Bengals Booth Podcast: I, Believe

broadcast partner Dave Lapham. And in this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know a Bengals veteran who I truly believe will eventually be an NFL head coach, safety Ricardo Allen. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since bold lettering on Hotel beauty care products. If you wear glasses, you know what I'm talking about. There are few things more annoying than climbing into a hotel shower and not being able to read which bottle is the shampoo, which one's the conditioner, and which one is the body lotion. So kudos to the Baltimore Marriott for big bold lettering on the various beauty products, and thanks

for respecting your four eyed guests like me. Now let's get to Sunday's Baltimore beat down. Heading into the game, there were four quarterbacks in history who had started at least four games against the Bengals without ever losing. Listen to this list. John Elway went seven and o. Joe Montana six and oh, including a pair of Super Bowls. Dan Marino also went six and o, and to Sunday, Lamar Jackson was five and zero. That list has been

whittled to three. The Bengals and Ravens traded early field goals before Cincinnati ended a streak of two games against Baltimore without scoring a touchdown. Burrow under center mix and lined up seven yards behind. They fake a hand off to the laft, Burrow rolls to the right guts that deep down the middle of the field. Usama makes the canoe twenty five escapes a hit running between the hand barks touchdown. Bengals burrow deep to Uzama and Cincinnati takes

the lead on a fifty five yard touchdown strike. Man, you talked about making the play down the football field to catch and then making Marlin Humphrey miss in space. Usama's long TD grab gave the Bengals a ten three lead and came on his favorite holiday. It's national side. Indo, you gotta make something happen right like you can't just

can't let anybody else have all the fun. And I gotta say this too, even though I caught the touchdown, if you look at the play, Drew had to block Calias Campbell one on one and did a hell of a job. I mean, I gotta give it to him because that was if he didn't block him the way he did, then Joe would have not been able to get the ball off. So that touchdowns for Drew for sure, because that one on one that he had with Clias, that's that's what allowed me to get open and Drew,

of course, being Uzama's fellow tight end, Drew sample. The Bengals lead didn't last, as the Ravens answered with a t D drive of their own. Lamar Jackson will move under center. We'll see if he keeps the ball on a run high formation backfield behind him. Second and goal from the one. Lamar hands it off and the Ravens

run it into the end zone for the touchdown. DeVante Freeman scored tied the game at ten, but left one fifty one on the clock, abundant time for Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase to work their end of half magic very very noisy here at M ANDT Bank Stadium. With thirty two seconds left and the half, Burrow back to throw from the pocket, fires line drive over little by Chase running to the twenty five here sideline to the twenty hurdles a defender and goes out of bounds to

stop the clock. With twenty four seconds left at the nineteen yard line, Chase, in the final two minutes of the half, strikes again. That twenty six yard catch led to a field goal by Evan McPherson that gave the Bengals a thirteen ten halftime lead. It's the fifth time in seven games that Cincinnati has scored in the final thirty seven seconds of the half, and Chase has either caught a touchdown pass or made a big catch to

set up a field goal. Every time. Here's Joe Burrow and we were talking about it two minute before the half. Kids is going again. So we're playing all right. Up to that point, you know, we weren't playing great, and then you know that two minute drive really propelled us going into the end of the half. And after that, you know, we came into the locker room it's like, you know, we got him now, but before Burrow in

the offense could get him. Baltimore opened the third quarter with back to back passes of thirty five and thirty nine yards to take the lead. As he's back to throw on first and ten, he's gonna fire for the end zone and Brown he calls it in and it is a touchdown. He got his feet down in the back of the end zone as LaVar Jackson floats won over the Bengals defense for a thirty nine yard TV.

The Ravens were up seventeen thirteen, and while Lamar Jackson passed for two hundred and fifty seven yards and ran for eighty eight more, Baltimore did not score on its final seven drives. Here's Zach Taylor. He's so dangerous. You know, every time he extends a play, you know, he's capable of running for an exposive player, throwing it down the field from explosive play, and he's just such a tremendous player.

But I'm really proud of the way that our whole defense responded, and you know, that was that was a big, big, big deal for them to play like that today. After Baltimore pulled ahead, Joe Burrow threw a seventeen yard passed to Chase, handed off to Joe Mixon for five yards, found Chase again for twenty one, and then gave the Bengals the lead for good. Three receivers right Chase out to the left. Burrow catches the shotgun snap, fires bound field,

caught at the fifteen to tackle. Yeah, runs it into the end zone. Second touchdown of the game. U Zama fires the football against the wall in the end zone and the Bengals take the lead on a thirty two yards strike up the seam to cj Uzama. He said, you know what, you didn't stop it the first time, You're not gonna stop it the second time. The Bengals were up twenty to seventeen. The Ravens quickly drove into field goal range before Trey Hendrickson knocked them out of it.

Jackson and the shotgun bell off his right hip. Lamar looking left now looks back toward the middle. He's running. He gets sacked from behind by Trey Hendrickson. The Bengals sacked Lamar Jackson five times. Burrow was only sacked once, and Hendrickson is up to six and a half sacks in his first seven games with Cincinnati. That's one thing, like you see five sacks, But I mean, I can't say enough about the guys in the back end. Mike Vaughan, Jesse cheeto elis stepping up. I mean, those guys are

making opportunities for us to rush. And that's what complete defense is. It's we're one of these games, it's going to be we're hitting the quarterback and they're picking the ball off. So that's what you that's what you strive for as a defense. We're playing like a unit. Like I said for weeks now, this is special. We're building something that's special and h like I said, this is a stepping stone to where we want to go as a defense, and a team. The Bengals got the ball

back and only needed three plays to score again. Bengals have three receivers left and went out to the right, burrowing the gun on third and two. He'll look to pass quick thrown slant caught by Chase, runs to the third breaks out the power jam, spreading down the middle of the filling away at the thirty twenty ten touchdown. Wow great his jamar Chase eighty two yards two fuh pous. Chase finished with eight catches for two hundred one yards,

both career highs. His seven hundred and fifty four receiving yards after his first seven NFL FELL games are the most by any player in history. I can say today I surprise myself, you know, putting up those stats two hundred and one yards something you dream of, but you don't go into the game actually telling yourself you're about to do it, you know what I'm saying. So I just came out of hand, played the best bot I

can today and try to make plays. Burrow finished with a career high four hundred and sixteen passing yards and didn't have any in the fourth quarter. His timing in chemistry with Chase is simply ridiculous. We've been together for a long time. I've been thrown with him on Saturday since I was twenty one years old. So that's that's what happens. When you get all those reps accumulated, you

understand the kinds of throws against leverage. You know, they were playing on top and press, and so that's what opened up the back shoulder balls today. And we've we've thrown back shoulders for three years and throwing them over and over and over again. And that's what it takes to feel confident in those kind of throws is just reps and reps and reps. The Bengals turned the game into a route and send Baltimore fans streaming toward the exits with more than seven minutes to go with a

pair of long touchdown runs. Second down in three on the verge of the red zone at the twenty one of Baltimore mixing back in a running back, Burrow hands it to Joe Starts left joy to hold up the middle of five full line hand touchdown, Chow Mixing racing up the middle of the field for a twenty one yard t D and the Bengals are on the verge

of a seventeen point fourth quarter lead in Baltimore. Burrow hands it off, pe Ryan finds a hold off the middle, Smaa streaking into the forget about it, coffin nailam bam. And I'm telling you what, Dan, that was the most unbelievable double team I've ever seen. Trey Hopkins in Quentin, Spain took a defensive line in ten yards down the field and planted on. I mean, the cutback lane was

humongous for samaj p Ryan. They dominated the interior the Baltimore Ravens defensive line, which I did not think was going to happen on any snap today. And holy Macarlandy, who what do you like more? Raven route or Baltimore butt kicking? They both apply. It is forty to seventeen unbelievable. Cincinnati ended his street because five straight losses to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens by the final score of forty one to seventeen. Let that sink in forty one to seventeen.

Did that make a statement? Here are Joe Burrow, c j Uzama and Sam Hubbard. I think it was a big statement and we're two and owned the division. For the first time that I can remember, and you know, I was, you know, the most exciting thing were two of the last three drives were you know, they knew we were going to run the ball and the old Line really you know, took it to him. I was exciting to see. I know, those guys were fired up about that. So that's that's how you should finish a game.

You start out throwing the ball, getting out up on top, and then the old Line finishes it off. On the side that I was, I was honestly a little emotional with how with how I connected we were. You know, you see everyone just I mean everyone's juiced for every single person out there, and I mean that's what it's all about, having fun, being with the boys and playing ball. So I think it's the start of something new, something good.

We had a long period of time where we couldn't figure out how to win on the road, and we kind of got over that hump, and um, you know, these divisional games they're huge. You know. To to finish the way we did and not allow them to come back into it and have that killer instinct is just so huge for us as a team of what we've come from how we've progressed and you know where we've always envisioned ourselves getting and finally seeing it happened today.

After the game, Dave Lapham spent five minutes with Zach Taylor coach forty one. It's twenty eight unanswered. I mean, your football team came to Baltimore and just made a huge statement, didn't you. They believe in each other, They believe that they can go on the road and beat really good football teams, and now this is just more evidence of that. And uh so again, I'm really proud of the collective effort of our entire team today because we were gonna need it and we got it from them.

So your your LSU connection. Your quarterback throws for four hundred and sixteen and his receiver catches the ball for two hundred and one yards. Eight catches for two oh one. Joe's twenty three for thirty eight after starting like two for seven, He's twenty three for thirty eight. Unbelievable. What do you think about their their performance out there? Yeah, I'm glad we have them, you know, because they are They're one of the best connections in the in this

league and they're just getting started. You know, and so again to be able to rely on that receiving corps in that running game and our quarterback who's who's as accurate as they call him, as really fun for a play caller to be able to enjoy those weapons. CJ. Yzama three catches for ninety one yards and two touchdowns. I know it wasn't the same play, but he did the same thing, you know, choke and a guy and taking it to the house. How well is he playing

right now? You know, he's just misfreliable. His number is not always called. He doesn't have ten catches in the game or any of that. But he just does all the dirty work and then when his name's called, he makes the play. That's awesome to see. So they start the game with seven and eight guys in the box and they're bringing every you don't know which ones they're bringing, how many they're bringing, and all that stuff. But you over time got him out of that and then you

somehow got the middle of the field wide open. You guys started abusing the middle of the football field. Take me through that progression. Well, we just had some miscommunication early. You know, some things that we know we're gonna be challenging, and they got us on the first drive there. But you know, we got a lot of weapons and so we can stay in attack mode and forced teams to have to respond to what we're doing. And that's what our guys just allow us to do. And we kind

of stayed in that mode and our guys responded. Well. How about in a huge game, a division rival on the road, who's five and one and in first place. Your first penalty occurs in the fourth quarter, one penalty for five yards. Your first sack occurs in the fourth quarter, The first turnover occurs in the fourth quarter. You guys are playing like ever free football. That's what it takes, isn't it It is? You know, I get we get a smart, disciplined football team, and that's the kind of

men we want in this locker room. And they've they've played that way and it helps you win games because there's those little moments during the course of the game when a penalty kills you or turnover, a sack kills you, and our guys stay away from that stuff and it's awesome. Twenty eight unanswered points. You know, when when you started getting on that role as a play caller, does your your sheet get huge. I mean it's like you can

almost close your eyes and pick one out. Our guys were just playing with such confidence that it gets that way. We don't have to call some things we haven't called. We can just stick with what's working. But our guys at that point just have confidence that everything's gonna work and they know how to execute it and they have that confidence. And uh so that's a scary thing when you've got that. The one red zone drive, Joe took a sack and then he had the turnover. But the

defense said, Joe, you've carried us the whole game. I got your back. And the fourth down stops they had like three of them down the stretch. I think they want one for four and fourth down and like three three turnovers. You actually lose the turnover battle minus one. But those three fourth down stops more than negate that. But how about your defense. The way they responded tremendous hold them in the seventeen points five sacks, I think that's the most tied for the most of themar has

ever been sacked. So again, they just and that's top down, that's coverage all the way down to the front. That's coaching, putting those guys in a great plan and uh really going over the details all week, and our guys believe in it. And it's a special thing to watch when that happens, you know, it's interesting to watch watch the guys on the plane, on the buses, in the hotel,

honestly going to take care of business. We're gonna go take care of this football game, every single guy just and I'm not I'm not saying it was like, you know, arrogance or anything. That's just we believe. Yeah, they believe, you know, and there's enough evidence that they should believe, you know, because they put in the work. They keep raising the standard each week on what it should have looked like and and we got much bigger days ahead.

This is not We're gonna reflect back on this, and this is something we needed to do beat Baltimore on the road, but we know that we got to continue to win and put ourselves in position to do some

really big things later on. If the playoffs were to start tomorrow and they're not going to, you have seven games in though, you guys, first place in NFC North, the number one seed in the AFC for the playoffs, tracking in the right direction, Coach, we put ourselves in a really good position through eight whatever how many games we've played. Seven games. We have to keep this up because plenty of teams have not handled this position the

right way. We've seen them over the past couple of years, and we just got to make sure that we respond appropriately. Appreciate your time, Appreciate what you're doing. I know the fans of Cincinnati are jacked up, to say the least. That's awesome. We're happy for him, and again, we just got to keep it up. Thanks. Thanks. Up next the road game against the struggling New York Jets, who fell to one in five on Sunday with a fifty four to thirteen loss to the Patriots. The Bengals are an

early nine and a half point favorite next weekend. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the season, with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app stores Now. Now time for postgame analysis with lap La. Words are the tools of our profession. But I find myself not quite sure

what to say. Have the Bengals arrived after winning by twenty four points in Baltimore? Boy, if they haven't, they're well into the journey. They're on the way to arrival. I mean, they shook up a fifty five gallon drum, a butt whipping spring over the Baltimore Ravens. It was unbelievable. It was entertaining to watch them take a part to Ravens. The way they did offensively and defensively. I mean, they played complimentary football. They supported each other's efforts to the

end degree. They played smart football. They didn't make mistakes. One penalty for five yards. The penalty occurs in the fourth quarter, first sack and the first they only turnover the game occurs in the fourth quarter when the games in hand. I mean they played they played really, really sound football. I think the date was December twenty second, twenty eighteen, destined to go down as one of the

most important days in franchise history. The Bengals losing overtime in Miami, they wrap up the number one pick in the NFL Draft, and they secure Joe Burrow. He is special in so many ways he is. I mean it's almost like it's almost impossible to say how important he is to what's going on here. I mean, his tentacles reach everything, everything. The ripple effect that he has on everybody in the organization, not just on his teammates, but

everybody in the organization is astounding. I mean he's I've heard, you know, many times Mike Brown referred to Kenny Emerson is the most important player in franchise history, which is a very, very worthy designation. But this dude, after where they were, is most most important player Part two. I mean, he is the guy and he means everything to everything they're doing. He really does. They hold the Ravens to seventeen points. They were fifth in the NFL and scoring

defense going in. They'll probably climb a spot or two after doing that. They haven't given up more than twenty five in a game this year. I think at this point, even though they haven't faced a bunch of prolific offenses, that we can safely say this is one of the better defenses in the NFL. Right, Yeah, I mean they even when they there was that little stretch where they gave up back to back thirty plus yard passes and a twenty five yard play a boot in there. You know,

they recover from that. It's not like they don't collapse, they don't fall apart, they don't panic, you know, they stay they stay patient. I mean, I think it's, uh, there's so much trust and belief that's going on that that the players know what they're supposed to do. They know that, they feel like they know their teammates know what they're supposed to do. They feel like they know their coaches are going to give them a game plan that's going to put them in the best possible situation

to win football games. I mean, the trust and belief is going at all levels back and forth, and that's that's what it That's really what it takes. Um And you know, when when teammates care about each other, that's when you can have special seasons, you know, and it seems like that's the case these guys. You know, if when a big play is given up, they're they're not Matt, They're just communicating to each other, you know, what do I need to do. Nobody's like, you know, chewing on

anybody or anything like that. It's like, how do we prevent this from happening again, you know, And it's like, and I do. I've said this before, but I vividly remember it. It's like, Okay, on this play, if I don't do my job, you know, I'm going to let so and so down. I got to make sure that I get it done. And you know I'm at the point of attack. I got to get it done. I got to do it, not just for me, but for you know, this guy owned this side. I mean, this

guy and this side, even this guy behind me. I mean, it's that's that's when you know that. You know, when guys are caring about each other like that, that's when you know you have a special group. Since the NFL went to eight divisions of four teams, if you start five and two, you make the playoffs seventy four percent of the time. Now that might change a little bit now that you've got a seventeen game schedule instead of sixteen. But the fact of the matter is teams that this

position generally make it. And they've got road wins in the bank at Pittsburgh and at Baltimore. Are you shocked by where things stand after seven games? Like you were talking about Dan, they're double digit wins, you know. I mean it's not just eating them out. It's like got you, you know, and got you good. I'm really impressed. I thought I felt good about today's game, but I thought it was going to come down to, you know, somebody's going to make a player or two in the fourth

quarter here. You know, it's going to be one of those kind of games. It was worse than Detroit in terms of guys coming out and guys finishing up and you know, garbage time, and it's like, I can't believe them. I'm witnessing this in Baltimore against the five and one football team that was leading the division going in, just took them apart, I mean, disassembled them. It was as good an effort as I've seen from this organization in

a long time. So about two series into the game, I think it was in a commercial break, he kind of turned to me and said, I don't know if this is going to work out. They're getting a lot of pressure on Joe Burrow and that rapidly got better with the offensive line do today, Yeah, I mean it was it was interesting. It was like they made they made a couple of plays. The offensive line progressively get better with the twists and the stunts and recognition and who who to pick up and why and all that

sort of stuff. And then Joe started making some throws and one on ones to the outside. And at that point, you know, Wink blinked, you know, Wink changed a little bit. He changed what he was doing, and I was hoping he might see that again, you know. And I'm not saying that he took all his cards off the table, but he was much less aggressive. And then and then they started just attacking the middle of the football field.

They made a bunch of plays in the middle of the football field once they started winning there, one on ones on the outside, because now it's like, oh, I got to help with the safety. They're not winning, you know, they're beating us over there. So now in the the middle of the field comes wide open and CJ starts making plays and Lloyd makes everybody's making plays in the middle of the football field. It's like they got a lot of weapons. I got a lot of weapons to the disposal,

and you know, that's that's that's one thing. If you don't know how to use them, it doesn't matter. And they're starting to really figure out what the quarterback and you know, Zach communication with the quarterback all on the same page of how to use those guys. Now it's gonna get scary. Eight catches two hundred and one yards for Jamar Chase, including an eighty two yard touchdown. I can't believe how good he is. I mean, chased by Marlon Humphrey today, one of the best defensive backs in

the NFL. It was no contest. I know. I talk to him a little bit in the locker room afterwards, Dan, and I'm like, you know, you know, are you surprised at this stage that you're putting up the numbers that you are And he goes, I'm surprised. I guess it's, you know, as easy as it seems to be. He goes, I know it's not that easy, but he said I'd heard Humphrey saying an interview this week that you know, it looks easy to him, you know, and it's it shouldn't be that way for a young guy like that.

But he is so fluid and so smooth, and when he talks about stuff like he was talking about his match up with Humphrey and how he was getting him just to slightly flip his hips and doing this and setting him up with that. I'm thinking, man, this guy is thinking, you know, just a handful of games into his career and he's already at that level in terms of not only physically going out in next but understanding why he's doing the things he's doing, you know what

I mean. Barrow was right. Barrow said, look, you know, you got to take this guy as special. I mean, he's he's like, he's the guy. And he was right on the money with this dude. He's he's incredible and they don't take him down one on one after the catch. We've seen it, Dan. I mean, he is stick from the waist down. This dude is a is a running back that has world class speed, you know, but he's

a wide receiver, you know. And the thing the thing about about him is, you know, how he can track a football running full tilt like we talked about in his head's not bobbing around and stuff, and I mean he's just so fluid and so still. He really is remarkable. He's a very unique, one of a kind kind of guy.

This becomes a big time how you can handle success story now because they take on a Jets team that has one win was not competitive against the Patriots on the road on Sunday, and he does have to go back on the road and show that they are not, you know, sniffing the roses after performance like they're winning Baltimore. That's true, and it was interesting. A lot of guys were like, you know, this, this is this is great, but we're moving on. You know, we got to do

it again and again and again. You know, we have to go one and all every week. I mean, they're they're all, they're all. The first step is to verbalize it, and then you verbalize it enough you start to understand it and believe it and uh and they're already in that process of like this is over with. But the thing that I was telling a lot of the guys in there, seeing them on the bus, on the plane, in the hotel lobby, they're they're not cocky, they're just

they believe. They just believe. I mean, it was like, we're coming here to take care of business, get a win, and go home. Nothing nothing more than that. Let's just go get it done. I mean, it's like it's really good to see it, really is. I mean, you certainly don't see anybody, you know, whistling in the cemetery or anything like that. You know, you see guy is out there that know that if they play well, they can beat anybody. I am going to give you a little

helpful advice as we wrap this up. And my advice is you're gonna have to screen your phone calls this week because every sports radio host in the country is gonna want to have Dave Lapplemant his show to talk about this five and two Bengals team. I don't know, Dan, I think we're gonna have to share the same screen. You're gonna You're gonna get hammered as well. There's no question about it. Them. That's a good a good thing, a good problem to have, isn't it? No questions? And

I'll say yes, five and two is fun. Five and two is our great time, great time for sure. The last time the Bengals won in Baltimore and in Pittsburgh in the same season was two thousand and fifteen, not coincidentally, the last time that Cincinnati went to the playoffs. Now time for this week's fun facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with Bengal safety Ricardo Allen from Daytona Beach, Florida city for the Daytona five hundred and also known

as the spring break Capital of the World. But I don't know anybody that has lived there. What was life like in Daytona Beach for you growing up? Oh? Life was? It was amazing. It was It's kind of like a you say, it's kind of like a big city, but it's it's kind of like small. A lot of people coming from vacation, and like you said, a lot of tourists coming down there all the time, so he was able to bump into people from all different, you know,

areas of the world, all different walks of life. But it was just really like a small town and I was able to just walk around and kind of experimentum within anything I want to. The beach side was always there, so I was able to always have that to occupy my time and stuff. And just a small town that I really enjoy. You attended Mainland High School, the alma mater of basketball star Vince Carter, who in two twenty retired after a record twenty two years in the NBA.

Like Vince, you had your uniform number retired at Mainland. What did that honor. Mean, that was a blessing because there's been so many very talented players come through my high school and for me to be next to, you know, Vince Carter as one of the players to come out of Mainland High School to you know, do something great for the community and just to get my my jersey retired.

In general, man, just to even be next to a guy like Vince Carter is just, uh something that I can never even you know, like dream of because I remember when I was little and he's to having football his basketball camp there. I never was able to go.

But just being able to like watch him and just watch the way he moved, it was something that I always like, uh dream of and it's kind of cool that, uh, like I'm a professional athlete like you know, he was at one point in time to we're doing fun factions with Cardo Allen. Because you're five to nine, the college football powerhouses in the state of Florida did not offer you a scholarship per due dead In fact, current Bengals defensive coordinator Louanna Ruma recruited you there was moving to

West Lafayette, Indiana and Io Penner. Yes, it was such a culture shock, but I think it was one of the best culture shocks that I think I've ever had in my life. And um, and then all it was there was corn Field and I'm coming from a sunny beach and just tons of things to do and when you go down to Purdue, it was it was. It was great for me at the time because it made

me single in my focus. I was able to just focus on football and myself and uh getting my grades right because coming from a you know, Florida education, with no disrespect, it's nothing like a Midwest education. So just being able to you know, try to up my game and you know, my education level, and also just you know, being on my own for the first time in my life,

it was it was it was so different. Um, if I would stay for my first eighteen years of my life, I never left a five or ten mile radius of Daytona Beach. So going to Purdue, going to West Lafia, Indiana, I'm leaving there to get on the plane with my first time ever getting on a plane. So it was it was, it was a change for me. And now I'm here and it's it's been good. You headed to the NFL before you had finished your degree, but you

eventually went back and earned it. Why. Um, it's just something that I want to be able to, you know, I can't be that parent at home. That's kind of like being tough of my babies and letting them know that, like everything that you start, you should finish, you know, even if you don't want to do it, even if it's in the middle of a season and you don't really want to finish it and you start playing sports or anything. Just anything we start in this family, we're

gonna finish. And it was important for me to later on if I want to be the one who's leading my my babies and leading my family and letting them know that they need a degree and they need to go out and do some you know, writ in this world, I want to be the one at least leading away. We're visiting with Ricardo Allen. The Atlanta Falcons drafted you in the fifth round. At the end of training camp your first year, they cut you and put you on the practice squad, and that in and of itself is

not unusual, but were case. The world saw it because it happened on hard knocks. Did that make it even tougher? Yeah, yeah, it was it was really tough because it's not like getting the door slammed in your face. It's not like hard enough already, it's like getting the door slammed in your face, and everybody in the world is like also watching it. And um, and I happened to be like one of those, uh, the characters in the show that

they follow until like the end. So I was one of the ones that everybody kind of was hoping to make the team and then it didn't happen. But it also I've been cut on hard knocks and I've also lost the super Bowl, you know. So, um, I've had really tough things happened to me. And so I'm not really afraid of, you know, being embarrassed. I'm not really afraid of, you know, really like what my current situation

may be, because it's not always like that. It's you know, if you just keep you know, grinding, and you just keep your head down and you you know, keep refining your goals and know what you stay into. You know, it's never about what the people are saying on the outside. The majority of the time is about like what you truly are doing, you know, behind the closed doors and trying to make the most of the opportunities and stuff.

So it was tough at that time, but it has built me to kind of like be calloused in a sense, to you know, the outside and like distractions in a sense. Bengals fans unfortunately know all about losing Super Bowls to greatest of all time type quarterbacks, in your case, Tom Brady, after he had a twenty five point lead in that game. I know that pain never goes away. But what do you remember finally about being on a team that made it.

It was a collective effort from everyone within the organizations, the players, the fans, just everybody was all in all year and it was it was a kind of detailed attention that you typically sometimes just get at the beginning of the season until let's say, five to ten games roll around in the records like so out that intensity that we had no matter the wins are the losses

that kind of like kept through the whole time. Everybody was making sure they were focusing on their diets, they were focusing on their bodies, how much sleep they were getting, Do they know they played? Are they playing as hard as they can? And you know, also what I remember about that team we called ourselves the misfits because it was a bunch of people that we see, they just picked us from all different parts of the world and put us together, and we kind of like just made

the most of it. Like we always said that, like we none of us supposed to be here, but we're gonna make the most of it every chance we get. So it was we just kind of took like to bring it on kind of attitude. All right, a few wildcard categories to wrap things up with Ricardo Allen. Ten years from now, are you an NFL head coach? Yes, I believe that. I write that down in my notebook actually right now. I refine it all the time, and

I write my goals down. I was listening to something and they said that you should have five one year goals, three year goals, and five ten year goals. And in my ten year goals, it is to be an NFL head coach and to be you know, one of the better ones at it too. So that's something that I'm always refining. I'm always working at it, even as a player. Right now, I'm I'm always studying, Zach. I'm studying um

Lou and a room. I'm studying when why and where you know they call it plays like why they like it? You know what type of team they're trying to build. Um, you know, just the smallest of details that I can while being on the inside. And I'm not the one who actually have pressured to put a team together. So I'm just studying as much as I can while playing football. And yeah, I know for sure, I know I'm gonna be a coach. For sure. I pray that at that

time i'm a head coach. I believe it's going to happen. As long as it's not Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, I will be rooting for your team. You are clearly good at a lot of things. What are you terrible at a lot of things. I'm not the best basketball, I'm terrible at golf. I needed for work on that. Yeah, I'm actually not a natural at anything in life. So if I haven't, like, I got like an assess of personality. So whatever I really like, I go all into it.

So that's why I haven't started golfing or anything, because I know if I get a set of golf clubs, I'm gonna be in my backyard tearing up the grass all the time. So It's like, right now, I'm just kind of trying to save it as as much as I can. So I'm bad at a lot of things right now, but I give a little better soon then later. That golf bug is bad, trust mean, it's cost me

a lot of time. Final thing for Ricardo Allen. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, religious figure, whoever it might be, who would that person be? Maybe jay Z? I really like jay Z just because he comes from kind of like a background like myself. You know, I come from the projects. Uh my mom when we first moved to Daytona, be Florida. I'm actually born in Louisiana, but when I was six months old, I moved to Daytona,

be Florida. So I always say that I'm born and raising uh Daytona, be Florida, because that's like my roots and stuff. But when we first got down in the Daytona Beach, my mom, single parent mom, started off in the projects. And during those times, it was a lot of families in the projects that ended up, you know, families maybe hooked on, like you know, bad things and um,

and they didn't make it out of there. So even so my mom just was able to get us to a better neighborhood and get us to a good school and stuff like that. Was she put us in the right direction. And you know, jay Z comes from the projects and now I think he's one of the most influential people in the world. You know, he's uh, you know, he kind of like as a maverick in the sense

of his own trailblazer. So you know, he he inspires me because you know, he's achieved some things that a lot of people don't even think it's like capable of a human being to achieve. So he is one of my guys. And probably warm Buffett two. I know those two Warm, but I like warm Buffett a lot too. So yeah, we'll give you two plenty of room at the table for that dream ludge, so to speak. This

has been great. It's awesome to have you on this team, and I look forward to rooting for the team that you're the head coach of as long as it's not the AFC North in the years to come. Thanks your time, Thank you appreciate you having me on. Here's an invitation to join lapping me on location for the Bengals Game Plan show. This Wednesday night from six to eight, we'll be at Logos on Blue Ash Road and we'll have

lots of giveaways during the commercial breaks. 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. M HM.