Bengals Booth Podcast: Crack Your Code

Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Now 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since my mom.

My mom turned eighty five last week and on Sunday I was able to drive home to Lakewood, New York and surprise her for her birthday. It's only a couple of hours from Cleveland, so it worked out perfectly. My mom is amazing. She raised five kids while having a wide variety of jobs over the years and kept working until she was eighty. If I am one tenth of the parent that she is, my son Sam should turn out okay. So happy birthday, Mom, and thank you for everything.

Now let's get to the radio calls from a Monday night loss in Cleveland. Burrow catches the shotgun, snap throws a palo deflected and intercepted to snap the put down and the right footed kick. It's block head. It flutters down to the ten and we'll roll to a stop inside the ten. The Bengals block the field goal tried by Kade York and they'll get a great drive start

as a result at the forty three yard line. B J Hill, I think is the guy that blocked a Burrow catches the shotgun staff and he'll be sacked back at the forty five by you guessed at Miles Garrett. Now it's an end around and a pass down the field intercepted. Von Bell picks it off, running up the sideline into Brown's territory. They'll say he stepped out, but it is an interception. The Brown's going to some trickery.

It was an end around and then a pass and Amari Cooper's throw is picked off by Von Bell his fourth interception of the year, and Logan Wilson put the pressure on Amari Cooper and made him throw the football sooner than he wanted to in errantly to boot. Seven offensive lineman stretched out a straight line. Now they're going to snap it directly to Nick Chubb out of a wildcat, catches at the nine, runs right, cuts up the middle, and goes into the end zone, standing up seven offensive

lineman and a direct snap to Nip Chubb. The end result of four yard touchdown for I'll tell you the Bengals defensive lineet washed that time. Every member of the defensive line was about four yards in the end zone were set back to three. He gets hit, ball comes out crabs by a King Davis ka and the Bengals will take over near midfield as a King Davis Gaither comes away with the interception. As Brissette got hit hard and coughed up the ball. Money back is ready trying

to put Cincinnati on the scoreboard. From forty seven yards away, the rookie Ademitas fires it back to Huber. Here comes the kick, a high spinning end over end kick and it's wide right raw from fifty five yards away. The snap, the put down, and the kick. It has the distance and it is good. And the half ends with the Browns on top eleven zip second goal from the three per set with a play action fake now running moving to his left, pump fakes trying to get to the

end zone. Dives touches the pylon, touchdown Cleveland per set in the shotgun he catches, He drops back, floats a fade into the end zone. Easy pitch and catch Amari Cooper with a touchdown. Trey Flowers flailing in pursuit. Bengals go empty with three receivers left and two right on first and ten from the Cleveland thirteen, two defenders waiting at the goal line. Burrow drops back. It's a deep drop. Joe runs away from a possible hit, throws into the

end zone, deflected and caught by Tyler Boyd. Touchdown. BEng Goals per set with the play clock at three, hands it off the Chubb running up the middle of the five and into the end zone. Standing up for the touchdown. Burrow waits for a shotgun snap with Mixon to his right, fakes the mix and drops back, throws it deep down field. Higgins high points the ball, snakes the catch and runs into the end zone. He was too big and too strong for Greedy Williams, and the Bengals score on the

forty one yard strike. Bengals chances are slim, but they're not quite dead yet. They need to convert here. On fourth and four, trailing by nineteen. In the fourth quarter, Burrow drops back quick throwback shoulder broken up incomplete intended for Tyler Boyd. Martin Emerson would the play defensively and the Bengals turn it over on downs. The final score again thirty two to thirteen, and the stats were pretty grizzly.

The Browns out gained the Bengals four forty to two twenty nine, topped them in rushing yards one seventy two to thirty six, and time of possession was roughly thirty seven minutes to twenty three. To make matters worse, Chitabeyawoogie left the game with a knee injury. He was taken to the locker room on a cart and was on crutches, wearing a bulky knee brace. After the game, Sam Hubbard addressed his teammate's injury and other issues in front of

his locker. I'm actually the loss of Cheetah hurt oh, unbelievable. He's uh, you know that that hurts really bad. He's an unbelievable player. I wish him all the best, and uh, we're gonna miss him. If I don't know what happened or but I saw him on crutches, this is really tough. What did you say about him that so many guys wanted to check on him while he was in the medical tent before he got carted off. Yeah, he's just you know, if you know anything about Cheetoh, this is

means the world to him. He's one of the most reliable teammates I've ever played with. And uh, you know, not much to say, oh than uh, you know, it means a lot to this team. You guys obviously have to move on, but how do you keep it from the being deflating? I mean, you guys are human. You

have to feel for the guy. And yeah, I'm sure the loss of him meant a lot X and O wise, but even beyond that is it's something you guys felt, Yeah, definitely, you know we uh you know, it's never easy, you know, down a bunch of our leaders and you know, DJ stuff like that, but you know, young guys are gonna get opportunity step up and we'll rally around that. There's always the talk that there's a lot of football left to be played, and obviously not even halfway through the

season yet. But do you look at o and three in the division? Is that something that you pay attention to at this point and realize what kind of a hole that's going to be to climb out of? Yeah, you have to. At this point we get one more shot at each team and best chances to go three and three in the division, and it's kind of getting crunch time where we don't have any room for air and uh yeah, it's tough loss, but it's football. You're gonna face adversity. It's not how you just spawn, Sam,

how do you keep yourself focused moving forward? Myself? I'm no issues there, I'm I'm all in. So yep, Sam, what do you know about this team? It's carater. They lead you to believe that you guys will bounce back collectively. Yeah, I know the guys we got in our locker room, so many leaders, so many you know guys that I mean, this is some of the best groups a group of guys that ever been around. And I know that there's

not gonna be any figure pointing. It's gonna be a lot of people looking at themselves figure out what they can do individually to get better. And that's how how you get out of situations like this. I've been here many times before. He's just perplexing. A game like tonight, though, when you guys felt like collectively you had things kind of figured out more moving forward, and then you have

a speed bump like this. It happens. It's football. You can't let it, you know, derail your entire receive season, and you just gotta take what you did wrong and fix the corrections and move on to the next It's football. Just think the game, and think the game at the end of the half and hitting into the second. Happen is that we're kind of cut away where they scored at the end of a half and then they began. Yeah, that was tough. I mean, I snapped my finger in

half on that drive. Had to leave the field. Uh, I'm not even sure what happened. But uh, yes, it was a collective of drives after that drive that we got to make stops as we ask out what happened. So I just got Actually, I'm not I don't know if I'm talking in yeah, I'm good to go. I snapped my finger in half. Certainly doesn't sound pleasant. A finger on Sam's left hand was in a metal splint

after the game. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber Without Jamar Chase, the Bengals offense failed to score until the fourth quarter. While Joe Burrow's final numbers were okay two hundred thirty two passing yards, two touchdowns, one pick,

and a passer rating of ninety six point four. The offense failed to take advantage of good field position for much of the night. Tee Higgins had that forty one yard touchdown grab, but only had two other catches for eight yards. As for Tyler Boyd, aside from his thirteen yard touchdown grab, he was held to two other catches for twenty five yards, and the offensive line really struggled. Burrow was sacked five times, hit two other times, and the Bengals longest run was seven yards. I caught up

with a member of that old line. We're in the locker room with l Collins. You guys have been playing so well. Unfortunately, it was just one of those nights where it didn't seem like anything went well. It is that how it fell to. You just felt like, you know, we didn't really get into a rhythm like we wanted to. Like we respected too, But he's got to get back to work obviously, not have some more. It's big for us, you know, so and he's missing a guy like that.

You know, we all got to step up and do a better job at that. I think in the first half you drove into Brown's territory and five out of six drives and then just stalled. I mean, when you have those opportunities and can't capitalize, he usually comes back to haunt you, doesn't it. Absolutely. I mean, anytime you're in the territory, you gotta put points up on the board. It's a bottom line, you know. Wasn't able to do that. Um, you know, I definitely think we have the opportunity to

do it. You know, defense there was that opportunity, um but unfortunately just what nable capitalize on it. How hard is it to protect in a game against these guys when you have to pass. That's what we get played to do. So you know, there's no there's no exceptions to that. You know, we gotta it's like the Q big give him time to go through his reads and keep him up right. So I gotta go. We gotta get back to work and do a better job at that. And know it set part. Performance is never good, never

feels good. But when it's prime time does that staying that much more. It doesn't matter prom time, no time, any time, y'all don't feel you know, I want to give your best performance and you know we just got to do a better job at that. You know, collectively as a group, appreciate your time. Thank you you. That's Lal Collins. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Kettering Health,

the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health has committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. Seven teams in the AFC will ultimately make the playoffs, and right now the Bengals are tied for the eighth spot with

the Patriots. They're a half game behind the Chargers and just one game behind the Ravens, Jets, and Dolphins, so they're far from dead, but with an O and three record in the division, they might have to be a wildcard team to make it. Now, let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor as he spent a few minutes with day Lap them after the game. Coach, just one of

the one of those knights Murphy's law. I mean the first you had I think five possessions that were inside the fifty yard line at one point, which couldn't finish any of them. No, we could, you know, the two turnovers and the missfield goal, heard us there, and we mixed in two three and ounce and that mix as well. And so that's just that's a tough recipe for success. We got to learn from it. Be able to make the corrections if there are there something to be made there.

The two turnovers just unfortunate because it's it's an open receiver on a tipped ball, and it's another one he's going to throw it an open receiver and they get his risk right as he's going to throw it. So those are tough ones. So do you think it was lack of execution on your end of it? Was what the what they did on their end of it? A combination of both. How do you assess it? Yeah, the two three and ounce, you know, I think we had a big drop there on one of those drives to

an open receiver. And you know so again in just getting two yards on first down of a second to eight and then two yards of a third and five, and just wasn't enough moving the ball forward to put us in better positions like we had been the last couple of weeks. And when they got a pass for us like they do, it makes it difficult because then you got to use guys in protection and you get a few guys out, And so they did a good job putting us in those situations and we couldn't get

it done. You made mention of first down winning four out of five. You guys had a good run going on first down tonight. It wasn't there. I know your first twelve plays on first down its twenty four yards and they were averaging like eight or nine on their first downs. They handled first down pretty well. Yeah, we just didn't go a good enough job, you know, and uh search with us as coaches and asking the players

to execute it. So again, we got to rebound quickly in a six day week, and I'm confident our guys we'll be able to do that. So injuries, I mean, Cheeto that one. That one looked like it's it's not good in the reaction to some of the guys in the locker room. And he has such an impact on so many guys. There's a lot of emotions in there in the locker room. That's the tough part of the

National Football League, isn't it is? You know, he's he's one of our best and just every way that he goes about his life football, he's worked so hard to put himself in this position to be a premier cornerless lee, which he is, and uh, you know, he's a big part of the heart of this team. And so we're gonna have to rally behind him and other guys are gonna have to step up. And that's a tough one. Really tough. I mean on the back end with him down.

I mean you you were playing Ducks Hill out there at outside corner and against Cooper, and that's that's a that's a tough, tough scenario. Welcome to the NFL. Yeah, Yeah, it's tough, you know. And so we're just a lot of guys are gonna have to step up and make some plays, and we're gonna be calling a lot of guys to do it. A home game against Carolina is up next, and it's been a rough year for the Panthers, who are two and six. Head coach Matt Roll was

fired and has been replaced by Steve Wilkes. Baker Mayfield has been benched, and PJ Walker will make his fourth straight start at quarterback. Last Sunday, Walker through a touchdown pass that traveled sixty seven point six yards in the air. That's the longest completion by air distance since the NFL started tracking that stat in two thousand sixteen. In other words, he's got a strong arm. Now, time for the radio guys recap lap. I don't think anybody saw it coming.

The Bengals played their worst game of the year. The Browns probably played their best and when that's the case in the NFL, it does not look good. No, you're right, and you know, as the old saying goes, sometimes you get the bear. A lot of times the bear gets you. And that's what happened today. I mean, every phase had had contributions to the defeat. There's no doubt about it. And you know it happens. And what you have to

do is you have to put it aside. You can't let one game like this turn into two or three where the problems become persistent. I think this group has that type of mentality, Like you know, it happened. We just got to have selective mnees. You put it aside and and move on to the next one. If you don't, it can gall you up pretty quickly. And it's tough

on a short week too, It's very tough. And then you know the compound by the fact that Cheeto's injury it looks very severe and a lot of guys were mourning that injury, no question about it, in terms of emotion and tears and everything else. I mean, this guy is somebody that has about a high level of respects

as you can have in the locker room. There's no question if people didn't appreciate him, Andy lie Apple to a lesser extent, we saw their value in this game when when Jacoby Purcette had to throw, guys are wide open, Yeah, they were wide open. He almost threw for three hundred yards. Cooper has one hundred and thirty and uh, you know you rush for over one hundred with Chubb. I mean that's that's the trifecta quarterback. Three hundred yards and one hundred by a receiver and a hundred by a running

back is like the triple crown. And they came within just a few yards of doing that. So credit down, they played well, like you said, the and the Bengals certainly didn't. The Bengals, um, we're fighting an uphill battle all the way. And once they fell behind by three scores. The way Cleveland can run the football, man, you know, it's like now you have to Cleveland knows you have to throw it every down. They're tea and off. Now you have to take extra people and help the line block,

and now you have less receivers in the route. Now you're playing to play, trying to play that game of when are we going to put extra blockers in what are we going to put them out in the route? And and you get a whole whole bunch of things that just compound and h pretty soon you're you're you're losing by three scores. Goes without saying that when the Cleveland Browns know you're going to pass, as you were saying,

they're going to tee off. But even before that was the case in this game, they got too much pressure on Joe Burrows more like the first two games of the season than the last five. Yeah, they did. They just they decided that they were going to be aggressive in terms of getting up the football field and if they run, so be it. You know, we'll try to make a play on the run as we're as we're moving up the football field. It's going to be an

aggressive posture. And they brought talkie talkie a few times on run blitzes. They brought them down a distance situations, particularly with the way the game was unfolding, where you know, if you do decide to run a drawer or whatever, he's still going to be in position to make a play. So, yeah, they they definitely got the upper hand and then took advantage of it with the play calling and the execution of the play calling, No doubt about it. It was.

They were overwhelming in terms of rushing the passer six possessions in the first half. They drove past the fifty on five out of the six and failed to score. How big of a factor was Chase his absence in

the inability to keep on driving and score points. Yeah, I mean, I hate, I hate to put it on one thing, but maybe the biggest player that Miles Garrett made was tipping that pass because it was there and Higgins still try to make a play on it and he'd second tip and then the interception, so it's tip tip, doink, doink. But he was wide open. And if the Bengals score points on that drive, you know it. I'm I'm not going to say it would have changed the outcome of

the game, but it would have in a different football game. Um, there's no two ways about that, I think. And you know when that that was the first, uh, that was the first bit of tragedy adversity to deal with, and then it just started snowballing and compounding. So if you're able to avoid that one who knows, who knows? You know, just um, just one of those days things just didn't go Sam Hubbard said after the game, Listen, we went into the bye last year with a five and four record.

That's the goal. Now when next week, get to the buy five and four. Yeah, get to the buy five and four of it right now. Three of those four losses or division losses, and that's that's the thing that Yeah, that's the thing that's tough right now. It's like, you know, down the stretch, you've got other tough opponents you're going to be playing as well as the division opponents you're already lost to, so you've got to sweep them as well as uh, you know, try to handle business with

other other tough opponents. So you've definitely definitely backed yourself into a corner. It was very little margin for ever, if any, that's for sure. It's amazing, isn't it. Eight days ago, after that victory against the Atlanta Falcons, it seemed like, oh man, this team is on fire, they're ready to take off. And now in this locker room right now, and the injury to a Woozie and the flat performance on Monday Night football, I mean, guys are as low as you can be telling you. I mean,

think of what took place during the course of this week. Chase, Okay, we're gonna have to shut him down. He's not going to be even showing up. He's not traveling. I mean, he's shut down. And then a Woozier. So in the course of a week, you lose one of your most important players. The only other player of more importance is probably number nine, a quarterback Joe Burrow. Then on the other side of it, you lose a Woozier. Who is

he covers the number one guy every week. I mean, there's not a more important role than that for the defensive football team. But that's what life's like in the NFL. You can never count on things going smoothly. Who's gonna step up, who's going to be the next man up, Who's gonna bring the Bengals out of the wilderness? Because they were on a prairie it was wide open. Now

they're back in the wilderness. I mean, you win four out of five and you lose one and get thumped in so doing, and all of a sudden, men, it's dark outside. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you in part by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals they're free to play with tickets and side merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Finally, it's time for this week's fun Facts interview, where we get to know

the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with Bengals defensive lineman Zach Carter from Tampa, Florida, also known as Champa Bay due to the recent success of the Buccaneers, the Rays, and especially the Tampa Bay Lightning. Are you a big fan of the Tampa teams and have you ever attended a victory parade. I'm a Hughes fan and of the Temper teams. I take a lot of pride in the Temper teams. You know, we've been through a lot. The Rays used to struggle, the Lightning

used to struggle, the Bucks. Everybody used to struggle, and then it's like out of nowhere, like temperatures lit up. Man. But sadly I could say I've never been to a victory parade, only because we kind of started winning when I went off to school, like I was in college. So I remember when the Bucks to win the Super Bowl. I was sitting in Gamesville watching the game, but all my friends sending me videos and Ebort City, Like Temper has never been like that before, so I never got

to go to win. But it's great for you know, it's great for Tempa Bay. Well, I'm hoping he'll be in a super Bowl parade here. How does that sound? Oh? That sounded even better. We obviously agree. Were you a kid who played everything growing up? Or were you primarily a football guy? I played baseball, basketball, and football, so it kind of came down to a decision where I had to choose which one I was gonna go with, like from my career, but honestly, I would have made

a heck of a first basement. I was really good, like really good. Well, you're a big man. You're six four two ninety. Did you tower over the other kids growing up? I definitely did, especially like starting in middle school and elementary school, I was kind of bigger than everybody. But once I got to middle school, I hit like a four inch growth spurt, like after my sixth grade year, and like I was having knee pains and everything like that. But that's when I really started to tower over people.

There's a reason why they have the term growing pains. It's literally a thing you were a highly touted recruit. I read that you had forty one offers and you ultimately chose to go to the University of Florida. Did you enjoy the attention or was it a bit overwhelming. I'd be real early in the recruiting process, like when I was in high school, I wasn't really getting any attention. So I started getting more attention starting like spring headed

into my junior year. So once I started getting attention, it was a good feeling, like it's like, man, that's what I worked for. Like I got all these college coaches telling me I'm good, and you know, we want you here. But then like as it started to get crazy, like I'm like, oh my goodness, it's like this is overwhelming. Like I was ready to shut it down. That's why I committed kind of. I committed the Florida kind of early before my senior season even started because I was

just ready to shut everything down. What was the best part of being a Gator. It's just that pride, man, that Gator pride. We really we really bleed orange and blue, whether we're up our down. I really think that's the biggest thing. We all stick together and all kinds of weather for you could have gone to the NFL after your red shirt junior year. You'lllected to go back to school for a fifth year. Why did you stay? I love the University of Florida, man, Like I was. Honestly,

I was ready to leave. And then when I really sat down and I prayed about it and I really thought about it, I was like, man, actually just go back. You know, I was able to be a captain my senior year. It was gave me some you know, captain skilled leadership skills I could carry over to this level.

And then you know, we didn't have like the greatest season, like we had a losing season, but looking past the losing season, like just the experiences I had, like the friendships I got to have, Like I was, it felt good to be like a leader on the team and guys really truly believed in me. So that was a big thing for me. Visiting with Zach Carter. You were drafted by the Bengals in the third round. Describe that moment you're surrounded by loved ones, you get that phone call.

Describe the emotion that you experience. Well, I'll tell you this, that whole night was crazy because I'm sitting there watching every pit go by, and I'm getting more nervous and more nervous. And I had family and friends over that night, so like it came to a point somewhere like men in the third round, I was like, I told everybody, like, I'm feeling kind of sick, Like I was feeling nauseous and stuff. So I went to the back room by myself. I isolated myself, and people were doing what they did.

And then my brother walked in the room, and my mom walked in the room kind of come for me and stuff, and she's like, just be patient. And then it's like ten minutes later, I get a phone call. I'm like Cincinnati. I'm like, no way, that's like, man, I was the best. That was probably the best moment of my life. Honestly, I never forget that feeling man I was. I was like, man, this is a blessing. I was excited, really excited. So I'm here. It's just

I'm living out my dreams. You majored in journalism at the University of Florida. Would you like to get into broadcasting many many years from now when your NFL playing career is finished. I could definitely see myself in broadcasting. I think, you know, just my personality. Everybody's always told me growing up, like I got a sean personality. You know, I'm funny, goofy. I could carry that over to the TV set easily and it'll be natural for me. All right, now,

time for some wild card questions with Zach Carter. Do you have any hidden talents? I do share well. I grew up in the choir church choir. A lot of people don't know that. You know, I'm a religious guy, but I could sing. People don't know that I could really sing, So that's one of my hidden talents. I also played the piano growing up, so I could do that as well, and the trumbone, so I'm kind of musically gifted a little bit. All Right, we're in an

empty room. Do you want to give me a little amazing grace or something and show off the singing voice? I got you, Oh, manz grade a sweet That was great. I really enjoyed that. Who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport? And why, I gotta say Lebron Lebron James just his dedication to the game. You know what he what he brings to the game. But his biggest name, his impact off the court, like the man he has his own school, Like just things like that.

I feel like that's what it's really about, you know, Like all the accolades, that's important as well, but like what you're doing for others because he's, like, you know, he one of the biggest names in sports and a lot of people look up to him. So just what he's doing on and off the court, it's a big deal to me. That's a great segue into my next question because at Florida you were named to the SEC's Community Service Team for the things that you did off

the field. Do you consider it important to give back? Really important? Man? Just you know, it's a lot of being in this position, you know, being looked at by hundreds thousands of kids like that want to be NFL players or any any kind of athlete. Like we're on the highest platform. So I just feel like it's important to give back to those kids, to give them hope because everybody's not in our shoes, you know, So I feel like that's one of the easiest things we could do.

It caused no money to give back. Well, put being from Tampa, Florida, how are you with cold weather. Well, I got I got to test it out this week. Man, it's tough for me. I'm not gonna lie, but you know, I'm I'm taking it day by day. I just put in a big order for about four or five coats, so I should be good. Is there anything that you've experienced in Cincinnati so far that you consider to be

a really cool thing about this city? Just exploring the downtown are like, it's a really nice area, OTR you know, the banks. I feel like it's a nice city. And I know it's like a young a kind of a young city, and it's on to come up in the ride, I can see it. But it's a love of Cincinat It's a nice city, all right. Final question, this one's kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, states been, religious figure, whoever it might be, who would

that person be. I probably want to meet Martin Luther King, just because of the impact he had on the whole world. Man Like he brought he brought millions of people together, and he kind of like put us, like the Nissan in a better direction, you know what I'm saying. Like it says a strong man move a lot of people like that, so I definitely want to meet him and just pick his brain about how he thought and you know how he was able to lead like an excellent answer.

This has been great. I appreciate you singing a little bit for us and best of luck the rest of the year. I appreciate him, man, Thank you. That's going to do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast, presented by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.

They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs and by Paycorps, the official HR software provider of the Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment. Helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.