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Bengals Booth Podcast: August Is Over · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The your Good as Gone August
0:12
Speaker 1: is over. Addition, as the Bengals wrap up the preseason
0:16
Speaker 1: with a sixteen to seven win over the La Rams.
0:19
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments from players
0:23
Speaker 1: and coaches, and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then,
0:28
Speaker 1: in this week's fun fact segment, you'll hear from a
0:31
Speaker 1: Bengals rookie who grew up forty minutes from pay Course
0:34
Speaker 1: stadium rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. Hey, nobody's perfect. The
0:41
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate
0:46
Speaker 1: Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free
0:49
Speaker 1: to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes.
0:54
Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
0:57
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:59
Speaker 1: latest to do of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:03
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:08
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Ken Riley's almost certain enshrinement in
1:14
Speaker 1: the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Approximately ten days ago,
1:17
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame in Canton announced the three players
1:20
Speaker 1: in the seniors category that are finalists for the twenty
1:24
Speaker 1: twenty three class, including Bengals legend Ken Riley. The Rattler
1:29
Speaker 1: will get into the Hall of Fame if he is
1:31
Speaker 1: supported by at least eighty percent of the voters in January,
1:34
Speaker 1: and that is considered a formality. Riley sixty five interceptions
1:40
Speaker 1: ranked fifth highest in NFL history, and while he obviously
1:44
Speaker 1: earned this, he got some help in recent years from
1:47
Speaker 1: fans like Bengal Jim Foster, who helped organize rallies to
1:52
Speaker 1: raise awareness that there should be more Bengals in the
1:55
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Hobson also
2:00
Speaker 1: deserves a shout out for making Riley's case with his
2:03
Speaker 1: fellow Hall of Fame voters. It's great news for Bengals
2:07
Speaker 1: fans and especially meaningful for the Riley family. Here's hoping
2:11
Speaker 1: that a couple of Anderson's, Ken and Willie, are up next.
2:16
Speaker 1: Now time to look back at Saturday's preseason finale against
2:20
Speaker 1: the Rams. The Bengals got on the scoreboard first in
2:24
Speaker 1: the first a thirty two yard pass from Brandon Allen
2:27
Speaker 1: to Stanley Morgan led to an Evan McPherson field goal
2:31
Speaker 1: in a three nothing lead at the end of the
2:33
Speaker 1: first quarter. It looked like the Rams might pull ahead
2:36
Speaker 1: early in the second when they drove deep into Bengals territory.
2:40
Speaker 1: Third down in three at the Cincinnati ten to hand
2:43
Speaker 1: off to Funk. He's got the first down inside the five,
2:47
Speaker 1: Tackled at the fours, ball comes out and the Bengals recover.
2:52
Speaker 1: Trey Von Henderson punched it away from Jake Fuck. Dominique
2:56
Speaker 1: Davis recovered the fumble, and moments later Brandon Allen de
3:00
Speaker 1: for the Bengals longest play of the preseason. He waits
3:03
Speaker 1: at the goal line for a shotgun snap on second
3:06
Speaker 1: and nine, Pump fakes throws it down the guideline. It
3:10
Speaker 1: is caught on the run at the forty. Kendrick Pryor
3:14
Speaker 1: with the catch and he gets taken down at the
3:16
Speaker 1: forty two yard line. A thirty eight yard game. It
3:20
Speaker 1: led to another McPherson field goal to make it six nothing.
3:23
Speaker 1: But Kendrick Pryor winced when I asked him about that play.
3:28
Speaker 1: Not just wish I would have scored. That's all been
3:30
Speaker 1: cool to have, Like an on a two yard line
3:33
Speaker 1: ninety eight yard teschdown, that would have been cool. But
3:35
Speaker 1: still happy though grateful, made a big play, But definitely
3:38
Speaker 1: always want more than what I can get, So definitely
3:41
Speaker 1: wish I would have got It would have been much
3:42
Speaker 1: cooler with a ninety eight toesdown versus a thirty eight
3:45
Speaker 1: yard game. So but it was, like I said, grateful though,
3:48
Speaker 1: trusted me, gave me a good ball, let me run
3:51
Speaker 1: underneath it, just made a play. It was another good
3:54
Speaker 1: night for Pryor, who finished with five catches for sixty
3:57
Speaker 1: five yards. He led the Bengals in receiving yards this
4:00
Speaker 1: preseason with one hundred eighty two in three games. Felt
4:04
Speaker 1: like I did pretty pretty decent throughing the preseason games.
4:07
Speaker 1: You know, went out there throughout camp, those preseason games.
4:10
Speaker 1: Just got a chance to show people I can make
4:13
Speaker 1: plays and when my numbers called, I'll be there too,
4:16
Speaker 1: you know, make a play for something. So like, I
4:18
Speaker 1: feel like I did pretty good. Do you feel like
4:20
Speaker 1: you've put yourself in a good position to still be
4:22
Speaker 1: part of this team going forward? Oh yeah, definitely. You
4:25
Speaker 1: know at this point inside of my control now, you know,
4:27
Speaker 1: if we got but we don't have any more practices
4:29
Speaker 1: our games left, So at this point it's just hoping.
4:33
Speaker 1: But I put on film, you know, it's good enough
4:35
Speaker 1: to make their roster. But I got got good confidence,
4:37
Speaker 1: you know, I felt like things should go should go
4:40
Speaker 1: good for me. But at this point, like I said,
4:41
Speaker 1: it's out of my hand. So you're just gonna sit back, wait,
4:45
Speaker 1: wait till Tuesday, four o'clock. Tuesday at four is the
4:49
Speaker 1: deadline for cutting the roster from eighty to fifty three.
4:53
Speaker 1: If Prior doesn't make the cut, there's a strong chance
4:56
Speaker 1: he'll be part of the sixteen man practice squad. The
4:59
Speaker 1: bat Goals scored once more before halftime, as another McPherson
5:03
Speaker 1: field goal made it nine nothing at the break. The
5:06
Speaker 1: Rams managed just seventy five yards of offense in the
5:09
Speaker 1: first half. LA didn't do much better in the third
5:13
Speaker 1: quarter as the Bengals forced a pair of fumbles. Zach
5:16
Speaker 1: Carter caused the first on a strip sack. T Gray
5:19
Speaker 1: Scales forced the second by ripping the ball away from
5:22
Speaker 1: running back Trey Regas. For the second straight week. The
5:25
Speaker 1: Bengals took a nine point lead to the fourth quarter.
