Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Can't Stop

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: Can't Stop · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Hoard, and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the Can't Stop a Dig to
0:10
Speaker 1: Do the Shindig edition, as the Bengals fall to 2-2
0:15
Speaker 1: with a 22-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coming up,
0:20
Speaker 1: radio replays, locker room comments, and postgame analysis from former
0:24
Speaker 1: UC and NFL quarterback Tony Pike. Then, in this week's
0:27
Speaker 1: Fun Facts Conversation, you'll get to know third-year defensive end
0:31
Speaker 1: Cedric Johnson. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
0:35
Speaker 1: by Paycor, proud to be the Bengals' official HR software provider.
0:40
Speaker 1: By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber internet designed to elevate your home, business,
0:44
Speaker 1: and community to a new level. And by Kettering Health,
0:48
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
0:51
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now, here's a
0:54
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:57
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered Write to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:01
Speaker 1: by subscribing, wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:05
Speaker 1: thing since my foolproof technique for sleeping on a plane.
1:10
Speaker 1: I had a busy weekend. The UC Bearcats played on
1:14
Speaker 1: Saturday night in Arizona, and the kickoff was at 11 p.m. Eastern.
1:20
Speaker 1: Ten and a half hours after that game ended, the
1:22
Speaker 1: Bengals game kicked off at Pacor Stadium. It was possible
1:26
Speaker 1: for me to broadcast both games because I fly with
1:29
Speaker 1: a team and UC travels home right after its road games.
1:33
Speaker 1: In this case, we landed around 8 a.m., giving me
1:36
Speaker 1: time to grab a quick shower and head to the stadium,
1:39
Speaker 1: but no time for a nap. So I had to
1:42
Speaker 1: try to catch a few hours of sleep on the
1:44
Speaker 1: flight home. I've never been able to sleep on planes,
1:47
Speaker 1: but with the Big 12 expanding to Utah, Arizona, and Colorado,
1:51
Speaker 1: I've dealt with this scenario for three straight years, and
1:54
Speaker 1: I had to figure out a way to catch some Zs.
1:58
Speaker 1: Here's what I've come up with. I take a winter
2:00
Speaker 1: hat on the plane, and I pull it down over
2:03
Speaker 1: my head to cover my eyes for darkness while also
2:07
Speaker 1: keeping my head warm. I probably look like I'm getting
2:10
Speaker 1: ready to rob a bank, but it works. So, if
2:14
Speaker 1: you need to sleep on a plane, and don't mind
2:17
Speaker 1: looking ridiculous, bring a winter hat. and pull it down
2:20
Speaker 1: over your head. Just hope that nobody takes a picture. Now,
2:26
Speaker 1: time for radio replays from Sunday's nail-biter, Against Jacksonville. Today
2:31
Speaker 1: in the jungle, it's a matchup of two of the
2:34
Speaker 1: AFC's best teams led by two of the NFL's most
2:38
Speaker 1: talented quarterbacks. It's the Bengals and Jaguars. Joe Burrow versus
2:44
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence. And it is time for the pigskin to
2:48
Speaker 1: fly here in Cincinnati. Jacksonville scored first on a 55-yard
2:53
Speaker 1: field goal by Cam Little. The Bengals tied it in
2:56
Speaker 1: the second quarter on a 29-yard boot by Evan McPherson.
3:00
Speaker 1: His 21st consecutive field goal without a miss to tie
3:03
Speaker 1: Shane Graham's team record. But on the drive leading to
3:07
Speaker 1: that field goal, the Bengals lost Jamar Chase. Burrow waits
3:11
Speaker 1: for a shotgun snap. Chase motions from right to left.
3:14
Speaker 1: Joe's back to throw. Passes for Jamar Chase. Makes the catch.
3:18
Speaker 1: Tries to make a man miss.
3:19
Speaker 2: Face mask.
3:19
Speaker 1: And gets face masked to the ground by Jarrion Jones.
3:24
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase laying down on his back after being tackled
3:29
Speaker 1: by the mask.
3:30
Speaker 2: And a third penalty flag was just thrown. Man, there's
3:34
Speaker 2: yellow handkerchiefs everywhere.
3:37
Speaker 1: Jamar not getting up yet. While Jamar was being grabbed
3:40
Speaker 1: by the face mask, another player, Ventrell Miller, drilled him.
3:45
Speaker 1: CBS analyst Robert Turbin thought that he should have been
3:48
Speaker 1: penalized for leading with the crown of his helmet. But
3:51
Speaker 1: that wasn't called. Jamar suffered a concussion. and was out
3:55
Speaker 1: for the rest of the game with 9.58 left in
3:57
Speaker 1: the half. Another Cam Little field goal gave the Jags
4:01
Speaker 1: a 6-3 lead with four minutes left in the second quarter. Then,
4:05
Speaker 1: with less than two minutes to go, Joe Burrow got
4:08
Speaker 1: hit by Josh Hines-Allen, resulting in a wounded duck throw
4:12
Speaker 1: that was intercepted by Jordan Lewis. It gave the Jags
4:15
Speaker 1: the ball in the red zone. Lawrence catches the shotgun snap,
4:19
Speaker 1: drops back, throws for the end zone, and no one
4:22
Speaker 1: is in the neighborhood as the catch is made by
4:26
Speaker 1: Brian Thomas Jr. for the easiest touchdown he'll ever have.
4:29
Speaker 3: You're right about that.
4:32
Speaker 2: Easiest touchdown he'll ever have and easiest touchdown pass Trevor
4:35
Speaker 2: Lawrence will ever throw.
4:37
Speaker 1: That gave Jacksonville a 13-3 halftime lead. The Bengals got
4:41
Speaker 1: the ball to begin the third and did exactly what
4:43
Speaker 1: they needed to do to get back into the game.
4:46
Speaker 1: Mitch Tinsley goes out wide to the left. Burrow back
4:48
Speaker 1: to throw. Guns a pass to the goal line. Caught
4:52
Speaker 1: for the touchdown. Spiked by Mike Gesicki as Burrow throws
4:58
Speaker 1: a line drive to his tight end for a Bengals touchdown.
5:02
Speaker 2: He had to throw that with a little bit of juice,
5:04
Speaker 2: a little bit of mustard on it.
5:05
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow did exactly that. A 54-yard field goal by
5:09
Speaker 1: Little gave Jacksonville a 16-10 lead going to the fourth quarter.
5:13
Speaker 1: But the Bengals drove to the 10-yard line with a
5:15
Speaker 1: chance to take their first lead. Three receivers left. Kosicki
5:19
Speaker 1: out to the right. Shotgun snap. Burrow looking. Throwing. Intercepted.
5:24
Speaker 1: Picked off by a Lewakin. And he gets tackled by
5:27
Speaker 1: Mitch Tinsley at the 15-yard line. Here's Joe on the
5:31
Speaker 1: red zone interception.
5:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's just, you know, bad play by me. You know,
5:36
Speaker 4: got pressure and was trying to get rid of it.
5:38
Speaker 3: And, you know, didn't see it.
5:40
Speaker 1: A rushing touchdown by Chris Rodriguez gave Jacksonville a 22-10
5:44
Speaker 1: lead with six and a half minutes to go. And
5:47
Speaker 1: on the Bengals' next drive, Tee Higgins left the game
5:50
Speaker 1: with a groin injury after catching 11 passes for 157 yards.
5:55
Speaker 1: Even without Tee, the Bengals made it a one-score game.
5:58
Speaker 1: We'll see if Burrow sneaks. He's under center. He does
6:02
Speaker 1: run a sneak. He gets pushed.
6:03
Speaker 5: He's in.
6:05
Speaker 1: And there's the touchdown signal. It's a one-yard touchdown run
6:09
Speaker 1: by Joe Burrow with 3.28 to go. The Bengals are
6:13
Speaker 1: not dead yet. Far from it. The defense got Joe
6:17
Speaker 1: the ball back with 1.44 to go at his own
6:20
Speaker 1: 17-yard line and no timeouts remaining. The first play was
6:24
Speaker 1: a 29-yard pass to Mitch Tinsley. The second was an
6:28
Speaker 1: 18-yard pass to Mike Kosicki. And the third was a
6:31
Speaker 1: 15-yard pass to Dante Myers. In three snaps, the Bengals
6:36
Speaker 1: were at the Jacksonville 21 with more than a minute
6:39
Speaker 1: to go. Joe Burrow's next pass was incomplete for Myers.
6:43
Speaker 1: It looked like Jarrion Jones got away with pass interference.
6:47
Speaker 1: Burrow's next throw was incomplete when Gasicki appeared to be
6:50
Speaker 1: open in the end zone. As it turned out, he
6:53
Speaker 1: had to line up in T. Higgins' spot and didn't
6:56
Speaker 1: run the route the way Burrow expected. On 3rd and 10,
6:59
Speaker 1: a deep ball fell incomplete for Tinsley. meaning the Bengals
7:03
Speaker 1: were down to their last chance. Game comes down to
7:06
Speaker 1: this play. 56 seconds to go. Fourth down and 10
7:09
Speaker 1: at the 21 of Jacksonville. The Bengals trail by five points.
7:14
Speaker 1: They need to get to the 11-yard line to keep
7:16
Speaker 1: the game alive. Shotgun snap. Burrow with time. Throws. Caught.
7:21
Speaker 1: Chase Brown tackled just shy of the line to gain.
7:25
Speaker 3: Oh, man.
7:26
Speaker 1: He's about a half yard short, and Jacksonville stops Cincinnati.
7:30
Speaker 1: Unbelievable play. Credit Rayon Lane with a great tackle, allowing
7:35
Speaker 1: Jacksonville to hold on 22-17. After a 2-0 start, the
7:40
Speaker 1: Bengals are 2-2.
7:42
Speaker 4: We had our opportunities the last two weeks, but certainly
7:46
Speaker 4: this isn't Armageddon or anything. We're still in a great
7:50
Speaker 4: spot and feel really good about our team. Come back
7:54
Speaker 4: to practice next week, keep getting better, and that's what
7:56
Speaker 4: the NFL is all about. You can't ride the roller
7:57
Speaker 4: coaster of the week to week. You're going to win some,
7:59
Speaker 4: you're going to lose some. Obviously, you want to win
8:02
Speaker 4: every single one. You're going to fight like hell to
8:04
Speaker 4: make it happen, but we're not going to ride that
8:07
Speaker 4: roller coaster.
8:07
Speaker 1: Time for my one-on-one conversation with Zach Taylor. Coach, let's
8:12
Speaker 1: start with Jamar Chase. You managed to move the ball
8:16
Speaker 1: down the field pretty well without him, but when you're
8:18
Speaker 1: missing the best wide receiver in the world for the
8:20
Speaker 1: last 40 minutes of the game, how does that affect
8:22
Speaker 1: your play calling, your game plan, all of it?
8:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, you've got to make adjustments. Just like when anybody
8:27
Speaker 6: goes out, obviously Jamar's a big part of our plan.
8:30
Speaker 6: We take a lot of pride in being able to
8:31
Speaker 6: adjust when anybody goes down, and that's what we had
8:33
Speaker 6: to do. We had our opportunities. We just weren't able
8:36
Speaker 6: to finish the game off.
8:37
Speaker 1: Did you basically have to go into the locker room
8:39
Speaker 1: at halftime and discuss, all right, what's our plan B?
8:42
Speaker 6: I mean, you're changing about every call you get because
8:47
Speaker 6: he's always a big part of what you do, but
8:49
Speaker 6: the beauty is we got really good coaches and players
8:50
Speaker 6: that can understand it, and that's a lot of why
8:53
Speaker 6: these guys make this team is because they're smart. They
8:55
Speaker 6: can handle a lot of different roles, so we're moving
8:57
Speaker 6: guys around.
8:58
Speaker 3: Joe trusted them.
8:59
Speaker 6: They made plays for us, and we had opportunities to
9:02
Speaker 6: win the game.
9:03
Speaker 1: It was a heroic effort by Tee Higgins. Obviously, he
9:05
Speaker 1: wasn't out there at the very end of the game,
9:07
Speaker 1: but up until that point with the defense basically designed
9:11
Speaker 1: to stop him, he kept making catch after catch. How
9:13
Speaker 1: did he do it?
9:14
Speaker 6: He did. I thought it was good communication by everybody.
9:18
Speaker 6: Joe coaches Tee on what routes we needed to get
9:21
Speaker 6: him when they were clouding him, when they were trying
9:22
Speaker 6: to double him. I thought we made some good adjustments
9:24
Speaker 6: over the course of the game so that they could
9:26
Speaker 6: not take him out of the game. And again, we
9:28
Speaker 6: take great pride in that. We just came up about
9:31
Speaker 6: a yard short from giving ourselves an opportunity to win there.
9:33
Speaker 1: How impressive is what Mitch Tinsley did, arriving on Tuesday
9:37
Speaker 1: morning and coming up with several big plays?
9:38
Speaker 6: That's why we've always loved Mitch. Mitch has been dependable
9:41
Speaker 6: for us. He can play a lot of different roles.
9:43
Speaker 6: When his number's called, he has stepped up for us.
9:45
Speaker 6: And so to get him back, somebody we trust. Obviously,
9:50
Speaker 6: we all had trust with the positions we put him in.
9:52
Speaker 6: I mean, he's moving from X to Z to F.
9:54
Speaker 6: I mean, these guys were playing three different positions the
9:56
Speaker 6: whole game. I really thought that they handled it well,
9:58
Speaker 6: and it's disappointing that we weren't. able to reward them
10:00
Speaker 6: with a win.
10:01
Speaker 1: On the flip side of the ball, they're tied in.
10:03
Speaker 1: Brenton Strange made some big plays, particularly on third down.
10:06
Speaker 1: You haven't watched tape yet, but does anything stand out
10:09
Speaker 1: about his ability to get open in those situations?
10:12
Speaker 6: I know there was one. We just got to get
10:13
Speaker 6: him on the ground. You know, it was third and
10:15
Speaker 6: long early in the game, and get him on the ground,
10:16
Speaker 6: make him punt. They ended up kicking a field goal
10:19
Speaker 6: on that drive, but So we'll watch the tape and
10:21
Speaker 6: we'll assess what we can do a better job of
10:23
Speaker 6: from limiting guys like that.
10:25
Speaker 1: You've got a bunch of injuries that you're dealing with
10:27
Speaker 1: right now. Brian Cook's absence obviously hurts you. He's a
10:31
Speaker 1: really good player. How do you feel like the guys
10:34
Speaker 1: that stepped in on the defensive end fared today?
10:36
Speaker 6: To my eye, I thought the communication was really good.
10:38
Speaker 6: It's something we'll come through tomorrow and really assess where
10:41
Speaker 6: everybody was at. But in the second half in particular,
10:44
Speaker 6: I thought our defense gave us a chance to win
10:46
Speaker 6: the game. They gave up seven points on an interception
10:48
Speaker 6: that could return to 18 points. You know, so they
10:50
Speaker 6: had a really short field. Otherwise, I think they held
10:52
Speaker 6: a really good team to 15 points. That should be
10:55
Speaker 6: enough for us to win the game. And we just
10:57
Speaker 6: weren't able to get it done.
10:58
Speaker 1: From your communication with Joe on his second interception, did
11:01
Speaker 1: he just not see a Luecken?
11:03
Speaker 6: You know, we didn't have time to go through that.
11:05
Speaker 6: We just had to problem solve to get back on
11:07
Speaker 6: the field and go back down again and try to score.
11:09
Speaker 6: And I think the next time we got the ball,
11:10
Speaker 6: we were down two scores there. So that's something we'll
11:13
Speaker 6: talk about tomorrow. But, you know, usually he's really good
11:16
Speaker 6: in that situation. And they just got us on one.
11:18
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time.
11:19
Speaker 2: Thanks, Sam.
11:20
Speaker 1: By the end of the game, the Bengals were down
11:22
Speaker 1: to two healthy wide receivers, Dante Myers and Mitch Tinsley.
11:26
Speaker 1: They combined for 10 catches for 131 yards, and I
11:31
Speaker 1: spoke to Myers after the game. Quite a day, Dante.
11:35
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase exited with about 10 minutes to go in
11:37
Speaker 1: the half. T. Higgins obviously was out at the end
11:40
Speaker 1: of the game, and you and Mitch, you're out there
11:43
Speaker 1: every snap. Talk about the effort that all of the
11:47
Speaker 1: receiver core put in to try to pull this out.
11:49
Speaker 7: I feel like it starts at the helm. They all
11:54
Speaker 7: work hard.
11:55
Speaker 3: We all work hard.
11:56
Speaker 7: It's the next man up mentality. But also understand that
11:58
Speaker 7: you're fighting for your brothers. Of course, we all know
12:00
Speaker 7: they want to be out there. We all know they're playmakers.
12:02
Speaker 7: So we just want to go out there and have
12:04
Speaker 7: their backs and make some plays for them.
12:06
Speaker 1: The loss of Jamar is obviously huge. How does it
12:08
Speaker 1: affect the mindset of the team when you lose the
12:11
Speaker 1: best wide receiver in the NFL with 10 minutes left
12:13
Speaker 1: in the half?
12:14
Speaker 7: Most importantly, that's our brother. We never want to see any...
12:18
Speaker 7: whenever our brothers go down, you know, and that just
12:20
Speaker 7: makes us, I wouldn't say high in our sentence because
12:22
Speaker 7: we're already locked in for the game, but just go
12:25
Speaker 7: out there and battle for him. You know, that's the
12:26
Speaker 7: close relationship we have, and, you know, he's the best
12:28
Speaker 7: receiver in the NFL, so, you know, we want to
12:30
Speaker 7: go out there and, you know, make some plays for him.
12:32
Speaker 1: The final catch by Chase wound up about a half
12:34
Speaker 1: yard short of being a first down. Is it kind
12:38
Speaker 1: of still a state of disbelief that you came that
12:40
Speaker 1: close and the game ended on that play?
12:42
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, everybody knows football is a game of inches,
12:45
Speaker 7: you know, so.
12:47
Speaker 7: Came up short today, which is unfortunate. We had some opportunities,
12:51
Speaker 7: but just didn't capitalize on enough of them.
12:53
Speaker 1: What can you say about your game and Mitch's game
12:57
Speaker 1: with some of the veteran guys down? You two guys
13:00
Speaker 1: both stepped up and had big games.
13:02
Speaker 7: We believe football is a game of injuries happen. Next
13:06
Speaker 7: man up, we all prepare to be ready because it's
13:09
Speaker 7: the National Football League. We understand that assignment. We all
13:12
Speaker 7: prepare to be ready whenever our name's called upon. You
13:15
Speaker 7: just want to be trusted, and today they called upon us,
13:17
Speaker 7: so we just tried to do the best we could
13:19
Speaker 7: to our abilities.
13:20
Speaker 1: You had an opportunity to pull it out there at
13:22
Speaker 1: the very end. You drove most of the way down
13:24
Speaker 1: the field. I assume that everybody in the huddle thought
13:28
Speaker 1: that you were going to punch it in the end
13:30
Speaker 1: zone and win this game.
13:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
13:33
Speaker 7: It's just unfortunate today. Hopefully, we'll look at the film
13:37
Speaker 7: and see what happens, but Going forward, we expect and
13:40
Speaker 7: hoping to make those and finish it off.
13:42
Speaker 1: Dante, appreciate your time.
13:43
Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
13:45
Speaker 1: Defensively, it was a bend-but-don't-break day for Cincinnati. Jacksonville ran
13:50
Speaker 1: for 111 yards. Trevor Lawrence threw for 227 with a
13:54
Speaker 1: passer rating of 122. And tight end Brenton Strange had
13:59
Speaker 1: seven catches for 95 yards. But the bottom line is
14:03
Speaker 1: that the Jags only scored 22 points. That normally means
14:07
Speaker 1: a Bengals win. especially at home. Here's my conversation with
14:11
Speaker 1: linebacker Barrett Carter who led the team with 11 tackles.
14:16
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about the mindset of trying
14:19
Speaker 1: to get the ball back at the end of the
14:20
Speaker 1: game to give the offense one more shot.
14:22
Speaker 8: Yeah I mean our mindset as a defense is plant
14:24
Speaker 8: the flag mentality you know line the ball up anywhere
14:27
Speaker 8: on the field and you know we're gonna do we're
14:30
Speaker 8: gonna fight our hearts out to get the ball back
14:32
Speaker 8: to our guys you know we have some of so
14:34
Speaker 8: much belief in the coaches and and our offense, and
14:37
Speaker 8: we know that they're going to put us in a
14:39
Speaker 8: position to win every single time, so wherever they want
14:42
Speaker 8: to put the ball, we have a plant the flag mentality.
14:45
Speaker 8: It doesn't matter where. We're just going to plant that
14:47
Speaker 8: flag and do what we can to try to get
14:48
Speaker 8: the ball back.
14:49
Speaker 1: How did you feel about the defense in general against
14:52
Speaker 1: a team that came in averaging nearly.
14:53
Speaker 3: 30 a game? I mean, not good enough.
14:57
Speaker 8: You know, the Bengals lost today, which is not what
14:59
Speaker 8: anybody in this building wants, and you could try to
15:02
Speaker 8: talk about defense or offense or special teams like we lost,
15:06
Speaker 8: and I mean, as a leader on this team, I'm
15:07
Speaker 8: going to always put the blame on us. Even if
15:10
Speaker 8: we play our best game and we still lost, I'm
15:12
Speaker 8: always going to put the blame on us. So as
15:14
Speaker 8: a defense, we got to keep trying to get more
15:16
Speaker 8: stops for our offense, trying to get the ball back
15:18
Speaker 8: to our guys. And we can't put them in tough
15:20
Speaker 8: positions to, you know, it shouldn't come down to the
15:23
Speaker 8: last drive. Like we have to try to put teams
15:25
Speaker 8: away earlier on in the game and make those last minutes,
15:29
Speaker 8: last in the game situations less stressful. So we have
15:32
Speaker 8: to do better as a defense. And that starts with
15:33
Speaker 8: me as a leader and, starts with me as a
15:36
Speaker 8: middle linebacker.
15:38
Speaker 1: Their tight end wound up having a big game. I
15:40
Speaker 1: know you haven't seen tape yet, but does anything stand
15:42
Speaker 1: out about some of his catches, particularly on third down?
15:45
Speaker 8: Yeah, I want to tip my cap to Strange. He's
15:47
Speaker 8: a great player. We definitely wanted to key in on
15:51
Speaker 8: him going into this game, but I feel like he's
15:54
Speaker 8: exposed with the ball in those second and long, third
15:57
Speaker 8: and longs, and he definitely ate up a lot of
15:59
Speaker 8: yards on those check down routes, so we have to
16:01
Speaker 8: do a better job as a defense rallying to him
16:03
Speaker 8: and getting more hats to the ball because he's a
16:05
Speaker 8: dynamic playmaker and he can hurt you after the catch.
16:08
Speaker 3: We have to do a better job of.
16:09
Speaker 8: Swarming him and getting him down for less yards.
16:12
Speaker 1: You basically played the last 40 minutes without Jamar Chase.
16:15
Speaker 1: How does his absence just affect everybody? Obviously, we know
16:18
Speaker 1: what you're missing on the field, but there's more than
16:20
Speaker 1: that when a guy like that is out of the lineup.
16:22
Speaker 8: Yeah, he's the best in the world for a reason.
16:25
Speaker 8: We know what Jamar can do. He's a problem every
16:27
Speaker 8: time he steps onto the field. Every single snap, you
16:29
Speaker 8: have to know where number one is. His absence is definitely...
16:34
Speaker 8: definitely painful, but we have so much trust in the
16:36
Speaker 8: other guys in that receiver room and that tight end
16:38
Speaker 8: room and even our running back room. It's always the
16:41
Speaker 8: next man up mentality, but obviously when you lose one
16:44
Speaker 8: of the best in the world, it's definitely going to
16:46
Speaker 8: hurt you, but the mentality we have is next man
16:48
Speaker 8: up and it's always who can make the next play.
16:52
Speaker 1: So here's how things look in the AFC North. Cleveland
16:55
Speaker 1: and Baltimore are tied for first at 3-1. The Bengals
16:59
Speaker 1: and Steelers are 2-2. Now, Time for postgame analysis from
17:03
Speaker 1: former NFL quarterback Tony Pike. Tough five-point loss for the
17:08
Speaker 1: Bengals today, Tony. I'll be honest with you, my first
17:11
Speaker 1: takeaway from the game is that Jacksonville is an exceptionally
17:13
Speaker 1: good tackling team. Not only do they get guys to
17:16
Speaker 1: the ground, they get them to the ground without them
17:19
Speaker 1: bouncing forward for three or four yards. The play ends
17:23
Speaker 1: when their guys make the tackle, and that's an area
17:25
Speaker 1: where the Bengals still need to improve.
17:27
Speaker 9: Yeah, you saw it on the very last play of
17:28
Speaker 9: the game. Chase Brown in space. and a sure tackle
17:31
Speaker 9: from the safety position. They did it all day, and again,
17:34
Speaker 9: it's one thing to tackle, and a guy, like you said,
17:36
Speaker 9: falls forward two or three yards, or it takes an army. Jacksonville,
17:41
Speaker 9: to their credit, I don't know that I've seen many
17:43
Speaker 9: teams in the NFL that tackle in space and tackle
17:47
Speaker 9: with as much physicality as what they do. I walk away,
17:50
Speaker 9: and again, there's opportunities that the Bengals had today that
17:52
Speaker 9: were shorthanded, but you walk away from a game like that,
17:55
Speaker 9: and you tip your cap to what Jacksonville does on
17:57
Speaker 9: the offensive side of the ball.
17:59
Speaker 1: Let's discuss the loss of Jamar Chase with about 10
18:01
Speaker 1: minutes to go in the second quarter. You said something
18:04
Speaker 1: while we were broadcasting the game that really resonated with me.
18:07
Speaker 1: You said they're going to go into the locker room
18:09
Speaker 1: at halftime and completely have to redo their game plan.
18:13
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, your game plan, you have the best
18:15
Speaker 9: receiver in football. You build a lot of your install
18:19
Speaker 9: around Jamar Chase. And when you go into a game week,
18:22
Speaker 9: there are so many different alignments and formations and motions
18:25
Speaker 9: that you want to use Jamar Chase in because it
18:27
Speaker 9: gets him open, but it also draws the defense to
18:30
Speaker 9: open up things for others. And then when he goes
18:32
Speaker 9: out on the sideline, there's not really time to completely
18:37
Speaker 9: revamp things. You're making an adjustment here, a tweak there.
18:40
Speaker 9: Who's going to line up in Jamar's place? And now
18:41
Speaker 9: where's T going to go? And is Chase Brown now
18:44
Speaker 9: going to slide? So all of that happens. Once you
18:46
Speaker 9: get into the locker room, you can kind of take
18:48
Speaker 9: a little bit of a deep breath. Here's what we're
18:50
Speaker 9: going to do to attack. For the Bengals today, we
18:52
Speaker 9: saw a lot of Piran and Chase Brown in there
18:54
Speaker 9: at the end of the game. But I also don't
18:56
Speaker 9: think you can overemphasize Mitch Tinsley was with the Texans
19:01
Speaker 9: this time last week. Dante Myers came from the CFL.
19:04
Speaker 9: They were in the drive at the last game, or
19:07
Speaker 9: at the last drive, making meaningful plays and earning Joe
19:09
Speaker 9: Burrow's trust. And while that is hard to swallow on
19:12
Speaker 9: a day where you lose, that's something that's going to
19:14
Speaker 9: help this team as the season goes on.
19:18
Speaker 1: The running game was not good today. Coming into the game,
19:20
Speaker 1: Chase Brown was on a pace for about 1,100 rushing
19:23
Speaker 1: yards this year. He was averaging four yards per carry.
19:25
Speaker 1: All of that stuff works, but They were completely stuffed
19:29
Speaker 1: in the running game today. Jacksonville has now gone 21
19:32
Speaker 1: consecutive games without allowing any runner to get to 75
19:35
Speaker 1: rushing yards. Do we give more credit to Jacksonville, or
19:38
Speaker 1: do we look at Cincinnati's rushing attack and say, there
19:42
Speaker 1: are some issues here that have to be resolved fast?
19:44
Speaker 9: I think both can be true, and Jacksonville is a
19:47
Speaker 9: very good front, and that tackling helps that. But at
19:50
Speaker 9: times today, there were favorable boxes. There were situations where
19:53
Speaker 9: Jacksonville surely was expecting pass and you still couldn't pop
19:56
Speaker 9: any runs. Nine rushes for 10 yards for Chase Brown.
19:59
Speaker 9: I mean, I entered this season thinking Chase Brown had
20:02
Speaker 9: a shot at James Brooks' team record of total yards
20:05
Speaker 9: from a running back because he's that talented. And he
20:08
Speaker 9: had 11 catches, and him as a receiver is a
20:11
Speaker 9: vital option. But if this team wants to be able
20:13
Speaker 9: to do play-action pass, if they want to reach their
20:15
Speaker 9: full potential on the offensive side of the ball, they
20:18
Speaker 9: need to be able to run the ball and get
20:19
Speaker 9: downhill on those. And you don't need to average seven,
20:22
Speaker 9: eight yards, but four, five yards a carry are some
20:25
Speaker 9: of those that pop. You didn't really see that today
20:27
Speaker 9: as well. You could be stymied all day and then
20:29
Speaker 9: one or two hit for 12 yards. You really didn't
20:32
Speaker 9: have that, and it makes things really tough. Again, already
20:35
Speaker 9: shorthanded at wide receiver, you have to abandon the run game,
20:37
Speaker 9: and in turn, Asked Joe Burrow to put the ball
20:40
Speaker 9: in the air 54 times.
20:43
Speaker 1: Another big day for an opposing tight end. It's getting
20:45
Speaker 1: frustrating for Bengals fans. A few weeks ago it was
20:48
Speaker 1: Dalton Schultz. Now in that game he caught a lot
20:50
Speaker 1: of short passes when the Bengals had a double-digit lead
20:52
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. So some of that is you
20:55
Speaker 1: give that up so you don't give up a deep ball.
20:57
Speaker 1: Last week Darnell Washington kills him with a catch late
21:01
Speaker 1: in the game where he's bouncing off people like a
21:03
Speaker 1: pinball and turns it into a 40-yard gain at 300 pounds.
21:07
Speaker 1: Today it was Brenton Strange. With all due respect to
21:09
Speaker 1: Brenton Strange, who's a fine NFL player, but nobody's going
21:13
Speaker 1: to confuse him for Travis Kelsey, and he absolutely killed
21:16
Speaker 1: them on third down.
21:19
Speaker 9: Seven catches, eight targets. That's how easy it was for
21:22
Speaker 9: Trevor Lawrence. It's been an issue all year for the Bengals.
21:24
Speaker 9: If I was an opposing offensive coordinator going against this unit,
21:28
Speaker 9: I would attack the middle of the field, and that's
21:30
Speaker 9: what teams are doing. We've already seen that throughout the
21:32
Speaker 9: course of the season. Four games in, you're going to
21:35
Speaker 9: start seeing it a lot more when the team turns
21:37
Speaker 9: on the tape and say, okay, well, Strange got open.
21:40
Speaker 9: Darnell Washington got open. They're just not covering in space
21:44
Speaker 9: the way you hoped you would see it. And there's
21:46
Speaker 9: a lot of variables that go into that. And I
21:47
Speaker 9: think the loss of Brian Cook right now has a
21:50
Speaker 9: ripple effect on the whole defense because he's the guy
21:52
Speaker 9: that sets everything in the back. He gets everyone where
21:54
Speaker 9: they need to go. He plays downhill aggressively at times.
21:58
Speaker 9: Without him, now you're not as sure at the safety's position.
22:02
Speaker 9: You're not as sure at the linebacker position. The third
22:04
Speaker 9: down at the end of the game, When you're trying
22:06
Speaker 9: to get the ball back, you're one-on-one with about nine
22:09
Speaker 9: yards of cushion. On Strange, you would think, like you said,
22:12
Speaker 9: he was respecting Travis Kelsey receptions.
22:14
Speaker 3: You've got to get up.
22:14
Speaker 9: You've got to be physical. You've got to try to
22:16
Speaker 9: limit that. But make no mistake about it, opposing offenses,
22:19
Speaker 9: that is going to be their number one topic of
22:22
Speaker 9: conversation going into this defense every week. How do we
22:25
Speaker 9: attack the middle of the field?
22:27
Speaker 1: From your perspective, what happened on the red zone interception
22:31
Speaker 1: for Joe Burrow?
22:32
Speaker 9: I thought it was a miscommunication with Joe and Mitchell Tinsley.
22:36
Speaker 9: I thought Joe expected Mitch to keep running, and Mitchell
22:39
Speaker 9: Tinsley read the safety coming down and started to throttle down. Now,
22:44
Speaker 9: if your job is to run, then you have to
22:46
Speaker 9: run through that player and go get the ball. But
22:48
Speaker 9: the miscommunication, again, of not having those live game reps.
22:52
Speaker 9: Think of all the training camp and the preseason, all
22:56
Speaker 9: these reps. Joe really never got one-on-one throws with Mitch Tinsley.
22:59
Speaker 9: That was for other people. Now all of a sudden
23:01
Speaker 9: he's making throws in the most meaningful point of a game.
23:04
Speaker 9: It's a miscommunication. I think if Joe can look at
23:06
Speaker 9: the film, he's going to want that one back, but
23:08
Speaker 9: that still doesn't negate the fact that Tinsley's got to
23:10
Speaker 9: run through there, which I think was what Joe was
23:12
Speaker 9: communicating at the end.
23:13
Speaker 1: Is this a good performance by the defense?
23:17
Speaker 9: I think when you step back and you say, okay,
23:19
Speaker 9: you held Jacksonville, you head your back against the wall
23:22
Speaker 9: a couple times, you hold a good offense to 22 points.
23:25
Speaker 9: I mean, you look what that offense did last week
23:27
Speaker 9: against the Patriots, a good defense in the NFL. Look
23:30
Speaker 9: what they did week one against the Cleveland Browns, and
23:32
Speaker 9: I think we view that game differently now, seeing what
23:34
Speaker 9: the Browns have done. You held a team like that
23:37
Speaker 9: to five for 11 on third down. You outgained them
23:40
Speaker 9: on first downs. You outgained them in total yards. They
23:42
Speaker 9: just didn't make enough of those third down stops when
23:46
Speaker 9: the game was on the line and you needed it.
23:48
Speaker 9: But I thought start to finish, another good performance and
23:51
Speaker 9: a step forward by the defense.
23:53
Speaker 1: What's the concern level at two and two?
23:56
Speaker 9: I think naturally you're going to look at the two
23:59
Speaker 9: wins and you're going to now say, okay, Tampa is 0-4.
24:03
Speaker 9: Houston is 0-4. Your two wins are against combined teams
24:06
Speaker 9: that are 0-8. The Jacksonville Jaguars was the best team
24:10
Speaker 9: that the Bengals have played, and they were there until
24:12
Speaker 9: the end, and you can make the argument that they're
24:14
Speaker 9: at full strength offensively. With that defensive performance, you held
24:18
Speaker 9: Jacksonville to 22 coming into the game. You're going to
24:19
Speaker 9: say that's going to be a win. They're resilient. They're
24:23
Speaker 9: working through a lot of injuries. I think the bye
24:25
Speaker 9: will come at a great time after Miami, but you
24:28
Speaker 9: don't know about Jamar Chase. You don't know about T.
24:30
Speaker 3: Higgins.
24:30
Speaker 9: You can't In the NFL, go anywhere, especially if you're
24:34
Speaker 9: shorthanded and say, well, that's going to be a win.
24:36
Speaker 9: Miami has professionals, too. They're getting paid money. They're hungry.
24:40
Speaker 9: You're going to go get a win in Miami. And
24:42
Speaker 9: if you do and you get to the bye at 3-2,
24:44
Speaker 9: then you start talking about what's next. And that would
24:46
Speaker 9: be an opportunity to go to Baltimore coming out of
24:49
Speaker 9: the bye and get this thing right back on track.
24:51
Speaker 9: They've dug themselves a little hole. This one hurt more
24:54
Speaker 9: because of how Pittsburgh got away from them. If you're
24:57
Speaker 9: 3-1 after a tough loss to Jacksonville shorthanded, you feel good.
25:01
Speaker 9: You lost the game at Pittsburgh. That makes this one
25:04
Speaker 9: sting a little bit more.
25:04
Speaker 1: A road game in Miami is next. The Dolphins are
25:08
Speaker 1: 0-4 after a five-point loss in Minnesota to the 4-0 Vikings.
25:14
Speaker 1: The Bengals open as a five-and-a-half point favorite. The Bengals
25:18
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycor, proud to
25:20
Speaker 1: be the Bengals' official HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof
25:26
Speaker 1: fiber internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community
25:29
Speaker 1: to a new level. and by Kettering Health, the best
25:32
Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
25:35
Speaker 1: health care provider of the Bengals. Finally, it's time for
25:39
Speaker 1: this week's fun fact segment, where we meet the person
25:42
Speaker 1: under the pads. Time for some fun facts with Bengals
25:46
Speaker 1: defensive end Cedric Johnson from Mobile, Alabama. When I think
25:51
Speaker 1: of Mobile, I immediately think of the Senior Bowl, which
25:54
Speaker 1: has been there for 75 years now. Did you ever
25:58
Speaker 1: go as a kid?
25:59
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
26:00
Speaker 5: A bunch of times, a handful of times. I honestly
26:04
Speaker 5: can't even count how many times we used to go.
26:05
Speaker 5: But it was always a big thing, like playing football there,
26:08
Speaker 5: going about.
26:09
Speaker 3: You're going to the Senior Bowl, how are we going
26:10
Speaker 3: to get Senior Bowl tickets this year? Trying to figure
26:12
Speaker 3: it out.
26:12
Speaker 5: So it was always a huge thing and a huge
26:14
Speaker 5: goal to play in the Senior Bowl for me.
26:16
Speaker 1: Do you remember seeing any specific superstars during your youth
26:20
Speaker 1: that really impressed you?
26:23
Speaker 5: I specifically remember just the year Aaron Donald went. That
26:27
Speaker 5: was a huge year, and I remember a lot of
26:28
Speaker 5: people talking about that one and how good.
26:30
Speaker 3: He was doing that, so that was a crazy year.
26:31
Speaker 5: But I was really young then, but I just remember.
26:35
Speaker 3: Hearing that name.
26:36
Speaker 1: And he's still playing now.
26:38
Speaker 3: Legendary. Legendary. Generational talent. Nothing more else to say on that.
26:43
Speaker 1: Visiting with Cedric Johnson, as you mentioned, you got to
26:45
Speaker 1: play in the game after a great career at Ole
26:47
Speaker 1: Miss as a kid from Mobile. Was that really a
26:51
Speaker 1: big deal for you and your family?
26:54
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I had a bunch of family there.
26:57
Speaker 5: It's too many to count, but everybody came out and
27:00
Speaker 5: supported just based off how huge the senior bowl is.
27:04
Speaker 5: All my family down there was there. It was a
27:05
Speaker 5: huge deal.
27:07
Speaker 1: You have an older brother, Cephas, who was an excellent
27:10
Speaker 1: high school and college quarterback. He spent a year on
27:12
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Bucks practice squad as a wide receiver.
27:15
Speaker 1: Did you grow up trying to be like him?
27:18
Speaker 3: Basically, I mean, hard not to. He playing football.
27:21
Speaker 5: I had to play football when I was like four
27:25
Speaker 5: when my mom put me in because he was at
27:26
Speaker 5: practice and I'm just running around the park all day long.
27:29
Speaker 5: So she's like, you got all this energy. We're going
27:31
Speaker 5: to send you out there, too. So I'm just following him.
27:35
Speaker 5: He goes to college for football. I got to go
27:38
Speaker 5: to college for football. So it was just always kind
27:39
Speaker 5: of just following behind him everything.
27:41
Speaker 3: He did for a while.
27:43
Speaker 1: He's entered the coaching world, correct?
27:45
Speaker 3: Yes, he's.
27:47
Speaker 5: Trying to stay in it, but it's on pause right now.
27:49
Speaker 5: But he's working on it still, yes.
27:52
Speaker 1: You had 16 sacks as a high school senior and
27:54
Speaker 1: had a bunch of college scholarship offers, but not from
27:58
Speaker 1: the two SEC schools in your state, Alabama and Auburn.
28:02
Speaker 1: Were you hoping to go to either place?
28:04
Speaker 5: I mean, of course, to some level. Just growing up,
28:07
Speaker 5: I was always like, Roll Tide, Roll Tide, or Eagle,
28:10
Speaker 5: you know, however.
28:11
Speaker 3: We grew up Roll Tide for sure, though, in my family.
28:14
Speaker 5: Yeah. Obviously, I was like, it'd be dope to go
28:18
Speaker 5: to one of these schools. But the main goal was
28:20
Speaker 5: to play in the SEC period. So getting to Ole Miss,
28:24
Speaker 5: getting my offer from Ole Miss was just as big,
28:26
Speaker 5: if not the same to me.
28:28
Speaker 1: It certainly worked out great. You did go to Ole
28:31
Speaker 1: Miss right when Lane Kiffin took over as the head coach.
28:34
Speaker 1: And by your senior year, the team won 11 games
28:37
Speaker 1: and finished in the top 10 in the country. What
28:39
Speaker 1: did you enjoy most about your four years at Ole Miss?
28:43
Speaker 3: The family environment that we had there.
28:45
Speaker 5: Just like the brotherhood I made, I got a long-term
28:48
Speaker 5: friend that I made that I'll be friends with forever.
28:51
Speaker 5: Forming that bond will forever be dope to me. Playing
28:54
Speaker 5: with those guys, winning the Egg Bowl as many times
28:56
Speaker 5: as we did, that's always a great feeling. It's just
29:00
Speaker 5: those moments that I'll never forget.
29:02
Speaker 1: Ole Miss is famous for having the best tailgate in
29:05
Speaker 1: college football at the Grove. 100,000 people dressed up in
29:09
Speaker 1: their Sunday best to eat, drink, and get fired up
29:12
Speaker 1: for SEC football. As a player, you walk through the
29:16
Speaker 1: Grove on your way to the stadium. Describe what that
29:20
Speaker 1: feeling is like.
29:21
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
29:22
Speaker 5: You think the game is out there, as many people
29:25
Speaker 5: as it is out there. It's dope. It's always just
29:28
Speaker 5: a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. I still
29:32
Speaker 5: haven't experienced it outside of playing football yet, so I
29:34
Speaker 5: know that's going to be a dope experience one day
29:36
Speaker 5: just to be in it and be one of the
29:39
Speaker 5: fans there. so I'm excited for that one day, but
29:41
Speaker 5: it's always just super electric.
29:43
Speaker 1: So you have not been back as an alum?
29:46
Speaker 3: No, not yet.
29:47
Speaker 5: I'm counting on it. I'm looking forward to the day
29:49
Speaker 5: I do. I'm excited for it.
29:51
Speaker 1: The Bengals selected you in the sixth round in 2024.
29:55
Speaker 1: Describe your draft day experience.
29:57
Speaker 3: It was good.
29:58
Speaker 5: We were in Destin, Florida, just having a good time,
30:02
Speaker 5: just all vibing together. A decent amount of friends, family
30:05
Speaker 5: were out there having a good time, sitting on the beach,
30:07
Speaker 5: just waiting for my number to be called.
30:08
Speaker 3: Honestly, just being patient.
30:10
Speaker 1: Why Destin?
30:11
Speaker 3: I grew up going to.
30:12
Speaker 5: Destin, Florida pretty often, just different parts of Florida, Orange Beach, Pensacola, Orlando.
30:18
Speaker 3: That was just relatively close.
30:21
Speaker 5: Destin has just always been super nice to me from
30:24
Speaker 5: my memories and childhood.
30:25
Speaker 3: I was like, let's just go here. That would be
30:26
Speaker 3: a good time.
30:27
Speaker 1: We're doing Fun Facts with Cedric Johnson. This is your
30:29
Speaker 1: third year with the Bengals. And I swear, any time
30:32
Speaker 1: I walked into the building this offseason, I think you
30:35
Speaker 1: were there. You've made Cincinnati your home, correct?
30:38
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
30:39
Speaker 5: I've been loving it here ever since I've been here. Offseason,
30:42
Speaker 5: I've been here, still training here. It's just, like you said,
30:46
Speaker 5: it's just home.
30:47
Speaker 1: Do you think your constant presence here in the offseason,
30:50
Speaker 1: in the weight room, in the locker room, has made
30:53
Speaker 1: an impact on your coaches?
30:55
Speaker 5: I think it's played a decent part, especially forming a
30:57
Speaker 5: good relationship with our strength and conditioning coaches, just having
31:00
Speaker 5: that rapport with them, just constantly being with them, seeing them. Obviously,
31:05
Speaker 5: they know I care and like being here, so I
31:08
Speaker 5: think it's just another thing that plays a part into
31:10
Speaker 5: it and just seeing my coaches all the time. It's
31:13
Speaker 5: just a good energy to have with your coaches, a
31:15
Speaker 5: good vibe.
31:16
Speaker 1: As we record this segment, you're coming off the first
31:19
Speaker 1: two-sack game of your NFL career. But going back to
31:21
Speaker 1: last year, now you've had at least one sack in
31:24
Speaker 1: three out of your last four games. Your pressure rate
31:27
Speaker 1: during that four-game period is sky high. Do you feel
31:30
Speaker 1: like you're coming into your own?
31:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just feel like I'm getting a lot more
31:34
Speaker 5: comfortable with the game and just being confident when I'm
31:37
Speaker 5: going out there, just keeping my mind quiet when I
31:40
Speaker 5: am out there, just playing fast.
31:42
Speaker 1: All right, some wildcard topics now for Cedric Johnson. College
31:47
Speaker 1: football reporter Bruce Feldman comes out with a freaks list
31:50
Speaker 1: every year of the top 100 athletic freaks in college football.
31:54
Speaker 1: You were number 41 on the list in 2022. How
31:57
Speaker 1: prestigious is that?
31:59
Speaker 5: No moment for me. I didn't even know any of
32:01
Speaker 5: that was happening. It's crazy timing, but I can see it.
32:06
Speaker 5: I'm a pretty strong guy, pretty fast guy.
32:08
Speaker 3: I can get behind it. I see what he saw.
32:11
Speaker 1: Is there an athletic feat that you are most proud of,
32:14
Speaker 1: whether it was some sort of testing that you've done
32:17
Speaker 1: or dunking a basketball at an early age or anything
32:20
Speaker 1: that stands out?
32:21
Speaker 3: Nothing crazy.
32:22
Speaker 5: I've always just stayed in the weight room, just enjoyed
32:25
Speaker 5: being in the weight room, just enjoyed getting faster, stronger.
32:27
Speaker 5: I've been training for a long time, like had a
32:30
Speaker 5: trainer since probably like 10th grade of high school. So
32:33
Speaker 5: I've just always loved that part of football, of getting
32:36
Speaker 5: stronger and faster.
32:36
Speaker 3: It's just fun to me.
32:38
Speaker 1: In your case, is it more God-given or all the
32:41
Speaker 1: hard work you just referenced?
32:43
Speaker 3: Both. I got God-given. Parents gave me good genes, and
32:46
Speaker 3: then it's the hard work on top of that. So
32:49
Speaker 3: I feel like it's a combination.
32:51
Speaker 1: Who is your all-time favorite athlete in any sport and why?
32:57
Speaker 3: Play it safe.
32:58
Speaker 5: I'm going to go LeBron. I just always grew up
33:02
Speaker 5: watching him. I don't even watch basketball, but what I
33:04
Speaker 5: do is just to watch him nine times out of ten.
33:06
Speaker 3: Growing up, my brother always loved him. Family always loved him.
33:10
Speaker 5: He's just a dope guy to me, legendary guy, another
33:14
Speaker 5: generation of talent, you know, just one of the guys there,
33:17
Speaker 5: one of the greatest at what they do. You just
33:18
Speaker 5: kind of strive to be as good as them one day.
33:21
Speaker 1: What do you think of his longevity and the fact
33:23
Speaker 1: that he's still among the best players in the league?
33:25
Speaker 3: He's crazy. He's just an elite guy.
33:27
Speaker 5: And just like another thing that I try to take
33:30
Speaker 5: from him is just how he takes care of his body.
33:32
Speaker 3: Obviously, I don't have.
33:33
Speaker 5: Millions to just dump it to my, dump it to
33:36
Speaker 5: my body like he does, but it's just, I do
33:38
Speaker 5: as much as I can.
33:39
Speaker 1: Your dad's a former Marine, but you told me once
33:42
Speaker 1: that your mom was the disciplinarian in the household. What
33:47
Speaker 1: types of things did you and your brother make sure
33:49
Speaker 1: that you did not do in fear of mom?
33:55
Speaker 5: Did not do, we kind of just knew what not
33:57
Speaker 5: to do already. We just kind of, It wasn't anything
34:00
Speaker 5: like this was going to, like making sure the house
34:03
Speaker 5: was clean, things of that nature. We tried our best
34:06
Speaker 5: with that. But, like, all the time at night.
34:08
Speaker 3: I used to just play too much.
34:09
Speaker 5: It was a pretty good stretch when I was younger
34:12
Speaker 5: where she used to give me a whooping to go
34:14
Speaker 5: to sleep. Because I was just always up playing at night.
34:16
Speaker 5: So she'd give me a whooping. And I get the
34:19
Speaker 5: best sleep of my life after that, though.
34:21
Speaker 3: I'm telling you. Nothing better.
34:24
Speaker 1: All right, your former college coach, Lane Kiffin, has become
34:27
Speaker 1: public enemy number one at your alma mater since he
34:30
Speaker 1: left last season for SEC rival LSU. He was your coach.
34:35
Speaker 1: Are you conflicted? Do you still have a soft spot
34:37
Speaker 1: in your heart, or are you as ticked as everybody else?
34:40
Speaker 5: I mean, I was pretty upset, more so for the
34:43
Speaker 5: guys there, you know. It's just a tough situation, first
34:45
Speaker 5: time going to the playoffs. So, you know, I get
34:48
Speaker 5: why the feeling's there. But, I mean, he took an
34:50
Speaker 5: opportunity for himself. But, I mean, my heart is still
34:53
Speaker 5: with Ole Miss and those guys, you know. I was
34:55
Speaker 5: there for four years, so my heart is with them.
34:58
Speaker 5: And so I'm just happy to see they pulled out
35:00
Speaker 5: that win, man. I was happy for them.
35:02
Speaker 3: So I was like, I got to go ball out now, man.
35:06
Speaker 1: All right, final fun fact for Cedric Johnson. This one's
35:08
Speaker 1: kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history,
35:14
Speaker 1: living or deceased, who would that person be?
35:18
Speaker 5: Go back to, like, my great-grandma, she passed. She passed
35:21
Speaker 5: when I was really young, and my dad always brings
35:23
Speaker 5: this up.
35:24
Speaker 3: It's a picture. It's a picture when I was younger.
35:26
Speaker 3: I was a baby.
35:27
Speaker 5: She was, like, 102 years old at this time. I'm
35:29
Speaker 5: super young, and this was a couple, maybe a couple
35:32
Speaker 5: weeks before she passed. It was just a– and I
35:34
Speaker 5: was just throwing a fit that day. I was like,
35:36
Speaker 5: I did not want to get in that picture. I
35:39
Speaker 5: was just throwing a fit. He was getting upset with me.
35:41
Speaker 5: He never lets me– he never lets that down to
35:43
Speaker 5: this day. He always brings it up. So I say
35:45
Speaker 5: to her just to– Speak to her. What's her take
35:48
Speaker 5: on that now that I'm a lot older? But I
35:51
Speaker 5: feel like that would be a good person to talk to.
35:54
Speaker 1: I know she'd be very proud of what her great-grandson
35:56
Speaker 1: has accomplished.
35:57
Speaker 3: I hope so. I'd like to think so.
35:59
Speaker 1: Congratulations on your success. We appreciate your time. Best of
36:02
Speaker 1: luck the rest of the way.
36:03
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. That's going to.
36:05
Speaker 1: Do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast
36:08
Speaker 1: brought to you by PayCore. Proud to be the Bengals'
36:10
Speaker 1: official HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber internet designed
36:16
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level.
36:19
Speaker 1: And by Kettering Health, the best care for the best fans.
36:23
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
36:26
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast.
36:30
Speaker 1: And if you have a minute, give it a rating
36:32
Speaker 1: or share a comment. That helps more Bengals fans find us.
36:36
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hoard. Thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.