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Bengals Booth Podcast: Finish Line · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The The Thin is Mine addition,
0:12
Speaker 1: as we take a look at changes on the coaching
0:14
Speaker 1: staff and here from several players on what turned out
0:17
Speaker 1: to be a winning season, but one that fell short
0:20
Speaker 1: of the bengals lofty expectations. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
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Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
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Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
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Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing
0:49
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
0:54
Speaker 1: my ability to reheat leftovers. Aside from speaking into a microphone,
1:01
Speaker 1: I don't have many useful skills, but one thing I
1:03
Speaker 1: do extremely well is reheat leftovers. And don't take my
1:08
Speaker 1: word for it. My son Sam jokes that if the
1:11
Speaker 1: Food Network comes out with a show named reheat Masters.
1:15
Speaker 1: I would definitely win the title. My masterpiece came after
1:19
Speaker 1: Saturday's road game in Pittsburgh, when I brought home Sam's favorite,
1:24
Speaker 1: a Promante Brother sandwich, a Pittsburgh staple that features meat, cheese, coleslaw, tomatoes,
1:31
Speaker 1: and French fries all between two thick slices of Italian bread.
1:36
Speaker 1: The next day, I deconstructed that sucker, carefully reheated the meat, fries,
1:43
Speaker 1: and bread separately, and when I put it all back together,
1:47
Speaker 1: it was like it had just been purchased Food Network
1:51
Speaker 1: or not. I am a reheat master. Now let's get
1:57
Speaker 1: to football. The Bengals made changes to their coaching staff
2:00
Speaker 1: on Monday, parting ways with defensive coordinator lou Ana Romo,
2:04
Speaker 1: defensive line coach Marion Hobby, linebackers coach James Betcher, and
2:09
Speaker 1: offensive line coach Frank Pollock. As Zach Taylor says, the
2:13
Speaker 1: decision was his and his alone.
2:15
Speaker 2: Those were extremely hard moves for me to make. Those
2:17
Speaker 2: are all men that I have a ton of respect for,
2:20
Speaker 2: been through really high exciting times with, and do not
2:23
Speaker 2: take those decisions slightly. And I appreciate all that those
2:26
Speaker 2: guys brought to the table because They're like brothers to me.
2:30
Speaker 2: They worked hard every single day and those were not
2:32
Speaker 2: easy decisions to make, and we'll work to make those
2:35
Speaker 2: hires as soon as possible when that time is appropriate.
2:39
Speaker 2: I've been through a lot with all these guys, you know,
2:42
Speaker 2: and they work their tails off. They're part of really
2:47
Speaker 2: great moments for us. This is the hard side of
2:49
Speaker 2: the profession, and I just appreciate what those guys brought
2:53
Speaker 2: to the table and how they represented this organization, how
2:56
Speaker 2: they're represented me as a head coach, how they treated
2:58
Speaker 2: their players. I appreciate all that.
3:01
Speaker 1: Two years ago, Bengals fans breathed a huge sigh of
3:04
Speaker 1: relief when lou Anaromo didn't land a head coaching job.
3:07
Speaker 1: His ability to confuse the NFL's best quarterbacks was a
3:11
Speaker 1: major reason why the Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl
3:14
Speaker 1: and AFC Championship Game and back to back years, and
3:17
Speaker 1: earned him the nickname lou DEENI. But let's face it,
3:21
Speaker 1: the defense has struggled since finishing twenty fifth in points
3:26
Speaker 1: allowed this year and twenty first last year in the
3:30
Speaker 1: defensive DVOA metric. The Bengals peaked at number seven in
3:34
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, but fell to number twenty three last
3:38
Speaker 1: year at number twenty seven this year. It certainly wasn't
3:42
Speaker 1: all loose fault, but Zach says it's time to try
3:45
Speaker 1: a new approach.
3:46
Speaker 2: Just felt like we needed a change and again, did
3:48
Speaker 2: not take that decision lightly, thought long and hard about it.
3:52
Speaker 2: Lusman doing this for six years here and the success
3:55
Speaker 2: we've had, I mean, he's been a big reason why
3:57
Speaker 2: we've had a lot of success. And so again this
3:59
Speaker 2: don't this slightly put a lot of thought into it.
4:02
Speaker 2: It's not an easy day for any of us, and
4:05
Speaker 2: just felt like we need to perform better as a
4:07
Speaker 2: football team. And so again it's not in any specific
4:10
Speaker 2: one area. I think we've got to be better in
4:12
Speaker 2: all three phases of our team. And these are the
4:15
Speaker 2: decisions I made today and will work to be better.
4:17
Speaker 1: Similarly, Frank Pollack helped the Bengals get to a Super
4:20
Speaker 1: Bowl with a starting offensive line that included Isaiah Prince,
4:24
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins, Hachema Dentegy in Quinton, Spain. Those four guys
4:28
Speaker 1: had a combined total of one start in the rest
4:32
Speaker 1: of their NFL careers. I don't think Frank has ever
4:35
Speaker 1: received enough credit for that but this year, the Bengals
4:38
Speaker 1: were expected to have the best O line of the
4:41
Speaker 1: Borough era and finished nineteenth and sacks allowed per passing attempt,
4:46
Speaker 1: while PFF grated Cincinnati twenty seventh in pass blocking efficiency
4:51
Speaker 1: with Borrow, we know the Bengals are going to be
4:53
Speaker 1: a pass first offense, so Pollock's replacement needs to shore
4:57
Speaker 1: up the protection and make the running game and dependable.
5:01
Speaker 1: Here are Orlando Brown Junior and to Marios Mems.
5:05
Speaker 3: Frank Pollack did so much for me in my career,
5:07
Speaker 3: you know, honestly, you know, outside of the injury this year,
5:11
Speaker 3: Man I was off to a great start, and Man
5:14
Speaker 3: I especially in past protection, I made such a large leap,
5:17
Speaker 3: which is very rare from sixty seven year sixty seven.
5:21
Speaker 3: But Frank had a very large impact on me, man
5:24
Speaker 3: and he helped me out of my career so much.
5:26
Speaker 4: What was your reaction then you found out?
5:29
Speaker 3: You know, it's sad man, you know, just because it's
5:31
Speaker 3: our livelihood. He has such a great passion for for
5:34
Speaker 3: us as players and for coaching the game of football,
5:37
Speaker 3: the offensive line position.
5:39
Speaker 5: You know, it's sad. It is sad man.
5:41
Speaker 6: Like I said, I truly truly, like I said, had
5:44
Speaker 6: a great relationship with him, and it just hurts just knowing,
5:47
Speaker 6: like you know, a guy who's stalled on the table
5:49
Speaker 6: for me with this organization would help getting like basically
5:53
Speaker 6: like help getting me drafted.
5:54
Speaker 5: Here.
5:54
Speaker 6: Man, just see, he's gone man my short time that
5:56
Speaker 6: I've been here. Like I said, Man, I owe that
5:58
Speaker 6: man a lot. Man, he say, ever since I've been here,
6:01
Speaker 6: all he's done is that's pouring to me. And Coach
6:03
Speaker 6: made as hard as possible. Like I said, I sat
6:05
Speaker 6: down when I first got here and he said, I mean,
6:07
Speaker 6: I'm gonna be hard on you, right, And I said,
6:08
Speaker 6: that's the kind of coaching I need. You know what
6:09
Speaker 6: I'm saying, Coach, and I thrive on same with my
6:13
Speaker 6: sing with my college coach, honestly. But like I said,
6:16
Speaker 6: I was very, very very upset when I saw the thing,
6:20
Speaker 6: when I found out this morning when I woke up,
6:21
Speaker 6: and it's just you know, hey, I haven't got talked
6:24
Speaker 6: to him yet, but you know, I know it's a business,
6:26
Speaker 6: and I know, like I said, it's out of my control.
6:28
Speaker 6: But I do wish him the.
6:28
Speaker 1: Best going into the season. Many of us said, if
6:31
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow stays healthy, the Bengals will be a Super
6:35
Speaker 1: Bowl contender. Joe did and put up record numbers, but
6:39
Speaker 1: it did not lead to postseason play. The result is
6:42
Speaker 1: the biggest coaching staff turnover in Zach Taylor's tenure.
6:46
Speaker 2: You know, we're all disappointed with the overall toutality of
6:50
Speaker 2: the season and the position that we put ourselves in,
6:52
Speaker 2: and I know that it's unacceptable to start the way
6:55
Speaker 2: that we started. We have a lot of talent on
6:57
Speaker 2: this team. We got great coaches, and so again I'm
7:02
Speaker 2: not just gonna say what I want to say and
7:03
Speaker 2: that we're gonna be better to start the season. We're
7:05
Speaker 2: gonna work like hell to make sure that we start
7:07
Speaker 2: the season on the right way to put ourselves in
7:08
Speaker 2: a great position to finish like we did, you know,
7:11
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of positives there with the way
7:14
Speaker 2: we finished, and it's signing that we're not in the
7:18
Speaker 2: playoffs with an opportunity to keep this thing going because
7:22
Speaker 2: we finally found a lot of momentum. And so it's
7:24
Speaker 2: just on us as a whole to finish games off
7:27
Speaker 2: earlier in the season, and it's on me as the
7:29
Speaker 2: head coach to make sure we come out of the
7:31
Speaker 2: offseason we come out of training camp and we're ready
7:34
Speaker 2: to hit the ground running from Game one.
7:35
Speaker 1: Soon, attention will turn to contract negotiations as the Bengals
7:39
Speaker 1: look to sign Jamar Chase to an extension, reward Trey
7:42
Speaker 1: Hendrickson for his exceptional play, and see if they can
7:46
Speaker 1: reach a deal with t Higgins.
7:48
Speaker 2: We got a lot of great players, and Tea is
7:50
Speaker 2: one of them, certainly, and I'm very hopeful that that
7:53
Speaker 2: will work out to where we're able to get him back.
7:56
Speaker 2: But there's certainly a process we're gonna have to undergo
7:57
Speaker 2: with a lot of players on our team, and I
7:59
Speaker 2: can a'masha well, we'll be We'll be in unison with
8:03
Speaker 2: whatever those decisions are, and that's a process will start now,
8:06
Speaker 2: you know, through the month of January and February and
8:09
Speaker 2: talking through every player on a roster and how it
8:10
Speaker 2: all fits.
8:11
Speaker 1: Now, let's hear from several players, beginning with team captain
8:14
Speaker 1: Ted Karras and his reaction to the firing of Frank Pollock.
8:20
Speaker 7: You know, I think that's always sad on bloody Monday
8:23
Speaker 7: of the NFL, and you know, it's some of the
8:27
Speaker 7: consequences of missing the playoffs two years in a row.
8:30
Speaker 5: Great man.
8:32
Speaker 4: We called him later. I haven't talked to him yet.
8:35
Speaker 1: Were you surprised? Did you think because the team's record
8:38
Speaker 1: and we didn't make it to the playoffs that there
8:40
Speaker 1: was probably going to be some sort of move like that?
8:43
Speaker 7: I've never you know, the surprised emotion is not something
8:46
Speaker 7: that I often feel in football. You know, I thought,
8:52
Speaker 7: what a great job rallying this team did backs against
8:54
Speaker 7: the wall for a month and a half, put ourselves
8:56
Speaker 7: with a chance, and god.
8:59
Speaker 4: Will we you know, control the week?
9:00
Speaker 5: In control?
9:02
Speaker 7: And I didn't think the Chiefs would quite lay down
9:03
Speaker 7: like that, but I thought it would be a little
9:06
Speaker 7: at least a little bit more dramatic on Sunday. But
9:09
Speaker 7: nine to eight, four winning records in a row, I
9:11
Speaker 7: think it's a fantastic job by Zach Taylor in this
9:13
Speaker 7: in this program. So but two years missing in a row,
9:19
Speaker 7: never a comfortable feeling in the National Football League?
9:21
Speaker 1: How long did you stick with Chiefs Broncos before you said, ah,
9:24
Speaker 1: this isn't even worth it.
9:26
Speaker 7: When they switched it off on the broadcast, I mean
9:28
Speaker 7: they switched it to Raiders Chargers, So that was when
9:32
Speaker 7: I called it.
9:34
Speaker 1: We spent so much time prior to this season talking
9:37
Speaker 1: about the need to get off to a fast start.
9:39
Speaker 1: Some changes were made. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it didn't
9:43
Speaker 1: result in a drastic change. Any thoughts to how to
9:47
Speaker 1: actually make that happen this coming year.
9:50
Speaker 7: I think we can think about that as spring approaches.
9:53
Speaker 7: You know, never want to put ourselves in an own
9:55
Speaker 7: three hole. I've been owned to our own three, you know,
9:58
Speaker 7: three years in a row, so I'm sure the staff
10:01
Speaker 7: will be all over it. I think there's some things
10:02
Speaker 7: we can do individually, and I think, you know, that's
10:06
Speaker 7: definitely a you know, a monkey on our back going
10:09
Speaker 7: into the twenty twenty five season. I think that's you know,
10:12
Speaker 7: like I said, after we lost Week one this year,
10:14
Speaker 7: you know we're not gonna worry about that till twenty
10:16
Speaker 7: twenty five. Well, now here it is, so you know,
10:19
Speaker 7: we'll keep an eye out for that. But nothing nothing
10:21
Speaker 7: can be done in January for September, so as we
10:24
Speaker 7: get closer to spring and obviously training camp, I'm sure
10:27
Speaker 7: there'll be some adjustments made.
10:29
Speaker 1: After the Dallas game, Joe surprised many of us by
10:33
Speaker 1: outwardly campaigning for Tea to return, by expressing confidence that
10:37
Speaker 1: that can happen did that catch you guys off guard
10:41
Speaker 1: a little bit, the sense that he's really going out
10:43
Speaker 1: there and expressing that opinion with such conviction.
10:47
Speaker 7: No, I think that you know this is uh, you know,
10:50
Speaker 7: this program runs through number nine. So you know, if
10:54
Speaker 7: he you know, he holds a lot of weight. I'm
10:55
Speaker 7: sure you know upstairs and you know that's a player
10:59
Speaker 7: that he has had a lot of success within this organization.
11:02
Speaker 7: You know, him him team Jamar together, I think is
11:04
Speaker 7: a very good high percentage win rate for the Cincanti Bengals.
11:07
Speaker 7: So I'm glad that he, you know, stumped for his teammate,
11:11
Speaker 7: and you know, I hope that you know, I think
11:13
Speaker 7: that we had a big We got a big off
11:14
Speaker 7: season coming up here in Cincinnati.
11:17
Speaker 1: On the subject of slow starts, Orlando Brown Junior says
11:20
Speaker 1: that simply cannot happen again in twenty twenty five.
11:23
Speaker 3: You never want to put yourself in that position, and
11:25
Speaker 3: you always want to be able to control your own
11:27
Speaker 3: fate going into the playoffs. Uh, you know, late in December,
11:31
Speaker 3: you don't really want to have to be playing in
11:32
Speaker 3: those games where it's like, you know, you rather it
11:34
Speaker 3: be more so like we got the playoffs clinch. You know,
11:37
Speaker 3: we want to clinch his better seeding position, so we
11:41
Speaker 3: we know what we got to take care of. Man,
11:42
Speaker 3: we know that coming in hitting the ground, run and
11:44
Speaker 3: start in week one and taking care of business early
11:46
Speaker 3: on in September, it's going to be a large part
11:48
Speaker 3: of us having our long term success in a season.
11:50
Speaker 8: Is there something you feel like you guys can do
11:52
Speaker 8: in the run up, whether it's in the offseason or
11:54
Speaker 8: in camp, to be a better team.
11:56
Speaker 3: Early or is that a man? I think it's more
12:00
Speaker 3: mentality than anything. You know, it's hard to win. It's
12:02
Speaker 3: hard to win in life. It's hard to put yourself
12:05
Speaker 3: in good position, you know what I mean, It's hard
12:07
Speaker 3: to really understand all those things. And sometimes at the
12:09
Speaker 3: highest level of football, you gotta get used and comfortable
12:12
Speaker 3: the understanding of pushing yourself to the limit of what
12:15
Speaker 3: it takes to win. And I think that these last
12:17
Speaker 3: two years mentally, we haven't been in that state of
12:21
Speaker 3: mind where our backs are against the wall in December
12:24
Speaker 3: and November and we gotta fight for a chance to
12:25
Speaker 3: get where we want to get, you know what I mean.
12:27
Speaker 3: The mindset, the fire that's lit underneath your ass, and
12:31
Speaker 3: that point needs to be there in July, June, August,
12:34
Speaker 3: all the way through, and so man, I think that,
12:37
Speaker 3: you know, I take a lot of pride in that
12:38
Speaker 3: as a player, you know, putting more pressure on myself
12:41
Speaker 3: to be more for us at those points.
12:44
Speaker 4: You have to play more in the preseason, you have
12:46
Speaker 4: to change training camp.
12:47
Speaker 5: I don't think any of those things need to change.
12:49
Speaker 3: I think most importantly is just the mindset, man, understanding
12:51
Speaker 3: that when we go out there versus New England, we're
12:55
Speaker 3: four and eight already, you know what I mean.
12:57
Speaker 5: We got to go out there and earn all right.
13:00
Speaker 1: Orlando finished the season playing on a broken leg, but
13:02
Speaker 1: says it won't require surgery and that he'll be staying
13:06
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati to train under strength and conditioning coach Joey
13:09
Speaker 1: Bose For the second year in a row. He's also
13:12
Speaker 1: treating his fellow offensive lineman to an upcoming Buddies trip
13:16
Speaker 1: to Las Vegas. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
13:19
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official
13:22
Speaker 1: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet
13:27
Speaker 1: designed to elevate your home, business and community to a
13:29
Speaker 1: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
13:32
Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
13:36
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. One of the biggest positives this season
13:39
Speaker 1: was the emergence of Chase Brown as a true number
13:42
Speaker 1: one running back, as he finished with nine hundred and
13:45
Speaker 1: ninety rushing yards, three hundred and sixty receiving yards, and
13:48
Speaker 1: scored a total of eleven touchdowns. Even though he didn't
13:52
Speaker 1: start getting the bulk of the touches until Zach Moscot
13:55
Speaker 1: injured midway through the season. Chase also put up those
13:58
Speaker 1: numbers despite missing season finale with an ankle injury.
14:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I felt really good throughout the week.
14:06
Speaker 9: I mean, I literally did everything I possibly could to
14:09
Speaker 9: put myself in position to play. But when I started
14:14
Speaker 9: moving around on it for real and started pushing it
14:18
Speaker 9: just it just didn't didn't feel good enough to plan
14:20
Speaker 9: an NFL game and to go out there injured with
14:24
Speaker 9: you know, not being fully confident in my ability. It's just,
14:27
Speaker 9: you know, it's a selfish thing to do if I
14:30
Speaker 9: were to go out there. So I felt like I
14:32
Speaker 9: did the not the best thing for myself, but for
14:34
Speaker 9: the team as well. And you know, obviously, you know
14:38
Speaker 9: Cleil stepped up in a big way, and yeah, I man,
14:41
Speaker 9: just just happy that we left that game with a win.
14:43
Speaker 1: You would have easily topped a thousand yards. I'm sure
14:46
Speaker 1: does that bum you out a little?
14:48
Speaker 4: For sure?
14:48
Speaker 5: Yeah?
14:48
Speaker 4: No, I trust me.
14:49
Speaker 5: I wanted I wanted.
14:50
Speaker 9: That, and then to be ten yards away is like,
14:54
Speaker 9: it's hard, man, It's hard. So definitely just motivation for
14:58
Speaker 9: next year and it.
15:00
Speaker 4: Will be a chip on my shoulder going in the
15:02
Speaker 4: off season.
15:03
Speaker 8: Chase, you went in the last season with a focus
15:05
Speaker 8: on getting better as a receiver.
15:06
Speaker 5: You did that in a big way.
15:08
Speaker 8: What do you when you go into this offseason? Is
15:10
Speaker 8: there something on your mind right now in terms of
15:12
Speaker 8: something that you want to.
15:13
Speaker 4: Have that be this year's thing.
15:15
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm just gonna become a better player, build on
15:18
Speaker 9: everything that I did this offseason, and you know, come
15:22
Speaker 9: back next season just more comfortable, more mature as a player.
15:27
Speaker 4: I mean, I've I've taken a ton of snaps, so.
15:30
Speaker 9: I'm comfortable and you know coming into you know, training
15:33
Speaker 9: camp and OTAs with you know, my experience.
15:37
Speaker 4: Now, I'm just excited to build on that.
15:40
Speaker 10: What do you think you've proved this year?
15:41
Speaker 9: I've always had the confidence in myself that you know,
15:44
Speaker 9: I can play in this league, but you know, being
15:45
Speaker 9: able to go out there and show it definitely, you
15:48
Speaker 9: know adds to you know, my mindset and you know
15:52
Speaker 9: what I want to achieve next year, and you know
15:54
Speaker 9: what this team can achieve next year.
15:56
Speaker 4: So that's what I'm focused on.
15:58
Speaker 9: And you know, once training camp next year comes around,
16:01
Speaker 9: I just want to hit it full speed and ready
16:04
Speaker 9: to go.
16:04
Speaker 1: You also feel like you established yourself as a core piece.
16:07
Speaker 1: It's not just Jamar and T. It's Jamar, T, you
16:11
Speaker 1: and maybe some others as well.
16:12
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm I'm happy with what I was able to
16:15
Speaker 9: show this year, and I'm just trying to build on it.
16:17
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a bunch of great players in this
16:19
Speaker 4: locker room.
16:20
Speaker 9: So being able to you know, make plays and you know,
16:25
Speaker 9: have a role in this offense with all the playmakers
16:27
Speaker 9: in it, it's pretty cool experience.
16:31
Speaker 8: Or the emotions like last night, knowing that this team wasn't.
16:34
Speaker 4: Gonna make it, it sucked, man.
16:37
Speaker 9: I Mean I was kind of just sitting around after
16:38
Speaker 9: just talking to my girlfriend just about you know, it's
16:41
Speaker 9: it's just weird how long the season feels.
16:43
Speaker 4: But when you think back on it.
16:45
Speaker 9: I mean, it felt like we were just preparing for
16:47
Speaker 9: the Patriots and then next thing you know, you know,
16:50
Speaker 9: you're sitting on your couch waiting to find out if
16:52
Speaker 9: you're to make the playoffs or not.
16:53
Speaker 5: So we could have.
16:57
Speaker 9: Been better in some areas, and you know, it would
17:00
Speaker 9: have set us up to kind of control that situation.
17:02
Speaker 9: So on next year, we just got to come out
17:05
Speaker 9: hot instead of you know, warming up like we did
17:08
Speaker 9: this yere So, I mean, I'm excited about I know
17:10
Speaker 9: we're I know we're capable of. So you know, everybody's
17:13
Speaker 9: gonna go into this offseason hungary, the chip on their
17:16
Speaker 9: shoulder and ready to come back next year full speed,
17:18
Speaker 9: ready to go and really take this organization, you know,
17:22
Speaker 9: the fans, this locker room, to the place that you know,
17:26
Speaker 9: we know we can take it.
17:28
Speaker 1: Another positive was the emergence of tight end Mike Asiki,
17:31
Speaker 1: who earned Joe Burrow's trust as the bengals number three
17:34
Speaker 1: receiving target after signing a one year, two point five
17:38
Speaker 1: million dollar contract. Mike earned extra cash by hitting incentives
17:42
Speaker 1: for forty five and then fifty five catches and for
17:46
Speaker 1: five hundred and then six hundred yards. The sicky end
17:50
Speaker 1: of the year with sixty five catches for six hundred
17:53
Speaker 1: and sixty five yards and hopes to still be catching
17:55
Speaker 1: passes from Joe Burrow next year.
17:59
Speaker 10: I mean, he is as advertised.
18:01
Speaker 11: Honestly, He's done everything and more that I anticipated. I
18:10
Speaker 11: obviously knew about how well he could throw the ball,
18:13
Speaker 11: and you know, everything talent wise, and obviously you have
18:17
Speaker 11: that success and you have to have a really good
18:20
Speaker 11: understanding of what's going on.
18:22
Speaker 10: But I didn't know he was.
18:24
Speaker 11: Going to process information so quickly, and you know, know
18:27
Speaker 11: the defenses and how quickly you know things change and
18:29
Speaker 11: post snap and all that kind of stuff, and he
18:31
Speaker 11: did an an incredible job because you know, there's a
18:35
Speaker 11: lot of stuff in our offense that and the way
18:37
Speaker 11: that guys get defended with you know, Jamar getting doubled on,
18:41
Speaker 11: you know, just random plays here and there, and you
18:43
Speaker 11: got to be able to see that quick and defense
18:45
Speaker 11: is going to try to trick us because they know
18:46
Speaker 11: how talented we are and that's going to be their
18:48
Speaker 11: their advantage and you can't.
18:50
Speaker 10: You can't trick Joe Burrow.
18:52
Speaker 1: Outside of personal expectation.
18:53
Speaker 8: I'm sure there was team expectations that you guys didn't
18:57
Speaker 8: match this year.
18:57
Speaker 5: How close do you think this team.
18:59
Speaker 1: Is though, getting to where you want to go?
19:01
Speaker 5: Yeah?
19:01
Speaker 10: I mean very close.
19:03
Speaker 4: Uh.
19:04
Speaker 11: I mean you look at probably five different games throughout
19:08
Speaker 11: the course of the year where one play you know,
19:11
Speaker 11: obviously it's never just one play, but you can look
19:14
Speaker 11: back to one play that changes the outcome of the game,
19:18
Speaker 11: and you know one obviously one more win would have
19:22
Speaker 11: gotten us in.
19:23
Speaker 10: Uh.
19:24
Speaker 11: But that's you know, neither here nor there. I mean,
19:27
Speaker 11: it is, it is what it is at this point.
19:29
Speaker 11: But I would say that the coaching and the way
19:33
Speaker 11: that the culture is built and the way that things
19:35
Speaker 11: are run, it's all done the right way.
19:37
Speaker 10: Like we're we're not far off.
19:39
Speaker 11: And I mean it's easy to say when you're not
19:42
Speaker 11: in it, but I think that if we were in it, we.
19:44
Speaker 10: Would have made some noise.
19:45
Speaker 5: We want to come back?
19:47
Speaker 10: Do I want to come back?
19:47
Speaker 5: Yeah?
19:48
Speaker 10: Absolutely. I loved it. It was It was incredible.
19:51
Speaker 11: I mean, the coaching staff was incredible, the players were great,
19:54
Speaker 11: best quarterback in the league.
19:56
Speaker 10: Like, I mean, it was fun.
19:57
Speaker 4: If somebody told you you're going to have the second
19:59
Speaker 4: season gonna be a career book, you have.
20:01
Speaker 11: Said, I would have said that I got the opportunity.
20:06
Speaker 10: I knew what I was capable of.
20:08
Speaker 11: It was just a matter of if the opportunity is
20:10
Speaker 11: gonna come your way. And that was just something that
20:13
Speaker 11: I haven't had in the last two years.
20:16
Speaker 10: I came off a.
20:16
Speaker 11: Year ride seventy three catches from eight hundred yards and
20:19
Speaker 11: then went two years and just kind of didn't get
20:21
Speaker 11: the same opportunities. This year, I got opportunities that I'm
20:25
Speaker 11: extremely grateful for and now I'll take for granted. And
20:29
Speaker 11: it all, Uh, it all played. It all played out
20:32
Speaker 11: the way that I envisioned it.
20:33
Speaker 1: Joe said something to the effect of, how you were
20:35
Speaker 1: the perfect fit for this offense. How about the flip
20:38
Speaker 1: side of that, How has this offense been good for you?
20:42
Speaker 10: It's been.
20:42
Speaker 11: It's been good because I've been utilized in so many
20:45
Speaker 11: different ways. Like you'll see where Okay, hey, we're gonna
20:48
Speaker 11: splitch you out and if we get a safety out there,
20:50
Speaker 11: match it up, like my first play of the game,
20:52
Speaker 11: but the second play of the game the other night
20:53
Speaker 11: against Pittsburgh, like, all right, it's a safety.
20:55
Speaker 10: It's we got Mike, Like we like this matchup, We're
20:57
Speaker 10: gonna go to you it man, coverage.
20:59
Speaker 11: Last week, the first play overtime, we ran the same play,
21:03
Speaker 11: but I just ran like a I ran like a
21:05
Speaker 11: quick conversion versus press coverage, and we went back shoulder.
21:08
Speaker 11: We knew that, hey, we're probably gonna get man coverage again,
21:10
Speaker 11: he's gonna get pressed. He's gonna be thinking back shoulder,
21:12
Speaker 11: so get him a run and then come back down
21:14
Speaker 11: your stem. Like it's incredible the way that like our
21:17
Speaker 11: coaches think and like the next level thinking for them
21:20
Speaker 11: to be like, Okay, well we did that last week.
21:22
Speaker 10: They watched that. Okay, now we're gonna come back and
21:24
Speaker 10: do this, and.
21:25
Speaker 11: There you go, like some points in the game and
21:27
Speaker 11: some points and then the year, Like it is that easy.
21:30
Speaker 11: And like some of our basic plays is like double
21:33
Speaker 11: slants and a slant to the backside and a flat
21:34
Speaker 11: route and it's like it's the biggest play of the game.
21:36
Speaker 11: And like we just run our most basic offense that
21:38
Speaker 11: we installed day one OTAs because like we have a
21:41
Speaker 11: great quarterback who processes really quickly, and we have great
21:43
Speaker 11: receivers that win.
21:45
Speaker 1: What's the thought process for you on Okay, I'm at
21:48
Speaker 1: this stage of my career, there might not be a
21:50
Speaker 1: ton of contracts left. I'd like to make a lot
21:52
Speaker 1: of money and all right, this offense fits me, they
21:54
Speaker 1: might be able to win a Super Bowl title. Where's
21:57
Speaker 1: that balance for you?
21:58
Speaker 11: Yeah, three years or two years ago, came off of
22:02
Speaker 11: my best season career year and got franchise tagged, so
22:05
Speaker 11: that kind of yeah, so that kind of cuts into
22:09
Speaker 11: the contract you think you're gonna sign. It's still you know,
22:11
Speaker 11: you're so grateful for you know, the money you get
22:13
Speaker 11: for that one year, but it's not the multi year
22:15
Speaker 11: deal that you think you're gonna sign. And then we
22:18
Speaker 11: got a new head coach in Miami, wasn't utilized the
22:22
Speaker 11: way that I was.
22:23
Speaker 10: Time to fresh Star Ago. New England played on statistically.
22:27
Speaker 11: The worst offense in the league, so there wasn't a
22:28
Speaker 11: lot of opportunity there. So the market goes down and down.
22:31
Speaker 11: So it's like you have to really look at it
22:35
Speaker 11: from a business standpoint of like, okay, like definitely got
22:37
Speaker 11: to make up some money just based off of how
22:41
Speaker 11: the last couple of years have went. But also you know,
22:44
Speaker 11: you want to take everything into account and you know,
22:48
Speaker 11: be able to go out there and continue to produce
22:50
Speaker 11: the way that I produce this year because that makes
22:52
Speaker 11: it a lot more fun.
22:54
Speaker 1: Kaseiki's sixty five catches were the second most ever by
22:58
Speaker 1: a Bengals tight end. Anne Ross had seventy one in
23:02
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one. Finally, time to hear from a player
23:05
Speaker 1: who did not have a good year, kicker Evan McPherson.
23:10
Speaker 1: After signing a contract extension during training camp, Moneymack missed
23:14
Speaker 1: six of his twenty two field goal attempts. It was
23:18
Speaker 1: hard to blame him for hooking an overtime game winner
23:20
Speaker 1: versus Baltimore since the snap and hold were botched, but
23:24
Speaker 1: he also missed two fourth quarter kicks for the lead
23:27
Speaker 1: against the Chargers. Had the Bengals won that game, they
23:30
Speaker 1: would have finished with the same record as LA and
23:33
Speaker 1: had the head to head tiebreaker. The Bengals won their
23:36
Speaker 1: final five games, but McPherson missed them with a groin injury.
23:42
Speaker 1: So you could have kicked you think this week if
23:45
Speaker 1: there was another.
23:45
Speaker 4: Game, could have.
23:48
Speaker 12: I'd say I was optimistic about playing in the playoffs.
23:51
Speaker 12: I kind of had my eyes set on it. I
23:53
Speaker 12: was going to test it and see how the body felt.
23:57
Speaker 12: But I was optimistic about it for sure.
24:00
Speaker 1: So what happens from here now in terms of, you know,
24:04
Speaker 1: making sure you're one hundred percent ready to go for
24:06
Speaker 1: next year.
24:06
Speaker 12: Yeah, I've talked to a couple of guys that have
24:08
Speaker 12: experienced this injury before and they just say that the
24:12
Speaker 12: biggest thing you got to do is rest and make
24:14
Speaker 12: sure that everything reconnects itself back to one hundred percent
24:18
Speaker 12: and then kind of go from there. So it's just
24:20
Speaker 12: kind of resting, rehab and making sure that my body's
24:25
Speaker 12: completely fixed itself.
24:28
Speaker 4: Darren talked about, you know, kind of a long term thing.
24:31
Speaker 5: This is kind of this is Yeah, you've had a couple.
24:33
Speaker 4: Of meg and stuff, yep, you know anything, and he looked.
24:36
Speaker 5: Into that at all about that.
24:37
Speaker 12: Yeah, Yeah, I've definitely looked into guys kind of outside
24:41
Speaker 12: facility to kind of lean on and help in that
24:45
Speaker 12: area and just trying to understand why this is happening
24:49
Speaker 12: and kind of ways to fix it or prevent it.
24:53
Speaker 12: And so I'm just looking for the for next season
24:55
Speaker 12: to be in better shape one and to understand the
25:00
Speaker 12: body a little bit more. And I feel like going
25:01
Speaker 12: through this is gonna help me a lot.
25:03
Speaker 4: Being in better shape.
25:05
Speaker 1: I mean, is that just you know, getting a little
25:07
Speaker 1: bit older. It's requires a little more maintenance.
25:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I don't feel old.
25:12
Speaker 12: You know, I'm only twenty five, so I like to
25:15
Speaker 12: think that my body can handle anything, but obviously it can't,
25:20
Speaker 12: and so I'm definitely gonna have to figure out kind
25:22
Speaker 12: of ways to protect my body from injury, because I mean,
25:26
Speaker 12: it's happened three out of the four years, and this
25:29
Speaker 12: year was the worst. So I just got to figure
25:31
Speaker 12: out a consistent way. Because there's guys in the NFL
25:34
Speaker 12: that have gone through kind of similar injuries but have
25:36
Speaker 12: played really long careers. So I'm kind of leaning on
25:39
Speaker 12: those guys and getting their advice on everything.
25:42
Speaker 1: What's your overall description.
25:44
Speaker 4: For this season.
25:45
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean this season was definitely interesting, and that's
25:47
Speaker 12: kind of what I talked about my end of year meetings.
25:52
Speaker 12: Just it was disappointing for me personally. I feel like
25:57
Speaker 12: I definitely didn't put my best foot forward this year.
26:00
Speaker 12: I've had a good feeling going into it offseason, preseason,
26:05
Speaker 12: and even the first couple of games, I felt like
26:07
Speaker 12: I was in a really good spot. But for whatever reason,
26:11
Speaker 12: everything just kind of went downhill during the games, and
26:15
Speaker 12: with the injury and everything, I wasn't able to I
26:17
Speaker 12: guess prove that I've digg myself out of it, so
26:20
Speaker 12: you know, I'm really excited about next year and just
26:23
Speaker 12: getting back at it.
26:24
Speaker 1: Fortunately for the Bengals, Cade York did a solid job
26:27
Speaker 1: in the final five games, making nine of eleven field
26:30
Speaker 1: goal tries, including a fifty nine yarder to tie money
26:34
Speaker 1: Max Franchise record. That's going to do it for this
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