Bengals Booth Podcast: Love Me Two Times

offensive lineman Xavier sua Philo. 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 write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or odd Bean. It's the greatest thing since a sit stand workstation.

I spend a lot of time doing broadcast prep at my desk, especially during this time of the year when I'm not only broadcasting Bengals games, but you see football and basketball as well. All of that time on my back side is not good for my back. But I got something for Christmas that I already love. A sit stand workstation. It's basically an adjustable desk that allows me to do my work standing or sitting, or a combination

of both. You just pinch the levers on each side and you can raise and lower the desk to the desired height. I give it a standing ovation. Now let's get to the game. In Monday Nights went over, Pittsburgh quarterback Ryan Finley only completed seven passes as the Bengals went to an uber conservative game plan to neutralize the Steelers pass. With Brandon Allen back from his knee injury,

the Bengals didn't hesitate to throw it. At Houston. He went five for five on the Bengals opening drive and capped it off with a touchdown pass big third down in two play, coming up at the Houston eight yard line, empty backfield, five wide, three out to the left, two out to the right. Allan looking left, throws left, cut by the tight end Drew Sample, and he cruises into the end zone for an eight yard touchdown, his first

in the NFL. It was the start of an outstanding performance by the twenty eight year old quarterback, as he threw for a career high three hundred and seventy one yards with a passer rating of one twenty six point five. Here's wide receiver Alex ericson you know Brandon's you know, when he was getting the start the first time, you know, you can really notice that you can really spin the ball. And he's a confident guy and really has the right deminuor looking for and he gets back there and everyone

just believes in him, and he showed that today. You know, the old line protected him and he was back there picking him apart after the team's traded field goals. The Bengals had a ten three lead late in a half when Will Jackson had to leave the game due to a concussion. Deshaun Watson took advantage of his absence by frequently picking on his replacement, lis Shaun Sims. Fun first and ten Watson back to throw Karl Lawson with some pressure. Here's a throw into the end zone and it's caught

for a touchdown by Brandon Cooks. That was the first of three touchdown passes for Watson, who finished with three hundred twenty four passing yards thirty eight rushing yards. And a passer rating of one thirty three point nine. Here's Zach Taylor. Deshaun Watson is one of the best football players I've ever seen in my lifetime. I knew that going in this game. I knew it was gonna be difficult. There's gonna be moments on defense, it was gonna be tough.

And he's done it to a lot of people over the last several years, and so losing, you know, a starting corner at that point was tough because this guy can extend plays and get first down to his feet, and he can throw a mile and he's got a great receiver, Brandon Cooks that can go get it. And so again, they can put in a lot of tough spots. And I did think it hurt us when Will window It was ten ten at the half with the Bengals due to get the ball to begin the third quarter.

Going into the game, the Bengals had not scored a point in the third in more than two months. Here's a run to the left for somaj a p rhyme burst through a hole inside the Houston forty spins away from a tackle down the side lane toward the end zone. P Ryan takes it to the house as the Bengals score for the first time in ages in the third quarter,

a drought of seven games comes to an end. That forty six yard run by two hundred forty pounds somaj p Ryan was the longest of his NFL career by sixteen yards, and gave the Bengals a seventeen ten lead. I asked him about it after the game. Have you seen your forty six yard touchdown run yet? And if not, are you dying too? Oh? No, I haven't seen it. I mean i'll see it in film, but it's not I mean a touchdown to the touchdown, So I'm not

gonna I'm not gonna think about that play. I'd rather watch the plays where I didn't do what I should have done and learn from that, because you know, a touchdown is pay dirt, So I mean, I can learn from it, but not as well as I can learn from something that I didn't do so well. So you are not fired up to see a forty six yard run with a three hundred and sixty degree spin, breaking tackles that will be on every highlight show. You would

rather study your mistakes, absolutely. You always got to study in the mistakes first. It's good to look back at it, but the mistakes come first. You gotta get those figs. The Bengals scored on all five of their second half possessions, but the Texans kept matching them. Watson and the gun back at the nine catches the snap, hands it off. David Johnson runs with ease into the end zone. Not much resistance there, and Houston is a pat away from tying the game. Man, no questions, Dan, I think he

scores in one hand touch. Johnson ran for one hundred and twenty eight yards, but his legs were offset by Al's arm. On back to back plays, he hit Alex Erickson for a forty two yard gain, followed by a touchdown pass to a sensational rookie. Alan drops back to pass again. He's gonna float one high and deep into the end zone. It is hot. Did the receiver get two feet down in bounds? No, te Higgins did not. Te Higgins is saying, are you sure he's got two

feet down? He's dragging. Oh, that's a touchdown. Te Higgins telling the coaches to challenge it. You gotta challenge it. He's dragging the left foot possession left foot drag, right foot down touch down. As it turned out, the Bengals didn't have to challenge it. One official overruled the guy that got it wrong, and the twenty yard touchdown pass gave Cincinnati a twenty four seventeen lead. Higgins had six catches, allowing him to tie Chris Collinsworth's team record for a

rookie with sixty seven. Tea's ninety nine receiving yards ups his season total to nine h eight, putting it within range of joining Collinsworth and Aj Green as the lead Bengals rookies to hit one thousand. Here's Zach Taylor. Being around him, it doesn't feel like you're around a rookie. He feels like he has mature. It is not the right word, because he's had the right focus since day one, and I've just really been fun to watch him. The confidence that he has as he gets through the season.

You know, he's made plays against everybody in this league and he's got an extremely bright future. His approach is tremendous. We're really where we got him. When we got him in the second round is unbelievable now that you look back on it, but but we're lucky to have him once again. The Bengals seven point lead didn't last. Watson

waits for the shotgun snap. Here comes a Blitz quick throw, touchdown running back David Johnson on the receiving end of that two yard throw, tying the game at twenty four heading to the fourth quarter. After scoring a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter, the Bengals had to settle for a long field goal try. On their first drive of the fourth Mark Harris ready to snap it back to Kevin Huber. Huber looks back at the kicker. Now it turns, his head, extends, the right hand, matches the ball,

puts it down. The kick looks good. It is good by Austin Seibert as Cincinnati takes a three point lead on his forty eight yard field goal. It was twenty seven, twenty four Cincinnati, with ten and a half minutes to go. To that point, the Bengals had never trailed, but Houston's tight ends took care of that first. Pharaoh Brown caught an eight yard pass, broke tackle attempts by Jesse Bates and Germaine Pratt, and eventually carried five defenders on a

twenty nine yard gain. A few plays later, it was more of the same shotgun snap watching straight back to throw. Now scrambling up the middle of the field, throws before crossing the line. It's caught for a first down. It is going to be a touchdown for Houston. They could not get Darren Fells, the tight end to the ground. Second time on this drive, the Bengals simply could not

tackle a Houston tight end. Pratt and Bates had him wrapped up at the five yard line, but couldn't key Fells out of the end zone, and Houston had its first lead thirty one twenty seven with six fifteen to go. That's been the story of twenty twenty right. The Bengals had four games in the first seven weeks where they had the lead in the fourth quarter and blew it. But not this time. The Bengals ran seven times and passed three in marching down the field for the go

ahead score. Aj Green out to the left, T Higgins out to the right. Now p Rhyan moves to the quarterback's right, shotgun snap insidehand p Rhyan into the end zone for a go ahead touchdown with one fifty seven to go. As the Bengals drive seventy five yards and take the lead. It was thirty four thirty one Cincinnati. Raise your hand if you were worried that they had left too much time on the clock for de Shaun Watson.

You can put your hand down now because on the second play if Houston subsequent drive, Sam Hubbard delivered a knockout blow. Watch Sam hully right into the hands of man. That's an interception for the Bengals. As Hubbard got to the right side of Watson, poked the ball out of his arm. Watson is hurt and the ball fluttered right to Margus Hunt for the pick. Nice i hand coordination by the big boy, Margus Hunt and Sam Hubbard. For the second time he got to the armor Deshaun Watson,

he hit him. The ball flooded out of bounce the first time and Deshaun Watson had some right elbow injury issue, and then Sam Hubard got him again. This time as the ball flooded, Marcus Hunt said, I'll take it. It was officially a fumble forced by Hubbard and recovered by Hunt. Watson's arm was not moving forward because his fingers actually got caught in Sam's face mask. Here's the Bengals defensive

end on taking the ball away from Watson. Yeah, he's just he's really strong, you know, he's you know, you give him a lot of credit when you try and get your hands on him. He's out there really fast and just as strength and awareness as special. So you know to go for the ball and get it out after you know he's been getting the better of us. It felt awesome. We've had plenty of games where things are going your way and you just seek someone to

step up and make that play. And really the play that Sam made, we've had We've been in that moment several times over the last two years and they've driven down and scored. I think you'll go whatever it was, but that needs to be a turning point for us. Austin Cyber tacked on a short field goal with eighteen seconds to go to make the final scores Cincinnati thirty seven,

Houston thirty one. It was the Bengals first road win in sixteen tries under Zach Taylor and ended Cincinnati's twenty game road winless streak going back two years, two months and twenty seven days. They avoid reaching the Detroit Lions NFL record of twenty six road games without a win. Here are Zach Taylor, Alex Erickson, and Brandon Allen. Just tells you everything you got to know about the character.

And there's all of this team. And like I told him, we practiced in ten degree weather on Christmas Day, you know, to come down and play a game to Houston, and Uh, not one guy. I didn't hear one guy complain about it. They all knew that we had to get some work done before we're gonna come win this big game. And UM, just couldn't be proud of the work that they put in here in week sixteen. Um, we're out of the

playoff hunt. It's easy for guys to check out right now, and we haven't had a single player to do it. And UH just just brought to coaches. Guys. Man, it's crazy to even think about. You know this, This league's tough, and it's hard to win on the road, and UM to go two years though, man, a long time coming. It's just just a testament to you know, sticking to

the process and believing. I know it's hard at times, and you know, when you lose that many road games in a row, it's you never think it's gonna happen.

And then uh, just keep believing. And you know, I think on Monday night, you know, the energy was great and guys really believed, and uh, nice see the momentum picking up and guys are preparing the right way and uh starting to starting to get some momentum and that we've that we've earned and so it feels really good to come down here and get a victory, and it'll be nice getting on the plane for a long time coming.

There's never been a question, um within this team of us moving in the right direction, and like you said, there's there has been. There have been a few games where we're literally one play away from from it being a win, and so you know, those are tough, but you have to you have to be able to move on and an approaching next week that you're gonna win

it again. So I think you kind of can just see in his last two weeks that, um, you know that this team knows how close it can be, and we find them been able to have two really good games and put them together and get wins, and um, you know, we can just take that momentum and move it forward. The Bengals are four ten and one with one game to go. Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave lapham Well Lapp. The Bengals had two wins in the first thirteen weeks, and now they've

got two in six days. Who saw back to back victories over Pittsburgh and Houston coming. I'm telling you in the fashion you know that it happened. Man Finley the star of the Pittsburgh game with his quarterback run game, and then Brandon Allen was just He threw the ball as well as just about any quarterback I think could throw the ball today. Who would have thought the Bengals were better than a touchdown underdog two touchdown undog to

Pittsburgh toucheddow underdog plus in this game. And I wonder what the odds makers, how many of them thought that Brandon Allen and samaj p Ryan would lead the troops, lead the force to the victory. Let's talk about Brandon Allen. He passed for three hundred and seventy one yards, two touchdowns, no picks, pass a rating of one twenty six point five. First time in his career he stoned for more than

three hundred yards in a game. When Joe Burrow got hurt a lot of people myself included, started saying, well, let's see what quarterback should they sign in the offseason just in case Joe Burrow is not ready for Week one? Should that quarterback be Brandon Allen. I think that he's proven that he understands the offense. He understands what's Zack's trying to do within that offense. And I know Zach feels good about Colin plays for him, which is big.

And I think you know his relationship with Dan Pitcher, Brian Callahan. I mean, if if all these guys are back offensively, I would not be shocked at Brendan Allen is back offensively as well, you know, And I think the charge they're making here down the stretch, obviously they still have the locker room. Guys are still playing hard,

Guys are still believing. Honestly, when when Houston took the lead in the fourth quarter of their first lead of the day in the past, you'd think, yeah, they're done, these guys came right back and answered. You know, it was impressive and and I thought the execution it was at a very high level. Tennessee and Houston no turnovers, no quarterback sacks. That's that's a formula for winning games in the National Football League. If Zach Taylor was ever

on a hot seat, seems pretty cold right now. Yeah, I think some people threw some cold water in that bad boy. I think some of his h some of his players and assistant coaches might have come to the rescue there. I think, you know, you have your first two game winning streak as a head coach, and it comes at a very opportune time. So, I mean, worst case scenario, you're winning two out of your last three

football games. That's a good way to finish Without your franchise quarterback Joe Burrow, guy that you gave a bunch of money to at the running back position, Joe Mixon. I mean the people they didn't have. And look the Texans in the same boat. They were missing a bunch of people too. That's life from the National Football League.

But the fact is the Bengals have responded, and one with guys that when the season started, there's no way people thought that guys that are playing now in significant roles would be the guys that are playing in those significant roles. So for the first time since the Cleveland home game on October twenty fifth, the Bengals had the same starting offensive line as the previous game. For the previous seven games, it was musical chairs, with anywhere from

one to four changes from the previous week. How significant was they continued ay? And did anybody stand out today where you thought, Okay, maybe that guy clinched a spot in the offensive line for next year. You know, I'm looking at the interior of the offensive line now. Trey Hopkins has been very consistent all season long. I think he's had a really good year. Spain, Spain got some push in there today on p Rhin's four yard touchdown run. He drove his guy three yards into the end zone.

And honestly, Xavier Suafilo is given a stabilizing force at that left guard position. I think, you know, Bobby Hartson, a veteran guy and experienced guy. I think he enjoys playing next to Spain. And I think Fred or Identity or whoever is out there at the left tackle position would appreciate playing next to Xavier Suafilo. So I do think that there's there's a good mix, you know, of of guys in terms of their experience. They're all intelligent.

That's one thing I telling you this this offensive line. Bobby Hart is a very smart guy. Ty Trey Hopkins is a very smart guy. Jonah Williams, who isn't in the in the mix. Again, there's another guy they're playing without is a very smart guy. Xavier sue A, Philo Spain. All these guys can play multiple positions. They're all smart guys. So I don't think I don't think the offensive line is does it need work? Yes? It still does. I mean, do you want to try to upgrade if you can? Yes?

But is it a functional group? Can you work with that group? They're proving down the stretch that they're a functional and they can be worked with. With the win, the Bengals as of now have dropped from third and next year's draft to sixth. If they win again next week, I think they could go as low as number twelve. So for all of the Bengals fans who are heartbroken, as much as they enjoyed watching a victory, they're now heartbroken over the likelihood that Pinney Sewell is no longer

going to be a Bengal. What would you say, you know, I would say that I'm of the belief that some guys have been saying even with the third pick in the draft, I trade back, I trade down and get you know, an additional high pick. It's not just one guy. And even though the tackle position is vitally important, a tackle is not going to take you from a five win team to a playoff team. I mean, so I try to I try to increase my my odds. Uh. You know, Sue, Sue has all the projections to be

a dominant player, and I don't disagree with that. But if you can find two high caliber players in the offensive line instead of that one, why not. Or if you can find you know, a good edge guy and defensively with one of those picks, you know, I don't have any any real problem with the Bengals doing that, no matter where they end up in the draft. I think for people to cast their lot on one player and that player only and be heartbroken if you don't

get that one player. And fully, it's things changed that it's an offensive tackle that people are ready to mortgage their houses over. I mean, god, that was never the case. And this is still a quarterback league, a quarterback driven league, and you do have to protect the quarterback obviously, but you've got to get them weapons too. And you know,

the defense has to get them the football. I mean, there's so many things that they need to improve on, and I think the more picks they get, the better chances they're going to have of putting their bat on the ball and improving their football team. Jacksonville has clinched the number one pick, Trevor Laws. Trevor Lawrence will come to Paul Brown Stadium next year. The Jaguars are scheduled

to play here next year. The Jets. With their win over the Cleveland brow and back to back wins for the Jets after an owing thirteen start, they are now in the two spot. Then you've got several teams with four wins, including the Bengals, but since the Bengals have a tie, they're down near the bottom of the four team wins. I find it interesting that the fourth team in the draft order right now should have been Houston,

but they traded that pick to Miami. How happy are the Dolphins to see the texts in sitting there with the fourth pick in the draft? Unbelievable? I mean, fits Magic delivers again from them. I mean Ryan Fitzpatrick. It is incredible. This guy's career is like no other. I mean, it's really a book that you don't have to be creative as an author to write, you know. I mean

it's unbelievable and he's living it. But Yeah, the Miami Dolphins, I mean, look at where they are, what they've got, and they have the fourth pick in the draft to boot Man. They're doing a lot of things right down there in Miami, and they could set themselves up to be the real deal for a long time. There's no doubt about it. Little Bengals history made today by te Higgins with his six catches. He has sixty seven this year.

He has tied with Chris Collinsworth for the Bengals rookie record for catches in a season, and he's got a legit shot at becoming the third Bengals rookie to have more than one thousand receiving yards in his first year. He's over nine hundred after having six catches for ninety nine yards in this game. So a tremendous rookie year is reaching record setting proportions for t Higgins. Yeah, and I like te Higgins in all levels, all areas. Dan Physically,

he's the real deal. Big, strong, broad shoulders, strong hands, vice length, strength, all that stuff, and he's a puppy. You know, a full off season of lifting and working out, he's going to be bigger, stronger, long. I mean, it's going to be ridiculous. The other part of it is the mental part of the game. Joe Burrow and they

have a chemistry right away. Brandon Allen having a chemistry with him right away says something about him as a as a rookie to understand not only what he's supposed to do, why he's supposed to do it, how he's supposed to do it, all those kinds of things. I think he's very advanced mentally, and I think that he's a really solid route runner. He doesn't make the same mistake twice, and I think Joe Burrow and T Higgins could have a run like Andy Dalton and AJ Green did.

I thought this game was a reminder that Alex Erickson is a pretty good slot receiver when needed. I mean last year he had forty three catches five hundred and twenty nine yards. This year just buried on the depth chart. Tyler Boyd had been healthy until this week, had five catches for forty three yards all year, coming in six catches for eighty eight yards in the game pros pro.

You know totally when you're talking about dependability, reliability, accountability, all those great abilities, those are the abilities that sometimes there are tiebreakers, I mean physical ability. Everybody's got physical ability, or there wouldn't be in the league. But some guys are in the league that you wouldn't expect to be in the league because of the intangible abilities of the accountability, reliability and all those abilities. And that's Alex Erickson. And

he's all about the team. A lot of people that's lip service, you know, it's like, oh, you know they say that at butter Alex Erickson does the dirty work, I mean special teams, cover returns, do anything anything that has to be done, blue collar dirty work stuff to help his football team win. And then when the opportunity rose and Tyler Boyd would have gone off in this football game, they would not have been able to cover Tyler Boyd. Let's face it, but they didn't have him.

And who steps up and plays his tail off, which totally expect Alex Darkson. He relishes every opportunity, and when the opportunity presents itself, he's not going to pass on it. He's going to go capitalize on it. The Bengals are going to finish last in the AFC North. Regardless of what happens next week, the other three teams, I'll have double digit wins. That means they get to play the last place schedule next year, and that means they get

to avoid the Houston Texans. I don't want to play play Deshaun Watson if I'm the Bengals defensive staff anymore than I absolutely have to. I'm telling you, Dan, this guy is He's so rare with his strength, his lower body strength, His legs are so strong. I mean, I'll guarantee he probably can squat more than a lot of his offensive lineman. This dude, he's not like explosive in terms of like a four three four four four. He's probably like high four or fives four six type guy.

But his explosion is when you think you have him in a small area, he just bursts. I mean he'll just if you try to just wrap your arms, one arm around it, he'll just run right through you. I mean, the guy breaks so many tackles, he pulls away and just he shucks you like an ear corn man. It's over. I mean the guy's The guy's unbelievable. And the whole time he's doing that, he's got his eyes down the football field and he's deciding, all right, I got I

got this linebacker. I got him on the island. Now I got him between the rock and hard place. Do I isolate him? What do I have for a receiver behind him? Okay, yeah, I'm gonna make him commit to me and I'm gonna dunk it over the head or I'm gonna run the football. He's retreating, he's still retreat. He makes these, you know, instantaneous decisions on the move, and the guy's creative and man, the play that he comes up with while improvising a lot of times better

than the play that's called. There's no doubt. He takes hits, he takes sacks, he doesn't throw interceptions, and he makes a lot of big plays. So coaches live with it, There's no doubt about it. They'll they'll live with forty or fifty sacks if he does what he's doing and the numbers he's putting up, there's no question. Not a great day for the Bengals defense. But did anybody stand out as playing at least Okay, to you. You know, I thought, I thought, you know, Sam obviously made a

couple of a couple of uh, you know, big plays. Honestly, you know, I think it's hard to say. Will Jackson looked like he was off to a good start and he was going to Losing him was huge. I mean, let's face it, his replacement was targeted and targeted early and often. Will Will's a big factor on this football team. And uh yeah, defensively, I'd really have to I'd have

to look at the look at the tape. I mean, guys, guys, you know, everybody will flash every once in a while, but on a consistent snap by snap basis, it's hard to see anybody defensively really won their matchup on a snap by snap basis the entire game. Do you like it when you get a Christmas gift a few days late, you know, it gets caught up in the mail or something, and a few days later it's like, huh, Christmas was extended. That's how I feel about this win. Yeah, I like

Christmas was early and Christmas was late. I mean, Santa Claus came before the actual day and he came after the actual day. It was pretty nice and he came to Cincinnati and then he went all the way down to Houston to deliver a present down there. So yeah, it was it was good. You do feel good for these guys because I don't think anybody ever had a problem with the work ethic. I don't think that anybody,

and everybody's looking for it. They're looking for the first guy to pack his bags and quit, and nobody, nobody has even come close to doing that. Now, have they played intelligent enough? Have they? Have they played you know, winning football in terms of not making mistakes and things of that nature. No, but you know they've tried. It's a try hard bunch of guys, and try hard to

only gets you so far. But when they not, when they do not make mistakes like they did today, like they did against Tennis, like they did for the most part against Pittsburgh, you know, it can show you what you can get done. But the thing is, Dan, this football team really didn't have any error in those football games and they just barely won. I mean, the margin for error is sliver thin with this group. That's why they need to keep improving it. Because you never feel

comfortable until the final gun the game's over. I mean the fat Lady's going to be singing the second verse before the game's over. Up next the final game of the year as Cincinnati host the ten and five Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium. The last five times that the Bengals ended the regular season at home, they won, and four of the five wins were against Baltimore. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light

and refreshing with a hint of 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. I'm nxaviers to a Filo, a native of American Fork, Utah near Provo, where BYU is located. Describe where you grew up. Yeah, a real mountainous right along the Wasside front. Utah is actually a real beautiful state and we have all four seasons. It's what would

be considered a high desert. We're great neighbors, very religious and pretty tight knit community, you know what I mean out there, and so it was real cool. But we had had the mountains right up there. Where are your ancestors from? I got mixed ancestry. My mom is park Tonguing and Tonga is a group of violence in the South Pacific, and my grandfather on my dad's side is from Samoa. It's also another country group of violens in

the South Pacific. And my dad's mother is from England and she's actually from a port town, a Harvard town called Hole in England headed towards the coast, and so I got a little bit of English in there. But Tonga and Salmone, we're visiting with Xavier Sua Philo. Your dad was a college football player. Did he get you hooked on sports at an early age? Yeah, it's cool. You know, my dad played junior college ball at Ricks College what's now known as BIU Idaho and they don't

have a football program anymore, but uh, he did. You know, he's a big sports guy. My dad's sports actually basketball and he's pretty good at it and he had a lot of hops and you know, for me, I enjoyed playing basketball, but football was my love. And from a young age in our home being a sports family, we

just enjoyed watching and playing sports. And so I remember, you know, on Sundays and Mondays mostly we would you know, make it a point to watch Sunday night football or Monday night football, you know, as a family and eat dinner. And obviously the older we got, we had more obligations and sporting and Scouts and stuff. But that was a pretty cool tradition in our home. You mentioned Scouts. You're an Eagle Scout requires twenty one merit badges among other things.

Was that a big goal you were young. Yeah, it's actually a requirement in my home, believe it or not. You know, my dad is an Eagle, and a lot of my uncles and that was a rule in my home that you can receive a driver's license until you became an Eagle Scout or at least completed all our requirements. And so, you know, it was important in our family.

And our church was heavily involved at the time with the scouting program, and I had some great leaders and so it's something I really enjoyed and something I actually I was really proud of. We're chatting with Xavier sue a Feelo. You're a large man. Were you always the big kid in the neighborhood? Yeah, I think so. I always have been, you know, a little heavier set, but

never let it stop me. To try and do everything crazy, you know, riding bikes, something on trans trying to do flips like all that kind of stuff, and so, I h it was it was fun. But yes, I've always been the big guy. You were one of the top offensive line recruits in the country. Did you enjoy the attention? Yeah,

I didn't mind it. You know. To me, what was nice for me is that, you know, I worked real hard to try and you know what I mean, get all that, have all that success, and you know, but at home especially you know, being someone you know, being familiar with the culture like gloating and kind of you know, being very very proud and I want to say cocky, but just you know that that wasn't allowed, you know

what I mean. When I was around, like, I was very proud and worked hard and my parents were proud of me too, But there was when I was at home, I still kid at home, I still had choreses, I still had you know what I mean, I still had a lot of things to keep me homebo and ground and coaches and uncles, aunts, parents, and that's something that I'm really grateful, grateful for it to this day. You chose you cla great school, beautiful campus. What did you

enjoy most about your college experience? You know, I just had a had a fun, good experience there. I enjoyed probably playing football the most. Um. I don't think I really quite took advantage of, you know, being in Santa Monica or Westwood, you know, while I was there, because you know, what can you do? You're broke college student, you know. But I enjoyed it, and that's fun. And I had a good experience with a lot of teammates too. I still keep in touch with it. After your freshman

year's ave you served. You served a two year Mormon mission, and to me, that's a remarkable thing. You're nineteen or twenty years old, you've got it made in college relatively speaking, and you chose to spend two years spreading the gospel and serving others. What was that experience like for you? I'll tell you first, it was really hard. You know, it's not easy, an easy thing to do, but it's something that you don't maybe you commit to do and you test to do. It's something that you know can

be real special and beneficial for my life. I think that experience overall just really kind of molded me into you know, becoming a better man and kind of growing up when you're in nineteen to twenty year old and you got to talk to grown adults about, you know, what they're going through in life and their families and different kind of all different kinds of scenarios and situations in their lives, and speak about the Gospel and speak about God. You know that it's it's some really awesome

conversations and experiences. But when you're young and you don't have that much experience and you have to kind of you know, hear that, you know, it forces you to kind of like see a big perspective and a big picture really quickly. You know, a lot of our mission was doing a lot of service, you know, a lot of service, you know, serving others, serving your fellow man, and just basically you know, sharing this um we talk

about the gospels. You know, it's just very basically sharing a message of happiness where you know, I feel like I've been blessed in my life and my family has been blessed in our life by what we believe in. And you know, people who can rely on their faith and rely on what they believe in truly it gives you comfort. You know and reminds you what's most important

and to be able to weather the storm. And so doing all that by and also being assigned to speak Spanish and learn another language it's not native to my own was a task in itself, but it's something that I wouldn't trade for the world. Is something that I loved to do. After you finished up your college career at UCLA, you were the first pick in the second round of the draft by the Houston Texans back in twenty fourteen. Describe your draft experience. It was special, you know.

I know a lot every year, you know, you see it on TV, and everyone's always like one day that could be me, one day that could be you, you know, but for it to really happen was real special, you know, and I got, you know, I was around my loved ones when it happened. I got to eating good food and go golfing with my dad and my grandpa, and got to sit on the couch with my girlfriend who was now my wife, And like I said, with loved ones, friends and family, people that have known me since I

was little all around me. And so to hear your name, you know, called on draft days is something special and something that. Um. You know, I'll never forget You're from Utah. You went to college in California. You spent most of your NFL career in Texas, but you live in Phoenix, correct?

How did you wind up here? We ended up making Phoenix home bay because I work out the gym and the trainer that I work out with is based out there in Chandler, Arizona, and so we It's called Oline Performance, owned by Running owned by La Charles Bentley, and so we decided, you know, to make that home. And you know, with that warm climate. My wife loves that warm weather. And we have a pool and some of my kids can go to the pool every day, hey, the whole season.

It sounds like a good plan. All right. A few more fun facts with Xavier Sue Filo. Do you have any hidden talents? I love to play games, a lot of a lot of board games, a lot of card games. Definitely love doing that. And let's see, musically, the talent kind of missed me in that category. I can't really play instrument. I like to sing, but in the shower, you know what I mean, where no one can here. And but I love music though you know, I'm constantly

listening to different kind of music. I grew up on a lot of music, and I really am a big fan of music and all different kind of genres. I'm not you know, there's there's not a whole lot of music that I don't like to explore or look at or do that. And I don't know if it's a hidden talent. But I grew up riding horses, and I own horses currently and I will probably own them until I die, you know what I mean. I'm I love riding horses, and so I'll probably that's something that that

I'll do. On the flip side, what are you absolutely terrible at baseball? Oh yeah, I didn't grow up playing baseball. I think I went up for the team one time in sixth grade and I got hit by the ball or I struck out three times, and I'm just like, you know, this isn't for me, you know. And I'm probably terrible at baseball. I'm okay, I'm terrible at golf, but I love playing it. It didn't you know what I mean. Like, I'll go golf every single day and I might not be any good, but I'll have fun

doing it. So that's the best way to approach it. Trust me, what unhealthy food do you have a hard time turning down? Anything from Hawaii? Hawaii is a pretty distinct you know what I mean, Like Hawaiian barbecue type cuisine, and so I don't necessarily think it's healthy for you. But any of that, I can't ever turn it down.

And I also love spam, and I'm not sure spam's very good for you, but I love spam, and I'm My favorite way to prepare it is to slice it up, pan fried a little bit with a little bit of brown sugar, scramble some eggs, have some white rice, and eat that. That actually sounds quite good. It's delicious, Dan, and I can make it for you. I promise you'd love it. Last thing, if you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, whatever,

who would that person be. Naturally, my answer would be, like, you know, there's a lot of my relatives I never knew. You know, my dad lost his parents when he was in eighteen. I would have really liked to meet them, my grandparents. But you know what I mean, other than relatives, I think outside of that, I don't know. That's a that's a great question. I think being a history you know,

kind of a history buff history guy. I always thought it'd be cool, you know, to meet just different just different kind of focus and see how the brains worked, you know, like different inventors, different army generals. I probably want to meet General Custer and asking what he was thinking.

I would love to meet, you know, Chief sitting Pool, Crazy Horse is in you know, American history and different kinds of things, just to see what was going on in their in their heads and kind of like you know, their their perspectives and you know, when people are gone, you know, their story changes, you know, in history is rewritten you know over the years about them and you

kind of want to know who they are. So um, probably that and I think Bob Marley would be a very very re interesting person to go sit down and have dinner with. Two. I can see why you are a history major at u c LA. You are off the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of luck the rest of the year. Thanks to appreciate you. Here's a quick reminder to join Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to nine on seven

hundred WW. 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 so much for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast