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Bengals Booth Podcast: Reminiscing · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The will Go Dancing in the Duck,
0:12
Speaker 1: Walking through the Park, and reminiscence. Addition, as Dave Lapham
0:20
Speaker 1: joins me for a special look back at our ten
0:23
Speaker 1: years together in the Bengals Broadcast Booth. The Bengals Booth
0:27
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game
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Speaker 1: and here's a quick reminder that you can have the
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Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
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Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, your Google Play, Spotify,
0:43
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Prisma. About
0:49
Speaker 1: a week ago, I posted a humorous picture on Twitter
0:53
Speaker 1: and Paul Dayner Junior, who does a phenomenal job of
0:56
Speaker 1: covering the Bengals for The Athletic, jokingly responded that he
0:59
Speaker 1: would like that picture as an oil painting. That got
1:04
Speaker 1: me thinking, surely there's an app out there that can
1:07
Speaker 1: turn your photos into paintings, or at least images of paintings.
1:12
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1:33
Speaker 1: several pictures that were on my phone and they turned
1:36
Speaker 1: out great. In fact, my Twitter avatar now looks like
1:41
Speaker 1: a painting of me on the Fox Sports Ohio anchor desk.
1:45
Speaker 1: So I highly recommend a three day free trial of
1:48
Speaker 1: the Prisma app. You'll wonder how Picasso and Van Goh
1:53
Speaker 1: got a hold of your pictures. Now time for football.
1:57
Speaker 1: This week, we're going to take a break from the
1:59
Speaker 1: draft agency for something a little different. As Dave Lapplom
2:03
Speaker 1: and I look back at our decade together in the
2:05
Speaker 1: broadcast booth. Since we just completed our tenth year together,
2:09
Speaker 1: I reached out to Lap and proposed the following idea,
2:13
Speaker 1: ten years, ten Plays, where we would each pick out
2:17
Speaker 1: a most significant and or favorite play from each season,
2:21
Speaker 1: share the radio call, and then reminisce about each year.
2:26
Speaker 1: We did not discuss our selections in advance, so in
2:29
Speaker 1: some years they're sure to be the same and another
2:32
Speaker 1: year's very different. It's time to find out. As Lap
2:35
Speaker 1: joins me for ten years, ten plays lap. Our first
2:41
Speaker 1: year together was two eleven. The Bengals were coming off
2:44
Speaker 1: of four and twelve season. Everybody will remember the Carson
2:48
Speaker 1: Palmer said, I'm done. I'm retiring before I play for
2:51
Speaker 1: the Bengals again. So what did the Bengals do? They
2:53
Speaker 1: drafted aj Green and round one. They drafted Andy Dalt
2:57
Speaker 1: in round two. After a one who start, they won
3:01
Speaker 1: five straight games to get to the halfway point of
3:03
Speaker 1: the season at six and two. They eventually went nine
3:06
Speaker 1: and seven during the regular season, earned a playoff berth
3:09
Speaker 1: as a wildcard team before losing at Houston thirty one
3:13
Speaker 1: to ten. So we're going to pick out a highlight
3:16
Speaker 1: or possibly two if we disagree on the twenty eleven season.
3:21
Speaker 1: I'm going to pick Christmas Eve, a home game against
3:25
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals, a game the Bengals eventually won twenty
3:29
Speaker 1: three to sixteen. Who could forget Jerome Simpson with the
3:33
Speaker 1: forward somersault and sticking the landing on a spectacular touchdown
3:39
Speaker 1: catch from Andy Dalton. Second down, Dalton back to pass,
3:42
Speaker 1: good pocket for Andy he Thried. Simpson makes the catchies
3:45
Speaker 1: to the town. The five goes flying into the end.
3:50
Speaker 1: Zoe Superman style. Oh, Mark Jerome Simpson sixteen nothing Bengals. Well,
3:57
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what the Russian judge gives at a
4:00
Speaker 1: ten point. Oh, he stuck the landing. It was unbelievable.
4:04
Speaker 1: I'm thinking it was Reggie Walker that he basically did
4:07
Speaker 1: like a front flip over. I mean he goes airborne
4:11
Speaker 1: and just flips himself over. Reggie Walker. I seen him
4:14
Speaker 1: do these kind of things in warm ups. This guy
4:17
Speaker 1: is like athletically a gymnast. I mean the way he
4:21
Speaker 1: goes up in order and over and sticks that landing.
4:23
Speaker 1: Mah goodness, Nadia Coleman each would be proud of that
4:28
Speaker 1: flip that he did. It was such an athletic play,
4:31
Speaker 1: and it was on highlight after a highlight all season
4:36
Speaker 1: long that particularly year. It's it's it's very rare to
4:40
Speaker 1: involve gymnastics, I think in the National Football League, although
4:44
Speaker 1: they are you know, they're so fluid, so gifted, so athletic,
4:48
Speaker 1: and Simpson no exception of that rule. So that was
4:52
Speaker 1: the biggest highlight in both of our opinions in the
4:55
Speaker 1: twenty eleven season. A couple of other things stood out
4:58
Speaker 1: to me. Bruce Gradkowski and Week one coming out the bench,
5:01
Speaker 1: for an injured Andy Dalton forty one yard touchdown passed
5:04
Speaker 1: to aj Green with less than five minutes to go,
5:07
Speaker 1: giving the Bengals a win that got them off to
5:09
Speaker 1: a great start in the post Carson Palmer era. That
5:13
Speaker 1: was AJ Green's only catch in his NFL debut, but
5:16
Speaker 1: it was a game winner. In Week four of that season,
5:19
Speaker 1: they were in danger of falling to one in three.
5:22
Speaker 1: They fell behind Buffalo seventeen three at the half. Andy
5:25
Speaker 1: Dalton rallied them back. Mike Nugent hit a field goal
5:28
Speaker 1: at the gun to win that game twenty three to
5:31
Speaker 1: twenty and started a five game winning streak in Andy's
5:35
Speaker 1: rookie year. That basically was the key to making that
5:38
Speaker 1: rookie year playoff appearance, and that as a rookie quarterback
5:41
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. And there was a work stoppage,
5:45
Speaker 1: so it was not an easy off season, you know.
5:47
Speaker 1: Andrew wittworked doma top Pecco, took the charge and organized
5:52
Speaker 1: the team. They had practices, workouts and that sort of thing,
5:55
Speaker 1: but without any coaching staff for Andy Dalton and aj
5:58
Speaker 1: Green to be able to lead their offensive side of
6:01
Speaker 1: the football team of the playoffs as rookies, is quite
6:05
Speaker 1: an accomplishment. And as you mentioned, Andy Dalton leading a
6:08
Speaker 1: fourth fourth quarter drive in a field goal at the gun.
6:11
Speaker 1: That was one of many game when he drives at
6:15
Speaker 1: the engineered I mean Andy Dalton was strong in that
6:17
Speaker 1: area as well. He had a great career with the Bengals,
6:19
Speaker 1: no doubt, Dan, all Right, we moved to our second
6:21
Speaker 1: season together, two and twelve. The Bengals started that year
6:25
Speaker 1: three and one, and they lost four in a row.
6:28
Speaker 1: They were three and five at the midway point of
6:30
Speaker 1: the season. At that point it didn't seem likely that
6:33
Speaker 1: they would go to the playoffs for the second consecutive year,
6:35
Speaker 1: but they went seven and one in the second half
6:38
Speaker 1: of the season to finish ten and six. That meant
6:41
Speaker 1: another wild card playoff appearance. They went back on the
6:44
Speaker 1: road to Houston for the second year in a row.
6:47
Speaker 1: Much closer the second time around, but they lost a
6:50
Speaker 1: tight one against the Texans to drop their second straight
6:53
Speaker 1: playoff appearance with Andy Dalton at quarterback. Looking back at
6:59
Speaker 1: highlights from that season, what's your number one pick? Well,
7:04
Speaker 1: it would be the Washington football team as they're known now.
7:07
Speaker 1: The Bengals on the road against Washington and wide receiver.
7:12
Speaker 1: Mohammed Sanu had played quarterback, even at the collegiate level.
7:15
Speaker 1: At Rutgers, he had played quarterback, and he had a
7:18
Speaker 1: howitzer man. He had a very powerful, strong throwing arm.
7:22
Speaker 1: Could throw it a mile. Maybe not pinpoint accuracy all
7:26
Speaker 1: the time, but he could lay it out there. And
7:28
Speaker 1: the very first offense, the snap of the game, they
7:31
Speaker 1: ran a little gadget gimmick play. Jay Gruden, known for
7:34
Speaker 1: his creativity. He came out of the box with one
7:37
Speaker 1: here and Mohammed Sanu AJ Green seventy three yards later,
7:42
Speaker 1: touchdown Bengals. Here's how it sounded. Week three in Washington.
7:47
Speaker 1: Mohammed Sanu ready to take a shotgun snap on the
7:51
Speaker 1: first play from scrimmage for Cincinnati. This is an interesting look.
7:54
Speaker 1: He fakes a handoff, he fired field for J. Green.
7:58
Speaker 1: He's a sprinting to the ten. He'll take it into
8:02
Speaker 1: the end zone for a touchdown. A seventy three yard
8:06
Speaker 1: pass from Mohammed Sanou to Adriol Chair on my H. Green.
8:12
Speaker 1: So I was a little surprised you selected that lap.
8:14
Speaker 1: I thought you might pick a play from week twelve.
8:17
Speaker 1: It was the return of Carson Palmer to Paul Brown. Stadium.
8:20
Speaker 1: The first time he dropped back to pass, he didn't
8:23
Speaker 1: even hit his back foot before Geno Atkins plastered him
8:27
Speaker 1: into the turf at ball Brown Stadium. Yeah, I think
8:30
Speaker 1: I think that was welcome back, you know, welcome home,
8:35
Speaker 1: and they really were motivated to to put it to
8:38
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer, and they did, I mean right away. As
8:41
Speaker 1: you say, Geno Atkins, in this prime of his career,
8:45
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer barely had time to look down the football
8:47
Speaker 1: field and try to look up any intended receiver. He
8:50
Speaker 1: was on his backside quickly. Bengals won that game thirty
8:55
Speaker 1: four to ten. Carson had a passer rating of sixty
8:57
Speaker 1: four point one, Andy Dalton three touchdown passes and a
9:01
Speaker 1: passer rating of one oh nine. So I thought that
9:04
Speaker 1: that was a day where Bengals fans officially said, you
9:06
Speaker 1: know what, Carson Palmer had his moments, but we've got
9:09
Speaker 1: our guy. Andy Dalton is going to be our guy
9:12
Speaker 1: going forward. And obviously Andy was the man for nine seasons.
9:17
Speaker 1: My pick, however, from that twenty twelve season, comes from
9:21
Speaker 1: the next to last game of the regular year. It
9:23
Speaker 1: was two days before Christmas in Pittsburgh. If the Bengals
9:26
Speaker 1: won the game, they would clinch a playoff berth and
9:30
Speaker 1: they would knock the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the playoffs
9:33
Speaker 1: on their home field. At that point, Dalton and Green
9:36
Speaker 1: did not have a win over Pittsburgh. But you'll recall
9:39
Speaker 1: late in that game, Reggie Nelson came up with an
9:42
Speaker 1: interception with twenty four seconds to go. On the next play,
9:45
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton hit aj Green for a twenty one yard
9:48
Speaker 1: game and that set up Josh Brown taking over at
9:53
Speaker 1: kicker for an injured Mike Nugent with a chance to
9:56
Speaker 1: boot the Bengals into the postseason. The target is forty
9:59
Speaker 1: three yards away, eighteen feet six inches wide, ten feet
10:04
Speaker 1: off the ground, shaped like a U, and it spells
10:08
Speaker 1: at W if Josh Brown can split it. Huber is
10:12
Speaker 1: the holder. Harris is the snapper from the right, Hashbark
10:15
Speaker 1: snap is good. The kick is up plenty on it, yes,
10:22
Speaker 1: four seconds to go, and the Bengals have a thirteen
10:25
Speaker 1: to ten league. Oh man, how about that clutch kick
10:28
Speaker 1: right there? That was a thrilling win at Hinz Field.
10:32
Speaker 1: Bengals obviously didn't have a lot of victories over Pittsburgh
10:35
Speaker 1: during the Adalton Green era. That was the biggest againting
10:39
Speaker 1: it to propel them into their second consecutive playoff appearance. Unfortunately,
10:43
Speaker 1: they wound up losing for the second straight year in Houston.
10:47
Speaker 1: So we move on to twenty thirteen, a year that
10:50
Speaker 1: began with the return to hard knocks for the Bengals.
10:54
Speaker 1: We learned that Giovanni Bernard drove a minivan after being
10:58
Speaker 1: a second round draft pick. We learned that James Harrison,
11:01
Speaker 1: who joined the Bengals that year, basically intimidated everybody on
11:04
Speaker 1: the roster. The Bengals got off to an excellent start
11:08
Speaker 1: that year. They were seven and two with a four
11:10
Speaker 1: game winning streak. They finished eleven and five to win
11:13
Speaker 1: the AFC North. They were eight and oh at home
11:16
Speaker 1: that year during the regular season, earning them the opportunity
11:19
Speaker 1: to host the Chargers in the playoffs, and they lost
11:22
Speaker 1: to Philip Rivers and then San Diego twenty seven to ten.
11:26
Speaker 1: I thought, of Marvin Lewis's seven playoff losses, that was
11:30
Speaker 1: the most difficult one to stomach. I thought that was
11:32
Speaker 1: a game the Bengals clearly should have won. Yeah, I
11:35
Speaker 1: thought they were the better football team as well, Dan
11:37
Speaker 1: and just did not execute the way they should have
11:41
Speaker 1: in that football game. I don't know if playoff performances
11:45
Speaker 1: or a bad playoff performances were in their heads or
11:48
Speaker 1: whatever at that point in time. You know, there's it's
11:51
Speaker 1: easier to say no, but haven't haven't been uh, you
11:56
Speaker 1: know an NFL player, sometimes things goog get in your head,
11:59
Speaker 1: you know, likely as a football team. So the only
12:02
Speaker 1: way to erase that kind of thing is to get
12:04
Speaker 1: off to a good start and win a football game.
12:07
Speaker 1: And they weren't able to get that done with Marvin
12:08
Speaker 1: Lewis unfortunately. So we'll pick out a couple of memorable
12:12
Speaker 1: plays from that season. My selection comes from Week nine.
12:16
Speaker 1: It was Thursday night football, Halloween Night in Miami. He
12:20
Speaker 1: was actually a game the Bengals lost, but I'm picking
12:22
Speaker 1: this play anyway because it was so spectacular. Giovanni Bernard,
12:27
Speaker 1: on a run from the thirty five yard line, gets
12:31
Speaker 1: slowed down at the forty five yards behind the line
12:33
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, escapes, runs five more yards backward to the
12:37
Speaker 1: forty five, and then eventually turns it up field, goes
12:41
Speaker 1: to the sideline, cuts to the middle of the field,
12:43
Speaker 1: does a somersault on his way into the end zone.
12:46
Speaker 1: Let's listen back to the most spectacular play Giovanni Bernard's
12:51
Speaker 1: tenure in Cincinnati. Bernard running to the right in trouble,
12:54
Speaker 1: gets away from a tackle. He's going the wrong way.
12:57
Speaker 1: He's way back at the forty six. Now it turns
12:59
Speaker 1: up field, the thirty, the twenty five, the twenty down
13:02
Speaker 1: to the fifth. Coming back to the touchdown, Giovanni Bernard,
13:10
Speaker 1: there are no flags. He went backward ten yards, turn
13:15
Speaker 1: the quarter, broke tackles, weaved his way through traffic, and
13:20
Speaker 1: in the end as a thirty five yard touchdown that
13:23
Speaker 1: could tie this game. I think he won one hundred
13:26
Speaker 1: yards to run thirty five. All right, lap, I selected
13:29
Speaker 1: a play from a loss. How about you? Which play
13:32
Speaker 1: stands out for you in that twenty thirteen season, Well
13:36
Speaker 1: that one play. One more comment on the play you
13:38
Speaker 1: picked out, Dan, I mean, it's one of those deals
13:40
Speaker 1: where the running back runs twice as many yards and
13:42
Speaker 1: only gets credit for half of them, you know. I
13:44
Speaker 1: mean Giovanni Bernard was he was serpentine and everywhere on
13:47
Speaker 1: that on that touchdown run, that was incredible. I picked
13:51
Speaker 1: a defensive score play. You're playing against an NFL playoff
13:57
Speaker 1: caliber team, the Green Bay Packers with the legendary Aaron
14:00
Speaker 1: Rodgers at the quarterback position. When you can get an unscripted,
14:04
Speaker 1: unconventional score in a football game like that, it makes
14:07
Speaker 1: a big difference, and they were able to do that.
14:10
Speaker 1: Terrence Newman picked up a fumble in in race to
14:13
Speaker 1: the end zone and it stunned Aaron Rodgers and the
14:16
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers a little bit in that football game.
14:19
Speaker 1: And I thought it was a, you know, a big
14:21
Speaker 1: turning point in their victory in that game. Bengals fans
14:25
Speaker 1: will remember that play. Guess ball is out? Ball is out.
14:29
Speaker 1: The Bengals had a fourteen nothing lead. The Packers scored
14:33
Speaker 1: thirty straight to take a thirty to fourteen lead in
14:37
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and then the Bengals rallied. Green Bay
14:40
Speaker 1: still had the lead. With four minutes to go, they
14:43
Speaker 1: were up by three. They decided to go for it
14:45
Speaker 1: on fourth and one at the Cincinnati thirty. And here's
14:49
Speaker 1: what happened. Rodgers has it, gives to Franklin. He dies,
14:52
Speaker 1: I don't think you got it. I don't think you
14:54
Speaker 1: got it. Out skipped it off running back to the
15:00
Speaker 1: thirty twenty ten ye touchdown. Will it stand? Terence Newman
15:08
Speaker 1: takes it back nearly seventy yards. Franklin dove trying to
15:14
Speaker 1: pick up the yard on fourth and one, the ball
15:17
Speaker 1: spurted out. Newman comes up with it, takes it back,
15:21
Speaker 1: and for the time being the scoreboard shows thirty three
15:25
Speaker 1: thirty Cincinnati. Let's move on to the twenty fourteen season again.
15:29
Speaker 1: The Bengals got off to a great start lap They
15:31
Speaker 1: were three and oz with Hugh Jackson calling up some
15:36
Speaker 1: creative plays as the offensive coordinator. After Jay Gruden moved
15:39
Speaker 1: on to Washington. They wound up that year ten five
15:43
Speaker 1: and one, went back to the playoffs as a wildcard team.
15:46
Speaker 1: But you'll recall that though the wide receivers and tight
15:49
Speaker 1: ends were battered at the end of the regular season,
15:52
Speaker 1: they had to go to Indianapolis with basically no receiving
15:56
Speaker 1: weapons left. Rex had lined up as a slot receiver.
16:00
Speaker 1: I think Kobe Hamilton's started that playoff game at wide receiver,
16:03
Speaker 1: even though he did not have a catch during the
16:06
Speaker 1: regular season. Won that playoff game twenty six to ten,
16:10
Speaker 1: the bengals fourth consecutive playoff loss in the Dalton Green
16:15
Speaker 1: Horde Lapham era. Yeah, that season certainly was a was
16:23
Speaker 1: a roller coaster. To say the least. And you know,
16:26
Speaker 1: injuries are one thing, but injuries to keep personnel at
16:29
Speaker 1: the most inopportune times, that's that's, you know, quite another.
16:33
Speaker 1: And that that's where the Bengals ended up. You talk
16:35
Speaker 1: about limping and dimping to the finish line, man, they
16:39
Speaker 1: were just they were just flat out out of gas.
16:42
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. I suspect we're going to
16:45
Speaker 1: select the same play from that season. There are a
16:47
Speaker 1: lot of great moments. In Week one, Andy Dalton through
16:50
Speaker 1: his seventy seven yard touchdown pass to aj Green in
16:53
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter after they had fallen behind against Baltimore.
16:57
Speaker 1: That was the season where Andy had his two point
17:00
Speaker 1: quarterback rating against Cleveland on Thursday Night Football and then
17:03
Speaker 1: rallied with three straight road wins after that, where he
17:06
Speaker 1: played great at New Orleans, at Houston, at Tampa Bay
17:10
Speaker 1: that featured Johnny Manziel's first career NFL start. The Bengals
17:14
Speaker 1: taunted him with his money rubbing gesture. They had three sacks,
17:18
Speaker 1: two picks, Johnny Manziel only threw for eighty yards in
17:22
Speaker 1: the game. The Bengals won thirty nothing. But I think
17:25
Speaker 1: we will agree that the play that stands out from
17:28
Speaker 1: the twenty fourteen season came in the next to last game.
17:32
Speaker 1: It was Monday Night football at home against the Denver Broncos.
17:35
Speaker 1: At that point, the narrative had been established that the
17:38
Speaker 1: Bengals could not win in primetime with Andy Dalton at quarterback.
17:43
Speaker 1: That had basically been going on for four years. But
17:46
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton outdueled Peyton Manning in a thirty seven to
17:50
Speaker 1: twenty eight Bengals win, and the big play came on
17:54
Speaker 1: defense with less than three minutes to go and gestures
17:58
Speaker 1: Pie Manning as he waits for the shotguns out. Peyton
18:01
Speaker 1: has the football, fakes it inside handoff, throws to the
18:04
Speaker 1: right right, hit six sick dray kerk Patrick, Henry back
18:07
Speaker 1: the ten, the five touchdown. Dray pat track picks up
18:14
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning and takes it to the house for a
18:17
Speaker 1: potential clinching text out, Yeah, that that was dray Kirkpatrick.
18:24
Speaker 1: Great route recognition, great break on the football, and that's
18:27
Speaker 1: tough to do against Peyton Manning. You know, he doesn't
18:30
Speaker 1: usually give you that kind of a tip stare receiver down,
18:33
Speaker 1: give you that kind of an opportunity to read his
18:36
Speaker 1: eyes and jump, you know, with route recognition, jump throughout
18:40
Speaker 1: like Dray Kirkpatrick did, but he picked that bad boy
18:42
Speaker 1: off and took it to the house. Massive play again, unscripted,
18:46
Speaker 1: unconventional score against a great quarterback, a Hall of Fame quarterback,
18:51
Speaker 1: and those are the kind of things that can decide
18:53
Speaker 1: football games for you. Drey had two interceptions in that game.
18:57
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hill also had an eighty five yard touchdown run
19:01
Speaker 1: in that game. He was so great that year. Again. Unfortunately,
19:06
Speaker 1: the next week on the road at Pittsburgh trying to
19:09
Speaker 1: win the AFC North, the Bengals wound up with a
19:11
Speaker 1: bunch of injuries, so did the Steelers. Heard both of
19:14
Speaker 1: the teams in the playoffs, and as I mentioned earlier,
19:17
Speaker 1: the Bengals lost at Indianapolis twenty six to ten. We
19:21
Speaker 1: move on to twenty fifteen, our most enjoyable season together
19:25
Speaker 1: in broadcast booth. It was an incredible year for the Bengals.
19:28
Speaker 1: They started eight and o, best start in franchise history.
19:33
Speaker 1: They were ten and two. They were the number one
19:35
Speaker 1: seed in the AFC at the time. When Andy Dalton
19:39
Speaker 1: broke his thumb against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and while AJ
19:42
Speaker 1: McCarron did a great job in helping them finish twelve
19:46
Speaker 1: and four and win the division title and earn a
19:48
Speaker 1: home playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. We remember what
19:52
Speaker 1: happened on a rainy night at Paul Brown Stadium, the
19:55
Speaker 1: infamous brawl at the Pall against the Steelers as the
19:59
Speaker 1: Bengals season came to an end eighteen sixteen, and unfortunately
20:04
Speaker 1: they have not returned to the playoffs since. Yeah, that
20:07
Speaker 1: that playoff game is such such bad memories overshadow or overflow,
20:13
Speaker 1: you know the good ones in the hill fumble um pac,
20:18
Speaker 1: Dan Jones and Vantes Burfott, losing their poison composure. I mean,
20:21
Speaker 1: all those kind of things just put an absolute damper,
20:25
Speaker 1: to say the least, on a very very successful season.
20:28
Speaker 1: They started eight no that season, finished twelve and four,
20:31
Speaker 1: win the division. The game. The player that I like
20:35
Speaker 1: is Andy Dalton AJ Green beating Pittsburgh to go seven
20:38
Speaker 1: or ozho to remain undefeated. And anytime you can beat
20:40
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers, that that that gets a vote. It
20:45
Speaker 1: was a well timed, well thrown football. AJ Green got
20:51
Speaker 1: himself open tight quarters, not a very long touchdown pass,
20:53
Speaker 1: but it was well executed on both ends, throw and
20:56
Speaker 1: catch Sean Williams set it up with an interception of
20:59
Speaker 1: Penn row the spurger. Here's how that game winner with
21:02
Speaker 1: less than three minutes to go sounded at Hines Field
21:05
Speaker 1: in Week seven, Dalton takes a shotgun snap quick throw Green.
21:09
Speaker 1: It has a touchdown Adrill Sharemiah Green from nine yards
21:15
Speaker 1: out and the Bengals have the lead with two fifty
21:18
Speaker 1: seven to go. All right, lab My most memorable play
21:21
Speaker 1: from that season came in the playoff loss to the
21:25
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers. I've got to pick this moment provided by
21:30
Speaker 1: Vantes Perfect. First in ten, Pittsburgh down by a point.
21:33
Speaker 1: Landry Jones back to throw from his five over the middle,
21:36
Speaker 1: Hi Perfect, Ntest Perfect comes away with a football. The
21:42
Speaker 1: Bengals have the ball with one minute and thirty six
21:46
Speaker 1: seconds to go. Yeah, fun, test Perfect. He's sprinting toward
21:52
Speaker 1: the locker room. He has running in cycle locker room,
21:56
Speaker 1: which makes no sense. He'd better come back out before
22:00
Speaker 1: there's a penalty flag. The Bengals will have the ball.
22:03
Speaker 1: There was an injured Bengal around the ten, Wallace Kilberry.
22:08
Speaker 1: He's on his feet, Paul sparling out to take a look.
22:12
Speaker 1: Wallace limping toward the sideline, but a leaping interception by
22:17
Speaker 1: Vontes perfect in front of Marcus Wheaton gives the Bengals
22:22
Speaker 1: the ball with one thirty six to go. Do you
22:24
Speaker 1: remember how you felt after that interception? I mean I
22:28
Speaker 1: thought it was over. The Bengals had won less than
22:31
Speaker 1: two minutes to go. With the lead and the ball,
22:34
Speaker 1: the playoff drought in my head was over. Yeah. I
22:38
Speaker 1: remember Vontes Burfage ran up the runway into the locker
22:41
Speaker 1: room basically with the football and it was thunderous. I mean,
22:45
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium was shaking. People were going absolutely bonkers,
22:50
Speaker 1: and you did you know you had You had a
22:52
Speaker 1: big feeling that that football game had ended, but obviously
22:57
Speaker 1: not obviously have unfolded, and that football game is still
23:03
Speaker 1: when you think back on it, the things that had
23:05
Speaker 1: to go wrong for them to lose that football game,
23:08
Speaker 1: that did go wrong in losing that football game are
23:11
Speaker 1: still almost incomprehensible. From that game alone, we could have
23:15
Speaker 1: selected a J mccarn's touchdown pass to AJ Green that
23:19
Speaker 1: gave them the lead. Obviously, on the negative side, the
23:22
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hill fumble, which goes down as maybe the single
23:26
Speaker 1: most destructive play in franchise history. That didn't involve an injury,
23:31
Speaker 1: but for that Vontes perfect interception. Briefly, the playoff droute
23:36
Speaker 1: was over in my brain. That lasted for about ninety
23:39
Speaker 1: seconds before the very next play was the Jeremy Hill fumble,
23:43
Speaker 1: and unfortunately, what should have been Marvin Lewis's first playoff
23:48
Speaker 1: victory slipped through their fingers. We move on to two sixteen. Unfortunately,
23:54
Speaker 1: that's when the playoff streak ended. The Bengals went six
23:58
Speaker 1: nine and one, one close loss after another. They had
24:01
Speaker 1: five losses. Their last five losses that you were by
24:04
Speaker 1: a total of sixteen points. That was the year where
24:07
Speaker 1: Mike Nugent, who had been so good the previous six years,
24:10
Speaker 1: kind of had an inexplicable slump where he missed six pats.
24:15
Speaker 1: He also a miss six field goals. Those were significant
24:19
Speaker 1: in some of those close losses. Oddly enough, he's still kicking.
24:23
Speaker 1: He kicked this year for the Arizona Cardinals, but he
24:26
Speaker 1: just had a terrible stretch in two sixteen. If I've
24:32
Speaker 1: got to pick out one play from that season, there
24:34
Speaker 1: are a couple of possibilities. You may recall. In Week one,
24:38
Speaker 1: they played on nine to eleven in New York against
24:40
Speaker 1: the Jets. They visited the site of the Twin Towers
24:45
Speaker 1: when they arrived in New York the day before, and
24:47
Speaker 1: then on nine to eleven, they beat the Jets on
24:49
Speaker 1: a Mike Nugent field goal of fifty four seconds to go,
24:52
Speaker 1: but for just one play. The one that stands out
24:56
Speaker 1: to me came at Paul Brown Stadium Week seven, at
25:00
Speaker 1: home against the Cleveland Browns. Just before the half, they
25:05
Speaker 1: broke Hugh Jackson's heart with a hail Mary that was
25:09
Speaker 1: answered in the end zone. Dalton back to throw. We're
25:11
Speaker 1: down to five seconds left in the half. He's gonna
25:13
Speaker 1: throw a high, deep hail Mary pass into the JJ
25:17
Speaker 1: and it is boy makes the catch. I'm the ricochet
25:23
Speaker 1: hail Mary half forty nine yard touchdown pass as a
25:29
Speaker 1: prairie is answered in the end zone. Bi Adril Jeremiah Green. Yeah,
25:35
Speaker 1: that hail Mary was full of grace, and the grace
25:38
Speaker 1: was maybe one of the most graceful athletes in Cincinnati
25:41
Speaker 1: Bengal history. AJ Green, I mean he is poetry in grace, poetry,
25:48
Speaker 1: he really is. And the thing, the thing everything that
25:52
Speaker 1: Aj Green, all the qualities, the redeeming quality he had
25:55
Speaker 1: as a receiver that Aj Green was all about showed
25:58
Speaker 1: itself and on that his ability to time his jump,
26:03
Speaker 1: the ability to high point, you know, a ball, the
26:05
Speaker 1: ability to have the eye hand coordination, the juggling action
26:09
Speaker 1: to secure that football. Just an amazing play. I mean,
26:12
Speaker 1: there's very few people in the world that can do
26:15
Speaker 1: what AJ Green did on that particular play. Because you know,
26:19
Speaker 1: it was one of those hail Mary. There's always coverage,
26:22
Speaker 1: tight coverage, a lot of bodies around you, a lot
26:24
Speaker 1: of interfere a lot of people interfering with what you're
26:27
Speaker 1: trying to get done, and he's still got it done.
26:29
Speaker 1: And it's just a spectacular effort by by AJ Green
26:32
Speaker 1: to make that play right before the half. Unfortunately, that
26:37
Speaker 1: was the first year twenty sixteen where aj had significant
26:41
Speaker 1: injury problems. He only basically played nine games that year.
26:44
Speaker 1: He had nine hundred and sixty four receiving yards basically
26:48
Speaker 1: in nine games. Who he's averaging more than a hundred
26:50
Speaker 1: yards per game this past year, played the entire season,
26:54
Speaker 1: had five hundred and twenty three receiving yards, so you know, unfortunately,
26:59
Speaker 1: he did come back the next year and stayed healthy,
27:02
Speaker 1: But twenty sixteen is kind of the start of the
27:06
Speaker 1: deterioration in terms of injuries for AJ Green. Yeah, it's
27:10
Speaker 1: it's been a tough stretch for for aj Green. Um is,
27:15
Speaker 1: I think all the things we talked about, a lot
27:18
Speaker 1: of those physical traits. Uh, he still has the eye,
27:21
Speaker 1: hand coordination, all those sort of things. But man, when
27:24
Speaker 1: your feet and your legs start to go and you're
27:27
Speaker 1: at that at that position, that's when you can you
27:29
Speaker 1: can start to have some problems, obviously, and that's what
27:31
Speaker 1: Aj Green is experiencing a little bit. Uh. If you
27:35
Speaker 1: have a crack in the foundation and uh, you know
27:38
Speaker 1: you have to run and plant and cut violently, you know,
27:42
Speaker 1: like he does, issues can can crop up, for sure,
27:45
Speaker 1: and he has not been able to perform at the
27:48
Speaker 1: level that Aj Green is accustomed to performing at. For sure.
27:51
Speaker 1: I'm sure. I'm sure it's been extremely frustrating for aj
27:55
Speaker 1: Green to go through what he's gone through, There's no
27:57
Speaker 1: question about it. We move on to two seventeen. The
28:01
Speaker 1: obvious highlight happened in the final game of the year.
28:05
Speaker 1: We'll get to that in just a second. But the
28:07
Speaker 1: most memorable thing about that season for me, lap was
28:10
Speaker 1: that it was the celebration of the bengals fiftieth season,
28:13
Speaker 1: nearly all of the team's all time greats made it
28:16
Speaker 1: back to Paul Brown Stadium for halftime ceremonies that year,
28:19
Speaker 1: and those special Saturday night dinners before all of the
28:23
Speaker 1: home games where you and your former teammates and other
28:27
Speaker 1: players that came after you would would reminisce about their
28:30
Speaker 1: times in a Bengal's uniform. That was awesome. It really
28:35
Speaker 1: was Dan on a lot of levels, because, you know,
28:38
Speaker 1: guys stay in touch with each other, but actual, you know,
28:41
Speaker 1: face to face contact is not easy to accomplish a
28:45
Speaker 1: lot of times. Sometimes you know, guys live a good
28:48
Speaker 1: distance away and you can't make schedules coincide where you know,
28:53
Speaker 1: gon to be able to spend any time together. And honestly,
28:55
Speaker 1: every single one of those dinners was literally a reunion.
28:59
Speaker 1: It was unbel I mean, there was always at least
29:01
Speaker 1: one player that I hadn't seen forever, you know, see
29:05
Speaker 1: guys like like Mike Reid. Uh. You know, I obviously
29:09
Speaker 1: followed his career, the songwriting success and all that, and
29:13
Speaker 1: had seen him, had seen him on television, various reports
29:16
Speaker 1: and that kind of thing, but just had never been
29:18
Speaker 1: able to go up, shake his hand, you know, and
29:20
Speaker 1: talk to him for a while, and and to catch
29:22
Speaker 1: up with with with people like that. It was just
29:26
Speaker 1: it was just remarkable and I think a lot of guys,
29:29
Speaker 1: a lot of guys were touched, you know, a lot
29:30
Speaker 1: of guys were moved by that. And every every single
29:34
Speaker 1: player really relished at opportunity that experience, and they felt,
29:39
Speaker 1: you know, they felt like they were special. The organization
29:42
Speaker 1: you could, you could really feel it, and I thought
29:44
Speaker 1: it was really really well done. And uh meals dinners
29:48
Speaker 1: were always great. Stories and company and Tremoditie is even better.
29:53
Speaker 1: It was a great year, There's no doubt. The unfield
29:56
Speaker 1: highlight came in the final game of the year, New
29:59
Speaker 1: Year's Eve in Ball Baltimore. The Bengals were six and nine.
30:01
Speaker 1: They didn't have much to play for. The Ravens, on
30:04
Speaker 1: the other hand, needed a win to go to the playoffs.
30:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals were looking at fourth and twelve at the
30:09
Speaker 1: Baltimore forty nine with less than a minute to go.
30:12
Speaker 1: And here's how it sounded. Catches the football, he's back
30:15
Speaker 1: to throw, inches up in the pocket, throws pot Bye boy.
30:19
Speaker 1: The fifteen ten touchdown Bler Boy on fourth and twelve.
30:27
Speaker 1: It's a forty nine yard touchdown. He and the Bengals
30:31
Speaker 1: lead with forty four seconds to go. Oddly enough, Lap
30:36
Speaker 1: that play is probably more finely remembered in Buffalo than
30:41
Speaker 1: it isn't Cincinnati. Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, Bill's mafia.
30:45
Speaker 1: They opened their pocketbooks. Man. I mean that that ended
30:48
Speaker 1: on an eighteen years seventeen French without making the playoffs.
30:54
Speaker 1: That's that's a big, big time in Bill's mafia. They
30:58
Speaker 1: showed their appreciation. They donated a hundreds of thousands of
31:02
Speaker 1: dollars to Andy Daltons Foundation and Tyler Boyd's Foundation. So
31:06
Speaker 1: that was great. The residual effect of that play for
31:11
Speaker 1: both of those players in the platform that they used
31:14
Speaker 1: to try to help people with their foundations all benefited
31:17
Speaker 1: and man, you can't ask for more than that. That's
31:19
Speaker 1: what the National Football League and the power of the
31:21
Speaker 1: National Football League's all about. The Bengals finished that year
31:25
Speaker 1: with back to back wins over Detroit and Baltimore, even
31:28
Speaker 1: though they werot of contention. That was one of the
31:30
Speaker 1: reasons why Mike Brown elected to bring Marvin Lewis back
31:33
Speaker 1: for another year in twenty eighteen. Looked like that decision
31:36
Speaker 1: was a wise one when the Bengals started four and one,
31:40
Speaker 1: but their defense really struggled that year. They wound up
31:43
Speaker 1: firing defensive coordinator Terrell Austin during the season, than Andy
31:47
Speaker 1: Dalton got hurt, Jeff Driscoll finished up at quarterback. The
31:51
Speaker 1: Bengals went six and ten, and the Marvin Lewis era
31:54
Speaker 1: came to an end, and it was an unfortunate, unfortunate ending.
31:59
Speaker 1: Like you said, the fact that they finished twenty seventeen
32:03
Speaker 1: on an up note and start two eighteen off well,
32:06
Speaker 1: but again, things that you can't foresee. I mean, if
32:09
Speaker 1: every coach was assured that the roster he broke training camp,
32:13
Speaker 1: what was going to be available to him for every
32:16
Speaker 1: single game of the season. To be interesting to see
32:19
Speaker 1: how seasons would play out. But a big part of
32:22
Speaker 1: the National Football League is that old next man out
32:24
Speaker 1: because you're gonna get injuries, and again, like we said earlier,
32:27
Speaker 1: you just hope that the injuries aren't to people that
32:30
Speaker 1: you cannot afford to lose. And when you start losing
32:33
Speaker 1: those kinds of bodies, you're struggling for on field highlights.
32:37
Speaker 1: I will choose one from Week four, the Bengals and
32:41
Speaker 1: Falcons in a shootout in Atlanta. The Bengals won the
32:45
Speaker 1: game and a game winning touchdown pass Dalton to Green
32:49
Speaker 1: with less than ten seconds to go. Here's how it sounded.
32:52
Speaker 1: From the thirteen yard line, twelve seconds to go, Dalton
32:55
Speaker 1: back to throw, Yeah, Jake Grin touchdown Bengals. The clock
33:03
Speaker 1: is winding down, but it should be stopped. With five
33:06
Speaker 1: seconds to go, Joe Mixon ran down the sideline and
33:10
Speaker 1: jumped on top of aj Green. So Joe Mixon was excited.
33:14
Speaker 1: We were excited. The Bengals won that game to improve
33:17
Speaker 1: to three and one. That was their last road win
33:20
Speaker 1: until the final road game of this season in Houston,
33:24
Speaker 1: so they went through a long droute on the road
33:27
Speaker 1: after that victory in Atlanta. Oddly enough, that touchdown pass
33:31
Speaker 1: with seven seconds to go is one of two touchdown
33:35
Speaker 1: passes in Bengals history in the last ten seconds of
33:38
Speaker 1: a game to win. The other one was thrown by
33:43
Speaker 1: Achille Smith in his first start the Bengals quarterback. A
33:48
Speaker 1: two yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens with five seconds
33:51
Speaker 1: to go in a one point victory over Cleveland turned
33:55
Speaker 1: out to be about the only passing highlight for a
33:58
Speaker 1: Keiley Smith in his tenure with Cincinnati. Do you have
34:02
Speaker 1: a highlight that stands out for you in that twenty
34:05
Speaker 1: eighteen season. I do, Dan, but that play the biggest
34:09
Speaker 1: thing that I remember about the AJ Green touchdown catches.
34:12
Speaker 1: Normally used to AJ jumping timing at high point in it.
34:16
Speaker 1: That was a sliding catch and he's had such body
34:21
Speaker 1: control in such awareness of how to time things up
34:25
Speaker 1: with his body. I mean, he timed that slide perfectly,
34:28
Speaker 1: made a great catch. I mean, that was a spectacular
34:30
Speaker 1: play that you pick right there. I'm gonna go a
34:34
Speaker 1: game against the Miami Dolphins during that season. The Bengals
34:37
Speaker 1: are down two touchdowns seventeen to three, and they got
34:41
Speaker 1: not only one unconventional, unscripted score defensively, they got two
34:46
Speaker 1: in one quarter. And that is an unbelievable rarity and
34:49
Speaker 1: that was a big factor in the football game. Michael
34:52
Speaker 1: Johnson defensive end has a pick six of twenty two
34:55
Speaker 1: yards in distance, and then Sam Hubbard courtesy of Carlos Dunlap,
34:59
Speaker 1: knocking the ball out of the quarterback quarterbacks hands, has
35:02
Speaker 1: a nineteen yard fumble return and in the Bengals have
35:06
Speaker 1: fourteen points on the board and almost back to back series,
35:09
Speaker 1: I think it was for the Miami Dolphins. All of
35:11
Speaker 1: a sudden boom, Cincinnati's defense explode, explodes for two touchdowns
35:15
Speaker 1: and turns the game around. So we'll put those two
35:18
Speaker 1: defensive touchdowns together and count it as one highlight. Back
35:22
Speaker 1: to back a defensive scores in the fourth quarter. Here's
35:25
Speaker 1: how they sound. Hannahill takes the snap, fakes a hand
35:27
Speaker 1: off to the under pressures, steps up his pass, bat
35:31
Speaker 1: it down, picked up Baba Bengals, and Michael Johnson runs
35:35
Speaker 1: it into the end zone and touchdown Bengals. Two deep
35:39
Speaker 1: safeties for the Bengals. About thirteen yards back. Tannahill back
35:42
Speaker 1: to throw under pressure moving up, got hit from behind.
