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Bengals Booth Podcast: A Sobering Sunday · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hike and everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Scalped edition, as we'll look back
0:10
Speaker 1: at a sobering Sunday night in Kansas City as the
0:14
Speaker 1: Bengals went to Arrowhead Stadium and got taken to the
0:17
Speaker 1: woodshed by Patrick Showtime, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
0:22
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays from the game, locker
0:25
Speaker 1: room interviews with several players, and Dave Lapp them will
0:28
Speaker 1: join me for postgame analysis. Plus, in this week's fun
0:32
Speaker 1: Facts interview, I'll talk to Bengals tight end Mason Shrek,
0:36
Speaker 1: who will tell us what it was like to arrive
0:39
Speaker 1: at the University of Buffalo right out of high school
0:41
Speaker 1: and have to try to block Khalil Mack. All of
0:45
Speaker 1: that is straight ahead, But first, here's a quick reminder
0:48
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
0:50
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
0:54
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention
0:59
Speaker 1: since the backspace key. If you are roughly as old
1:05
Speaker 1: as I am or older, you remember typewriters and white
1:09
Speaker 1: out yes kids back in the day. If you are
1:13
Speaker 1: typing something on an actual piece of paper and made
1:16
Speaker 1: a mistake. You either rip the paper out of the
1:19
Speaker 1: typewriter and started over, or you opened a little bottle
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Speaker 1: with this white paint like liquid, took out a tiny
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Speaker 1: brush and covered up your mistake, then waited for the
1:30
Speaker 1: liquid to dry before starting to type again. Now you
1:35
Speaker 1: simply hit the backspace key and continue. It's glorious. Now
1:40
Speaker 1: let's get to the game. According to the guy who
1:43
Speaker 1: owns skin Quest Tattoos in Kansas City, people requesting to
1:48
Speaker 1: have Patrick Mahomes's face tattooed unto their body is becoming
1:52
Speaker 1: increasingly popular in Kansas City. He estimates he's had twelve
1:56
Speaker 1: to fifteen requests so far and that number is likely
2:00
Speaker 1: to grow after the clinic the twenty three year old
2:02
Speaker 1: quarterback put on against the Bengals. Of course, it helps
2:06
Speaker 1: to have weapons like running back Kareem Hunt, who led
2:09
Speaker 1: the NFL and rushing as a rookie last year and
2:12
Speaker 1: had one hundred forty one combined rushing and receiving yards.
2:16
Speaker 1: On Sunday night, on second and ten, he hands it
2:19
Speaker 1: off to Kareem Hunt, trying to run wide to the
2:21
Speaker 1: right Drake Kirkpatrick. She slowed him down but didn't tackle him. Now,
2:25
Speaker 1: Hunt hurdles a Bengal, runs inside to ten and finally
2:30
Speaker 1: gets brought down at the six yard line. I'll tell
2:32
Speaker 1: you that's vision and balanced for Kareem Hunt and Drake
2:36
Speaker 1: Kirkpatrick has him and they pulled both guards. Kirkpatrick kind
2:39
Speaker 1: of gets around the outside and just basically it was
2:42
Speaker 1: almost like square dancing dozie dove, just ring him around
2:46
Speaker 1: and let him go. Here's Bengals linebacker Preston Brown on
2:49
Speaker 1: the challenge of tackling Kareem Hunt. You gotta really want
2:53
Speaker 1: to tackle that guy. He's not gonna just except that
2:55
Speaker 1: he's gonna tackle. He's gonna keep fighting, jump over you
2:57
Speaker 1: try to get as many yards as you can. I mean,
2:59
Speaker 1: he wants to square. Every time he gets the ball,
3:01
Speaker 1: he can tone away. He runs and he can catch
3:03
Speaker 1: the ball too. Mahomes is under center, he'll drop back
3:06
Speaker 1: to throw, rolling right, cocks the arm, throws caught near
3:10
Speaker 1: the two yard line, Hunt extends the ball toward the pylon,
3:13
Speaker 1: touchdown Kansas City. That was the final play of a
3:16
Speaker 1: ninety five yard touchdown drive by the Chiefs on their
3:19
Speaker 1: opening possession, and Kansas City led seven nothing all right,
3:23
Speaker 1: We knew the Chiefs were going to score. But last
3:26
Speaker 1: week the Patriots beat the Chiefs forty three to forty
3:29
Speaker 1: because New England didn't make mistakes. The Patriots never punted
3:34
Speaker 1: in the game and didn't have a single penalty enforced
3:37
Speaker 1: against them. The Bengals were not quite that sharp. They
3:41
Speaker 1: had eight penalties, they punted five times, and early in
3:45
Speaker 1: the second quarter they botched a punt when it was
3:48
Speaker 1: hard to tell what happened. On fourth and nine at
3:51
Speaker 1: their own forty four, Clark Harris appeared to snap the
3:54
Speaker 1: ball directly to the personal protector, Clayton Fedgelum, who didn't
3:59
Speaker 1: seem to be affecting a fake punt. The disaster gave
4:02
Speaker 1: the Chiefs the ball the Bengals thirty two. So what
4:06
Speaker 1: happened Coach Lewis and miscommunication and it shouldn't happen, especially
4:10
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs, who took advantage of the short field
4:13
Speaker 1: to make it fourteen nothing. Mahomes under center, drop straight
4:16
Speaker 1: back to throw a pocket closes, throws off his back foot,
4:19
Speaker 1: caught at the thirteen yard line. The receiver escapes it's hut,
4:24
Speaker 1: charging toward the forward right pilon and he is well
4:27
Speaker 1: one official is standing at the five. The other gives
4:29
Speaker 1: the touchdown signal. Now did he step out of bounce
4:32
Speaker 1: at the five yard line? Is that official marking the ball? No,
4:35
Speaker 1: he's not, so it's going to be a touchdown for Hunt.
