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Bengals Booth Podcast: Cold · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The cold enough to chew My
0:11
Speaker 1: bones addition as the coldest weather game ever played at
0:16
Speaker 1: pay Core Stadium goes to the Baltimore Ravens twenty four
0:20
Speaker 1: to nothing. Coming up, radio replays, locker room comments and
0:24
Speaker 1: postgame analysis from Dave Lappham. Then, in this week's fun
0:28
Speaker 1: Facts Conversation, you'll get to know running back Taj Brooks.
0:33
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
0:39
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
0:46
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
0:50
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's
0:53
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
0:56
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or
0:59
Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
1:04
Speaker 1: greatest thing since a local kid getting a chance to
1:08
Speaker 1: play for his hometown team. The Bengals signed wide receiver
1:12
Speaker 1: Xavier Johnson this week. A second year pro who attended
1:17
Speaker 1: Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati, and he's a great story.
1:21
Speaker 1: Johnson had double digit scholarship offers coming out of high school,
1:25
Speaker 1: but chose to walk on at his dream school, Ohio State.
1:30
Speaker 1: He earned a big role on special teams and eventually
1:33
Speaker 1: was given a scholarship. Johnson wasn't selected in last year's draft,
1:38
Speaker 1: but he spent the entire season on the Houston Texans
1:41
Speaker 1: practice squad, and now he's on the Bengals practice squad.
1:45
Speaker 1: Here's Xavier. I'm getting the opportunity to wear the orange and.
1:49
Speaker 2: Black means everything, man.
1:51
Speaker 3: I was just telling them so when grew up in
1:54
Speaker 3: Western Hills, but went to school at High Park, So
1:58
Speaker 3: every day I'm taking that step pass right in front
2:00
Speaker 3: of all the stadiums from the time I was I
2:03
Speaker 3: went I started going to Summon in the third grade.
2:05
Speaker 3: So from the time I was eight nine years old
2:07
Speaker 3: to the time I graduated high school, I'm driving past
2:09
Speaker 3: this just every day and looking at Paul Brown what
2:12
Speaker 3: it was then now paid corps.
2:16
Speaker 1: But yeah, drive.
2:17
Speaker 3: Past it every day, you know, seeing it and seeing
2:21
Speaker 3: the changes and the you know, the colors and just
2:24
Speaker 3: being like as a kid, it's like they can do
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Speaker 3: no wrong. AJ Green girl with AJ Greens, the Andy
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Speaker 3: Dalton whatever, drove fastest house in High Park, or it
2:35
Speaker 3: wasn't High Park, it was more my lookout area.
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Speaker 2: But drive past the house.
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Speaker 3: Over there and I'm like, that's it, you know, Andy
2:41
Speaker 3: Dawlon's house. So to finally be you know, kind of
2:43
Speaker 3: in their position, in their shoes, definitely is a blessing.
2:46
Speaker 3: But definitely feel like I have, you know, a purpose
2:50
Speaker 3: and a reason of being here, not just you know,
2:53
Speaker 3: relishing the childhood dream but take the childhood dreaming turning
2:56
Speaker 3: into some.
2:56
Speaker 1: Fruit, bear some fruit, you know. Johnson is wearing the
2:59
Speaker 1: number eight eighteen in honor of one of his biggest
3:02
Speaker 1: childhood heroes, AJ Green. Now time for the radio replays
3:08
Speaker 1: from Sunday's loss to Baltimore. In twenty six seasons of
3:13
Speaker 1: football here at pay Corpse Stadium, it has never been
3:16
Speaker 1: colder than it is today. The temperature is eight degrees,
3:21
Speaker 1: the wind chill is minus two. We'll see if Joe
3:26
Speaker 1: Burrow lives up to the nickname as the Bengals look
3:29
Speaker 1: to sweep the Baltimore Ravens, and it is time for
3:32
Speaker 1: the pig skin to fly here in Downtown Cincinnati. Third
3:37
Speaker 1: down and seven Baltimore and its own forty nine first
3:40
Speaker 1: drive of the game. Lamar with a deep drop, looking
3:42
Speaker 1: to throw, begins scrambling and gets brought down near the
3:45
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage Miles Murphy with a tackle. There's a
3:48
Speaker 1: loss on the play, so that'll be a sack and
3:51
Speaker 1: the Bengals will force Baltimore to punt.
3:53
Speaker 2: That's great.
3:53
Speaker 1: Lamar stomps the right foot a couple of times, catches
3:56
Speaker 1: a shotgun snap. It's a deep drop. Lamar throws, and
3:59
Speaker 1: it is and it is possibly picked off. The Bengals
4:03
Speaker 1: are celebrating. Yes, it's an interception. The ricochet goes to
4:07
Speaker 1: Jordan Battle and Cincinnati gets a takeaway at the twenty
4:11
Speaker 1: eight yard line.
4:12
Speaker 4: Jordan Battle had a pretty good defensive series there. He
4:14
Speaker 4: had to tackle as an unblocked defender, and that interception
4:18
Speaker 4: is huge.
4:19
Speaker 1: Lamar sets up a screen caught by Ali's at the
4:22
Speaker 1: twenty five twenty fifteen ten five touchdown, untouched man. That's
4:28
Speaker 1: one way to beat the blitz. Yeah, Lamar back to throw,
4:31
Speaker 1: has time, fires for the end zone, caught touchdown, beautiful throw.
4:39
Speaker 1: Say Flowers with a catch and the Ravens are up
4:41
Speaker 1: by two touchdowns. Third down in goal from the seven,
4:46
Speaker 1: Burrow waits for the shotgun snap chase, the only receiver
4:49
Speaker 1: out to the left. Burrow drops back to throw. Here
4:51
Speaker 1: comes the rush. Throws intercepted at the five. Through it
4:54
Speaker 1: right to a defender who hands it backward to a
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Speaker 1: teammate now charging up the sideline as Gilman, and he's
4:59
Speaker 1: go to take it to the house. The thirty, the twenty,
5:03
Speaker 1: the ten touchdown Van Noi with the interception. He handed
5:07
Speaker 1: it backward to a faster teammate and it's a Baltimore touchdown.
5:11
Speaker 1: When the Bengals were inside the ten yard line, Noah
5:13
Speaker 1: Fan going in motion, lines up next to left tackle
5:16
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown Junior. It's a handoff to samaj p Rn.
5:20
Speaker 1: I don't know if he got it.
5:21
Speaker 4: I don't think he did.
5:22
Speaker 1: Baltimore is celebrating, but it all depends on the spot.
5:26
Speaker 1: Don't think he got it. Nope. Brokeon Smith with the
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Speaker 1: tackle and the pounding on the glass to are left
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Speaker 1: in the Ravens coaching booth is all you need to know.
5:35
Speaker 1: Baltimore gets the stop on fourth and a yard and
5:38
Speaker 1: it looks like it's going to be a shutout for
5:41
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Zach Orr and the Ravens defense. Final score
5:47
Speaker 1: twenty four to nothing Ravens, marking the first time the
5:51
Speaker 1: Bengals were ever shut out in a game started by
5:54
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. For the first time in sixteen games going
5:57
Speaker 1: back to last year, Joe did not throw a touchdow
6:00
Speaker 1: on pass. He finished twenty five for thirty nine for
6:03
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty five yards with two picks. His
6:06
Speaker 1: passer rating at fifty eight point two was the second
6:09
Speaker 1: lowest of his career. Several drop passes didn't help, but
6:14
Speaker 1: Burrow didn't point fingers after the game. Here is an
6:17
Speaker 1: edited portion of his postgame news conference.
6:21
Speaker 5: This is a team effort, you know, at the end
6:23
Speaker 5: of the day, players got to play better on the field.
6:26
Speaker 2: Today it was me, I gotta be better.
6:29
Speaker 1: What do you feel like you could have done better today?
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Speaker 5: Everything uncharacter uncharacteristic mental mistakes on my end and some
6:36
Speaker 5: unforced errors.
6:37
Speaker 1: Joe. Today was the offense. Other games it's been the defense.
6:39
Speaker 1: Why has complimentary football been so hard for this team
6:41
Speaker 1: to find?
6:42
Speaker 2: This year?
6:43
Speaker 5: We have been a good football team. You know bad football.
6:46
Speaker 5: Bad football teams do losing things and you know, if
6:50
Speaker 5: you're if you're wanting to compete for championships and in
6:54
Speaker 5: the playoffs, then number one, your quarterback has to play
6:58
Speaker 5: better than than I did today. There's not a team
7:01
Speaker 5: in the NFL that would have won the game today
7:03
Speaker 5: if I was the quartett.
7:04
Speaker 6: Do you think your play is slipping down the slope
7:07
Speaker 6: in the wrong direction over the last couple of years.
7:12
Speaker 5: No, I feel very confident in how I've played. Obviously, today,
7:16
Speaker 5: in my opinion, is an outlier. I think I've been
7:19
Speaker 5: consistently great for years and years and years.
7:23
Speaker 6: This is the hardest I thing you've ever been on
7:24
Speaker 6: himself after a game.
7:25
Speaker 5: Why I think this is one of the worst games
7:29
Speaker 5: that I've I've played. You know, I'm honest with myself
7:35
Speaker 5: and my play, and I hold myself to high standard,
7:37
Speaker 5: and today didn't come close.
7:40
Speaker 1: In fairness to Joe Mitch Tinsley dropped a touchdown pass
7:44
Speaker 1: one play before Baltimore's picked six. Andre Josi Vash dropped
7:48
Speaker 1: or would have been about a thirty yard game, and
7:51
Speaker 1: even Jamar Chase, who had ten catches for one hundred
7:53
Speaker 1: and thirty two yards, dropped a couple of passes that
7:56
Speaker 1: would have gone for first downs. As for the defense,
8:00
Speaker 1: it only gave up seventeen points to Baltimore's offense, but
8:05
Speaker 1: the Ravens had eight plays that went for twenty or
8:08
Speaker 1: more yards, four passes and four runs. I spoke to
8:12
Speaker 1: Miles Murphy after the game. You had two sacks. TJ.
8:17
Speaker 1: Slayton was involved in one of those sacks. In any case,
8:20
Speaker 1: how difficult were the playing conditions for everybody on both
8:24
Speaker 1: sides today?
8:25
Speaker 7: I mean, of course it's cold, but it's just a
8:27
Speaker 7: conditions this. You know what you signed up for the football.
8:30
Speaker 7: You played in any any weather, So I just gotta
8:34
Speaker 7: bear with it and still just play your keys played
8:37
Speaker 7: a run, rust passer to do we can as a defense.
8:40
Speaker 1: Big plays hurt you guys today. Did you feel like
8:43
Speaker 1: that was the biggest problem on defense?
8:46
Speaker 7: Yes, women in the explosives, they're explosive team. They got
8:49
Speaker 7: guys all over at quarterback, O line, running back, receivers,
8:52
Speaker 7: so you gotta do what you can' s limited the exposives.
8:54
Speaker 1: I felt, we felt that we did a good.
8:55
Speaker 7: Job against the run, cup them contain cut pressure on them.
9:00
Speaker 1: But it was just the explosives.
9:02
Speaker 2: Uh.
9:03
Speaker 1: I was I was one of them. I was one
9:04
Speaker 1: of them.
9:04
Speaker 7: That gave it the one of the one explosive and
9:07
Speaker 7: those are just things that just can't happen.
9:09
Speaker 1: Was that on the touchdown pass to our lee, I
9:11
Speaker 1: was on your side, but I didn't really know what
9:13
Speaker 1: your responsibility was there.
9:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, the first one, I was supposed to yea, I
9:15
Speaker 7: was supposed to ta him on that one. And that's
9:17
Speaker 7: just something that can't happen to me and or anyone.
9:19
Speaker 7: I just can't happen to give up that explosive play.
9:23
Speaker 1: It was a tough game in the sense that Thangals
9:26
Speaker 1: had some opportunities early inside the thirty, didn't take advantage.
9:30
Speaker 1: Baltimore got a score, and then it kind of felt
9:32
Speaker 1: like the momentum swung their way, particularly when they got
9:35
Speaker 1: that second score late in the second quarter. Describe what
9:39
Speaker 1: it was like for you guys, just from a momentum standpoint.
9:42
Speaker 7: Really, as a defense, we try to approach every every
9:45
Speaker 7: position that the same, like we got to get the
9:46
Speaker 7: ball back for our offense because we know our offense,
9:49
Speaker 7: you know, just like there's a we have offenses full
9:51
Speaker 7: of explosive guys and who did they All they need
9:54
Speaker 7: is a chance, man, and that's that's what we try
9:55
Speaker 7: to do for our offense, just give them a chance,
9:57
Speaker 7: and you know, that's that's the only thing we can do.
9:59
Speaker 7: Just do our to do our job and continue to
10:02
Speaker 7: give our give Joe, just continue to give you the ball.
10:04
Speaker 7: That's that's all we want to do.
10:05
Speaker 1: That's all we can do. It obviously doesn't help the
10:07
Speaker 1: playoff math. Where do you guys stand now with three
10:09
Speaker 1: games to go?
10:11
Speaker 7: H what's the same deal? The next next week is
10:13
Speaker 7: the biggest game of the year. That's that's my mindset.
10:15
Speaker 7: I feel like that's the entire defenses of mindset. Just
10:17
Speaker 7: to go into next week, same mindset. Attack, stop the run,
10:21
Speaker 7: get after the quarterback like nothing changes. We're not just
10:23
Speaker 7: gonna sit back and just let whatever happen to us,
10:25
Speaker 7: like we're gonna steal attack set set edges, do do
10:30
Speaker 7: what we can and just you know, show show everyone
10:32
Speaker 7: what bangle, what Bengal football is.
10:34
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Miles, thank you. As I mentioned, Miles
10:38
Speaker 1: had a couple of sacks, so did Demitrius Knight, who
10:41
Speaker 1: also had a forced fumble. Now time to hear a
10:45
Speaker 1: few of Zach Taylor's comments when he spoke to reporters
10:48
Speaker 1: after the game.
10:48
Speaker 6: I think it's it's frustrating to score zero points get
10:51
Speaker 6: shut out at home. That's that's unacceptable. Never a million
10:55
Speaker 6: year is what I've seen that coming, you know. But
10:57
Speaker 6: that's that's what happened today. So now we're gonna look
10:59
Speaker 6: at why that happened, and we got to be accountable.
11:01
Speaker 1: For it and keep moving forward.
11:05
Speaker 6: We knew that this game was going to be very difficult,
11:07
Speaker 6: and we put a lot of time and effort to
11:09
Speaker 6: the plan and the practice, and I got to today
11:11
Speaker 6: film feeling really good about where we're at. And again
11:15
Speaker 6: we just I'm not going to say that there was
11:16
Speaker 6: a single area, particularly an offense that we're going to
11:19
Speaker 6: say that was that was nearly good enough. It wasn't
11:21
Speaker 6: even close to good enough anywhere, starting with me, And
11:24
Speaker 6: so that part was frustrating. You told me our defense
11:27
Speaker 6: was going to sack them as many times and harass
11:30
Speaker 6: them the pocket and create a turnover and holding three
11:33
Speaker 6: points to the second half, I'd sign up for that, you know.
11:36
Speaker 6: So again, just wholesale, as a team, we weren't good enough.
11:39
Speaker 1: With the loss, the Bengals are four and ten and
11:41
Speaker 1: officially eliminated from playoff contention. They have three games left
11:46
Speaker 1: a road game at Miami and home games against Arizona
11:50
Speaker 1: and Cleveland. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
11:53
Speaker 1: by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR
11:57
Speaker 1: software provider, by Alta Fiber Future prow Fiber Internet designed
12:01
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
12:04
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health, the best care for the best fans.
12:08
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
12:12
Speaker 1: Now time for the radio guys recap. Well app, I
12:17
Speaker 1: can't say that I'm shocked that Baltimore won the game,
12:20
Speaker 1: but I am shocked that the Bengals didn't score as
12:23
Speaker 1: good as this offense has been, particularly with Joe Burrow back.
12:27
Speaker 1: To see Cincinnati reach the end of a game, particularly
12:30
Speaker 1: at home, with no points is stunning.
12:32
Speaker 4: It is, you know, and you look at Joe's raw numbers,
12:36
Speaker 4: you know, completed over fifty percent of his passes, two
12:39
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty plus yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions. The
12:42
Speaker 4: two interceptions obviously were huge. They scored you know, points
12:46
Speaker 4: off of both of them. That obviously was the big
12:51
Speaker 4: difference in the football game. But I just watching that game,
12:56
Speaker 4: I know it was a thumping. It was a total thumping,
12:59
Speaker 4: there's no doubt. But it's just like the score shouldn't
13:02
Speaker 4: have been like that. I mean, there's no way this
13:05
Speaker 4: team shouldn't have put points on the board somehow, Yeah,
13:09
Speaker 4: kicking an Evan McPherson field goal or punching it in
13:12
Speaker 4: for a touchdown some way, shape or form. I mean,
13:15
Speaker 4: to be shut out at home, you know, with a
13:20
Speaker 4: holiday type crowd, it's not a good look. It's not
13:24
Speaker 4: a good look at all. And I think they're better
13:27
Speaker 4: than that, I really do. I think I'm not saying
13:29
Speaker 4: that they're a playoff caliber team. They're probably going home
13:32
Speaker 4: for the playoffs. It's probably not probably, it's probably more
13:36
Speaker 4: than probably. It looks like pretty definite that they're heading
13:40
Speaker 4: home for the holidays. But they've got players. I mean,
13:44
Speaker 4: they have pieces. It's just a matter of putting it together.
13:47
Speaker 1: They got to the twenty five of Baltimore in their
13:49
Speaker 1: first drive, the twenty nine on their second drive, and
13:51
Speaker 1: then inside the ten late in the game and didn't score.
13:55
Speaker 1: That kills you. I mean, they're not all red zone
13:58
Speaker 1: failures obviously too are just inside the thirty. But it's
14:01
Speaker 1: it's close close.
14:02
Speaker 4: That's great. Point. I mean they're right there, they're almost
14:06
Speaker 4: in the red zone. I mean they're within every McPherson
14:09
Speaker 4: field goals. I mean he can hit from forty six
14:12
Speaker 4: forty seven yards, that's what those field goals would equate
14:14
Speaker 4: to potentially. So you know the fact that again you
14:19
Speaker 4: put no points to be shut out at home in
14:23
Speaker 4: front of your crowd. Man, it's just I know, the organization,
14:27
Speaker 4: the coaching staff, the players, everybody's hurting right now, and
14:30
Speaker 4: they're hurting big time. That locker room was despondent, to
14:34
Speaker 4: say the least. I think they're all feeling it, and
14:37
Speaker 4: they're all feeling it a big time.
14:39
Speaker 1: On the one hand, the defense allowed seventeen offensive points.
14:44
Speaker 1: The Ravens scored seven on the long pick six, so
14:47
Speaker 1: that seems like a positive, But they gave up so
14:50
Speaker 1: many big plays. They would be good for three or
14:53
Speaker 1: four snaps and then thirty four yards, thirty eight yards,
14:56
Speaker 1: things like that. They've just got to find a way
14:59
Speaker 1: going forward to to prevent so many huge plays that
15:02
Speaker 1: turn the game.
15:03
Speaker 4: Lamar Jackson would have been very pedestrian with his numbers
15:06
Speaker 4: if not for you know, three or four players of
15:09
Speaker 4: twenty five thirty five thirty thirty five yards, you know,
15:13
Speaker 4: and they came in opportune times. There's never an opportune time,
15:16
Speaker 4: I guess in a football game to give up, you know,
15:19
Speaker 4: a play that's equivalent to two two and a half
15:21
Speaker 4: three first downs, you don't want to ever, you know,
15:25
Speaker 4: do that. But it just seemed like there were backbreaking
15:28
Speaker 4: I mean, the timing of them couldn't have been any worse.
15:31
Speaker 4: It was just it was just one of those football
15:33
Speaker 4: games in that regard. And you know the fact that
15:36
Speaker 4: it's an AFC North bitter rival makes it all that
15:39
Speaker 4: much more difficult to swallow.
15:41
Speaker 1: We had the Ravens coaching booth immediately to our left. Man,
15:45
Speaker 1: that's tough to hear when they're hooting and hollering, pounding
15:47
Speaker 1: on the glass after their big plays. It made me
15:50
Speaker 1: pretty grumpy in our booth.
15:52
Speaker 2: I hate them.
15:55
Speaker 4: It definitely made me grumpy. Grumpy is a good word
15:57
Speaker 4: for it. It's at least that I mean, oh man,
16:00
Speaker 4: it's you know, but credit them, you know, they found
16:03
Speaker 4: a way to get it done. I don't think that
16:05
Speaker 4: they probably feel like as a staff, as an organization,
16:08
Speaker 4: that they necessarily played their best game. They probably feel
16:11
Speaker 4: like there's meat on the bone for them as well,
16:14
Speaker 4: and of course the Bengals. You're talking there's a lot
16:16
Speaker 4: of meat on the bone. I mean, there's still a
16:17
Speaker 4: ribbi left on every bone for the Cincinnati Bengals down
16:20
Speaker 4: the stretch of the season for sure.
16:22
Speaker 1: Three games left, you're really not talking about the playoffs now,
16:26
Speaker 1: So what's the mission? What do these guys have to
16:30
Speaker 1: be playing for in the final three games?
16:32
Speaker 2: Still?
16:32
Speaker 4: You're playing to go for and to in the division?
16:35
Speaker 4: Is that going to be enough to be a playoff team?
16:37
Speaker 8: Not?
16:37
Speaker 4: Probably not with an eight to nine record, best case scenario,
16:40
Speaker 4: seven and ten now yeah, seven and ten now sorry,
16:43
Speaker 4: seven and ten record best case scenario. So you know,
16:46
Speaker 4: hopefully that ain't time, but it was not meant to be. Yeah.
16:50
Speaker 4: So basically, you're a professional. You're getting paid a ton
16:53
Speaker 4: of money to play a child's game. Game you've played
16:57
Speaker 4: your entire life, a game that everybody in the world,
17:01
Speaker 4: male person walking the face of the earth would like
17:04
Speaker 4: to have been part of playing currently or playing at
17:08
Speaker 4: some point in their lifetime. So you have to keep
17:10
Speaker 4: that in mind. You have to remember how fortunate you
17:13
Speaker 4: are as the holiday season, you know, is upon us.
17:15
Speaker 4: You've been blessed and go out and play that way.
17:18
Speaker 4: You know, play for your teammates, play for yourself. You know,
17:22
Speaker 4: hopefully maybe at some point you can, if you're playing well,
17:24
Speaker 4: cash in and get a better contract. That's what it's
17:26
Speaker 4: all about in the National Football League. It's winning games,
17:29
Speaker 4: going to the playoffs, winning a Super Bowl, and then
17:31
Speaker 4: you know, getting paid ultimately. So there's there's plenty to
17:35
Speaker 4: play for and if not, you're in the wrong profession.
17:39
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to assume there will be a
17:41
Speaker 1: lot of new players on defense next year, not so
17:44
Speaker 1: many out offense. Most of the good guys are signed
17:47
Speaker 1: for multiple years going forward. But one name I want
17:49
Speaker 1: to bring up because we discussed it on the air
17:51
Speaker 1: a little bit today, was right guard Dalton Riisner. Signed
17:54
Speaker 1: just before the start of the season. Wasn't in training
17:56
Speaker 1: camp with anybody. Started slowly. Now he's moved in the
18:00
Speaker 1: starting lineup. I think he's done pretty well at right guard.
18:03
Speaker 1: Are you on board with trying to keep him around
18:06
Speaker 1: at age thirty?
18:07
Speaker 4: I am, maybe not a long term contract, but definitely
18:10
Speaker 4: signing for a year two years max. I think he's
18:14
Speaker 4: earned that. I think he's playing better. His performances the
18:18
Speaker 4: Graft's going up. It's going up, you know, on a
18:21
Speaker 4: weekly basis, and now he's playing to the point where
18:24
Speaker 4: it's almost going straight north. So I think the offensive
18:27
Speaker 4: line as a group is starting to play like that.
18:30
Speaker 4: I think they're starting to gel. I think there's some cohesion.
18:33
Speaker 4: I think that, you know, they're going to be a
18:35
Speaker 4: good unit next year as they you know, get better
18:38
Speaker 4: and better and get more snaps under their belt with
18:40
Speaker 4: each other. So, you know, I'm encouraged by you know,
18:44
Speaker 4: what I'm seeing out there. I do think that Carris
18:47
Speaker 4: is having a solid year. I think the two tackles,
18:49
Speaker 4: Mims and Brown are playing good football.
18:54
Speaker 1: You know.
18:54
Speaker 4: I do think that you're right. Defensively, it's gonna be
18:58
Speaker 4: a lot of new faces. I mean and uh with
19:01
Speaker 4: the old ind with the new, as the saying goes.
19:03
Speaker 4: So I do think Al Golden will be back as
19:07
Speaker 4: defensive coordinator. I know fans that are in my year
19:10
Speaker 4: and social media people are yet, yeah gold Yeah, he's
19:13
Speaker 4: he's stinks, he's that, he's this, he sucks, get rid
19:16
Speaker 4: of him. I think with another year under his belt
19:20
Speaker 4: in terms of you know, getting across exactly how he
19:23
Speaker 4: wants things done, you know, no, no, uh no question
19:28
Speaker 4: as to why he wants it done, how he wants
19:30
Speaker 4: it done, when he wants you to get there if
19:33
Speaker 4: you got an assignment responsibility. So I think that he deserves,
19:38
Speaker 4: definitely deserves a chance to be back, and I think
19:40
Speaker 4: he will.
19:41
Speaker 1: Be Did you have freezer Ball flashbacks as you drove
19:44
Speaker 1: to the stadium today? I did a little bit.
19:47
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean I was like, man, this is this
19:49
Speaker 4: is chili Willie. You know. I put my windows down
19:52
Speaker 4: a crack just to kind of get start to feel
19:54
Speaker 4: the atmosphere a little bit, you know, and uh, yeah,
19:58
Speaker 4: has drove down uh third Street to the stadium. I thought, yeah,
20:03
Speaker 4: here we go.
20:03
Speaker 1: I remember.
20:04
Speaker 4: I remember this vividly.
20:05
Speaker 2: Man.
20:06
Speaker 4: I remember just being so cold. I've never been colder
20:10
Speaker 4: than that my whole life for any reason. And uh
20:15
Speaker 4: just the thing that I remember, too, Dan, is when
20:17
Speaker 4: you hit, the pain you know. It's because man, when
20:21
Speaker 4: you if you're cold, when you hit and go bone
20:23
Speaker 4: on bone or whatever, man, it's it's a it's a
20:26
Speaker 4: feeling you remember, that's for sure. And I definitely still
20:29
Speaker 4: remember it. And there was a lot of physicality and
20:34
Speaker 4: violence that went on in that football game, because I
20:36
Speaker 4: mean it was for a ton of bananas, no doubt
20:39
Speaker 4: about it. I mean it was a It was a
20:40
Speaker 4: big football game, and our defense was unbelievable and they
20:44
Speaker 4: just bottled up Fouts.
20:45
Speaker 2: Man.
20:45
Speaker 4: They just corralled him. He couldn't do anything. Uh, he
20:48
Speaker 4: was in the tiger's den and he got swarmed. So yeah,
20:53
Speaker 4: that twenty seven to seven final score that football game.
20:56
Speaker 4: We won that game going away, And I do remember sleeveless,
21:01
Speaker 4: Like you said, I decided to go sleeveless because I
21:03
Speaker 4: had Gary Bighans Johnson who was a grabber and he'd
21:05
Speaker 4: grab him pull cloth, and I didn't want to have
21:08
Speaker 4: him have that cloth, that extraneous material to pull on.
21:11
Speaker 4: So I went with the sleeveless look and basically gritted
21:18
Speaker 4: my teeth and fought through the pain.
21:21
Speaker 1: Let's go to Miami on Friday and be warm for
21:23
Speaker 1: two days.
21:24
Speaker 4: That sounds like a good plan. Dan, I'm ready to
21:26
Speaker 4: do that. Board that plane, and it can't come fast enough.
21:31
Speaker 1: Next Sunday's game was originally set for Sunday night football,
21:35
Speaker 1: but it's been flexed to one in the afternoon. The
21:38
Speaker 1: Dolphins are six and seven and face the Steelers on
21:42
Speaker 1: Monday night. That's a wrap on the Baltimore game. Now
21:46
Speaker 1: time for this week's fun Facts conversation, where you get
21:49
Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Time for some
21:53
Speaker 1: fun facts with running back Taj Brooks from Manor, Texas,
21:57
Speaker 1: not far from the capital city of described growing up
22:01
Speaker 1: in Manor and some of the things you enjoyed doing
22:03
Speaker 1: when you were young.
22:04
Speaker 2: Oh, man, the.
22:06
Speaker 8: Thing I did the most was just, uh, play football,
22:10
Speaker 8: went to school, and then you don't hung out with friends.
22:12
Speaker 8: That was really just the most part. And you know,
22:14
Speaker 8: I was kind of kind of a country boy at
22:16
Speaker 8: that time too. You know, it was Mayor back back
22:18
Speaker 8: in high school. It was a it was a kind
22:20
Speaker 8: of a little suburb. Now it's a lot of a
22:22
Speaker 8: lot of things growing out there, so but it was
22:24
Speaker 8: more country when I was out there when I was
22:26
Speaker 8: growing up and stuff, So it was fun.
22:28
Speaker 1: I read somewhere that you rode horses growing up. Was
22:31
Speaker 1: that the case? And is it's still the case.
22:33
Speaker 8: It's a little bit kind of the case now, but
22:35
Speaker 8: I try to get not too much, but yeah, I
22:37
Speaker 8: grew up. I rode a little bit of horses. It
22:40
Speaker 8: was just when I was little. My aunt shout out
22:42
Speaker 8: to her, she kind of you know, just instilled to
22:44
Speaker 8: me just just to do it for fun. And it's
22:46
Speaker 8: been it's been great ever since. But it's crazy.
22:49
Speaker 2: It just, uh, I kind of had like a little
22:51
Speaker 2: reaction to like one.
22:52
Speaker 8: Of like the horse little blanket sheets, and you know,
22:54
Speaker 8: I always I loved animals. When I was with it,
22:57
Speaker 8: I wanted to be like a vision I guess a visitor,
22:59
Speaker 8: not a vision vennary.
23:01
Speaker 2: Excuse me.
23:02
Speaker 8: It was just I love watching like the incredible Doctor
23:05
Speaker 8: Poe shows and things like that, so I just want
23:07
Speaker 8: to see like just the way of living over horse
23:08
Speaker 8: and things like that.
23:09
Speaker 2: But that's just something that I cherished the most when
23:12
Speaker 2: I was growing up.
23:13
Speaker 1: Tys. You had an exceptional high school football career, running
23:16
Speaker 1: for more than four thousand yards. When did it start
23:19
Speaker 1: to become clear that the other kids either couldn't catch
23:22
Speaker 1: you or tackle you.
23:25
Speaker 2: Really, I want to say a little league.
23:27
Speaker 8: And then going into my ninth grade year, that was
23:30
Speaker 8: my first year I was a freshman on varsity ninth grade,
23:33
Speaker 8: and you really don't see that happening in a lot
23:35
Speaker 8: of places, and that kind of just changed my trajectory
23:38
Speaker 8: of football. And I'm very thankful for the coach that gave.
23:41
Speaker 1: Me the opportunity, mainnerance and far from the University of Texas.
23:45
Speaker 1: I've read that the Longhorns did not recruit you. Was
23:48
Speaker 1: that the case and if so, was it disappointing.
23:51
Speaker 8: I wasn't disappointing, but they recruited me a little bit.
23:54
Speaker 8: They kind of wanted me. It was back in twenty yeah,
23:57
Speaker 8: back in twenty twenty when the covid era and they
24:01
Speaker 8: had a guy, which is he's in the league actually
24:04
Speaker 8: right now, so kudos to him and things like that.
24:07
Speaker 8: But they had a guy, and I feel like text
24:08
Speaker 8: Tech was the best for me. Uh, coach Matt Wells.
24:11
Speaker 8: I got recruited by him, and man, he changed my
24:14
Speaker 8: life forever. And then just the inductive of just Joey MacGuire,
24:17
Speaker 8: just the things that he built there has been great.
24:19
Speaker 2: So uh, I'm glad I'm a text Take Raider.
24:23
Speaker 1: You initially committed to Tulsa largely because of an assistant
24:26
Speaker 1: coach named Justin Hill, who is your running backs coach
24:30
Speaker 1: now with the Cincinnati Bengals. Described that relationship going back
24:33
Speaker 1: to the tenth grade.
24:35
Speaker 2: It was, it was a great relationship. It's still great
24:37
Speaker 2: to this day.
24:37
Speaker 8: You know, the Jay Hill he does a great job
24:39
Speaker 8: with just the coaching aspect and then just uh, just
24:42
Speaker 8: being a.
24:42
Speaker 2: Teacher, a great guy you can learn from.
24:45
Speaker 8: And then just off the field a great a great
24:47
Speaker 8: family man, a great uh somebody you want to be
24:49
Speaker 8: like when you want to grow up and things like that.
24:51
Speaker 8: But the relationship is has been there, I want to
24:54
Speaker 8: say since my freshman year. I committed to him and
24:57
Speaker 8: and that program and it was great. And then he
25:00
Speaker 8: at the job here and I knew, I knew I
25:02
Speaker 8: was kind of gonna be back.
25:04
Speaker 2: Not as a Cincinnati being. I thought I know I
25:06
Speaker 2: was gonna be back in the ropes because I.
25:07
Speaker 8: Texted him one year, I guess, I guess, congrats on
25:10
Speaker 8: going to the super Bowl, and he text me back,
25:11
Speaker 8: He's like, thank you, man.
25:12
Speaker 2: So it was just a good good seeing out of eye.
25:15
Speaker 8: And then shoot, I got blessing and I got a
25:16
Speaker 8: jobbed here, So it all came for full like a
25:18
Speaker 8: full circle.
25:19
Speaker 2: So it's cool.
25:20
Speaker 1: We're visiting with TODJ. Brooks. You ultimately chose to play
25:23
Speaker 1: at Texas Tech. As you mentioned, you're gonna be in
25:25
Speaker 1: their Hall of Fame someday you're their all time leading rusher.
25:28
Speaker 1: What did you enjoy most about your five years there.
25:31
Speaker 2: Man. It wasn't breaking the records or anything.
25:34
Speaker 8: It was just the I want to say, my teammates,
25:36
Speaker 8: the guys that I met there, the guys that I
25:38
Speaker 8: came in with, we built those are my brothers for life.
25:41
Speaker 2: And that was probably like one of.
25:42
Speaker 8: The biggest things that I that I missed about college
25:46
Speaker 8: and things like that. But besides the accolades that I
25:48
Speaker 8: broken things, but those that's probably the most important ones.
25:52
Speaker 1: In addition to your on the field success, you excelled
25:55
Speaker 1: in the classroom. You were nominated for the Campbell Award
25:58
Speaker 1: last year, which is known as the Academic Heusbend Trophy.
26:01
Speaker 1: Did your folks put a big emphasis on the classroom
26:04
Speaker 1: For sure.
26:05
Speaker 8: My mom and my dad, they pushed me academically as
26:08
Speaker 8: well as on the field. You want to be the
26:10
Speaker 8: best person in the brain before you get outside and
26:13
Speaker 8: get on the field.
26:14
Speaker 2: You know.
26:14
Speaker 8: So that's just it's been instilled to me at a
26:16
Speaker 8: young age. My grandma is also instilled in me, just
26:19
Speaker 8: you gotta you gotta be a student before you be
26:20
Speaker 8: an athlete.
26:21
Speaker 2: So just learning different ways just to get better with
26:23
Speaker 2: your brain.
26:24
Speaker 8: That's just something I always honored as and you know,
26:27
Speaker 8: just want to just expand my knowledge more.
26:29
Speaker 1: The Bengals selected you in the sixth round of this
26:31
Speaker 1: year's draft. Describe that day leading up to getting the
26:35
Speaker 1: phone call from Zach Taylor.
26:37
Speaker 8: First and foremost, it was just it was a blessing.
26:39
Speaker 8: I can't think enough to the man above. The Bengels
26:42
Speaker 8: got a great guy, a great a great person that's
26:45
Speaker 8: gonna come in and impact the way that he can
26:47
Speaker 8: if any opportunity that he gets.
26:49
Speaker 2: But now that that day was amazing.
26:51
Speaker 8: I talked to Zach, I talked to Jay Hill, and
26:53
Speaker 8: then shoot, after that, it was it was ready to work.
26:55
Speaker 1: You know.
26:55
Speaker 8: They nothing wasn't handed, nothing wasn't given. It was just
26:58
Speaker 8: come in, learn and just be uh, whenever opportunity for thisself,
27:02
Speaker 8: be ready for the opportunity.
27:03
Speaker 2: And I can't wait.
27:05
Speaker 1: This was a crazy deep draft for running backs. I'm
27:09
Speaker 1: thinking in a normal year you would have gone several
27:11
Speaker 1: rounds earlier. How did that affect you?
27:14
Speaker 2: I really didn't. It really didn't affect me.
27:16
Speaker 8: I have I have a great team, a great agent
27:19
Speaker 8: within that well and things like that. So they kept me. Uh,
27:22
Speaker 8: he kept me, truly honest. He's like, man, I feel
27:25
Speaker 8: like you're one of the top backs in this class,
27:26
Speaker 8: and you know your film proves it. You can take
27:29
Speaker 8: and catch the ball great out the backfield and you
27:31
Speaker 8: know run the ball. That's nothing. White can't question question
27:34
Speaker 8: you about that. So man, that's just it was deep.
27:37
Speaker 8: But I feel like I separated myself just off pass
27:39
Speaker 8: protection and then catching the ball.
27:41
Speaker 1: Where at the backfield were the guys draft before you
27:44
Speaker 1: where you said yourself, Man, that guy is good, but
27:47
Speaker 1: I know I'm better than he is for.
27:49
Speaker 8: Sure, you know, just the competitor in me just saying that.
27:51
Speaker 8: And then just you know, on draft day, I kind
27:53
Speaker 8: of wrote and thought about every guy that went before me,
27:55
Speaker 8: so not saying when we played them. I I just
27:57
Speaker 8: want to, you know, be the whenever I give my opportunity,
28:00
Speaker 8: be the best back on the field and things like that.
28:01
Speaker 8: So I just can't wait for that to happen.
28:03
Speaker 1: All right, Some wild card topics now for Bengals running
28:06
Speaker 1: back Taj Brooks. Who is your all time favorite athlete
28:10
Speaker 1: in any sport?
28:12
Speaker 2: And why I gotta be one or just one?
28:16
Speaker 1: You can pick several if you'd like.
28:18
Speaker 8: All Man, it's tough. I'm gonna go Kobe just because
28:21
Speaker 8: the Mama mentality. I'm gonna go Ray Lewis, just because
28:26
Speaker 8: a guy that's gonna come to work each and every
28:27
Speaker 8: day and give it his all, and someone that's gonna
28:30
Speaker 8: embrace you and you know, makes you want to do
28:32
Speaker 8: things that you want to that you don't want to
28:34
Speaker 8: do but you're doing. And then my last one is
28:37
Speaker 8: probably Barry Sanders, just a guy that's just very consistent
28:43
Speaker 8: as being playing a running back, being at the plane
28:45
Speaker 8: at the highest level and doing the great things that
28:47
Speaker 8: he did in the NFL. Man, it's just you always
28:49
Speaker 8: want to put yourself in that role and just want
28:51
Speaker 8: to see yourself doing those great things that he did.
28:54
Speaker 1: So Barry Sanders was before your time. Have you watched
28:57
Speaker 1: a lot of the clips on YouTube?
28:58
Speaker 2: Oh for sure, I'll watch him.
29:01
Speaker 8: Then you know the Madden you know, I play Madden
29:02
Speaker 8: a lot, so I'm always using him, Watson Payton, you know,
29:05
Speaker 8: just Marshall fawk Man.
29:07
Speaker 2: You can go a list goes down, man.
29:09
Speaker 8: But I kind of watch those guys on YouTube and
29:11
Speaker 8: just you know, going what they did in the NFL
29:13
Speaker 8: and just try to see how my game can imprint
29:15
Speaker 8: and how I can take things from their game.
29:17
Speaker 1: So we're visiting the taj Brooks. For the last three years,
29:20
Speaker 1: you put on a free football clinic back home for kids.
29:23
Speaker 1: More than three hundred attended this past year. Why do
29:26
Speaker 1: you do that?
29:27
Speaker 8: I do it just it's a blessing first and foremost
29:30
Speaker 8: for the kids. And you know, just so it's been
29:32
Speaker 8: it's free. It's something that I love, you know, giving
29:34
Speaker 8: back to my community, giving back to where I came from.
29:36
Speaker 8: And you know, you always want to get back to
29:38
Speaker 8: your hometown because they're going to support you no matter what,
29:41
Speaker 8: no matter if you're an NFL, no matter if you're
29:43
Speaker 8: you know, a college coach some day, no matter whatever
29:45
Speaker 8: you doing, they're going to always support you. And I
29:47
Speaker 8: always want to give my support back to my high
29:49
Speaker 8: schools and things like that.
29:50
Speaker 1: We know you're a good running back, we know you're
29:53
Speaker 1: a good student. You rode horses as a kid. But
29:56
Speaker 1: where do you allow he at? Uh?
29:58
Speaker 2: To be honest, I'm not a good singer.
30:00
Speaker 1: I will not.
30:02
Speaker 8: I sing to myself sometimes, but it's just myself and
30:05
Speaker 8: probably my girlfriend. But besides that, I'm not a great
30:08
Speaker 8: singer at all. That's probably the one.
30:10
Speaker 1: What do you like to splur?
30:11
Speaker 2: John Man?
30:13
Speaker 8: I don't know because I haven't. Man, I'm not I'm
30:16
Speaker 8: a big I'm not a big spender. It's just it
30:18
Speaker 8: depends like I kind of left my big spending probably
30:22
Speaker 8: in my college days. But now it's just more of
30:25
Speaker 8: just I don't know, man, it's I don't really splurs
30:28
Speaker 8: a lot. Second contract, probably buy a home back home,
30:32
Speaker 8: you know, by a home, get something set up off
30:34
Speaker 8: of the off season, and you know, get something going
30:37
Speaker 8: with the off season, things like that.
30:38
Speaker 2: So just buy a home and things like that.
30:39
Speaker 1: All right, Final fun fact for Taj Brooks. This one's
30:42
Speaker 1: a little bit deep. If you could meet anybody in history,
30:47
Speaker 1: living or deceased, who would that person be?
30:50
Speaker 8: I want to say one is Nipsey Hustle. Nipsey Hustle,
30:53
Speaker 8: excuse me, just the way how powerful he is with
30:55
Speaker 8: his voice and the way he carried on his life
30:58
Speaker 8: and his legacy. And then to probably my brother Charlie Man,
31:04
Speaker 8: just to talk to him, see how you doing up there.
31:07
Speaker 8: He passed away in twenty nineteen during a gun violence accident.
31:10
Speaker 8: So just meet him and just top it up with him.
31:13
Speaker 8: That would probably be my two, Like most coming back
31:15
Speaker 8: and just chopping it up.
31:16
Speaker 2: So that probably my things, right.
31:17
Speaker 1: There, Tash, appreciate your time. Best of lock the rest
31:20
Speaker 1: of the year.
31:20
Speaker 2: Yes, sorry, thank you.
31:22
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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Speaker 1: Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.