35:46
Speaker 1: The ball comes those I'll stooped up. Sam Hubbard runs
35:50
Speaker 1: it into the end zone, but there are two penalty
35:52
Speaker 1: flags near the ten yard lins Haulding on the Dolphins man,
35:56
Speaker 1: all right, lap. Let's move on to twenty nineteen, the
35:59
Speaker 1: start of the Jack Taylor era in Cincinnati. Obviously, it
36:03
Speaker 1: was a tough year for the Bengals. They started ozen eleven,
36:05
Speaker 1: the worst start in franchise history. They finished two and fourteen.
36:09
Speaker 1: The most memorable play of that season was probably well,
36:13
Speaker 1: not even probably undoubtedly against the Bengals, the famous Lamar
36:16
Speaker 1: Jackson spin move touchdown run at Paul Brown Stadium. But
36:20
Speaker 1: as for Bengals highlights, I think we agree it came
36:24
Speaker 1: in Week twelve the Bengals got off to schneide. Andy
36:27
Speaker 1: Dalton returned from a three week exile as the Bengals
36:30
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, led them to their first win of the year,
36:33
Speaker 1: twenty two to six over the Jets, and his first
36:36
Speaker 1: touchdown pass in that game allowed him to pass Kenny
36:40
Speaker 1: Anderson as the franchise is all time record holder for
36:44
Speaker 1: career touchdown passes. Here's how it sounded. First and ten
36:48
Speaker 1: at the seventeen of the Jets, Dalton fakes a handoff
36:51
Speaker 1: from the pocket, throws over the middle of it is
36:53
Speaker 1: caught for a touchdown by Tyler boyd Andy Dalton threading
36:59
Speaker 1: the needle between two New York Jets defenders, and with
37:03
Speaker 1: that touchdown pass, the red rifle stands alone career touchdown
37:10
Speaker 1: pass number one ninety eight in his NFL career, more
37:15
Speaker 1: than any other quarterback in Bengals history. They both wear
37:19
Speaker 1: number fourteen. Kenny Anderson, Andy Dalton and I'll tell you what,
37:23
Speaker 1: this throw is unbelievable. I mean threading the needle. You
37:28
Speaker 1: have a defender dropping back underneath coverage in a safety
37:32
Speaker 1: over the top, and Andy Dalton said, I trust Tyler Bloyd.
37:35
Speaker 1: I'm gonna zip it in there. And literally, if he
37:38
Speaker 1: was an inch either way, it would have been incomplete.
37:41
Speaker 1: But man, great catch by Tyler Bloyd maintained possession for
37:45
Speaker 1: that record breaking touchdown pass to be of that variety
37:49
Speaker 1: certainly far from mundane. It's nice when you break a
37:52
Speaker 1: record like that lap for it not to be like
37:56
Speaker 1: an easy routine play where you know, you dump it
37:59
Speaker 1: off to the running back and he runs in from
38:01
Speaker 1: six yards. Andy Dalton, he lived up to the red
38:04
Speaker 1: rifle nickname on that touchdown pass. Yeah, he definitely threaded
38:08
Speaker 1: the needle. And Tyler Boyd is so good in those
38:11
Speaker 1: in those type of situations, and you know, you look
38:14
Speaker 1: at Tyler Boyd Dan The thing about him that stands
38:17
Speaker 1: out in his great career as well, is he adapts
38:20
Speaker 1: to almost any quarterback. He can find a rhythm in
38:23
Speaker 1: timing very very quickly, but just about any quarterback, they
38:26
Speaker 1: all seem to be able to get in concert with
38:31
Speaker 1: him very very abruptly and very very you know, in
38:34
Speaker 1: a timely fashion. It's just something about the wave, runs routes,
38:37
Speaker 1: the way he carries his body. And I think part
38:39
Speaker 1: of it is he played the quarterback position himself. And
38:42
Speaker 1: receivers that have played quarterback and see that position through
38:45
Speaker 1: a quarterback's eyes, I think normally have that type of attribute,
38:51
Speaker 1: you know, where they can adjust to two quarterbacks quickly.
38:53
Speaker 1: And Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd they made some big,
38:56
Speaker 1: big plays. Obviously, Andy Dalton and AJ Green connected at
39:00
Speaker 1: the hill. They came in first and second round picks,
39:03
Speaker 1: you know, back in twenty eleven and that the Indian
39:06
Speaker 1: AJ Show was on and it was on big playoffs
39:10
Speaker 1: first five years of their career. Like we talked about,
39:12
Speaker 1: but man, Tyler Boyd and and Adult made some beautiful
39:16
Speaker 1: music together as well. And Tyler Boyd has done it
39:18
Speaker 1: with just about every Bengal quarterback that he's played with.
39:22
Speaker 1: So we move on to this past season, our tenth
39:25
Speaker 1: year together. Unfortunately, another year out of the playoffs, as
39:28
Speaker 1: the Bengals finished four eleven and one. It'll be remembered
39:31
Speaker 1: as the start of the Joe Burrow era. The highlight
39:34
Speaker 1: that we should be able to play came in Week one,
39:37
Speaker 1: a touchdown pass with seven seconds to go to AJ
39:40
Speaker 1: Green that should have given Joe Burrow a game winning
39:43
Speaker 1: touchdown drive, game winning touchdown pass in the final ten
39:47
Speaker 1: seconds in his NFL debut. Unfortunately, there's no point in
39:51
Speaker 1: playing the highlight because it didn't count thanks to kind
39:55
Speaker 1: of a tickie tack offensive pass interference call on aj Yeah,
40:00
Speaker 1: that was they call him for a pushoff. I mean,
40:03
Speaker 1: he's grabbed from Jump Street as soon as he comes
40:06
Speaker 1: off the line of scrimmage running his route and it
40:08
Speaker 1: was more than five yard route and he was still
40:11
Speaker 1: being grabbed and he finally got frustrated and pushed off
40:13
Speaker 1: a little bit to separate from that grab and he
40:16
Speaker 1: gets called. You know, it's the retaliatory guy. A lot
40:18
Speaker 1: of times they see and that's what happened there. They
40:21
Speaker 1: didn't see the entire play. They saw the end of
40:23
Speaker 1: the play and threw a flag and it was unjust
40:27
Speaker 1: and it took a touchdown off the board and ultimately
40:29
Speaker 1: cost the Bengals the football game. And when Bullock obviously
40:33
Speaker 1: missed a chippy and it went into overtime. But unfortunately,
40:39
Speaker 1: you know that that that game did not end the
40:42
Speaker 1: way it should have. It should have been a game
40:43
Speaker 1: winning touchdown drive at the end of the football game
40:47
Speaker 1: in his first NFL start for a rookie quarterback by
40:50
Speaker 1: the name of Joe Burrow that has an extremely bright future.
40:52
Speaker 1: There's no question Joe certainly provided plenty of highlights before
40:57
Speaker 1: he suffered his knee injury. There was the quarterback draw
41:00
Speaker 1: in that game for his first NFL touchdown, the four
41:03
Speaker 1: hundred and six passing yards in a game at home
41:05
Speaker 1: against the Cleveland Brown's great victory over Tennessee in Week eight,
41:09
Speaker 1: when he threw a couple of fourth quarter touchdown passes.
41:12
Speaker 1: Aside from Joe Burrow, I think of samaj p Ryan's
41:15
Speaker 1: long touchdown run and the win at Houston Chrip sacked
41:18
Speaker 1: by a Sam Hubbard late in that game. But if
41:22
Speaker 1: I've got to pick anything out, and I think you agree.
41:26
Speaker 1: It came just before Christmas. Four days before Christmas, on
41:30
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football, the Bengals about a two touchdown underdog
41:33
Speaker 1: against their nemesis, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Juju Smith Schuster had
41:38
Speaker 1: danced on the logo prior to the game and then
41:40
Speaker 1: put it on TikTok, his habit leading up to that
41:44
Speaker 1: game and Von Bell said, or not going to dance
41:48
Speaker 1: on our logo, Juju. Here's what happened in that game.
41:52
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger back to throw short pass over the middle, cut
41:55
Speaker 1: by Juju Smith Schuster. The ball is popped away by
41:58
Speaker 1: Von Bell. It's looked up by the Bengals a right
42:01
Speaker 1: and returned to the twenty. But they're saying it's an
42:04
Speaker 1: incomplete pass. Question is did Smith Huster make a football move?
42:08
Speaker 1: Did he have possession and make a football move? That's close.
42:12
Speaker 1: I think that's a football move. I think that's a fumble.
42:15
Speaker 1: After reviewing the play, the receiver completed the process of
42:19
Speaker 1: a catch. As a result, it was a catch in
42:22
Speaker 1: a football It was immediately after that game lap that
42:25
Speaker 1: Juju Smith shoots are announced that he would no longer
42:27
Speaker 1: be dancing on team logos prior to games. Yeah, Mike Tomlin,
42:32
Speaker 1: I think it was a big reason they made that announcement.
42:35
Speaker 1: I think Mike Tomlin said not maybe not no more
42:38
Speaker 1: of that. And the great thing about that is Von
42:41
Speaker 1: Bell called his shot prior to the game. In zoom
42:46
Speaker 1: call conferences during the course of the week, he said,
42:50
Speaker 1: you know, people think that that's disrespectful and coming into
42:54
Speaker 1: our house doing something to that effect that, you know,
42:57
Speaker 1: the best thing you do is take care of business,
43:00
Speaker 1: put a hit on, you know, And he did exactly
43:03
Speaker 1: exactly what he said. It's just unfolded. He let his
43:08
Speaker 1: words turn into physicality and actions on the football field.
43:12
Speaker 1: There was a big hit and a big play in
43:14
Speaker 1: that football game. Takeaways they're enormous when you're, you know,
43:17
Speaker 1: the underdog, and the Bengals have had their troubles against
43:20
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers. That snapped a drought of eleven straight
43:24
Speaker 1: losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and then beating them on
43:26
Speaker 1: national TV like that Monday night football in front of
43:30
Speaker 1: the whole nation. That had to be a sweet feeling
43:32
Speaker 1: for von Bell and every Cincinnati Bengal for sure. All Right,
43:36
Speaker 1: So that pretty much wraps up our ten years together.
43:41
Speaker 1: Some great moments over the course of ten years. And
43:43
Speaker 1: there's a symmetry there lap playoffs in our first five
43:47
Speaker 1: years together out of the playoffs in our next five
43:51
Speaker 1: years together. So that can only mean one thing. The
43:54
Speaker 1: Bengals are about to start a stretch of five straight
43:57
Speaker 1: playoff appearances in twenty twenty one, no question, and five
44:02
Speaker 1: straight years where they win at least one playoff game. Perfect. Great,
44:07
Speaker 1: that would be awesome, man, that would be That would
44:10
Speaker 1: be extraordinary. And uh, I will say though, with Joe
44:13
Speaker 1: Burrow at quarterback, to get get him surrounded with people
44:17
Speaker 1: that can let that guy operate. The thing that I
44:19
Speaker 1: respect most about Joe Burrow Dan is how much he
44:23
Speaker 1: loves the grind, you know, the work that he puts in.
44:27
Speaker 1: You know, you're a Hall of Fame broadcast, You're you're
44:29
Speaker 1: a talented guy. You've got a lot of a lot
44:31
Speaker 1: of ability, but you don't take it for granted. I mean,
44:33
Speaker 1: you work your tail off. That's what Joe Burrow does.
44:36
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow has some physical abilities, he doesn't take it
44:39
Speaker 1: for granted. He's the first one in the last to leave.
44:42
Speaker 1: He works his tail off. I mean he's gonna he's
44:46
Speaker 1: never gonna say I'm just gonna I'm just gonna show up.
44:50
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna you know, check it, check out and
44:52
Speaker 1: just show up and not put in the work. He
44:56
Speaker 1: loves to put in the work. And that's what makes
44:58
Speaker 1: good players great, great players, the greatest, you know, hall
45:02
Speaker 1: of Fame type guy. So I'm excited about seeing his
45:06
Speaker 1: whole career unfold over the years. Because he's got the
45:09
Speaker 1: tangibles and the intangibles. You better include yourself on that
45:13
Speaker 1: hard working list because I can't even read the hieroglyphics
45:16
Speaker 1: that you write down in tiny pencil. I'm your note
45:21
Speaker 1: sheets prior to every game. It's funny that was that's hereditary.
45:25
Speaker 1: My dad was an artist, went to Annoiningless School of Art.
45:27
Speaker 1: There's a technical illustrator by trade, so he'd do these
45:31
Speaker 1: little tiny rocket engine parts you'd have to diagram and
45:34
Speaker 1: all that. I think you could write the Gettisburg address
45:37
Speaker 1: on a penny, you know, so I inherited that a
45:41
Speaker 1: little bit. I guess all right, Well, ten years have
45:45
Speaker 1: flown by. It's been awesome. It's been such a joy
45:49
Speaker 1: to spend my Sundays and sometimes Mondays and Thursdays with you,
45:53
Speaker 1: and let's help the next ten are just as fun.
45:56
Speaker 1: Here here I'm with you, my man. Toast to that,
45:59
Speaker 1: cheers to that. We hope you enjoyed that. Look back
46:02
Speaker 1: at our decade. In the broadcast booth, brought to you
46:05
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46:09
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute,
46:12
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
46:15
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and
46:19
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast