Bengals Booth Podcast: Going Off The Rails On A Crazy Train

Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun Fact segment, you'll get to know the pride of Parkston, South Dakota Bengals offensive lineman Riley Reef. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play next Level fantasy football game. You can download it now from the App Store and Google Play. 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 thing since the latest Joe Burrow Miked Up segment. The Bengals quarterback was wired for sound by NFL Films in the Jacksonville game, and the results were exactly what you would expect. Awesome. If you haven't watched it yet, just go to Bengals dot com and click the video section, then scroll down until you see miked up. Listen to Joe Burrow. After listening, don't be surprised if you randomly yell out. You can't zero me in the days and

weeks to come. Now, let's get to Sunday's rollercoaster ride. Aaron Rodgers entered the game oh and two at Paul Brown Stadium with losses in two thousand and nine and two thirteen and the three time MVP. Got off to a slow start on Sunday. Rogers back to pass, forced to scramble to the right, running toward the near side, the Fires went down field, intercepted by chitubay A Wooja, running up the sideline to the forty toward the middle

of the field to the fifty. The Packers forty five gets tackled at the green bay forty two by offensive lineman Billy Turner. Chitubay A Wouja picking off a pass intended four to Vante Adams. And running it back into green Bay territory. The Bengals weren't able to take advantage of the i NT, but the next time they got the ball, they got on the scoreboards. Joe back at the nine in the shotgun first and goal from the four.

Burro extends the hands, catches the ball, looks to pass, fires caught Bacti Riy touchdown Bengals as he peeled out to the right, caught it around the two and took it past the pylon for the touchdown. It was seven nothing Cincinnati at the end of the first quarter, but Rogers answered with a seventy five yard touchdown drive second and ten from the Cincinnati twelve, Rogers stomps the right foot, catches a shoulder high snap, throws left, caught by dylon

tight ropes the sideline, hits the pylon, touchdown. Green Bay lost coverage on Dylan aj Dillon's twelve yard grab made at seven six, and it stayed seven six when Mason Crosby missed the extra point. Crosby made a forty four yard field goal on the Packers next drive to give Green Bay a nine to seven lead, and late in a half, that lead grew when Rogers aimed for his favorite target, Aaron Jones lined up behind Aaron Rodgers tightly bunched formation. Rogers throws it into the end zone and

it is caught. Now the ball pops out late. The touchdown signal is given. Adams with the catch. Trey Wayne's in coverage after Adams went out of bounds. The ball popped out, but the official there threw up his arms to say touchdown. Davante Adams, the NFL leader in receptions going into the game, finished with eleven catches for a career high two hundred six yards. Here's a wouje and what the Bengals did to try to stop Rogers two Adams everything, you know. We tried a lot of things. Obviously,

great players, great connection between those two. He has some row coverages, we have some double coverages, we have some single dove coverses. We had quarters, we had man we had zones, we had we had everything. The touchdown pass made it sixteen to seven with sixty seven seconds left in the half, plenty of time for Burrow to answer. Fifty seconds left. Shotgun snapped to Burrow. Good protection. He's looking, he's looking scrambling right, still looking Burrow is gonna step

into a deep ball finals down field for Chase. Yeah, he does. Look at twenty the ten the bullet touchdown Bengals. Joe Burrow waited and waited and waited, and eventually delivered a strike to Jamar Chase for a touchdown with thirty six seconds left and a half seventy yards from Burrow to Chase. It was Jamar's fifth touchdown in five NFL games. Scrambled drew something we work on that practice ended up happening in the game. I've seen Julle run out to

the other side of the field. I just cut my eyes on Julian ranted on the side like he did. How tough was that all that? Dau looked like it almost was right by his handy he touched it all way. I don't think he touched that at all, to be honest. It went straight through his arms, just like a distraction drie really. Chase finished with six catches for a career high one hundred and fifty nine yards, and the Bengals

trailed sixteen fourteen at the half. After winning the coin toss and deferring for the ninth consecutive game, the Bengals got the ball to begin the third quarter. They hit scored on their first drive of the second half and every game this season, but that streak ended versus Green Bay. Joe Mixon back in it running back, he bake a toss sweep to the left in trouble, flings it down

field and it is intercepted. He was trying to float it down inside the twenty fraudent Tate and Adrian Amos, the Packers' safety, intercepts and goes down at the seventeen yard line. The Packers turned that pick into points. A forty four yard field goal by Crosby gave Green Bay

in nineteen fourteen lead. Going to the fourth quarter, the Packers were on the verge of going up by two scores, as they had at first and goal at the six, but the Bengals defense got a stop, forced Crosby to kick a short field goal, and the margin was eight. When Cincinnati got the ball back with about eleven minutes to go, Burrow and the Bengals went to work, putting together a thirteen play seventy five yard drive to tie

the game. Two receivers left, one right, Burrow hands it off mix and bouncing it wide to the right, cuts back and takes it into the end zone. Touchdown. Bengals three twenty seven on the clock. Now they will line up and go for two to try to tie this game. The Bengals trying to tie it with a two point conversion. Burrow catches the shotgun snap he's back to throw, moving to his left, throws toward the back of the end zone by Hivens on the back line of the end zone.

It's a two point conversion and the Bengals have tied it with three twenty seven to go. The euphoria was short lived. On the Packer's next play, Aaron Jones ripped off a fifty seven yard run, setting up a field goal try for the lead with about two minutes to go. This will be a thirty six yard try from the left. Hash Crosby's kick is up, it is no good. Crosby

missed from thirty six yards. His streak of twenty seven consecutive made field goals going back to December twenty ninth, two thousand nineteen comes to an end at the best possible time for Cincinnati. The Bengals got the ball and picked up two quick first downs, Then on third and five at the green bay forty two. They elected to run the ball and somajp Ryan got tackled at the thirty nine. It was Evan McPherson's turn to try to

win the game. Twenty six seconds left in regulation, the Bengals will line up an attempt a fifty seven yard field goal to take the lead. This would tie the franchise record for longest field goal. Huber looks back at McPherson, staring at the rookie kicker just twenty two years old. Now the snap to put down, the swing of the right leg, the kick on its way. It hits the upright man bounces to the right. No good. McPherson's miss gave Rogers the ball near midfield with twenty one seconds

to go. He fired a twenty yard bullet two adams, giving Crosby a second chance to be the hero. Three seconds on the clock. The snap, the kick, It has the distance. It is no good. He missed it wide left. After making twenty seven in a row. Crosbie has a streak going in the other direction. He's missed too straight and this game will go to overtime. The Bengals won the toss to begin overtime, of course they did, but

their first play in ot was a disaster. Burrow extends the hands, catches the snap from Hopkins, stands tall in the pocket. Short pass picked off. The Packers are running it back and the tackle made at the seventeen to Vandre Campbell had the ball thrown right to him. I'm not even sure who the intended receiver was. Terrible pass by Joe Burrow, and the Packers are in position to win this game. To Burrow's credit, he made the tackle.

Had it been a pick six, the Packers would not have needed to call on Crosbie for another game winning field goal try. Here we go, the snap, the kick kit's on its way. It is no good. Oh my gosh, I don't believe what I have just seen. Mason Crosbie can't believe it either. He misses three straight after making twenty seven in a row. Total disbelief from fans rooting for either team here at Paul Brown Stadium. Let's face it, the Bengals had gotten lucky. Now it was up to

them to take advantage of it. A twenty one yard passed to Chase moved them into Packers territory. But on third and two at the Green Bay thirty three, Joe Mixon was stopped short of a first down. So after three miss field goal tries by Crosby and a miss from fifty seven yards away by McPherson, the Bengals rookie got another chance to win it. From forty nine yards out. Cuba ready for the snap from Clark Harris. He extends the right hand, catches the ball, puts it down to kick,

is on its way. It hits the upright. That is no good. Oh my gosh. Five missed field goal. Unbelievable? Does anybody want to win this football game? After drilling game winning field goals and each of his first two home games, mc pherson failed on two attempts to make it three games in a row, and he was shocked that his overtime try was no good. Honestly, I was celebrating before the bowl. I guess curved to the left.

But for me, what I saw as I struck it really well, um and I saw it going right down the middle, so I kind of I guess you could say, I kind of know whenever it's gonna go in. And that was one of those moments and saw us kind of celebrating with with Kevin whenever it when it hit a hard left, and so I thought there was no chance I was really missing left. Um. If anything, I thought the win was bowling left or right, And so

I guess that that, as you could say. The when the ball turned left kind of caught me off guard, And honestly, I thought the rest were playing a game with us. Whenever I saw I look down there and they were doing the no good motion. Honestly thought they're playing a game, because I shrugged really well and I

was real confident that it was going through. The Packers got the ball at their thirty nine and two big pass completions by Rogers gave his teammate of fifteen years, Mason Crosby, one more try, a forty nine yard try to win it in overtime. Crosby's kip on its way, it is good, and the Green Bay Packers win it twenty five to twenty two. Here are Chittabay, a Wouge and Zach Taylor on a crazy overtime defeats. Ridiculous. Man, I don't want to go through that too many more times.

But uh, that's that's why we love it. That's what we love the game, you know, um, obviously being in it you get to feel the raw emotion. But as a fan of the game and a fan of just competition, you know, you don't want to be in any You want to be in a position. You want to want to be the ones in a closing game and closing it out. That thing was a roller coaster. Sometimes they didn't know how we ended up in the situation where were in. You know, probably they felt the same way

on their sidelines. But I just told our guys, I know exactly what kind of football team we have now if there's any questions about what type of fight we have, what type of energy we have, what type of love we have for each other. And I know that the people that are with the game today, the people that are watched on TV, they should be proud of this team. And it's gonna come down to some last second place

and sometimes we'll make them, sometimes we won't. But this team's gonna fight to the end against the great teams, great quarterbacks. And I believe in our guys and this is going to serve us well. Over the course of the season, the Bengals went toe to toe with a team that's gone thirty and seven in the last two plus seasons. But a loss is a loss, and in the AFC North, you can't afford to lose when a win is in your grasp. Here again are a Woojia

and Taylor. Personally, I think that was the toughest football game I've been a part of, just the length of physicality, the assignment of going against a team like that. So I think we were started to learn about ourselves. It's going to be a great film to correct. Disappointed, but I think everybody's looking in the right direction. We expected to win this game going into it. We expected, as it point out, we didn't need a moral victory to show us that that we're capable of beating great teams

in this league. We just want to win them, you know, want to put ourselves in better positions. But again, sometimes when it comes down to something like that, that's just football. You know. There's there's a lot of teams that each week walk off the field and they feel like there's just an inch here there that would have made the

difference in today just didn't go away. And again, it hurts to lose, but we got to pick ourselves up and go on the road next week and go and go play great game against Detroit, but winless Lions are next. They fell to and five with a two point loss in Minnesota. Now time for postgame analysis for my broadcast partner Dave lappa Lap. Just when you think you've seen it all, you have not five consecutive missed field goals between the end of regulation and overtime before Mason Crosby

delivers the game winner. The Packers tried to hand it to the Bengals late and Cincinnati was not able to capitalize. Yeah, I mean, no one wanted to win that football game. It'ston like down the stretch, it was crazy. They were all, you know, other than Crosby had one that was like, what from forty yards or something like that, or thirty thirty six or something. He missed one that was kind of makeable. But thirty six thirty six yard that he missed.

That one surprised me. But all the others, you know, you're talking about forty nine to fifty five yard field goals. I mean they're they're not real easy makes. But in today's NFL, the kickers are so good, your expectations are I mean, shoot, the fifty. That's like the old forty two yard field goal. Fifty yard field goal these days. And I'm telling you a boy, I commented during the game that both kickers probably wanted to measure the distance

between the upper rights. They were just just missing hitting uprights, clanging off of uprights and a just a tough, tough day. McPherson learned a lot today. I mean, that's a that's a guy. The kickers tonight will not sleep a wink, There's no question about that. And there's not a whole lot of guys who are gonna get great. I'm on asleep. Nobody's gonna sleep eight hours tonight, and I can tell you that they're all gonna be. You close your eyes

and literally, Dan, it's unbelievable. I remember it's happening to me. Close my eyes and my balls became projector lenses and you were seeing plays that could have gone changed the outcome of the game. And this is one I can't remember a game that has as many plays in it. You know, when you're factor in special teams, offense, defense, it's like there's probably twenty plays that if any one of them went the other way, it's a different football game.

How about Evan McPherson leaping into the arms of Kevin Huber on his last field goal attempt because he thought it was good. He sees the no good signal and he thought they were joking. That's how good he felt about that kick. That thing hook It looked like it was dead center and it kept hooking, hooking, hooking. The amount that that thing hooked down the stretch was unbelievable. And I think that because he kicks it so straight. I think he was stunned. I don't know if it

was a breeze. I don't know what it was that took that football, but it moved it from the middle of the uprights to that upright big time in the last twenty yards that had traveled. I mean, Zach Taylor was talking about it in the locker room after the game. He was shocked how much that field goal moved in the final few yards when it was in the air. There were a lot of plays in this game. First drive of the second half, it was third down and two.

They threw an incompletion. It was fourth down and two they went for it. That got wiped out by a penalty. Too many situations in this game where the Bengals could have moved the sticks and failed to do it. Yeah, I thought that there third and short. I mean, at one point in the first half there were one for seven on third down, third and one, third and two, third and three, third and four. You know, we're four of the seven attempts on third down, and they weren't.

They weren't converting, they weren't keeping the drives alive. And I thought that was going to be a big factor. Obviously when you're playing against number twelve Aaron Rodgers, keep drives alive, convert on third down, you know, melt the clock, you know, during the course of the football game, might mean one less possession, one less opportunity. So I thought two things. I thought their third down non execution in

the first half was painful. And I thought the fact that they didn't take advantage of the turnover they got nothing out of it. They got great field position at the forty six yard line or something that went backwards and got nothing in punt the football. And the interception in the first half that Joe Barrow had green Bay got three points out of So, you know, in a game that tied at the end of regulation, twenty two,

twenty two that the turnover situation the game. Even though the turnovers were even, Green Bay came out plus three in terms of points on those turnovers, and in a game like that, that was big. But boy, you look at Aaron Rodgers too. Dan Again, this guy's like drifting to his left with his feet side by side, sideways, like shuffling to his left and throws a rope back to his right, you know, to cob in a in a porthole, you know, a tight, tight window. It's like,

how the heck does a guy do that? Just shoulder and arm strength, you know, and the accuracy and the ability to throw it with some juice on it. He's I think I have yet to see a quarterback that has more arm talent than this guy. I really, this is the third time I've seen him in person, and every single time in at different stages of his career, and every single time he'll make a wow are you

kidding me? Throw? Patrick Mahomes is the only guy that comes close for the ability to throw with a wide variety of angles, you know, side, arm, over the top, whatever, and still deliver a good strike. And I still think Rogers is even better. Yeah, I think at a comparable age, Rogers and Mahomes were like, but this guy's now, he's thirty nine years old, thirty seven, thirty seven, thirty seven and doing at such an unbelievable level. And that's the thing,

you know. Zach Taylor mentioned it in the pregame show, and I think it's worth repeating that not only is this guy that type of physical talent, still, it's like having an offensive coordinator in your huddle and at the line of scrimmage, and Pratt was talking after the game. He said, Man, I'm telling you, this guy came to the line of scrimmage in total control, changing players left and right. Whatever we got in he had an answer to it. He had the answer to every every question

in the test. And you know, it's it's just when you're playing with a guy like that, it just gives you so much confidence. It really does. I mean, man, he just he raises everybody else's boat, you know, in terms of the level of performance, because you just feel like you're unbeatable when you're playing with a guy like that. Let's talk about the other quarterback, Joe Burrow. We found out after the game he was taken to a local hospital for a possible throat contusion. I've never heard of

that before. Bruised throat. Now, we happened to see him walk out of the stadium as we were going into the studio to record this podcast, and he looked okay. I mean, he didn't appear to be in any sort of excruciating pain. But that doesn't sound very pleasant. Yeah, I mean, I've heard of fractured trachia. You know, how does that must how must that feel? You know, I've heard of a damaged Adam's apple, and you know, fractured

trachy and things like that. And I guess if he got hit in the throat somehow by somebody's hand or whatever, that you know, they know it's bruised. They just want to see how badly and if there's any cracks or anything else going on in there. So if you have a you know, a fractured trachia or something, you know, now it's tough to I mean, you're gonna be guttering. You're gonna be uttering guttural noises, you know, for for cadences and stuff. You know that that that might be

a little bit weird. But we're putting the cart way before the horse. Hopefully it's it's nothing more than, you know, make sure check all the boxes and make sure that you know that that he's able to go. How did you think he played? I think he played, you know, okay, I mean he totally lost track of Campbell. And I asked Zach, I said, was that a case where receiver and quarterback round different pages? And he goes, I don't really think so. I have to look at the tape

to make sure. But he said, you know, I think he just lost track of the foundery, lost track of Campbell. And that's the easiest interception Campbell's ever gonna have. There's no question about that. But Zach was not expecting the linebacker from the opposite side of the formation to drift, you know, like he did, to the middle of the football field like that, and that was obviously a huge play,

pivotal play. It seems strange in a game where a receiver on the opposite team had two hundred and six yards to single out somebody in the secondary for having a great game. But chittabay O Wooje continues to show what an excellent signing he was. No question, I mean, he just he flashed you know he jumped off when they watched the tape, he's going to jump off the tape coverage. Tackling the interception was a great play. I mean, he's got to write to that spot on the football

field as well. And he turned, he found the ball first, and there was some you know, checking fighting going on and all that, but he's he's in better position. He ran the route better than the receiver did. So there's no call on that. There's no flag on that. And he made a great play. And again they didn't. There

was not complimentary football played there. A Woozia makes a hell of a play, gives them the ball, you know, at the forty six yard line, and they get nothing, zero, not even a first down out of the darn thing. So at that point, complimentary football was an issue. And you know, you start the football game off, it takes you till the end of the first quarter to score seven points. Again, these these slow starts. The better team you play against, the more you're gonna put yourself behind

the eight ball. If you don't come out of the gate. You know, in a perfect world, you come out of the gate strong. And then at the end of the football game, you still have enough juice to be physical and finish the thing, you know, with a flourish kind of deal. That's when you're playing really good football and they're having you know, frantic finishes and all that sort of thing. But they're putting themselves behind the eight ball too much with these slow starts. It's impossible to feel good.

It's a Bengals fan after you lose a game like that. But I'm trying to remember my mindset going into the game. I said that they need to go toe to toe even if they don't win. They need to go toe to toe with a team like Green Bay to show that they are legit, that they can be in the hunt for a playoff spot. They did that. It was a game they should have won, though considering the things

that fell into their lab. Yeah, there's no doubt. And when you look at the personnel, I'm telling you this is a huge win for green Bay because they came in limpen and gimpen. You know, they were like the Johnson and Johnson bandage group, and they licked those wounds. And I'm telling the offensive line, I think they're coach magnificently.

And then you still have to go out and play and they were taking defensive linman on with short sets and they were playing their butts off, and Aaron Rodgers, you know, created an extended plays when there was some leakage. I mean, he's great at that. But really, I thought that offensive line played more than adequately. I thought they showed that they all belonged to the National Football League. And that's the thing is when your roster, your roster depth,

it's not like you fall off a cliff. Now, baktri you know, as good a left tacklers in the game, you're going to miss a guy like that. But when you have guys that can you know, are more than adequate replacements, you know, it's like and they even lost the replacement to Baktiri and they're still out there operating efficiently. When you have that kind of thing going on, you

got a damn good football team. And for them to come in and I think they've got respect for the Cincinnati Bengals, I think they might even have more respect or at least as much respect when the game's over. For them to come and travel and win that football game, I think it's going to be big for them and for the Bengals to be in the situation to win it multiple times and not be able to get it done. That one's going to be a tough one to get over.

You know, you talk about compartmentalize, amnesia, move on, easier said than done. You know, this one, it's going to be a mental and physical challenge to do. Because they played a lot of minutes in a football game. Green Bay feels a heck of a lot better physically now because they won that game than the Bengals do after losing a game like that that you could have and should have won the football game. The run through the NFC North ends next week. They played the Vikings, the Bears,

and the Packers. They've got one team left, the Lions, who are winless after two point loss in Minnesota, and you got to beat their Lions. But you know, the Lions, they haven't won a football game, but they've been in a few. You know, it's there's no gimmis in the National Football League. And one thing about the Detroit Lions when you watch tape on the Lions now, they come to play physically. Their head coach is a psycho. Matt Campbell is an absolute psycho. So he demands that so

you're gonna get that. I mean, when that game's over, it's going to be oh man, when you're in the locker, I remember that hit. Oh yeah, You're gonna have to come out and be physical. And then that's going to be the big challenge, you know, after losing the way you lost to the Green Bay Packers, Detroit lost obviously a game they could have won, maybe should have won as well. Who's going to be able to bounce back

the quickest and the best? That might be a big factor in who puts a W in the left hand column Next week, there's a quick reminder to join Lapping Me for the Bengals game Plan Show on Wednesday night from six to eight. We'll be at Vince's other place that's a sports bar and Hamilton Avin Mount Healthy. We'll have lots of giveaways during the commercial breaks. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, its next level

fantasy football. With Ultimate Bengals, you're in control of your team. Downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play. Now. Tap for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with Riley Reef from Parkston, South Dakota, in the southeast corner of the Mount Rushmore. State population about fifteen hundred. Tell us a little bit about growing up in Parks and what you love about home. Just the people,

great Midwestern people, down to earth. Man. I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else. I'm still this day. I got a big following in my hometown, and I owe a lot to a lot of people in that town. And you know, it's a small town, like you said, a lot of people. They know a lot about you, but they're also that's also a good thing. I mean, people take care of one and one another, and uh, yeah, I'm real Uh take a lot of pride in coming from Parkson. Did you grow up with a lot of

family nearby. Yeah, my mom was one of nineteen so family reunions were big, you know, stuff like that. And family's real big to me and see them quite often. So I know you love hunting and fishing. Do you have an all time best hunting and fishing story? You know, there's a lot of them that come to mind, just being out with my dad, you know, my brothers, good friends. Some of the funnest memories I have were before high school football games, going out dove hunting. That was that

was always fun. And now that I, um, you know, I didn't have any money when I was younger to have have good hunting dogs. We had dogs, but they weren't really hunting dogs. But uh, Spain, will take my dogs out now and watch some more because it is really a treat. We're doing fun facts with Riley Reef.

Your dad was a wrestling coach and you were an all time great high school wrestler in South Dakota one twenty one and one with three state titles, and it surely would have been four if not for an injury or senior year. What did that experience and that success do for you? I I credit all my where I'm at now to wrestling. Uh you know, it's tough, physical, I had great coaches, great teammates, and uh you know it was it was. It wasn't so much so physical,

it was the mental aspect of being a wrestler. And I still think that helps me today and it's caring me to where I'm at and uh, you know, just the grind, you know, never stop attitude. Parkston is not far from the border of Nebraska. Minnesota and Iowa. You choose to be you chose to become a Hawkeye. What was the best part of your college experience. My teammates, um, the coaches, winning games. We had a good group of guys, and uh, you know, I had a lot of fun

at Iowa and I won't change at one bit. I mean, I'd do that all over in Harben. We learned from your former Iowa teammate Mike Daniels that you started out on the defensive line before they move you to the oh line. How'd you feel about it at the time. I wasn't too happy. I when I first arrived, I got the number seventy seven. It was in my locker, and I was kind of mad because I was like,

that's not a defensive lineman number. Now it's one of my favorite numbers, but you know it was obviously it worked out for the best, and uh, you know, they've seen something in me and the rest is history. I I used to think offensive linemen were slow, fat and lazy, and now I think, I mean, being around him, they're the best on the team. Man. They're fun, they're you know, we're tightening it and uh yeah, yeah, there's no position group like it. No position group that's more close knit

than the O line. It's unique fraternity. What is it about you guys together that click so much. Yeah, you just get a bunch of guys that that depend on each other. And uh, you know, if if one guy has a really good game and one guy has a really bad game, it's I mean, it's your your judge is won. And uh, you know that's just it's a it's a bond, right. Um, I don't I don't really know how to how to phrase it, but uh, it's pretty special in a part of an offensive line room,

that's for sure. We're doing fun facts with Riley Reef. So they gave you the number seventy seven as a dead ringer that you were going to be an O lineman, and it obviously did work out. You became a first round draft pick. Describe your draft experience. You know, I I left school a year early. Um, you know, trained at Iowa with coach Doyle and combine, you know all

that stuff. It was. It was a lot um but um, you know, I was very thankful for the Detroit Lions organization for drafting me and the Ford family had a great five years there. And then Ford in Minnesota and now now I'm here, and uh, you know, I'm awfully honored to be in this league. I mean, it's it's hard to to get in this league and it's hard

to stay in this league. So you know, heads off to a lot of good teammates, coaches and uh, you know family for support during those four years in Minnesota or head coaches. Mike Zammer, he recently called you one of his favorite guys of all time and said he was willing to share the codes to his hunting lodge and even opened up the fridge if he wanted to drink his beer. Describe that relationship. I love Zim Zim.

Uh you know, he's tough. He's a wrestler, you know, at heart, and uh, you know, he wanted the best out of us and every day. You know, he might have been hard on us, but you know he knew what had to be done. Sim's a great coach. Everybody knows that. And I really appreciate him. You know, we had some good years there and uh, you know, yeah,

I got a lot of respect for him. During training camp, offensive line coach Frank Pollock asked Anthony Munio's and Dave Lapham to address the offensive labman after practice one day, and you genuinely seemed almost awe struck. Was that the case? Absolutely? Um, you know, any guys that have played before me, I know, I know what they did. They set a foundation. Uh you know, it goes back the you know, the x's and knows might change a little bit, but the technique

and stuff. I mean, I mean, it's it's evolving, but they they set the foundation on how offensive linemen you know, how they work, how they do this stuff, and uh, you know, to pick their brain or listen to them talk. I mean, it's it's it's awesome. I love talking to any offensive linemen. You know, they get it. They know they know how bad it sucks sometimes. So you know, you just appreciate when guys take time out of their data, you know, of us. A few pointers, all right, a

few wild card questions for Riley Reeve. Who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport? I'll probably say Tim Brown from the Oakland Raiders. I remember him, I had I got one of his cards when I was younger, and uh, you know it come to I liked him at the time, but I come to respect him even more once you get older and you're in this professional you know, probably him. That one definitely caught me off guard. I thought you might go with Dan Gable. I like

Dan Dan too. Is there anything you like to splurge on? Probably hunting and fishing stuff. You mentioned your hunting dogs. Are they expensive? No, I mean yeah they are. The prices are going up on dogs nowadays. But yeah, I mean they're they're just uh, they're bread locally around South Dakota and just find a good pedigree. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, whoever it might be, who would person by Teddy Roosevelt? You know you'd like

to hunt fish? And uh, yeah, I think he's an interesting character. Maybe him. All right, you are the first person to ever go with Teddy Roosevelt to answer that question. I love it. All right. Last thing, and now that you mentioned the Tim Brown thing, this all makes sense because I read that as a kid you were a Raiders fan because of the Mailman. Can you explain, Yeah, Well, my dad was a Raiders fan too, and we'd always get the My mom was a Vikings fan, so we'd

get the Vikings Vikings game. But then we'd usually get a West Coast game, and you know, sometimes we catch Raiders on and that's how I became a Raiders fan. And the mailman was always harpening on me about the Raiders too. But yeah, um, I just like the like the atmosphere that I've seen on TV. And I've never been to a game that I played there, but uh, you know, I just like the you know, the fans and they were tough, they're they're physical and stuff like that.

I appreciated that you'd fit in in the black hole. I don't know about that. You don't have to put on all the makeup. You just have to be rowdy. In any case, I really appreciate your time. Best of luck the rest of this year. It's great to have you on the team. We appreciate it. Thank you. That's going to do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game. Download it now

from the app Store and Google Play. 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. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast,