Bengals Booth Podcast: It's A Beautiful Morning

and coaches, add analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know one of many former Ohio State Buckeyes on the Bengals roster, cornerback Eli Apple. 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 po guests. It's the greatest thing since Jeff Ruby's generosity. Jeff Ruby is one of America's best restauranturs And if we're celebrating a special occasion in my family, there's a very strong chance that the precinct will be our destination. If you live in the Cincinnati area and haven't had the stake

borrow yet, shame on you. Jeff and his family not only run exceptional restaurants, but they are great members of the community, the latest example being the one hundred thousand dollar donation the Ruby family made to Western Kentucky tornado relief. This was not unusual. During the height of the pandemic, they donated fifty thousand dollars to restaurant worker relief, and every Thanksgiving they give free turkeys to first responders. So thank you to Jeff Ruby. I love your restaurants and

I appreciate your big heart. Now let's get to Sunday's game. When the Bengals got off to Team Bus in Denver, the following words were painted in giant letters outside of the visitors locker room elevation five thousand, two hundred eighty feet altitude. Sickness is real. You can't blame the Broncos for trying to put that thought into the Bengals heads. But thin air also has benefits when you have a

kicker like Evan McPherson. In the pregame warmups, He hit a sixty one yard field goal in one direction and a sixty two yarder in the other direction, so it was no big deal when the Bengals called on him from fifty three yards out on their second possession. Evan has been great from fifty plus. He's made seven of them this year, tied for the NFL lead. Snap was a little bit high, but handled by Huber. The kick

has enough distance and it is good. So money Mac delivers from fifty three and the Bengals are on the scoreboard first as they take a three nothing lead here in Denver. Here's McPherson on kicking aisle above sea levels. I've never kicked an altitude before, and so I was pretty I guess curious, you could say, and how much of a difference would actually making, you know, I'd say I noticed a pretty good difference, you know, on field

goals and kickoffs. Ball is flying kind of both ways into the wind, and definitely would the wind it was flying, and so I was excited, honestly for this game to kind of come up here and you know, try kicking an altitude. Those are the only points in the first quarter. Is the two teams had as many punts as first downs.

In the second quarter, Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater through a short pass the tight end Noah Fat that he turned into a twenty eight yard game that led to a fifty four yard field goal by Brandon McManus that tied the score at three. The Bengals failed to get a first down on their next two drives in late behalf. It looked like the Broncos would take the lead when McManus lined up for a fifty one yard field goal attempt with fourteen second tremaining. He's already made a fifty

four yarder in this game. The snap, the putdown, and the kick. It's on its way and it is wide right. He missed it wide right. Bengals dodge a bullet as McManus fails from fifty one. There were only nine seconds left and a half, but the Bengals were not content to run out the clock from their own forty one yard line. Here's Joe Burrow. No. I knew we were gonna be aggressive. I knew we weren't just gonna take

a knee. We were close field goal ranging. With the kicker that we have, you have to take a chance there with the Broncos secondary playing way down field to prevent a hail. Mary Burrow through a nineteen yard strike over the middle to Tyler Boyd, who immediately went to the ground, allowing the Bengals to call the time out with four seconds left. That set up a fifty eight yard attempt for McPherson. The franchise record for longest field goal was fifty seven yards, shared by Randy Bullock in

a regular season game and Mike Nugent in a playoff game. McPherson, trying to give the Bengals the lead and set a team record in the process, s Cark Harris will snap it back. Hubert is ready as he looks back at mcfierson turns his head toward Harris, catches the snap to kick, is on its way. It appears to have the distance. It is good. Franchise record fifty eight yard field goal,

Evan McPherson, giving the Bengals a six three lead. After the game, I asked Evan the following question when the Broncos lined up for their field goal attempt with fourteen seconds left, was the possibility that you might get a chance to kick one before the end of the half, even on your mind. It's in the back of my mind. But you know, honestly, at the at the time, I had to, I had to be really bad, and so I would say, um, you know it's I'm not gonna

say I want him to make the field goal. You know, I want our defense get a good stop. But I was ready to go in the going at halftime, use the bathroom, come back out. Thankfully, Evan can wait. Prior to this year, no Bengals kicker had made more than four fifty plus field goals in a season. Mc pherson has made nine of them in ten attempts. Here's Zach Taylor. He's a weapon. That's the best way to put it. You know, he's a weapon. My son asked for his

jersey for Christmas, if that tells you anything. So you know, that's usually a pretty good indicator that we like our kicker. When yet yet eleven year old boys asking for their jersey. So just proud of the consistency he's brought to us. I certainly hope Zach's son gets his wish. The Bengals first drive of the second half was their longest drive of the day. P Ryan is the running back. Burrow hands it to Somage breaks into the secondary. He's at the twenty, down to the fifteen and tackled at the

Denver thirteen yard line. The Bengals drove seventy two yards out eleven plays before stalling at the Broncos eight. This time, Evan Almighty kicked a short field goal to give Cincinnati a nine three lead to that point, been a tough day for Teddy Bridgewater, and it became a frightening one on the Broncos next possession when Teddy landed on his head while diving for a first down and had to be immobilized and taken off the field on a cart. The Broncos quarterback was taken to the hospital to be

evaluated and thankfully had movement in all extremities. Bridgewater was replaced by Denver's starting quarterback from last season, Drew Locke, and his second throw gave Denver its first lead. Locke will drop back to throw looking left, throwing deep left, good coverage, but it's caught for a touchdown. Patrick just abused the Bengals defender and coverage. I believe that was Wayne's There's a penalty flag in the end zone. Could

it possibly be offensive interference? No such luck. It was taunting on Tim Patrick after his twenty five yard touchdown catch to put Denver on top ten nine. The penalty was assessed on the kickoff, helping the Bengals art from their own thirty two yard line. Their first play was a twelve yard run by Joe Mixon and after it they rushed to the line quickly. Bengals don't huddle. They snap it to Burrow, throw us down field for a

wide up. Boyd catch us at the thirty great jump cut back towards the middle of the field of the ten the five touchdown. Bengals a fifty six yard answer Joe Burrow to Tyler Boyd and the Bengals are back in front. In just two plays, the Bengals were back in the lead. Here's Burrow. Yeah. I mean, that's a great call by Zach. No. That's a play that we've wrapped in practice all week, and you know, really credit

to him. You know, he saw, he saw what they were doing to us when we got on the ball and kind of hurried up and so we got to that play and that's a that's credit to Zach. Great call. A two point conversion attempt failed and the Bengals took a fifteen to ten lead to the fourth quarter, but with Lock in the game at quarterback, the Broncos started moving the ball and drove inside the Cincinnati ten Gordon

out Williams in second goal from the nine. Ten minutes forty seven seconds left Cincinnati clinging to a five point lead. Now Fant goes in motion out to the right. Lock faked to hand drop and ran the balls take it away, called Kareem. Lifted out of his hands, called Kareem. Running down field to the thirty the thirty five, The ball gets knocked out of his hands. Denver recovers at the forty two yard line. Unbelievable, recovered by Garrett Bulls, the

left tackle. All right, My question is was he down? Was he touched when he was down? Not exactly but close. After reviewing the play, the officials ruled that Kareem briefly went to the ground after forcing the fumble because of contact initiated by Denver's quarterback, so the run back and his subsequent fumble were nullified. Here's Zach Taylor on a possible game saving play by kalled Kareem. Oh, yes, you

know it's game ballworthy. No. Question about that, but you know, fifteen to ten, they're driving there on that situation, and you know, a touchdown puts us in a tough spot. So really big play by him to step up and take that ball away on a fumble or an interception or whatever they're gonna call that, but really tremendous effer

by him. After the team's traded punts, the Bengals got the ball back with slightly less than four minutes to go and made a huge play that forced the Broncos to burn their time outs three twenty eight left in the game. It's third and ten Cincinnati, the Bengals at their own twenty two, leading by five. Burrow drops back to throw, steps up in the pocket, Brows caught up in the middle for a first down by Tyler Boyd. Want a clutch throw by Joe Burrow, and Boyd reels

it in for a fifteen yard gain. On third down and ten, Patrick's certain with a stop, yes and the veteran working against the rookie, and the veteran wins the battle. Boyd finished with five catches for ninety six yards, more than sixty percent of burrows one hundred and fifty seven passing yards in the game. You know, I knew, I knew one of my game was gonna come like this.

You know, I gotta sit back and be patient. You know, I'm a leader, and whatever they want me to do, that's what I'm gonna do, no matter how the game go for me, you know, because I'm at this point, I'm all about winning. And we got so much firepower in the offense that I mean, once we got one guy going, that's that's what we're gonna continue to feat you know. And just just whenever our name was called, we we make plays every game and game out, you know.

So it was a long time coming. With two minutes left, Zach Taylor faced a big decision on third and eight. Let Burrow throw, knowing that an incomplete pass would stop the clock, or run the ball to eat up time. Knowing that a first down was unlikely, he elected to run the ball and trust his defense, and that decision paid off. Final play of the game, Lock throws it deep down field, throws it out a bounds four seconds

on the clock. The Bengals will take over on downs and they are going to win the game here in Denver. That is coffin nails bam, bam, bam, And I'll tell you what it took the entire football game. This was a slobber knocker. Now, this was a defensive battle. Both football teams gave everything that they've got. They all left every bit of energy that they have out on the

football field here at Mile High. The Bengals only had two hundred forty nine yards of offense and went four for thirteen on third down, but they didn't commit a turnover and got out of Denver with a fifteen to ten win. Here are Joe Burrow and Larry Ogan JOEBI. It's like that sometimes not every game is going to be thrown for three touchdown passes and three hundred yards and and all that. They're really really good defense that

has invested a lot in their secondary and linebackers. They're very well coached and you got to give them credit. But you know, I was proud of our guys that we made the plays when when they counted no critical third downs down the stretch. UM exciting win. UM. Like I said before, this is a very unselfish team. I mean, there's a lot of guys who just work hard. It's come to work every day and you know, want to win and want to play together. And it doesn't matter

who gets this line light, who gets the spotlight. He's just guys coming in and every inn and every day, um just trying to make plays and find a way to make the team win. So it's really exciting to be a part of something special. We're trying to build something here, something that hasn't been done in a while, and we're just moving forward, staying focus. After the game, Dave Lapham spent three and a half minutes with Zach Taylor.

That was some physical football out there, Coach, you are beating up in the secondary, beating up in the offensive line. I mean, a lot of players stepped up for you today. They did. We're using our full roster har right now, you know, and but we've got faith and every guy on this team, practice squad, active roster. Uh. No moment has been too big for these guys. The coaches have done a heck of a job getting these guys ready to where we don't have to cover up any of

these guys playing. You know, they're just going out there doing what the starters have done and making all the place for us at the end of the football game, No hesitation whatsoever. It's like this deep our defense is going to win this football game for us. You know, they'll they'll be able to hang, tighten, and then hold hold Denver at the end of the football game. I mean, did you even think about throwing it on third and eight? No, not really. You know, it's it's it's their job to

step up like they had all game. And I felt like they'd done a great job control in the game, and and we had full faith that they were going to be able to tee off, get pressure on the quarterback and make the place we needed to. So the fifty whatever y'ard touchdown passed to Tyler Boyd. That was such a thing of beauty. I was trying to when

I saw it live. I saw the cut block. I mean, I can't I couldn't tell if it was CJ or who it was that they had the great cut block that kind of sprung Joe where he bought a little bit more time and then threw it to Tyler Boyd and Tyler, you know, took off for the fifty plush yard touchdown. Do you know who that was that through that cut block? It was it CJ. Drew. It was CJ. CJ camer crowd. They can both do it. Drew. We've asked Drew to do that against Claiss Campbell. You know,

it's similar deal. But CJ. Camer Cross got him on the ground. Joe did a good job pushing up in the pocket, and TB was patient to I'm anxious to see if he slipped behind those linebackers, what the safety did, because they were in some three week there. But it played out like we hoped it would. Coach this defensive football team, they make you earn everything. They don't give anything to you. They don't make any mistakes. I mean

to watch him, it's like, oh, they're so sound. Got so much respect for them, you know, because they've they've not only got really high end talent, character, but a really good coaching staff. And and we knew it was gonna be a dogfight. We knew it. It doesn't shot me. If you told me, hey, this might be six to three at half time, it might be fifteen to ten at the end of the game. I would have understood that.

And I thought our guys did a great job playing with pois or defense and special teams did a great job control in the game. To allow the offense to play how we needed to play, and you get to win, and you get win that way. Joe Burrow his pocket manipulation. I mean he was Houdini the way he escaped some things. And a couple of big runs on third down. Third down was tough sledding third down. Red zones always tough

with these guys. But Joe made a couple of plays with feed on third down on top of the pass, and he made to Tyler Boyd, what does that do when you have a quarterback that can create like Joe does. Oh, it takes a win out of them. You know. That's what great quarterbacks do in December and in January. They step up and they make the plays when when there's maybe not a play to be made. And that's what

Joe did for us a couple of times there. So the Baltimore Ravens go for two again, they're unsuccessful and they lose the football game. So now as you're flying home from Denver, you're at first place. You got the tiebreaker against the Ravens, the same record, but you guys beat them in Baltimore. So this football team has done such a great job that you with your leadership of compartmentalizing after it didn't go well and compartmentalizing after it

did go well. Yeah, it's good to be where we're at. We put ourselves in a really good position by doing some really good things this year. But everything is still in front of us and first place really doesn't matter at the moment because we still got a couple of divisional games left. But it starts with Baltimore. This is a big home game. We need our fans to be laud and proud and cheer us on because this is a monster of a game in the Sunday Coach, appreciate

your time as always. Big win. Congratulations, that's flight home. Won't take us long now. Yeah, it'll feel good. Thanks. At the moment, the Bengals are the number four playoff seed in the AFC. If Cleveland wins on Monday, there would be a three way tie for first in the AFC North, with the Steelers just a half game back. The Broncos faced the Raiders tonight and have a road game in Green Bay on Saturday. The Steelers head to

Kansas City next Sunday. 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, autograph merchandise, and money can buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham lap I will use one of your terms. That was a slobber knocker.

Two defensive teams throwing a makers and the Bengals made just enough plays to get out of here with a win. I'm telling you it was like Survival of the fitish, you know, and uh, they're they're tired. I mean that was that was a very all of them kept saying. It was a physical football game. That's a good football team, you know. It was. It was a game, damn where both teams had to earn everything. You know, neither team really gave gave the game away other than you know,

a turnover here and there that end up being huge. Um. But for the most part, it was like, man, no, not a bunch of explosive plays. It was just I think it was something that defense or coaches at any level can throw tape on and say, this is how you play defense. You know, everybody does what they're supposed to do, how they're supposed to do it, be there, be where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to

be there, and man, it was, it was. It was well earned, to say the least, fifteen tackles for Jermaine Pratt. I know, that's a guy you respect because he doesn't say much, but it does a lot of homework to be mentally ready for the game. And obviously he was

physically ready for the game as well. He was. I mean, that's that's one that was definitely tired in the locker room after the game, and I saw him a couple of times out in the football field, you know, taking extra deep breath trying to you know, get get the oxygen that he needed to get. And everybody talked to about how impressed they were with you know, Trey Wayne stepping up and Fred Johnson stepping up and Carmen Jackson, Carmen stepping up and doing things when they needed him

to be done. Obviously, this aesthetically wasn't a pretty football game, but the outcomes beautiful. Well, how about the offensive line, because as you mentioned, Fred Johnson went the distance at right tackle. That's your third stringer right tackle. Jackson Carmen played most of the game at right guard. He's a backup now. He started earlier this year. I thought the protection was actually pretty good. Now Joe Burrow had to scramble a lot because it was hard for guys to

get open against that great secondary. Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, even even when he scrambled, they plastered and they weren't given an inch. I mean, that group, those guys are so on the same page. And Jesse Bates made a point about how when I talked to him about how everybody, not just starters, everybody goes and watches that extra Tuesday tape, he said, we haven't have backup quarterback in there with us talking about concepts and just

football in general. So I thought, you know, I think that that's starting to show by their play on the football field. And you know that the Denver defensive football team, they spend a lot of time together, you know, study and tape together and communicating making sure that everybody's on the same page. I can't tell you how hard it is.

I asked, you know, both Fred, and I asked Fred basically, what was it like communicating in that crowd noise down the stretch when you and Jackson haven't played a whole lot of snaps side by side, and he's like, yeah, we just you know, don't worry about it. Let's make sure we're trying to make sure we're on the same page as much we are, but let's just make sure we just go play football and don't let it bother us. And I was impressed with there were no early movements,

no you know, pre snaps, stupid penalties that way. I thought guys handled all that part of it pretty darn well. It's just they were playing against a pretty good defensive football team. Le Broncos took Jamar Chase away. He had very little impact today. Tee Higgins saw his streaks snapped of one hundred yard games at three, So who steps up?

Tyler Boyd five catches ninety six yards, including the game winning fifty six yard touchdown and two other catches that were huge, the one that set up the field goal just before the half and then the fifteen yard are on third and ten late in the game. Yeah, he was talking about how you know he read coverage before you know, saw a man coverage and knew what he had to do. And Tyler Boyd's a guy that just patient, you know. I mean, he's just so professional about everything,

and he knows his time is going to come. You know, it might not come every game, but he knows that there's going to be a point in time where he has to step up and make a play to help football team win the game, and he's gonna be there. I mean, that guy is about as dependable and reliable and tough and accountable, I mean, every good quality that you have to have to be a successful player in the National Football League, Tyler Boyd has him. I mean, he's one of those guys. He's got total and utmost

respect of all of his teammates. Every single guy just really thinks Tyler Boyd is special and every every way you can be special. The Bengals don't win this game if Duke Tobin does not go against the draft gurus and select a kicker. People say, don't draft a kicker. You can always find a kicker as an undrafted free agent. They spent a fifth round pick and it worked out big time. Yeah. I asked him after the game, what would it be like if you kicked in Denver every week,

and he just started laughing. He said, I did notice the air was a little less resistance there. And you know, he talks about hitting the two sixty yarders going in each direction in the warm up part of it, and he said that he didn't hit the fifty eight yarder or the fifty three yarder as well as he can hit him. And he said, but they still, you know, ended up working out okay. But and then you know, I said, I don't want to short you that thirty one yarder. That was big two in a five point game,

you have nine points. I mean, all those field goals are uber important, you know. And look at the fact that he pushed one. He pushed one from fifty one yards. That's you guys are making fifty plush yarders like you know, it's a day at the beach. And he missed one. So that's always that's big in a game like this, even in a game where the other team's secondary was outstanding.

Joe Burrow is fifteen for twenty two, one hundred and fifty seven yards, one touchdown, no picks pass, the rating of one h three point six and after the game not like high on life at all. Over the fact that they've climbed into a tie for first place. It's hey, we got bigger fish to fry. He is all business all the time, and I thought two of the bigger plays he made were with his feet on third down for him to manipulate the pocket like he did and

try to work that opening. I mean, you take your eyes from coverage and then you have to bring them down to what the front four is doing and try to anticipate who's going to move where and how. That's not easy to do, and he processes that stuff so fast. I mean, he's a he's a very very unique player. There was no question about it. There's nothing about football

that that dude does not understand. We don't know how this is going to time turn out, but we do though that with three games left, they're tied for first and the final few weeks of the season just got a lot more fun. And there's no doubt. I mean, they're they're already talking about you know, all year long. We've done a pretty good job of you know, not celebrating too long, put it aside and you know, drowning in our sorrows too long. If it didn't go well,

put it aside. I have full confidence that they're going to handle this week right and they'll be ready to go against the Baltimore Ravens. That now is going to be another slopper knock or extraordinaire. How about the Ravens going for two instead of kicking the extra point to go to overtime for the second time. I'm in three weeks and failing both times. I think Harbaugh said, analytics, Well, we won't over for one, can't go over two. We're not gonna go over to over two. Analytics be damned.

All right, this was fun. Can't wait till next Sunday. I'm already fired up for next Sunday. No, I know this, Uh, this will be these two division games out of these last three. And you know, I mean, Kansa City Chiefs, come on this, this is gonna be. It is gonna be nuts at Paul Brown Stadium, and if it comes down to it, it'll be nuts up at the Mistake on the Lake in that last week of the season

as well. But I mean, this is why you play the game, to have significant, meaningful football games in the month of December and into January. More on Sundays when joined Lap and Lance McCalister for Bengals Line Monday Night from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this week's fun Facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. Have for some fun facts with Eli Apple from Vorhees, New Jersey, near Philadelphia.

In fact, it's where the Philadelphia Flyers practice. Eli, you're a great athlete. Were you the fastest kid in the neighborhood growing up? Yeah? I was. And were you good at pretty much everything that you did sports wise? Yeah, I mean proud of my cell phone being good on all the sports. So I had two older brothers that played basketball, football with so I try to just do my best keep bob with them. There's a great pricture of you on the internet. I think you're in seventh grade.

You're about twelve years old. You're posing with Ohio States former head coach Jim Tressell. I think from an Ohio State football camp. It was, but it wasn't. It was. I got out there early in my mom, dad, my brother who snuck out on set of the stadium just to like look at just no, no, just the stadium, look look around. I guess Coach Tressell was there and we saw him and we just want to say hi. It wasn't suppose too, but ended up getting a little

picture in the stairs a little kitty lady. She was old. She kind of tried to tell us to leave, something like how did you get in and stuff. She was like questioning us, and Coach Strussell was just really cool. Ended up taking a picture anyway, and then I took another picture of him later a couple of days after during the camp. We're doing fun facts with Eli Apple. You were one of the top recruits in the country. Did you enjoy it or did you find it to

be stressful? I enjoyed my high school career and the whole process of going through considering what colleges I wanted to go to. I already knew how the state was on one. So you spent three years at Ohio State. You played a big role in the national championship team in twenty fourteen. What did you enjoy most about your

Ohio State experiences? Winning being a part of just history, being the first college football Playoff champion when nobody expected us to come back from our early season first home loss to Virginia Tech. So just that season, and dude, in the relationships I built throughout that whole song. Your defensive backs coach at Ohio State was Carrie Combs, who's a legendary figure in the Cincinnati area because of his incredible run as the head coach at Coleraine High School.

Can you describe your relationship with him because he has often tweeted things and written things praising you. Oh, yeah, it was tough. It was a tough relationship. When I first got there, he was really hard on me and then ended up becoming like a just a second dad, you know, really somebody that cares about his players and he puts his all into just coaching and just being able to connect with his guys. So we still talk a little bit today. What is your favorite Ohio State

football tradition? Probably just the best fridays, you know, getting a good meal from the little golf golf spot. I don't remember that. Jack Nicholas, Yeah, Jack Nicholas, and then just the whole routine that we have just getting our bodies right and massage. It is just the whole day. It's pretty cool. So you were the tenth pick in the draft by the New York Giant. It was Apple to the Big Apple. Describe your draft experience. That was crazy. It was something that was unexpected. I didn't know I

was going to go to the Giants. I didn't really have any prior talks with them at all. Maybe met with them maybe once or something. But yeah, it was. It was exciting though being from Vorhese, New Jersey or close to a major city. So I'm guessing playing in the Big Apple wasn't a huge culture shock for you. But what was the best part about playing for the New York Giants. I mean, it was, it was great.

It was just probably just you know, being in NFL that was the best part, Just that whole experience, just going through my rookie year, learning so much, and of course just being close to home as well. But I'll just say learning, learning throughout the whole year and the ups and downs and everything. But we pretty happy. We had a pretty good year and made the playoffs and stuff.

But just that whole year it was pretty cool. After that, you played for the New Orleans Saints and made it to an NFC Championship game that, unfortunately for the Saints, included a controversial call, or the lack of a call, A pass interference against the Rams that might have put you guys in the Super Bowl. Is that still difficult to stomach several years later? Oh yeah, of course, stuff

like that you don't forget about. But that's why you work hard to continue to give yourself those opportunities to put yourself in that position to you know, make it to the super Bowl and be able to win it. You seem very comfortable here. Is Cincinnati a good fit? I believe so. I think the coaches in the way my playing style is. I think we starting to learn each other, and just the guys around me as well, just a lot of young guys and guys in the background.

I feel like we all communicate well. We just got to consider to strive to get better. What's the feeling like after a game when a coach tosses you a game ball? Oh, it's just a great feeling, just to know that you've done well enough to help the team win. So that's us all it is, and just want to continue to get better and get more. All right. A few wild card topics with Bengals to fensive back Elie Apple. Who is your favorite athlete of all time in any

sport and why that's uh salid of gray athletes. I'll probably say Kobe Bryant, just the mentality he brought to the game, and just the will and hard working dedic kitchen took every day into his craft. And um, I don't know, I'll probably say him, do you feel like you have the mamba mentality? I try to, you know, regardless by any means. I'm trying to do whatever I can make place for the team. Do you have any hidden talents? I'm a good juggler? Really? How many objects? Probably?

Just three? Yeah? Three or four tops? Is there anything you are terrible at? Probably? Man? Yeah, don't need it much in your current profession. Yeah, this a little bit. Contracts, contracts, that's right. What do you like to splur John my bags? Clothes of course, hoodies, shoes, video games, cars, stuff like that. Do you have a dream purchase that you have not made yet? I guess give my first house. I haven't got myself a house yet, so I want to do that.

If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, religious figure, whoever that might be, Who would that person be? It's probably Malcolm X. I'll probably want to meet him. If we're talking that on a live or a love. Yeah, have you studied him? Have you read the autobiography? What's you're the state of your knowledge about Malcolm X? Yeah? I did. I read the autogobiography earlier this year and

I had to read it twice. It was really good and just a big I don't know, he just his life is just what he went through from when he was a criminal before he got arrested, and then after he got arrested becoming a Muslim and throughout his whole life is just just a cospiracies of how he ended up, you know, unfortunately passing away and dying and get him assassinated. There's a whole journey to just see that throughout the book. And I don't know. It was really well out circulated

and definitely a good read. All right, suggests everybody read it, highly recommended. Last thing, what's your favorite thing about the NFL life? Proving yourself, proving that you're you're good enough, and proving that as a team that we made the necessary improvements throughout the week to you know, prove ourselves and you know, see what challenges awaits throughout on Sunday. But I'll just say just coming together as a team and figuring out wasted win. You're off the hot seat.

I appreciate your time, best of luck the rest of the year. Appreciate that that's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded down from the App Store and Google Play. And 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 that helps more Bengals

fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.