Bengals Booth Podcast: Let The Good Times Roll

Pete Maravich. We'll cover that and much more, plus shorter interviews with two of the bengals most important players, cornerback Should have a a Wooge and new right tackle l Collins. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on 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 the Balmuda lantern. I recently purchased a battery operated lantern for our outdoor deck, and while it was a little on the pricey side, I love it.

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Now let's get to football. The Bengals held their first four voluntary offseason practices this week, and after the final one, I had the opportunity to catch up with head coach Zach Taylor about the aftermath of the Bengal Super Bowl run and the long, difficult road led up to it. Zachie joked recently that whenever the Matthew Stafford a T and T commercial comes on, you yell at your boys to change the channel. In all seriousness, our Super Bowl

reminders painful. Sure, you know that was a game we wanted, you know, we wanted to be champions for the rest of our lives, and it was an opportunity for Barnet to capitalize on. So yeah, there's some little things that that fuel you a little bit more. Maybe it's a commercial, maybe it's just a highlight of the game, but that's all part of just being competitive in sports. Joe Burrow said earlier this week that he watched the game the next day, just like he normally would watched it, back

stied the tape. What did I do well? What could I do better? What about you? It wasn't the next day for me, probably about a week later, I would imagine, you know, and I've watched several times since then. I'm just trying to learn from it, you know, and things that came up. We played a good football team. They made great plays as well, but it's important to learn

from the game. So the next time you're in that type of game, that those types of situations, or maybe the Super Bowl itself, you make sure that you've learned from it and will help yourself in the future. How soon after the game did you talk to Sean McVeigh. Probably a week capture, Yeah, I think he was in Cancne and house that was on my couch, But yeah,

we we've talked several times since then. You are one of only fifty nine head coaches in history to take a team to the Super Bowl eighteen are in the Hall of Fame. That does not include active coaches like Bill Belichick and Andy Reid that will eventually be in the Hall of Fame. You're not one to toot your own horn, but what does it mean to you to

be part of that fraternity? Well, I want to be part of the fraternity that's won a Super Bowl, you know, and so it's there was a lot of great achievements that we had this last year, but ultimately you want to win the ultimate prize, and so I'd love to revisit that conversation with you know. It's it's it's a team sport. It's all about our team. But but you certainly want your organization to be in those Super Bowl

winning conversations. When the team wasn't winning the first two years, what were the tangible signs that told you that you were on the right track. Guys buying in the way that guys approached the walkthroughs, their attitude during meetings in December when we were out of the playoff, rays, and just the little things like that. When you're around this profession every day for the last fifteen years, those are things you pick up on teams that handle things the

right way and teams that don't. And and just like any any career where you get to work every single day and you can kind of see the traits of good organizations and poor ones. Those are some qualities we saw from our team that we're going to help us in the long run. And again it's not always as immediate as you want, but again, great things take time, and we feel like we built it the right way with right people. Was there anybody that you leaned on

for advice or support? Plenty of people on staff. You know, Darren Simmons has been here for a really long time. His insights always always really valued. Mark Duffner, you know, he just his experience as a head coach and multiple different places he's been in the NFL a long time. He's always been a great resource. My dad, my father in law, Mike Sherman, my dad, Trew with Taylor, those

are certainly guys that I've I've leaned on. At one of the news conferences just before the Super Bowl, you said, if I was a head coach in any other organization, I probably wouldn't have been here in year three. Did Mike Brown ever give you, quote unquote a vote of confidence in the first couple of years, or say anything in particular that really was meaningful. I think what's great

about here is that it's constant communication. It's not monthly, it's not once a month where you would need that. When when you have a daily relationship and it's not every day, it's it's every couple days sometimes sometimes some weeks it's every week. But where the communication is very clear, where it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily have to take place, and that that one conversation I think that everyone's wanting

to hear about. You know, it's just it's when you've you're always on the same page and you have such an open line of communication. I think that's what allows us to work best. Have you learned a lot about Paul Brown since you've been here? I have. Yeah, I've tried to read up and study on it as much

as possible. I'll ask Mike as many questions as I can, just really intrigued by someone who's really just put such as probably more of a stamp on the game of football than anybody who's ever been involved in the sport. Why is the city of Cincinnati and the Bengals organization such a great fit for you and your family. I think it's just a blue collar city. The people are so great. They treat each other the right way. It's like one big neighborhood, is what it really feels like.

You know, you don't so many people you run into are from here. So there's such great pride with being from here and representing the city the right way. A lot of people I meet that grew up here that usually left for two or three years to go to Chicago or Columbus or somewhere else, and then they come back, and I think that speaks for the city that people love to come back here. It's it reminds me very

much at home. I think I've said this multiple times, but what would you mean by that is just the feel of the city in the community. There's such a great community feel here that I love being part of. My wife loves being part of, our kids love being part of, and and you just feel such a part of it here working for the Bengals living in Cincinnati. Before you took the Cincinnati job, you interviewed for three head coaching jobs. I'm back to back to back days, Bronchos, Bengals, Cardinals.

In that order. What if John Elway had offered you the Broncos job after the first interview, Yeah, that would have made things interesting, sure, But this was the one that I always had circled that I was hoping it would work out. You have no idea what the club thinks or how it's going to work with other places.

But I just felt a connection from living here in twenty sixteen, not really having any association with the Bengals or the Brown family, but I just knew this was a place that I could see my family enjoying life and you know, being a part of an organization that I've always had a ton of respects for from Afar and so I'm just glad that it worked out the way that when you were a thirty six year old first time head coach, what's it tough to call a

vet into the office to discipline or reprimand him. It's that's usually not how it unfolds, you know, there's usually a process that unfolds before that, where there's clear standards, clear rules that are set to where there's not a lot of gray. It's more black and white, and that makes some conversations easier than others. That's not to say

that you're not gonna have some difficult conversations. You just try to build up a respect the level with everybody on the team so that when those moments do come, there's a relationship there to pull from. And it's not just two people who have never spoken before, which which can happen when you have a big roster and maybe you're more of a you pull call the players on offense, and maybe you haven't built up that connection with the

defensive guys. So there's certainly always been hard, difficult conversations. They're not all fun, but but you always walk away feeling like he handled it as best you could. What was it like the first time you had to cut

a guy? That part's not fun. You've had those conversations as a position coached before, you know where maybe you weren't the one directly cutting them, but you're you're getting them immediately after cut Guys that have worked their whole life for this opportunity, and some of them expect it and they're ready for it. Some of them get blindside, some of them maybe know it's coming and it still,

you know, catches them an emotional moment. You'd want to be very respectful of that, the hard work that's gone in, the people that have supported them, and where they're at now in that moment. But you know, it's it's guys have always done a great job of handling it in. It's not a fun moment to be it now. If I had to pick out a favorite moment from last year, it would be the Germaine Pratt interception to wrap up the Raiders win at Paul Brown Stadium because it was

so cathartic for Bengals fans. I was there for the Carson Palmer knee injury. I was there for the disasters twenty fifteen playoff loss to the Steelers. Do you have a favorite moment or moment from last year? I think, yeah, a lot of favorite moments. If you're gonna pick one over the other, it was probably beating Kansas City the first time to get into the playoffs to win the division.

I had almost phrased it that way, winning the division over getting into the playoffs, because just from where we'd been day one to three years later, win the division with the issues we'd had playing the teams in our division.

You know, we got blown out several times the first two years, really saw that we had a big hill to climb there with the respect that we had for those teams, and so to be able to win a lot of those divisional games this year and then beat a really good Kansas City team to win the division just felt like, you know, a lot of hard work had paid off. Certainly that wasn't the ultimate prize, but it was it was a giant step in the right

direction for us. We're sitting in your office on the whiteboard you still have remember when from your first season seven games in when you're at a particularly frustrated time trying to game play and for a game against the Rams, You've added some things to that whiteboard since memories from each of those seasons. Are you kind of sentimental that way? Do you like to have those kind of seminal memories. I do. I like to remember the challenges we face,

the good moments we've had. That's probably why I journal, and I like to look back at old notes to remind myself of things that. You know, maybe something I wrote in fall camp of twenty twenty that is really optical now that I've lost sight of the same thing goes when you're in the middle of the season you want to remember how you felt at different moments of the season and to help you in future years. And

so there's you know, you try to boys. It is usually Brian Callahan and I in here game planted the most together and here in this room, and so certainly we've we've shared some good moments. Each year. We try to pull one when it feels like the right moment and put it up on the board, and who knows what we'll put up there next year. When Joe Burrows drafted, you were asked about his swagger and you pushed back a little bit and described it more as earned confidence.

Why is that distinction important to you? I think some guys can put on an appearance of what they think they're supposed to project and what it's supposed to look like. Some can pull it off, or maybe they fool people. Some m it's just their natural personality. For Joe, you can just tell it's a guy who's put in the work. He's not trying to be somebody that he thinks others

need him to be or want him to be. It's just who he is and that that comes across very clearly to everyone who interacts with him, and everyone who sees him to where its not somebody trying to be somebody that they're not, and that's appreciated. He's he's earned the right to be who he is, and you know that's sometimes that can be hard to find, you know. And we've got a guy who carries himself verywhere I can't imagine what his life is like right now and

what it's going to be like going forward. Just the star that he is becoming. Do you worry about that at all? You're not always envious to that, you know, to be honest with you, some people probably would be. But I think being in this profession, you know the challenges that come with that. Maybe you know he's he's obviously very grounded and handles himself the right way, and that's just this the life that he has, you know.

And then there's other guys certain way that have followed the same path that I'm sure he can look to and ask questions to get advice there. I'm not that person, you know it, But you know, there's there's great things that come from being in that position. There's certainly challenges that people will never be able to relate to other than the people that are in that position. I like to joke that I've had one really good idea in my life, and that is a chain of Toast restaurants.

So instead of bagel shops, everybody likes Toast, right, So every airport Kiosk is going to have a Dan Horde Toast restaurant someday. So that's my great idea. Your idea to give game balls to fans at bars and restaurants after playoff wins was incredible. Did it just come to you out of the blue. You've kind of described driving by bars and rest trents in your neighborhood and thinking about it. But was it like a, you know, a light bulb went off and hey, that would be cool.

It's hard to pinpoint when exactly a thought like that comes to your head. I think since the day I've gotten this job. And I've said this before, but leaving the stadium from work every day and driving through downtown, past past the banks, and past the Red Stity, I do always picture post game because I've driven through there the first year after a lot of losses and seeing people in jerseys and you know, dejected, and always pictured driving through there when we're having the Super Bowl parade

and seeing what those streets would look like. That's the first thing that comes to your mind. From there, it's okay, when we win a playoff game, you know, what's something that you can really find a way to celebrate with the city. I drive past mlts, you know, every day, twice a day, you know, going to work and coming back from work, and you always see the people in there having a good time, and I just thought, you know, it would be cool to go in there and deliver

a game. I don't remember the exact year or moment that that part came it came across. I did not plan on it going the way that it did. I thought it was gonna be a lot more low key. I was picturing like nineteen eighty nine when nobody had cell phones. There's gonna be a moment that, you know, the people in the bar talked about and I walked in and then one hundred cell phones popped up. So I didn't think that went through all the way. But

I'm glad that everyone got to enjoy it. And it's you know, I know that there's a lot of restaurants and bars that want to be a part of this, and this is going on for you know, in my mind, as long as the Bengals organ organization, this is going to continue to take place when we went playoff games, so there's gonna be plenty of opportunities for everyone to

share in the experience. I think they're about fifteen of those balls out there from the three playoff wins, and anytime I see one at a place, it puts a smile on my face and I usually engage the bartender or the person in charge of the restaurant about it. Have a lot of people lobbied you for future games to try to be in position to be the next place that gets one. It's hard. It's hard to get in touch with me because my lack of social media. It's easier to get in touch with my life. And

so she's the one who usually relays the message. And yeah, there's there will always be opportunities for a lot of other places to get it. You know, Northern Kentucky bars outside of Cincinnati. There's plenty of ways that we can reach a lot of a lot of great Bengals fans and and different bars and restaurants. Of the fifty five previous teams that were the runners up in the Super Bowl, sixty nine percent have made the playoffs, only three have

won the Super Bowl the next year. Have you or will you seek advice from coaches that took their team to the Super Bowl but didn't win it. It's something we spend a lot of time researching and studying those types of teams to say, I've had direct conversations with coaches who have then rebounded to go to the Super Bowl, because those the people you'd be reaching out to doctor

right to people that didn't get it done. And so you know, it's we're the twenty twenty two Cincinnati Bengals, and we have a plant in place to help us in the off season. We'll haven't want to help ourselves in training camp and then in the season, and we're going to follow that plan. And um, we know that it's these seasons are long seasons. You're gonna face a lot of adversity. We're gonna handle it the way that

seat's best for us. We've got a really motivated group of players that that no, it's a long journey to get back, know what it took to get there in the first place, but are very hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to try to get back in the current NFL with the emphasis on the quick passing game and getting the ball out quickly, could you have played? No? No, no, uh no. You know, I think I'm happy with the

career that I had. Um, I had my opportunity, you know, and in training camp with the off season with the Bucks, and UM, I could see the quarterbacks around me were we're better players and I better athletes than I, and so, UM, I'm satisfied being a coach and being able to compete that way. UM, I've taken my talents to the pick a ball court. You know, I think that's better suited for me right now. But UM, there's not any any thoughts from me sitting around thing I could do this,

you know, those those are long gone. Do you want your boys to be quarterbacks? I think I think that they want to be quarterbacks. So that works well for me as well. It's it's the position I'd like to talk about and teach the most. And you know, I don't even I do spend time talking about the throwing mechanics with my boys. But for me, the biggest thing

is just getting reps, just reps, reps. Throw however you can throw as many times you get to throw, whether it's dropping it in the basketball hoop in the driveway, to work on touch, whether it's putting a target in the backyard. Just accumulate reps and that's where the accuracy comes from. There. There's obviously mechanical things that you can do to work on that I'll point out occasionally to them.

I just want them to throw and catch, and they spend a lot of time doing that, and I think that's that's really as good of a teacher as you can have at a young age as anything. Dave Lapham tells a great story about the aftermath of Super Bowl sixteen, the one he played in. He goes back to the

hotel room after the game. His son is about five years old at the time, and he says, Daddy, why did you guys stank so much in the first half, And Lab jokes that it was all all he could do not to put the pillow over Dave Junior's ahead, What were your boys like after the Super Bowl? They take it as hard as anybody. Certainly, I don't always see the immediate moment. You kind of hear more about it from from friends and family that are around him,

but they're into it, you know. It's it's amazing. They have a pretty good football IQ. They see things, they got great recollection. I was in here watching them with my son earlier and he remembers I asked him his top three plays from this game that's on right now, you know, the Ravens game here at home, and he named top three right in a row, number one being the T. Higgins moss as he called it, you know, on third and long. So it's it's fun to talk

ball with him. My son, my oldest son, was in here during the draft when the last day of the draft, he was shooting baskets down in the weight room in the seventh round, and I bet him that he wouldn't make a shot, and he said, if I make the shot, do I get to pick the seventh rounder. So they're invested everything that we do, you know, And I did not let him pick the seventh rounder even though he made the shot. But that's kind of their mindset is

they want to be involved. They love what I do, they love being part of it, and so you try to include him as best you can. So I do these fun facts interviews during the course of the season, and I typically end with the same question. I'm going to end our conversation with this question as well. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, politician, statesmen, entertainer, whoever that person might be, who would it be. I

think two people. For me just being here, Paul Brown would be fascinating to have dinner with and just ask him how he came up with all the things he came up with, you know, and it's because it's documented, but to hear him say firsthand, maybe what led to a lot of the call hm inventions, call him you know, however you want to phrase it. It's just fascinating to learn as much as you can about him and what led to a lot of the decisions that he made.

Pete Marevitch was always my favorite. I think my dad liked him. My brothers named after his dad, Press Merevitch, So the Taylor family always had a fascination with the Merevitch family. You know, He's always watched his drill tapes he had that was like Pete Merevitch's homework, the pistol Pete's homework basketball, I think is what it was called. That was all the drills I did as a kid.

So he was a guy had his post ripe on my wall, and so if you're if you're crossing sports there, I think Pete Merevitch would be the guy I'd like to meet. Now, that's interesting. I did not realize we share a fascination with Pete Merevich. Yeah, you know, I wanted kids to call me Pistol when I was playing youth basketball, but it only it ended with me asking them to do it. They certainly weren't weren't inspired to

do it based on my play. I always wanted to dribble basketball in a movie theater, you know, because he's there's a scene from from the movie The Pistol where he dribbles it in the theater. There's one where he spins it on his hand for an hour and then he throws it off his head and knocks it in the basket. So I tried that, you know, for hours

and hours as a kid. But you know, I basketball was kind of my first love as a kid, and so I was obsessed with pistol Pete because here's a guy who maybe didn't have the physical tributes of a lot of great players. He worked more on the technical aspect, and that was really the only way I could survive as a kid, and so I think I was drawn closely to that. This has been great. I really appreciate your time. Congratulations on a remarkable season, and we all

can't wait to get started on the next one. I know it's we're enjoining the offseason right now. We got a lot of work to do and we're excited for next year as well. Well. Zack's brother got his first name from former LSU basketball coach Press Merovich. Pistol Pete's dad, Zach, is named for one of his father's former teammates at Oklahoma, Zach Henderson, one of the best safeties in Sooner's history,

who also spelled his first name z Ac. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the freedom play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year, with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't Buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. One of the best offseason moves in the NFL last year, with Cincinnati signing Chitubey a wuge to a three year,

twenty one point seven five million dollar deal. Pro Football Focus graded him as the NFL's second best cornerback last year, behind the Rams Jalen Ramsey. This week, we discussed his breakout season and the status of his friend and teammate Jesse Bates Cheetah. How long did it take you to put the Super Bowl behind you? M That's an interesting question.

I'm thinking as long as I'm in this league, I probably won't put it behind me because it's not become a part of mine motivation, you know, to reach that stage again and to complete the full mission. So I would say from the whole season, it took me a little bit of time to rejuvenate, probably about two months. You know, I was still training this stuff, but really feeling like I'm ready to go to the for this

next season. It took me about two months. But that Super bowls it's part of a new motivation now, So I will ever go away rejuvenate physically or emotionally. Um. Everything you know, obviously, you know, a little Nixon bruces from the previous season. I was doing rehab and stuff like that. Um Mentally, you know, the season is as

gruesome as it is physically as it is mentally. And it takes a lot of time to just relax your mind, get it back to doing regular human things, and they're getting ready to go to do that gruesome thing again and and go to a play some dark places where you know you have to go to in this game to be able to succeed so um spiritually. Also, everything's so taxing emotionally all that stuff, but that's that that's what we signed up for. So you know, we're professionals

for a reason. And you know, I'm more excited and more juiced even than last year I was. So I'm really looking forward to where we have to go or where we're gonna go this year. My broadcast partner Dave Lapham played in the Bengals for Super Bowl loss, and he described it like he look at the ceiling and replay the game in his mind because it was so disappointing to make it back far and not come away with a win. Did you have the same experience? Definitely,

And people reminds you. You know, everywhere you go, people are oh, what happened here? Or why didn't this happen? Da da da. You know, it's always speculation and stuff, But at the end of the day, football is one of the greatest forces because it's entertaining. You know, it's one of the most entertaining spectacles that we have in the world. And if you put it that way, then

in essence we are entertainers. So it has to be a winner or loser, an antagonist or protagonists, all that stuff, and we just happened to be the protagonists, but still lose. You know, the main character died. But the good thing is that we have new life and we have another sense to go at it. You had a Super Bowl interception that has to be a tremendous highlight for you.

It is, it is, and it kind of you know, obviously gets overshadowed by the loss, which is definitely always the goal is to win the game, but there's still a blessing to do that and more for my family and the people that Karen love about me, you know, something that they could brag about to their friends or their peers or work buddies and stuff like that. So um, to me, it's just me just doing my job according to what the coach is telling me to do so and I ended up in a great position. So um,

yeah for visiting with Chittabeya Woo Jay. You had such a great year last year for the Bengals. Do you feel like you established yourself as one of the best corners in the NFL. Established is a weird word. I don't. I don't every want to feel like I'm established, but I would say that, Um, last year, I was in my most complete mental space, like Claire Clairehead Claire, I clear clear mind. I had a real clear focus. You know, great team, great guys, and everything just led me to

have a great year. You know, I have a pretty good year, and you know, I look when I look back at the tape, then every one thing I always want to say is that, you know, I put out something there that I'm proud of someone with a ton of the tape. I could own up to everything that that was on that tape because I was preparing correctly, mentally, spiritually, physically, everything that has to go with it. And the prody that you got was my very best. So I'm gonna

plan to do this this year again. This year, and my best has gotten better because of training and stuff like that. So I'm really excited. If you feel like your peers have recognized take you're one of the best corners in the NFL. I think my peers respect me as such. I mean they asked me to do a lot last year. Um, you know, me and Eli and Mike and the whole secondary pretty much. Um, last year was the first year, first year I was traveling with guys, you know, some of the top guys in the league.

That's the thing that numbers don't really explain. You know, they don't explain who you were going against and stuff like that. But um, I think my job that I had to do compared to the other guys that we call great in this league, you know, it's right up there. So and that's just a product of, you know, the guys that I played with, the coaching style, and the people that helped me in the off season. So, um, just really excited to do it again. The Bengals had

six draft picks. They use three on defensive backs. I think it's a sign of in the NFL right now, with all the great quarterbacks and all of the great receivers, you need unbelievable depth in the secondary. Did you feel the same way when you saw them make those moves? Oh, most definitely. You know it was crazy because last year, we didn't have a rookie. Essentially we had Antonio Phillips, but then um he was traded or let go after the camp and we didn't have a rookie. So you know,

all the rookie duties were falling on to us veterans. Now, it's good to have some guys to do the rookie duties and obviously help out where needed. Um, we're gonna need everybody, you know. That's that's just let's the name of the game. Every year in the NFL, people get hurt, things happen. Um, situations happened that you know obviously with money wise and you know all that's the crazy things. So, um, it's an ever evolving game that we just had a

you know, adjust property. I'm sitting in Jesse Bates seat. I wish it was occupied and that he was here, but we understand the realities of contract negotiations in the NFL. How do you guys in the secondary feel right now about his situation in his absence? Oh, we love Jesse. Jesse's our leader, he's our you know, game change, our closer, He's everything to us, everything to our team. We're just waiting.

We know that the people upstairs gonna make the right decision and pay him just mavers win at this point. So you know, we talked to Jesse every day. We're telling him what's going on in the practice. He's asking us questions, so he's still very involved with us. It's just a matter of win. So we're just waiting patiently for one of our leaders. That's pretty strong comment on your part. You think it is happening ultimately by July fifteen.

I hope it does. Yeah, that's up to That's up to the people upstairs, but obviously they know more than me. I'm just his brother and his teammate. Last thing, I'll let you go to do anything fun in the off season until now. I know you've got another break coming. But how about so far? Yeah, you know, I got to link up with a lot of my family I haven't seen a long time. So I went to Nigeria,

saw my grandma, who haven't seen in ten years. I was fulfilling my heart, you know, just seeing everybody, my cousins, Auntie's uncles, and then I also was had a chance to go in New York, where my mom's eide of the family basically lives in saw my cousins I haven't seen in ten years, ten plus years, so you know, this year it was really about family and that's where

I got my rejuvenation from. You know, they look at me as like the guy who made it from our family, but I'm only as strong as them, you know, and they're so strong that it gives me shrinks. So really appreciate that time that I had with them. How aware where was your family in Nigeria about the super Bowl run and the unbelievable season he had. Yeah, so it's a from LA. It's a nine hour difference, so they

were up watching. They didn't know what was going on, but they'd like to hear that Ebo names should have been I was yet on TV. So to give them pride, to give them joy and if it feels their spirit too. So when I went back, Oh, Star BOYD, Star Boyd, Star Floyd, they were having so much fun with it. So that's that's ultimately it's about from me. That's fabulous. Appreciate your time. Great to see you, Welcome back to Cincinnati.

Thank you. My final conversation this week is with one of the three offensive linemens signed in free agency, right tackle l Collins, better known as LC. He's been reunited in Cincinnati with his former offensive line coach in Dallas, Frank Pollock. Man, I'm just happy to be be back, coach. Frank m happy to be around these guys in his locker room. Uh Now, I can tell us all about ball here, and I love that. What is it about

Frank that you respected admire so much? Just the way he teaches the game and way he teaches the position, the position because he played the position, so he knows, um, the things that that work and the things that um, you know that's not realistic. And you know he coaches us hard on technique and that's something that we're gonna use each and every every week and each and every day to prepare ourself for a season. That's a big thing,

isn't it? Knowing what's realistic for an offensive line coach? Alutly, there's a lot of things that look good on paper, but when you're getting the when the when the when the real game starts to go, you know all that stuff, you know, and when you get to games, you gotta be able to lean on your technique and you're training. So that's the one thing that because Frank have done great um from from my time with him, were beginning to form a relationship with Burrow. Anythings stand out yet?

Oh man, he's he's all about He's all about ball um. His focus each and every day he comes in just the word um. And he's ahead of his time. He's gonna be he's gonna be a great one, ahead of his time in a way. Just the way he sees the game UM and its ability to to to go out and die and those certain things. And you know when you when you're able to see that out of a young player, you know, you know that the siling is hot on. You refer to yourself as the bodyguard

when you signed. Are you embracing that? Absolutely no doubt about it, owning up to it, and and uh, that's what it's gonna be about. When an offensive line is building chemistry and continuity. How much is practice and how much is you know, bonding away from practice? Oh it's big, you know, you know it's big to be able to know the guys that you're lining up again and know that family members That goes a long way. You know that kids, you know their wife or whatever case may be.

And that's always big, and that's that's when you know you've got something truly special. You know, we're working on being you know, the best unit we can be, and that's all we gotta do is go out and put the work in each and every day. And the coach was asked about you guys after practice today, the new offensive lineman. He said, the thing that stands out is how much you all love it. Love the grind, love ball. Absolutely.

One thing about coach Frank Um. If you're a guy Todd, you know, love ball, and you can run, you belong here, and you're tough, you're physical. There's the type of guys you look for, smart guys as well. So all those things, every guy in that room has it. You know, you just got to continue to pull it out of each other and continue to grind each and every day. And a lot of professions. Change is good. You feel refreshed. Do you feel that way? I feel like, you know,

this is a revamp in my career. I'm being able to come here and being, you know, one of the older guys in the room, being a vet, being around and just knowing you know, what he expects out of the guys. And I mean for me, it was like I was already raised in that because I had Frame my first three years, so I was brought up the right way. And now it's just like getting back to it. So I couldn't be more happier, or it can be more excited. Man, It's like as a happy as I've

been in the Wall group. To hear you describe it, it seems so obvious that this was the right place for you in your mind, the perfect fit. You know. It's a difference when it was good fits and perfect fits. It was a perfect fit. Hollins turns twenty nine in July and is signed for the next three years. That's going to do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead

of the twenty twenty two season. Gets free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes and get it now on the App Store and Google. 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