4:37
Speaker 1: That was Hunt's second touchdown, grabbed from Mahomes as he
4:41
Speaker 1: ran right through the arms of Vantes perfect after catching
4:44
Speaker 1: the ball. Here's Jesse Bates on the Bengals tackling woes.
4:48
Speaker 1: That's something that we struggled with tonight. And obviously those
4:52
Speaker 1: guys are our Pro bowlers and they're really good for
4:54
Speaker 1: a reason, so you know, you just gotta tackle and
4:59
Speaker 1: get better at it. Ling fourteen nothing, The Bengals finally
5:02
Speaker 1: looked like the team that entered the game sixth in
5:04
Speaker 1: the NFL and scoring. Aj Green had four catches for
5:07
Speaker 1: seventy two yards on a seventy seven yard drive that
5:11
Speaker 1: cut the Chiefs lead in half. Dalton the shotgun on
5:14
Speaker 1: third down and goal from the four for the Bengals
5:17
Speaker 1: down by two touchdowns. Andy catches the shotgun snap not
5:20
Speaker 1: Buyers not at the goal line by you Zama. Touchdown Bengals.
5:25
Speaker 1: You Zama broke out the macareina after that touchdown catch
5:29
Speaker 1: because he figured it was game on with the Bengals
5:32
Speaker 1: only trailing fourteen seven. I wouldn't have danced if if
5:36
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought that, honestly, I'll just handing the ball
5:37
Speaker 1: to the the ref and ran off on the sideline. Yeah.
5:40
Speaker 1: I mean, we drove the ball down the field and scored,
5:41
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, nice, here we go.
5:44
Speaker 1: This is what this is kind of the drive we
5:45
Speaker 1: needed to spark us and we'll come back and you know, well,
5:49
Speaker 1: we'll continue scoring. And that just didn't happen. Instead, the
5:52
Speaker 1: Chiefs dominated the final two and a half quarters. It's
5:56
Speaker 1: third down in six as a result of the five
5:58
Speaker 1: yard penalty. Be homes back to three. Looking over the middle,
6:01
Speaker 1: cocks the arm, throws it into the end zone and
6:04
Speaker 1: it's the easiest touchdown he will throw all year. His
6:07
Speaker 1: tight end, Demetrius Harris, former college basketball player, reels in
6:11
Speaker 1: a seventeen yard TD. At the half. It was Kansas
6:14
Speaker 1: City twenty four Cincinnati seven. Here's Preston Brown. They got
6:18
Speaker 1: a great offense on that side, and Andrew Ree is
6:20
Speaker 1: doing some stuff to confuse the defense, going to get
6:23
Speaker 1: schemes a lot of four to the side, five on
6:25
Speaker 1: one side. A lot of things you don't see in
6:27
Speaker 1: America football, more Canadian type stuff. How they get everybody
6:30
Speaker 1: on the side, but they do it well. Kansas City's
6:32
Speaker 1: first play of the third quarter was a fifty yard
6:35
Speaker 1: pass that helped make Kareem Hunt's fantasy owners really happy.
6:40
Speaker 1: Hunt lines up to the right of Patrick Mahomes, who
6:43
Speaker 1: waits for the shotgun. Snap. Now, Hunt motions to the
6:45
Speaker 1: quarterbacks left. They give it to Kareem Hunt, looking to
6:48
Speaker 1: add a rushing touchdown to his two receiving touchdowns, and
6:52
Speaker 1: he's got it. Kansas City scores again. Man so many
6:58
Speaker 1: weapons to choose, and the Chiefs beleaguer defense on a
7:02
Speaker 1: pace to allow the most yards in NFL history going
7:05
Speaker 1: into the game, even put points on the board against Cincinnati.
7:09
Speaker 1: From the twenty five, Dalton drops back to throw his
7:12
Speaker 1: pass over the middle, intercepted, running it back to the
7:15
Speaker 1: twenty the ten, the five touchdown Ron Parker with a
7:19
Speaker 1: pick six for the Kansas City Chiefs. Those last two
7:23
Speaker 1: touchdowns came nine seconds apart and made the score thirty
7:27
Speaker 1: eight seven in the third quarter. The Chiefs were allowing
7:30
Speaker 1: nearly twenty nine points a game going in the Bengals
7:34
Speaker 1: only scored ten on Sunday night. Here are c j
7:37
Speaker 1: Uzama and offensive lineman Bobby Hart. It's tough SA BETA
7:42
Speaker 1: team like that, any team, honestly, but I mean a
7:45
Speaker 1: team like that playing the way that we did offensively
7:48
Speaker 1: and hurting ourselves what we did. That's a great football team.
7:51
Speaker 1: That's definitely, you know, the top one of the top
7:53
Speaker 1: teams in the AFC. So you know, shoot, we got
7:56
Speaker 1: this sea how we match up against him? So then
7:59
Speaker 1: you gotta put at a lot of work to do.
8:01
Speaker 1: The only question left in the fourth quarter was how
8:03
Speaker 1: ugly the final score would be. The answer forty five
8:08
Speaker 1: to ten. Mahomes in the shotgun with Kareem Hunt to
8:11
Speaker 1: his left, fumbled the snap. Mahomes scoops it up Scramble's left,
8:15
Speaker 1: throws touchdown right at the forward left pylon, and Tyreek Hill,
8:20
Speaker 1: who dropped the touchdown pass a few plays ago, gets
8:24
Speaker 1: his touchdown catch. After all, just like Andy Reid drew
8:27
Speaker 1: it up fumble the ball. You know, it looked like
8:30
Speaker 1: he was his zone read. It looked like he wanted
8:32
Speaker 1: to hand it off to the running back and he
8:34
Speaker 1: couldn't because he fumbled the football. And then he came
8:37
Speaker 1: out to his left. It's like, okay, well, I'm not
8:39
Speaker 1: even going to do the zone read part of it
8:41
Speaker 1: to Kareem Hunt. I have to throw it Patrick. Mahomes
8:44
Speaker 1: finished with three hundred and fifty eight passing yards, four touchdowns,
8:47
Speaker 1: and a passer rating of one twenty three point seven.
8:50
Speaker 1: And here's a final nugget about him. Last year, the
8:53
Speaker 1: Saints had the eleventh pick in the draft, and head
8:56
Speaker 1: coach Sean Payton called Drew Brees to tell him him
9:00
Speaker 1: there was a good chance they were going to draft
9:02
Speaker 1: Mahomes to be his successor. They didn't want Breeze to
9:06
Speaker 1: be blindsided by the news. But then the Chiefs sent
9:10
Speaker 1: two first round picks and a third round pick to
9:13
Speaker 1: Buffalo to move up from the twenty seventh pick to
9:17
Speaker 1: the tenth pick in order to take Mahomes. He could
9:21
Speaker 1: be sitting the bench in New Orleans right now. Instead,
9:24
Speaker 1: he's good for business at skin Quest Tattoos. Here are
9:29
Speaker 1: final thoughts from the locker room on a thirty five
9:32
Speaker 1: point l from Marvin Lewis, Jesse Bates, and Preston Brown.
9:36
Speaker 1: You got to commit ourselves to being in will first off,
9:38
Speaker 1: move the football by running the football, and you know,
9:41
Speaker 1: we didn't want to get into a throwing type game
9:44
Speaker 1: like that. And you know we didn't play well enough
9:48
Speaker 1: the next two well enough, we had to sustain make
9:50
Speaker 1: first downs today. That was the key element. This one
9:52
Speaker 1: is gonna be hard to swallow. Just because is in
9:54
Speaker 1: front of everyone, everyone was watching him. I think we're
9:57
Speaker 1: excited to show people what we can do, and we
10:01
Speaker 1: didn't do that tonight. So you know, like I said,
10:03
Speaker 1: lat mean this week, we got another opportunity next week
10:06
Speaker 1: to go in to the bye week with a win,
10:09
Speaker 1: and you get this thing back roll in the right way.
10:11
Speaker 1: Everybody in the world is watching the Sunday night game.
10:14
Speaker 1: You want to go out and have a great showing.
10:15
Speaker 1: But we just didn't do it enough on defense. I mean,
10:17
Speaker 1: we know what an offense like that, you got to
10:19
Speaker 1: hold them to at least twenty one points to have
10:21
Speaker 1: a shot to win, and their defense is playing out
10:23
Speaker 1: standing the night. So we had to be better in
10:25
Speaker 1: their defense, and that's how every game goes, and we
10:27
Speaker 1: just weren't the better defense. Now, time to bring in
10:29
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for postgame analysis. Lap coming
10:33
Speaker 1: into this game, we knew the Bengals were going to
10:36
Speaker 1: need to play extremely well to knock off the Chiefs
10:39
Speaker 1: at home, particularly on defense. When you play poorly, it
10:44
Speaker 1: becomes a blowout. And that's what happened tonight. Yeah. I
10:46
Speaker 1: think that the Kansas City Chiefs are the fastest offense
10:50
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, and you can't simulate it
10:52
Speaker 1: when you're getting ready for him in practice. If you
10:54
Speaker 1: could simulate it, all those guys as simulators be playing,
10:57
Speaker 1: so you get a look at where they our, informations,
11:01
Speaker 1: how they're lined up, window addressing all those kind of
11:03
Speaker 1: things that Andy Reid might do. But you get in
11:06
Speaker 1: the game and it's happening on twenty five miles an
11:09
Speaker 1: hour as opposed to thirty miles an hour when you
11:12
Speaker 1: were working against it in practice, in terms of the
11:14
Speaker 1: comparison and the speed of the players, and I mean,
11:16
Speaker 1: they were not ready for what attacked them tonight's football game,
11:21
Speaker 1: and they tackled accordingly. They were never in position to
11:24
Speaker 1: make tackles. They missed more tackles, and I think you
11:27
Speaker 1: can count you run out of fingers, and you know
11:30
Speaker 1: it was just you have to tip your cap to
11:32
Speaker 1: greatness in the in the Kansa City Chiefs played great
11:35
Speaker 1: tonight and the Bengals were far from it. And you
11:38
Speaker 1: know it wasn't their best performance defensively nor offensively. I
11:41
Speaker 1: mean the Kansa City Chiefs people were like, oh, it'll
11:43
Speaker 1: be you know who has the ball last, It's going
11:45
Speaker 1: to be trade and touchdown after touchdown. Everybody was looking
11:48
Speaker 1: forward to that on a big national stage of Sunday
11:50
Speaker 1: night football. In the in the offense, you know, they
11:54
Speaker 1: laid an egg as well. I mean they were dinosaur
11:55
Speaker 1: eggs laid by every phase. That's the mystery because going
11:59
Speaker 1: into the game that are giving up an average of
12:01
Speaker 1: four hundred and sixty eight yards a game, dead last
12:03
Speaker 1: in the NFL by twenty eight yards. So it wasn't close.
12:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals got two hundred and thirty nine yards of
12:08
Speaker 1: offense and scored ten points. They get behind, they couldn't
12:12
Speaker 1: run the football even when they weren't behind, They couldn't
12:15
Speaker 1: run the football as effectively and efficiently as they wanted
12:20
Speaker 1: to do it. And then you get behind to this
12:22
Speaker 1: football team, you have to throw a little bit more
12:24
Speaker 1: than you want to, and then you get behind by
12:25
Speaker 1: more and now you're all disjointed, and you know, special
12:29
Speaker 1: teams coach Lewis when I asked him about him the
12:32
Speaker 1: post game. Instead of miscommunication, you know, it shouldn't happen.
12:34
Speaker 1: So I think a fake was on, or Clark Harris
12:37
Speaker 1: heard something that he thought a fake was on and
12:40
Speaker 1: he snapped the football to Clayton Federalum and the fake
12:42
Speaker 1: wasn't on and it got obliterated. And short field, so
12:46
Speaker 1: you can't, you know, give the Kansas City Chiefs a
12:48
Speaker 1: short field. Mahomes is drooling over that kind of stuff.
12:51
Speaker 1: So instead of complimentary football, it was non complimentary football.
12:54
Speaker 1: Every phase didn't support the other one. So I mean
12:58
Speaker 1: it was a stinker, you know, And unfortunately it happened
13:01
Speaker 1: on Sunday night football in front of the world, you know,
13:03
Speaker 1: at least the nation and probably the world. And as
13:06
Speaker 1: a form of player, that sticks with you because your friends,
13:09
Speaker 1: your family, You're embarrassed. You're embarrassed. I remember losing nationally
13:14
Speaker 1: televised games, not like this, just losing the game. You
13:17
Speaker 1: just have a hard time getting over losing like this.
13:20
Speaker 1: It's brutal. That's a brutal, brutal night for sure. The
13:24
Speaker 1: Bengals have Pro Bowlers on defense, Carlos Dunlap Geno Atkins.
13:28
Speaker 1: Will Jackson looked like a future pro bowler last year.
13:31
Speaker 1: Preston Brown tied for the NFL lead in tackles last year,
13:35
Speaker 1: and yet seven games into the season, the defense really
13:38
Speaker 1: hasn't played that well. Vantes Burfett has been a pro bowler,
13:42
Speaker 1: and it's disjointed. It's just not cohesive. It's not being
13:46
Speaker 1: it's not put together. They've had substitution issues in some games.
13:52
Speaker 1: They've had assignment mistake issues and games you know, quarterbacks
13:57
Speaker 1: are going on double snapcounts to make the tip blitzes
14:01
Speaker 1: and then there's no check if the quarterback I mean
14:05
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger fourteen blitzes, he recognized twelve of them, and
14:10
Speaker 1: you got to check out of it. If he's got
14:12
Speaker 1: it cold, they don't check out of it. I mean,
14:15
Speaker 1: it's just it's tough to watch sometimes. They're just they're
14:19
Speaker 1: not playing cohesively. They're not playing as one unit, you know, offense,
14:24
Speaker 1: I mean defensive line, linebackers and secondary. You know, it's uh,
14:30
Speaker 1: they're being there are multiple mistakes being made at every level.
14:34
Speaker 1: And the miss tackles against the Kansas City Chiefs tackling's effort,
14:39
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, I mean, at least getting yourself
14:42
Speaker 1: in position to make tackles. You're gonna have a few.
14:44
Speaker 1: You're not gonna tackle these guys every time, but you
14:47
Speaker 1: can't miss them every damn time either, And give them
14:49
Speaker 1: so many yards after catch, so many yards after contact,
14:53
Speaker 1: spin moves, you know, after contact, so much separation, they
14:58
Speaker 1: can't close the space. And like we talked about before
15:01
Speaker 1: the game, they have so many guys that can make
15:04
Speaker 1: you miss in space and then run away from you,
15:06
Speaker 1: and they did a lot of it. That's what they did.
15:08
Speaker 1: They not only made a miss and look silly. Some
15:10
Speaker 1: guys can do that and don't at breakaway speed, and
15:12
Speaker 1: other guys are breakaway speed but can't make you miss.
15:14
Speaker 1: These suckers have both, and they showed it, and they
15:17
Speaker 1: showcased it. Man, they're a bunch of show dogs. It's
15:21
Speaker 1: hard not to conclude after a game like this that
15:24
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are a much better team than the Cincinnati Bengals. Now,
15:27
Speaker 1: a lot can change over the course of the rest
15:29
Speaker 1: of the season. The good news for the Bengals is
15:31
Speaker 1: that the Chiefs are now under their division. The Ravens,
15:34
Speaker 1: Steelers and Browns are Baltimore loss, Cleveland loss the Steelers
15:38
Speaker 1: had to buy. The Bengals at four and three are
15:41
Speaker 1: still obviously in decent shape, but they've got to go
15:44
Speaker 1: home and take care of business. Yeah, in the Kansas
15:46
Speaker 1: City Chiefs still have the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens
15:49
Speaker 1: to play. They've beaten the Steelers, beating the Bengals, you
15:52
Speaker 1: have to hope that they sweep the AFC North and
15:54
Speaker 1: they're very capable of doing that because the Bengals lost
15:57
Speaker 1: one to them. So now they've lost the division game.
16:00
Speaker 1: They lost another conference game today. They lost two games
16:03
Speaker 1: in a row that you know are tough pills to swallow.
16:06
Speaker 1: You know, you lose a division game at home, that's
16:07
Speaker 1: like losing two games. Then you go on the road
16:10
Speaker 1: and you get blown out. So you lose a heartbreaker
16:12
Speaker 1: at home to a division rival, and then you get
16:14
Speaker 1: your doors blown off on Sunday Night football. You get
16:18
Speaker 1: a regroup and regroup fast. Because Dirt Cutter and Marvin
16:21
Speaker 1: Lewis were college roommates, but there ain't no sympathy there.
16:24
Speaker 1: Dirt Cutter will try to do everything you can to
16:27
Speaker 1: beat Marvin Lewis, and Marvin knows that. And Cincinnati Bengals
16:31
Speaker 1: better realize it as a football team, Tampa Bay is
16:33
Speaker 1: not going to be at field the least bit sorry
16:35
Speaker 1: for him, and they gotta get back on the winning track.
16:37
Speaker 1: If they can go into the bye week with a
16:38
Speaker 1: five and three record, you know they're worst case scenari
16:41
Speaker 1: They're gonna be tied for the division lead at the
16:43
Speaker 1: halfway mark and they're tracking for a ten and six
16:45
Speaker 1: season if they duplicate that, and they need the time
16:50
Speaker 1: to heal up and watching on pregame, Billy Price moving well,
16:55
Speaker 1: Gievanni Bernard moving well. They're gonna start to get bodies
16:58
Speaker 1: back and that that's going to be helpful. You know,
17:01
Speaker 1: if you can be five and three at the bye,
17:03
Speaker 1: heal up, start getting some bodies back that can make contributions,
17:06
Speaker 1: not just guys, but guys that are starting football players
17:09
Speaker 1: or major contributors in sub packages, you know it's going
17:12
Speaker 1: to help you. And right now they're limping and creeping
17:15
Speaker 1: to the bye week for sure. Thanks Lap. Now time
17:18
Speaker 1: for this week's fun facts segment, as you get to
17:21
Speaker 1: know the person under the pads. Time for some fun
17:24
Speaker 1: facts with Bengals tight end Mason Shrek from Madina, Ohio,
17:27
Speaker 1: about a half hour south of Cleveland. How do you
17:30
Speaker 1: describe your hometown. It's a small hometown, but it was
17:33
Speaker 1: a great place to grow up. What do your folks
17:36
Speaker 1: do for a living. My dad is a insurance salesman,
17:39
Speaker 1: risk management and insurance. My mom is just to stay
17:41
Speaker 1: at home on aside from football, what were you into
17:45
Speaker 1: as a kid? A lot of golf, Just a lot
17:48
Speaker 1: of different sports. But my dad and my brother are
17:49
Speaker 1: a big golfer, so whenever I get the chance, I
17:51
Speaker 1: go out and play a lot of golf. I saw
17:53
Speaker 1: an interview somewhere where you said that you dreamed of
17:55
Speaker 1: being a professional football player, basketball player, or golfer. So
17:59
Speaker 1: you must be at the final of the three. Yeah.
18:02
Speaker 1: I didn't know what it was going to be growing up.
18:03
Speaker 1: I just know that I love playing sports, and you
18:05
Speaker 1: know that I want to be a professional athlete. Doing
18:08
Speaker 1: fun facts with Mason Shrek. You were a high school quarterback.
18:11
Speaker 1: Did you get to throw it much or did your
18:13
Speaker 1: team mostly run? I had four head coaches in four years,
18:16
Speaker 1: so I did a little bit of everything. My senior year,
18:19
Speaker 1: I threw it a lot. My junior year, I threw
18:20
Speaker 1: it about seven times a game, but we were pretty
18:22
Speaker 1: good that year. So it didn't matter. Was it beneficial
18:25
Speaker 1: and in terms of learning a lot of football to
18:27
Speaker 1: have that many head coaches, Yeah, it made the transition
18:29
Speaker 1: to tight end that much easier just knowing, you know,
18:31
Speaker 1: the whole scheme of the game. It really helped out.
18:34
Speaker 1: For college. You went to the University of Buffalo. Why,
18:38
Speaker 1: they originally had offered me as a quarterback, and I
18:40
Speaker 1: want to play Division one football. And I got there.
18:43
Speaker 1: I saw a lot of potential in the guys and
18:45
Speaker 1: there's no better than going up against Khalil Mackie first day,
18:48
Speaker 1: So describe that it was a rude awakening for me.
18:53
Speaker 1: I didn't really know who he was at the time,
18:55
Speaker 1: so my first day, it was a long day. Actually
18:57
Speaker 1: went in the locker room after called my mom and said, Mom,
18:59
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna make it here. But once
19:01
Speaker 1: I kind of found out who he was, you know,
19:03
Speaker 1: it made it that much better for me. So, Khalil
19:05
Speaker 1: mack almost ended your career as it started. What did
19:09
Speaker 1: you study there and what interest might you have after
19:12
Speaker 1: football is finished? Um? I studied communications. You know, I
19:16
Speaker 1: don't really know what I want to do yet. I'm
19:17
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, ride this thing out as long
19:19
Speaker 1: as possible and then cross that bridge when it gets here.
19:22
Speaker 1: Hopefully that is many many years to come. We're doing
19:24
Speaker 1: fun facts with Mason Shrek. You got drafted late in
19:28
Speaker 1: the draft by the Bengals last year, and you almost
19:32
Speaker 1: or I guess you had agreed to sign with another
19:34
Speaker 1: team when you got the phone call from the Bengals. Yeah,
19:37
Speaker 1: my agent had a contract in place, and you know,
19:39
Speaker 1: we had it set up that I was going to
19:41
Speaker 1: go to Philly if it wasn't here, And you know,
19:43
Speaker 1: I'm just so happy that I was drafted. I was
19:44
Speaker 1: a dream come true for me. So you know, I
19:47
Speaker 1: love to be in Cincinnati. When the phone rang, did
19:49
Speaker 1: you think it was Philly or did you know the
19:52
Speaker 1: Bengals or the Cincinnati area code? Yeah? I saw the
19:54
Speaker 1: five one three area code and actually talked through the
19:57
Speaker 1: scout Andrew Andrew Johnson before, so I kind of I
20:00
Speaker 1: kind of had a feeling that it was going to
20:02
Speaker 1: be Cincinnati. But when I saw the five one three number,
20:04
Speaker 1: my heart dropped. And you know, as obviously coach Lewis,
20:06
Speaker 1: So that was it was a dream come to you
20:08
Speaker 1: in a day. I'll never forget, you said an interview interview.
20:11
Speaker 1: You cried, Yeah I did. Uh yeah, I'm pretty emotional guy.
20:15
Speaker 1: So when that happened, it was pretty pretty special. And
20:18
Speaker 1: you know, having my whole family there was pretty special.
20:20
Speaker 1: So we're doing fun facts with Mason Shrek. You got
20:24
Speaker 1: injured last year in the preseason and spent your rookie
20:26
Speaker 1: year on injured reserve. What did you do? I? Uh,
20:30
Speaker 1: you know, I made the most of every day and
20:32
Speaker 1: I went in and worked out every day. Um. I
20:34
Speaker 1: went into all the meetings, took a bunch of notes,
20:36
Speaker 1: you know, just as if I had been playing. So um,
20:39
Speaker 1: you know, the only thing I missed out on is
20:41
Speaker 1: obviously practice and playing. So you know, it's kind of
20:43
Speaker 1: a learning year, learning experience for me, and I got
20:46
Speaker 1: to kind of see where, you know, what I need
20:49
Speaker 1: to be doing just preparing for a normal game week,
20:51
Speaker 1: you know, in the years years to come. Him. So,
20:53
Speaker 1: do you fully feel like a member of the team
20:55
Speaker 1: under those circumstances? Um? Yes and no. Um. You know,
20:59
Speaker 1: obviously it's hard not being out of practice, and you
21:01
Speaker 1: know kind of you have to kind of stay the
21:03
Speaker 1: way in meetings and stuff like that. So um, but
21:06
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's good to be finally back in
21:08
Speaker 1: the swing of things here now, So it's pretty it's
21:10
Speaker 1: a it's a lot better this year. So you show
21:12
Speaker 1: up at training camp this year fully healthy, with eight
21:15
Speaker 1: tight ends on the roster. Did you go into camp
21:18
Speaker 1: thinking I'm trying to make the practice squad or did
21:21
Speaker 1: you think if I play well, I can make the
21:24
Speaker 1: fifty three man roster, which obviously you did. You know,
21:27
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't really think about that a whole
21:29
Speaker 1: lot um. You know, I just kind of just made
21:31
Speaker 1: the most of every opportunity. I keep you know, I
21:32
Speaker 1: keep saying that, but you know, that's that's kind of
21:34
Speaker 1: what I went into every day mentally saying, and just
21:37
Speaker 1: make the most of every every opportunity, every chance I got.
21:41
Speaker 1: You had a big game in the third preseason game
21:43
Speaker 1: at Buffalo, which, as we mentioned earlier, is where you
21:46
Speaker 1: played college football. Talk about great timing with a lot
21:49
Speaker 1: of friends and family looking on. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
21:51
Speaker 1: As the first time I've been back since I left
21:53
Speaker 1: after my pro day, So it was pretty cool to
21:55
Speaker 1: be back there and just see, you know, seeing my
21:57
Speaker 1: head coach at you know, at school and stuff, and
21:59
Speaker 1: be able to go visit the campus and see some
22:01
Speaker 1: of the guys, and it is pretty cool that that
22:04
Speaker 1: was kind of my breakout game back in you know,
22:06
Speaker 1: back at school. So we're talking to Mason Shrek. We
22:09
Speaker 1: discussed the phone call you got from Marvin Lewis on
22:12
Speaker 1: draft day, described the phone call you got when you
22:15
Speaker 1: were informed that you made the team. If there was
22:17
Speaker 1: a phone call, maybe you don't get a call under
22:18
Speaker 1: those circumstances. Yeah. I was out to breakfast my fiance
22:21
Speaker 1: and I got the call from coaches, and you know,
22:24
Speaker 1: he just told me straight up, you're gonna be a
22:26
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna be on our fifth three man
22:28
Speaker 1: roster and I'll see his Sunday. I said, yes, sir,
22:31
Speaker 1: thank you, I'll see his Sunday. So it was kind
22:32
Speaker 1: of short and sweet. But you know, I want to
22:34
Speaker 1: know other way. Did you add a mimosa to that
22:37
Speaker 1: breakfast to celebrate? No, I had a morning meditation at
22:40
Speaker 1: first watched though, So it was nice, healthy little drink.
22:44
Speaker 1: That's good, the healthy option. All right, a few offbeat
22:46
Speaker 1: questions from Mason Shrek as we wrap up fun facts.
22:49
Speaker 1: Your all time favorite athlete, Oh man, I don't even
22:53
Speaker 1: know if Tiger Woods is top three. Jerry Rice you know,
22:57
Speaker 1: I grew up a Raiders fancy he's top three and
23:00
Speaker 1: Lebron James because he's from Akron, Ohio. So it's interesting
23:04
Speaker 1: a Raiders fan growing up south of Cleveland. And Jerry
23:07
Speaker 1: Rice was the guy you chose, obviously know more for
23:10
Speaker 1: his forty nine Ers days than his Raiders days. Yeah,
23:12
Speaker 1: just you know, we got to I got to meet
23:14
Speaker 1: him when I was growing up, so I was pretty cool.
23:16
Speaker 1: How did that happen? My dad had a client at
23:19
Speaker 1: the i X Center and that's that's where the Raiders
23:22
Speaker 1: flew their plane at. And you know, we got to
23:24
Speaker 1: go there and kind of stand by the plane as
23:26
Speaker 1: the guys were walking getting on. So we had our
23:28
Speaker 1: Raiders jerseys, our Jerry Rice jerseys on and he came
23:31
Speaker 1: up and personally signed us. It was pretty cool. Is
23:33
Speaker 1: there a picture of the young Mason Shrek with Jerry Rice.
23:36
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a picture, but there is a
23:38
Speaker 1: jersey still hanging up in the basement. That is pretty cool.
23:41
Speaker 1: All right. How about the stupidest way you ever hurt
23:44
Speaker 1: yourself as a kid man playing in a wagon going
23:49
Speaker 1: off of a ramp. I fell off and I don't
23:53
Speaker 1: remember what I actually hurt, but I just know that
23:54
Speaker 1: I got hurt falling off the wagon, so sounds painful.
23:59
Speaker 1: If you could have lunch with somebody famous, living or deceased,
24:03
Speaker 1: who would it be? Either my grandpa who passed away
24:08
Speaker 1: who I never got to meet, or one of those
24:10
Speaker 1: three athletes. I think would be pretty cool. All right.
24:13
Speaker 1: Final fun fact for Bengals tight end Mason Shrek. How
24:17
Speaker 1: many Shrek jokes have you heard over the years? Honestly,
24:21
Speaker 1: not too many crazy ones that got me upset. I
24:24
Speaker 1: when that movie came out in two thousand and one,
24:26
Speaker 1: I was pumped up. My whole family was pumped up,
24:28
Speaker 1: and we've kind of rode with it ever since. So
24:30
Speaker 1: my parents got the little Shrek sticker on the side
24:33
Speaker 1: of their jerseys when they wear it to the game,
24:35
Speaker 1: So we take full pride in it. We love it.
24:38
Speaker 1: So it is a good movie. Yeah, yes it is,
24:40
Speaker 1: of course. Hey, congratulations on a tremendous camp in preseason
24:44
Speaker 1: and making the roster and best of luck this year.
24:45
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate it. That's fun facts with Mason Shrek. Unfortunately,
24:49
Speaker 1: Mason Shrek was on crutches after the game with a
24:52
Speaker 1: bulky brace on his left knee. Hopefully his injury isn't
24:56
Speaker 1: too serious. The Bengals have already lost tight end Tyler
24:59
Speaker 1: Iffer for the season with his ankle injury and tight
25:03
Speaker 1: end Tyler Craft for several weeks with a foot injury.
25:06
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the podcast.
25:09
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe
25:12
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean and give it a
25:15
Speaker 1: rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been awesome
25:18
Speaker 1: and five star ratings are really helpful to help more
25:21
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
25:26
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Boot Podcast.