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Bengals Booth Podcast: Whole New World · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hike and everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast, the Whole New World edition. As
0:11
Speaker 1: we take a look at the first few weeks of
0:13
Speaker 1: the Zach Taylor era in Cincinnati. Coming up, my broadcast
0:17
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham joins me to answer questions that you
0:20
Speaker 1: submitted on Twitter, ranging from if the Bengals will tweak
0:24
Speaker 1: their approach to free agency to the likelihood of drafting
0:27
Speaker 1: a quarterback in the first round. And in this week's
0:31
Speaker 1: fun Facts interview, it's a wide ranging conversation with Bengals
0:35
Speaker 1: owner Mike Brown. All of that is straight ahead. But first,
0:38
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
0:41
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
0:44
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, or
0:49
Speaker 1: pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since toasted subs. I
0:56
Speaker 1: have a curse when it comes to eating. I don't
0:59
Speaker 1: like cold sandwiches, as I have jokingly pointed out to
1:03
Speaker 1: my friends over the years since the invention of fire.
1:07
Speaker 1: I prefer my food cooked. So if Penn Station or
1:11
Speaker 1: Quiznos or pot Belly or anybody that does a nice
1:15
Speaker 1: toasted sub wants to sponsor the podcast. Chances are I
1:18
Speaker 1: am already a satisfied customer. Time to talk football. The
1:23
Speaker 1: NFL Scouting Combine is underway in Indianapolis, and the Bengals
1:27
Speaker 1: were a major topic of conversation on Tuesday when Ian
1:30
Speaker 1: Rappaport from the NFL Network tweeted out a report about
1:34
Speaker 1: wide receiver John Ross, saying, quote, sources say the Bengals
1:39
Speaker 1: are shopping their former first rounder. A fresh start would
1:43
Speaker 1: be welcomed by both parties. Well, Ian Rappaport is an
1:47
Speaker 1: excellent reporter, but it sounds like his sources might have
1:51
Speaker 1: been wrong on this one. On Wednesday, Bengals Director of
1:54
Speaker 1: player Personnel Duke Tobin held a news conference at the
1:57
Speaker 1: combine and referred to that port as fake news, saying
2:02
Speaker 1: the Bengals have had no discussions internally or externally about
2:07
Speaker 1: trading John Ross. The timing of the trade rumor seemed
2:10
Speaker 1: odd to me. You've got a new coach coming in
2:13
Speaker 1: with a creative, offensive background. Wouldn't you want to see
2:16
Speaker 1: if he can maximize the talents of the former ninth
2:19
Speaker 1: pick in the draft. The Bengals have Ross under contract
2:22
Speaker 1: for at least two more years. Three if they pick
2:26
Speaker 1: up his fifth year option. It seems kind of early
2:29
Speaker 1: to punt, and less of course, somebody makes an offer
2:32
Speaker 1: too good to pass up. Time to bring him. My
2:35
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham, and we start with the hiring
2:39
Speaker 1: of New York Giants defensive backs coach lou An A.
2:42
Speaker 1: Rumo as the bengals new defensive coordinator. The Bengals reportedly
2:46
Speaker 1: tried to hire Dennis Allen away from the Saints, then
2:50
Speaker 1: Todd Grantham away from the Florida Gators, and when neither
2:54
Speaker 1: worked out, the snarky jokes about nobody wanting the job
2:57
Speaker 1: kicked in. As always, lap provided some interesting details about
3:02
Speaker 1: the search. Lap Let's start with the time that it
3:06
Speaker 1: took to hire defensive coordinator low and a Romo and
3:09
Speaker 1: the fact that a couple of guys turned the job
3:12
Speaker 1: down much ado about nothing or a legitimate concern. Well,
3:16
Speaker 1: when you look at the situations the guys that turned
3:18
Speaker 1: the job down, Coach Allen was just leveraging the Bengals
3:22
Speaker 1: to get the third year out of the Saints. He
3:23
Speaker 1: had a two year offer from the Saints, he wanted three.
3:26
Speaker 1: They weren't doing it. The Bengals offered it to him
3:28
Speaker 1: and a handsome three year deal. Mike Brown stepped up
3:31
Speaker 1: big time and just leveraged it to his advantage. With
3:35
Speaker 1: the Saints, they wanted a three year deal and he
3:37
Speaker 1: stayed down there. So, you know, agendas live and learn
3:41
Speaker 1: that in that situation a little bit. I think not
3:44
Speaker 1: got used, but got leverage, there's no question about it.
3:47
Speaker 1: And then coach grant them. You know, from what I
3:50
Speaker 1: hear from people in that area, a big part of
3:53
Speaker 1: it was his wife didn't want to move anymore. You know,
3:58
Speaker 1: they've got two high school aged kids. They got one
4:00
Speaker 1: in college, but two high school aged kids. And and
4:03
Speaker 1: she said, you know, we've moved X number of times
4:05
Speaker 1: and in such a short period of time. You know,
4:08
Speaker 1: let's let's just stay here. We like it in Florida.
4:11
Speaker 1: Kids like it. You have a good job. You know,
4:13
Speaker 1: you get a raise to one point eight million. Again,
4:15
Speaker 1: I think Mike Brown stepped up with a handsome offer
4:17
Speaker 1: that was more than that on a on a three
4:20
Speaker 1: year basis. But you know, he decided to stay. But
4:23
Speaker 1: you can always say, well, if he knew his family
4:26
Speaker 1: really didn't want to move, why did he bother interview?
4:28
Speaker 1: And you know, so there's always three sides to every story,
4:32
Speaker 1: or two sides plus the third with the truth lies
4:34
Speaker 1: somewhere in between, I guess, but you never know in
4:37
Speaker 1: these in these type of negotiations. Plus, I wasn't sure
4:39
Speaker 1: about the he's a three four guy, you know, you know,
4:42
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that about that fit. Uh necessarily, So,
4:46
Speaker 1: you know, people saying that the seven people turned the
4:49
Speaker 1: job down, It wasn't even offered to It was offered
4:51
Speaker 1: to two people, and other people that people thrown out
4:56
Speaker 1: there as candidates, and bangs didn't even interviews act didn't
4:58
Speaker 1: even want to interview those people. So, um, it's it's
5:01
Speaker 1: Zack's decision. It's not. It's not Bengals fans or anybody
5:04
Speaker 1: else in the organization. Really, they're letting him make his
5:07
Speaker 1: own decisions for sure. Well, let's talk about the significance
5:10
Speaker 1: of that, because, let's face it, over the course of
5:12
Speaker 1: the Bengals fifty one year history, a lot of people
5:15
Speaker 1: have said, well, the head coach has never had enough control,
5:19
Speaker 1: They've never been allowed to determine their own staff, etc.
5:23
Speaker 1: What do you make of the latitude that Zach Taylor
5:25
Speaker 1: has been given to build his own staff? Well, I
5:27
Speaker 1: think I think that, you know, during the course of
5:30
Speaker 1: their interviews, two wards came into you know, a very
5:35
Speaker 1: very prominent place. Cohesion and chemistry in the staff and
5:41
Speaker 1: with the players, and you know, energy, excitement, everything goes
5:45
Speaker 1: along with it, all this culture that you're trying to build.
5:48
Speaker 1: But I think cohesion is a big thing, and it's
5:50
Speaker 1: a big thing to Zach and therefore a big thing
5:52
Speaker 1: to the organization. We've talked about it before. Um, you know,
5:56
Speaker 1: hard Knocks demonstrated the opposite of cohesion. I mean, had
6:00
Speaker 1: knives stabbing him in the back, Hugh Jackson as quickly
6:03
Speaker 1: as they could. I mean, that staff had had no cohesion,
6:06
Speaker 1: no chemistry. Everybody was everybody who's in it for themselves
6:10
Speaker 1: was not. It wasn't one for all and all for one,
6:13
Speaker 1: that's for sure. It was. It was very disjointed. So
6:18
Speaker 1: you know, I look at the people that he's hired.
6:22
Speaker 1: He trusts them all because he's worked with them. He
6:25
Speaker 1: knows what kind of people they are, and that's a
6:28
Speaker 1: big thing. I remember, you know, Bob Stoops telling me
6:31
Speaker 1: when he hired his brother to be the defensive coordinator,
6:33
Speaker 1: Mike Stoops. He said to me, coordinators in that position
6:38
Speaker 1: with a head coach, there has to be a huge
6:39
Speaker 1: amount of trust. If I can't trust my brother, who
6:41
Speaker 1: the hell can I trust? And you know, he said,
6:44
Speaker 1: we're going to get some knocked down dragouts, but out
6:46
Speaker 1: of those knocked down drag out, some good stuff's going
6:48
Speaker 1: to come and it's going to help the football team
6:50
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, scheming and all that sort
6:52
Speaker 1: of thing. And I look at the same thing. When
6:55
Speaker 1: Sam White and Bruce Cosle were together, there were some
6:59
Speaker 1: just epic battles of you know, ying and yang putting
7:03
Speaker 1: game plans together. But out of that two brilliant minds
7:07
Speaker 1: offensively came these unbelievable game plans. And they were teammates,
7:11
Speaker 1: former teammates, so they trusted each other. I mean, they
7:13
Speaker 1: worked together as as teammates, they worked together with the
7:16
Speaker 1: forty nine ers as coaches, and it worked here in
7:18
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and took them to a Super Bowl. So I think,
7:21
Speaker 1: you know, I think I think that trust part of it.
7:23
Speaker 1: And there's I think I think Zach wants people that
7:27
Speaker 1: he feels comfortable with. He knows the kind of human
7:30
Speaker 1: being they are, and you know, it's the kind of
7:31
Speaker 1: coach they are. But he doesn't want yes men. He
7:34
Speaker 1: wants guys to challenge them, you know, And that's what
7:36
Speaker 1: Sam wanted. Sam wanted coaches like Jim McNally and Bruce
7:39
Speaker 1: Coslet and guys like that to challenge him. Dick lebou
7:43
Speaker 1: to challenge him. We want to go cutting edge on
7:45
Speaker 1: all this stuff, just like you, coach, and I think,
7:47
Speaker 1: you know, maybe hopefully, you know, I'm not saying that
7:50
Speaker 1: that's going to happen, that Zach Taylor and and this
7:52
Speaker 1: coaching staff is going to take them to a super Bowl,
7:55
Speaker 1: you know, in the first year, but maybe maybe something
7:58
Speaker 1: good will come out of out of his process and
8:01
Speaker 1: his mentality putting this coach of stuff together. A lot
8:04
Speaker 1: of people look at Sean mcvaye's success with the Rams
8:07
Speaker 1: and his hiring of Wade Phillips to be his defensive
8:09
Speaker 1: coordinator and say, well, that's the model the young offensive
8:12
Speaker 1: coach and the older experienced defensive coach. The older experience
8:18
Speaker 1: part is fine, but the reason why that worked is
8:21
Speaker 1: that Wade Phillips is one of the best defensive coordinators ever.
8:25
Speaker 1: It's not that he's old or some sage wisdom. It's
8:28
Speaker 1: that he's really good at his job. Give me the
8:30
Speaker 1: good defensive coordinator instead of a guy who's been there before.
8:35
Speaker 1: I agree with you, And good defensive coordinators can come
8:38
Speaker 1: in all sizes, ages, you know, everything that goes along
8:42
Speaker 1: with it. I really like what Zach is doing in
8:46
Speaker 1: terms of a lot of these coaches have quite a
8:49
Speaker 1: bit of college experience. Because the college game is it's
8:52
Speaker 1: more and more influential in the pro game. Look at
8:55
Speaker 1: these high powered offenses. Look what Kansas City's doing. You know,
8:59
Speaker 1: they've really employed a lot of things out of out
9:02
Speaker 1: of the spread offenses and the zone reads and all
9:04
Speaker 1: that that happened in college. The Rams with McVeigh doing
9:07
Speaker 1: the same thing. You know, Andy Reid, Andy reads an
9:10
Speaker 1: older coach, but Andy Reid is adjusted to the times
9:12
Speaker 1: and adjusted to the scheme and has personnel to fit it.
9:16
Speaker 1: And I agree with you. I mean, it's not just age,
9:18
Speaker 1: it's it's talent as well. I mean, you know, just
9:21
Speaker 1: because you're old doesn't mean you're good. Just because you're
9:23
Speaker 1: young doesn't mean you aren't good. You know, it's there.
9:26
Speaker 1: You can't you can't generalize like that. There's going to
9:29
Speaker 1: be huge and a big number of exceptions to that rule,
9:33
Speaker 1: for sure. So I really do think that guys that
9:37
Speaker 1: have had to solve the riddle at the college ranks
9:41
Speaker 1: over the years coming into the NFL, with the evolution
9:44
Speaker 1: of that college game coming in the NFL and more
9:46
Speaker 1: and more, I think those experiences could be potentially helpful
9:49
Speaker 1: on both sides of the football. All Right, I informed
9:52
Speaker 1: my Twitter followers that we would be recording a Bengals
9:54
Speaker 1: Booth podcast and ask them for some questions. So are
9:57
Speaker 1: you ready? Question number one? Will the team be more
10:01
Speaker 1: active in free agency? I'm not sure it'll be active
10:07
Speaker 1: in terms of people wanting to you know, lalapalooza, you know,
10:10
Speaker 1: a big signing kind of deal. I think they'll still
10:13
Speaker 1: approach free agency the way they have. They value these
10:16
Speaker 1: compensatory picks. They've got three this year and all in
10:20
Speaker 1: the sixth round, all in the sixth round exactly. So
10:25
Speaker 1: I think I think their feeling is, you know, like
10:28
Speaker 1: like this year, whatever their needs may be, whatever they
10:30
Speaker 1: deem their needs are, when you have eleven picks, now,
10:34
Speaker 1: because of these compensatories and trades and all that sort
10:37
Speaker 1: of thing, now you can double down, even triple down
10:41
Speaker 1: on a position of need, you know, and you increase
10:45
Speaker 1: your chances of putting your bat on the ball. A
10:46
Speaker 1: lot of you. If you miss on a higher pick,
10:49
Speaker 1: you know that mid wrong guy may be the one,
10:51
Speaker 1: and so at least you get yourself covered there with
10:54
Speaker 1: an opportunity to to you know, fill a need and
10:57
Speaker 1: to build depth or whatever the case may be. So
11:00
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna really, you know, sign a
11:03
Speaker 1: huge free agent that would cost them compensatory picks, as
11:06
Speaker 1: that has not been their philosophy. That this compensatory pick thing.
11:10
Speaker 1: I think has worked out well for them for the
11:13
Speaker 1: most part over the last few years, and I think
11:15
Speaker 1: they're going to continue in that area. So I don't
11:17
Speaker 1: get my hopes up for C. J. Mos Like I
11:22
Speaker 1: don't think so, all right. Question number two, what's the
11:26
Speaker 1: probability of the Bengals drafting a quarterback in the first round.
11:30
Speaker 1: I'm not sure in the first round. I mean Andy
11:32
Speaker 1: Dalton was a second rounder, Kenny Anderson was a third rounder,
11:35
Speaker 1: Boomer Sisson was the second rounder. You know, they're better
11:39
Speaker 1: quarterbacks they had in franchise history. Greg Cook was a
11:42
Speaker 1: franchise guy and unfortunately had the injury. He was a
11:45
Speaker 1: first rounder. He was talent wise, the best they've ever had.
11:48
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't think they necessarily feel like
11:52
Speaker 1: they have to take a quarterback with that first rounder.
11:55
Speaker 1: Will they take a quarterback in the draft potentially, yeah,
11:59
Speaker 1: I think so eleven picks. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't
12:02
Speaker 1: you some at some point in time, you know, you
12:05
Speaker 1: have either either in Andy's Andy Dalton's contract is organizational
12:11
Speaker 1: friendly right now, but you know it's in the next
12:14
Speaker 1: year or two they're gonna have to make some decisions.
12:16
Speaker 1: So depending on how those decisions unfold, you have to
12:20
Speaker 1: have a plan B. I mean you can't. You can't
12:23
Speaker 1: not have developed anybody, you know, in case they decide
12:28
Speaker 1: to part ways or whatever the case may be there. So, yeah,
12:30
Speaker 1: it wouldn't shock me, but I wouldn't be stunned if
12:34
Speaker 1: if they take a quarterback with the eleventh pick in
12:36
Speaker 1: the draft. It wouldn't stun me, but I'd be surprised
12:41
Speaker 1: because they could get a pretty good quarterback I think
12:43
Speaker 1: with that second round pick that high. So no C. J.
12:46
Speaker 1: Mosley and free agency and probably not Kyler Murray has
12:50
Speaker 1: with the eleventh pick in the draft, Let's talk about
12:52
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. Next question, Will Andy Dalton flourish in this
12:56
Speaker 1: offensive scheme? I think he will. I think, you know,
12:59
Speaker 1: Zack's already gone on the record saying that he's he
13:03
Speaker 1: feels that that Andy fits this offense. And he's a
13:07
Speaker 1: big Andy Dalton fan. And when he was at Texas
13:10
Speaker 1: a m he looked at a lot of tape of
13:12
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton when he was in high school and you know,
13:15
Speaker 1: and also at TCU, so he knows a lot about
13:17
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. And I think that that Andy can fit
13:21
Speaker 1: this type of offense very very well. He moves very well.
13:25
Speaker 1: I mean, Andy can run, and you don't want to
13:28
Speaker 1: overdo that with him. You don't want to, you know,
13:30
Speaker 1: expose him to the injury that goes along with that.
13:32
Speaker 1: But I think he's very intelligent. I think that, you know,
13:36
Speaker 1: Zach realizes that. I think he's going to flourish. I think,
13:39
Speaker 1: you know, probably the luckiest guy in the organization with
13:42
Speaker 1: these moves and these decisions probably is going to be
13:44
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. Next question, what is the biggest obstacle facing
13:49
Speaker 1: the team in being immediately successful? And the person that
13:53
Speaker 1: sent in this question specified being in a position to
13:56
Speaker 1: win a playoff game. Why there's a thing or a
14:01
Speaker 1: couple of things or feel free to go with a
14:03
Speaker 1: couple of he'd like. I mean, I think the offensive line,
14:06
Speaker 1: you know, needs to be needs to be continually built. Um,
14:11
Speaker 1: I don't think they're anywhere near where they need to
14:13
Speaker 1: be at this point in time. In terms of personnel,
14:16
Speaker 1: I think Frank Pollock did a hell of a job.
14:19
Speaker 1: I really do. I mean, I think he's I really
14:21
Speaker 1: respect him as an offensive line coach. Coach Turner has
14:24
Speaker 1: a tough act to follow, but he's he's regarded around
14:28
Speaker 1: the league as as a real good teacher and a
14:31
Speaker 1: teacher technique, just like coach Pollock. So I think we
14:33
Speaker 1: get the same type of guy and the same type
14:35
Speaker 1: of mindset, same type of approach. But you got to
14:38
Speaker 1: give him some You gotta give him some material to
14:40
Speaker 1: work with. Man. You know, it's hard to hard to
14:42
Speaker 1: build a statue if you don't have any clay, you know,
14:45
Speaker 1: So he's got to get some get some bodies in there.
14:48
Speaker 1: I think they have to improve in that area offensively,
14:50
Speaker 1: and then the defensive side of it. Linebacker. You know,
14:53
Speaker 1: in this in this era of football, those linebackers get exposed.
14:58
Speaker 1: And you know, you have to have a line backer
15:00
Speaker 1: that can run and be able to cover people. And
15:05
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a different game. I mean, it's evolved
15:07
Speaker 1: more to that college game. You know, you're not going
15:08
Speaker 1: to find two hundred and fifty five pound numbers anymore.
15:11
Speaker 1: They don't exist. You know, you might have one for
15:13
Speaker 1: goal line short yardage players, but you don't have one
15:15
Speaker 1: out there on a on a three down basis, that's
15:18
Speaker 1: for sure. So I think you've kind of answered my
15:21
Speaker 1: next question. But the combines coming up this week, what
15:24
Speaker 1: are the biggest priorities as they prepare for the draft? Yeah,
15:28
Speaker 1: I would I would say that big people, you know,
15:31
Speaker 1: offensive and defensive offensive and defensive line. I think that
15:36
Speaker 1: you know you can you can never go wrong trying
15:38
Speaker 1: to get as many people as you can, as many
15:42
Speaker 1: bodies to stabilize and influence the performance in those two areas.
15:46
Speaker 1: Up front, I think you do win and lose games
15:48
Speaker 1: up front at the line of scrimmage. And that linebacker position,
15:51
Speaker 1: like we talked about is is definitely key um and
15:54
Speaker 1: you can never have enough cover guys. You know, they've
15:56
Speaker 1: done a pretty good job over the years. They've spent
15:58
Speaker 1: a lot of first round picks cornerback position. I think
16:01
Speaker 1: it's paid off for them because there is going to
16:03
Speaker 1: be injury in the way that the defense's offenses lineup. Now, defensively,
16:09
Speaker 1: you have to have minimum three most times four and
16:13
Speaker 1: five cornerbacks out there, so you can never have enough
16:15
Speaker 1: good bodies in that back end, Dan for sure. Next
16:18
Speaker 1: week we will discuss free agency, not free agents from
16:24
Speaker 1: other teams that the Bengals might consider signing, but their
16:27
Speaker 1: current free agents in which ones they should try to retain.
16:29
Speaker 1: Sound good, It sounds like a plan, coach. Thanks Lap.
16:33
Speaker 1: Now time for my newest round of fun Facts with
16:35
Speaker 1: Bengals owner Mike Brown. Here are a few things to
16:38
Speaker 1: know if you're not familiar with my fun Facts interviews.
16:42
Speaker 1: This is not sixty minutes and I'm not the late
16:45
Speaker 1: Morley Safer. We do not discuss the hiring of Zach
16:48
Speaker 1: Taylor or important NFL business. This is more of a
16:51
Speaker 1: personal profile of Mike, from his daily routine to his
16:55
Speaker 1: former career as a lawyer. Time for our fourth edition
16:59
Speaker 1: of fun Facts the Bengals president Mike Brown. What is
17:03
Speaker 1: your daily routine, When do you get to the office,
17:05
Speaker 1: and what's the first order of business? Typically I get
17:08
Speaker 1: here around six. My first order of business is to
17:15
Speaker 1: clean up some of my personal affairs. Pay bills, write
17:21
Speaker 1: the notes and letters that I am obligated to do,
17:26
Speaker 1: and then I turned to the squad affairs. I review
17:33
Speaker 1: that daily, just checking where we are and what we
17:35
Speaker 1: should be thinking about. I'm an early riser. It is
17:42
Speaker 1: nothing that I brag about being early to work. I
17:47
Speaker 1: would either be early to work or sitting in a
17:50
Speaker 1: chair staring at the ceiling at home. So I come
17:54
Speaker 1: down here and do what I can, and that's how
17:57
Speaker 1: I begin, and that is what I do when I
18:02
Speaker 1: start today. Before the Bengals came into existence, you practiced law.
18:07
Speaker 1: Did you enjoy it? I enjoyed the people. I thought
18:11
Speaker 1: the people were bright and wonderful to be around. I
18:15
Speaker 1: enjoyed the action, the activity, if you will. I found
18:21
Speaker 1: that quite remarkable as well. I have never had a
18:26
Speaker 1: high opinion of the legal institution in this country. I
18:34
Speaker 1: just don't feel that it is as perfect as I
18:39
Speaker 1: would wish. But it is a wonderful structure, but a
18:47
Speaker 1: remarkably imperfect one. I was not born to be a lawyer.
18:53
Speaker 1: I didn't have the strong interest in the legal profession
19:01
Speaker 1: that you needed to be what you should be if
19:06
Speaker 1: you wanted to make a living doing that. It gave
19:09
Speaker 1: me five years or so to watch and look at it,
19:12
Speaker 1: and then it also gave me the opportunity to get
19:15
Speaker 1: involved in what became the Bengals, and so I'm forever
19:21
Speaker 1: grateful to it for that reason. You graduated from Harvard
19:25
Speaker 1: Law School, and you must have had classmates who have
19:27
Speaker 1: been highly successful in politics, business, etc. Anybody we would recognize,
19:33
Speaker 1: Oh Scalia was, But just to make it clear, I
19:38
Speaker 1: never met him. There were others who became significant as lawyers,
19:49
Speaker 1: and almost all of them had interesting, successful careers of
19:56
Speaker 1: one sort or another. My one roommate became a writer
20:05
Speaker 1: for Newsweek. One became a successful entrepreneurial type guy. It
20:14
Speaker 1: was a wonderful group of people that they collect up
20:19
Speaker 1: there annually, and it was a privilege beyond my deserts
20:25
Speaker 1: just to be around them for three years. A few
20:30
Speaker 1: random Bengals topics from Mike Brown in nineteen seventy, the
20:34
Speaker 1: team's third year in existence. The Bengals started one in
20:37
Speaker 1: six and one of their last seven games to make
20:39
Speaker 1: the playoffs for the first time. Was that one of
20:42
Speaker 1: your favorite seasons. It was exciting. It built from scratch
20:50
Speaker 1: and we became, actually, by the end of the year
20:55
Speaker 1: a good team. We had a lot of interesting people
21:02
Speaker 1: involved with the club. Bill Walsh was an assistant coach.
21:06
Speaker 1: Tiger Johnson was an assistant coach. Virgil Carter became our
21:11
Speaker 1: quarterback and that was the team where and I will
21:17
Speaker 1: credit him for this. Walsh came up with the belief
21:22
Speaker 1: that Virgil couldn't throw the ball effectively more than thirty
21:26
Speaker 1: yards down field. So we began to throw all these
21:30
Speaker 1: quick release passes and that was the first step towards
21:38
Speaker 1: what became called the West Coast offense. That's where it
21:42
Speaker 1: started and how it started. It was a spirited team.
21:49
Speaker 1: They began to believe in themselves and played above their
21:54
Speaker 1: heads by the time the season was over. Bengal's history, unfortunately,
22:00
Speaker 1: has included some devastating injuries. I suppose that's true of
22:03
Speaker 1: every NFL team. But between Greg Cook, Kim Cromraye, Johnah Carter,
22:08
Speaker 1: and Carson Palmer, is there one that hurts you the most? Oh?
22:12
Speaker 1: Greg Cook would. Greg Cook was destined to be the
22:17
Speaker 1: star of his generation in pro football. He suffered a
22:23
Speaker 1: shoulder injury which today would have been easily repaired and
22:29
Speaker 1: he would have been as good as new the next season.
22:32
Speaker 1: But it didn't go right, the operation and the follow
22:36
Speaker 1: on which was done up in Cleveland, and he never
22:41
Speaker 1: was the same, So he was just the flish. He
22:47
Speaker 1: led the league in throwing his rookie year. If he
22:50
Speaker 1: had been healthy, in my mind, he would have led
22:53
Speaker 1: it for ten straight years. He was the most talented
22:58
Speaker 1: player we ever had here, and I always regretted that jury.
23:05
Speaker 1: A lot of others bother me to this moment, but
23:08
Speaker 1: that one is one that, as you can tell from
23:11
Speaker 1: my voice, I never really got over. Sports Illustrated recently
23:19
Speaker 1: referred to your daughter Katie as one of the most
23:21
Speaker 1: powerful women in the NFL who nobody talks about. How
23:25
Speaker 1: proud are you that she chose to follow in your footsteps? Well,
23:29
Speaker 1: it was her wish. I was open to it, and
23:34
Speaker 1: she was practicing law and then one to get involved
23:39
Speaker 1: in this, and over the years it has come to
23:44
Speaker 1: be that she is more the driving force around here
23:49
Speaker 1: than I and she is more than ably assisted by
23:54
Speaker 1: her husband, Troy and Paul, all of whom work here
23:59
Speaker 1: in a daily basis with me. I'm very privileged, very
24:02
Speaker 1: lucky to have my kids involved with me in a
24:06
Speaker 1: daily basis. Sometimes we fight, but nobody takes it to
24:12
Speaker 1: heart and we all go on as normal two minutes afterwards.
24:16
Speaker 1: So it's a good thing. And I think she does
24:21
Speaker 1: a good job. And yes, Nancy and I are proud
24:24
Speaker 1: of her. Last thing, you rarely, if ever miss a practice.
24:30
Speaker 1: What is it about this sport that has captivated you
24:34
Speaker 1: so much throughout your lifetime. I find a beauty in it.
24:41
Speaker 1: I find something to be noted. Every day out there,
24:49
Speaker 1: you see people players do what they do, and it
24:57
Speaker 1: strikes a chord with me. I would probably rather do
25:03
Speaker 1: that than set at a beach or on a beach
25:09
Speaker 1: somewhere in Florida. This interests me more. I don't care
25:13
Speaker 1: what the weather is. I just accept that. And the day,
25:17
Speaker 1: for example, was a rainy, cold day. And for me,
25:22
Speaker 1: I'm an eighty year old guy, I shouldn't be out there,
25:26
Speaker 1: but I go out there anyway, just because for me,
25:31
Speaker 1: it is more interesting than any other thing I could
25:36
Speaker 1: possibly do. I always enjoy these conversations. Thank you so
25:40
Speaker 1: much for your time. I appreciate it. Well, you're kind
25:42
Speaker 1: to come appreciate the chance to visit with you. If
25:45
Speaker 1: you enjoyed that conversation with Mike and would like to
25:48
Speaker 1: hear a previous round of fun facts with him. Go
25:50
Speaker 1: to the archives and check out the Ready for Prime
25:53
Speaker 1: Time Players edition. My interview with Mike starts about fifteen
25:57
Speaker 1: minutes in and covers a wide variety of topics, ranging
26:01
Speaker 1: from his friendship with Marty Brenneman to the time he
26:04
Speaker 1: went to see the movie Porkies with former Bengals head
26:07
Speaker 1: coach Forrest greg that's going to do it for this
26:11
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already,
26:14
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, or
26:18
Speaker 1: pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please give
26:21
Speaker 1: it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is
26:24
Speaker 1: always appreciated, and five star ratings help more Bengals fans
26:28
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks again for
26:32
Speaker 1: downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast