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Bengals Booth Podcast: Best Laid Plans · 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 Best Laid Plans Edition, as we
0:10
Speaker 1: look back at a five point loss to the Chargers
0:12
Speaker 1: that saw the Bengals follow their game plan to a t.
0:16
Speaker 1: They ran the ball, effectively, controlled the clock, did not
0:19
Speaker 1: commit a turnover, stop Philip Rivers and the Chargers on
0:22
Speaker 1: third down, and still found a way to lose. Coming up,
0:27
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, locker room interviews with key players,
0:30
Speaker 1: and Dave Lappom will join me for postgame analysis plus
0:34
Speaker 1: and this week's fund Fag's interview. You'll get to know
0:36
Speaker 1: safety Brandon Wilson. Among other things. We'll discuss the former
0:41
Speaker 1: head football coach for four years at his high school.
0:45
Speaker 1: You might have heard of the guy Doug Peterson, the
0:48
Speaker 1: current head coach of the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
0:53
Speaker 1: All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a
0:55
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:58
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered to your phone, tablet, or computer by
1:02
Speaker 1: subscribing an itune, Stitcher, or pod Bean. It's the greatest
1:07
Speaker 1: invention since the search engine. In choosing a name for
1:13
Speaker 1: this edition of the podcast. I thought of the expression
1:16
Speaker 1: the best laid plans of mice and men, saying used
1:20
Speaker 1: to suggest that no matter how carefully something is planned,
1:24
Speaker 1: things may still go wrong. Then I realized, I don't
1:28
Speaker 1: know where that expression comes from, so I google searched it.
1:32
Speaker 1: It's from the poem to a Mouse, written by Robert
1:36
Speaker 1: Burns in the seventeen hundreds, and it includes the line
1:40
Speaker 1: the best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew.
1:47
Speaker 1: Now you know that, Let's get to football. The LA
1:50
Speaker 1: Chargers entered Sunday's game with a fifteen and four record
1:54
Speaker 1: in their last nineteen games. Nobody has a better mark
1:57
Speaker 1: during that stretch, so it was no surprise that the
2:01
Speaker 1: Chargers were favored by more than two touchdowns at home
2:05
Speaker 1: against the injury ravaged Bengals. It was also no surprise
2:09
Speaker 1: when LA opened the game with a sixth play, seventy
2:12
Speaker 1: five yard touchdown drive first and ten at the Bengals
2:15
Speaker 1: fourteen yard line. Rivers, with a glove on his left hand,
2:18
Speaker 1: catches the shotgun, snap throws it toward the end zone
2:21
Speaker 1: as a man open, and it's a touchdown for the Chargers.
2:24
Speaker 1: A beautiful throw lofted over the shoulder Keenan Allen with
2:29
Speaker 1: the catch. Sheen and Allen made the catch. Star Quest
2:32
Speaker 1: narting coverage of Keenan Allen reren a great route. It's
2:35
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth straight game with a touchdown pass for Rivers,
2:38
Speaker 1: but it turned out to be his only one of
2:41
Speaker 1: the day, ending Philip's streak of thirteen straight games with
2:45
Speaker 1: two or more touchdown passes, two short of Peyton Manning's
2:49
Speaker 1: NFL record. The Bengals answered with a field goal, but
2:53
Speaker 1: quickly fell behind fourteen to three as the Chargers also
2:57
Speaker 1: went seventy five yards to score on their second session.
3:00
Speaker 1: Eckler lines up seven yards behind the line at the
3:03
Speaker 1: twelve yard line. Hands on these second and goal from
3:06
Speaker 1: the five for the Chargers. A receiver goes in motion.
3:08
Speaker 1: That's Benjamin. Here's a handoff to Eckler and he will
3:11
Speaker 1: run it into the end zone for a Charger's touchdown,
3:13
Speaker 1: a five yard run for Austin Eckler and the Chargers
3:17
Speaker 1: have scored touchdowns on their first two possessions. Two possessions,
3:20
Speaker 1: two touchdowns and one hundred and fifty yards of offense.
3:24
Speaker 1: It looked like it could be another butt kicking similar
3:27
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs or Saints games. As it turned out,
3:30
Speaker 1: far from it. For the rest of the game, the
3:33
Speaker 1: Bengals defense was spectacular, allowing one hundred thirty eight yards
3:38
Speaker 1: and no touchdowns on the Chargers' final eight drives. Here's
3:43
Speaker 1: safety Jesse Bates on slowing down Philip Rivers. Once we
3:47
Speaker 1: start to move around a little bit, disguising a lot,
3:51
Speaker 1: we gotta get fill of what he was looking at
3:53
Speaker 1: and how deep in the play clot he was going.
3:57
Speaker 1: I think that kind of flustered him a little bit.
3:59
Speaker 1: The Bengals appeared to or their first touchdown with five
4:01
Speaker 1: and a half minutes left in the half when quarterback
4:03
Speaker 1: Jeff Driscoll scrambled to the right and dove toward the
4:07
Speaker 1: end zone, extending the ball over the goal line for
4:10
Speaker 1: a one yard score, But after a replay review, the
4:13
Speaker 1: officials ruled that Driscoll had given himself up and was
4:17
Speaker 1: down inches from the goal line. Here's the Bengals quarterback.
4:21
Speaker 1: I've never seen that before. But you know, if that's
4:24
Speaker 1: the rule, that's the rule, and you know you can't
4:27
Speaker 1: you can't argue with an official. If that's the rule,
4:30
Speaker 1: that's the rule. Maybe it's a you know, maybe they
4:32
Speaker 1: need to relok at the rule, but I obviously was
4:35
Speaker 1: not giving myself out. But if that's how the rules interpreted,
4:39
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and you know, unfortunately not hurt.
4:42
Speaker 1: The call was the result of a rule change in
4:44
Speaker 1: the offseason. For years, in an attempt to protect quarterbacks,
4:47
Speaker 1: defenders have had to ease up when a QB goes
4:50
Speaker 1: into a feat first slide. Head first dives were treated differently.
4:55
Speaker 1: Not anymore. Now, a diving quarterback is treated just like
4:59
Speaker 1: a lighting one. The play is dead when anybody part
5:03
Speaker 1: hits the ground. That's why Driscoll's touchdown was taken off
5:06
Speaker 1: the board. But you know what, it shouldn't have mattered.
5:09
Speaker 1: The Bengals were about a nostril hair from the goal
5:12
Speaker 1: line and should have been able to score easily on
5:14
Speaker 1: fourth down, but offensive lineman Alex Redman moved before the snap,
5:20
Speaker 1: and his five yard penalty forced the Bengals to kick
5:23
Speaker 1: a field goal, reducing the deficit to fourteen to six.
5:27
Speaker 1: Here's Redman, I mean, that's that's that's some rookie. Can't
5:30
Speaker 1: be letting happened. So, yeah, it is frustrating. In the
5:34
Speaker 1: second quarter, the Bengals defense actually began to dominate, driving
5:39
Speaker 1: the Chargers backward on three straight three and outs, but
5:43
Speaker 1: his third down and one Chargers stick with the empty
5:45
Speaker 1: backfield in five wides. Rivers scanning the Bengals defense catches
5:49
Speaker 1: a high shotgun snap being chased by Dunlap. He's got him,
5:53
Speaker 1: They'll sack him back at the six yard line. Dunlap's
5:57
Speaker 1: eight sack of the season forced the Chargers to punt
6:00
Speaker 1: in the back of the end zone, allowing the Bengals
6:02
Speaker 1: to start a drive at the LA thirty five yard
6:05
Speaker 1: line with one thirty five left in the half. Five
6:08
Speaker 1: plays later, they were in the end zone. Three receivers
6:11
Speaker 1: out to the right, one to the left. Nobody why
6:14
Speaker 1: to the Numerals. Driscoll catches a shotgun snap. He's back
6:17
Speaker 1: to throw, good protection. His throw taught by John Ross
6:21
Speaker 1: right over the medal for a Bengals touchdown, and he
6:24
Speaker 1: was wide open across the Dan Cross. Has it been good?
6:28
Speaker 1: That's the six touchdown reception for John Ross and he's
6:32
Speaker 1: not even close to twenty catches yet. It's crazy. Ross
6:36
Speaker 1: is from nearby Long Beach, California, and had about twenty
6:39
Speaker 1: five friends and relatives in attendance. I one of the
6:42
Speaker 1: best feelings I've had, you know, in a very long time.
6:45
Speaker 1: Definitely in the best moment I've had playing in a
6:47
Speaker 1: in a stadium since I've been you know, and colleger
6:52
Speaker 1: in NFL. So it's just nothing can beat playing in
6:55
Speaker 1: front of your family and your friends and your son.
6:57
Speaker 1: How do you think you're doing yourself personally this season?
7:01
Speaker 1: I think I'm doing okay, which is not good enough.
7:05
Speaker 1: I think it's always room for improvement no matter who
7:07
Speaker 1: you are, especially me, you know, hold myself to a
7:10
Speaker 1: high standard. And you know, I think I'm still you know,
7:15
Speaker 1: figuring it out, you know, find an identity on him.
7:18
Speaker 1: I will say this those It's much more smooth than
7:21
Speaker 1: it was last year. Ross's touchdown made it fourteen to
7:23
Speaker 1: twelve with twenty seconds left in the half. They're gonna
7:27
Speaker 1: go for two and try to tie it with twenty
7:29
Speaker 1: seconds left in the half, so chasing points early not
7:33
Speaker 1: necessarily recommended, but we'll see if it works. Two receivers
7:37
Speaker 1: to each side of the formation, Driscoll back to throw.
7:40
Speaker 1: He swings it out to the right to Bernard and
7:42
Speaker 1: he has tackled at the five yard line. As if
7:45
Speaker 1: that wasn't bad enough. The final twenty seconds of the
7:47
Speaker 1: half were a comical disaster. The Chargers used ten seconds
7:52
Speaker 1: to return the kickoff to the thirty two yard line,
7:55
Speaker 1: leaving ten seconds in the half. Back to back eleven
7:59
Speaker 1: yard completions used up nine of those seconds and moved
8:02
Speaker 1: la to the Bengals forty six yard line, not close
8:05
Speaker 1: enough for a field goal attempt, so Rivers dropped back
8:08
Speaker 1: to throw a hail Merry pass and got sacked by
8:11
Speaker 1: Dunlap and Sam Hubbard, but inexplicably, Jordan Willis was offside
8:17
Speaker 1: that moved the ball to the forty one yard line,
8:19
Speaker 1: allowing the Chargers to bring out rookie kicker Michael Badgeley
8:23
Speaker 1: badually made the game winner at the gun last Sunday
8:26
Speaker 1: night in Pittsburgh on his third try. The Bengals do
8:28
Speaker 1: have a returner waiting in the back of the end zone.
8:32
Speaker 1: Nine yard attempt. It looks like it is long enough
8:35
Speaker 1: and it is good. Wo wow. How about that. Here's
8:41
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates on the two critical first half penalties. I
8:45
Speaker 1: think that's losing football. I mean, we got a chance
8:48
Speaker 1: to score on not even the one yard line, and
8:51
Speaker 1: we jump offside in the sulfield goal it's four points.
8:53
Speaker 1: And then right before the half, we you know we're
8:56
Speaker 1: about going inside halftime our offense getting the ball back
8:59
Speaker 1: on on saw and give them three more points. So
9:02
Speaker 1: that's a seven point you know swing right there. The
9:04
Speaker 1: Bengals got the ball down by five points to begin
9:06
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and on their opening drive, faced fourth
9:10
Speaker 1: and less than a yard at their own thirty five
9:12
Speaker 1: yard line, Marvin Lewis elected to go for it. Driscoll
9:16
Speaker 1: under center, He's got to hand it off. Mixon trying
9:20
Speaker 1: to fight for the yardage he won't get there, doesn't
9:23
Speaker 1: come close. That's a great wall of China right there,
9:26
Speaker 1: I thought, hammered up inside where those young guys had
9:29
Speaker 1: been operating so efficiently and effectively, and the Los Angeles
9:34
Speaker 1: Chargers said, nah, baby nah. That led to an easy
9:37
Speaker 1: Chargers field goal in a twenty to twelve lead. Here's
9:40
Speaker 1: coach Lewis who got less than four inches to go,
9:43
Speaker 1: five inches to go. We don't make it. I mean,
9:45
Speaker 1: you know those things we got to make those man
9:47
Speaker 1: we're counting long in the make it. On their next possession,
9:50
Speaker 1: the Bengals drove to the LA thirty four, but rather
9:53
Speaker 1: than attempt to fifty two yard field goal. They lined
9:56
Speaker 1: up to go for it on fourth and seven before
9:59
Speaker 1: a penalty on Billy Price forced the Bengals to punt.
10:03
Speaker 1: Lap asked Marvin about passing up the field goal try.
10:07
Speaker 1: Was it a tough decision not to go for that
10:09
Speaker 1: fifty two yard field goal? Was right on the border
10:11
Speaker 1: of what you thought might be his range might be? Well,
10:13
Speaker 1: I felt with the wind today and just the way
10:15
Speaker 1: it was, the wind was cross wind and it was
10:18
Speaker 1: you know, and warm ups, and didn't so comfortable with it.
10:20
Speaker 1: On the Bengals next drive, Bullock was given the opportunity
10:24
Speaker 1: to attempt a forty six yard field goal, and he
10:26
Speaker 1: drilled it with room to spare to pull the Bengals
10:29
Speaker 1: back within five. LA answered with a field goal to
10:33
Speaker 1: push the lead back to eight, but Cincinnati was still
10:36
Speaker 1: within a touchdown. In a two point conversion with seven
10:39
Speaker 1: forty five to go, Matt Lengal goes in motion. Driscoll
10:42
Speaker 1: takes the direct staff It's a run to the right
10:44
Speaker 1: for Mixon charging up the middle. Filt first down, still
10:47
Speaker 1: going all the way down to the eleven yard line.
10:51
Speaker 1: Want a run for Joe Mixon and the Bengals are
10:54
Speaker 1: eleven yards away after that nineteen yard run. Again between
10:58
Speaker 1: the tackles, those young guys up front in the middle,
11:02
Speaker 1: they're operating very, very efficiently. Mixon finished with twenty six
11:06
Speaker 1: carries for one hundred eleven yards. Here's Jeff Driscoll on
11:10
Speaker 1: Joe's performance. We've been saying we got to be able
11:12
Speaker 1: to run the football. That's gonna set everything else up.
11:15
Speaker 1: And I thought Joe did a great job today, you know,
11:18
Speaker 1: hitting the holes when the holes were there, and in
11:20
Speaker 1: creating when maybe there wasn't as much, you know, free
11:23
Speaker 1: room to run. So I mean, I thought he competed
11:26
Speaker 1: and ran really hard, and you know, I'm just you know,
11:30
Speaker 1: it was fun to watch him play well today. Mixon
11:33
Speaker 1: gave the Bengals a chance to tie the game with
11:35
Speaker 1: less than two minutes to go. Sam Hubbard in at fullback,
11:39
Speaker 1: first in goal from the one, Driscoll hands it to
11:41
Speaker 1: Mix and he is in a touchdown from the one
11:44
Speaker 1: yard line for Joe Mixon, and now the Bengals will
11:48
Speaker 1: try for a two point conversion in hopes of tying
11:51
Speaker 1: the game with one fifty to go. The Bengals have
11:54
Speaker 1: not had a two point conversion in fifty six games,
11:58
Speaker 1: longest streak of any team in the NFL. They will
12:01
Speaker 1: try for one here to tie the game. Drist go
12:03
Speaker 1: back to throw looking still looking sacked back at the
12:07
Speaker 1: fifteen yard line. That's a coverage sack right there, man,
12:11
Speaker 1: because he had nowhere to go at the football, and
12:14
Speaker 1: you can't throw it away. You have to try to
12:16
Speaker 1: create a play and he couldn't find anybody to throw
12:19
Speaker 1: it too. That's and he takes the sack. The failed
12:22
Speaker 1: two point try forced the Bengals to attempt an on
12:25
Speaker 1: side kick, and that failed as well. The Bengals have
12:28
Speaker 1: not had a successful on side kick since two thy ten.
12:32
Speaker 1: They are over six since the Chargers added three points
12:37
Speaker 1: on Badgeley's fourth field goal of the game to win
12:40
Speaker 1: it twenty six to twenty one. Here are John Ross
12:44
Speaker 1: and Clayton Federlum. It was a wake up call, like,
12:47
Speaker 1: you know, we are better than what people think, you know, um,
12:50
Speaker 1: And you know we actually we were playing we're playing
12:54
Speaker 1: really good. It is this. We gotta put everything together,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know, and it'll come. I never never feel good
13:00
Speaker 1: after loss. Doesn't matter if you lose by one hundred,
13:02
Speaker 1: by one point losses, you know, you know, I hate
13:05
Speaker 1: losing more than I like winning, so you know it
13:07
Speaker 1: hurts um. You know where there's some positive out there, absolutely,
13:10
Speaker 1: most notably the play of the defense. The Bengals held
13:14
Speaker 1: the Chargers to two hundred eighty eight yards, the fewest
13:17
Speaker 1: the Bengals have allowed in a game all season, and
13:19
Speaker 1: one hundred forty five yards below the whopping four thirty
13:23
Speaker 1: three the teams have been averaging against Cincinnati this season.
13:27
Speaker 1: The Chargers were also just five for thirteen on third down.
13:31
Speaker 1: That's thirty eight percent, well below the Bengals league worst
13:35
Speaker 1: average of fifty four percent. Going in. Now time to
13:38
Speaker 1: bring in my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for postgame analysis,
13:41
Speaker 1: and we start with the critical mistakes that cost the
13:45
Speaker 1: Bengals an upset win. You know, you can't put yourself
13:48
Speaker 1: from your schedule, and you only have six penalties for
13:50
Speaker 1: thirty four yards or whatever it is, but four of
13:52
Speaker 1: those six penalties were crucial. I mean, you know, one
13:56
Speaker 1: at the one inch line that makes you settle for
13:58
Speaker 1: a field goal. There's four points off the board potentially
14:01
Speaker 1: because they were going for it on fourth down and
14:03
Speaker 1: literally less than a foot. And then at the conclusion
14:06
Speaker 1: of the half, they have a sack and there's a
14:08
Speaker 1: penalty because Jordan Willis jumps, uh, and you know now
14:11
Speaker 1: it's it's line up for a fifty nine yard field goal.
14:15
Speaker 1: Makes it so there are seven points right there worst
14:18
Speaker 1: case scenario, and a five point lost, and it's it's
14:21
Speaker 1: just it's just unfortunate. I mean, you do a lot
14:22
Speaker 1: of a lot of things right, but when the chips
14:25
Speaker 1: are on the line, you know, there's not that margin
14:27
Speaker 1: for error, and I think guys maybe start, you know, realizing,
14:30
Speaker 1: oh man, I you know, I can't make a mistake,
14:32
Speaker 1: and then that's when you might make mistakes. You just
14:34
Speaker 1: have to play kind of free and easy. And it's
14:37
Speaker 1: unfortunate because very there's only two teams in the NFL
14:40
Speaker 1: at this stage of the season that have run the
14:42
Speaker 1: football more than theyve thrown it, and both of them
14:44
Speaker 1: have winning records. And the Bengals did that today. They
14:48
Speaker 1: ran the ball more than they threw it. And I thought,
14:50
Speaker 1: you know, I still didn't really think that they had
14:53
Speaker 1: a big attack throwing the ball down the field. A
14:55
Speaker 1: lot of it was horizontal throwing, but I thought the
14:58
Speaker 1: game plan was sound. And I will never understand how
15:02
Speaker 1: they apply a rule a quarterback giving himself up at
15:05
Speaker 1: the one inch line. I mean, I understand the rule.
15:08
Speaker 1: I understand the application rule, but there when you're you're
15:10
Speaker 1: going to score and you're you're stretching the ball out,
15:13
Speaker 1: I don't understand how you can apply it there. I
15:15
Speaker 1: don't know, but unfortunately was called and and that's you know,
15:20
Speaker 1: that's just another another thing you have to deal with
15:22
Speaker 1: when it when it rains, it pours. Hindsight's always twenty twenty.
15:25
Speaker 1: But when it comes to a couple of decisions during
15:28
Speaker 1: the course of the game, the decision to go for
15:29
Speaker 1: two at twenty seconds left in the second quarter and
15:32
Speaker 1: actually your question chasing points that early in the game.
15:36
Speaker 1: The decision to run the ball on fourth and short
15:39
Speaker 1: early third quarter when you got a quarterback, try to
15:42
Speaker 1: quarterback sneak and possibly picked it up that way. Obviously,
15:45
Speaker 1: when it doesn't work, it's easy to second guess. But
15:48
Speaker 1: those are some decisions that I'm sure a lot of
15:50
Speaker 1: people were first guessing as well. Yeah, I'm sure. And
15:53
Speaker 1: if you decide to go for two and you don't
15:56
Speaker 1: make it, then you have to, you know, at the
15:58
Speaker 1: end of the game to go for two. And the
16:01
Speaker 1: other thing is if you're going to chase points and
16:03
Speaker 1: go for two. Why don't you chase points and kick
16:05
Speaker 1: a fifty two yard field goal? At least try to.
16:07
Speaker 1: It's not congruous, you know, it's in incongruous there. It's
16:10
Speaker 1: like they don't they don't. The pattern doesn't doesn't follow.
16:13
Speaker 1: So you know, a fifty two yard field goal in
16:16
Speaker 1: these weather conditions. He hit that fifty nine yard room
16:19
Speaker 1: to spare, and I think a fifty two yard or
16:21
Speaker 1: is makable. I didn't really detect a whole lot of
16:23
Speaker 1: wind or any kind of problems, but maybe they did.
16:26
Speaker 1: Maybe they didn't like what they saw in pregame warm
16:28
Speaker 1: ups or whatever. There has to be a reason for it.
16:31
Speaker 1: But you know that, I'm sure people are thinking, what
16:33
Speaker 1: if you're going for two, why aren't you trying that
16:35
Speaker 1: fifty two yard field goal? I guess in hindsight, that's
16:37
Speaker 1: that's my thought on that too. Biggest positive on the
16:40
Speaker 1: defensive end for me is this. The Chargers scored touchdowns
16:43
Speaker 1: on their first two possessions, did not score another touchdown
16:48
Speaker 1: then their last eight possessions of the game. Now, they
16:50
Speaker 1: did kick four field goals, including a couple of short
16:53
Speaker 1: fields where they got the balling Bengals territory. But it's
16:56
Speaker 1: hard to imagine, or it's been hard to imagine this
16:59
Speaker 1: defensa as badly as it struggled, holding a potent offense
17:03
Speaker 1: like that to eight possessions without a touchdown, and to
17:07
Speaker 1: play the way they did after the start, you know,
17:09
Speaker 1: and to h to put your finger in the hole
17:12
Speaker 1: in the dike, you know, that's hard to do on
17:13
Speaker 1: the road against a really good quarterback. That's that's a
17:16
Speaker 1: really good football team. I mean they're ten and three now,
17:18
Speaker 1: they might be playing the AIRC Championship game here at
17:21
Speaker 1: stub Hub. Boy, the league would love that, wouldn't they.
17:23
Speaker 1: But I mean, that's a really really good football team.
17:26
Speaker 1: And defensively, I thought the Corners played hard. I thought
17:29
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon played hard, Tyler Boyd played hard. The Corners
17:32
Speaker 1: player so many guys played hard, played really really hard.
17:35
Speaker 1: Defensive guys were you know, getting after it in the
17:37
Speaker 1: front front line, you know, after the first couple of drives,
17:40
Speaker 1: so the encouraging signers, they didn't spit the bit, you know,
17:43
Speaker 1: it didn't become an ugly situation. They made it a
17:46
Speaker 1: really really good football game. And I thought the physicality
17:48
Speaker 1: of the three young guys inside was a plus. I thought.
17:51
Speaker 1: I thought Westerman and Billy Price and Redman. Redman had that.
17:55
Speaker 1: You know that tough penalty obviously, but those guys were
17:58
Speaker 1: getting course. Now Joe Mixon was. He wasn't making his
18:01
Speaker 1: first cutting his own back for he was making his
18:02
Speaker 1: first cut three four yards down the football field. That's
18:05
Speaker 1: what you want to see with him back like that.
18:06
Speaker 1: Thanks Lap. Up next the home finale against the three
18:10
Speaker 1: and ten Oakland Raiders, who stunned Pittsburgh on Sunday twenty
18:14
Speaker 1: four to twenty one. The Steelers are seven to five
18:17
Speaker 1: and one with a home game against the Patriots this
18:20
Speaker 1: week followed by a road game against the Saints. So
18:25
Speaker 1: much for resting starters against the Bengals in week seventeen.
18:28
Speaker 1: The Steelers might have to beat Cincinnati just to qualify
18:32
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. The Bengals knocked the Ravens out of
18:36
Speaker 1: the playoffs in the final game of the year on
18:38
Speaker 1: the road last year. With so many players on injured reserve,
18:42
Speaker 1: they couldn't do it in Pittsburgh, could they? Could they?
18:47
Speaker 1: It would be fun to find out. Now Time for
18:50
Speaker 1: this week's fun fact segment, where you get to know
18:53
Speaker 1: the person under the pads, in this case a second
18:57
Speaker 1: year safety and special team stand out from the University
19:01
Speaker 1: of Houston. Time for some fun facts with Bengal safety
19:03
Speaker 1: Brandon Wilson from Shreveport, Louisiana and the northwest tip of Louisiana,
19:08
Speaker 1: not far from the Texas and Mississippi borders. Tell us
19:11
Speaker 1: a little bit about growing up in Shreveport and what
19:14
Speaker 1: you like to do as a kid growing up. I mean,
19:17
Speaker 1: I like to do what every kid does, go outside,
19:19
Speaker 1: I play play video games, but most of the time
19:23
Speaker 1: I really played football, I mean like everybody else, So
19:27
Speaker 1: I mean just playing football that was that was really
19:31
Speaker 1: my main thing. And running track. I feel like that's
19:34
Speaker 1: what kind of got me. You know where I am today.
19:38
Speaker 1: You're from a big family. Yes, I have three brothers
19:41
Speaker 1: and three sisters, and I'm the middle child, so you
19:44
Speaker 1: know how that goes. I'm the fourth out of five,
19:48
Speaker 1: so I do know how that goes. How excited are
19:50
Speaker 1: they to have a brother in the NFL? Oh, my goodness,
19:54
Speaker 1: they are very excited. I Mean they always calling me
19:57
Speaker 1: every day, calling me after games, asking me how, you know,
20:01
Speaker 1: just checking on me, and they they're they're all excited.
20:03
Speaker 1: And proud for me, you know, just having a brother
20:05
Speaker 1: that's playing in the NFL. What your parents do for
20:09
Speaker 1: a living all My dad he works at a factory,
20:13
Speaker 1: and my mom she works as a custodian at apartment complex.
20:17
Speaker 1: So I mean I kind of always looked up to
20:19
Speaker 1: them because they were always hard workers. Also one of
20:22
Speaker 1: my brothers, I always kind of look up to him
20:25
Speaker 1: as well, you know, because just growing up and just
20:27
Speaker 1: saying them work hard, you know, it always just pushed
20:30
Speaker 1: me to work hard as well. We're doing fun facts
20:32
Speaker 1: with Brandon Wilson. Your high school was Calvary Baptist Academy,
20:36
Speaker 1: which was in the news last year because before Doug
20:39
Speaker 1: Peterson was the head coach of the Super Bowl winning
20:42
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles, he was the head coach at your high
20:45
Speaker 1: school for four years. Now that was before you got there,
20:48
Speaker 1: But do you remember it at all? I remember it.
20:52
Speaker 1: I remember because my brother that's older than me, Zi Kendrick,
20:57
Speaker 1: he actually played under coach p And you know, it
21:01
Speaker 1: was always cool just watching them. And I think, if
21:04
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, I think Brett Farve came went to
21:06
Speaker 1: the school one time, but I wasn't there. That's what
21:08
Speaker 1: somebody told me that those were the rumors. So I
21:11
Speaker 1: mean it was always cool. You know Sam as a coach,
21:14
Speaker 1: you know, transitioning to where he is now. That must
21:17
Speaker 1: have been pretty neat for your brother when the Eagles
21:19
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl last year, and he could say,
21:21
Speaker 1: by high school coaches, the coach, I mean, everybody that
21:24
Speaker 1: played under coach Peterson at Calvary, they on social media
21:28
Speaker 1: just going crazy, my high school coach, you know, won
21:31
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. You know, it was it was real
21:34
Speaker 1: cool just saying that we're talking to Brandon Wilson. You're
21:36
Speaker 1: a great high school running back. But not that heavily recruited. Correct,
21:41
Speaker 1: not heavily recruited at all, if I'm not mistaken. I
21:45
Speaker 1: had an offer from Washington, but they pulled the offer
21:49
Speaker 1: after they lost their bowl game to Baylor. I had
21:53
Speaker 1: an offer from Grambling as well, and I think Eastern
21:56
Speaker 1: Michigan or something, but I mean it wasn't know where
22:00
Speaker 1: I really wanted to go. So um, later on, like
22:05
Speaker 1: my process with it, I end up deciding to go
22:07
Speaker 1: to Tyler Junior College. So I end up signing Tyler
22:11
Speaker 1: Junior College, and then like a month later or so,
22:15
Speaker 1: Houston came and they offered me a scholarship, so I
22:18
Speaker 1: end up, you know, signing there, and the coach at
22:20
Speaker 1: TJC he was like, I mean, if you don't like
22:22
Speaker 1: it at Houston, you can always just come back to
22:24
Speaker 1: t JC. And I was like, all right, so it's
22:26
Speaker 1: a win win either way it goes. So it was
22:28
Speaker 1: a blessing just you know, having that on the table.
22:32
Speaker 1: It worked out well for you, and it certainly worked
22:34
Speaker 1: out well for the Houston Cougars. You did everything there,
22:38
Speaker 1: defensive back, running back, return specialist. You scored two touchdowns
22:43
Speaker 1: on offense, two touchdowns on defense, four touchdowns on special teams.
22:47
Speaker 1: Did you love doing everything? It was fun, honestly. I
22:51
Speaker 1: mean I always just told them whatever they need me
22:54
Speaker 1: to do, I'll do it. So I mean they just,
22:56
Speaker 1: you know, end up throwing in there running back. It's
23:00
Speaker 1: because we had some injuries that running back, like my
23:03
Speaker 1: junior year, so I ended up coming in that week,
23:06
Speaker 1: you know, and they just showed me the playbook. I
23:09
Speaker 1: learned it and I ended up playing running back. I
23:12
Speaker 1: had like one hundred and twenty seven yards or something.
23:14
Speaker 1: I can't even remember. But I mean it was fun
23:16
Speaker 1: because we end up winning our division and end up
23:20
Speaker 1: going to the Chick fil A Bowl. So that year
23:22
Speaker 1: was real, real fun. You had a great college career
23:25
Speaker 1: and you also earned your college degree. What did that
23:28
Speaker 1: mean to your family? Being the first in my household
23:31
Speaker 1: to graduate. I just felt like I just felt like
23:36
Speaker 1: just getting that degree, it kind of helped push my
23:39
Speaker 1: younger siblings because I got three siblings, that's you know.
23:41
Speaker 1: I mean I feel like it kind of pushed them
23:43
Speaker 1: to you know, just see me, just knowing that they can,
23:46
Speaker 1: you know, reach that reach that goal as well. So
23:49
Speaker 1: it was real big for them. My parents were really
23:51
Speaker 1: proud of me. You didn't get invited to the combine,
23:55
Speaker 1: but then you killed it at your pro day a
23:58
Speaker 1: four to three six forty yard dad forty one inch
24:01
Speaker 1: vertical leap. Could you see the NFL scouts scribbling furiously
24:05
Speaker 1: making sure they had a lot of information about Brandon Wilson.
24:08
Speaker 1: I mean I really wouldn't paying attention, but everybody was like, yeah, man,
24:11
Speaker 1: the scouts they saw you run. Everybody was just, you know, wild,
24:15
Speaker 1: They didn't. I was just like, oh okay, but I
24:18
Speaker 1: mean already I already knew what I could do, and
24:21
Speaker 1: I just went out there and did it. So where
24:23
Speaker 1: you ticked off he didn't get invited to the combine. No,
24:25
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I wasn't worried at all. So all ended
24:28
Speaker 1: up working out it did you wound up getting drafted
24:31
Speaker 1: by the Bengals. Describe your draft experience. Um draft experience.
24:36
Speaker 1: I was at home in Freeport, had all my friends
24:39
Speaker 1: and family there, you know, and I'm not gonna lie.
24:42
Speaker 1: I was sitting there nervous. It's a real nervous process.
24:45
Speaker 1: So I was just sitting that real nervous, you know,
24:47
Speaker 1: people trying to come from him, but saying it's gonna
24:49
Speaker 1: be okay, It's gonna be okay. And I ended up
24:51
Speaker 1: getting a call from the Bengals. And it was pretty
24:54
Speaker 1: funny because my dad had on orange and black. He
24:57
Speaker 1: had he had on orange and black that day, or
24:59
Speaker 1: orange shirt, some black jeans, and some orange shoes. I
25:03
Speaker 1: was like, how did he know that I was getting
25:06
Speaker 1: drifted to the Bengal. So everybody was like, you must
25:08
Speaker 1: already knew that he was getting drifted to the Bengal.
25:10
Speaker 1: So it was really it was really cool, and it
25:12
Speaker 1: was really fun that day, and everybody was just happy
25:15
Speaker 1: and excited for me. Your dad just has good fashion sense,
25:18
Speaker 1: range and black or good colors. Yes it is, Yes
25:21
Speaker 1: it is. You know the black around here, all right.
25:24
Speaker 1: A few more fun facts for Brandon Wilson, a few
25:26
Speaker 1: more wildcard categories. Who is your all time favorite athlete
25:30
Speaker 1: in any sport? And why Adrian Peterson always growed up
25:35
Speaker 1: watching him? You know, And I used to play running back,
25:38
Speaker 1: so I mean that was why I always kind of
25:40
Speaker 1: lived the time. Um he's a real real good um
25:43
Speaker 1: running back, hard worker, and um that's just somebody always,
25:48
Speaker 1: you know, otherwise looked up to. What do you like
25:51
Speaker 1: to spend your money on food? I like to eat.
25:55
Speaker 1: I like to cook during the off season, you know,
25:58
Speaker 1: I kind of try to cook, but you know, I
26:01
Speaker 1: like to eat a lot. Do you have a go
26:03
Speaker 1: to dish that you cook if you're trying to impress somebody,
26:06
Speaker 1: I'd like to cook some steak, you know, maybe some
26:09
Speaker 1: seafood or something like that. That's my goal to dish.
26:13
Speaker 1: Last thing. Do you have a talent that most people
26:16
Speaker 1: don't know about? No? I do not, but I do
26:19
Speaker 1: wish I could like seeing or play like instrumentals some
26:23
Speaker 1: because I always think that's kind of cool if you
26:24
Speaker 1: can play an answerment. So I'm with you. If I
26:26
Speaker 1: could do it all over again, I would either play
26:28
Speaker 1: the guitar the piano. Yes, sir, me too, I wish
26:31
Speaker 1: I can we have that In comment, you're off the
26:35
Speaker 1: hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of luck the
26:37
Speaker 1: rest of the year, sir. Thank you, and that's going
26:40
Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of the podcast. If
26:42
Speaker 1: you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher,
26:47
Speaker 1: or pod Bean and give it a rating or leave
26:49
Speaker 1: a comment. Your feedback has been awesome and five star
26:53
Speaker 1: ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde,
26:57
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to the Bengals Podcast.