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Bengals Booth Podcast: A Brand New Day · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booths Podcast. The Turn the Clive to Zero Boss,
0:11
Speaker 1: The Rivers Wide, We'll Swim Across started up a brand
0:15
Speaker 1: new day addition as the Bengals wrap up the regular
0:20
Speaker 1: season and now can look ahead to a first round
0:23
Speaker 1: playoff game at home against the Las Vegas Raiders next Saturday.
0:28
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays from the loss in Cleveland,
0:32
Speaker 1: postgame comments from players and coaches, at analysis from my
0:35
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun fact segment,
0:39
Speaker 1: you'll get to know rookie running back Chris Evans. The
0:43
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
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Speaker 1: to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from
0:50
Speaker 1: the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick
0:53
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
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Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
1:00
Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
1:04
Speaker 1: since the Coffin Nails Bam Bam Bam T shirt eleven
1:10
Speaker 1: years ago. In my first season of broadcasting Bengals games
1:13
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham, the Bengals made a big play near
1:16
Speaker 1: the end of a game to clinch a win, and
1:18
Speaker 1: I yelled that's coffin Nails, and Lap immediately exclaimed Bam
1:24
Speaker 1: bam bam. After the game, they replayed the call on
1:28
Speaker 1: the postgame show, and I thought, hmm, I kind of
1:32
Speaker 1: like that, And thus a tradition was born, our version
1:37
Speaker 1: of and this one belongs to the Reds Well. Now,
1:41
Speaker 1: our friend Josh Snead and the folks at Sinci Shirts
1:44
Speaker 1: have put that phrase on a T shirt along with
1:47
Speaker 1: cartoon images of me and Lap. I've got admit it's
1:51
Speaker 1: pretty cool to have our own T shirt, and a
1:53
Speaker 1: portion of the proceeds will go to laps First and
1:55
Speaker 1: Goal Foundation that will give scholarships to deserving students. If
2:00
Speaker 1: you're interested, just search for Sinci shirts. Coffin Nails. It's
2:05
Speaker 1: right up there with the Master's green jacket and Paul
2:08
Speaker 1: Brown's sideline fedora is one of the greatest items of
2:11
Speaker 1: clothing in sports history. Now let's get the Sunday's game.
2:17
Speaker 1: The Bengals starting lineup consisted of only three players who
2:20
Speaker 1: started last week, our offensive lineman Isaiah Prince and Hikimadenagy
2:25
Speaker 1: and wide receiver Jamar Chase. Here's Zach Taylor on the
2:29
Speaker 1: decision to rest the starters even if it meant hurting
2:33
Speaker 1: the Bengals chances of gaining a higher playoff seed. No
2:36
Speaker 1: perfect decision there, but just felt like we need to
2:39
Speaker 1: be healthy, perfectly healthy going into next week, and there
2:42
Speaker 1: were so many things out of our control in terms
2:45
Speaker 1: of where the seating was going to be that we
2:47
Speaker 1: just fellow's best to rescue. Jamar Chase was an exception
2:50
Speaker 1: for one reason. He entered the game needing just twelve
2:53
Speaker 1: yards to break Chad Johnson's team record for receiving yards
2:57
Speaker 1: in a season first and ten Bengals at their own
2:59
Speaker 1: twenty eight. Alan throws a screen caught by Chase, gets
3:02
Speaker 1: a block right at thirty five forty. He's got the
3:05
Speaker 1: team record down the sideline past midfield, and he goes
3:09
Speaker 1: out of bounds at the Cleveland forty eight. Great news,
3:12
Speaker 1: some random out. So that catch for a twenty four
3:16
Speaker 1: yard game gives Jamaar Chase the Bengals all times single
3:20
Speaker 1: season record for receiving yards in a year. I achieved
3:24
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that I wanted to do this year.
3:26
Speaker 1: I still got a lot more to do. Hopefully I
3:28
Speaker 1: can break some playoff records. When we drafted him, he
3:30
Speaker 1: said he was going to break all the records, and
3:32
Speaker 1: it was hard to know if that was gonna be
3:33
Speaker 1: true or not. But he's put himself in a position
3:36
Speaker 1: to do that, not just relying on his talent, but
3:39
Speaker 1: becoming a professional really since day one, and its consistency
3:41
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, and that's one of
3:43
Speaker 1: the reasons why you want to play him in a
3:45
Speaker 1: game like this, for an opportunity to get a couple
3:46
Speaker 1: more yards, to put himself in a position to do
3:50
Speaker 1: something really special, because he's about what we want to
3:53
Speaker 1: be around, you know. We want our best players to
3:55
Speaker 1: have the best work ethic and come to work every
3:58
Speaker 1: single day and be consistent with their demeanor in their actions,
4:01
Speaker 1: and Jamar has been that for us, and I'm just
4:03
Speaker 1: really proud of him in the season that he's had.
4:05
Speaker 1: Jamar finished the regular season with one thousand, four hundred
4:08
Speaker 1: fifty five yards. He finished eighteen yards short of the
4:12
Speaker 1: NFL's all time rookie record, set by Houston's Bill Groman
4:16
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty. That catch was one of very few
4:20
Speaker 1: offensive highlights for the Bengals in the first half, as
4:23
Speaker 1: they punted on all six of their possessions. The Browns
4:28
Speaker 1: punted on their first two before taking the lead late
4:31
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. Keenom back to throw, looking down field,
4:34
Speaker 1: fires Landry, makes the catch at the seven, swerves toward
4:38
Speaker 1: the forward pilot, and takes it into the end zone
4:42
Speaker 1: for a twenty six yard Cleveland touchdown. Case Keenom started
4:46
Speaker 1: at quarterback in place of Baker Mayfield, but aside from that,
4:49
Speaker 1: Cleveland played nearly all of its starters, including an offensive
4:53
Speaker 1: line that paved the way for two hundred five rushing
4:56
Speaker 1: yards against the Bengals backups. Browns goat tempo. They handed
5:00
Speaker 1: off to de Ernest Johnson. He runs straight up that
5:02
Speaker 1: gotten into the end zone for a Cleveland touchdown. So
5:06
Speaker 1: the Browns have scored on back to back drives and
5:09
Speaker 1: have taken a thirteen point lead pending the extra point.
5:12
Speaker 1: De Ernest Johnson carried twenty five times for one hundred
5:15
Speaker 1: twenty three yards. But even though the Browns dominated statistically,
5:20
Speaker 1: the Bengals were able to stay in the game thanks
5:22
Speaker 1: to two big plays on defense. Now Keenom in trouble
5:26
Speaker 1: loses the ball, Cincinnati scoops and the Bengals are running
5:29
Speaker 1: it back. Henderson to the ten five touchdown. Bengals why
5:36
Speaker 1: and Ray knocking the ball away from Case Keenom and
5:39
Speaker 1: safety Travie On Henderson with the scooping score. Here's Trayvon
5:44
Speaker 1: Henderson on the first touchdown of his NFL career. Honestly,
5:48
Speaker 1: Mount really didn't know if it was a fumble than not.
5:51
Speaker 1: You always taught these defensive players to just scoop the
5:53
Speaker 1: ball just in case. And when I crossed the line, honestly,
5:55
Speaker 1: I thought there was he can be passed. He had
5:58
Speaker 1: his arm going forward, and they said it was. It
6:03
Speaker 1: was a diffil sure. It was fourteen seven with three
6:06
Speaker 1: and a half minutes left in the half. The Browns
6:09
Speaker 1: answered by driving to the Bengals eleven with nine seconds remaining.
6:13
Speaker 1: Case Keenom drops back to throw. He fires over the
6:15
Speaker 1: middle ter two yards deep in the end zone. The
6:18
Speaker 1: Bengals are running it back. This is Hilton to the
6:20
Speaker 1: twenty five. The thirty gets tripped up and goes down
6:23
Speaker 1: at the thirty two yard line. The ball appears to
6:26
Speaker 1: have come out, but the clock is at zero. We've
6:29
Speaker 1: got the penalty flags down. As players are trying to
6:32
Speaker 1: pull players off the pile. That's a penalty, but the
6:35
Speaker 1: end zone interception by Mike Hilton keeps the Cleveland Browns
6:39
Speaker 1: from adding to their lead, and it was fitting that
6:42
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton got the pick. He only played because two
6:45
Speaker 1: members of the secondary, Ricardo Allen and Vernon Hargrave, suffered injuries,
6:50
Speaker 1: meaning Hilton was the only defensive starter who was pressed
6:54
Speaker 1: into service. Oh, it was one, but you know, being
6:58
Speaker 1: a profession, you gotta be ready at all times. And
7:01
Speaker 1: the coaches threw me in there knowing, you know, they
7:04
Speaker 1: fell comfortable with me being out there with whoever. But no,
7:07
Speaker 1: this is just always being ready for your moment. It
7:09
Speaker 1: was fourteen seven Cleveland at the half. After only having
7:12
Speaker 1: three first downs in the first half, the Bengals put
7:15
Speaker 1: together a long drive on their first possession of the
7:17
Speaker 1: third quarter, a fourteen play march down to the Cleveland
7:22
Speaker 1: ten before having to settle for a field goal try.
7:25
Speaker 1: This will be a thirty six yard field goal attempt
7:28
Speaker 1: for Elliott Frye and his Bengals debut supping today for
7:32
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson. The snap to put down the right Foote
7:35
Speaker 1: kick and it is good. It hits the crossbar and
7:41
Speaker 1: bounds forward Elliot Fry makes it from thirty six yards out.
7:47
Speaker 1: It was closed, but he got it to bounce over
7:49
Speaker 1: and the Bengals have pulled within four. That made it
7:53
Speaker 1: fourteen ten. Going to the fourth quarter and with roughly
7:56
Speaker 1: thirteen and a half minutes to go, the Browns fumbled
7:59
Speaker 1: on a punt return near midfield. Unfortunately for the Bengals,
8:03
Speaker 1: Cleveland managed to recover and soon capitalize. Bird down in
8:07
Speaker 1: nine from the ten, Keenom throws a screen to Felton
8:10
Speaker 1: running down to the five to the goal line, touchdown Cleveland.
8:15
Speaker 1: Good call. That made a twenty one ten With about
8:19
Speaker 1: seven and a half minutes to go. To have any
8:21
Speaker 1: chance to win, the Bengals needed to answer, and they
8:24
Speaker 1: did with a seventy five yard touchdown drive. Game on
8:28
Speaker 1: the line right here, fourth down and one at the
8:31
Speaker 1: Cleveland four yard line. The Bengals need a yard to
8:34
Speaker 1: stay alive. Alan is under center. He takes the snap,
8:38
Speaker 1: rolls out to the right, throws forever it's caught us
8:40
Speaker 1: to two, then he runs into the end zone. Touchdown.
8:45
Speaker 1: Bengals with two twenty six to go. Now the line
8:49
Speaker 1: up and go for two to try to make it
8:52
Speaker 1: a three point game. A little naked bootleg there. The
8:56
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns get good pressure, but not good enough. Chris
9:00
Speaker 1: Evans caught the touchdown pass, but a two point conversion
9:03
Speaker 1: throw for Trent Taylor fell incomplete. The Bengals were down
9:07
Speaker 1: by five as they lined up for an on side
9:09
Speaker 1: kick with two and a half minutes to go. He
9:12
Speaker 1: kicks the top of the ball. It bounces up if
9:15
Speaker 1: I cleaned on it. The ball is loose at the
9:17
Speaker 1: forty nine yard line. There's a giant pile at the
9:21
Speaker 1: forty nine of Cleveland. The Bengals have started celebrating thing
9:25
Speaker 1: from the officials. Yet Bryant was the guy that failed
9:28
Speaker 1: to field the ball that was kicked right to him.
9:31
Speaker 1: It's short hopped in front of Bryant and he couldn't
9:34
Speaker 1: handle that short hop fry immediately. I'm telling you, Dan,
9:38
Speaker 1: I've been in these pile ups as the tug of
9:39
Speaker 1: war gone on now, and the guy that originally has
9:41
Speaker 1: the football sometimes doesn't end up with it. It took
9:44
Speaker 1: about a minute and a half for the refs to
9:46
Speaker 1: rule that Cleveland recovered it. The Browns ran out the
9:50
Speaker 1: clock to win the game twenty one sixteen. You know,
9:53
Speaker 1: the season's always full of its ups and downs, and
9:56
Speaker 1: it really comes down to which teams you can handle
9:58
Speaker 1: diversity the best, and and to never get too high
10:00
Speaker 1: and never get too low. And I thought our team
10:02
Speaker 1: did a great job of that, responding in the face
10:04
Speaker 1: of some tough adversity and handling success some moments well.
10:07
Speaker 1: And we finished the season, you know, aside from the
10:11
Speaker 1: lost day, on a really good note with a lot
10:14
Speaker 1: of confidence. And that really does matter in this league
10:17
Speaker 1: to finish going into January and been January and the playoffs,
10:21
Speaker 1: you know, feeling like we're playing our best football and
10:24
Speaker 1: playing with a lot of confidence. Our guys really feel
10:26
Speaker 1: that right now, and so you know, it is the
10:29
Speaker 1: biggest game that any of these players have ever had.
10:31
Speaker 1: We're in the Bengals Jersey next week at our home stadium.
10:35
Speaker 1: You know, we had tremendous crowds these last couple of
10:37
Speaker 1: weeks when we're at home, and we're expecting our best
10:39
Speaker 1: one yet whenever we find out when we're playing and
10:42
Speaker 1: who we're playing, and our guys are excited for that opportunity.
10:44
Speaker 1: So now it's onto the playoffs. After having the first
10:47
Speaker 1: pick in the draft prior to last year and the
10:49
Speaker 1: fifth pick in the draft prior to this year. The
10:52
Speaker 1: Bengals will host the Raiders on Saturday. Here are Mike
10:56
Speaker 1: Hilton and Zach Taylor. We know we were one of
10:59
Speaker 1: the most talents teams in the league, and we have
11:02
Speaker 1: opportunity to do that against the other most talented team
11:05
Speaker 1: in the league. I feel like when when the playoffs come,
11:08
Speaker 1: it's scheme can only take you far so far. So
11:12
Speaker 1: we know with players you have to win those one
11:14
Speaker 1: on one matchups. We have to make those big plays
11:16
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. So we feel confident
11:19
Speaker 1: in the guys we have in this locker room, and
11:21
Speaker 1: we're all excited about the opportunity because a lot of
11:23
Speaker 1: them haven't been as far, so I know they'll be
11:25
Speaker 1: looking forward to it and they know it's a lot
11:27
Speaker 1: on the line. This is what we've been struggling for
11:29
Speaker 1: all long, to be quite honest with you, and we've
11:32
Speaker 1: we've been our guys, been on our guys to be
11:34
Speaker 1: consistent with how they practice every day and raise the
11:36
Speaker 1: standard so that when you get to this moment, we
11:39
Speaker 1: don't have to change what we're doing. And I think
11:42
Speaker 1: that that's that's why I've got a lot of confidence
11:44
Speaker 1: in the group of men that are in that locker room,
11:46
Speaker 1: because I don't need them to raise their standard of
11:48
Speaker 1: play and how they practice and how they may They've
11:50
Speaker 1: been doing that all year, and that's why we're in
11:51
Speaker 1: the physicians. We're ending, and that's going to service wall,
11:54
Speaker 1: you know, and we'll just we'll see how plays out.
11:56
Speaker 1: But our guys are gonna be ready. As you may
11:58
Speaker 1: have heard, the Bengals haven't in a playoff game since
12:01
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety season, dropping their last eight postseason games.
12:06
Speaker 1: That's thirty seasons without a playoff win, the longest such
12:10
Speaker 1: streak of any team in the NFL. But most of
12:13
Speaker 1: the Bengals players weren't even born when that streak started.
12:17
Speaker 1: Sometimes they don't know what they don't know, and that
12:18
Speaker 1: can be a really good thing, you know. You certainly
12:22
Speaker 1: can't avoid some of the narrative that surrounds us sometimes
12:26
Speaker 1: with their playoff experience. But again, these guys don't have
12:29
Speaker 1: that playoff experience, you know. So there's a lot of
12:32
Speaker 1: things they've done this year to change some of those things,
12:35
Speaker 1: and this week will be no different. You know. They
12:37
Speaker 1: don't feel that pressure, they don't think about that stuff
12:40
Speaker 1: at all. That there's more just stories and people maybe
12:43
Speaker 1: who have been here longer than we have talked about it.
12:44
Speaker 1: But I can promise you that it doesn't have one
12:46
Speaker 1: effect on this football team and in our approach going
12:49
Speaker 1: forward this week or how they'll feel on game day.
12:51
Speaker 1: I'll take it a step further. If anybody thinks Joe
12:54
Speaker 1: Burrow is going to feel burden because of the Bengals
12:57
Speaker 1: playoff droute, they haven't been paying attention to Joey franchise.
13:02
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
13:05
Speaker 1: free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals awarded a
13:09
Speaker 1: weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets,
13:12
Speaker 1: autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs.
13:17
Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play.
13:20
Speaker 1: Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave
13:24
Speaker 1: Lapham So lap The regular season ends with a twenty
13:28
Speaker 1: one to sixteen loss in Cleveland. The one thing the
13:31
Speaker 1: Bengals could guarantee today was that if they didn't play guys,
13:36
Speaker 1: those guys would not get hurt. That was the route
13:38
Speaker 1: that Zach Taylor chose, and I think it's a wise one.
13:41
Speaker 1: You know, I think there's a lesson to be learned
13:44
Speaker 1: by what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, could
13:46
Speaker 1: they potentially have a buy maybe, But if they don't,
13:51
Speaker 1: I mean, what if Kelsey's limpen and gimp and you
13:53
Speaker 1: know in their playoff game, what if Hill would that
13:56
Speaker 1: heal injury and bruced heal those things those things link.
14:02
Speaker 1: That's a cautionary tale right there. And I think I
14:05
Speaker 1: think that they made the right moving particularly both teams,
14:08
Speaker 1: I mean Cleveland Browns and Bengals both had guys going
14:11
Speaker 1: down in weather conditions like this, playing this type of
14:14
Speaker 1: football game. So in the Bengals situation, I can see
14:18
Speaker 1: why they made the decision that they made and we'll
14:21
Speaker 1: see if it pays dividends when they take on whoever
14:24
Speaker 1: it is next week. There were a few solid performances
14:27
Speaker 1: in the loss defensively, Mike Hilton with an end zone interception,
14:32
Speaker 1: Trevion Henderson with the scoop and score after Wyatt forced
14:36
Speaker 1: the fumble. Marcus Bailey had eleven tackles, Clay Johnston had ten. Offensively,
14:42
Speaker 1: Chris Evans thirty five rushing yards, twenty four receiving yards
14:45
Speaker 1: and a touchdown. Mike Daniels was active when he was
14:47
Speaker 1: in the game. Yeah, I mean, I think at the
14:50
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, Cleveland Browns had three hundred and seventy
14:52
Speaker 1: seven yards on sixty six snaps. The Bengals had one
14:56
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty two yards on fifty one snaps. Three
14:58
Speaker 1: point six yards her play. The Cleveland Browns averaged over
15:03
Speaker 1: five yards to carry running the football. The reason the
15:07
Speaker 1: Bengals were in the football game is they wanted to
15:09
Speaker 1: turnover ratio by two and they had a fourth down
15:14
Speaker 1: stop in the red zone. So they had three possessions
15:17
Speaker 1: that ended with no form of a kick, and the
15:20
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns had no takeaways and no fourth down stops.
15:24
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, the Bengals went for it
15:28
Speaker 1: once on fourth down and converted, and Cleveland didn't when
15:31
Speaker 1: they tried it on fourth down in the red zone.
15:34
Speaker 1: So I think that's why the football game stayed close
15:37
Speaker 1: and got to give the Bengals credit. I mean, one
15:39
Speaker 1: of those takeaways, as you mentioned, you know that I
15:42
Speaker 1: thought that was one of the big things I talked
15:44
Speaker 1: about before the game, and the keys to the game
15:46
Speaker 1: was that they could get some kind of unconventional unscripted
15:49
Speaker 1: score like Cleveland got in the first matchup with the
15:52
Speaker 1: Bengals early in the game. That would that would make
15:55
Speaker 1: things a lot more palatable. And they got it done,
15:58
Speaker 1: and because they were down fourteen at that point and
16:01
Speaker 1: it was looking a little bleak, but they cut the
16:03
Speaker 1: lead in half. And you know, it's just like in
16:05
Speaker 1: the first matchup. I mean, the Bengals going to twelve place,
16:08
Speaker 1: seventy five yard drive, throw a pick six, then they
16:11
Speaker 1: going to nine place, seventy five yard drive, twenty one snaps,
16:14
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty yards and the scores seven to seven,
16:16
Speaker 1: and Cleveland has run a snap, So those unconventional scores
16:20
Speaker 1: can be big, and the Bengals got themselves on. Nearly
16:23
Speaker 1: all of the Bengals starters sat out the regular season
16:27
Speaker 1: finale in Cleveland, but there were exceptions on the offensive line.
16:30
Speaker 1: Isaiah Prince played right tackle, I came I Dentogy played
16:33
Speaker 1: right guard. And then there's the situation with Jackson Carmen.
16:37
Speaker 1: If Quenton Spain does not recover quickly enough from his
16:40
Speaker 1: ankle injury, chances are Jackson Carmen will be playing left guard. Yeah,
16:44
Speaker 1: there's there's a good strong chance of that. And it
16:47
Speaker 1: was good early for Isaiah Prince and Identogy to you know,
16:51
Speaker 1: get more snaps together. They're both young guys and they're
16:54
Speaker 1: going to be going, say, say it's Noringham Patriots for example,
16:58
Speaker 1: They're going to be tested both mentally and physically. So
17:01
Speaker 1: the more snaps that they can get under their belt,
17:03
Speaker 1: the better off they'll be. Um And we'll just have
17:07
Speaker 1: to just have to have to see. I mean, it's
17:09
Speaker 1: a Trey Hopkins has been limping and gimping a good
17:13
Speaker 1: part of the season. He's being held together I think
17:16
Speaker 1: by Scotch tape right now, and so will he be
17:21
Speaker 1: able to you know, bounce back and have a strong performance.
17:24
Speaker 1: I highly doubt Quentin Spain's going to be able to
17:29
Speaker 1: play in the Patriots game or whoever it is, that
17:32
Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs if he. If he does,
17:34
Speaker 1: it would be a mild upset, I think, not a
17:37
Speaker 1: major upset. Not impossible, but he's He's got a pretty
17:40
Speaker 1: good acts spring. So the Bengals have gone thirty years,
17:44
Speaker 1: thirty seasons without winning a playoff game. The last time
17:47
Speaker 1: they did January sixth, nineteen ninety one. It hasn't been
17:51
Speaker 1: a topic of conversation all year, which is kind of good.
17:55
Speaker 1: Back in the early part of the twenty ten decade,
17:59
Speaker 1: that was storyline from the first day of training camp
18:02
Speaker 1: during that stretcher where they went went to the playoffs
18:04
Speaker 1: five years in a row and did not win. In
18:06
Speaker 1: this case, it's gonna come up this week. It's not
18:08
Speaker 1: been this big albatross hanging over them all year long.
18:12
Speaker 1: And Zach Taylor made the point during his postgame news
18:16
Speaker 1: conference after the game in Cleveland to say, this team
18:19
Speaker 1: is the twenty twenty one Bengals. It has nothing to
18:23
Speaker 1: do with any Bengals team that's failed in the playoffs before.
18:27
Speaker 1: That's true. And the football team that went out on
18:30
Speaker 1: the football field against the Cleveland Browns this afternoon, all
18:33
Speaker 1: the stats that had been generated by the Bengals offense
18:37
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the team that went out
18:39
Speaker 1: on the field this afternoon. I mean, it's just it's
18:43
Speaker 1: it's not even it's not even close to the same
18:47
Speaker 1: guys out there working the way they worked all season long.
18:50
Speaker 1: So that's it's there's no question about it. These guys
18:55
Speaker 1: are going to carve a history of their own. Other
18:58
Speaker 1: guys that played on those football teams carve that history
19:02
Speaker 1: these guys have nothing to do with that history, and
19:05
Speaker 1: you can't. What you can't do is fall in the
19:08
Speaker 1: negativity of oh man, you know, you haven't won in
19:11
Speaker 1: thirty one. You know the last time on a playoff
19:15
Speaker 1: game January of nineteen ninety one. Are you kidding me?
19:18
Speaker 1: You can't fall in that negativity. That can that can
19:20
Speaker 1: be a rabbit hole you don't want to fall through,
19:23
Speaker 1: you know, fall into mentally, There's no question about it.
19:26
Speaker 1: And I don't think this group will. I think Zach
19:28
Speaker 1: made another good point. A young football team sometimes it's
19:33
Speaker 1: good that they don't know what they don't know. Just
19:36
Speaker 1: just continue to play. They're confident, continue to play with
19:39
Speaker 1: confidence and let the chips fall where they may. Speaking
19:42
Speaker 1: of history, even though Joe Burrow did not play, he
19:45
Speaker 1: finishes the year with four thousand and six hundred eleven
19:48
Speaker 1: passing yards. That's a Bengals single season record, thirty four
19:51
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, also a Bengals single season record, pass a
19:54
Speaker 1: rating of one h eight point three that's a single
19:57
Speaker 1: season Bengals record. Also the first Bengals corp back ever
20:00
Speaker 1: to be sacked fifty times in a year. Fifty one
20:03
Speaker 1: turned out to be the final number. And then there
20:05
Speaker 1: is Jamar Chase with his two catches in Cleveland eighty
20:09
Speaker 1: one catches, one thousand, four hundred and fifty five yards
20:12
Speaker 1: in thirteen touchdown passes, all records for a Bengals rookie.
20:18
Speaker 1: The fourteen fifty five a single season record period for
20:22
Speaker 1: a Bengals wide receiver. He was everything the Bengals dreamed
20:26
Speaker 1: he would be and more. There's no doubt. I mean,
20:29
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, you made a decision, all right. Our offensive
20:34
Speaker 1: line needs some fortification. Pinney Sell could have provided that
20:39
Speaker 1: he had a good year. This guy is a playmaker,
20:44
Speaker 1: a touchdown maker extraordinaire. He is amongst the most explosive
20:49
Speaker 1: players in the National Football League immediately right now in
20:53
Speaker 1: his first year, and I think opposing defensive coordinators and
20:56
Speaker 1: opposing defensive players would would say the same thing. I mean,
21:00
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna draw a lot of attention. And the chemistry,
21:05
Speaker 1: the magic, the intangibles that exist between Joe Burrow and
21:10
Speaker 1: Jamar Chaser a site to behold. They really are. And
21:14
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna get worst in They're only
21:16
Speaker 1: going to get better. If anything. Next week we get
21:20
Speaker 1: the opportunity to call a Bengals playoff win. It's been
21:24
Speaker 1: too long. With Joe Burrow it in charge. It's gonna
21:27
Speaker 1: happen sometime soon, and hopefully it happens in his first
21:30
Speaker 1: crack at it next week. I think they have a
21:33
Speaker 1: really good shot. I mean, I think he's playing at
21:36
Speaker 1: his high a level as any quarterback in the National
21:39
Speaker 1: Football League right now. I really do mentally, physically everywhere
21:43
Speaker 1: you can. And I think he's as important. I mean,
21:46
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are all important to a football team, but he
21:49
Speaker 1: is as important as any quarterback is to his football team.
21:53
Speaker 1: And I'm excited to see him play. I think it's
21:55
Speaker 1: going to be a show. More on Sunday's game and
21:59
Speaker 1: the play off game to come join Lap and Lance
22:02
Speaker 1: McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine
22:05
Speaker 1: on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this week's fun
22:09
Speaker 1: Facts segment, where you get to know the person under
22:11
Speaker 1: the pads hand. In this case, it's the player who
22:14
Speaker 1: scored the Bengals only offensive touchdown on Sunday. Time for
22:19
Speaker 1: some fun facts with Bengals running back Chris Evans from
22:21
Speaker 1: the so called racing capital of the World, Indianapolis, Indiana.
22:25
Speaker 1: What do you love about your hometown and what were
22:27
Speaker 1: some of the things you enjoyed doing as a kid.
22:29
Speaker 1: A couple of things that I loaded about my hometown
22:31
Speaker 1: is just basketball is just a big thing, you know
22:34
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Everybody who played basketball, and from if
22:37
Speaker 1: you know all your friends to the person that you
22:40
Speaker 1: don't know to the person that you know the best.
22:41
Speaker 1: Everybody knows how to play basketball some some capacity. So
22:44
Speaker 1: I love that. And um, I also just love just
22:47
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Um like being around the coats.
22:49
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, the coat Um during that
22:51
Speaker 1: time when Peyton Manning was there, he like was the
22:55
Speaker 1: mayor the city, you know what I'm saying. And we
22:57
Speaker 1: always loaded to see him and watch him play. And
22:59
Speaker 1: they went through them won the Super Bowl and I
23:01
Speaker 1: was just exciting to see as a kid. We're doing
23:03
Speaker 1: fun facts with running back Chris Savans. You started a
23:06
Speaker 1: youth football program for kids when you were still a kid,
23:09
Speaker 1: and it's really taken off. What were the orange origins
23:12
Speaker 1: of Ceast Stars and what is it grown into? Um?
23:16
Speaker 1: The origins was I'm pretty much I got one of
23:19
Speaker 1: my little brothers and his friends. I was a janitor.
23:22
Speaker 1: Um at an elementary school and in my city. Um,
23:27
Speaker 1: Like before I went to college, I wanted to get
23:29
Speaker 1: some money. So I get some shoes and some clothes
23:31
Speaker 1: and stuff, um, and have my own money so my
23:34
Speaker 1: little brother and his friends can't. We'll come up to
23:36
Speaker 1: my job after I'm done cleaning our classrooms and we'll
23:38
Speaker 1: do some football drives. I don't like, Okay, we got
23:40
Speaker 1: enough kids, we might as well just see what we
23:42
Speaker 1: can get into. So we started playing in the league.
23:45
Speaker 1: I'm about seventeen eighteen at the time, and were just playing.
23:48
Speaker 1: We was winning, and I was like, dang, like I'm
23:51
Speaker 1: about to go to college, so we're gonna have to
23:52
Speaker 1: like put this on whole. So I started started a
23:54
Speaker 1: team in college. I got sponsorships and stuff like that,
23:58
Speaker 1: and I I called my friend, I'm back at home,
24:02
Speaker 1: best friend I grew up. Was like, we got to
24:04
Speaker 1: keep those same kids going. So as soon as we
24:06
Speaker 1: opened up a trial, we had like forty kids come out.
24:09
Speaker 1: And now we just expanded to three states. We have
24:13
Speaker 1: a Kentucky team, We're starting to Cincinnati team this year, Indianapolis,
24:17
Speaker 1: and still up in Michigan. UM, so we have over
24:19
Speaker 1: about three hundred kids in the program now, and um,
24:22
Speaker 1: it just gives them the opportunity and a platform to
24:24
Speaker 1: be able to continue to get better in football over
24:26
Speaker 1: the offseason and mainly focus. You know what I'm saying.
24:29
Speaker 1: We have tutors and stuff to help them with their
24:30
Speaker 1: grades and stuff. So, UM, just the whole picture of
24:34
Speaker 1: a student athlete and raising like a young man pretty
24:37
Speaker 1: remarkable considering how young you are. And the name is
24:40
Speaker 1: interesting because you outfoxed the NCIA. Yeah, I now seeing
24:47
Speaker 1: that with the NIL and seeing all these guys making
24:49
Speaker 1: all this all this money is I'm happy for him,
24:52
Speaker 1: but I wish I could you know, we had an opportunity,
24:54
Speaker 1: but um it was named ce Stars. Um. I was
24:57
Speaker 1: talking to one of my mentors and it's like, I
24:58
Speaker 1: should be aild it, use my aim to get this,
25:01
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But then they that came
25:03
Speaker 1: at me and then um, on the spot, UM, I
25:06
Speaker 1: told him, hey, it's not Chris Evans is collectively evolving
25:09
Speaker 1: and they were like, well, I guess that, you know,
25:11
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess you're not in trouble anymore. So
25:13
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, and as of right now, UM, it's
25:16
Speaker 1: still collectively evolving. But you know, what I'm saying to
25:18
Speaker 1: see is my initials, So I kind of some people know,
25:21
Speaker 1: some people don't know. So that's good stuff. We're visiting
25:24
Speaker 1: with Chris Evans. He loved the Ohio State as a kid,
25:27
Speaker 1: but wound up going to Michigan. So you said yes
25:30
Speaker 1: to Jim Harbaugh and know to Urban Meyer. Explain yourself
25:34
Speaker 1: to the Buckeyes fans listening. I was a Hog State fan,
25:38
Speaker 1: was um, but just I just when I went to Michigan,
25:42
Speaker 1: I gave my commitment to coach Hardball and I just
25:45
Speaker 1: I just knew. I just knew it was good energy.
25:46
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying With Coach Hardball and Michigan.
25:48
Speaker 1: Just now like at the end of the day, all
25:51
Speaker 1: the tales was perfect and it was like I feel
25:53
Speaker 1: like there was nothing like you know what I mean
25:55
Speaker 1: that he was hot in or anything like that. So yeah,
25:58
Speaker 1: in your first college game at Michigan with the official
26:02
Speaker 1: attendance one hundred ten thou two hundred and twenty two
26:04
Speaker 1: in the Big House, eight carries for one hundred and
26:07
Speaker 1: twelve yards, describe that day. Um, it was. It was
26:12
Speaker 1: a crazy day. Um. I didn't know I was gonna
26:14
Speaker 1: put that much over the forest and running back. Our
26:17
Speaker 1: first ring got UM. He messed up his ribcage and
26:22
Speaker 1: UM that game it was a blowout. So it was
26:24
Speaker 1: just him saying, let everybody get some touches, and I
26:27
Speaker 1: got my aid and just took advantage of him, you
26:28
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it was a good day.
26:31
Speaker 1: I read that your cell phone died from all of
26:33
Speaker 1: the messages. Literally it was it was my phone was
26:37
Speaker 1: kept on. When I was looking at my phone, I
26:39
Speaker 1: was getting message after missus, call after call, and it
26:42
Speaker 1: was just it was crazy just to see just it
26:44
Speaker 1: was just it was the beginning of it all. Your
26:48
Speaker 1: life could be an inspirational movie because of how you
26:51
Speaker 1: dealt with a problem that you had at Michigan. You
26:54
Speaker 1: got suspended for a year due to plagiarism, but the
26:58
Speaker 1: way you dealt with it is remarkable to me. Now
27:00
Speaker 1: this is only two years ago. Describe two thy nineteen
27:04
Speaker 1: and what you did. Um. I went through some adversity
27:08
Speaker 1: UM that I feel like a lot of people wouldn't
27:10
Speaker 1: be able to come back from. UM got to spend
27:13
Speaker 1: it for a year. Instead of going home, I stayed
27:15
Speaker 1: in my at my house that I was in and
27:18
Speaker 1: in Harbor and I got a couple of jobs. Um
27:21
Speaker 1: delivery driver, special teams, coach at a high school, and
27:26
Speaker 1: contract their assistant. You know what I'm saying, I'm just
27:29
Speaker 1: I'll just be sitting. They'd be like, give me the
27:31
Speaker 1: screw driver, and I just gotta find it. I give
27:33
Speaker 1: it to him, or I'll be holding drywall up and
27:35
Speaker 1: stuff like that and doing a little nuance stuff. But
27:38
Speaker 1: it taught me a lot, just taught me about just
27:40
Speaker 1: keep my head down and keep pushing. And I mean, now,
27:42
Speaker 1: just with those skills, I can like fix things in
27:45
Speaker 1: my own them own house, so and my mom's house.
27:47
Speaker 1: I fixed her drywall last last year, and I was like,
27:50
Speaker 1: I know how to do this stuff. So it was good.
27:52
Speaker 1: And also I just used my resources too, just as
27:55
Speaker 1: much resource as I had, Like I worked at the
27:58
Speaker 1: delivery delivery spot, so I could eat three meals a day.
28:01
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, that I had to pay
28:03
Speaker 1: for so um, I just used everything just to save money.
28:06
Speaker 1: I was actually in the real world and I was like,
28:08
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay away from this as long as I can.
28:10
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, I gotta work real real
28:13
Speaker 1: job or sweating and holding stuff and that's something that
28:18
Speaker 1: I don't want to do, and my dad taught me
28:19
Speaker 1: not to, Like, that's not what you want to do.
28:21
Speaker 1: You want to be doing what you want to do
28:22
Speaker 1: and not you know what I'm saying, heavy lifting and
28:24
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So that's what I took from it.
28:27
Speaker 1: So you overcame at you earned your scholarship back, You
28:30
Speaker 1: earned your degree. Does that mean that much more considering
28:34
Speaker 1: the path you had to go through to get there? Yeah,
28:37
Speaker 1: I mainly just wanted to graduate. I mean it was
28:39
Speaker 1: a COVID year. Seasons I canceled and uncanceled. Then it
28:42
Speaker 1: was just a but I just knew taking twenty one
28:45
Speaker 1: credits this last semester, I was like, this is the
28:48
Speaker 1: this will truly like showed it, Like I really got
28:51
Speaker 1: through this, you know what I'm saying. Because a lot
28:53
Speaker 1: of guys leave school and don't get the degree and
28:55
Speaker 1: then they gotta go back or the end don't end
28:57
Speaker 1: up going back. And I was like, not all this out, tutors,
29:01
Speaker 1: all that stuff, and just just get it done so
29:03
Speaker 1: I can get up out of here. So after your
29:05
Speaker 1: senior year at Michigan, you earned an invitation to the
29:07
Speaker 1: Senior ball and knocked it out of the park. How
29:10
Speaker 1: did that impact your life? It impacted crazy. Um. I
29:14
Speaker 1: was about to go back home. Um, Jim Nagie called
29:17
Speaker 1: me and it's like, do you want to over to
29:18
Speaker 1: wing him one more time? And I was like definitely.
29:20
Speaker 1: So when I went down there, I was like, literally,
29:23
Speaker 1: I can't go wrong down here, Like you know what
29:24
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I'm not. I wasn't even supposed to be here.
29:26
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna take advantage of everything I can get,
29:29
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Coaching and stuff like that.
29:31
Speaker 1: So UM, that's one reason that UM coach Seck Taylor
29:35
Speaker 1: said to help me, you know what I'm saying, because
29:36
Speaker 1: he asked me to draw up a protection and when
29:39
Speaker 1: I was drawn, I kind of like seeing her face
29:41
Speaker 1: I was. I was drawing because I was kind of
29:42
Speaker 1: like that whole time. I was nervous, really, but I
29:45
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't expect that i'd be here in Cincinnati.
29:49
Speaker 1: So you impressed them Inmobile. They selected you in the
29:52
Speaker 1: sixth round. Describe your draft experience. The Falcons was telling
29:57
Speaker 1: me that they were gonna draft me for sure. So
29:59
Speaker 1: they had two picks in the fifth, They had two
30:02
Speaker 1: picks in the fifth back to back and I was like, oh,
30:03
Speaker 1: I'm sure gonna get down. So then, um, they didn't
30:07
Speaker 1: get I didn't there, they didn't get the call. So
30:09
Speaker 1: and I had two phones at the time. I got
30:11
Speaker 1: one phone just for all the teamside a number of them.
30:13
Speaker 1: So um, after those two picks, I was like, man,
30:16
Speaker 1: I got all these people at my um at my house,
30:18
Speaker 1: and I just hope I get drafted because I don't
30:20
Speaker 1: want to go and drafted. So UM, I went outside,
30:24
Speaker 1: I took a walk with my mom, and um, some
30:27
Speaker 1: Cincinnati number calls my other phone. I'm like, all all
30:30
Speaker 1: the teams got this number, but so I called it
30:33
Speaker 1: and he's like, this is Zach Taylor and with the
30:35
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals, and I was like, oh snap. But it
30:40
Speaker 1: was like we was walking. It was about a hundred
30:42
Speaker 1: yards from my house, and I told my mom like, yo,
30:46
Speaker 1: we gotta get back, you know what I'm saying before
30:47
Speaker 1: it come on. So we just running down the street
30:50
Speaker 1: and I told everybody I cut the music off, like
30:53
Speaker 1: in turn the TV up, you know what I'm saying
30:55
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So it was, um, it was a
30:57
Speaker 1: crazy experience and I was one of them, the most
31:00
Speaker 1: stressful times in my life, like that whole day, like
31:02
Speaker 1: I couldn't it was it was crazy. A few wild
31:05
Speaker 1: card categories to wrap things up with. Chris Evans, your
31:09
Speaker 1: Twitter handle is kidden play Underscore ABC one two three.
31:14
Speaker 1: I assume it's a reference to your high top fade,
31:17
Speaker 1: similar to the kid from the Wrap two Kiddn't Play.
31:22
Speaker 1: I made that handle when I was a little Oh well,
31:24
Speaker 1: I'm about eighth grade, ninth grade or seven eighth grade
31:27
Speaker 1: when I first got my haircut, and yeah, I just
31:30
Speaker 1: I love that show. I love Fresh Prince of bel
31:32
Speaker 1: Air and all stuff like that. So that was the
31:34
Speaker 1: inspiration behind it. Do you have any hidden talents? Hidden talents?
31:40
Speaker 1: I can fix it whatever you need, I got it.
31:42
Speaker 1: I can fix a tire, I can fix a I
31:44
Speaker 1: can do a lot of stuff, a lot of handy stuff.
31:46
Speaker 1: And I feel like my hidden talent is h when
31:49
Speaker 1: something goes back, Like when something goes wrong, I'm good
31:52
Speaker 1: at um like making it work, you know what I'm saying.
31:55
Speaker 1: So like just in an everyday situation, if something happens,
31:58
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen, and I can just keep the keep
32:01
Speaker 1: the group come like okay, Like this is what we're
32:03
Speaker 1: gonna do. You know what I'm saying, just because I
32:05
Speaker 1: like to keep one. I like that. Don't get hired,
32:07
Speaker 1: don't get too low, you know what I'm saying, And
32:09
Speaker 1: just keep stay steady and just just stay locked in.
32:12
Speaker 1: You're a problem solver. Every group needs a problem solving.
32:16
Speaker 1: Where are you terrible? App I'm terrible at getting shots.
32:19
Speaker 1: I don't like getting shots like the like I hate needles.
32:23
Speaker 1: I hate hate stuff like that. And I just I
32:26
Speaker 1: was the kid that they had to get the big
32:28
Speaker 1: nurse to go hold me down to get to get
32:30
Speaker 1: my shot. So I hate I hate needles. All right,
32:34
Speaker 1: you just became my wife's favorite player because she hates
32:37
Speaker 1: getting shots. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, politician,
32:44
Speaker 1: religious figure, whoever it might be, who would that person
32:47
Speaker 1: be mon Luther King owning me mon Luth the King
32:51
Speaker 1: just because I on the and not just about just
32:53
Speaker 1: what he did and how he did it, just but
32:54
Speaker 1: like I love the process and I love just it's
32:57
Speaker 1: not what you see on Sunday, it's what you see
32:59
Speaker 1: through you know what I'm and Monday to Saturday. That's
33:01
Speaker 1: why I like, I mean some of them, like Joe
33:03
Speaker 1: Mix it. For example, he practice hard every day, you
33:05
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, So having a little Sunday is
33:07
Speaker 1: just what he's been doing all week. So just to
33:10
Speaker 1: see how intriguing like his process was, just being all
33:13
Speaker 1: the adversity he had to go through and him being
33:15
Speaker 1: a leader, and you know what I'm saying. So I
33:18
Speaker 1: don't want to meet him. You were off the hot seat.
33:20
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. That's to fluck the rest of
33:23
Speaker 1: the year, I said, appreciate it. That's going to do it.
33:26
Speaker 1: For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to
33:28
Speaker 1: you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level
33:31
Speaker 1: Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store and
33:35
Speaker 1: Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please
33:38
Speaker 1: subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
33:40
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
33:43
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for
33:47
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.