Bengals Booth Podcast: Bad Moon Rising

go one on one with defensive lineman Xavier Williams. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer Refresh the game, and here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest

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Now let's get to Sunday's game. The first eighteen minutes might have been the most frustrating stretch that the Bengals have played all year. On their opening drive, they started at their own ten, marched to the Washington fifteen, and didn't score when Randy Bullock missed a thirty four yard field goal try. After Washington scored a touchdown to take

a seven nothing lead, the Bengals did it again. They started at their own twenty five, drove to the Washington three, and came up empty when they went for it on fourth and goal, and Joe Burrow fumbled after being hit by Chase Young while trying to scramble into the end zone. After two drives, they had one hundred forty four yards and no points, But the third time was the charm second out and goal from the four for Cincinnati. Burrow is under center now p Ryan is the running back.

Burrow fakes a hold off throws before getting hit right caught hey j Green touchdown Cincinnati as Adriel Cheryl Maiah Green finds the end zone for the first time in seven hundred and fifty six days and first touchdown passed between Joe Burrow and AJ Green. Obviously, and Burrow get rid of the football with a player defensive player draped on his legs. AJ Green just stays with it. Joe Burrow throws the ball in a tight window and that's with a defensive player at his legs. He delivers that

football just before being taken to the ground. Tremendous effort by career touchdown catch number sixty four for AJ Green, just two behind Chad Johnson's franchise record. Unfortunately, Bullock missed the extra point and the Bengals trailed seven to six, but Randy atoned late in the half from long distance as long as fifty five so his leg is strong enough. Here comes the swing of the leg. This kick looks good,

and it is good. Randy Bullock comes through from fifty three yards away and the Bengals take the lead nine to seven with one thirty nine left in the half. The Bengals got the ball back on a Jesse Bates interception and had a chance to score again on the final play of the half, but Bullock's fifty eight yard field goal try, which would have been a new club record, hit the right upright and the Bengals went to the

locker room up nine to seven. Burrow was fantastic in the first half, going twenty one for twenty nine for one hundred and ninety five yards, the one touchdown and a passer rating of one oh one point nine. Unfortunately, less than four minutes into the second half, his rookie season came to an end. Third down and three, the Bengals at their own nine. They have three receivers in a tight cluster to the right, close to the right tackle,

single receiver out to the left. Drew Sample Burrow back to throw from the two loops at high down field. Sleeping attempt by Boyd broken up by Fuller and after gaining seven yards in the first play chart, Burrow is down. He's grabbing his left knee and he's in pain. Oh God, Alan, I think put the hit on him. And Joe Burrow released this football they brought. They had seven up at the line of scrimmage. Giovanni Bernard went up to the line of scrimmage and picked up his rusher and blitz pickup.

Finley's gonna have to get ready in a hurry. Looks like Joe Burrow's in trouble. The biggest nightmare for Bengals fans this season was an injury to rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, and he was and serious pain at the end of that play, reaching for his left knee. Burrow was taken off the field on a cart and before the game was finished, sent out a tweet with a following message, thanks for all the love. Can't get rid of me

that easy, SIA next year. With his left leg planted after making a throw, Burrow got hit just above the left knee, causing it to cave inward. It wasn't a dirty play. The lineman trying to get to him was falling forward while battling with left guard Michael Jordan, and they wound up crashing into the Bengals quarterback. CBS elected not to show a replay. The Bengals were understandably shaken and played poorly the rest of the game as Washington

scored thirteen unanswered points to win twenty to nine. Backup quarterback Ryan Finley struggled. He went three for ten with one interception for a passer rating of zero and got sacked four times. Here are Zach Taylor and Ryan Finley to who's your quarterback? Is tough, but that's that's the way it goes, you know, and next man up and Finley. Finley came up and we got to help him and I gotta call put him in some better situations there, um to give him some confidence going early, and we

just didn't get it done all the way around. Obviously, my thoughts right now are with Joe and just um hoping he's gonna be okay and I have a speedy recovery. That was that was tough to see. So we've grown close. That was that was hard to see, but um, you know, I gotta be ready. That's my role. So UM, I got a week to get a lot better, um and be able to put this team in a position a one football game. So that's kind of one of my mind's up. Joe Burrow is not sacked on Sunday and

wound up being sacked thirty two times this year. Only Carson Wentz with forty and Russell Wilson with thirty three have been sacked more often Burrow was hit roughly eighty times. After the games, Zach Taylor was asked if he could have done more to protect his quarterback this season. All we can do is make progress. This is this season, and we gave up a lot of pressure early in the season. In these last couple of weeks, our guys have done a great job of keeping people off Joe.

He's had a great pocket. You know, he did not have a sack in the first half, and the hit, as I saw it wasn't when he had the ball in his hand. And so, you know, people keep talking about the offensive line without it seemingly watching the film from the last four weeks, and so again, those guys have done a good job. It's been a revolving door of players. They're doing a great job. Joe's done a good job moving down the field, and we felt like we were making a lot of progress over the last

five weeks. And we're not gonna apologize for any of that. After the game, the NFL networks ian Rappaport tweeted that Burrows suffered a torn acl based on the initial diagnosis, with the possibility of additional damage. So Burrow finished his rookie year by completing sixty five percent of his passes with thirteen touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of eighty nine point eight. He averaged two hundred and sixty nine passing yards per game. Here are teammates Ryan Finley,

Karl Lawson, and AJ Green. You know, I talked with him. I sat with him for for a little bit. Um. I didn't really have many words. I didn't know what to say, um, other than um, you know, I hope he recovers very soon because he's a he's a hell of a player, and it's been it's been a lot of fun watching him play, um, you know, this first half of the season. So I'm excited for when he's back. You could tell just the way he carries himself, his

or Um, he's just trying to get better. I mean after the Ravels game, he was like, yeah, that's that's never gonna happen on me, Like, you know, he's damn you're crying because he didn't feel like he played that well. Um. And and that's something I can relate to because that's kind of that's how I am. So I no doubt in my mind that dudes will be okay. And he just a guys. Guys man, He just just wanting to guys, you know. Just that's the biggest in front of union.

You see these quarterbacks at number one, they don't talk pilos like quiet, but Joe is a guy. Guy. That's the guy that you want in the huddle with them. He was obviously a devastating blow for Zach Taylor, who was tasked with developing the number one pick in this year's draft. He handled everything like a professional from day one, and to be voted to captain just speaks everything you

need to know about the guy. And that the players have responded to him, the coaches have responded to him, the city has responded to him, and all that is equally as important, you know. And so again he energizes this team and and you know, he's been a tremendous player everything we hoped he'd be. And we'll get him back at some point, you know, we don't know when that is. But for now, we got we gotta transform that energy and put it somewhere else in this team.

But again, we got plenty of guys we can rely on. I thought our defense showed us some really good stuff today. In some areas we didn't do enough in the second half on offense, you know, so they got us some stops where you got you gotta transfer that and you're having to score points and regained that momentum, and we didn't do that today. And so again it was just we weren't solid enough in all three phases to come

out of here with a win. And now they turned to Finley, who went oh and three as a rookie starter last year with the Bengals, averaging eleven points in those three games. With no offseason program and no preseason games, then he hasn't received the practice reps that a backup quarterback normally would. You know, this week in practice will be good, getting reps with those guys and getting timing

and getting some confidence. But um, you know, you got to you gotta get ready for the starting quarterback each week. So obviously Joe's special talent, so you know it's been his show. But I'm ready for my role and I'm ready to I'm ready to play well. The Bengals are two seven and one with wins by the Chargers and Cowboys on Sunday. They're currently number three in next year's draft order, behind the Jets and Jaguars. But that's the

last thing on Zach Taylor's mind. The objective is to go win and and that's that's been the objective since day one, regardless of who's playing on the field. For you, we got to do more to win football games. We have not won enough. And um, you know it's it's I tell these guys. I love going about it with these guys, I really do because they give us everything they got and today was disappointing day for all of us, but been to answer question that the goal is to

go win football games. Next week up next home game against the three and seven New York Giants, who had a bye this week. After winning their previous two games. The Giants are right in the thick of things in the NFC. Least, Philadelphia is on top at three six and one, the Giants, Cowboys, and Washington Football team all just a half game back at three and seven. Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave lappam Lapp.

We're referred to it on the broadcast as the ultimate nightmare for the Bengals and their fans this year, and that's the way it played out. Joe Burrow suffers a season ending injury ten games into the season, ten games into a tremendous rookie season. He has energized the fan base, his teammates one in his corner, feeling very confident about the Bengals future. But unfortunately we will not get to

watch Joe play for the final six games of the year. Yeah, I mean, he obviously the impact that he had on the football team was obvious when he did get hurt. How everybody came off the sideline, every member of the sideline, from assistant equipment people to the assistant trainers to everybody in between. Coaches, players, all of them and quite a few Washington Football team members were there as well. So he has impacted the entire league, and rightfully so. I mean,

he's done an amazing job. He's as great a football player as he is, He's even got better people skills. The way he impacts people, I mean, it's he's got the if factor. You know, we talked about it all the time, whenever that it is all the intangibles, all the abstracts, and all the concretes. He's got all of it, he really does. We do not know the extent of the injury as we do this for the podcast, but I still feel confident in thinking he's going to be fine.

Tom Brady tore his ACL and MCL in two thousand and eight, has not missed the start since. Carson Palmer suffered his injury in the playoffs in two and fifteen, did it again in two and fourteen, came back both times. Adrian Peterson tore his ACL and MCL and Christmas Eve one year. The next year he ran for more than two thousand yards. So again we don't know the extent of the injury, but with modern medicine and rehab and Joe Burrow's work ethic, I feel very confident in thinking

he is going to be fine. Yeah. The thing that hit me is look at the quarterback and the other team in that football game. Look what he came back from, and there was no penalty on his injury. JJ Watches sacked him, took him to the ground, snapped his leg. No penalty on this injury. That that's the life of the quarterback when you're in the pocket and there's all kinds of traffic around you. That's why I mean, almost every time Alex Smith stays in the pocket and people

are closing in on him around him. I'm worried about him having the plant foot, you know, hit and the knee buckle and all those kind of things. That's what happened to Joe is Joe transferred his weight and he's planted and he gets hit and just does serious damage to that leg. The foot was planted in the ground. That's when the injuries happened. It was very, very similar to the injury the Carson Palmer suffered on the side of him as he transferred his way to throw a football.

There was no penalty flag on Carson Palmer's either. Now they change the rule. But all these guys are hurt just playing quarterback. It's the it's the you know, that's what they get paid the big bucks for. And I want to what's going through Alex Smith's head when he saw that happened to Joe Barrow and it just it didn't seem like think of the hits that Joe has taken, and that hit was obviously significant. But it's all about timing.

If you if your foot's planted, it's terrible. If your foot's not, it's no big deal, you know, you just just your leg just kind of brushes it off. So there's, as the old saying goes, every single snap, every single player is vulnerable and susceptible to an injury, and quarterbacks certainly aren't immune from that. And Joe Theisman's no penalty, Lawrence Taylor's just taken him to the ground and his

leg snaps. You know, it just gets torked and contorted the wrong way by powerful people, and as a result, things like this happened. Unfortunately, the blame game has started. I've seen on social media the Bengals who are criminally negligent for not putting a better offensive line in front of Joe Burrow or they shouldn't have played him this year the line wasn't good enough. You were part of the brotherhood, you played offensive line in the NFL for ten years, in the USFL for two. Does that kind

of stuff tick you off? I can tell you that nobody feels worse right now than Michael Jordan and other guys who you know had had an issue finishing a play. And if it's you're I know. Eric Steinbach might have been one of Carson Palmer's better friends. Eric Steinbach. The last thing he wanted to do is have kimover and off and fall to the ground as he's blocking him and scrambling smash into Carson Palmer's leg. He's devastated. I mean, it's it's it's just unfortunately it's part of the game.

And Zach Taylor addressed it in the post game. In the first half we talked about it there when no sacks. You know, the first I thought their protection was pretty good, and at that point Jack del Rio had to start bringing a lineback or a safety and on that particular play, it was just the pocket at that time when he was throwing that football collapsed. I mean he got hit just as significantly on the touchdown. He threw it to

aj Green, but his foot was off the ground. You know, if it all it all, it has a bearing on where your weight is, how you transferred, or you're on your back foot, your front foot, have you finished your throw, are you in the middle of your throw? I mean, all of that is it split second timing, And sometimes you avoid injury and sometimes you get hurt. And that's that's just part of the part of the beast in

the game of football. And I thought, like everybody else in the beginning of the season, the protection was tough I mean it was it was they were getting overpowered and Joe was taking a lot of big hits. And he'll be the first one to tell you that he's been proud and not just lip service. He's been proud of the way the offensive line has stood up for him. You know, over the last month, guys did well, and particularly the juggle makeshift offensive line, guys stepping up and

doing what they were doing. So, yeah, is it whenever a quarterback gets hurt, there's a reason he got he got hit. There's a reason he got hurt. Very rarely is it just out in space, you know, a non contact injury. It doesn't happen all that much with quarterbacks, and the guys that are normally involved in that are the offensive lines. So they are going to catch a tremendous amount of heat. And it's tough, There's no question

it's tough. Those guys feel lower than low can be about the whole thing, and they're going to have to endure and bounce back through it themselves. I came a d energy, started at right tackle after starting the previous two games at left. In the second half, he was taken out of the game for Bobby Hart you obviously haven't had a chance to study tape or anything like that yet, but just from your viewing up the game

line of live, did anything stand out? Yeah, I mean I thought they were really really teeing off and he was having trouble finishing. They were being able to cut the edge pretty short, you know, on him as he was trying to finish. And to me, that is a product of him being very comfortable at the left tackle

position and not as comfortable at right. He finishes and widens much easier at left tackle than he does at right tackle, and Bobby Hart has taken a Bill Koo snaps at the right tackle position, and they felt at that point in time that it might be better to get Bobby Hard out there to finish, you know, the set and to finish the protection part of things. And I mean, Hachimadenigy was very very honest and open about

it himself. And zoom conference calls that he's much more comfortable at left tackle than he is at right, but he'll go play right tackle. And I think that it was just the finish of the set and the finish of the protection was where he's having just a little bit of a problem and they didn't want that problem to intensifire or magnify. And he'll learn from it. He'll learn from it, definitely. And I thought for the most part, and in the first half, I thought he played really well,

pretty darn well. But then when you get behind by two plus scores, it turns into a different type of pass protection. I mean, there's so much I can speak from experience. All of a sudden, you've gone from driving around your neighborhood to driving on the Audubon and man, they're flying at you one hundred miles an hour or more. It's crazy out there. You were, undoubtedly in situations like this where a teammate suffered what appeared to be a season ending injury while you were out there, I mean,

just broadcasting the game. I felt deflated when it happened. I can't imagine what it's like to be on the field when that happens. What is it like. It's brutal. When Kenny got his neck, you know, almost think Keith Gary grabbed his face mask and tried to twist his head off his neck like the Exorcist. At that point, we weren't really sure what the heck happened. You know, we were in our backs to the whole thing. We got to the sideline forest, Greg was he was ready

to kill us. You know that we didn't. Basically all mall Keith, Gary and you know, beat the other living dog out of him. But we really didn't know what took place. I mean, we knew he was hurt and we felt terrible that he was hurt. And it's it's a it's as bad a feeling as you can experience because the guy who is the most important guy on the offensive football team, the engine of the car is down and out, and man, you feel like, what what did we do? What happened? What do we do now?

And it is shocking. It's a shock to your system, and you know, you end up going into this into this weird space, and you have to snap yourself out of it because right away, I mean, they're lining up and there's another snap happening, and everything's coming one hundred and fifty miles an our agon. You better be ready to go or you might be the next one laying on the ground. We've talked about how difficult this year was going to be for somebody like Joe Burrow. No

offseason program, no preseason games. In a sense, it might be even tougher for Ryan Finley because at least Burrow was getting all of the practice time with the first teamers and tons of reps in practice. Ryan Finlay didn't get preseason games and he hasn't been getting those reps. Now he's got to take over with six games to go. Yeah, and what the Bengals decided to do, and rightfully so, Joe Barrows our guy. Let's sit down head coach, offensive coordinator,

quarterback coach, and Joe, what do you like? What do you like from what you do at LSU? What should we add? What should we delete? You know, where should we put a point of emphasis? And it was all about Joe and getting Joe comfortable and getting him playing well, and it worked. He's been playing great. He has a great understanding of what his offense is. He has a great understanding what defenses are trying to do to take away his offense. He can get to the right play

the right protection, do all those things. He's as sharp mentally. Honestly, he's as sharp mentally as any quarterback that I've seen. He really is. He's a brilliant football guy. Now, Ryan Finlay is like, this is Joe's offense, and Joe's been running this offense, and you know, I had no mini camps, no OTAs, no preseason games, no nothing. I mean, and I mean I'm studying and I understand the game plan, but I haven't run it with the number ones. I mean, he was in a He's in a brutal spot, as

is Zach Taylor, Dan Pitcher and everybody involved. Because now it's like we had all this, you know, this big universe of stuff that we wanted to do with Joe, and we have to cut it down to one planet, you know, for Ryan Finley, until we start to practice and get things going and sit down with him and Ryan of what we've got installed offensively, what do you like? What do you not want? Any part of They have to go through the whole process again, and it has

to be really compressed and sped up. And Ryan Finley's no dummy. I mean, he's an intelligent guy. So that part of it, I think they'll they'll get through. But to the only the only way you can get the rhythm and timing is time and reps. Just you can't just take a rhythm and timing pill and be like I'm ready to go, you know, in a matter of less than a week. Just doesn't work that way. So it's a challenge for sure, there's no question about it. Finley went three for ten off the bench for thirty

yards last year. In the three games he started, he completed forty seven percent of his passes four hundred seventy four yards, two touchdowns, two picks, passer rating of sixty two point one. So he's got a lot of a room for improvement based on those three starts. Last year, the Bengals had one other quarterback in the building, Brandon Allen, who was on the practice squad. He'll get promoted, you

would assume to the regular roster. Started three games for the Denver Broncos last year, beat the Cleveland Browns, lost the other two, completing forty six percent of his passes in the brief time that he played for the Denver Broncos. Then you assume they've got to go out and get

somebody else to have another quarterback in the building. In case you're wondering about Jake dola Gala, who was on the roster last year and was in training camp this year, He's been picked up by the Patriots on their practice squad, So maybe they go and get him back, although in order to do that, I guess they'd have to put him on the regular roster in order to take him up the Patriots practice squad. Yeah, they would. They'd have to,

you know, obviously move a guy. Would it be place kicker Cyber who would be the guy that would be moved? So there's some interesting decisions to be made there. And that's assuming the Patriots do not make him one of the four weekly protected guys on the practice squad exactly exactly and U and could you move a guy from you know, your regular roster to the practice squad to

make room and all those things that go along with us. So, yeah, they're they're grinding right now, Duke Tobin and his entire staff, or or hitting the phones, hitting the wires, trying to find out who's out there, who's And the thing is, there's there's no preseason games to evaluate, there's no scrimmages to it, there's no nothing to evaluate. It's just a matter of who's out there, what names, and then trying

to go back. I can look, do they have any kind of prior hurst in the National Football League what do we think about this guy if he has no in the NFL coming out of college, go back to the college team, go back to the college reports on him, and all those kind of things. So they'll be burning up a lot of hours tonight, there's no doubt about it, as they try to get themselves ready for the New

York Giants, New York Football Giants coming to Cincinnati. So Zach Taylor was asked about it after the game, what's the objective now with six games to go? And he said, you know what would you expect him to say? Our goal is to win as many games as possible. Is it that simple? Yeah? I mean that's that's the ultimate goal. And what you have to do is figure out the way to get that done. How do you do that? I mean you have to have realistic expectations of I

mean it changes everything. It changes lu and Ruma's approach to the game. It changes how he maybe thinks through situations and possibilities during the course of the game. Because the offense is more hindered than they were when Joe Burrow was out there, you can take maybe more chances defensively, maybe you don't take any chances defensively maybe. I mean, it's what you have to do is try to inspire your defense to buckle up and put on big boy pads and extra chin straps and just got to shut

down points. I mean, you just can't be given up. You you think right now, as a defense, if I give up twenty one, we're in trouble. Can't give up twenty one and the defensive goal it always was. Now the NFL has changed. But when I was a player, seventeen was a number on the board. All the goals, you know, limit this number of yards, rushing, this number of yards passing. The points were seventeen, and rushing and passing yards, particularly passing yards were less back then. Because

now it's a passing league. With those passing yards changing, you know, points probably changed too. I would assume there's probably twenty one instead of seventeen, but you almost have to go back to seventeen, and that's that's going to be a little bit of a challenge. I mean, the New York Giants have an offense that hangs thirty five, forty and everybody every week. No, but they have a quarterbacks drafted damn high, and he's a pretty good athlete.

There's no question about it. They don't know sae Quon Barkley. They've got some their offensive lines, not one of the top ten in the league, and all those kind of things, but you know they've got an ability to hang twenty one points on anybody. So you're gonna have to be at your best, at your best, and then special teams, you're gonna have to own field position. You're gonna have to create takeaways. Defense is gonna have to create takeaways. There's no way you can go minus in the turnover

department now and expect to win a football game. You didn't win any of them before. Now, if you if you think about if you're turning it over now, that's when it's not it's not just lose the game, it's how you lose a game. And you know this year, the Bengals have lost a lot of close games and we're competitive and people are okay, then you look at Pittsburgh and Baltimore and how they lost those football games.

People had major problems. So now down the stretch, it's like, you're gonna try to figure out a way to win. But if we don't, how we how are we losing this football game. What are we looking like? We have to, you know, look at big picture of that whole thing. It's been a bad day, it's been a bad year. But I do have one positive thing to mention to maybe put a little smile on your face as the day comes to an end. This is the last time this year you will have to worry about saying a

team's nickname that know that they no longer use. I'm telling you, I think see the Miami RedHawks used to be the red Skins. I knew them as the Miami red Skins. I know a lot of teams I couldn't get rich. And then of course once it starts, man a chev it's I I was back back a bunch of years. But I'm glad the Washington Football Club is

at the airport as we speak, flying out of this place. Man, it was, I mean, I was glad the Bengals are at the airport, flying back here and getting out of that city because I've had enough of the Washington Football Club otherwise known as that bad our word. Here's a quick reminder to join Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor.

Now time for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with defensive tackle Xavier Williams, a native of Kansas City, a city known for the Chiefs, the Royals, and some great barbecue. Let's start with that. When you go home, where do you go for barbecue? And what are you piling on your plate? Oh? Man, there's a couple of spots you'll like to hit for different things, but number one spot is gates And what's going on

that plate? Oh big rib guy, barbecue, beans and burn Endsta Burnians. If you're going to Kansas City, love the burn Ends. I'm with you. You're from a football family, Xavier. Your older brother, Rodrick, was part of a Division two national championship team and got an NFL tryout with the Chiefs. But did I read correctly that your sister and mother played football too, Yeah they did. My sister played in high school. Actually she played a couple years after college

in the semi pro league down in Texas. My mom played in the Semi pro women's league. I think that league started in Kansas City when she was about forty, actually right as she was forty years old. As she played four years. Mom was a quarterback, and your sister was a linebacker. Yeah, linebacker, running back. That's pretty cool. We're speaking with Xavier Williams. You attended Grand View High School in the Kansas City area. You played football, you wrestled.

Did you have any other interests or activities. I come from a basketball family, actually, so I attempted basketball and never the sports just really didn't like me as much as I tried to like it. So what that was about it a little bit of tracking. Big video game guy. We're doing fun facts with Xavier Williams. Your favorite player growing up in Kansas City was the late grade Hall of Fame linebacker Derek Thomas. Why did you idolize him?

I mean, even from a young age, you could just tell everything that he did was it was just special. Everybody talked about it. I got to meet him a couple of times growing up. One of my friends that I played on a little league team with, which was also the chief his dad worked security. He actually still works security there now. He's the head of security there now. But he convinced Derek Thomas and a couple of those guys to come and visit us, and he usually like,

let us take us to games and stuff. We got to meet the guys, So, I mean, it was just it was just I get to see him playing on TV. I got to meet him in person. You know. I just love the tenacity in which you play, with the energy. It was just always great. Just count pull me in. We're doing fun facts with Xavier Williams. From there, it was out into the University of Northern Iowa, about a five hour drive from Kansas City. How'd you wind up there?

They came, they got me. Unfortunately, my high school team wasn't that great and we're kind of tucked away in the south side of Kansas City, so not a big football powerhouse by any means. And they just kind of found me, invited me to a camp. I did really well. They offered me like right away and just kind of just kept building a relationships. So about time I was ready to sign, I kind of gotten a few more offers. But they have been there the whole time, took visits there.

Love the coaching staff, and it's kind of all fit. What were some of the highlights of your college experience on or off the field. I really enjoyed the community there. One of my best friends, his family lived right in Waterloo, which is a town connected to Cedar Falls. So being able to spend like holidays where I couldn't go back home. They would like the whole defensive line overhe we have

meals and everything on the field. They Probably the greatest game that we had was we played against the Dakota State whenever ranked number one of the nation, like a thirty three game win strick or something. We beat them at home and Cedar Falls like ye, it was always

a fantastic experience playing at the Dome. Coming out of Northern Iowa, you signed as a college free agent with Arizona and spent your first three NFL seasons with the Cardinals, playing with Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald, Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson, and a lot of great players. How about some of the highlights of your time in Arizona. I mean those probably the most memorable years is for kind of what you were saying. You know, there was so much talent

on that team just kind of like legendary guys. The opportunity to come in, be a young guy and just you know to sit around see how those guys operate, and you know, got to talk to Carson, talk to Larry. It was kind of like a shocking moment. I was like, oh,

why are you guys talking to me? You guys are like years in But it was so fun as being around there, hearing the stories that those guys told from just the years and years that they've played, and you know, being around the city also, it was just a fun time, a great place to live. I come from the Middlewest, always living to the Middlewest, didn't realize there was places in the world people didn't have to shove the driveway in like that was fantastic. After three years in Arizona,

you became a free agent and went home. You signed it with your hometown team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Was it the best offer or was going home a big part of your decision? It was it was both, honestly, so it made it so much easier. It was the best offer that that guy, and it was my hometown team got in. It was a weird process because I was tendered from the Cardinals, so you know, there's a

little negotiation. I have to go back and forth. So I think I took a visit to Kansas City twice before I officially signed, and I never told my mom about it because I didn't want to get her hope something in case it fell through. So but it was great. It all worked out to got to sign with the Chiefs. I moved back home. My mom toil for like the first two months to my apartment got finished. I mean she was she was happy, brought my daughter was there.

It was a great time back in the childhood bedroom. Yeah, after three years in the NFL. You know, those hotel fees they get you. That's a good point. So if you didn't tell her those two times that you visited before you signed, what was her reaction when you broke the news, Mom, I'm coming home. Oh, she was a static. Actually, she knew before I even told her. Well, I kind of like messaged my brother because he, yeah, like somebody had told him randomly. He's like, hey, are you in town?

And I was like, yeah I am. He's like, are you here for the Chiefs. I was like, well yeah, I was like, just keep it, keep it low. Up for a little bit and yeah, I'm at some point he must have told my mom, so I signed, and my mom was just kind of like, oh yeah, I was just waiting for you to say something like I say something back like okay, yeah. The whole family, like, I mean, all my family still lives there, so they were all just ecstatic, all of them huge Chiefs fans

still you know, hopefully so we're Cincinnati fans now. But yeah, so everybody was just really excited and it worked out like a Hollywood script. Last year, in your second year with your hometown team, you won a Super Bowl. Ring you tell your grandkids about that. How are you going to describe that experience? Oh? Man, I mean it's something.

It's it's a one of a kind of experience. I mean, the whole setup, from getting down there, playing the game, just the feeling of I think I was there for the first time they ever held an AFC championship game. So being there and winning at the second time ever that the hill an AFC championship game, you know, everything was just so monumental. There in Kansas City has been

so long. I think my mom was like a kid three or four when they won their last Super Bowl, so I probably shouldn't put that on the air, but yeah, anyway, Yeah, so everybody was just so excited. It was just a great time to be there. And I mean I couldn't even put into words how happy I was to be back home win the championship. Everybody got to everybody's kind of waiting to get a chance to try the ring on now, So I gotta walked out away for a while.

But yeah, great super Bowl rings are ridiculous. You can't wear them. No, it's more like a belt buckle. Yeah, you kind of like everybody talks. He's like, no, you put it in a nice case and you just like stare at it, and everybody like, yeah, you know, I'll bring it out. All those guys like yeah, I'll probably on award like once or twice in my life. It's not something you just put on. It's pretty audacious. So

it's like as a spectacle, right, word audacious. So people around here are interested in one of your former Chiefs teammates, Travis Kelsey, who played at the University of Cincinnati and obviously has become one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Describe Travis Kelsey energy and happy, Like that's really what that's all he's about. He goes out there, he can peach his butt off and he has a

great time. I'm sure everybody remembers the interview after the super Bowler has to championship, the whole fight for your right to party. That's him, that's just him, that encapsulates him, like perfectly, that's what he's all about, working his butt off, going out there, being one of the best, and you know, just having fun doing it. All right, a few wild card questions to wrap up fun Facts with Xavier Williams. Are you a Star Wars guy? Big Star Wars guy?

Read the books, watch the movies, everything got a Dog? Invaders? So you have a daughter named Phoenix. What do you

love most about being a dad? You know, the excitement that she has on days like I finished playing a game and you know, win or loss or kind of beat down and you're tired, and then she can just come in the room, just smile, bright eye, jump on me, which sometimes that's a little more painful some days, but jumps on me and just kind of automatically gives me, push me in a better mood, no matter no matter how I'm feelings she can just always put me in a better mood, and I'll try to give her that

energy the same energy back and help hopefully she feels the same way. But it's just a great feeling to come home. It's always somebody sitting there smiling, waiting on you. What do you like to spend your money on. I like to travel, really into camping, so I got something to me and my wife would both enjoy. We got

out last year. We took advantage of the extra time that we had, went up to Wyoming a little bit, got out live in Arizona and would go out into the back country and just kind of commune with nature. And my daughter is really into it. My daughter likes it, so I pretty much all my money. We bought a camper who will pop up camper, So that's really the only thing I really kind of indulge you, all right.

Final fun fact for Xavier Williams. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, you name it, who would that person be I allowed to meet myself? If I like when I was a kid, I think it would be really awesome to come back, like hey, just pop up like you're an NFL player. That's all. We need to hear it and disappear and then go back to my present time. And I just think like that would be the best feeling. This has been fun off

the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of what the rest of the year. All right, thank you, have a good day. Hi. Thanks to Xavier Williams. And that's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast