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Bengals Booth Podcast: One Last Time · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
0:07
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the one Last Time edition, A little
0:14
Speaker 1: dose of Hamilton for you there. As we are down
0:16
Speaker 1: to the final game of the season, the Bengals will
0:20
Speaker 1: take a six and nine record into it after losing
0:22
Speaker 1: in Cleveland on Sunday twenty six to eighteen. Coming up,
0:27
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from key players,
0:31
Speaker 1: and Dave Lapp them will join me for postgame analysis. Plus,
0:35
Speaker 1: in this week's fun Facts interview, you'll get to know
0:38
Speaker 1: quarterback Jeff Driscold. Among other things, we'll discuss the three
0:43
Speaker 1: years he spent living in Japan between the ages of
0:46
Speaker 1: eight and ten. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
0:50
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
0:53
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
0:57
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes or pod Bean. It's
1:01
Speaker 1: the greatest invention since stores that will wrap the gift.
1:08
Speaker 1: I do some things well, but rapping presence is not
1:11
Speaker 1: on the list. No matter how hard I try, a
1:14
Speaker 1: Dan Horde wrapped gift always looks hideous. So thank you
1:20
Speaker 1: to the stores that make my presence look nice and neat.
1:23
Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. The first time the Bengals
1:26
Speaker 1: faced Cleveland four weeks ago, the Browns were unstoppable in
1:30
Speaker 1: the first half, scoring on their first four drives to
1:33
Speaker 1: take a twenty eight nothing lead. That was not the
1:37
Speaker 1: case in the rematch, as the Browns punted on their
1:40
Speaker 1: first two possessions and did not score in the first quarter. Unfortunately,
1:45
Speaker 1: the Bengals didn't exactly capitalize. Driscoll wants a shotgun, snap,
1:50
Speaker 1: stomps the right foot, catches the snap, drops back, that's hit,
1:54
Speaker 1: fumbles the football and it's recovered by the Bengals at
1:57
Speaker 1: the forty nine yard line. Joe Schobert with a sack
2:01
Speaker 1: to dislodge the ball from Driscoll, and Giovanni Bernard fell
2:05
Speaker 1: on the bouncing pick. The Bengals finished the first half
2:08
Speaker 1: with minus fifteen yards passing. You heard me, minus fifteen,
2:15
Speaker 1: and once the Browns started to click offensively, they scored
2:19
Speaker 1: on five straight drives. Duke Johnson lining up to the
2:23
Speaker 1: right of Baker Mayfield. Here's a law for Najoku. He
2:26
Speaker 1: high points the ball and pulls down the touchdown. That
2:29
Speaker 1: was the first of three touchdown passes for the first
2:32
Speaker 1: pick in this year's draft, Baker Mayfield. Here's Bengals rookie
2:36
Speaker 1: Sam Hubbard. You know he talks a lot, but obviously
2:39
Speaker 1: he backs it up and the way to get them
2:43
Speaker 1: to quiet down and beat him, and that's what we
2:45
Speaker 1: gotta do. One of the reasons Mayfield is thriving is
2:48
Speaker 1: the creative play calling of new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens.
2:52
Speaker 1: And he dipped into his bag of tricks the next time.
2:55
Speaker 1: The Browns had the ball first and ten from the thirty,
2:58
Speaker 1: the Browns leading seven nut thing. Here is a double
3:01
Speaker 1: reverse and now Landry wants to throw guns it deep
3:05
Speaker 1: down field. It is gone man Calloway running inside the
3:10
Speaker 1: ten and he will be tackled at the seven yard line.
3:14
Speaker 1: Make that Perryman on the catch. A double reverse and
3:18
Speaker 1: Jarvis Landry stepped into a deep ball and gunned it
3:22
Speaker 1: with a left hand way down field for the completion
3:26
Speaker 1: to Preshad Perryman. Jarvis Landry's option pass went for a
3:30
Speaker 1: sixty three yard gain. Here's Will Jackson. They did a
3:34
Speaker 1: lot of trickery plays which we knew he was gonna get.
3:36
Speaker 1: We knew he was gonna get that. It's crazy, but
3:39
Speaker 1: it's a great pass and it's set up the brown
3:42
Speaker 1: second touchdown. Mayfield fakes a handoff, rolls to the right,
3:46
Speaker 1: sprinting toward the sideline, throws and it is caught for
3:49
Speaker 1: a touchdown. Fells with a touchdown catch one of the
3:54
Speaker 1: three tight ends. Baker. Mayfield sprinting down the field pumping
3:59
Speaker 1: his arms, and the Browns have taken a thirteen nothing lead.
4:02
Speaker 1: Oh Baker Bayfield bought time, bot Time bought time. Cleveland
4:06
Speaker 1: missed the extra point, but kicker Greg Joseph made his
4:09
Speaker 1: next attempt, a thirty seven yard field goal with ten
4:12
Speaker 1: seconds left in the second quarter that made the halftime
4:15
Speaker 1: score sixteen nothing. Here's Marvin Lewis. When you get a position,
4:20
Speaker 1: then we're gonna make the play. Because we didn't make
4:22
Speaker 1: the plays early in the game. That's what I said
4:23
Speaker 1: at halftime. As they've had they made all the plays.
4:25
Speaker 1: We're gonna make some place. There was only one scoring
4:28
Speaker 1: play in the third quarter, and the Bengals didn't make it.
4:31
Speaker 1: Mayfield holds up his left fist before catching the shotgun
4:34
Speaker 1: snap his pass caught over the middle. Higgins, racing inside
4:38
Speaker 1: the ten the five, extends the ball in his left
4:41
Speaker 1: arm toward the pylon and it is a touchdown for
4:45
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals trailed twenty three nothing going
4:49
Speaker 1: to the fourth quarter, and their first objective was to
4:51
Speaker 1: avoid being shut out for the first time since the
4:54
Speaker 1: two seventeen season opener at home against Baltimore. A fifty
5:00
Speaker 1: one yard attempt Harris to snap, Hubert to hold. Here
5:03
Speaker 1: comes the kick. It's got the distance and it is
5:07
Speaker 1: yes good, So the Bengals avoid the shutout. As Randy
5:11
Speaker 1: Bullet connects from fifty one yards away, they are booing
5:15
Speaker 1: here in Cleveland because the Bengals have managed to score.
5:19
Speaker 1: Cleveland answered with a field goal to make a twenty
5:21
Speaker 1: six to three midway through the fourth quarter, and it
5:24
Speaker 1: certainly didn't look like the Bengals would have a chance
5:27
Speaker 1: to win, but to their credit, they made it interesting.
5:31
Speaker 1: Drisco waits for a shotgun snap, Billie Price ready fires
5:34
Speaker 1: it back. Drisco back to throw good pocket throws toward
5:37
Speaker 1: the end zone. Usama leaps and pulls it in. It's
5:41
Speaker 1: a Bengals touchdown with four fifty six to go. Jeff
5:46
Speaker 1: Driscle's touchdown pass to Cjuzama made it twenty six to
5:49
Speaker 1: ten and one minute later, the Bengals came up with
5:52
Speaker 1: a big play on special teams. Here comes the bullets
5:56
Speaker 1: blocked by Clayton Fetulum, and the Bengals are going to
5:59
Speaker 1: take over for the twenty three yard line of Cleveland.
6:03
Speaker 1: As Clayton Vegulum named a first alternate to the Pro Bowl.
6:07
Speaker 1: Is a special teams ace blocked the coal quit punt
6:11
Speaker 1: and the Bengals take over deep in Brown's territory. Clayton
6:15
Speaker 1: Vegelum says Sam Hubbard deserves the credit for the block punt.
6:19
Speaker 1: We schemed it up pretty well, and it was really
6:21
Speaker 1: it all happened to the Sam. You know, Sam beat
6:23
Speaker 1: the snapper across his face and took the PP out
6:26
Speaker 1: of it. All I had to do is run forward
6:27
Speaker 1: and take the ball off his foot. So it was
6:29
Speaker 1: a great plan and then with Sam and then just
6:32
Speaker 1: it is a great execute play. The PP, by the way,
6:35
Speaker 1: stands for personal protector. And three plays after the block punt,
6:39
Speaker 1: the Bengals found the end zone again, two receivers to
6:42
Speaker 1: each side of the formation. Second down in goal from
6:45
Speaker 1: the Cleveland three yard line, Driscoll catches a high shotgun
6:49
Speaker 1: snap in trouble. Scrambling left throws into the end zone
6:52
Speaker 1: touchdown Sean Ross running along the back line of the
6:56
Speaker 1: end zone, and the Bengals have scored back to back tds. Now,
7:01
Speaker 1: if they go for two, they could make it a
7:05
Speaker 1: one score game. They could pull within eight if they
7:08
Speaker 1: can convert a two point conversion. Paul Is placed at
7:12
Speaker 1: the two yard line. Driscal Is under center, takes the snap,
7:15
Speaker 1: fakes to mix and looking throws. It is got by
7:19
Speaker 1: Cody Core for a two point conversion and the Bengals
7:23
Speaker 1: pull within eight with two minutes and fifty six seconds
7:27
Speaker 1: to go. Man, where is this been? The Bengals were
7:32
Speaker 1: down by eight with two fifty six to go and
7:34
Speaker 1: no timeouts remaining. Marvin Lewis elected not to go for
7:38
Speaker 1: an onside kick and the Bengals never got the ball back.
7:43
Speaker 1: At a short pass by Mayfield to tight end David Najoku,
7:46
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates gambled and tried to make a diving interception.
7:50
Speaker 1: It didn't work. Najoku turned it into a sixty six
7:54
Speaker 1: yard gain down to the Bengals three yard line, and
7:58
Speaker 1: the Browns elected to run out o clock for an
8:01
Speaker 1: eight point win. After going one and thirty one over
8:04
Speaker 1: the last two years, the Browns improved to seven seven
8:07
Speaker 1: and one. They also swept the Bengals for the first
8:10
Speaker 1: time since two thousand and two, the year before Marvin
8:13
Speaker 1: Lewis became head coach. The Bengals are assured of finishing
8:18
Speaker 1: with a losing record and in last place in the
8:21
Speaker 1: AFC North. Here's Joe Mixon. It was very frustrating. Man.
8:26
Speaker 1: I've never been a part of a losing program, and
8:30
Speaker 1: you know, I'm never gonna get comfortable with being a
8:33
Speaker 1: part of it. At the end of the day, man,
8:35
Speaker 1: you only take it for what it is. This year building,
8:39
Speaker 1: you know, try to get better, get ready for next year.
8:42
Speaker 1: But I mean, we still got another week coming up.
8:44
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's a big one, man, But I
8:47
Speaker 1: promise you we ain't gonna be in this for long.
8:49
Speaker 1: And that's mixing. By the way, finished with sixty eight
8:52
Speaker 1: yards on seventeen carries to go over one thousand yards
8:56
Speaker 1: for this season, despite facing a Browns defense geared towards
9:01
Speaker 1: stopping him. You seen how it was. I mean it's
9:04
Speaker 1: nine ten man, bucks. I mean, I'll still was busting
9:06
Speaker 1: out there. So I mean it's it's hard, you know,
9:11
Speaker 1: to get through that, but you know, you can only
9:13
Speaker 1: hope to contain me. You're not gonna stop me, j
9:16
Speaker 1: which is a diminish the accomplishment of having a thousand
9:19
Speaker 1: yards that it came in the game in a loss.
9:21
Speaker 1: I mean, I told you I don't care about the
9:23
Speaker 1: individual stats, so we can't get to win. I I mean,
9:26
Speaker 1: I don't give it down with some players, I wouldn't
9:28
Speaker 1: buy that. With Mixon, I absolutely do. For the second
9:33
Speaker 1: straight year, the Bengals will go into the final game
9:35
Speaker 1: of the season facing questions about the future of Marvin Lewis.
9:39
Speaker 1: ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Sunday that if the Denver
9:42
Speaker 1: Broncos fire head coach vans Joseph, he is expected to
9:46
Speaker 1: emerge as a candidate for the Bengals defensive coordinator job
9:50
Speaker 1: and potentially eventually the head coaching job when Marvin decides
9:55
Speaker 1: he has had enough of coaching again. All of that
9:58
Speaker 1: was according to Adam Scheff. The Bengals have not said
10:01
Speaker 1: anything about Marvin's status Following the game. Carlos Dunlap was
10:06
Speaker 1: asked about the only head coach he's had in nine
10:10
Speaker 1: NFL seasons. When you have three straight losing seasons, obviously
10:13
Speaker 1: it's very frustrating. You get the questions about Marvin Lewis,
10:16
Speaker 1: what is your confidence in him returning next season? I
10:20
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, this is the professional football league.
10:24
Speaker 1: A lot of things happen. You know, everybody's making business decisions.
10:29
Speaker 1: I have confidence in the football team and the players
10:31
Speaker 1: that we have here that we can do what we
10:33
Speaker 1: need to do. We've been there before, so you know,
10:36
Speaker 1: you can make arguments anyway, but you know, I just
10:39
Speaker 1: want to get back to it, whatever it takes to
10:41
Speaker 1: get back to where we started off here, the habits
10:45
Speaker 1: that we created. I want that feeling back, and today
10:47
Speaker 1: is not the feelings. Regardless of the head coach. Next year,
10:49
Speaker 1: you feel like this team is built to win again.
10:52
Speaker 1: Say what, regardless of the head coach, you feel like
10:54
Speaker 1: the team is built to win again if we have
10:56
Speaker 1: the players on this team to do whatever we need
10:58
Speaker 1: to do. I'm not in charge of deciding who it is.
11:02
Speaker 1: We've done it with the coast that we have and
11:04
Speaker 1: we played hard today, So you can look at it
11:07
Speaker 1: and spending all kinds of different ways as you want to.
11:10
Speaker 1: I just know that we have the talent in this
11:12
Speaker 1: locker room to do it, and we've done it with
11:13
Speaker 1: the coaches that we have here as well, So it's
11:17
Speaker 1: not my decision to make. I just want to get
11:19
Speaker 1: back to it. However, we need to get back to
11:21
Speaker 1: it now. Time to bringing my broadcast partner Dave Lapham
11:24
Speaker 1: for postgame analysis and we start with a depleted Bengals offense,
11:29
Speaker 1: managing just two hundred and nine total yards multiple times
11:33
Speaker 1: mentioned during the course of the game. I mean, it
11:34
Speaker 1: was like the Bengals weren't a sword fight with a
11:37
Speaker 1: pocket knife, you know, in terms of weapons the Browns
11:39
Speaker 1: had available to them and as opposed to weapons the
11:42
Speaker 1: Bengals had available to them. And uh, it took it
11:45
Speaker 1: took a little too long for the Bengals to open
11:46
Speaker 1: it up a little bit and get some things going.
11:49
Speaker 1: I gotta give credit though, to CJ. Zama and other
11:51
Speaker 1: guys for you know, fighting to the finish and showing
11:55
Speaker 1: h you know, showing that they're they're not going to
11:57
Speaker 1: quit no matter what. CJ. Zama playing with a badge shoulder.
12:00
Speaker 1: As we said, Dan for quite a while. It was
12:02
Speaker 1: good to see him get rewarded with some players because
12:04
Speaker 1: you know, it was tough for him out there physically,
12:06
Speaker 1: I'm sure unlike the first meeting, between these two teams.
12:09
Speaker 1: The Bengals defense stopped the Browns early in the game,
12:12
Speaker 1: but once the Browns got rolling, much like that first game,
12:15
Speaker 1: they had a stretch where they marched right up and
12:17
Speaker 1: down the field. Yeah, I mean the second quarter belonged
12:20
Speaker 1: to the to the Cleveland Browns. You know, they've outscored
12:23
Speaker 1: the Bengals sixteen nothing. I think it was in that
12:25
Speaker 1: second quarter, maybe sixteen three in the Bengals put Browns
12:29
Speaker 1: put up sixteen points to second quarter. Bengals put put
12:32
Speaker 1: up eighteen points in the fourth quarter of the football
12:35
Speaker 1: game or something like that. But at any rate, the
12:37
Speaker 1: Bengals second quarter has been their achilles heel. They've allowed
12:41
Speaker 1: two hundred points in the second quarter. Now with this
12:44
Speaker 1: adding today's total to it, and I mean they've scored
12:47
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen. That's pretty good. They've been outscored
12:49
Speaker 1: by eighty five points, allowing two hundred points in one quarter.
12:53
Speaker 1: Fifteen games, fifteen quarters, they've allowed two hundred points. It's
12:56
Speaker 1: almost incomprehensible. It's really mind boggling. And that's what's put
12:59
Speaker 1: them in the eight ball. You know, many times down
13:02
Speaker 1: the stretch here after that four and one start, the
13:05
Speaker 1: Bengals had minus fifteen yards passing in the first half.
13:09
Speaker 1: What did they do in the second half to at
13:11
Speaker 1: least get something going? Yeah, I think I think part
13:15
Speaker 1: of it was, you know what Greg Williams decided to do.
13:17
Speaker 1: I mean, when when he was going eight and nine
13:19
Speaker 1: guys in the box with one safety deep, you know,
13:22
Speaker 1: he had ten guys, you know, within five yards of
13:24
Speaker 1: line screamings because a lot of times with one receiver's
13:26
Speaker 1: playing press coverage, everybody's up there tight, so it's like
13:29
Speaker 1: they were operating in a box in a closet, And
13:31
Speaker 1: that's how the Bengals were kind of playing. And then
13:34
Speaker 1: he started, you know, with a comfortable lead, he changed
13:36
Speaker 1: his mindset a little bit and uh, loosening things up
13:39
Speaker 1: in the Bengals by formation, loosen some things up, and
13:42
Speaker 1: they took advantage of some opportunities that were presented. I
13:45
Speaker 1: will have to say, though, honestly, in eight quarters of play,
13:49
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield's maybe the most accurate quarterback I've seen this year.
13:52
Speaker 1: I mean, some some players were there wide open, but
13:55
Speaker 1: other plays he made unbelievable throws and his receivers rewarded
13:59
Speaker 1: him with great catches, and you know, I asked Marvin
14:01
Speaker 1: about all the all the Gadget plays, uh, you know
14:04
Speaker 1: the coach Kitchens had and he said, you know, we
14:06
Speaker 1: worked against all of them. You know, they they'd seen
14:08
Speaker 1: them all on tape. It was nothing that was a
14:10
Speaker 1: big surprise. They just got out executed. And when you
14:12
Speaker 1: think about it, they were in position to make plays
14:14
Speaker 1: on a lot of them. But you know, Landry made
14:17
Speaker 1: as good to throw as any quarterback can make. He
14:19
Speaker 1: threw the ball on the money. They threw it as
14:21
Speaker 1: far as he could and it was a strike. It
14:23
Speaker 1: was it was dropped into perfect spot. So got to
14:25
Speaker 1: give the Browns credit. You know, they made plays and
14:27
Speaker 1: the Bengals didn't, and they won the football game. Beast
14:30
Speaker 1: wide receiver arms since Bahabbit sent out Yeah, I'm telling
14:33
Speaker 1: you he just he did. He can he can chuck
14:35
Speaker 1: it in the lefty too. I mean he's like a
14:39
Speaker 1: snake stabler of of of wide receivers. It was in
14:42
Speaker 1: Michael Vick, you know, throwing the ball. It was it
14:45
Speaker 1: was impressive to watch that play. But they you know,
14:48
Speaker 1: Cleveland's a good football team. And eight quarters they didn't
14:51
Speaker 1: allow a quarterback sack. They didn't turn the football over
14:54
Speaker 1: I'm gonna win you a lot of football games. They'll
14:56
Speaker 1: go hand in hand. When you're not getting consistent pressure
14:58
Speaker 1: from the quarterback, He's not gonna put the ball in jeopardy.
15:00
Speaker 1: In Baker Mayfield didn't. He had time envisioned to top rate,
15:04
Speaker 1: and when you give him that, he's deadly. He puts
15:06
Speaker 1: the ball in tight spots. Next week, season finale in
15:09
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh has been flexed from one in the afternoon to
15:12
Speaker 1: four twenty five, and it's become a must win game
15:16
Speaker 1: for the Steelers just to make the playoffs. After losing
15:20
Speaker 1: to the Saints on Sunday, Pittsburgh is a half game
15:23
Speaker 1: behind Baltimore in the AFC North and a half game
15:27
Speaker 1: behind both Tennessee and Indianapolis in the battle for the
15:30
Speaker 1: last wild card spot. Those two teams face each other
15:35
Speaker 1: next week, so unless they tie, the winner is guaranteed
15:39
Speaker 1: to finish ahead of the Steelers. Therefore, for the Steelers
15:43
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs, they have to beat the Bengals
15:46
Speaker 1: and hope that the Cleveland Browns can upset the Ravens
15:51
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. It's hard to believe, but the Steelers could
15:55
Speaker 1: miss the playoffs. They were six two and one before
15:59
Speaker 1: dropping or out of their last five games. Now time
16:03
Speaker 1: for this week's fun facts segment, where you get to
16:05
Speaker 1: know the person under the pads. In this case, it's
16:08
Speaker 1: the twenty five year old that took over at quarterback
16:11
Speaker 1: when Andy Dalton broke his thumb. Time for some fun
16:14
Speaker 1: facts with Bengals quarterback Jeff Driscoll. Your hometown has listed
16:18
Speaker 1: as oviatoh, Florida, near Orlando, but you moved around a
16:21
Speaker 1: lot as a kid, right, Yeah, So my dad was
16:23
Speaker 1: in the Navy, long military background, both grandparents in the Navy.
16:28
Speaker 1: Dad in the Navy, and so he was stationed in
16:31
Speaker 1: Jacksonville I was born, and then his final tour was
16:34
Speaker 1: in Japan. So I lived there when I was eight, nine, ten,
16:37
Speaker 1: and then he retired in Ovido, which is right outside Orlando.
16:41
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about that experience in Japan.
16:43
Speaker 1: Did you live on a naval base where you know,
16:45
Speaker 1: apartment with a family. How did that work out? The
16:48
Speaker 1: waiting list to live on There was two navy bases
16:51
Speaker 1: in the town. We were in Sassebo, and so we
16:55
Speaker 1: had to live off the base for about a year
16:57
Speaker 1: and a half and they called him chose each and
17:00
Speaker 1: had their own neighborhood and it was called a chow
17:02
Speaker 1: and and we lived in a house for you know,
17:04
Speaker 1: about a year and a half, and there was a
17:07
Speaker 1: high school bus stop right outside our house, so we
17:10
Speaker 1: would always see the Japanese kids when they were getting
17:12
Speaker 1: out of school and stuff in their uniform. So it
17:14
Speaker 1: was different. But you know, I enjoyed it, but definitely
17:17
Speaker 1: happy to move back to the back to the States,
17:19
Speaker 1: for sure. We're doing fun facts with Jeff driscoll. Your
17:21
Speaker 1: dad signed you up for a little league, which is
17:23
Speaker 1: like a full time job in Japan, and he says
17:26
Speaker 1: you towered over the Japanese kids so much that they
17:28
Speaker 1: called you Godzilla. Was that the case? Yeah, I was
17:31
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger than the other kids my age there.
17:34
Speaker 1: And like you said, full time job, we practiced. I mean,
17:37
Speaker 1: like I said, eight nine and ten years old, we
17:39
Speaker 1: practiced from nine to five on Saturday and Sundays with
17:42
Speaker 1: an hour lunch break. So it was a wild different
17:44
Speaker 1: animal over there. No wonder the Red Sox drafted you
17:47
Speaker 1: with that kind of work ethic, Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
17:50
Speaker 1: So I got burnt out a little bit there, all right,
17:53
Speaker 1: I know you're not going to do it for me here.
17:55
Speaker 1: But can you still sing Silent Night in Japanese? I
17:59
Speaker 1: can say it, but like you said, I'm not gonna
18:01
Speaker 1: do it. I can. I don't know if it's right,
18:04
Speaker 1: but from what I remember that those are the words.
18:06
Speaker 1: But like you said, no chance I'm singing it. With
18:09
Speaker 1: your dad's naval background, safe to assume that discipline was
18:12
Speaker 1: pretty strict in the Driscoll household. Yeah, I mean no,
18:16
Speaker 1: I'd no more, no less than you know, most other
18:19
Speaker 1: kids my age. And you know, I think my dad
18:22
Speaker 1: did or my parents did a did a really good
18:24
Speaker 1: job of instilling disciplined and values like that when me
18:28
Speaker 1: and my brother were young. So I'm sure that had
18:30
Speaker 1: to do a little bit with the navy and how
18:32
Speaker 1: he was brought up as well. Your brother, Jason was
18:35
Speaker 1: a college quarterback, had a great run at Florida Atlantic
18:38
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. They won eleven games, they
18:40
Speaker 1: won a bowl game. How competitive were you two guys
18:43
Speaker 1: as kids? Yeah? Very competitive. You know, like any other
18:46
Speaker 1: older brother younger brother combination. You're always gonna compete in everything.
18:50
Speaker 1: And the big brother is gonna beat up on a
18:52
Speaker 1: little brother a little bit, but it's only going to
18:53
Speaker 1: help him out in the long run. And yeah, Jason
18:55
Speaker 1: had had a real nice career at FAU and you
18:59
Speaker 1: enjoyed his time there or visiting with Jeff Driscoll. You
19:01
Speaker 1: became the starting quarterback at your high school as a
19:04
Speaker 1: ninth grader, had a great high school career, National Player
19:07
Speaker 1: of the Year your senior year. I'm trying to picture
19:09
Speaker 1: what recruiting must have been like when you are one
19:12
Speaker 1: of the top high school quarterbacks in the country. It
19:16
Speaker 1: was crazy, you know, you see all this stuff on
19:19
Speaker 1: Instagram and social media now with all these kids who
19:21
Speaker 1: have boxes and boxes and boxes a mail and offers
19:25
Speaker 1: from people that they never talked to. And you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: I kind of had that same recruiting story, and you know,
19:30
Speaker 1: you don't really know when you're that age, you don't
19:32
Speaker 1: really understand it, and you think it's really cool, but
19:36
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you know you want
19:38
Speaker 1: to go to somewhere that fits and you can. You
19:40
Speaker 1: can only play for one team, so it doesn't matter
19:42
Speaker 1: how many you get, and you just got to make
19:43
Speaker 1: the most out of your opportunities. But yeah, the recruiting
19:46
Speaker 1: process was nuts. I picture the first few letters being awesome,
19:49
Speaker 1: and then just the whole thing becoming overwhelming. Yeah, I
19:52
Speaker 1: mean you definitely hit it on the head. You know,
19:54
Speaker 1: the first letter you get, you think you're going there,
19:57
Speaker 1: and that's not how it played out. But it definitely
20:02
Speaker 1: got to be a lot, and I was ready for
20:05
Speaker 1: it to be over, to be honest with you. You
20:07
Speaker 1: committed to Florida to play for Urban Meyer and then
20:10
Speaker 1: he left. He resigned cited health problems. Eventually year later
20:14
Speaker 1: wound up coaching at Ohio State. But I mean one
20:16
Speaker 1: of the reasons why you choose the school, I assume
20:19
Speaker 1: has a lot to do with the coach. When that happens,
20:22
Speaker 1: how tough is it? Yeah, I mean it's tough. You know,
20:25
Speaker 1: they they spend a lot of time with you and
20:28
Speaker 1: your family, and you know, you kind of get to
20:32
Speaker 1: know him as people, and then you play for somebody else.
20:36
Speaker 1: It's tough, but that's I mean, that's the business of it.
20:38
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe as a seventeen year old kid,
20:40
Speaker 1: you don't understand that, but when you look back on it,
20:43
Speaker 1: you know, you totally understand that that things happen and
20:46
Speaker 1: you move forward and you know it worked out just
20:49
Speaker 1: how it was supposed to. So your sophomore year, you
20:51
Speaker 1: lead Florida to eleven wins and a trip to the
20:53
Speaker 1: Sugar Bowl. The team was ranked number two in the
20:55
Speaker 1: country at one point that season. The following year, emergency
20:58
Speaker 1: appendeck to me prior to the season broken leg in
21:01
Speaker 1: Week three. How did those setbacks impact you? The appendicitis
21:06
Speaker 1: that wasn't a big deal. That was surprisingly only a
21:09
Speaker 1: couple of days in training camp, So it was an
21:12
Speaker 1: awesome job of the doctors diagnosing that getting a fix
21:14
Speaker 1: as soon as possible. And then the broken leg was
21:18
Speaker 1: was tough. You know. I was, you know, coming off
21:21
Speaker 1: a decent year and feeling comfortable going into my junior season,
21:25
Speaker 1: and yeah, I ended up breaking my leg and getting
21:29
Speaker 1: a red shirt year for that year. But it was tough.
21:31
Speaker 1: But that happens in football, you know, every year somebody
21:35
Speaker 1: that happens to, you know, a bunch of people. So
21:37
Speaker 1: you just have to be able to, you know, not
21:39
Speaker 1: let it get you down and be able to come
21:41
Speaker 1: back and respond. You walked off the field with a
21:44
Speaker 1: broken leg, I did. I did. I don't know how
21:46
Speaker 1: smart that was? Not very I thought I'd be a
21:50
Speaker 1: tough guy at the moment, but I don't know how
21:51
Speaker 1: smart that was. You finished your college career at Louisiana
21:55
Speaker 1: Tech Rust in Louisiana through for more than four thousand
21:59
Speaker 1: yards your senior year year. What was that season like
22:02
Speaker 1: getting that opportunity and taking advantage of it. Yeah, it
22:05
Speaker 1: was awesome. I got there and they're on the quarter
22:09
Speaker 1: system there, so I think it was February, which was
22:12
Speaker 1: February March. It was the first day of spring spring practice,
22:15
Speaker 1: so you know, have to having to learn everything all
22:19
Speaker 1: at once, and it was it was awesome. The people
22:22
Speaker 1: there made it really fun. The coaching staff, the players,
22:25
Speaker 1: and the people in the town made it awesome. And
22:27
Speaker 1: then you know, us playing pretty well made it fun too.
22:30
Speaker 1: We had some really talented players, guys that play against
22:34
Speaker 1: in the league, so that that was really really special season,
22:37
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm happy that it worked out like
22:39
Speaker 1: it did. Jeff, for those who don't know, you are
22:41
Speaker 1: under contract to two professional sports teams, the Bengals and
22:45
Speaker 1: the Boston Red Sox. Explain how it happened. You've told
22:49
Speaker 1: us on radio shows before, but people might be listening
22:52
Speaker 1: now that haven't heard that explanation previously. Definitely got a
22:57
Speaker 1: little bit overwhelmed, not overwhelmed, but a shock in my
23:00
Speaker 1: junior junior year in college. You know, I was watching
23:04
Speaker 1: the draft of my phone because I had a bunch
23:06
Speaker 1: of buddies that we're going to get drafted. And you know,
23:09
Speaker 1: when you're in the twenty whatever round in the MLB draft,
23:12
Speaker 1: picks are flying off the board left and right. So
23:14
Speaker 1: you know, I see you, buddy get drafted. You know,
23:16
Speaker 1: text them whatever, go back in, look at the look
23:19
Speaker 1: at the tracker, and I see my name, and I
23:21
Speaker 1: was like, what in the world is going on And
23:23
Speaker 1: didn't know if it was real or I didn't know
23:24
Speaker 1: what was going on. And a couple days later, I
23:27
Speaker 1: got a call from them say, hey, you know, we
23:29
Speaker 1: drafted you. You know, and I thought to myself, why
23:32
Speaker 1: would you draft me? I'm a football player, and that's
23:34
Speaker 1: what I told them, and they said, um, hey, just
23:36
Speaker 1: in case you ever want to play football, we wanted
23:38
Speaker 1: to be for the Red Sox, so I said, yeah,
23:40
Speaker 1: I'll sign, so, you know, not not looking to play baseball,
23:44
Speaker 1: but if I do, it has to be for the
23:46
Speaker 1: Red Sox. Kind of a cool trivia nugget. Yeah, no doubt.
23:49
Speaker 1: All right. Last thing for Jeff driscoll, you and your
23:51
Speaker 1: wife tarn became parents this year your daughter was born
23:54
Speaker 1: earlier this season, how his fatherhood impacted you. Oh man, it's,
23:59
Speaker 1: you know, one of the greatest things that could ever
24:01
Speaker 1: happen to me, you know, aside from from getting married.
24:04
Speaker 1: That's the best day of my life. Um, and it's
24:07
Speaker 1: it's been awesome. You get to go home every day,
24:09
Speaker 1: good day, bad day, okay day, it doesn't matter. Um,
24:13
Speaker 1: you know, your family is happy to see you. And uh,
24:16
Speaker 1: you know, it just really puts everything else in perspective
24:18
Speaker 1: that the most important thing isn't in this building and us.
24:23
Speaker 1: It just helps you keep it, keep it in perspective
24:26
Speaker 1: and m it really gives you a reason to go
24:28
Speaker 1: out and do what you do and h and provide
24:32
Speaker 1: for them. Well, put you're off the hot seat. Happy holidays,
24:35
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Thanks Dan, And that's going to do
24:38
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't
24:41
Speaker 1: done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher,
24:45
Speaker 1: or pod being and give it a rating or leave
24:47
Speaker 1: a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated, and five star
24:51
Speaker 1: ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde,
24:56
Speaker 1: wishing you a merry Christmas and thanks for listening to
24:59
Speaker 1: the Those Booth podcast m