5:28
Speaker 1: They weren't able to hold the lead. Last Sunday, against
5:31
Speaker 1: the Giants, and they allowed the Rams to score in
5:34
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter on Saturday night, Hell send three receivers
5:38
Speaker 1: out to the right, one out to the left, shotgun
5:41
Speaker 1: Snap Perkins looking around. He's back at the twelve. Under pressure,
5:46
Speaker 1: gets away from Gunter running toward the left side. He's
5:48
Speaker 1: down to the five and he gets close to the
5:51
Speaker 1: pylon and he's in for a Rams touchdown when he
5:54
Speaker 1: is an athlete. That made it nine seven Bengals with
5:58
Speaker 1: roughly eleven and a half minutes to go. How did
6:01
Speaker 1: the offense respond with a thirteen play drive that took
6:05
Speaker 1: nearly seven minutes off the clock and ultimately put the
6:08
Speaker 1: game away. Browning drops back to pass fires in the
6:12
Speaker 1: end zone, bought by Justin Rigg for the touchdown. The
6:18
Speaker 1: young man from Springboro, Ohio, by way of the University
6:22
Speaker 1: of Kentucky with the touchdown catch and the Bengals lead
6:26
Speaker 1: at fifteen to seven. It was Jake Browning's first touchdown
6:30
Speaker 1: pass in eight NFL preseason games between the Vikings and Bengals.
6:35
Speaker 1: And here's the guy on the receiving end, undrafted rookie
6:38
Speaker 1: tight end Justin Rigg, going through my head. I heard
6:41
Speaker 1: the play call and I knew that I had a
6:43
Speaker 1: chance to get that ball, and I saw the the
6:45
Speaker 1: outside leverage on the guy to break out, and right
6:48
Speaker 1: when I broke out, I knew the ball was coming
6:49
Speaker 1: and then obviously ended up in the end zone. And
6:53
Speaker 1: I was in shock at first, because you know, especially
6:56
Speaker 1: as a blocking tight end, you never expect that type
6:59
Speaker 1: of thing to happen. But you just gotta be ready
7:01
Speaker 1: for when your numbers called. And it happened, and just
7:04
Speaker 1: through the roof excited. I gotta work on my celebration
7:07
Speaker 1: a little bit. I didn't. I didn't know what to do,
7:09
Speaker 1: but I'll get it next time, all right. Forgive me.
7:12
Speaker 1: I didn't keep watching to see how you celebrated. What
7:14
Speaker 1: did you do? Oh? I just I just threw up
7:16
Speaker 1: my arms. I didn't know what to do. Celebrated with
7:18
Speaker 1: my teammates. But next time, next time, I'll have something else.
7:21
Speaker 1: Who got the ball? You were, Jake? I have it
7:24
Speaker 1: right here in my locker, right here. So I appreciate
7:28
Speaker 1: them getting me that ball, and I'll cherish that moment forever.
7:31
Speaker 1: We'll get to know just and much better later in
7:34
Speaker 1: the podcast, the final score the Bengal sixteen the Rams seven.
7:40
Speaker 1: Now let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent
7:43
Speaker 1: about three minutes with Dave Lapham after the game. Coach
7:46
Speaker 1: pitched shut up for three quarters against uh, you know,
7:49
Speaker 1: a damn good football team. Hard to do. I thought
7:52
Speaker 1: it was really good performance by our defense. A lot
7:54
Speaker 1: of guys put a lot of snaps. It's a good
7:56
Speaker 1: way to finish the offseason here. So the the two
8:00
Speaker 1: days that you that you had working together and the
8:03
Speaker 1: carry over to today's football game, it looked like guys
8:06
Speaker 1: were pretty familiar with assignment, alignement and adjustment and all
8:09
Speaker 1: the sort of things that needed to get done tonight.
8:11
Speaker 1: I didn't notice a lot of mental awers. That's something
8:13
Speaker 1: we'll see more tomorrow. But I thought the guys played fast,
8:15
Speaker 1: they played with confidence and allowed us to get a win.
8:18
Speaker 1: So Jake Browning on the one touchdown drive, he was
8:21
Speaker 1: basically accounted for all the yards made, all the How
8:25
Speaker 1: good was he tonight? He managed the situation really well,
8:27
Speaker 1: you know. And they had a zile leverage in the
8:30
Speaker 1: run game playing base to eleven, so sometimes you just
8:32
Speaker 1: gotta throw it and and I thought we did a
8:34
Speaker 1: really nice job operating that situation. Yeah, I think you
8:37
Speaker 1: threw at eleven straight times, didn't you know something like that?
8:40
Speaker 1: I think in that drive, yeah, they know, based to eleven,
8:42
Speaker 1: you know, I think they were down personnel gave us
8:44
Speaker 1: the excuse to throw the ball a little bit more,
8:46
Speaker 1: and so we took advantage of it. I mean, your
8:48
Speaker 1: defense though in the second half went base. I mean
8:51
Speaker 1: three linebackers, A lot of the linebackers and they were
8:53
Speaker 1: eleven and they were a kid and felt like high
8:55
Speaker 1: school again going out there with four down linement and
8:57
Speaker 1: three linebackers played pretty well with it. Yeah, traditional old
9:00
Speaker 1: school linement there to a true four three. I thought
9:03
Speaker 1: that they handled it really well. You know, KeAndre had
9:05
Speaker 1: to play a different role for us. Michael Thomas had
9:07
Speaker 1: to play a different role. He played some nickel there
9:09
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. So I just thought our guys
9:11
Speaker 1: did a really good job adjusting to some of the
9:12
Speaker 1: things that we had to do to help ourselves in
9:14
Speaker 1: this game. Turnovers, you guys really protect the ball well.
9:17
Speaker 1: They had some difficulty and a lot of it was
9:20
Speaker 1: due to the excellency your defensive football team. Again, they
9:22
Speaker 1: did a great job creating the turnovers. Win the turnover
9:24
Speaker 1: a battle. You got a great chance to win the game.
9:26
Speaker 1: I wish we could have capitalized a little bit more
9:28
Speaker 1: on the red zone there and offense, but I thought
9:30
Speaker 1: our guys did a really good job wining the turnover
9:32
Speaker 1: battle early in the game. I think their first four
9:35
Speaker 1: possessions three three and outs and then they had the
9:37
Speaker 1: fumble at the two yard line and the low red zone.
9:39
Speaker 1: Pretty good. Yeah, it was really good. You know, it's
9:42
Speaker 1: anytime you can hold him to zero at halftime, then
9:45
Speaker 1: we feel like we're in a pretty good shape. Yeah,
9:47
Speaker 1: no question. So as far as I know, knock on wood,
9:50
Speaker 1: if I can find some nothing at all that looked
9:53
Speaker 1: like it was any kind of a problem from an
9:54
Speaker 1: injury standpoint, that was the biggest goal tonight, wasn't it.
9:56
Speaker 1: Yeah we'll find out. You know, some of those things
9:58
Speaker 1: pop up the next day, and so we'll to make
10:00
Speaker 1: sure that everybody's healthy as we come out of this thing.
10:02
Speaker 1: And then now you're in a in a scenario where
10:05
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to evaluate things from a personnel standpoint,
10:09
Speaker 1: makes some tough decisions. I know, like everybody that I
10:13
Speaker 1: talked to in the locker room that is trying to
10:15
Speaker 1: fight for a job, man, I hope I stay here.
10:17
Speaker 1: I love this place. I love it here. Kudos to
10:19
Speaker 1: you for creating that kind of culture. I mean, guys
10:21
Speaker 1: want to be here a big time. I think guys
10:23
Speaker 1: have really bought it and they enjoy being around each other.
10:25
Speaker 1: And that's important if you're gonna have a winning football team.
10:28
Speaker 1: Guys got to enjoy the process and be willing to
10:30
Speaker 1: do some hard work and like doing it with the
10:32
Speaker 1: people that they're doing it with. And I think that
10:34
Speaker 1: we've got that here. So now, just what's the process, coach?
10:38
Speaker 1: You got you gotta get down to the fifty three.
10:41
Speaker 1: But the roster is still in flux, probably for a
10:43
Speaker 1: couple of days or so. You have Labor Day weekend off.
10:46
Speaker 1: But the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town to open the season.
10:49
Speaker 1: How much time have you given to the Pittsburgh Steelers
10:52
Speaker 1: during the course of training camp? Has there been some
10:54
Speaker 1: time to vote it to them. We're always keeping an
10:56
Speaker 1: eye on everybody, you know, and so it'll be nice
10:59
Speaker 1: to get through the Snell part and just dive into
11:01
Speaker 1: the Steelers. Congratulations, got the dub. He got out of
11:05
Speaker 1: it in real good shape. It looks like physically it's
11:07
Speaker 1: a pretty good night. Good night, Yeah, I appreciate it.
11:10
Speaker 1: So now players on the bubble have to go through
11:13
Speaker 1: the agony of waiting to find out if they made
11:16
Speaker 1: the roster or the practice squad. One of the players
11:20
Speaker 1: who seems likely to stick around is undrafted rookie cornerback
11:24
Speaker 1: Alan George. He played every defensive snap against the Rams,
11:29
Speaker 1: and I talked to him about his performance and the
11:32
Speaker 1: upcoming roster cuts. I think for the most part, it
11:36
Speaker 1: was good. Um, I kind of got I did the
11:40
Speaker 1: same thing in the first game. I took all eighty
11:42
Speaker 1: one snaps on defense, so or are not all anyone
11:44
Speaker 1: snaps on defense, But I took all the snaps on defense,
11:46
Speaker 1: So I kind of got my my lungs ready for
11:50
Speaker 1: that at that at that point when he played the Cardinals.
11:52
Speaker 1: So when we came out here today, I actually felt better.
11:54
Speaker 1: I was telling my wife that that I that I
11:57
Speaker 1: kind of have to get my mom right. But I
11:58
Speaker 1: actually felt pretty prepared him and I was ready to
12:01
Speaker 1: him to handle the tempo or however fast they wanted
12:03
Speaker 1: to go. So I think for the most part, I
12:05
Speaker 1: handled the snaps pretty well. You went visited with your
12:07
Speaker 1: wife right after the game, but she pretty excited about
12:10
Speaker 1: how things went. Yeah, she's always excited. She's always in
12:13
Speaker 1: my former twenty or seven. Ever since we met, she's
12:16
Speaker 1: sent me a game day messes, long messes. I don't
12:20
Speaker 1: know how she keeps formulating new ones. But and then
12:23
Speaker 1: she has a Bible verse in there and we just
12:26
Speaker 1: pray over it. So she's extremely supportive. She comes to
12:28
Speaker 1: every single one of my games. She hasn't missed one,
12:31
Speaker 1: so she's extremely support her. We're chatting with Allen George.
12:34
Speaker 1: I thought you had a good week and those joint
12:36
Speaker 1: practices against the Rams, I thought you did extremely well.
12:39
Speaker 1: Had the interception in one of those practices. Do you
12:42
Speaker 1: feel like this final week goes a long way toward
12:46
Speaker 1: you sticking around here? Yeah, I mean I hope it does.
12:50
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody wants to exit the league or
12:52
Speaker 1: exit the team or a club. For the most part,
12:56
Speaker 1: I feel like I put my best foot forward, and
12:59
Speaker 1: if I did make a mistake, I was. I wasn't
13:01
Speaker 1: ever losing a rep. I was kind of just learning
13:03
Speaker 1: from it. So my brother when I was growing up,
13:06
Speaker 1: he always just tell me you don't ever lose, you
13:08
Speaker 1: win or you learn and uh, and that's kind of
13:11
Speaker 1: one thing I carried down throughout my football career, so uh,
13:14
Speaker 1: anything that that hit me and during the during the
13:17
Speaker 1: RAMS practices or just any practice throughout camp. If it
13:20
Speaker 1: hit me once, I tried to make sure I got
13:21
Speaker 1: it off my tape and I didn't let it hit
13:23
Speaker 1: me again. So for I think I put my best before.
13:26
Speaker 1: Did anything in particular stand out in those joint practices
13:29
Speaker 1: against the likes of Cooper Cup and the other great
13:31
Speaker 1: players that they have on that team. Yeah, I didn't.
13:35
Speaker 1: I didn't get the chance to cover Cup, but I
13:37
Speaker 1: talked to him after one of the practices, Uh, and
13:39
Speaker 1: it was just it was just crazy just to be
13:41
Speaker 1: in the same It's I mean, it's crazy for me
13:45
Speaker 1: to be in the same space as these people already.
13:47
Speaker 1: I feel like I belong in the league definitely. Um,
13:51
Speaker 1: but just me coming from the situation I came from
13:54
Speaker 1: as an undrafted rookie from from Vandy and then I
13:57
Speaker 1: didn't play football till I was fifteen, from a city
14:00
Speaker 1: of eight thousand people like it. It's not common from
14:03
Speaker 1: my type to get here to this point. So um,
14:07
Speaker 1: anytime I get the chance to meet any of those
14:09
Speaker 1: people that might get a gold jackets, it's kind of nuts.
14:12
Speaker 1: So Um, I think I learned. I learned some intricacies
14:17
Speaker 1: of how they run routes. Uh, and I've been able
14:19
Speaker 1: to kind of make that and adapt how I play
14:21
Speaker 1: certain certain receivers when it comes to body types or
14:24
Speaker 1: their speed or anything like that. So I always try
14:27
Speaker 1: to use the knowledge that I get from from the greats.
14:29
Speaker 1: If I feel like final question for Alan George, how
14:31
Speaker 1: do you plan to spend the next day or two
14:34
Speaker 1: hoping to get that that phone call that you're part
14:37
Speaker 1: of this team going forward? UM, I'm just gonna spend
14:40
Speaker 1: it happy. I have no no, nothing, nothing to hold back.
14:46
Speaker 1: I really have no regrets of how I played this
14:48
Speaker 1: or my interactions within the building and meetings or training
14:53
Speaker 1: like like weightlifting or anything like that. I feel like
14:55
Speaker 1: I put my bestsel forward and in every regard. So
14:57
Speaker 1: I mean, my wife is just gonna relax or it
15:01
Speaker 1: relaxed as much as I can and then just pray
15:04
Speaker 1: and hope it was just like we did for the draft.
15:06
Speaker 1: I mean, that didn't that didn't work in our favorite
15:08
Speaker 1: but when he got something right after. So if it
15:11
Speaker 1: goes our way, it goes our way, and I'll be
15:13
Speaker 1: extremely grateful. And if it doesn't I'll have my head
15:15
Speaker 1: up high, and I'll still be extremely grateful for the opportunity.
15:18
Speaker 1: You should have your head up high. You've done an
15:20
Speaker 1: excellent job. Best of what going forward? Thank you. Allen
15:23
Speaker 1: had five tackles against the Rams and shared the team
15:26
Speaker 1: lead and passes defense in the preseason with three. Now
15:31
Speaker 1: time for postgame analysis with Lap and this week's Radio
15:34
Speaker 1: guys recap. All Right, Lap, The Bengals end the preseason
15:38
Speaker 1: with a nine point victory over the Ram sixteen to
15:41
Speaker 1: seven the final score. I know people don't remember wins
15:44
Speaker 1: and losses in the preseason, but the players do. When
15:47
Speaker 1: they take the field, they want to walk out of
15:49
Speaker 1: there with a win, and obviously everybody feels a little
15:52
Speaker 1: bit happier that at least they got one of these
15:53
Speaker 1: three preseason games. I agree with you, Dan, I couldn't
15:57
Speaker 1: agree with you more in fact, And to get the
15:59
Speaker 1: victory against the Rams, who obviously had a bit of
16:02
Speaker 1: defeat in Super Bowl fifty six. And then you know
16:05
Speaker 1: the little uh, a little bit of a rub that
16:08
Speaker 1: occurred at the end of the second day of practice.
16:11
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are still guys that have feelings about that.
16:14
Speaker 1: So it's it's good to get a victory, particularly the
16:17
Speaker 1: way the defense played. I mean, jeez, they were just
16:19
Speaker 1: lights out. You shut out an NFL team in any
16:22
Speaker 1: circumstance for three quarters, that's getting it done. I mean,
16:25
Speaker 1: these guys are out there on the football field for
16:27
Speaker 1: a reason. I mean, they can form, they're they're high
16:30
Speaker 1: end athletes. And I thought Louianna Rumo and his defensive team,
16:34
Speaker 1: I mean the first four possessions thirty three and ounce
16:36
Speaker 1: in a takeaway in a low red zone, I mean
16:38
Speaker 1: it was crazy good. And you know, I thought Brownie
16:42
Speaker 1: played well. The receiving corps or own nine catches for
16:45
Speaker 1: ninety three yards last five forty two prior five for
16:48
Speaker 1: sixty five. I mean nineteen catches out of three guys,
16:52
Speaker 1: you know, for about two hundred yards. I mean, that's
16:55
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty good. They did a great job, I thought,
16:58
Speaker 1: finding holes and seams and the zone coverages of the
17:01
Speaker 1: rams and you know, we're on the same page. Browning
17:05
Speaker 1: did a good job finding those guys, you know, as
17:08
Speaker 1: well as Brandon all and both quarterbacks played well. I
17:10
Speaker 1: mean Brandon ll And eleven out of fifteen four hundred
17:13
Speaker 1: and thirty yards, Browning nineteen for twenty four and seventy three,
17:16
Speaker 1: and like you said during the broadcast, Brownie was responsible
17:19
Speaker 1: to the touchdown drive all by himself ten for twelve
17:22
Speaker 1: to sixty three yards in the touchdown passed and he
17:24
Speaker 1: had the twelve yard run to keep the drive alive.
17:27
Speaker 1: I mean it was the Jake Browning drive. I want
17:31
Speaker 1: to follow up on those three wide receivers, Trent and Irwin,
17:34
Speaker 1: Kendrick pryor Kwamie Lasseter. All of them had at least
17:37
Speaker 1: five catches tonight. I would think the Bengals will have
17:40
Speaker 1: a couple of wide receivers on the practice squad. Can
17:43
Speaker 1: they have all three? I know, it's it's h they
17:49
Speaker 1: all they all played like they wanted to be there tonight,
17:52
Speaker 1: There's no question about that. Can they have three out
17:55
Speaker 1: of sixteen? I think maybe they can. Maybe they can, boy,
18:00
Speaker 1: they all deserve it. And then you know, Trevion Williams
18:03
Speaker 1: every opportunity he gets, this kid steps up as well,
18:06
Speaker 1: you know. I mean he's a practice squad guy last year,
18:09
Speaker 1: and he's certainly we had four catches himself for forty
18:13
Speaker 1: yards and seven rushes for twenty two and I thought
18:17
Speaker 1: I thought he was the best blitz pick up guy
18:19
Speaker 1: against the Giants last week. In terms of consistency of
18:22
Speaker 1: technique and all that. I mean, they've got some good
18:25
Speaker 1: football players. This personnel department here has put together a
18:30
Speaker 1: roster that's got some some depth and talent. There's no question.
18:33
Speaker 1: A guy that stood out to me tonight who I
18:36
Speaker 1: really hadn't noticed much in the first two preseason games
18:38
Speaker 1: as linebacker t Gray Scales. He was part of the
18:41
Speaker 1: coin toss as one of the five Cincinnati kids that
18:44
Speaker 1: went out there at the beginning of the game. He
18:47
Speaker 1: had six tackles, he forced a fumble. That's a guy who's,
18:51
Speaker 1: you know, trying to stick around on the practice squad,
18:53
Speaker 1: and I thought he had his best performance tonight. I
18:56
Speaker 1: agree with that one hundred thousand percent as well. I
18:58
Speaker 1: mean I put him down for all right now, he's
19:01
Speaker 1: going to really step up on special teams. He's gonna
19:03
Speaker 1: impress Darren Simmons. Well, heck, he got his snaps defensive
19:07
Speaker 1: lyne he stepped up in those. I mean he showed
19:10
Speaker 1: you know that. Okay, I'm on the big stage. This
19:13
Speaker 1: is important to me. I'm a Cincinnati guy. Great crowd again,
19:16
Speaker 1: by the way, wasn't it for preseason him. I mean
19:18
Speaker 1: written they were into us, a good crowd, and the
19:21
Speaker 1: juices were flown now to him, this was his individual
19:25
Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty six. You know it was that important
19:27
Speaker 1: to a lot of these guys, and they played like it. Yeah.
19:30
Speaker 1: I thought, he's If he's not a practice squad guy,
19:34
Speaker 1: that'd be stunning. He's got to be. You want to
19:36
Speaker 1: develop a kid like that that responded the way he responded,
19:40
Speaker 1: He certainly didn't. You know, the stage wasn't too big
19:42
Speaker 1: and bright for him. He stepped up and he showed himself.
19:45
Speaker 1: So he showed up big time. What do you think
19:49
Speaker 1: becomes of the punting battle? Kevin Hubert's first punt, great
19:53
Speaker 1: hang time, forty five yards fair, caught exactly what Darren
19:57
Speaker 1: Simmons is looking for. But we know about the leg
19:59
Speaker 1: strength of Drew Chrisman, and he boomed when sixty five
20:02
Speaker 1: yards now went to the end zone, but it bounced
20:04
Speaker 1: at the five before going in. It's still forty five
20:07
Speaker 1: yards net. Do you think Darren in his mind has
20:12
Speaker 1: his winner determined? Do you think he's gonna think about
20:14
Speaker 1: it for twenty four or forty eight hours? I don't.
20:18
Speaker 1: I wonder I wonder if he does have it determined
20:21
Speaker 1: because I think I think tonight showed what you have
20:25
Speaker 1: to make the decision about. One guy has booming howards
20:29
Speaker 1: are hanging off his right hip, and the other guy
20:32
Speaker 1: still is the tremendously accurate. You know, Finesse find the
20:36
Speaker 1: directional punting spots perfectly. And I guess to me, we
20:41
Speaker 1: were talking about a little bit before the game in
20:43
Speaker 1: the booth that how many times during the course of
20:47
Speaker 1: the season do you have to flip the field as
20:49
Speaker 1: opposed to making accurate directional kicks and backing people up.
20:55
Speaker 1: I mean, the both invaluable things. If you can back
20:58
Speaker 1: somebody up inside the ten, never mind the twenty inside
21:01
Speaker 1: the ten like Kevin has done, you know, a myriad
21:03
Speaker 1: of times in his career, that's massive. To make him
21:05
Speaker 1: go long field like that, I mean, that gives the
21:07
Speaker 1: defense extra juice. And you know, the offense is like,
21:10
Speaker 1: I can't make a mistake. If I make a mistake, now, gosh,
21:13
Speaker 1: they got points. You know, we're on a short field.
21:15
Speaker 1: So it changes play calling, change his attitude, changes mindset.
21:19
Speaker 1: But there's nothing better than you know, you're backed up
21:23
Speaker 1: in your fifteen yard line and a punter boots the
21:25
Speaker 1: ball from his own end zone to their ten yard line.
21:28
Speaker 1: I mean that's like huge, So you know, I guess,
21:32
Speaker 1: I guess Darren has to weigh all that. I guess
21:34
Speaker 1: weigh all that out. To me, I don't know. It's
21:37
Speaker 1: almost like Kevin Huber in my mind, almost deserves to
21:40
Speaker 1: be knocked out instead of TKOD And I'm not sure
21:44
Speaker 1: he's knocked out. You know, I think Christman's a talent.
21:47
Speaker 1: I think somebody's going to gobble him up when he
21:49
Speaker 1: goes on the waiver wire. And I honestly, I think
21:52
Speaker 1: somebody that's got a punning problem is gonna goble up
21:54
Speaker 1: Kevin Huber as well. Whoever they let go has got
21:57
Speaker 1: a job somewhere in the National Football League. But Kevin
22:00
Speaker 1: Huber is an institution here. I mean he's He's something
22:04
Speaker 1: that you know, seasons come and go, but Hubert stays.
22:07
Speaker 1: So it's going to be very very interesting. Darren Simmons
22:10
Speaker 1: has a very very intriguing decision to make, and you
22:15
Speaker 1: know he did. I thought he was kind of tipping
22:18
Speaker 1: his hand a little bit when he says when he
22:20
Speaker 1: said early before training camp started, I think he said
22:23
Speaker 1: sixty percent of the job now because of place kicking,
22:26
Speaker 1: the excellence of the kickers as a holder and forty
22:28
Speaker 1: percent punter. I'm thinking, oh, he's going Huber. And then
22:31
Speaker 1: Chrisman is a good athlete and he's got high hand coordination.
22:34
Speaker 1: He's shown marked improvement. And Darren says he's monitored. You know,
22:38
Speaker 1: he's tracked all of them, and it's it's a toss
22:41
Speaker 1: up so Man, but he's done it for all those
22:44
Speaker 1: years and Clark Harris and Kevin Huber have never had
22:48
Speaker 1: a screw up. All that stuff just means something to me.
22:51
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's one of those situations where how
22:55
Speaker 1: can you how can you say what? It's either decisions,
22:59
Speaker 1: it's that's made. But it's a difficult one, very tough.
23:03
Speaker 1: Let's turn to Jackson Carmen, who got every snap at
23:06
Speaker 1: left guard. He may have been very solid over the
23:10
Speaker 1: course of most of those snaps the night. Hopefully he
23:12
Speaker 1: was when we go back and look at the tape
23:14
Speaker 1: of the game. But he did give up a sack,
23:17
Speaker 1: he had a penalty. The kinds of mistakes unfortunately that have,
23:21
Speaker 1: you know, hurt him because it's kind of a roller
23:23
Speaker 1: coaster ride with him. Do you think that helps clinches
23:26
Speaker 1: that clinch things in favor of Cordell Volson, if it
23:29
Speaker 1: wasn't already clinch going into the game. Yeah, you know,
23:32
Speaker 1: I think I think that if if it was close
23:36
Speaker 1: going into the game. In my mind, Cordell Volson the
23:43
Speaker 1: thing that if I'm coaching the offensive line, I have
23:46
Speaker 1: a lot of trust and Cordell Volson and athletics is
23:50
Speaker 1: built on trust, just like relationships. Any relationships built on trust.
23:55
Speaker 1: And I think Cordell Volson, even even as young as
23:58
Speaker 1: he is, he's he's very very I mean, all the
24:03
Speaker 1: abilities besides the physical ability or liability, responsibility, dependability, availability,
24:10
Speaker 1: he's got all the available abilities. And he's he's strong.
24:15
Speaker 1: You know, he finishes, he learns quickly. It's not you know,
24:19
Speaker 1: he doesn't make the same mistake twice. He's got he's
24:24
Speaker 1: got a lot of uh, he's got a lot of
24:27
Speaker 1: very very high redeeming qualities. You know. Um, He's made
24:31
Speaker 1: us some good stuff. There's no doubt about it. So
24:36
Speaker 1: but honestly, I think they're gonna need both of them
24:39
Speaker 1: at some point in time. So if it does work
24:42
Speaker 1: out that they go with Cordell Wilson, Jackson, Carmen can't
24:45
Speaker 1: get his darbar down Jackson Carmen. I mean, if you,
24:48
Speaker 1: if you you know, my mindset would be all right, Well,
24:52
Speaker 1: I'll just try to get better, work harder. Maybe they rotate,
24:56
Speaker 1: maybe three guards rotate. You know, who knows, maybe they
25:00
Speaker 1: end up. I'm not going to run a messenger guard
25:04
Speaker 1: system with Joe Barrow, but who knows what they do it.
25:06
Speaker 1: You just you don't spit the bit, you don't give
25:08
Speaker 1: up on it. And that's going to be the next
25:11
Speaker 1: That's the next thing that I would look at as
25:13
Speaker 1: a coach. All right, Well, if it doesn't work out,
25:17
Speaker 1: am I going to lose one of these two guys?
25:20
Speaker 1: And you can't make a decision on well, I don't
25:22
Speaker 1: want to hurt that guy's feelings. This guy would handle
25:24
Speaker 1: it better. So I'm gonna go with this guy because
25:26
Speaker 1: he would. You don't want to do that. So it's
25:30
Speaker 1: I think. I think Cordell Wolson is probably comfortable with
25:35
Speaker 1: resting on the tape that he's put on display, and
25:38
Speaker 1: I'll let the chips fall as they may. Let's turn
25:41
Speaker 1: to Justin rig who caught a three yard touchdown past tonight.
25:44
Speaker 1: The Bengals number one tight end Hayden Hurst healthy ready
25:47
Speaker 1: to go for the start of the season. Drew Sample
25:50
Speaker 1: sprinted with some of his teammates before the game tonight,
25:52
Speaker 1: so it looks like hopefully he'll return to practice next week.
25:56
Speaker 1: Mitchell Wilcox is still out, so the tight end position
26:00
Speaker 1: is a bit of a mystery. And justin Ray, we
26:03
Speaker 1: already knew he could block, and now he showed something
26:05
Speaker 1: in the passing game with a touchdown catching the red
26:07
Speaker 1: zone tonight. Yeah, that was good to see. I think
26:09
Speaker 1: they know. It's almost like they rewarded him for a
26:12
Speaker 1: job well done at the line of s primmage. Now
26:14
Speaker 1: we're gonna get you know, We're gonna target you and
26:17
Speaker 1: let you catch an NFL touchdown pass in the preseason.
26:19
Speaker 1: You know, it's like a good job kid, and h
26:22
Speaker 1: you know, we know you can do this and we're
26:24
Speaker 1: gonna let you do it. And just like every position,
26:28
Speaker 1: Dan and I mean I when every single training camp
26:31
Speaker 1: I went to, I'm like, I gotta win us a job.
26:35
Speaker 1: First thing I have to do is win a job
26:36
Speaker 1: to get on the rush and then win a starting job.
26:39
Speaker 1: But you have to approach it that way every year
26:41
Speaker 1: because there's always somebody, whether they trade for him or
26:45
Speaker 1: they pick him up off the waiver wire or whatever
26:46
Speaker 1: the case may be. A big part of a personnel
26:50
Speaker 1: department's responsibility is always trying to improve the football team. So, man,
26:54
Speaker 1: if you think you got it made, that's when you
26:56
Speaker 1: don't have it made. Honestly, it's it's so competitive. There
27:01
Speaker 1: are so many guys that would give their right arm
27:04
Speaker 1: to be in the National Football League. And if you
27:06
Speaker 1: feel like you know, I got it, I'm good man,
27:10
Speaker 1: you'd start that complacency. You're gonna get slapped down, man,
27:14
Speaker 1: and get slapped down quick. So hopefully all these guys
27:17
Speaker 1: realize because that this roster Tuesday at four o'clock, that's
27:21
Speaker 1: just the beginning. There could be, you know, multiple tweaks
27:24
Speaker 1: during the course of the week. You know, there may
27:27
Speaker 1: be some guys that are on the on the waiver
27:29
Speaker 1: wire that they fully intend on bringing back and having
27:33
Speaker 1: a guy make the fifty three man roster then put
27:36
Speaker 1: them an injury reserve. It's a lot lesser time, so
27:38
Speaker 1: you have to play the roster mechanics, and they've done
27:41
Speaker 1: that over the years multiple times. So at four o'clock
27:45
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, you can actually don't let the all the
27:48
Speaker 1: air out though, because man, There's there's more days the
27:51
Speaker 1: rest of the week that you're gonna have to worry
27:53
Speaker 1: about and deal with. And that's just life in the NFL.
27:55
Speaker 1: If it were easy, everybody to do it. Last thing,
27:59
Speaker 1: at the end of the final preseason game in your
28:02
Speaker 1: rookie year, did you know that you had made the
28:05
Speaker 1: team or did you have that uncomfortable weight to find
28:08
Speaker 1: out that you were good to go? I was drafted
28:11
Speaker 1: in the third round, the sixty first pick in the draft,
28:15
Speaker 1: and a guy named Daryl White, All American guard from Nebraska.
28:20
Speaker 1: We were the two All American guards. He was drafted
28:22
Speaker 1: in the fourth round. Dog fight and you know, my
28:29
Speaker 1: good buddy, Stan Walter's fellow Syracuse salum was on the
28:32
Speaker 1: team still before he had traded to Philadelphia Eagles for
28:35
Speaker 1: John Rees, the quarterback and standing makes the Pro Bowl
28:37
Speaker 1: at the eag He was a really good player. But
28:41
Speaker 1: so last cut and I get my playbook in my hand,
28:44
Speaker 1: I get out of my car and I'm looking at
28:46
Speaker 1: Frank's mouse who was the turk, And I'm like, I'm
28:49
Speaker 1: kind of tiptoe and you know, should I walk faster?
28:51
Speaker 1: And he looks at me and then he kind of
28:53
Speaker 1: looks around me. I'm like, so I go to my
28:55
Speaker 1: locker change out, put on my shorts, t shirt, going
28:59
Speaker 1: to the team meeting him, and everybody had tape. Paul
29:02
Speaker 1: Brown put a strip of tape in the right hand
29:05
Speaker 1: corner up a right hand corner of your desk with
29:07
Speaker 1: your name on it, so Lion will up front. I
29:10
Speaker 1: go looking for my name, No lap him. I'm like,
29:12
Speaker 1: Sun up again. Frank's mouse didn't even recognize me. And
29:14
Speaker 1: that's how bad I suck. He didn't even know who
29:16
Speaker 1: the hell I was. This is awful and I made
29:19
Speaker 1: no impression, and I was beat red. I could I
29:22
Speaker 1: could feel the heat coming off my chest, and I'm like,
29:24
Speaker 1: Darrell made it and make it something. So I really
29:27
Speaker 1: had no idea, and I'm thinking because because I played
29:32
Speaker 1: the first three preseason games, I played quite a bit,
29:34
Speaker 1: and then I didn't, you know, and Daryl played a
29:37
Speaker 1: ton and I'm thinking, Okay, is this a signal that
29:40
Speaker 1: you played well enough or it's like it wasn't good enough.
29:43
Speaker 1: And Darrel, they want to see him how well he's playing,
29:45
Speaker 1: and so you don't know. You just don't know what
29:47
Speaker 1: they're thinking. And so I turned around to find Darrell
29:52
Speaker 1: and shake his hand. No, Darrel. I'm like, God, they
29:55
Speaker 1: cut both of us. I can't believe that. And then
29:57
Speaker 1: everybody starts laughing and stand hit hidden my desk in
29:59
Speaker 1: the he pulls my desk out. Ain't done, rookie. I
30:03
Speaker 1: wanted to kill him, but I'm like my heart was pounding,
30:06
Speaker 1: and so Paul Brown after the meeting, congratulations young man,
30:11
Speaker 1: and I'm like, coach, I was thinking, that's your first mistake.
30:14
Speaker 1: Don't think, don't think. I'll do the thinking you play.
30:17
Speaker 1: Don't think. I'm like, yes, sir. Words to live by.
30:21
Speaker 1: Don't think doubt about it, no doubt about it, don't
30:25
Speaker 1: overcomplicate anything, don't think. Bengals returned to practice on Wednesday
30:30
Speaker 1: as they turned their focus to the regular season opener
30:34
Speaker 1: against the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers. The
30:39
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
30:43
Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals
30:47
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year,
30:50
Speaker 1: with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all
30:54
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the App Store
30:58
Speaker 1: and Google Play. Now time for this week's Fun Facts interview,
31:02
Speaker 1: where you get to know the person under the pads.
31:06
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with rookie tight End. Justin
31:09
Speaker 1: rig from Springboro, Ohio, about forty miles away from Cincinnati.
31:14
Speaker 1: Were you a Bengals fan as a kid? Actually, I
31:17
Speaker 1: was not, I guess I kind of at first grew
31:20
Speaker 1: up and my middle brother was a Bengals fan, and
31:23
Speaker 1: then my oldest brother was a Steeler slash Falcons fan,
31:27
Speaker 1: and then I kind of revolted against going with one
31:30
Speaker 1: of them, and I was I've been a Seahawks fan
31:32
Speaker 1: kind of mine. It was my whole life until kind
31:34
Speaker 1: of up to until now, I guess. So, yeah, I
31:37
Speaker 1: Seahawks fan, growing up in Springboro wearing a Russell Wilson jersey.
31:41
Speaker 1: How passionate were you about that? I mean it started
31:44
Speaker 1: with Matt Hasselbeck and Sean Alexander and them way back
31:48
Speaker 1: when I was a little younger, and when they went
31:50
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl against the Steelers that year, and
31:53
Speaker 1: then ever since then, you know, yeah, I was a
31:55
Speaker 1: big Russell fan. Bobby Wagner, all those guys, just loved
31:59
Speaker 1: them all. Justin you're a big man, You're six six
32:01
Speaker 1: to sixty Were you always the tall kid in the
32:03
Speaker 1: back of the class photo or did you have a
32:06
Speaker 1: late growth spurt growing up? I would say I was
32:09
Speaker 1: always a taller kid, but I would say up until
32:12
Speaker 1: eighth grade, I was kind of with those taller kids.
32:16
Speaker 1: But eighth grade, going into freshman year, I would say
32:18
Speaker 1: I just started to grow and be like the taller
32:21
Speaker 1: kid in school. Probably only a couple other kids in
32:23
Speaker 1: school were even close to the height that I was at,
32:26
Speaker 1: so I guess at that in high school I kind
32:28
Speaker 1: of took over the height. When it came time for college,
32:31
Speaker 1: you went to Kentucky Why UK? And was that a
32:34
Speaker 1: difficult decision? I would say throughout the process, you know,
32:38
Speaker 1: going to different camps and stuff like that, I had
32:41
Speaker 1: no idea until I think I started to talk with
32:44
Speaker 1: Coach Stoves and Coach Marrow, and they were heavily recruiting
32:47
Speaker 1: me and just kind of talking to them, busy with them.
32:49
Speaker 1: They kind of made Kentucky feel like a second home,
32:52
Speaker 1: and they kind of made they felt trustworthy. And I
32:55
Speaker 1: felt that the way Coach Marrow was talking to me,
32:57
Speaker 1: I could really trust what he was telling me, and
32:58
Speaker 1: everything that he did tell me came so till this day.
33:01
Speaker 1: I think that the way they recruit and the way
33:03
Speaker 1: they do, they're really upfront and honest with players, and
33:05
Speaker 1: I think that they're going to continue to grow that
33:08
Speaker 1: program like they are now. And I think I've made
33:10
Speaker 1: a great choice coming there. You must have liked it
33:12
Speaker 1: because you're there for a long time, more than a
33:14
Speaker 1: quarter of your life. So you got injured. It's a
33:17
Speaker 1: true freshman, so you got a medical red shirt. Then
33:19
Speaker 1: the COVID rules allowed you to take an extra year,
33:22
Speaker 1: so you actually played in six different seasons. Was staying
33:26
Speaker 1: a football decision or did you just love UK that
33:29
Speaker 1: much that you wanted another year? It was definitely. I
33:32
Speaker 1: mean I do love UK, but I think that extra
33:34
Speaker 1: year really helped me develop my game even more, with
33:38
Speaker 1: you know, getting a whole new offense and it kind
33:40
Speaker 1: of being the NFL style offense that we had. I
33:42
Speaker 1: think it really helped propel me to get to where
33:44
Speaker 1: I am now. I think staying that extra year was
33:48
Speaker 1: kind of beneficial to helping me get to the NFL.
33:52
Speaker 1: Aside from football, what was your favorite part of the
33:54
Speaker 1: UK experience? I would say I do love UK as
33:58
Speaker 1: like a city, and I love everything that they have
34:00
Speaker 1: going on there. I feel like there's always something to do,
34:02
Speaker 1: and then you know, just I feel like anywhere you go,
34:04
Speaker 1: the college experience is really awesome, and especially having the
34:08
Speaker 1: teammates that I did and the friends that I had there,
34:10
Speaker 1: that it really was a great thing all around. You
34:13
Speaker 1: signed with the Bengals after the draft as a college
34:15
Speaker 1: free agent. I imagine you were hoping to get drafted.
34:18
Speaker 1: Was that weekend disappointing? I mean yeah, I mean, every
34:22
Speaker 1: every player always wants to get drafted, and you're sitting
34:24
Speaker 1: there watching the whole draft, just watching your phone because
34:27
Speaker 1: you really never know. I knew I was just from
34:29
Speaker 1: reports and talking to my agent. I knew i'd be
34:31
Speaker 1: in that back end. I mean, I have different opinions,
34:35
Speaker 1: but I just knew that's where I would be, and
34:36
Speaker 1: I knew that the situation that I was in would
34:39
Speaker 1: come down to it, and you know, it's it's really
34:41
Speaker 1: worked out for me. And I love being close to home,
34:44
Speaker 1: love being at the Bengals, and I love everything that
34:45
Speaker 1: they do here. You know, Coach Taylor has a great
34:48
Speaker 1: program going on, and I just love the way that
34:51
Speaker 1: the style of the organization they have. So we've heard
34:54
Speaker 1: stories about guys in your position. Where as the draft
34:57
Speaker 1: is winding down, the phone starts to ring. It's teams
35:01
Speaker 1: trying to get in position to potentially sign you as
35:03
Speaker 1: soon as they're allowed. Is that what it was like
35:04
Speaker 1: for you? Oh? Yeah, I received phone calls from different teams,
35:07
Speaker 1: all kind of from all different areas, and you know,
35:11
Speaker 1: it was just kind of it comes in fast. So
35:13
Speaker 1: I was getting those calls and then you know, right
35:15
Speaker 1: when you hung up, you talked to your agent about
35:17
Speaker 1: your options, what you think, and then you get another
35:20
Speaker 1: phone call and then you just kind of you got
35:21
Speaker 1: to make a decision fast because those offers could go away,
35:24
Speaker 1: like like anything can really happen in that time, and
35:27
Speaker 1: you could call back and they'd be like, okay, well off,
35:31
Speaker 1: like that offers off the table type thing. But you know,
35:33
Speaker 1: we kind of had a game plan going into what
35:37
Speaker 1: my decisions would be and looking at different teams. We
35:39
Speaker 1: kind of had it down and I feel like this
35:42
Speaker 1: was the best fit for me. We're doing fun facts
35:44
Speaker 1: with tight End justin Riggs. So you made your NFL
35:46
Speaker 1: debut a couple of weeks ago at pay Course Stadium.
35:49
Speaker 1: How big was the rooting section and can you articulate
35:52
Speaker 1: what that was like to make your NFL debut so
35:55
Speaker 1: close to home. Yeah, it was pretty awesome because you know,
35:58
Speaker 1: I had pretty much my whole family here. But then
36:00
Speaker 1: I also had a lot of close friends at the
36:02
Speaker 1: game too, And you know, you know, once you start playing,
36:05
Speaker 1: you kind of zone out, but then after the game
36:07
Speaker 1: you kind of realize all the people that were there
36:09
Speaker 1: to watch you. And you know, after I saw my
36:11
Speaker 1: entire family and I was just ecstatic, and I was like,
36:13
Speaker 1: I just played in the NFL game. You know, you
36:15
Speaker 1: reach your goal. I mean, I have more goals now,
36:17
Speaker 1: but you kind of reached that final goal of I
36:20
Speaker 1: made it to the NFL and I got to play
36:22
Speaker 1: in the NFL game, But you know, I still got
36:25
Speaker 1: a lot more goals to prove and I got a
36:26
Speaker 1: lot of things to do. But just being able to
36:28
Speaker 1: share that with my family and friends was a great thing.
36:32
Speaker 1: I reference your size. You're an excellent blocker, but I
36:35
Speaker 1: know that you can sider yourself a good pass catcher
36:38
Speaker 1: as well. Correct, is that a big thing you would
36:41
Speaker 1: like to prove to everybody you know right now? Like
36:45
Speaker 1: I see myself as that blocking tight end and I
36:48
Speaker 1: want to fit that team role and I'll go in
36:51
Speaker 1: there and block for a second down. I'm completely fine
36:53
Speaker 1: with that. You know, if I go out, if I
36:55
Speaker 1: do go out for a pass, I'm gonna catch it
36:57
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna run and I'm gonna do what I
36:59
Speaker 1: can do. I feel like I have great hands, but
37:01
Speaker 1: right now i feel like I am a great blocker,
37:03
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna utilize that and push for my future
37:07
Speaker 1: as a blocking tight end show that I can do that,
37:09
Speaker 1: Just so so the team can trust me in that factor,
37:13
Speaker 1: I'll write a few wild card topics for Justin Rigg.
37:17
Speaker 1: According to year UK bio, your hidden talent is card tricks.
37:22
Speaker 1: There's evidence of this on YouTube, so I've seen some
37:25
Speaker 1: of your work. How did that get started? You know,
37:28
Speaker 1: I think my freshman because in high school and stuff like,
37:31
Speaker 1: I would always like if I was at home, I
37:32
Speaker 1: would get bored. I would start learning card tricks. And
37:34
Speaker 1: there was a time period where I would a while
37:37
Speaker 1: that I learned a bunch of card tricks and then
37:39
Speaker 1: I really liked it. I thought it was really cool.
37:41
Speaker 1: And then I got to UK and I saw the
37:43
Speaker 1: formulare like, oh hidden talents. I was like, the only
37:45
Speaker 1: I can think of as a card tricks. I wrote
37:47
Speaker 1: it down and it kind of stuck. And then throughout
37:49
Speaker 1: my years at UK, they asked me a couple of
37:53
Speaker 1: times to do I wasn't as doing it as much then,
37:55
Speaker 1: but they kind of asked me to do it. So
37:57
Speaker 1: I try to pull from memory some card tricks that
37:59
Speaker 1: I could do. But yeah, I think I love you know,
38:02
Speaker 1: America's got talent and all that stuff that you see
38:04
Speaker 1: all those things on I think they're really cool. I
38:06
Speaker 1: recommend checking it out on YouTube. You do it well.
38:09
Speaker 1: If that you're hidden talent, what are you terrible at? Terrible?
38:15
Speaker 1: You know? With all seeing all these rookie show things
38:20
Speaker 1: that they're doing across the league and stuff, There's one
38:22
Speaker 1: thing I will never sing. I cannot sing. I have
38:25
Speaker 1: a bad voice. I know I can't sing, and I
38:27
Speaker 1: just I would refuse to do that. But yeah, I
38:29
Speaker 1: would say that was the one thing I'd be that
38:31
Speaker 1: I'd be bad at. John Caliperry recently did an interview
38:34
Speaker 1: where he said UK is a basketball school. Were you offended?
38:42
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of things can get taken out
38:44
Speaker 1: of context, and I don't know the full story of it.
38:47
Speaker 1: I did see all that stuff, and you know, you
38:48
Speaker 1: see it all over social media and stuff. But I
38:51
Speaker 1: know that the both programs and all of UK athletics
38:55
Speaker 1: have a great, you know, friendship, and they're all together
38:58
Speaker 1: and they want every single organization or every team to succeed.
39:02
Speaker 1: And I think that that feud was I know that
39:06
Speaker 1: those coaches don't have that feud with each other, and
39:09
Speaker 1: I know they're probably they probably already figured it out.
39:11
Speaker 1: And to me personally, you know, I think what coach
39:15
Speaker 1: Joe has done has shown that we that were in
39:18
Speaker 1: everything type of school, and I think that it shows
39:21
Speaker 1: I don't think that it was meant that way. I
39:23
Speaker 1: guess Coach cal did go on to say he wants
39:25
Speaker 1: the football team to win double digit games every year
39:27
Speaker 1: and go to a bowl game, so I guess he
39:29
Speaker 1: couched it a little bit. Yeah. Final question, This one's
39:33
Speaker 1: kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman,
39:40
Speaker 1: whoever it might be, who would that person be and why,
39:47
Speaker 1: like maybe George Washington, just to meet somebody back from
39:51
Speaker 1: way back then and just kind of understand what the
39:54
Speaker 1: things that they went through and how I guess that
39:56
Speaker 1: time period and just what it what it was like,
39:58
Speaker 1: because you really never know what happened all those years
40:00
Speaker 1: ago and just kind of see, I guess what happened
40:03
Speaker 1: then I don't. That's a tough question though. I'll have
40:05
Speaker 1: to think about that one more. I'm trying. A bunch
40:07
Speaker 1: of people are going through my head, and I'm just
40:08
Speaker 1: trying to pick a good one. But yeah, I would
40:10
Speaker 1: just think anybody from you know, back in like eighteen
40:13
Speaker 1: hundreds or just just to know what that time period was. Like.
40:16
Speaker 1: You can't go wrong with George Washington, father of our country.
40:19
Speaker 1: That's a great answer. Yeah, that's why I picked. I
40:22
Speaker 1: was like that, you can't go wrong with that, all right.
40:24
Speaker 1: If you think of something else, feel free to let
40:26
Speaker 1: me know. But in the meantime, appreciate your time, best
40:29
Speaker 1: of luck, and congratulations on this opportunity making it into
40:33
Speaker 1: an NFL campus a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself. Yeah,
40:36
Speaker 1: thank you. I really appreciate it, all right. That's justin ring.
40:40
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of The
40:41
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41:06
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals
41:09
Speaker 1: Booth podcast