Bengals Booth Podcast: Gimme Three Steps

Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Oh won't you give me three steps? Gimme three steps? Missed addition, as the Bengals extend their winning streak to three straight and take a step toward the top of the AFC North with a thirty one to seventeen win at San Francisco. Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from players and coaches,

Result of the play is a touchdown for Cincinnati.

Nice non second and nine. Burrow to throw. Has to scramble up the middle of the field. He's got running room. He's to the forty five fifty forty of San Francisco. He gets tackled there, gets up, slaps his helmet, gets a high five from Trevion Williams after his longest run of the year.

What calf problem? Are you kidding me?

Adam Mida is ready to snap it back. Robbins looks back at his kicker. Now Brad twists his head, puts the ball down. Here comes the kick from McPherson.

Yet is good.

He hit it from fifty six yards away and the Bengals lead. He's back to seven. Clock is running with twenty two seconds left in the third quarter, first in goal from the eighth. The Bengals turned it over at the five. Maybe San Francisco will do something similar. Perdy in the gun catches the shotgun snap keeps the ball on a zone read. He's rolling right. He throws it is picked off. Jermaine Pratt has the ball. There's a

Touchdown Bengals, and he does a backflip in the back of the end zone.

Instead of the gritty he made like an Olympic gymnast and did a flying backflip to celebrate his touchdown. Party. Back to throw, moving to his right, throws back over the middle, caught in the end zone by Christian McCaffrey, his second touchdown of the game. One receiving one rushing, and the Bengals lead is likely to be down to seven. Burrow in the shotgun waiting for the snap from Teddy Karris. Burrow catches it to ten, gives it to Mixing again bouncy and watching it up.

He's on his way to the promised land touchdown. Bengals Mixing dancing in the end zone and Cincinnati takes a two touchdown lead.

Perty back to throw, Here comes Henricson. He's got him the balls out. CJ. Hill recovers no penalty flag this time, and that'll do it.

Unreal one.

A win for the Cincinnati Bengals as they come to San Francisco and humble the forty nine Ers, the final score thirty one to seventeen. Let's start our postgame analysis by looking at a Joe Burrow masterpiece. He was vincent van Joe Burrow completed twenty eight to thirty two passes, that's eighty eight percent and at one point completed nineteen in a row. He had two hundred eighty three passing yards, three touchdowns, and no picks for a passer rating of

Yeah, it's a big win for us.

We executed well, still have some points on on the field, had some mental mistakes. So just like every week, win or loss. We're gonna we're gonna get better and improve our mistakes.

Obviously physically. I mean you looked. You looked as good as I can remember you looking. Do you feel one hundred percent at this point?

Yeah?

I do.

I do.

It's still still a maintenance thing, still gotta you know, stay up on my rehab, in my treatment. But you know, it's feeling really good. Fell back to pretty much back to normal. So it's nice to get back to moving again, making plays.

With my feet.

How about Joe Mixon supporting You know, the effort, the air effort was sixteen carries eighty seven yards five point four per You also hit him three times for another thirty yards or whatever it was. I mean he had over one hundred yards scrimmage yard.

Yeah, he was unbelievable today. He you know, everyone saw the plays that he made, the runs that he made. But he was great in protection as well. Picked up some some big time blitzes for us to push the ball down the field.

So he was awesome.

When you were running the football, I was like, oh, you split a couple of defenders a couple of times. You weren't going to slide. You were going for every inch you could get. I mean, you were just in the zone today, weren't you.

Yeah, you know, that's really what I worked on for the most part of the offseason was my athleticism and in my speed. I just haven't been able to show it really, so it was nice to see that, see that work pay off.

Did they give you pretty much everything that you expected? I mean you looked to be in such a rhythm. It looked like you were not fooled by anything. You knew exactly what you were looking at every single snap.

Yeah.

They You know, we had a great week of practice, had a great week of prep, so we were confident coming in we were able to.

Execute final question.

Now you're above five hundred, Here come the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night. Got to get that w in the AFC, right.

Yeah, it's like it's just one game, you know, we can we won three straight, but every week is its own thing. So we'll enjoy this one tonight, have a nice plane ride back, enjoy tomorrow, and then get back to work.

Congratulations on a big day, Joe.

Thanks the other Joe was outstanding as well, playing less than ninety minutes from his hometown of Oakley, California. Joe Mixon ran like a man possessed. At one point he trucked linebacker Dray Greenlaw, and Joe finished with one hundred and ten all purpose yards on nineteen touches. I spoke to him in the locker room, Joe, that was one heck of a homecoming, a tremendous victory for the Bengals and a great game for you. You describe the equotions you're experiencing right now.

Man.

To be honest, it was great to be at home. I felt like we came in here and took care of minis and due what we had to do.

Now, you know, head it on.

So it says I'm not.

Ere to do eighty seven rushing yards for you. Twenty three receiving yards today, so more than one hundred yards of offense and had a rushing touchdown. You looked like every time you got the ball you hurt. Determined to punish the forty nine ers.

Yeah, for sure, definitely was all go today and just oh great man. Coach kept downing enough to run and trying to do whatever we can to make him play. So it was definitely a great feeling to be able to deliver from our teammates. Long time coming, but now just got.

To keep on going. Both Joe's were amazing. Joe Burrow completed nearly ninety percent of his passes, three touchdowns, no picks. Looks like the CAP's pretty good. Oh yeah, most definitely.

Joe coming here did this thing and I felt like, you know, everybody on the offense, defense, even a special teams had a hell of a part in this game. We played complimentary football and I felt like it was a long.

Time coming man.

So it was a great win, big win for us. And now he's got getting ready to keep on the stack and keep going.

Joe. This was the offense that you guys have been hoping to produce all year long. You know you're capable of it. You put it together for four quarters today.

Yeah, most definitely.

That was a great thing to see to be able to come out here and play four quarters in football. Still less of things out there, still got deces it up, but that was a great deal. We'll see a great thing to come out with the golf man, and that's all that mattered.

The other team in the locker room right now is special. Just tell us what this wedding meets everybody in this row. Oh, it means a lot.

At the same time, we just got to keep building. Man, We got a lot of We got a big group of guys in here that you know, all we do is you know, a night shine right, you know we shine right it.

So we've got to.

Keep on going, keep on, uh, you know, playing with a with our heads that can't be met and everything else. Gonna take care of ourself as all as we execute. And I say, it's a great thing to see the great villain.

Now I's gonna get ready for Sunday.

Night, put go the cards and got a Golden Gates tat on your chest, aren't you a definitely? And uh, you're gonna for sure definitely.

Rev it for the family here really really who can always look said right game to be able to come back and get a dub out here in front.

Of home too.

Congrats had an awesome homecoming in a great performance. It's not appreciate Joe Burrows. Twenty eight completions were spread out to eight different targets, led by Jamar Chase, who finished with ten catches for one hundred yards. That gives him sixty catches through seven games of pace for nearly one hundred and forty six catches for the season. The NFL record is one forty nine by Saints receiver Michael Thomas. I spoke to Jamar about his latest stellar performance, beginning

Yeah, this one that has some fun doing backflob I did gymnastics when I was younger.

So run it with me, Bember and Pats before though probably no, it was a little heavy, but I still got it. Yes, you do ten catches, one hundred yards, a touchdown and a great performance by the offense. How about you sum up today? I said, we did go over just here.

I was standing deefest today and nevn never got us to win. Great they go without assignments today, but we executed what we had Appatonius.

Student, he left a few points on the board. But did you feel like this was the first time you put four together, four quarters of good offense together?

I want to say so.

Yeah, we've definite that had an efficiency of going first down, second on for a dollars.

So that's what we wanted to do.

Very day.

Joe Burrow completed about ninety percent of his past and he ran for more than forty yards. Can we say at least say at this point that the camp is one hundred percent?

Oh, y'all need to say now, welcome back Borough, Tell them back? What were you thinking about walking off the field this long gass flight home.

Have good light, it's a happy plight, but it's still the all tho. Yeah we last time you saw that kind of energy on the sideline of uh.

I can't say it, man, but I don't not have thought the energy before we got out here. Before we got out the plane, you could feel the energy within the team. So he's I thought, we probably a good day.

You stealing a new seasons like that again you feel like a new season? Oh still the same season.

I mean it was still four and three, you know, saying we started to get the way it's going up.

That's all. These are two of the best teams in the NFL. What does this win mean me?

And allowed for the Pigs oppotunity out of the way with in a merry go off and man the event.

But you know we came out with he was picking me on dogs. How important were the fullest couple of thrive the way Joe surgically let your guy down the field.

Yeah, that's how the boys thought out every possessional. I'm saying every job, every and every time we get a bomb bers on the game. You know that's how the one started off. But you know, going get out deepen, sending boy the make and did him rested in them in the bag out there?

So your touchdown came right after Logan's check and that was a big momentum swing. First his takeaway and then Tad to get on the first way.

Yes, the great league call.

We've been setting up the big bubble all night and here was Hello breatha on every bubble with both.

Today and you know we called that had the perfect common way. You like the most catches when the Cincinnati three way off contributed in the midway, I think t had about six, Tyler caught a touchdown pass, Yoc got in the ends again. Ye all of the weapons contributed. Yea.

Also that's what we need right at That's how we make it a great offense look even better than grabs on a great way, thank you.

After a one and three start, the Bengals are four and three and in a three way tie for second place in the AFC North with the Steelers and Browns, who both lost on Sunday. The Ravens won and lead the division by a game and a half at six and two. Pittsburgh plays on Thursday night this week against Tennessee, and the Steelers could be without starting quarterback Kenny Pickett, who suffered a rib injury and Sunday's loss to Jacksonville.

You're a souse sayer. You said first time was going to be huge. You guys dominated on first down.

Yeah, the players understood the assignment, you know, and they responded exactly how we knew that they would. And so again, just really excited for the effort and the discipline that those guys all displayed on both sides of the ball, all three phases and earned a hard fought win today.

Joe Burrow twenty eight for thirty two. I mean, just crazy numbers, three touchdowns, no interceptions. Describe what kind of game the guy had.

It, can't, you know, And you don't even know that that's happening, you know, it's just you feel the rhythm of the offense.

He just does it so.

Often you don't even really appreciate it in the moment when you hear those stats. As a former quarterback coach, and man, you appreciate that, but we also know that what goes into it is outstanding protection to where he can trust what he needs to do and the receivers doing what they need to do to win.

And that's what they did today.

And now when defenses say, all right, well we're going to give the middle of the football field up Joe's running like he's running six times averaging big numbers, you know, scrambling and getting first downs that way?

How important and big is that critical?

I mean, just for a quarterback to understand what's the best thing to beat that coverage because they got you out numbered. They've got good, good guys in the secondary and a linebacker. They got great rushers, so sometimes you don't have a great advantage in the pass game and some past situations based on the coverage they play, and for Joe to use his feet and know that that's the way to win, man, that's big time.

Red zone five times you down there, four touchdowns. He did have to turnover. You know that obviously isn't something that you're pleased about. But the execution. Four touchdowns and five possessions in the red zone pretty good.

Coach, Yeah, that's obviously we want to go five for five, but we knew coming on the road those four point players were going to be and our guys found way to make those plays and run game pass game.

It was good to see.

Crowd noise was another thing who talked about, and it seems like you guys handled that especially well they did.

You know, I think we had a good plan.

Joe did a good job being a fishing gidding get into the line and making the protection calls he needed to make. He had to make a couple lod of balls based on two play calls we had, and so I thought that those guys responded the right way.

Defense holds this forty nine er offense to seventeen points at home. I mean they had won eleven in a row, pretty head and lost here. He'd won eight times without a defeat. How big a statement is it that you never trailed your defense held into seventeen you put up thirty one.

That's huge.

You know, our defense has really played that way all season long, you know, and we haven't always given the opportunity to play with the lead, but that's always what they've they've had in their back pocket. And so again, anytime you can give that defense a lead, they're going to be pretty dangerous.

Joe Mixon complimented things exceptionally well. In the running game.

He rushed for eighty three yards averaged, you know, on sixteen carries, had an average five yards priorri He caught balls for over thirty yards, had over one hundred yard scrimmage day how big a companment was.

He Yeah, a guy comes back home like that to the northern California area in front of his newborn daughter is pretty cool. And I thought he played with a ton of energy today then is really proud of him.

So, coach, you swept the NFC West, I mean four Oh, now it's time to start stacking some wins against the AFC and Buffalo comes to town on Sunday night. What you first thought there and around the division? The only other team that won was Baltimore, So it's a Baltimore's got the best record, but everybody else is four and three and just battle royal as it always is in the division.

Yeah, this is we're always be in the same spot. We always are, you know, and we're used to it, and we control our own destiny. We get to play all these teams again, and so we just take a one game at a time. Starting Buffalo on Sunday night at Peikor.

Cincinnati is an early three point favorite against the five and three Bills, who have outscored their opponent by eighty six points. That's actually the biggest margin of any team in the NFL. Three of Buffalo's wins were by twenty eight or more. Now time for the radio guys recap. Trey Hendrickson got it it out today. Dave Lapham goted it out today with a congested nasal cavity and a

Yeah, it was a heck of performance, you know. And talking with Joe Burrow after the game in the locker room, you know, I said, man, you're back.

I mean, you looked unbelievable moving around. He goes.

You know, he said, I worked so hard on my overall athleticism in the offseason.

Then you know, I was geared up and ready to have a big year and couldn't do anything.

So now I'm excited to show you know what I had done in the off season getting ready to have this type of year or so look out. Twenty eight to thirty two, three touchdowns, no interceptions and you know the way the offensive lineman we're talking about it when you know they're paid to play and they cover guys and pressure's gonna get there when joking, you know, break break out of the pocket and pick up first downs like that.

It's money. I mean it's a tough deal.

Forty three rushing yards to go with all those passing yards. Today he refused to slide. I'd like to see him protect himself a little bit more, but man, was he good.

He was. I mean, he just he sees the whole field so clearly, so quickly. It really is. It's a joy to watch. The guy performed his craft.

You know, he does it at such a high level, and his teammates respond, you know, to it such a such a big way as well.

I mean red zone.

Five times in the red zone, score four touchdowns, convert eighty percent of the time. That was going to win you games. Had the turnover unfortunately the other opportunity, but pretty darn good in.

The red zone.

Eighty seven rushing yards for Joe Mixon plus twenty three receiving yards, so he had more than one hundred yards of offense. That's another missing piece that hasn't been there to that extent, and.

An efficiency was there. He averaged over five yards of carry. It wasn't like he busted one for fifty and then you know the other fifteen carries didn't do anything.

Was pretty consistent in terms of hit a lot of five to you know, twelve.

Yard carries that were very, very important and significant down and when the Bengals were killing it on first down, like they were a lot of his plays, his runs and just catches out of the backfield screens and I mean they were all huge in that first down production.

Big game for Jamar Chase with ten catches for one hundred yards, but Joe Burrow used all the weapons today. I mean IRV Smith unfortunately fumbled at the five yard line, but he got a lot of guys involved. And again that's why they were seventh to the NFL in scoring last year. It's because they didn't rely too heavily on Jamar Chase, no question.

I mean, you know, Jamar is going to attract a lot of attention, but it's going to create opportunities for others, There's no doubt about it. And T Higgins starting to round back into form a little bit. You know he made some plays down the field. And the good thing, like we always talk about and see out of these receivers,

You played, so you wudn't know how this stuff works. The forty nine Ers linebacker duo is generally touted is the best in the league. Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt both came up with huge interceptions today. How much do you think it means to those two guys to do what they did on the same field as those other two linebackers.

I think a lot, dam I really do.

I mean, I think they've got a lot of respect for those two linebackers. Warner in Greenlaw are both great players. But I do think that in Lou Aromo's system, Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt was hugely important. And I don't think I don't think lou Anroumo would trade him for anybody.

So the Bengals have won three in a row and four out of five, but there's a little bit of an asterisk before today because the Rams aren't very good. The Cardinals only have one win. In Seattle game the offense completely, you know, turned off the faucet and the defense had to bail them out. Is this win different to the players and coaches?

I think so because I hadn't lost in eleven games. Here, it's the quarterback fort he hadn't lost in eight starts here, he's eight to zero. So this is a very tough place to play. Croud noise is a factor. They never trailed and they end up winning the game by fourteen points. So I think it's a huge statement that they made, and I think this is the game.

It's going to be a little bit of a springboard form or natter starts stacking some winnings.

Let's get on the plane and go home.

I hear that I'm gonna gard with some hot salt water when they get there.

Hudos to Lap for playing hurt. We look forward to having him back at full strength on Sunday night. Now time for this week's fun fact segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with punter Brad Robbins. Let's start with the stash. Why do you, at age twenty four go with kind of the old prospectors mustache?

You know, A long story short. I feel like the attention to detail is very high. It's a constant reminder to always have a touch into detail, especially as a specialist in my line of work. You know, having that attention to detail is huge for the position.

You also have a shaved head. Did you start losing your hair at some point or is this strictly voluntary.

I wanted to make it to twenty one years old and have my first beverage with hair, but I was losing my hair around like eighteen nineteen getting the parking spots up there, so I decided as soon as I turned twenty one, talk to our snappers, cheese Mini's with the commanders right now. And I texted him late at night. I was like, Hey, we're going to shave my head tomorrow.

I haven't had a bad hair day in thirty years.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And you save money on you know, haircuts every year, and you spend about like forty bucks on razors a year.

In your set, we're chatting with Brad Robbins. You're from the Columbus area.

Correct.

Your father and grandfather were Bengals fans, right.

That's right, that's right. Yeah, from what I remember, my dad told me that my granddad used to take him down here to camps at some point. But yeah, they're huge Bengals fans.

Let's talk about your athletic career. You lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and soccer in high school. Were you close to playing baseball in college?

Yeah, definitely. I thought that was gonna be my long term sport growing up. I wanted to play in the MLB, and originally I was committed to University of Nevada Reno, and I was going to play both when I originally committed there, that was the idea. But yeah, some of the stuff fell out of place and ended up at Michigan, which was you know, couldn't have been better for me.

It all turned out well. During training camp, you ran a couple of fake punts and you were scooting down the sideline. How fast are you?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't like to brag or talk about myself, but you know I'm more than you know, more than a punter. Like to pride myself as an athletic guy, and I'd be curious to see if we timed a forty what it would be, but I believe it would be pretty quick, like for sixish.

Did they ever let you try a fake punt at Michigan?

We were a little conservative by nature. We had one fake punt that was called It was the last punt of my career at Michigan against TCU, and the look wasn't there. I ended up punting it down the field. But as far as scripted fake punts, we had a bunch on deck, but never ran any in a game.

We're chatting with Brad Robbins. You spent six years at Michigan, including a season that you missed due to injury. What was your favorite part about being a college student in ann Arbor, I.

Would just say, really the atmosphere and the people. It's very much a college town, and there is like a sense of togetherness and belongingness when you're a member of that community. And by the end of it, you know you're there for six years. A lot of the professors know who you are, and a lot of the people know who you are, which is really fun. And I managed to have really good relationships with my professors, who you know, emailed me once I got the call to

All right, you mentioned the call to come here. Let's talk about the famous phone call when Zach Taylor called. It sounded like you didn't really think it was him. Did you have reason to believe you were being pranked?

Yeah? You know, being from Columbus, people typically like my peers either went to Cincinnati, Ohio State or OU and I had a decent amount of close friends that went to Cincinnati and had my number, and you know, I kind of at first had reason to believe, like, maybe this was fake. But there was also the story of like Moody, like my kicker, uh, he pranked his mom and dad and faked a phone call, So that was already in my head like, oh, you know, there might

So for the friends who were candidates to potentially prank you, did they find it amusing when they watched the video?

I'm sure they did. I never directly talked to him about it, but I'm sure they know who they are, but yeah, definitely. And you know, they went to UC came down here. They're huge Bengals fans, so you know they're excited to come to games and stuff too.

All right, some wild card topics now with punter Brad Robbins. Tell me one thing about you could be a hidden talent, could be an unusual interest, something about you that very few people.

Now.

I play guitar, that's one thing, and I'm currently like studying music theory. Just pretty interesting. Picked it up. My granddad who passed away, ended up giving me his guitar

Is that your go to song if you're looking to impress somebody.

I don't know, I like to I consider myself more of a campfire guitarist right now, so just like pretty decent add a decent amount of things. So when people request stuff, I could easily pick it up and learn it. But yeah, learning to play by ear, I feel like that's that's something that I want to get better at, in something that I've been learning.

On the flip side, give me something that you're terrible.

At well, So let's see, Evan and Darren have been getting on me about when I'm shaving my head. I miss one spot on the back of my head every single time, So I'd say I'm pretty consistently bad at getting that spot on the back of my head. But no, that's a yeah, I'd say that's the thing that pops up in my head.

All right. A lot of fans here in Ohio know that when the Buckeyes beat Michigan, the players get pins in the shape of gold pants. You won your last two games in that rivalry. What do Michigan players get when they beat Ohio State.

Yeah, they came up with these medallions. They're pretty cool, but each of them had different kind of meetings on them. I wish I should bring them in. I could bring them in, but my idea, guys were coming up with different ideas because there wasn't really anything got right there. There was no background on it. My idea was their defense is like the silver bullets, right, So I was figuring we'd get like a little silver bulleted amulet, but that didn't end up didn't end up happening, So we

That first win that you played in against Ohio State ended a lengthy streak for the Wolverines. What was that moment?

Like, Yeah, it was pretty surreal. Couldn't have scripted it any better, really, Like the weather was awesome. It was snowing, you know, sideways, windy as heck, And you know, I think just as a team, we played really solid and actually you know, believed in each other and trusted each other to do their jobs right or our jobs, so there's really no doubt in our minds, like as long as you do your job, like the rest will take

All right. Final question, This one's a little bit deep. If you could meet anybody in history living or deceased, could be an athlete, entertainer, statesman, whoever it might be, Who would that person be?

I guess the first person I would want to meet right now, who's like living, guy by the name of Justin Vernon, lead singer of Bonnie Fair, super really cool musician, has developed, you know, with like his music engineer, a couple different things that you know people are using, even guys like Kanye West are using, which is really cool for somebody who's passed away, probably like a famous poet of some kind, just to kind of see what time was like back in the day and why they wrote

A very eclectic combo rad Appreciate your time, best of luck this season. Great to have you in Cincinnati.

Yeah, thank you, thanks for having me.

That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Corps. Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level. And by kettering health the best care for the best fans, Cattering Health is