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Bengals Booth Podcast: Feel This Moment · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast The WHOAO. I just want to
0:13
Speaker 1: field this moment addition, sorry, Christine Aguilera. As the Bengals
0:19
Speaker 1: hit the road on Tuesday and head to Los Angeles,
0:22
Speaker 1: as we get closer to Super Bowl fifty six coming up,
0:26
Speaker 1: I'll talk to a Bengals wide receiver with a unique
0:28
Speaker 1: perspective on Sunday's game, Mike Thomas. He spent four years
0:32
Speaker 1: with the Rams and now he's in his second year
0:35
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. Then I'll talk to Robert Weintraub, who
0:38
Speaker 1: covers the NFL for Football Outsiders and writes about the
0:41
Speaker 1: Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine. Finally, it's an encore edition of
0:46
Speaker 1: Fun Facts with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. The Bengals Booth
0:51
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play
0:54
Speaker 1: Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the app
0:58
Speaker 1: Store and Google Play and by on Location, the official
1:02
Speaker 1: hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit on Location exp dot
1:06
Speaker 1: com for exclusive access to the biggest events in the
1:10
Speaker 1: NFL all season long, including Super Bowl fifty six. Here's
1:14
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
1:17
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or
1:19
Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
1:23
Speaker 1: greatest thing since Cascatelli. I didn't realize that people were
1:29
Speaker 1: still inventing new shapes of pasta, but lo and behold,
1:32
Speaker 1: a guy named Dan Pashman, who hosts a food podcast,
1:36
Speaker 1: has come out with Cascatelli. That's the Italian word for waterfalls.
1:41
Speaker 1: Dan says there are three qualities by which all pasta
1:44
Speaker 1: shapes should be judged. One sauceability, how readily to sauce?
1:50
Speaker 1: Add here? Two fork ability how easy is it to
1:54
Speaker 1: get on a fork? And three tooth sync ability, how
1:58
Speaker 1: satisfying is to sink your teeth into it. I'm here
2:02
Speaker 1: to tell you that Cascatelli gets an A plus in
2:06
Speaker 1: all three categories. It's the Joe Burrow of pasta shapes.
2:11
Speaker 1: Now let's get to my guests, beginning with Bengals wide
2:15
Speaker 1: receiver Mike Thomas, the one player in Super Bowl fifty
2:18
Speaker 1: six who has played for both head coaches. Mike, you
2:23
Speaker 1: are a member of the Rams when they went to
2:25
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl four years ago, but unfortunately you were
2:27
Speaker 1: injured and didn't get to play in the game. Can
2:29
Speaker 1: you describe what it means to you to get back
2:32
Speaker 1: and be on the active roster, man, It's undescribable. Honestly,
2:38
Speaker 1: it took a while for me to let it all
2:41
Speaker 1: come to me, like, Damn, I'm going back to the
2:43
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and I'm actually playing in this game. Like
2:45
Speaker 1: it it's so surreal, like the fact that I'm suiting
2:49
Speaker 1: up and I can't really explain the feeling. It's just
2:52
Speaker 1: it's overwhelming. I tell you that. Did you get emotional
2:55
Speaker 1: after the AFC Championship went over the Chiefs? Yes, I did.
2:59
Speaker 1: I was. I was overwhelmingly happy, like we really did it,
3:03
Speaker 1: like it's actually happening, like it's it's no underdog like
3:06
Speaker 1: Joe said, no underdog boar crap, Like we are. We don't.
3:10
Speaker 1: We do them guys, and we deserved this and we
3:13
Speaker 1: showing it each week, weekend and week out. So I
3:16
Speaker 1: was overly excited. We're chatting the Bengals wide receiver Mike
3:19
Speaker 1: tom I said, what point this year did you think, man,
3:23
Speaker 1: this team is good enough to go to the Super Bowl? Honestly, um,
3:29
Speaker 1: honestly penited to all our games we always was down,
3:33
Speaker 1: uh you know, going in the halftime and after all
3:36
Speaker 1: our game were majority of all our games, we always
3:38
Speaker 1: came back and got back on top and one games.
3:42
Speaker 1: And every time I think about that and the previous
3:44
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, like the Chance Kansas City Chief when they
3:46
Speaker 1: won their Super Bowl year, they always came back and
3:49
Speaker 1: won each game. So and when I think about that,
3:51
Speaker 1: we resilient enough that when we down, we don't panic,
3:55
Speaker 1: We don't we don't trip, we don't go crazy. We
3:59
Speaker 1: keep probably most you know, and tact and let's keep
4:02
Speaker 1: playing ball into sixty minutes is over. One of the
4:06
Speaker 1: big reasons, Mike, why the Bengals are headed to this
4:08
Speaker 1: Super Bowl is the wide receiver room. It's led by
4:10
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase t Higgins and Tyler Boyd, but all of
4:13
Speaker 1: you guys have contributed in some way yourself, Stanley Morgan,
4:16
Speaker 1: Trent Taylor, etc. What stands out to you about that
4:20
Speaker 1: wide receiver room Just holding each other accountable, sending the
4:24
Speaker 1: standard high high as possible that we can. There's no
4:28
Speaker 1: room for mistakes. So the more that we in the
4:30
Speaker 1: room together and sending each other, sending standards high and
4:33
Speaker 1: making sure that we keep that standard above average. Damn
4:38
Speaker 1: disguise a limit for us all. Has Jamar Chase been
4:41
Speaker 1: treating you guys to stakes? Did I hear that correctly? Yeah? Yeah,
4:45
Speaker 1: we still got him on a little rookie kieer duty,
4:49
Speaker 1: So you know what I'm saying, held he'd been holding
4:50
Speaker 1: it down. Good to know. We're chatting the Bengals wide
4:54
Speaker 1: receiver Mike Thomas. When your buddies around the league ask
4:57
Speaker 1: you about Joe Burrow, where do you tell him? Man?
5:00
Speaker 1: He he the coolest in the game. Man like he
5:03
Speaker 1: gotta you know everybody. Honestly, a lot of people were
5:06
Speaker 1: telling me, Yeah, it seemed like out of all the
5:07
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league, Joe got some spice to him.
5:09
Speaker 1: He got a little flavor to him. So if people
5:12
Speaker 1: coming to me saying that, hey, Joe the coolest one
5:15
Speaker 1: in the league right now, cool without trying to be cool,
5:20
Speaker 1: without trying to effortless. We're chatting with the wide receiver
5:24
Speaker 1: Mike Thomas. Mike and your second season in the NFL
5:28
Speaker 1: with the Rams, Zach Taylor was your assistant wide receivers coach.
5:33
Speaker 1: Did you ever dream that this guy would be a
5:36
Speaker 1: Super Bowl head coach someday? To be real, nah, I
5:42
Speaker 1: ain't gonna lieu. He was in. He was in our
5:44
Speaker 1: Ride receiver room. So I have worked with previous Ride
5:48
Speaker 1: receiver coach. They always never wanted to go up and beyond.
5:51
Speaker 1: They always just wanted to stay as a receiver coach man.
5:54
Speaker 1: Obviously Zach wanted more. He wanted to be a head guy.
5:58
Speaker 1: So obviously he doing it. He's doing at a greater
6:01
Speaker 1: skill right now. What do you respect about Sean McVay
6:04
Speaker 1: from when you played for him? His resiliency, He was
6:08
Speaker 1: always cool. He never really raised his voice too much.
6:10
Speaker 1: He was always a cool, common, collective coach. And he
6:14
Speaker 1: was a high standard guy too. He was always forcing
6:18
Speaker 1: the details, making sure everything was perfect. And that's what
6:21
Speaker 1: I can say about him. He was a professionalist. He
6:24
Speaker 1: want everything's perfect so that we can set the standard
6:27
Speaker 1: high and going games confident and not really wherever it
6:30
Speaker 1: or think overthinking. So one of the challenges for the
6:33
Speaker 1: Bengals wide receivers in this Super Bowl is going to
6:36
Speaker 1: be trying to get open against Jalen Ramsey. He's probably
6:38
Speaker 1: the best corner in the NFL. What makes him so
6:42
Speaker 1: special Obviously he's a bigger framer, I mean cornerback of course,
6:49
Speaker 1: he's like six two wide wingspans long. He's a long corner. So,
6:53
Speaker 1: if you know what I'm saying, going to get his
6:54
Speaker 1: long corners ain't really fun. So anybody who can just
6:58
Speaker 1: reach out and touch you across the on scrimmage, that's
7:01
Speaker 1: as you know, that's you're gonna have a long day.
7:03
Speaker 1: So all credit to Jalen for sure. So, Mike, you
7:07
Speaker 1: grew up in Chicago idolizing Chad Johnson. You wanted your
7:11
Speaker 1: buddies to call you Mike Ocho Cinco when you were
7:14
Speaker 1: in high school. Does it seem fitting to you that
7:17
Speaker 1: you are going to a super Bowl in a Bengals uniform? Yeah,
7:22
Speaker 1: I would say that. Um, it's only right man. Um,
7:27
Speaker 1: Like you said, what the history says, it's been thirty
7:30
Speaker 1: years since. It's been a long time. So I'm just
7:34
Speaker 1: I'm just glad to be a part of this history. Man,
7:36
Speaker 1: to just be you know, in the locker room with
7:38
Speaker 1: the guy, sharing those those moments and cherishing every moment
7:42
Speaker 1: and just man, I'm just excited. I mean, I can't
7:46
Speaker 1: really explain it, man, It's just you just got to
7:47
Speaker 1: cherish those moments and be humble and understand what you're
7:51
Speaker 1: in what you know, what you did, what you got,
7:53
Speaker 1: what you got in front of you. Honestly, I think
7:56
Speaker 1: it seems a little bit unreal to all of us.
7:58
Speaker 1: But have you allowed yourself to dream about what it
8:01
Speaker 1: would be like to hold up that Lombardi Trophy after
8:05
Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl? Oh yeah, oh yeah, I can
8:09
Speaker 1: picture with ring finger out what the ring going and everything. Man,
8:13
Speaker 1: I can see for sure. I hope you get the
8:15
Speaker 1: opportunity to wear it. But just making it as far
8:18
Speaker 1: as a remarkable accomplishment. Congratulations Mike, and I appreciate your
8:22
Speaker 1: time as always. Thank you, Thank you, d I appreciate you.
8:25
Speaker 1: Thomas only has five catches this year, along with four
8:28
Speaker 1: tackles and a forced fumble on special teams. But if
8:30
Speaker 1: there's one thing we've learned about the Super Bowl over
8:33
Speaker 1: the years, it's that there are often unexpected heroes like
8:37
Speaker 1: David Tyree, whose helmet catch helped the Giants beat the
8:41
Speaker 1: undefeated Patriots. It was the final catch of his NFL career.
8:46
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
8:50
Speaker 1: free to play fantasy football game. This year, Ultimate Bengals
8:54
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the season
8:57
Speaker 1: with tickets, autographed merchandise, and he can't buy experiences all
9:02
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store
9:05
Speaker 1: and Google Play. In each of the last two years,
9:08
Speaker 1: just before the start of the season, I've been joined
9:10
Speaker 1: on this podcast by a writer named Robert Weintraub. Rob
9:14
Speaker 1: covers the NFL for Football Outsiders, a website that focuses
9:17
Speaker 1: on advanced statistical analysis, but he also writes on a
9:21
Speaker 1: more personal level for Cincinnati Magazine. You see, Robert grew
9:25
Speaker 1: up in suburban New York rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals. Robert,
9:31
Speaker 1: the title of your most recent story for Cincinnati Magazine
9:34
Speaker 1: is the Bengals Answered Our Prayers at long Last, and
9:39
Speaker 1: the end of the first paragraph reads as follows. I
9:41
Speaker 1: hope for it, prayed for it, offered to sell my
9:45
Speaker 1: first born male son for it. Never truly believed it.
9:49
Speaker 1: It's been about a week. Are you still having a
9:52
Speaker 1: hard time believing it? I definitely am. My son is
9:56
Speaker 1: still for sale by the way out there, if anybody
9:58
Speaker 1: wants to please do uh. It's it's living in this
10:03
Speaker 1: sort of another world of disbelief with you know, incredible
10:09
Speaker 1: pride and confidence in the team and just giddiness, I
10:13
Speaker 1: guess is the one word that comes to mind. It's
10:16
Speaker 1: they've come so far and it's all been so unexpected
10:19
Speaker 1: that it's it's a better ride, I think than you know,
10:22
Speaker 1: had they gone into the season as a favorite, or
10:25
Speaker 1: you know, a team that we thought couldn't even make
10:27
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl run. The fact that it came so
10:30
Speaker 1: out of nowhere and yet feels sustainable for the future
10:33
Speaker 1: really is kind of the best of both worlds. There
10:35
Speaker 1: there a year ahead of time, you know, they kind
10:38
Speaker 1: of took this great leap forward, as they said in
10:41
Speaker 1: China once upon a time, and you know, I think
10:44
Speaker 1: that really makes it more special than it would be otherwise.
10:46
Speaker 1: And of course the way they've won the games themselves
10:49
Speaker 1: have been you know, hard to believe and make it
10:52
Speaker 1: even more of a too much at times of a
10:56
Speaker 1: roller coaster ride. But when you come out on the
10:58
Speaker 1: winning side of those games, it makes it's so much better.
11:00
Speaker 1: And you know, it's just I'm still dizzy. Maybe that'll
11:05
Speaker 1: wear off by the time to kickoff next week, We'll see,
11:07
Speaker 1: but you know, for now, I'm still I'm walking on air.
11:11
Speaker 1: I've been saying to people, there's nothing better as a
11:14
Speaker 1: sports fan, and when your team reaches this level and
11:18
Speaker 1: it's entirely unexpected, it would have been great under any circumstances.
11:22
Speaker 1: Hopefully five years from now, when the Bengals are going
11:24
Speaker 1: to their fifth consecutive Super Bowl, we'll still think it's great.
11:27
Speaker 1: But when it's completely unexpected, that's the best, right. Yeah.
11:31
Speaker 1: You know, we talked before the season started and we
11:34
Speaker 1: were just like, maybe, hopefully, let's pray they play some
11:37
Speaker 1: meaningful games in December. Let's hope they have an outside
11:41
Speaker 1: crack at the playoffs, you know, And I think in
11:43
Speaker 1: the back of our minds, knowing that Joe Burrow was
11:46
Speaker 1: the quarterback, this was not completely out of the realm
11:48
Speaker 1: of possibility. But obviously coming off the injury, you know,
11:52
Speaker 1: we didn't know what to expect. We didn't know how
11:54
Speaker 1: long it was going to take for him to go
11:56
Speaker 1: back to being Joe Burrow, and I think it did
11:58
Speaker 1: take somewhere along the lines of half a season for
12:00
Speaker 1: him to do that. But you know, the way they've
12:04
Speaker 1: then just kind of boarded this rocket ship and taken
12:07
Speaker 1: the flight straight to the moon has been really pretty amazing,
12:11
Speaker 1: And yeah, it is. It is the best it can
12:14
Speaker 1: never be replicated. Really, I mean, that's the thing about it,
12:17
Speaker 1: and you know that's what makes it really that much
12:19
Speaker 1: more special. And then I just worry that if they
12:21
Speaker 1: don't finish the drill as they say, and don't win
12:24
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl itself, maybe we have a bit of
12:27
Speaker 1: a bitter sweet feeling at the end of all this.
12:28
Speaker 1: But I'm trying not to get into that mental space
12:31
Speaker 1: just yet. We're chatting with Robert Weintraub, who covers the
12:33
Speaker 1: NFL for Football Outsiders and writes about the Bengals for
12:36
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Magazine. In the article I referenced earlier, you also
12:40
Speaker 1: described how you were so nervous that you could not
12:43
Speaker 1: watch the finish on TV. You went to another room.
12:46
Speaker 1: You'll be happy to know my eighty five year old
12:48
Speaker 1: mother does the same thing, so you are in good company.
12:51
Speaker 1: At what point couldn't you stand the stress? It was
12:55
Speaker 1: when the Chiefs were driving for what was going to
12:59
Speaker 1: be a go ahead down or take the entirety of
13:02
Speaker 1: the clock, as it happened, and kick the field goal
13:05
Speaker 1: send the game into over time. At that point, with
13:08
Speaker 1: the ball in Joe Burrow's hands, I probably wouldn't have
13:10
Speaker 1: felt the same way I'd have felt maybe a little
13:12
Speaker 1: bit of his confidence would have ebbed into my field.
13:15
Speaker 1: But with Joe on the bench and the Patrick Mahomes,
13:19
Speaker 1: you know, going downfield, even though he had been struggling
13:23
Speaker 1: for the entirety of the second half. Nevertheless, the jelly
13:27
Speaker 1: in my knees did not allow me to stand up
13:30
Speaker 1: the you know, the mini stroke feelings I was having
13:34
Speaker 1: in my chest and head. Said let's just walk away
13:37
Speaker 1: from this and put your prioritize your health over to
13:41
Speaker 1: Bengals for once in your life, and it worked out
13:43
Speaker 1: pretty well. The question will be in the Super Bowl.
13:46
Speaker 1: I have similar strength if the situation repeats itself. Hopefully
13:50
Speaker 1: the Bengals go out to about a thirty seven nothing
13:52
Speaker 1: we had to just cruise home from there. Somehow I
13:55
Speaker 1: doubt it, but we'll make that decision when the time comes.
13:58
Speaker 1: We can dream, There's no doubt about that. We've recorded
14:01
Speaker 1: podcast each of the last two years after the Football
14:03
Speaker 1: Outsiders preseason Almanac came out, and your feelings about Joe
14:07
Speaker 1: Burrow have been clear. You call him atlas for carrying
14:11
Speaker 1: the franchise on his shoulders, but how did this team
14:15
Speaker 1: get to the Super Bowl in his second year? When
14:18
Speaker 1: you have a truly transformative player, they're capable of doing
14:21
Speaker 1: these things. And we look back and you know, it
14:23
Speaker 1: happens more often than you might think. I mean, when
14:25
Speaker 1: teams have truly a great player at that position, obviously
14:29
Speaker 1: it happens faster than you might imagine. You know, Mahomes
14:31
Speaker 1: went to the super Bowl in his second year as
14:33
Speaker 1: a starter, Roethlisberger Ben Roethlisberger in his second year as
14:37
Speaker 1: a starter, Aaron Rodgers in his second year. When you
14:39
Speaker 1: have a guy like that, all things are possible. I mean,
14:42
Speaker 1: we always talked about it. We knew it. We had to,
14:45
Speaker 1: you know, so sort of see it to believe it maybe,
14:47
Speaker 1: But you know, that's why you drafted the guy like
14:50
Speaker 1: this number one overall. That's why we were so happy
14:53
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of bottom out instead of finishing
14:55
Speaker 1: you know, five and eleven in twenty nineteen. It was like, Okay,
14:59
Speaker 1: we got a rack at this sort of once in
15:01
Speaker 1: a lifetime ish kind of player, and he makes things
15:04
Speaker 1: like this possible. I mean, I hate to break a
15:07
Speaker 1: complicated game down into such a simple, you know sort
15:10
Speaker 1: of factor, but you know it's true. We can go
15:13
Speaker 1: on and on about all the little things that Bengals
15:15
Speaker 1: have done, and all the offseason moves that they did
15:17
Speaker 1: that worked out pretty much entirely one hundred percent, all
15:21
Speaker 1: the things they've done offensively, you know, to scheme around
15:25
Speaker 1: the fact the offensive line is not great, etc. Etc.
15:27
Speaker 1: Evan mcpherrison. Of course being the future ten time All
15:31
Speaker 1: Pro that we thought it might be coming out of college. Oh,
15:34
Speaker 1: that's great, and all of it's true, But the single
15:37
Speaker 1: most important factor is Joe Burrow and a player of
15:40
Speaker 1: his ilk, not just playing the way he plays, but obviously,
15:43
Speaker 1: you know, giving some of his character and leadership and
15:46
Speaker 1: the intangibles that we talk about so much in our
15:48
Speaker 1: metric based company at Football Outsiders, I'd sort of feel
15:53
Speaker 1: a trader talking about things like that that can't be measured.
15:55
Speaker 1: But it's clear these hadn't effect a transformative effect, not
15:59
Speaker 1: just on the team, not the entire organization. It's what
16:02
Speaker 1: he was rafted to do, It's what we thought he
16:04
Speaker 1: was capable of doing, and he's done it already in
16:07
Speaker 1: year two. It's truly a fantastic, incredible accomplishment and you know,
16:11
Speaker 1: something he should be pretty proud of. I'm sure your colleague,
16:14
Speaker 1: Mike Tanier wrote the Bengals preview for Football Outsiders this year,
16:17
Speaker 1: and it was not encouraging. Have you playfully reminded him
16:21
Speaker 1: of that? Oh? I told him next year's essay, which
16:25
Speaker 1: I will write, will just be a point by point
16:27
Speaker 1: hit for tat reader on of that and pointing out
16:30
Speaker 1: where he was wrong. And whenever he goes on radio
16:34
Speaker 1: shows this week or podcasts on Super Bowl Week, I
16:37
Speaker 1: told him he's going to have to go back and
16:39
Speaker 1: refer to that essay that he wrote, perhaps with a
16:42
Speaker 1: celebrity voice to give it more of a Samuel L. Jackson,
16:47
Speaker 1: perhaps scorn attached to the way he wrote that. Yeah,
16:50
Speaker 1: you know, I mean that was the sort of national
16:52
Speaker 1: outsider's view of the Bengals, And you know, you can't
16:56
Speaker 1: say he was unjustified and he went out of his way,
16:59
Speaker 1: perhaps with a few had hominem attacks and a little
17:01
Speaker 1: extra snark, But that's Mike. I mean. The point of
17:04
Speaker 1: it is the Bengals didn't have much to stand on
17:07
Speaker 1: over the last five years or so. They didn't have
17:11
Speaker 1: much success. Obviously, they hadn't won a playoff game as
17:14
Speaker 1: we know in over three decades, and they were sort
17:17
Speaker 1: of they were doing things differently now as it turns
17:21
Speaker 1: out sometimes when you do things differently and you have
17:24
Speaker 1: an organization that isn't you know, just busy chasing the
17:27
Speaker 1: same thing every the other organization is chasing, that works
17:30
Speaker 1: out for you. And sometimes, you know, these things are
17:33
Speaker 1: also also cyclical. I mean, the drafts were very good
17:36
Speaker 1: in the first half of the twenty tens, and they
17:39
Speaker 1: took a downward turn in the second half. That's every team,
17:43
Speaker 1: you know, most teams go through something like that. It
17:45
Speaker 1: can't be one hundred percent in the front office and
17:47
Speaker 1: personnel things like that. And the Bengals were different upward
17:50
Speaker 1: turn in that respect, and it happened, and it happened
17:54
Speaker 1: to the end degree, and they happen to you know,
17:57
Speaker 1: also get a chance that, you know, the great quarterback
17:59
Speaker 1: who didn't get to show what he was really capable
18:01
Speaker 1: of last year, and the fact that he went out
18:04
Speaker 1: in such a disturbing and catastrophic way also lent the
18:09
Speaker 1: national media to sort of dismiss the Bengals and Burrow
18:13
Speaker 1: in a casual way. He's kind of aut of sight,
18:15
Speaker 1: out of mind. I feel like, coming into the season,
18:17
Speaker 1: it's like, well, yeah, he's there, but you know, let's
18:19
Speaker 1: see what he can really do, and you know he did.
18:23
Speaker 1: And I think if Mike were here now with some
18:27
Speaker 1: true serum, we would be able to pin him down
18:29
Speaker 1: and say that he was a little over the top.
18:31
Speaker 1: But that's okay. I mean, you know, the success is
18:33
Speaker 1: the last laugh, and I've had a few at his
18:36
Speaker 1: expense throughout the season. So they have the transformative player
18:40
Speaker 1: in Joe Burrow at quarterback. But where was this team
18:43
Speaker 1: much better than the metrics suggested it would be? Obviously,
18:48
Speaker 1: run defense is the first and foremost place you look.
18:51
Speaker 1: They were top ten all season in that respect, something
18:55
Speaker 1: I didn't think it was even possible, much less you know,
18:57
Speaker 1: going to happen at a consistent rate this season. You
19:01
Speaker 1: know the fact that they addressed it in the off
19:03
Speaker 1: season so heavily in the last two off seasons. Really
19:06
Speaker 1: if you count Dj Reader, who had a really excellent season,
19:09
Speaker 1: and he too was pretty much forgotten about. People don't
19:12
Speaker 1: remember that he was lost for most of the twenty
19:14
Speaker 1: twenty seasons, so just getting him back was it was
19:17
Speaker 1: a huge effect on the interior that defensive line, and
19:21
Speaker 1: you know, the way they were able to consistently stop
19:24
Speaker 1: other teams running games, which was you know, passing is
19:27
Speaker 1: much more of the way to go. It's much more
19:29
Speaker 1: efficient overall in football. But teams still want to kind
19:33
Speaker 1: of break you, for lack of a better word. They
19:36
Speaker 1: want to control the game through the running attack, and
19:39
Speaker 1: if you deny them that, you know, it makes obviously
19:42
Speaker 1: winning on defense much easier. That Bengals still struggled to
19:45
Speaker 1: stop the pass in a lot of games this season
19:49
Speaker 1: and overall this season, I think could say, but the
19:51
Speaker 1: fact that they were consistently able to stop other teams
19:54
Speaker 1: running games meant that they couldn't the other team couldn't
19:57
Speaker 1: put away games on them, and they were That's the
19:59
Speaker 1: reason why they were always in these late comeback fourth
20:02
Speaker 1: quarter games, and they always had a chance because the
20:05
Speaker 1: other team couldn't kill the clock on him. That was
20:07
Speaker 1: a big, big factor and certainly something I didn't see coming.
20:10
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody did, maybe except for the Bengals
20:13
Speaker 1: staff and the Bengals players. For chatting with Robert Weintraub,
20:16
Speaker 1: who covers the NFL for Football Outsiders and the Bengals
20:18
Speaker 1: for Cincinnati Magazine. He is also the author of several books,
20:22
Speaker 1: including The Divine Miss Marble, available in paperback. So let's
20:26
Speaker 1: turn our attention out of the Bengals and Rams in
20:28
Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty six. I know you've been diving into
20:31
Speaker 1: the advanced numbers. What are some of the keys to
20:33
Speaker 1: this matchup based on your research? Well, first of all,
20:37
Speaker 1: we'll have to overcome a large gap between the Rams
20:42
Speaker 1: and the Bengals in terms of overall DVOA, which is
20:44
Speaker 1: the standard Football Outsiders stat which measures kind of down
20:49
Speaker 1: by down efficiency. I think one thing you would obviously
20:52
Speaker 1: know is that the Bengals were not efficient from down
20:54
Speaker 1: to down this year. They were very boom er Bus team.
20:57
Speaker 1: The Rams were much better, and the gap is pretty large.
21:01
Speaker 1: We give the Rams about a sixty five percent chance
21:04
Speaker 1: of winning the game. I think if you look historically
21:06
Speaker 1: to the one game that this kind of numerically matches
21:09
Speaker 1: the most, though, it's it's the two thousand and one game,
21:11
Speaker 1: which also involved the Rams then in Saint Louis against
21:15
Speaker 1: the Patriots with a young quarterback who not too many
21:18
Speaker 1: people knew all that much about, but managed to pull
21:21
Speaker 1: the upset and spring in a new dynasty, a long
21:24
Speaker 1: lasting dynasty said yeah, that that Rams Patriots games game
21:28
Speaker 1: kind of matches almost exactly where this game is in
21:30
Speaker 1: terms of DV away. The Bengals, obviously, if you wait
21:35
Speaker 1: the DV away by more recent games, look a lot
21:39
Speaker 1: better than they do in a season long first And
21:42
Speaker 1: you know, funnily, the Rams have really struggled to run
21:44
Speaker 1: the ball themselves. They're one of the poorer running teams,
21:47
Speaker 1: especially on third down and in the playoffs, in particular
21:50
Speaker 1: Water where we just said that's the Bengals strength. So
21:53
Speaker 1: if you wonder a you know how much the Rams
21:56
Speaker 1: will want to run it. Think Sean mcvay's entire scheme
22:00
Speaker 1: is built around the run, so I think he'll want to.
22:02
Speaker 1: The question is will the Bengals be able to continue
22:05
Speaker 1: that success against their run? Will they sucker the Rams
22:10
Speaker 1: into running it more than they want to? I think
22:13
Speaker 1: they kind of suckered the Chiefs out of running it
22:15
Speaker 1: last last week. I wonder if they'll do the opposite
22:18
Speaker 1: against the Rams. I think you'll also find that the
22:21
Speaker 1: Rams have, you know, Jalen Ramsey, obviously a lot of
22:24
Speaker 1: talk about him matching up against Jamar Chase. Funnily enough,
22:27
Speaker 1: though the Rams did not do a great job of
22:29
Speaker 1: shutting down enemy number one wide receivers, they were actually
22:32
Speaker 1: sixteenth overall by DV away, and only three teams gave
22:35
Speaker 1: up more yards per game against enemy number one whiteouts.
22:39
Speaker 1: That would seem to indicate that chase. Uh, you know,
22:42
Speaker 1: and I don't think the Bengals will have any fear
22:43
Speaker 1: of throwing it up the chase, regardless of who's guarding them.
22:46
Speaker 1: So you know that that could be a place where
22:50
Speaker 1: obviously the camera's going to be on those guys and
22:52
Speaker 1: we're going to see a matchup of strength against strength,
22:55
Speaker 1: and that could favor the Bengals. Surprisingly enough, according to
22:58
Speaker 1: our numbers, Bengals are offensive line versus Aaron Donald, von Miller,
23:03
Speaker 1: Leonard Floyd, etc. Certainly a lot of people are pointing
23:08
Speaker 1: to that matchup as the single most significant matchup in
23:11
Speaker 1: this game. What do you think? Yeah, I mean it
23:15
Speaker 1: may not be able to watch that either, and they
23:16
Speaker 1: have to go through the other room and grow up
23:18
Speaker 1: into a ball in my closet and just hope you
23:20
Speaker 1: know that the Bengals do something good. Yeah, there's no
23:23
Speaker 1: question they have a formidable front. Von Miller has done
23:26
Speaker 1: it in Super Bowls before. Aaron Donald arguably the best
23:29
Speaker 1: player in football at any position. I mean he's a monster.
23:33
Speaker 1: But you know, the Bengals have had a week offensive
23:35
Speaker 1: line or a mediocre offensive line would be the best
23:38
Speaker 1: way to say it all season, and they've mitigated that,
23:40
Speaker 1: they've worked around it. I think the key is to
23:43
Speaker 1: be able to, you know, even when they get behind
23:46
Speaker 1: the change, which they did like against Tennessee, they were
23:49
Speaker 1: able to able to overcome that. I think they had
23:51
Speaker 1: sixty five negative yards and sacks, but you know, three
23:54
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yards almost in passing, so that's going
23:57
Speaker 1: to be important. They're going to have some negative plays.
24:00
Speaker 1: We saw that Joe Burrow doesn't mind taking a negative
24:03
Speaker 1: play because he knows he's coming right back at him.
24:06
Speaker 1: When they're in second and fifteen, it'll be key not
24:09
Speaker 1: to try and go for it all and get into
24:11
Speaker 1: third and manageable. I think the Bengals know that. I
24:14
Speaker 1: think they know where they're you know, the mismatches on
24:17
Speaker 1: the other side lie obviously, and they're probably gonna try
24:20
Speaker 1: and establish a little bit of a perimeter running game
24:22
Speaker 1: to slow down especially those pass rushing bookends there. It's
24:27
Speaker 1: not what you can do is slow down Donald. But
24:29
Speaker 1: if you get von Miller in particular, worried about running
24:32
Speaker 1: to his side, things have happened that you know the
24:35
Speaker 1: Bengals can find some success there, so it's gonna be rough,
24:38
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but I think that certainly there's
24:42
Speaker 1: some places where the Bengals can make some hay in
24:44
Speaker 1: that part of the game, and they're just gonna have
24:45
Speaker 1: to stick to it. We are recording this conversation via zoom.
24:49
Speaker 1: You have a Bengals helmet and an old football digest
24:52
Speaker 1: with Ken Anderson on the cover over your shoulder, so
24:55
Speaker 1: I know what this super Bowl trip me. Oh, you've
24:58
Speaker 1: got a Bengals mug as well. That's very good. I
25:00
Speaker 1: know what the super Bowl trip means to you, and
25:02
Speaker 1: I'm happy you did not have to sell your eldest
25:05
Speaker 1: son for it to happen. Congratulations, enjoy the Super Bowl,
25:11
Speaker 1: and I hope that the Bengals have a big enough
25:13
Speaker 1: lead that you can watch the finish live. I hope
25:16
Speaker 1: the same thing for you, Dad. Congratulations for you know,
25:20
Speaker 1: I just want to say, as a fan of your work,
25:22
Speaker 1: of course, and all that you've gone through over the
25:25
Speaker 1: years trying to, you know, make some of these boring
25:28
Speaker 1: games and dead games interesting. In the depths of a
25:31
Speaker 1: losing season, you get to call the biggest game there
25:34
Speaker 1: is and I just hope you're able to watch it
25:36
Speaker 1: at the end as well. That would be tough if
25:38
Speaker 1: you're not, because Dave Lapham will have to take over
25:40
Speaker 1: play by play and analysis. Great as he is, I'm
25:43
Speaker 1: not sure he's quite ready for that, so hopefully you
25:45
Speaker 1: can make it too. So congratulations, thanks for having me on.
25:48
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Robert wrote a fantastic profile of
25:52
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham prior to the season, and if you haven't
25:55
Speaker 1: read it, you can find it online by searching for
25:58
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham Cincinnati mag Gazine. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
26:02
Speaker 1: presented by on Location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL.
26:07
Speaker 1: Visit on location exp dot com for exclusive access to
26:11
Speaker 1: the biggest events in the NFL, including Sunday Super Bowl Tuesday.
26:16
Speaker 1: On Good Morning Football on the NFL Network, the crew
26:19
Speaker 1: played a little game called What super Bowl Joe, and
26:23
Speaker 1: one of the questions was what super Bowl Joe? When
26:27
Speaker 1: asked if he could meet anybody in history, answered Julius Caesar.
26:32
Speaker 1: The answer is Joe Burrow and the anecdote came from
26:34
Speaker 1: the fun facts interview I did with him over the
26:37
Speaker 1: phone from his home in Athens shortly after the NFL Draft.
26:40
Speaker 1: I included it on this podcast at the time, but
26:43
Speaker 1: with the Bengals going to the Super Bowl in his
26:45
Speaker 1: second season, I thought it would be fun to go
26:48
Speaker 1: back and listen again. Time for some fun facts with
26:52
Speaker 1: the first pick in the twenty twenty NFL Draft, quarterback
26:56
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. Joe, I want to start with the famous
27:00
Speaker 1: cigar picture after the National Championship win over Clemson. It
27:04
Speaker 1: reminds me of Joe Namath in the bathing suit by
27:08
Speaker 1: the pool before Super Bowl three. It's like the epitome
27:11
Speaker 1: of cool incompetent. How did it happen? And did you
27:15
Speaker 1: have any idea in the moment? How big of a
27:18
Speaker 1: deal that would become one of our strength and turns
27:22
Speaker 1: his family on the cigar company. So he was passing
27:25
Speaker 1: around in the locker room and we were smoking them,
27:29
Speaker 1: and then they told me the time for media. I
27:32
Speaker 1: didn't want to just put it out and they had
27:34
Speaker 1: to relite it by my son's kept smoking it, and
27:37
Speaker 1: so I end up capturing a picture, great video, great picture.
27:41
Speaker 1: It's on T shirts. It's one of the most popular
27:44
Speaker 1: gifts out there. That thing has become hugely viral. Yeah,
27:50
Speaker 1: I mean, this is craziness, and I don't think we
27:54
Speaker 1: were allowed to smoke inside. But I think the New
27:57
Speaker 1: Orleans costs. Let us let's get away with one. Yeah,
28:00
Speaker 1: I win a national championship, you get a little bit
28:02
Speaker 1: of extra leeway, Joe on Draft night, the Heisman Trophy
28:06
Speaker 1: made a nice decoration in your family living room. How
28:10
Speaker 1: heavy is it and how do you travel with the
28:13
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy? I think it's about thirty thirty or forty.
28:18
Speaker 1: And they gave us a nice little case with the
28:21
Speaker 1: walk on it that we can travel with. Some nobody
28:23
Speaker 1: will take it from us. So when you haven't been
28:26
Speaker 1: able to go to fitness centers during this pandemic situation,
28:30
Speaker 1: you can lift the Heisman Trophy. You have stated publicly
28:36
Speaker 1: that your big splurge with your rookie contract is going
28:40
Speaker 1: to be a personal chef. Are there candidates already and
28:44
Speaker 1: what must they be able to cook? I've been getting
28:48
Speaker 1: resumeates for a long time, or since I first said that,
28:53
Speaker 1: So now now is the time when farmers start to
28:56
Speaker 1: go through wall. I'd have to think about My case
29:00
Speaker 1: has been changing lately. Some things that I used to
29:03
Speaker 1: like I don't really like as much anymore. So I
29:06
Speaker 1: think my options are pretty open. I have heard this
29:10
Speaker 1: isn't something that a chef will be required to prepare.
29:12
Speaker 1: But I have heard that you have a passion for
29:14
Speaker 1: the Honey Crisp apple easily the best apple correct by far,
29:20
Speaker 1: number one of all the apples are signing close. We
29:24
Speaker 1: have that in common, Joe. You have been described as
29:27
Speaker 1: being compulsively competitive. What loss still stings the most? Every
29:34
Speaker 1: one of them. There's not any particular losses that I
29:39
Speaker 1: heard more than others. Losing this isn't very fun, and
29:43
Speaker 1: that's why I like to work as hard as I
29:45
Speaker 1: can to try to win as many games as possible.
29:48
Speaker 1: On the flip side, is there a win in something
29:51
Speaker 1: other than a big sporting event that's still deeply satisfying?
29:56
Speaker 1: Enjoy being people in ping pong? That's that's pretty satisfying.
30:02
Speaker 1: Um As. We always have a family thing clong tournament
30:05
Speaker 1: on vacation. I usually win it. You'll be happy to
30:08
Speaker 1: know if you didn't already, there's a ping pong table
30:11
Speaker 1: in the Bengals locker room. I'll be frequenting that table.
30:16
Speaker 1: I want to go back to a game in your
30:18
Speaker 1: junior year at LSU seven overtimes, Texas A and m
30:23
Speaker 1: ultimately won seventy four seventy two. It's the highest scoring
30:26
Speaker 1: game at FBS history, nearly five hours long, and you
30:30
Speaker 1: physically crashed at the end of that game. How serious
30:33
Speaker 1: was that? I thought, a little little blood sugar. I
30:38
Speaker 1: don't like to eat directly before games, so the last
30:41
Speaker 1: time I had eaten was lunch, and we ended up
30:44
Speaker 1: getting up to feel like one am, So that's im.
30:47
Speaker 1: I didn't anything a halftime. So that's all the reason
30:49
Speaker 1: that I had passed out in a locker room. When
30:53
Speaker 1: you decided to transfer from Ohio State, your final two
30:56
Speaker 1: choices were the University of Cincinnati or LSU, and you
31:00
Speaker 1: obviously made the right choice. But I understand that had
31:04
Speaker 1: you transferred to UC there was a thought process that
31:08
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton actually might serve as a mentor or a
31:11
Speaker 1: sounding board since you would have been in the same city.
31:15
Speaker 1: Was that an appealing possibility? And did you two guys
31:18
Speaker 1: ever make contact that was in discussion that they have
31:22
Speaker 1: never really crossed my mind that that was going to
31:26
Speaker 1: play a part in my decision making. You know, my
31:29
Speaker 1: goal was to always win a national championships. That's the
31:32
Speaker 1: reason that I picked the LSU. Joe by referencing families
31:37
Speaker 1: living in poverty where you grew up. During your Heisman's speech,
31:40
Speaker 1: you help raise more than half a million bucks for
31:43
Speaker 1: the food pantry in Athens County. Was that an eye
31:46
Speaker 1: opening moment for what you might be able to do
31:49
Speaker 1: going forward for people with the platform you're going to have. Yeah,
31:53
Speaker 1: it really was. I'm excited to kind of come up
31:57
Speaker 1: with some more things to help more people, and hopefully
32:01
Speaker 1: we can do here in the last couple of years.
32:03
Speaker 1: All Right, a few wild card topics for you. Your
32:06
Speaker 1: dad was drafted by the Packers and played in the
32:08
Speaker 1: Canadian Football League for five years. Your brothers played big
32:12
Speaker 1: time college football at Nebraska. But the best athlete in
32:16
Speaker 1: your family might have been your grandmother, right, Yeah, Yeah,
32:20
Speaker 1: she got eighty two in a game in high school
32:22
Speaker 1: one time, eighty two points in a high school basketball game,
32:26
Speaker 1: and I've read that she averaged fifty plus. Yeah, yeah,
32:31
Speaker 1: she did as you were growing up in the driveway
32:34
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Did Grandma Dot ever toss a ball? No,
32:39
Speaker 1: I've never seen her. I've never seen her do it.
32:41
Speaker 1: I'll find out for some film of her doing it
32:44
Speaker 1: one of these series. I understand that you are a
32:47
Speaker 1: huge Cleveland Cavaliers fanatic, and rumor has it, I don't
32:53
Speaker 1: know if this was in the first finals against the
32:57
Speaker 1: Warriors of the second one, but you didn't leave your room,
33:00
Speaker 1: you didn't change your clothes, something like that for good luck. Explain.
33:07
Speaker 1: I didn't quite go that far. I just wore a
33:11
Speaker 1: Matthew Dol's over shirt that I wore for every during
33:14
Speaker 1: every game. When you were a kid, did you have
33:18
Speaker 1: any memorable meetings with a really famous athlete at my
33:27
Speaker 1: cousin's wedding in California? Clo awesome? Peyton Manning attended a
33:32
Speaker 1: cousin's wedding. No, he was just at the hotel that
33:37
Speaker 1: it was happening at. H Do you think you resemble
33:41
Speaker 1: Macaulay Culkin. Yeah, i'd say I'd say so on that one.
33:46
Speaker 1: I can't can't hurt you that one. Thinking a little
33:48
Speaker 1: better looking. Now, what are you bad at? Because obviously
33:55
Speaker 1: you were a great athlete in every sport that you've played.
33:58
Speaker 1: We understand you're good at paint pong. You referenced playing
34:01
Speaker 1: chess when you spoke to reporters after you were selected
34:05
Speaker 1: by the Bengals. What are you lousy at golf? I
34:09
Speaker 1: think a golf I might do something I have to
34:12
Speaker 1: pick up. I am cractice quite a bit at the once.
34:16
Speaker 1: At the SEC media days, you use the term superluminal
34:21
Speaker 1: time travel. Are you a science nerd? I am a
34:25
Speaker 1: science nerd. I wish I had more time to kind
34:28
Speaker 1: of study it, but yeah, I'm into all those science
34:31
Speaker 1: documentaries and stuff like that. If you could meet anybody
34:36
Speaker 1: in history, athlete, politician, entertainer, whomever, who would that person be.
34:44
Speaker 1: Julius Caesar? Why Julius Caesar. Here's a great conqueror. And
34:51
Speaker 1: obviously to do that you got to be a really
34:54
Speaker 1: good leader of men. So I'd be interested to just
34:57
Speaker 1: spend spend a couple of days with them. All right,
34:59
Speaker 1: last thing, you attended the Super Bowl in Miami. You
35:03
Speaker 1: were hanging out with your buddy Sam Hubbard, and I
35:07
Speaker 1: heard that you were a little bit taken aback by
35:10
Speaker 1: the fact that famous people have now started recognizing you
35:15
Speaker 1: and showing their excitement about meeting you. What's that like
35:21
Speaker 1: when you first realize, huh, my life has changed? It
35:25
Speaker 1: was crazy. Yes, people who you grew up watching and
35:30
Speaker 1: listening to and that are just coming up and introducing
35:34
Speaker 1: youself to me. I mean it was. It's been a
35:37
Speaker 1: crazy experience, little far all right, you're off the hot seat.
35:40
Speaker 1: I appreciate the time. I look forward to meeting you
35:42
Speaker 1: in person. Fun to listen back to my first ever
35:47
Speaker 1: conversation with Joey Franchise. Later this week on the podcast,
35:51
Speaker 1: I'll talk to Chris Collinsworth and Bengals owner Mike Brown.
35:54
Speaker 1: But that's going to do it for this episode. Brought
35:56
Speaker 1: to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play next
35:59
Speaker 1: Level Fantasy football game, and by on Location, the official
36:03
Speaker 1: hospitality partner of the NFL. If you haven't done so already,
36:07
Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
36:10
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
36:12
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde, and thank
36:16
Speaker 1: you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast