on the road. I talked to
• 24:17
  Speaker 10: Chase Brown after the game a little bit, and he's
• 24:20
  Speaker 10: just very observant and understanding of, Going against good defenses, Tampa, Houston,
• 24:26
  Speaker 10: good defenses, it's not always going to be the six,
• 24:28
  Speaker 10: seven-yard gains, but you keep working, you keep chopping away.
• 24:31
  Speaker 10: They're going to have to do that again next week
• 24:33
  Speaker 10: against a really good defense in Houston.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Up next, a road game at Houston. The Texans drop
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: their opener at home as Buffalo scored 36 points against
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Houston's vaunted defense in a 36-31 win. The Texans open
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: as a two-and-a-half point favorite against Cincinnati. The Bengals Booth
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Podcast is brought to you by Paycor, proud to be
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the Bengals' official HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to
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  Speaker 1: a new level. And by Kettering Health, the best care
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official health
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: care provider of the Bengals. Sunday's game marked the start
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of the Bengals' 59th season, but it's not far-fetched to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: think that right now Mike Brown lives could be the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, and that Cincinnati would have
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: never had an NFL franchise. In this week's fun fact segment,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: it's my exclusive chat with the Bengals owner. Time for
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: some fun facts with Bengals team president Mike Brown. Mike,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: this is the Bengals' 59th season, and one thing that
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: you've done for many years is address the players just
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: before the start of training camp. Dalton Reisner told me
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: he thought it was great because it emphasized that the Bengals'
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: our family atmosphere. Do you think it's important for the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: players to hear from ownership before the season, and what
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: do you want them to know?
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: Well, we want to connect with them, the family, the ownership.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: And if I can talk to them, they at least
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: get to see us. We're real people. We're here every day.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: We do own the team. So that's got to be understood.
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: And then there's usually a little message. The key message
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: this year was that our scouts had done an excellent
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: job in the offseason. And they had made the team better.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: That improves our chances. But from now on, it's not
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: the scouts anymore. They've done their job. It's the players
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: who have the responsibility to go out and carry the
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: ball for us. It's they who are the ones in
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: the lead from now until the end of the season.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: It's going to be their work that determines how well
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: we do, how we end up.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: The biggest move that you made in the offseason, literally
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and figuratively, was the trade for Dexter Lawrence. He's 6'5,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: he's 350 pounds. You've been around pro football your whole life,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: going back to your dad's teams in Cleveland in the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: 40s and 50s. How unique is Dexter Lawrence, in your opinion,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: from a size and athleticism perspective?
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: He's unusual. He's a very big man, yet he carries
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: himself like a smaller man, which is what you want.
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: He can move easily and well, and he's powerful. It's
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: hard for the opponent to handle him with a single blocker.
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: That guy, if he's a single blocker, had better be
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: very good. That's what he brings to the defense. He's
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: effective against the run because he can penetrate. He just
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: is powerful enough to push the blocker aside or get
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: the edge on the blocker. And as a pass rusher,
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: he gets real penetration. He can get deep in the
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: backfield towards the pocket and the passer. He's an unusual player.
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: We think he will benefit us, make us better, and
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: give us the chance we are looking for to go
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: all the way if we can.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: The NFL draft is often referred to as the lifeblood
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: of an NFL team. Was it difficult for you, from
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: a philosophical standpoint, to trade away the 10th pick?
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: No. We thought that we could get a player that
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: would give us immediate help, and nothing's guaranteed in this business.
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: Lawrence may not be what we wish. Whoever they picked
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: with the 10th pick may not be what... They won.
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: The Giants won. The future will determine how it works out.
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: But we're happy to have gotten what we got. He's
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: a real player now here for us. Not a tenth pick,
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: a chance at somebody that could help us.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow's 29 years old. He'll turn 30 in December.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: You've got a couple of quarterbacks that are in their 40s,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: so hopefully Joe will play for another decade if he
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: chooses to. But do you feel any... sort of pressure
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: to capitalize on his quote-unquote Super Bowl window?
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: Well, he's right about that. He brings that up. He's
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: done it publicly. He's done it privately. And it's a
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: correct interpretation of our situation. We have A group of
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: good players. They've proven that they're good, solid players on offense.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: We can move the ball. We've been successful. When Joe's
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: in there, meaning when he isn't hurt, he's been hurt some.
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: But when he's in there and we have our receiver
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: core intact, that includes the running back, that's a good group. Defensively,
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: we weren't holding up. Everyone understood that, and we had
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: to make some changes to get that right. We've tried
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: to accomplish that. I think we are going to be
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: successful doing it. The defense will major up with the
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: offense this year, and that's our goal.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Aside from his skills as a quarterback, what do you
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: admire about Joe Burrow as a person?
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: Well, he's independently minded. He has interests. He enjoys some
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: of those and takes time to participate in them. He likes,
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: for example, clothing. It's fun for him. Every time I
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: sit on the bus and watch the players come out
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: and get on the bus, I always look for him
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: because I want to see I'm just curious, what's he wearing?
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: But Joe is serious-minded. When he's off duty, he does
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: what he does. Nothing harmful. Interesting things, really. But when
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: he's focused on football, he's about as focused as anyone.
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: And this year, he took time to state to us,
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: to the public, What he thought the issues were that
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: we had to do something, now was the time to
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: do it. And we understood he's an important personage around here.
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: He made his comments. We took them to heart. I
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: feel pleased that it turned out well, at least up
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: to this point.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: The Bengals have had more than their share of great
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: wide receivers over the years. Isaac Curtis, Chad Johnson, A.J. Green,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Chris Collinsworth, and others. Is Jamar Chase and T. Higgins
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the best duo that you've ever had?
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: Oh, I'm not going to get into that comparison because
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: we've had some good combinations. But the two guys we
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: have now are top notch. They work at it hard.
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: They're talented. and they've put it down in the record book.
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: They don't have to prove very much. I admire them.
• 32:53
  Speaker 5: I'm glad we have them, and I'll leave it at that.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Your daughter Katie is largely responsible for finding a way
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: to fit all these huge contracts under the salary cap
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and is widely considered to be one of the top
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: front office executives in the NFL. What should Bengals fans
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: know about Katie as an NFL executive?
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: Well, Katie does have the CAP responsibility. She runs the
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: CAP for us, and that requires a lot of arithmetic,
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: sometimes arithmetic beyond my understanding, I think. But this year
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: we went about it differently. We tried to make as
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: much room this year as possible, and Katie did that.
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: That will have repercussions down the line. and we'll have
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: to answer that. Just how Katie goes about answering that
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: will be a real challenge, but that's next year. We'll
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: worry about it then. Katie does much more than the CAP.
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: That's just one of the things that she has responsibility for.
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: She was in college a math major and an economics major,
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: so she had a running start on some of this.
• 34:06
  Speaker 5: She is really our top now I have essentially handed
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: the ball over and on occasions I get involved when
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: it's something I think that deserves another voice and discussion
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: I enjoy participating still I want to stay involved and
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: I talk with Katie on an ongoing basis but I
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: put her in a position to take this thing over
• 34:39
  Speaker 5: and direct it and she's well underway with that.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I've been reading a book about pro football history, and
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: I learned something that I really didn't know much about.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: It's not that far-fetched to think that you could be
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles right now. How close
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: were you and your father to buying the Eagles in
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: the early 60s?
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: Well, that's a story that.
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: I normally don't get into discussions about essentially what happened.
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: My father was fired in Cleveland. I was a young lawyer.
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: I wanted to get him positioned to go forward and
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: have a life. He's a football coach. He can play
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: so much golf, and that's not going to turn a trick.
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: So one of the things I did, I did a
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: number of these things at the time. I talked to
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: the people in Philadelphia. I had a deal. I had
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: investors lined up. Everything was committed. On the very day
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: that it was to be consummated, the Eagles called. They
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: were willing to go forward. Right before they called, one
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: of the investors on our team backed out and I
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: was young, I was inexperienced. Today, if something like that happened,
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: I think I would have landed on my feet and
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: asked for a little bit more time or whatever. But
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: I was so stunned by that that I just felt crushed,
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: and I had to tell the Eagles people that we
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: couldn't go forward. I felt like I was reneging. And
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: I felt very badly. So we didn't buy the Eagles.
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: We looked into other things as well. I won't get
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: into it, but it was a succession of things, really.
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: And then finally we got involved with getting this franchise.
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: We had to get a new franchise in the NFL.
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: We got the franchise in 67. We played in 68.
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: It's been a good and I'm lucky to have had
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: the chance to be involved.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Here's another thing I didn't know, if it's true. Was
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: your father approached about being the commissioner of Major League Baseball?
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: Not that I'm aware of. He was approached about being
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: the commissioner of the National Football League and turned that
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: one down immediately. The most interesting one was Branch Rickey,
• 37:36
  Speaker 5: the baseball executive who signed Jackie Robinson, came at the
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: end of his career to be the general manager of
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: the Pirates. And he admired my dad, I think, because
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: my father, the year before Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson,
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: signed Marion Motley and Bill Willis. And that broke the
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: color line in Major League Football, if you will, pro football.
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: So Branch Rickey called him and offered him the job
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: as manager of the Pirates. And my father said, I
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: don't know anything about baseball. And Rickey said, oh, don't
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: worry about that. We have all sorts of people who
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: know about baseball. We're looking for leadership, you know, that
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: kind of talk. And my father went over to Pittsburgh,
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: and all I remember about it is when he came back,
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: he said something about how the manager has a very
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: small office about the size of a closet, he said.
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: But he knew better than to jump at that one,
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: but it always was a fun thing. I think Branch
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: Rickey and he had a... mutual admiration society.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Final thing, I believe that nothing galvanizes a city like
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: a contending NFL team. All demographics get swept up in
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the excitement. Can you sense the excitement building in Cincinnati
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: for this year's team?
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: I look at it as a coming challenge, and we
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: have to get in the ring and fight to And
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: the people we're going to play are just as smart
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: and just as talented in many ways. as we are.
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: Nothing in this league is easy. You have to win
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: close games. You have to have a little luck with injuries.
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: A lot of things have to come together, and I'm
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: not going to count my chickens before they hatch. Yes,
• 39:50
  Speaker 5: we have gotten some new players. They're interesting. We think
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: they'll really help us. But we have to go out
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: and do it. I want that to happen as badly
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: as anyone could want anything. And I agree with you.
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: If we can just make it come together, the community reacts.
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: It responds in a wonderful way. It's great fun to
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: experience that. And I'd like to have that maybe one
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: more time before I turn my badge in.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Mike, I really appreciate your time. As always, these visits
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: are great fun for me. Thank you.
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: Well, it's a delight to talk to you.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
• 40:39
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  Speaker 1: That helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hoard,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.