Bengals Booth Podcast: Keep On Moving

and coaches, and in depth analysis from Dave Lappel. And in this week's fun Facts segment, you'll get to know the person under the pads as I go one on one with rookie offensive lineman Hakim Adenagy. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, 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 iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or

pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since understanding bosses and co workers for the first time since being hired. Is the Bengals play by play announcer In twenty eleven, I missed a game. I am currently quarantining at home due to contact tracing, and while I have not tested positive and feel great, I'm not in the clear yet and obviously don't want to risk spreading the virus. So thank you to the Brown family and my co workers for their understanding, and kudos to Mike Watts, who did a

terrific job in my place. Now let's get to Sunday's game. The worst kept secret of the week was that the Bengals starting quarterback would be Brandon Allen and not Ryan Finley. The former Arkansas star has been on the practice squad all season, but prepared for the possibility that he could be thrown in there at a moment's notice. I think you always have to have that onset, you know whether you're the second string or the third sharing. I think you have to go in meeting every week and know

that you're one play away, regardless of the position. So that's how I've always prepared, whether I was on freshwater or not. So I think that that's the only way, the only mindset to have in the backup position rule. But it took a while for Alan to even get into the game. First, the Giants took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field to score a fifty three yard pass to tight end Evan Ingram, who beat Von Bell on the play put the Giants inside the

five yard line. Good Jones sneak from here and Steady hands off again, this time going airborne Golman into the end zone for a Giant touchdown. Wayne Gallman's one yard run made it seven nothing, but that lead only lasted for eleven seconds. Brandon Wilson from a couple yards deep in the end zone, he will take this out, his nineteenth return of the year, and he's put it right between the hatch, put it he chokes in. It's three minute. It's Wilson going all the way inside the Tenny won't

be caught. Touchdown Cincinnati. That one hundred three yard kickoff return by Brandon Wilson is a new Bengals record, topping the one hundred two yard return that Eric Bienimy had in nineteen ninety seven, also against the Giants. It's Wilson's second kickoff return touchdown and that ties the franchise mark held by Tremaine Mack. It tied the game at seven, and Josh bind says it gave the Bengals a huge lift. I think it just gave some juice to the team.

Oh my gosh. I think it propelled everything for us. And Brandon just a heck of a player. I love him, and he just a great player, return man, gunn er, whatever you wanted to do on special teams, and he's just done an awesome job. And that play right there was definitely something we talked about all week, and we

know Brandon's capable of it. I was on the other end of it last year when I was in Baltimore and he housed on when I was there last year, and just to see him do it again because you know he has great capabilities and great speed obviously because you see nobody caught him. It was just so amazing. Let's face it, for the Bengals to win behind a backup quarterback, they were probably going to need big plays on special teams and defense. Wilson came through in the

first quarter and Bell delivered in the second. It's a fake handoff from Jones, fires into the zone and completes at the fifteen, and that ball came lows. It's recovered here by Vaughan Bell. Bell cutting back inside the numbers at the forties and from behind brought down at the forty five. They're marking it. Nope, they're not. They're saying it's a fumble. He's not spotting the ball. That's a fumble.

It gave the Bengals the ball near midfield, and after a couple of first downs by the offense, the Bengals took the lead. If it's a forty four yard field goal off the left, hash Huber gets the snap, it's a good one. This is away from Bullock and he nailed it right down the middle. That made a ten seven Bengals. But that was it for the offense in the first half, and since Natty managed just sixty six yards, a Graham Gadot field goal with twenty one seconds left

and a half tied the game at ten. Here's Zach Taylor on his team struggles on offense. Yeah, we never found our rhythm, you know, and again our first down efficiencies really where it got us. We were in a lot of second eight, second nine, second ten, it felt like, and that's not a girt risky against that defense. The Bengals ran nineteen first down plays for a total of fifty nine yards. That's three point one yards per first down play. Twelve of those nineteen plays went for two

yards or less, and yet they were in it. The Giants took a three point lead on their first drive of the third quarter, but lost quarterback Daniel Jones on

the drive due to an injured hamstring. Thirty four year old backup Colt McCoy doesn't exactly strike fear into the opposition, but rather than move the ball, the Bengals started coughing it up under forty seconds to go in the third quarter, dropping the throw in this gun over the middle and a gam popped up and is this time intercepted by the Giants diving effort at the forty and yes it was. It's picked off by New York Niko Lalos with a

diving I N T in his NFL debut. It led to a fuel goal in a sixteen ten New York lead. Down by six with less than five minutes to go, the Bengals turned it over again four twenty four to go, running clock fourth quarter, Bengals down six, with the ball second and three from their own twenty one, Brandon Allen throws short and Sample loses the football and Logan Ryan pops on top of it, and it has a fumble at the nineteen that led to another field goal that

made it nineteen ten. The Bengals were down but not out as they put together their first touchdown drive of the day. Off motion, fakes the handoff, looking left, does an epernard, trailing away throws into the end zone, caught touchsdown T Higgins one yard touchdown pass made at nineteen

seventeen with two and a half minutes to go. The defense got a three and out, forcing the Giants to punt from deep in their own territory, and it's driven high, spiraling and long trailing all the way back to the twenty three yard line, picked up by Ericsson across the thirty stutters outside the thirty five. He's got a Bok forty in fo He's wrapped up at the ankles at

the fifty yard line. He was nearly gone still. That twenty nine yard return by Alex Rickson gave the Bengals the ball at the fifty with roughly a minute to go, needing one first down to give Randy Bullock a shot at a game winning field goal. Try fifty seven six to go, first and ten from midfield Allan, with Bernard on his right, takes the snap clean pocket and now he's under pressure. He lost the football still lose him recovered by the Giants at the thirty seven yard line.

The fumble was forced by Jabaal Sheard, even though the ben those chipped him with a tight end on the play. He got by Drew Sample and then Jonah Williams to force the fumble that basically ended the game. Here's Brandon Allen. I knew we only needed about fifteen yards to get with him field goal range. Had a little miscommunication with me and TV. You know, I was expecting one thing and he read a different way, and obviously I kind

of got stuck on him. And then from there, I just gotta do a better job to take care of the ball. Was trying to scramble and make a play, but you know, in that situation, investing just trying to get forward as far as I could. Allan finished seventeen for twenty nine for one hundred and thirty six yards with one touchdown, one interception, and the fumble. Here's how he and Zach Taylor evaluated the quarterback Cincinnati debut. I'm my own worst critics, so There's gonna be a lot

of things that I think I can do better. Obviously the interception, putting a better ball placement where it's only he can get a hand on it. And then obviously the last play of the fumble was what cost us the game. So um, there's definitely gonna be a lot of things that I'll that I'll find on tape and things I can get better at, whether that's a read to throw or what. But I'll definitely get better from this. I thought he did enough, you know, for us, and

the guys around him gonna step up. Two. Now, you know, we had we had several drops, holding penalties when we would get a completion, and you know, we only had three possessions there in the first half, it felt like we hardly ever had the ball, and then the second half just never found a rhythm. But um, again, when we would get something positive, it seemed like something on

the same play sent us back the other way. You know, whether it was the there was there was three drops, there was two holding penalties, there was a fumble on a positive play, and you know it that'll hurt us. New York's nineteen seventeen win puts the Giants in first place in the NFC East with a four and seven record. They take a tiebreaker with Washington by winning their two meetings this year. The Bengals are two eight and one and playing for pride. Here are Josh Bndes and Zach Taylor.

Everybody got to do their job and their role, That's pretty much what I'm saying, and execute at a higher level and not keep shooting ourselves in the foot making big mistakes and no big mistakes turned into big plays. And it just and it hurts us and we you know, and we sit on this other side of the of an l and it just sucks each and every week because you know, guys are giving all the effort and studying their behinds off and we just follow one one

place short. You're down nineteen to ten in the fourth quarter, and role, your offense hasn't done anything the entire game. But but everybody just kept kept grinding and trying to make plays that they were capable of making. And then you look at it. The defense got a huge stop. You know, offense goes down and score seven points. Defense gets a monster stop there on the backed up situation. Point return team gets a huge point return and put your offense in the position to go win the game,

and it just didn't work out that way. But that tells you everything you need to know about these these players in this locker room and everything that I see every day and know, and um, they're playing hard for each other and it's going to turn for us at some point, you know. That's why I told him. It's frustrating, your sick, your stomach, so it's not fun to lose.

But we know that this tide is going to turn for us, and we're gonna look back on this and this is a necessary part of our growth, but we need to get some wins to show for all the work that we're putting in, because it's makes it tough when you finish games like this. Since the start of last year, the Bengals are one thirteen and one in games decided by one score. Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. The Bengals have followed

the formula pretty closely. They got his special team score. The defense played well, but the offense simply didn't do enough to get over the top against the Giants. Yeah, that saysn't in a nuts y'all, Dan, no question. I mean Brandon Wilson hunting three yard kickoff return, you get an unscripted, unscheduled score that way. I mean, that's just what the doctor ordered. Defense gets to take away. You get three points off of that. Offense takes advantage of it.

And then Kevin Huber was unbelievable. I mean, you have forty six forty seven yards a punt maybe more three or four times, pinned them down not only inside the twenty, inside the ten yard line. I think it was the eleven yard line once and the ten yard line a couple of three times. I mean he was incredible putting them on long field, So all of that was part of the formula. Put them on long field, try to

get some short fields, get an unscripted score. But offensively, way too many three and outs and no no rhythm, no no timing. Everything was definitely hit or miss offensively. What'd you think of Brandon Allen? I think that he did everything he could. I don't think the support system was there Offensively, no running game. I don't care who the quarterback is. When the longest run I think was

the fake punt. You know that was another play Darren Simmons crew came up with that was a critical extension, you know, of a series with the fake punt. Keep the offense on the football field. Now, can you throw interceptions and have fumbles in those kind of things and all? You'd like to have ball security in that regard. And I'm sure he's going to be his own worst critic, but boy, there wasn't any running games, so they were teeing off in that front four. They're big, powerful, They

pushed the pocket rushers. They'll twist and stunt. They don't necessarily have to blitz. They rushed four and they played very deep zone coverages instead. You're not throwing the ball over our head. We're keeping everything in front of us. You're gonna have to beat us with short, intermediate throws and you're gonna have to do it a lot. You're gonna have to go on long, extended drives, and we don't think you can do it. And that was their

game plan and they ended up being right. Last week against Washington, the Bengals had two hundred and forty seven yards of offense in the first half after Joe Burrow went out eighteen plays seventeen yards. This week, forty six plays one hundred and fifty five yards. That's one hundred and seventy two yards basically in six quarters, an average of two point seven yards per play. It shows you just how value well Joe Burrow is to this offense.

There's no doubt. I mean, he's a dynamic football player, and honestly, everything was tilted toward him getting ready to do those things. So any quarterback that was on the roster was not getting a whole lot of snaps, a whole lot of reps, and it showed. And Ryan Finlay went in there, and I think, you know, Brandon Allen will be better next week than he was this week. I'm not sure that he's playing a pretty damn good defense, though the Miami Dolphins have a pretty good squad as well.

They win games with special teams and defensive excellence. So the Bengals are going down there to Miami to face the same type of thing. So that's life in the National Football League. And yeah, I mean, Joe Burrow is really really special in terms of the way he sees the football field, makes quick decisions and moves his football team. And it was very evident that they're lacking without him under center or in the shotgun formation. I hate to pay an overly a row the picture after a game

like that. Did the fight show you something? It did? You know? I think that it's it's awful easy to just coast the game out, you know, and not you know it's over, and you know and this and here's another one. You know, this one, this one's out out of reach, particularly when they kicked the field goal and

they went up two scores. But they finally put together a drive, big big pass interference penalty and the touchdown passed to t Higgins and and then you know the fact that instead of the onside kick, they decided to kick it deep and play defense and it worked out and they get a good return. Alex Erickson does a good job. There's another special teams play. I mean, Darren Simmons'

group did everything they possibly could. It was by far, in my estimation, by far, the best special team's performance of the season. And it couldn't have come at a more necessary time to have that type of performance. And I thought that third of the three three phases of football was the best today. And then defense number two and offense are very very very very distant third. This was the seventh different starting offensive line in eleven games.

Quinn Spain got the started left guard in place of Michael Jordan, and then during the game Alex Redmond suffered a concussion. Spain went back to the right side, Michael Jordan came in on the left side. What did you think of the way the O line played? The pass protection was tough? I mean the fact that they could not get the running game going any modicum of success. You know, now you're in a situation where defensive linemen are just teeing off on you. It's like pass rush drill.

And that's the toughest drill to handle as an offensive lineman when there's there's a total disregard for the run and all you're doing is pinning yours back and getting after the quarterback. And that's what the Bengals faced offensive line wise for most of the football game. Some of that their own doing, obviously, by not being able to form enough creases in the running game to get the running game was some kind of modicum of success. And

with that, defensive line's pretty good. Some beast that can push the pocket and they don't blitz much, but they'll twist and stunt up front and make life tougher that way, and they make you make you earn everything in terms of pass protection, and I thought that, uh, you know, there were sometimes there was there were pockets, but a lot of times Brandon Allen did not get through every Every play has a three progression read and then the

fourth wants to check down then run. I'm not sure he was getting all three through, all three progressions before he had to check it down or try to run the football, and then he was getting hit in the pocket and didn't have ball security well enough at the end of the football game. We saw Ryan Finley make three starts last year and play the second half last week. I don't know about you. I feel better about the Bengals chances of winning a game that Brandon Allen had

quarterback instead of Ryan Finley based on what we saw today. Yeah, I think the two that I mean Brandon Allen lit it up at practice Wednesday's practice. He did not have an in completion and I think that he bought he won some guys over that way. I think there was a validation there. I think they know he can spin it, he can zip the ball. I think they know he can be accurate. But you know, it's not just one guy.

I mean, everybody has to help Brandon Allen, and I think they like his way, his demeanor, the way he leads the football team, the way he takes control of the huddle. So yeah, and Zach Taylor has already said that Brandon Allen's the starting quarterback in Miami. So see if they can start to build on the experience that they were exposed to here against the New York Football Giants, who's a pretty darned good defensive football team. That's there's

no question about it. I think that that's as good an overall defensive football team as the Bengals might have played this year. That's a little disappointed in the play of the wide receiving crew. Te Higgins was targeted five times and caught all five, including his touchdown, but Tyler Boyd had a big drop. AJ Green did not have

a catch when he was targeted three times. I'm sure some of that is different timing with a different quarterback, but those guys are going to have to step up and play great in order for the Bengals to win. I agree, it's going to have to be a scenario like that even the very sure handed Giovanni Bernard dropped the ball, you know, out of the backfield on a third and one. I think if he catches it, you know,

he probably the chains are probably moves. So yeah. It's the thing is, you're in a situation offensively, and it's a very tough situation. You know, During the course of a ten year, actually a twelve year career in professional football, I've been in situations where you have no margin for error, and man, that's a brutal way to have to try

to play football. It's like, it's it's it's impossible. Really, there are going to be mistakes made, and all you hope for in that situation is that it doesn't become contagious multiple mistakes are made, or the mistakes that are made become catastrophic and they are monumentally huge mistakes. You know, again margin for errors and impossibility, but you hope that the error that you make is not game deciding error. And that's what the Bengals are looking at offensively right now.

You know, they just don't want to make mistakes that lose the football game and hope that defense and special teams give them enough support where they can win a couple of football games. Well, I'll tell you this, it wasn't a lot of fun watching on TV. So I look forward to being back in the booth hopefully next Sunday as the Bengals head to Miami. I can tell you, my partner, you are sorely missed. You are the best in the business, and I look forward to doing a

game with you against the Dolphins. Thanks buddy, Thank you, sir. The Dolphins are seven and four after beating the winless Jets on Sunday twenty to three. Two A Tungo Vloa missed the game with an injured left thumb, but head coach Brian Flores says if he's healthy, he'll start against the Bengals next week. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a

fruit flavor. 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 offensive lineman Akim Identagy from Garland, Texas. I came, I've read that your mom is from Nigeria, where she was a TV news anchor. How did the Identagy family wind up in Texas. About thirty years ago. My mom and dad you know, decided to come out to America just for you know, the opportunities,

and thirty years later here we are. Tell me a little bit about growing up in Garland and what your interests were as a kid. Oh man, I was big into sports obviously, football, basketball, you know, just everything, video game guy, nothing crazy. I love to cook a lot and no did a lot of things from my big brother too. You love to cook. Do you have a go to dish? I'm really creative with it and so

I like to mix it up. I wouldn't say I had a specific go to this, just really I like, you know, mixing it up, trying new things, being creative, learning new recipes, different cultures, this and that. We're doing fun facts with it came identagy. You're a large man, six four, three hundred and two pounds. Were you always the big kids in the neighborhood? I kind of was. I wasn't always the biggest though. I was always like, you know, pretty big up there, but I was never

like the biggest one. I had like steady growth. So that's that. How do you compare with your older brother I'm bigger than him now. I remember he's well, he's considerably smaller than me now at this point, but I probably he's six two, maybe two fifties now. He doesn't play football anymore. But I passed him up probably when I was about thirteen years old. I came when did you start playing football? And when did you start dreaming

about the NFL? Man, I've been playing football since I was five six years old, and ever since then, it's always been my goal. Just you know, growing up in Garland, in the Dallas area, I watched the Cowboys. I was a big Cowboys fan growing up my whole life, and watching my brother play, I always wanting to do what he did, and so you know those things right there. Ever since you know, I started playing, it's been a dream of mine for you know, almost two decades now.

Your older brother played at air Force and you were going to follow him there, and then a few weeks before you were set to report, everything changed. Describe what happened, man, So you know, I still remember this day because it

was just such a big turning point. I got an email saying that my medical way was declined because I have a cashiology, which is self seems small, but you know, you know, the military, they have their certain rules and things like that, and the football coaches couldn't do anything about it. And so being at the Air Force, a lot of schools had already reported, and I was waiting

to go into you know, basic training. So we're we're a month into you know, most freshman being on campus for football activities, and I have no clue where I'm gonna go. When did you learn of your cashew allergy

and what happens if you eat one? I learned pretty early, not that early, I guess, I would say maybe around nine ten years old when I just like I had I never knew which specific that's it was, but I mean I remember, you know, on a few instances, having like small amounts of it and then just throwing up, nauseating all of this, and I'm just like, Okay, I can't do this. So I pretty much stayed away from all of them until I finally got tested and realized

it was just just cashews. But yeah, I mean, when I have them, intis not good, even like the smallest amount can trigger a pretty big reaction. We're doing fun facts with a chem identity. Do you look at labels really closely to make sure that you never accidentally have one. If there's anything that I know might having in there or I'm at a restaurant, I'm very skeptical, especially with like, um, some cultural dishes, like whether it be like a Mediterranean

type of dish. I'm very like cheating because I know, you know, certain people like to cook with certain foods. So the air force went down the drain because of the cashew allergy and you wound up at Kansas. What was your initial impression of Lawrence, Kansas? It was different. It was different from what I'm used to. There's not nearly as much to do out there, but you know, ultimately I had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends and had a lot of good time.

What was the best part of your college experience? Me and my girlfriend who who probably be my wife here soon and that I definitely that takes the cake for sure. That's a good answer, especially if she's nearby and can hear. So the basketball team was a powerhouse you were in Kansas. Did you go to the games at Alan field House and become buddies with any of the basketball players. I

went to a few games. I didn't go to a whole lot just because it gets so packed in there and you have to get you have to get to the game like maybe three four hours before to even get a decent seat, and obviously we have stuff to do. But yeah, I mean I got I have one real good friend that he's in the same class, and so he'll he'll be getting drafted here pretty soon, my boy, dope. But but yeah, he's a real good friend. And the basketball games were always fun. There were such a such

a good team. Do you know why KU fans say rock chalk Jayhawk? I found out and I don't remember, though I remember when I heard the reasoning behind it. It wasn't that significant to me, but it sounds cool. Though it does sound cool. It's one of those stories where the answer is not that great, so I can understand why you would forget so original late it was raw raw Jayhawk, and then a professor suggested they change it to rock chalk Jayhawk because there's limestone in the area.

Oh okay, yeah, yeah, good, Okay. Now if you get quized on that again, you'll be all set unless I forget again. Describe your NFL draft experience, Man, This year was was so different because of you know, COVID and then just everything going on. Um, it was. It was fun though. I mean I always say that, you know, I tell my buddies in this draft class and everybody, I'm like, we're gonna be able to say we had the first virtual draft, Like you know what I'm saying,

It's gonna be wild. Yeah, hopefully the first and only. Yeah for real, but we'll be you know. That's that's pretty special though, I think so. All right, a few more fun facts for Hakimadnagy? What do you like to spend your money on? I am cheap. I did not like to spend my money at off. I like to spend my money on my bank account and just put it in there. If I don't have to spend money,

I won't. I guess if I had to say something I like to spend my money on, you know, if I had to get something nice from my mom and my brother and my girlfriend. I find more pleasure in that than just spending my money on me. That's good. That's frugal. That's not cheap. That's frugal. That's fine. Who is the greatest athlete in any sport? That has to be Lebron James for sure, he has to be. He's just he's a freak. Uh, he has the production to back it up. Just I mean, you just watch him.

I think we'll look back one day and be like, you know how how the old folks before is they're like, oh, we saw George, We're gonna be like we saw Lebron. You're never gonna You're never gonna get this again. Yeah, I'm one of those old folks that would have said that about Jordan. So so you go on, Jordan and Lebron. You know what, this championship this year swung me over to Lebron. Okay, this one broke the tie. All right.

Final fun fact for Hakim Idenagy. If you couldn't meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, whatever, who would that person be. Oh, that's a good question. Anybody in history. I guess the person who invented football. I don't even know who that is. It's simple, but it's very There's so many things too us. So I'll say, yeah, you are officially off the hot seat, Hakim. I appreciate your time, best of luck the rest of the year. Thanks Dan,

I appreciate you. Here's a quick reminder to join lap Hand Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast