Bengals Booth Podcast: Most Wonderful Time

Coming up, you'll hear radio replays from the win, postgame comments from players and coaches, and analysis from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun Facts segment, Safety Michael J. Thomas joins my unofficial Fun Facts Hall of Fame with an all time classic conversation that is guaranteed to make you laugh. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store and

Google Play. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since my mother's Christmas potatoes. I am from a mostly Swedish family and on Christmas Day, my mother always makes her famous Swedish Christmas potatoes. Years ago she wrote down the recipe for me, so now I make them. The key ingredients are potatoes, heavy cream,

and lots of butter. There's a reason why we only eat them once a year. Each forkful contains approximately nine thousand, three hundred seventy two calories. My moms are universally considered to be the greatest potatoes ever made, and at the risk of bragging, mine rank second. Now let's get to football. Sunday Cincinnati Baltimore showdown pitted the two teams tied for first in the AFC North. But let's be honest, the

Ravens were the Ravens in name only. They've been devastated by injuries all year and had a COVID outbreak this week. It was so bad that Baltimore had to call up ten players from its practice squad, and the casualties included the Ravens top two quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson is dealing with an ankle injury, and backup Tyler Huntley was one of the guys on the COVID list. SO Baltimore starter was thirty five year old Josh Johnson, who has claimed off

the Jets practice squad last week. Josh was a Bengals backup in twenty thirteen and is the ultimate NFL journeyman. Between the active roster, practice squad and training camp. He has been with the Bucks, forty nine Ers, Browns, Bengals, Jets, Colts, Bills, Ravens, Giants, Texans, Raiders, Lions, and Washington Football Team, a whopping thirteen NFL teams in all.

Sunday marked the ninth start of his NFL career, and after the Bengals kicked a field goal on their opening drive to take a three nothing lead, Johnson drove the Ravens seventy five yards in twelve plays. Third down and goal from the four. Murray in the backfield of the right of Josh Johnson, he will drop back to throw pass over the middle. Wide open for the touchdown is Bateman as he cut inside of Mike Hilton and hauled it in for the Ravens TD. So Baltimore led seven

to three. It was clear right away that the depleted Ravens weren't going to roll over and play dead. The Bengals had to answer and did, electing to go for it on fourth and goal from the one. Mixon moves to Burrow's left. They handed to Joe Mixing, chose in touchdown Bengals as the decision to go for it on fourth and goal pays off and the Bengals take the lead. Here's Zach Taylor on the decision to go for it. It's a mindset thing at that moment. You know, it's

it's fourth and goal on the one yard line. You know, if we can't get in there, then we don't deserve any points. But our guys entered the bill. It was ten three Bengals after the first quarter. After the Ravens punted early in the second, the Bengals attacked fur out of the gun catches the Hopkins snap fires down field, run go two weights pretty down the middle of the field of the twenty to ten Yeah five whoa begar salt good into the end zone, touchdown Bengal sixty eight yards.

Burrow to boy. They had five defenders like a picket fence about ten yards down the football field, and John Harbaugh is looking up the field like, what what happened? How did he get so open, Unlike former Bengal Jerome Simpson on Christmas Eve ten years ago or Antonio Brown when he was still with the Steelers. Boy did not stick the landing on his leaping somersault. But he's still got a good grade from Joe Mixon. I'll probably give

him maybe an a minus. And the reason why I'll give him that is because I've seen a b a few years ago do a whole flip and land on his feet and I was real life impressive. So, like I said, I'll give it to a minus. But I mean, it was seventeen seven Cincinnati and after a three and out by Baltimore, the Bengals scored again, chasing Boyd out to the left, Higgins out to the right. Burrow throws caught by a wide Joson what a cut back to

the middle of the field down Bengal. Burrowed, I'm mixing from nine yards out and the Bengals are pouring it on. It's twenty three to seven, pending the extra point. That's what you want to do is take the hope away from the Baltimore Ravens. That was mixing sixteenth touchdown of the year. He needs one more to tie Carl Pickens

franchise record. To the Ravens credit, they stared with a thirteen play ninety yard drive, picking up first downs on third and twelve, third and thirteen, and third and ten before scoring on a two yard run by DeVante Freeman to make it twenty four fourteen. But they also left one thirty eight on the clock. Row back to throw. He's gonna fling it high and deep down field and it is fiends. Higgins, with a defender on either side, goes up and over both of them and hauls it in.

It'll be first in goal at the three. Brandon Stevens and Kievan Seymour were powerless for the leaping ability and reach of Higgins. Higgins finished with twelve catches for one hundred and ninety four yards, both career highs, fifty two

of the yards coming on that play. I think the play was actually designed for Tyler and I was just doing my job, running for the love of the game, and I look up the balls in the air, I'm like, holy all right, so and then I had to go make a play, and you know, it was over two people. It's probably one of the greatest plays in my careers. And after two straight defensive holding penalties in the end zone, including one that negated an interception. Burrow went to Tea again.

Burrow drops back to throw pass caught te Higgins with a touchdown catch as he started close to the left tackle and then just cut toward the left pyline. Made the catch, and the Bengals have scored on all five out their first half possessions. They scored forty one points in Baltimore, and they're about to put their thirty first point on the board in the first half in Cincinnati. After missing two games early in the season with a shoulder injury, Higgins has seventy one catches for one thousand,

twenty nine yards. Here's Burrow in the last four or five weeks, he's been unbelievable. And the way he's catching the ball is I've not you ever seen anything like it. The way he's catching the ball with strong hands in traffic, it's been awesome. The Bengals led thirty one fourteen at the half and kept their foot on the gas on

their only possession of the third quarter. They held the ball for ten minutes and twenty nine seconds before settling for an Evan McPherson field goal that made it thirty four fourteen going to the final quarter, but any thought of resting the starters was squelched when Josh Johnson threw an eighteen yard touchdown passed to Mark Andrews that made it thirty four twenty one early in the fourth. Here's

Zach Taylor. They've been down similar situations like this. You know, Green Bay had him down I think it was eleven last week and had a three and out, and they came rowing back and had chance to win the game, and we were not going to allow that to happen. So on their next drive, rather than trying to kill the clock by running the ball, the Bengals passed on eight straight plays and Burrow completed all eight second and seven from the Baltimore ten, Burrow ready for the shotgun snap,

Joe has the ball, drops back three steps. He fired headed his cot Bite Higgins touchdown Bengals as he ran a post pattern cut position inside of Darryl Worley and halves in burrows fourth touchdown pass of the game. It's the first time in Joe Burrow's NFL career he's thrown four or more. That made it forty one twenty one and the Bengals kept throwing. Here's Burrow when asked if the Bengals were trying to send a message, No, I don't think so. I think their offense is moving the

ball a day. They were doing a good job, and they're putting points on the board, and they were the number one rush defense in the league going into the game. So and we were throwing the ball really well. So we needed first owns to keep their offense off the field, I think, and we were just doing what was working. Burrow through his final pass on third and four with two minutes to go. Ten defenders at the line of scrimmage for Baltimore. They send three, they cover with eight.

Burrows scrambling, throws it deep down. The old mixing makes the catch at the ten, hand goes down half seven. He beat Anthony Levine Burrow with a deep ball completion, and that we'll take Joe Burrow up and over five hundred passing yards, the first quarterback in more than fifty

years of Bengals football to ever do it. Burrow finished with five hundred twenty five passing yards to break Boomerassison's team record of four ninety set back in nineteen ninety five twenty five is the fourth highest total in NFL history. The NFL record is five fifty four, set by Norm Van Brocklin in nineteen fifty one. Here's Burrow, I'm joining the five hundred club. I think it means a lot

to the whole team. Now, that's not just a reflection of means a reflection of the offensive line, the receiver's coaching staff, and how we went out and executed today.

So that's exciting. But despite his team first modesty, Burrow couldn't help cracking a smile when reminded about a comment made by Ball to more defensive coordinator Don Wink Martindale earlier this week when asked if the Ravens would use the same strategy they used the week before against the Green Bay duo of Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers in

hopes of shutting down Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. To sit here and have you think that we're going to run the same plan against Jamar Chase as we did Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers, We're going down the wrong street because you know, like I said last week, Davanta Adams, he's one of the top two receivers in the league, and he's not number two. So and Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Fame quarterback, and I don't think we're

ready to buy a gold jacket for Joe yet. In fairness to Martindale, he said a bunch of complimentary things about Burrow in that news conference, but the gold jacket comment is the one that got the headlines and the thing that Burrow heard. I didn't think it was a necessary comment. I wouldn't say I was offended by it. I mean, I'm in year two. Who knows what's going to happen down the road. I didn't think it was a necessary comment. Was it on your mind when you

were throwing at the end. Maybe In two games against Baltimore this year, Burrow through for nine hundred forty one yards and seven touchdowns with a passer rating of one thirty one point one. Moral of the story, according to Trey Hendrickson, don't say anything that can give Burrow an added edge. It's just one of those things that you know, I wouldn't go around pissing that guy off. So um, hey, yeah, he did a great job. I know we're really proud of him and as a defense. You know, he's important

to us. I read a couple of things, you know. So maybe admittedly Burrow's performance and the bengals forty one to twenty one route came against an injury and COVID ravaged Ravens roster, but Zach Taylor says it doesn't take anything away from the win. No heck, no, no, no, no, no. They seventeen last year, we had hardly anybody left, you know, and I didn't feel anybody minimizing their win against us, and so we sure it has had no heart. It is win in December. These guys have fought hard. We

asked them to answer the bell. They did, and that's still the Baltimore Ravens out there playing a meaningful football for them. And so our guys shouldn't apologize for one second for the performance they went out there and do today. And dang proud of those guys for how they hung in there at the full course of the game and be handled. You know, the adversity we've had over the course of time too, and you know it's just our time to sit out there and make them mark for ourselves.

The Bengals are nine and six with two games to go. They lead Baltimore by a game, Pittsburgh by a game and a half, and Cleveland by two. Up next a home game against the number one playoff seat and the AFC the eleven and four Kansas City Chiefs, a team with an eight game winning streak, concluding a thirty six to ten win over the Steelers on Sunday. Get your

tickets while they're still available. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ltimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the App Store and Google Play. Now time for postgame analysis with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham lap

it's Christmas time. We're celebrating our Lord and Savior, Joe Burrow. I hope nobody's offended. It's just a joke, but five and twenty five yards, four touchdowns, the first quarterback in Bengals history to throw for more than five hundred yards in a game. We are so fortunate to have this guy as the quarterback of this franchise for the hopefully the next ten years at least. But man, is he good. He really is. I mean, he's he's so special with not just the way he throws the football, you know,

that's that's the obvious part. I think what's so unique about him. And talked about a little bit after the game with with Martindale and all that he can do in the big inventory he has to draw from. You know, Joe said, I just saw everything that I needed to see kind of one. I needed to see it and saw the football field and obviously he said, you know, it's it's not just me when you go for five hundred and twenty five yards. My line did a good job,

my receivers, my running backs, everybody. So he obviously passed a credit like all quarterbacks do. But his receivers were just running great routes and just separation. They they didn't they were overmatched, I mean, under manned and overmatched, there's no two ways about it. And the Bengals took full advantage of it. But that's life in the National Football League. Can't feel sorry for anybody. That's that's just the way

it is. I mean, I would have loved to have seen Tyler Boyd get one more ball for fifteen yards, and have those three the Triplets, the three headed Monster all have over a hundred yards receiving the same game. That would have been unbelievable. If if he didn't run out of if that sixty eight yard touchdown could have been good from eighty three, he had to go eighty three and get the fifteen yards. You just you know,

ran out of real estate. Basically, I think anybody can reasonably admit that the Bengals were not facing the Ravens, a teams between players that are injured, reserve and COVID. Baltimore is missing a ton of great players. But as we said in the pregame and during the game, that is not the Bengals fault. You. You try to beat the team that you are facing. And they capitalized on Baltimore's many good players that were sidelined. And what if it had been a three point game and the Bengals

had edged him, They getting killed, They getting killed. So I mean, you win by three scores and now you know you're running it up and you're the bully, and you know they're undermanned, and you know, why are you doing this? And doing that. To me, it was third and eighteen. They wanted to get a first down, and they got the first down. Then they sat on the football. That was the bottom line. The Baltimore Ravens Josh Johnson

was playing. He was playing football quarterback rating of ninety eight point three twenty eight or forty three hundred yards three and four yards passing against a you know, a Bengals defense that has been playing playing pretty darn well. They couldn't run the ball. They didn't run the ball, and they couldn't when they tried to two point four yards of carry. That's gonna do nothing but help their

their status stopping the run. But in both football teams decided they have to throw the football in this game, and they both did. But I mean, how about the Bengals, Like six hundred yards offense in this one, over five hundred yards offense in the first one eighty two points on eleven hundred plush yards offense. That is ridiculous, ridiculous. And in that first matchup, I mean Humphrey was matched up on Chase when he had over two hundred yards.

I mean, it's crazy. Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. It's like a Rex Ryan kind of guy. He's brash, not afraid to say things. He's a great defensive coordinator. Nobody could argue that. But he made the comment during the week that Joe Burrow basically is not ready to be fitted for a gold jacket yet. And he's right. But in two games against the Ravens, sixty for eighty four.

That's seventy one percent completion, nine hundred forty one yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, passer rating of one thirty one point one. That's a nightmare that Wink Bartondale and the Ravens are going to have to worry about for the next however many years. I'd say he's got the right arm of the jacket measured out from those two games in Baltimore. I mean that right arm is golden man. He is he is something, and as you say, he's not going to regress. I mean, if anything, he's even

going to get sharper if that's if that's possible. But I've never seen it, really. I've seen a lot of quarterbacks that have laser focus. This guy, though, is like the same, no matter what. Big game like this, a game where he throws one hundred, one hundred and fifty yards as long as they win the football game. He is truly good with it. And people, ah, yeah, that's a bunch of talk. No, it's it's fact, it really is. This guy is all about w's and ells and man's

gonna he's gonna put together a remarkable career. And I'm glad that this guy is a Cincinnati Bengal again. His mind for the game of football, he's been blessed. I mean, the football gods said Joe Burrow, you will be born a football genius. And not only was he born a football genius, his mentor was his dad, who coached for a long played at a high level, coached at a high level. I'm sure the conversations they had when Joe

Barrow was growing up about defenses. Joe Barrow could get up and give you a lecture about defense and install defenses just like he can install offenses. He not only understands his offense, he knows exactly what defenses are trying to do to take away his offense. This guy is unquestionably a football savant. I don't think I see any young quarterback that gets the game of football better than Joe Barrow. This dude. Very rarely do you fool the guy.

You know he's and he is always bitterly disappointed and visibly upset when he's fooled. That's the only time I see him show emotion. It's like I was fooled on that. You know. It's not that I didn't I didn't read it the right way. It's not that my execution was good enough. I can't be fooled. Nobody can fool me. That's just the way he approaches the game. And I'm telling you, not just young quarterbacks. I think he's I think he's as sharp as guys that have been in

the league ten years or longer. This dude gets the ball. Put it into perspective from an offensive lineman's viewpoint, how extraordinary it is for Trey Hendrickson, competing against the best in the world, to have at least a half a sack in eleven consecutive games. I mean, everybody strive for consistency. That's a big word, you know, and it's one of the biggest compliments that you can get. Besides, you know, when guys say, oh, man, you're he's great. That guy's great.

The next word that you want to hear. Man, that player is so consistent. We can just rely on him, count on him. He's reliable. He's so consistent. That is what you want to hear. And that's that's a bigger population of potential population of players in the National Football League. And Hendrickson has unique talents which make him, you know, an upper cruss player, and he's so consistent with him.

I mean, we were talking during the broadcast that you know, it's like sack here, sack and a half here, or a half a sack there. It was never when Corey Bacon had his great season, he had a five stack game. He had a guy that couldn't handle him, and they weren't at the point yet were sliding protections, chipping, you know, putting a tight end over there. I mean, it was just like, you know, you gotta go block him, you

gotta get it done. And football's evolved, so you're not gonna you're not gonna see necessarily a situation like they're not gonna let a guy get a five stack game, and for him to get one or at least a half a one for eleven straight football games is remarkable on me. If you can get one next week against Kansas City and tie the freak. I mean, at least a half a sack in twelve games. I think it's now he's got a sack in thirteen of his last

fifteen games. That's that's half a sack. At least a half a sack in thirteen of his last fifteen games. You cannot define consistency any better than that. So let's set the stage now, two games to go, a one game lead in the division over Baltimore. At least Pittsburgh still to come as we record this conversation, but the Bengals essentially have put themselves in the position where if they win one more game and it doesn't really matter all that much whether it's Kansas City or Cleveland, they

are in the playoffs. And honestly, I'd like to see them put a string together where you know they finished the game on an uptick, on finished the season, I should say, on an uptick on an up note, because you know, first thing you want to do is make the playoffs. But if you go into the playoffs playing on a consistent level and on an upswing from a momentum standpoint, you feel better about it. If you if you back your way into the playoffs or something like that.

You know, now you just feel lucky to be there. But if you go and you beat you know, the teams that they beat in Denver, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland when they're all most of the time when they were playing them, was like another playoff game. And if they can get on a mini four game quasi playoff run, that would stand them in really good stead. So I'd love to see them just go toe to toe with the Kansas City Chiefs, who is They're a damn good

football team. Their defensive football team is really good. I mean, this is well put together football team. If they can beat Kansas City, that would be a heck of an accomplishment. And you know that no matter what, the Cleveland Browns are gonna want to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, particularly if it could knock them out of the playoffs. They're gonna, They're gonna if they're eliminated, whatever the case may be. I've been in both situations as a Bengal playing the

Cleveland Browns, and there's they're equally sweet. They are. I mean, it's like if you can particularly your last game of the season is beating your in state arch rival to knock them out of the playoffs. You feel a lot better about yourself than if you go into the offseason having, you know, getten rashed by that group as they go into the playoffs. More on Sundays when join Lap and Lance mccalist. They're for Bengals Line Monday night from six

to night on seven hundred WLW. Now time this week's fun Facts segment where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts of Bengal safety Michael Thomas, a nine year NFL VET and a former pro bowler from Houston, Texas. Growing up in Houston, were you obsessed with sports and did you have a wide variety of interests? Oh Man, definitely was obsessed with sports shoot through a watching football with my dad, But honestly,

baseball was my first love. Basketball just like any other kid, Jordan was my favorite athlete. But other interests though, since you asked that point, I did part take in acting a little bit? Well, I know you did some acting when you went to Stanford. I read that you had the lead role in Killer Joe. Tell me about that man. It was a crazy, crazy sequence of events Stanford. They loved me and all my theater arts class there. Let's just go out for this play. All right? I did it.

I did to try the audition. Next thing I knew I had the leading role in the play. I'm all right, we'll see where this goes. It turned it was a great turnout. When the show started, all my teammates came, everybody on campus came like that. We got great reviews and stuff, and next thing I know, you know, I'm in newspaper articles and stuff for us. I'm like, well, football don't work out, Maybe I have an acting career.

How just memorizing your lines for a play compared to memorizing a playbook, Oh man, it's it's it's crazy how great the crossover was. I remember our first actual table read, I had already memorized everything is. I'm like, oh, you got to prepare attention to detail and stuff. And I guess nobody else was supposed to be off book for like another two weeks. And when they saw me reading my lines and getting the character as if, I was like, you know, if we were performing to play right then

everybody was like, oh, shoot, this guy's intensive. So it's it's definitely some crossover to it, and I just took it serious. But it's I think it's a little easier. We're talking to Michael Thomas. Let's talk about your high school football career. You were an option quarterback. Correct, Yes, I see, you've done your homework right. Yeah, definitely played quarterback my whole career until I got to Stanford. That it was fun. I had the ball in my hands. Yea.

I was born on that side of the side of the football. But at the end of the day, you know, I think there were some receivers that I grew up with that were kind of mad at me. Definitely weren't throwing the ball. A lot of nimits. So from the research I've read that you went to Stanford at least in part because you competed against another Houston area high school quarterback who people listening to this have heard of, Andrew Ltte. Is that true? Absolutely? Man, Like we were

in the same It was crazy. We were in the same district growing up in high school. And man, every what everybody knew of him in college or you know, like got to see in the NFL. He's been like that since we were fourteen fifteen years old. So once he started getting recruited by Stanford and he committed, and once they started recruiting me, I was like, well, I know that guy's gonna be good. So shoot, if I get in, that's where I'm going. We're gonna have success.

And it certainly played out that way. Does it sadden you that his NFL career ended as soon as it did a little bit, just because I know how hard he worked and how you know, the aspirations of him and what he wanted to do, you know, being great and all that. But at the end of the day, you know, I just talked to him yesterday and you know we stayed we stayed very close, like we're like great friends, like almost like brothers. Like he's happy and

the injuries and stuff. I know, he didn't want to put that stup, you know, his his body and his family through that again going to rehab and he just had his first kid. Uh, so he's happy, man. So so it's saddened me that we couldn't all witness the greatness of Andrew Luck the quarterback. But at the end of the day, the person, I think he's better. So you must have been a great student to go to Stanford. You earned your degree in sociology. What was the hardest

course you took and what was your favorite course at Stanford? Oh? Definitely, Uh, it was. It was definitely a culture shock to me once I went to Stanford. Uh. Struggled a little bit as a as a as a freshman, but um, and that came from playing and then I put some on stress on myself by pleasure a fred and doing all

that them all as a young guy. Right. But I say the hardest course was probably my freshman year, a computer science course that all freshmen have to take, and that let me know, Yeah, I will not be a coder at Stanman or we're not going to coding. But I think, you know, once you learn what any type of college institution is looking for out of their students and what they expect time management and all that stuff,

you know, I did well. And I'll say my favorite course ended up being stats statistics, just because I'm able to take the problem of any you know, any word problem and stuff and just be able to apply whatever formula that was needed for that that equation and figure out a solution. So I think that that type of you know mind and thinking like that that's who I am. A college degree from any institution is something to be

proud of, but they're not all created equal. What does it mean to you to have a degree from that institution? I'll say this. You know it is a recruiting tool, right, They're a little quote, Oh you know, Stanford isn't a four year decision. It's a forty year decision. Right. You know what year you buy until you eat it up,

you know it sells itself. Right. But I'll say this, any anybody who graduates from Stanford, you don't truly understand what that means until you leave and you start to see the weight of oh where'd you go to school? And you say Stanford, and how everyone else treats you, and then you know that that that stamp of approval,

that weight of that name. And then how many people in your network, you know, from the Stanford alumni and you know what they got going on, and they're like, oh, you went to Stafford, come on, we'll just teach you, We'll bring you along. It's it's it's it's definitely a great experience. I thank god I made that decision to go there. It will serve you well for the rest of your life. You're talking to Bengal safety Michael Thomas. Despite an excellent college career, you weren't drafted. Did that

put a chip on your shoulder? And if so, is it's still there? Absolutely, that's not something that goes away, you know, like everybody else you grew up. Oh yeah, I'm gonna win the highsman, I'm gonna be the number one overall pick. I'm gonna get drafted. Hear my name called walk on the stage, right, and you know to not go through that, you know it definitely, It definitely changes your mindset instantly, right, I guess it forced with you to grow up fast. You you don't come in

just why I you know Google. You know with your career you're like, no, I gotta take everything serious because only I'm not guaranteed even to get an opportunity. And if I do it, I can't make mistakes. I almost have to be perfect. And that mindset never changes because you're a status of undrafted never goes away as well. And that's both on you know, in your locker room, on your field, but also you know, in the business side of it. Right, So I've used that to feel me.

I see other undrafted guys. And I see guys on the practice squad and when I when I see them in the locker room, I try to make sure that I encourage. I'm like, hey, you don't know how close you are. Keep working that opportunities go coming. When it does, don't let it go. You spent your first NFL season of the forty nine ers practice squad where one of your teammates was Hall of Famer Randy Moss. His son, Thaddius is your teammate this year with the Bengals. Did

you share that nugget with Thad when you join the Bengals. Oh? Absolutely. I Actually I think I embarrassed myself. I got into like left Weights early and he was one of the first people here as well. I was like, oh, yeah, what's up, Early? My name is Michael, Yeah, who are you yo? What's your name with? What school you go to? And he kind of like I was taking it back. He's like, yeah, I went to LSU, but here, really, you know what I'm saying, like say his name or

nothing like that. And I realized very quickly, Oh, I didn't realize what I was talking to. Bro. Do you know I played with your dad? He started laughing. He was like, yeah, he told me a little bit about you, and it was just a running joke. It was like, dude, you know how to hold you or you played with my dad? You know, it's kind of weird that I'm playing with yourself. Man, Like now we joke about it.

But that was a blessing to be able for me to be able to say I played with Randy Moss and he was probably one of the coolest teammates you could ever have, just spoke with everybody he wanted. He was a joy to be around, told stories, held court

and stuff like that. It's like, dude, do you understand like I grew up yours a c the Moss people, your name's a bird, yours help and I'm just sitting here just you know, chopping it up with You're eating with you and stuff like So that was a great experience and to be able to be with that, and now, you know, I try to give him as much game as I can from my perspective and what I went through and knowing what he's going through now, man, So it comes full circle. We're fun facts with Bengal safety

Michael Thomas. Everybody remembers his NFL debut, but yours was especially impressive. You earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week. You're with the Dolphins at the time, Describe how you earned it? Oh Man, from Monday to Monday and that December fifteenth, oh Man, like that that was? That was crazy? Uh got you know, got the call. Woke up almost miss my opportunity. First off, Dan woke up to a bunch of miss miss texts and calls from my agent.

Woke up. She's like, hey, if you don't let me know right now what you want to do, the team's gonna move on to another player. They're trying to claim here. I'm like, who is it, Miami Dolphins. Let's go like she score. I'm trying to play almost two years on the press squad, Get there on like a Wednesday, the GMTLD leg Look, we got a bunch of injuries at dB. You're only coming here to play on special teams. Punt return was my only job for Sunday, right, Okay, cool bit,

get there. I'm doing my job. I'm happy I get to play in the NFL. Fourth quarter comes, we're winning the game, and then two starting dbs get hurt. So next saying you know, I gotta go into defense. Actually, then our now Beingals defensive coordinate coordinator, lou Hana Rumo was a dB coach there. He's like, thirty one, you played a little nickel, right yeah, No, nobody knows my name. They ain't not worried about me. Thirty one, you played a little nickel in college, right yeah. So just go

out there to Rashad Jones and safety. They're gonna tell you what coverage it is. You know, just just play football. The only problem is we're going against Tom Brady in the New England Patriots. So he sees me in the slot. He's just picking on me down the field. Regular storyline, Tom Brady game, win and drive for a touchdown, right, get to the fourth get to the red zone. He tries me on first and goal for the game with Amadola in the end zone or you know, elmen one

other two. And I see the ball coming Dan, and you know, my heart is just raising and I'm like, oh no. I was like, no, let me lose the game. Right here, he has the ball in his hand. I fight all the way to the ground. Next thing you know, the ball pops out and I'm just hype my teammates. You know, high five me. They still don't know my name. Great job, thirty one, good job, incomplete, incomplete. So now it's fourth and you know, fourth goal for the game.

Coach eight, call's time out there, Like, Mike, we're gonna get you some help. You're in the safety. You're gonna double team Edelman in the slot. And I'm like, thank you, Lord. You know what I'm saying, Like, even if we lose, just don't let it be on me, said hunt. Edelman goes underneath. I free up just from you know, my study of how to play the coverage everywhere else I've been next thing, the thing I know. I look up there in the balls coming. It's like a movie slow

motion catch it fall down in the end zone. I'm like, wait, did I just catch my first interception? Or wait, wait that's for the game. Wait that's Tom Brady. I'm just crying. I'm like going crazy. My teammates jumping up and down on me, camera on my face, the crowd's going nuts. It was just wild. It was just wild, man. And

I mean I couldn't have drawn it up better. Um, you know, And that's why I encourage every guy that's on practice squad or undraft to just keep working, man, You never know when that opportunity is gonna come, and when it does, just make the most of it. Man, A game clinching interception off the goat Tom Brady in the final ten seconds of your NFL debut. That's pretty incredible.

We're chatting in Michael Thomas. You're with the Dolphins for five years, then you joined the New York Giants and you earned a Pro Bowl spot as a special team stand out. From undrafted to practice squad to the Pro Bowl. What did that honor mean? It was? I mean it was more than gratifying, Dan, you know, I mean everybody puts in so much work, in time and effort into playing, but to earn for me is to earn that respect

of everybody in the league. You know, all your peers, everybody you've played with, and you know how much day put into it right now, so you know, I can talk all day about that and the coaches for them to you know, you come up to you after every game like I love the way you play, I love your passing. But to finally get that stamp up approval that not and been banging on it, you know for years when I was with the Dolphins. But Matthew Slater's

just he's my goya. I just couldn't crack it right whatever. So to finally get that, man, that that meant a lot to me because you know, forever, I'll be able to say I made the Pro Bowl in the NFL at the highest level. So yeah, it's good stuff. You spent last year playing for your hometown team, the Houston Texans.

Was that a dream come true? I didn't even know it, but yes, you know, like when I signed with the Texas, I was never like, oh, yeah, I want to finish out my career or you know, advisually played for hometown team. I've never really that never really crossed them one. Especially if I went undrafted. I was like, shooting, we ever want to give me a job, we ever want to

play for? That's where I'm going, right. But once I actually signed, and you know, it came across on Twitter, social media, you know everywhere, and everybody at the way everybody at home reacted, you know, people like almost in tears, are worring tears when they saw it, Like, man, I get to root from my guy. You're playing for the

hometown team. You know how crazy. That's my light. I was like, thing that means a lot, you know, like it means a lot to everybody, to the city, to the schools I went to, and grew up in how much I was able to do for the Houston community because I was there and I was really from there. I mean that meant the Larne and you were the Texans nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award,

recognizing what you've done off the field. I know you've had a free youth football camp for several years, and one of your focuses is teaching kids. It's about finances, right absolutely, Like financial literacy and education. To me, like those are the keys, you know, yeah, to try to you know, change those cycles of whatever that is really poverty, lack of resources. It's gonna take kids going to you know, going to school. Us being better than the generations before us.

And not to say, you know, it's wrong how we were growing up. They were giving us the best that they had that they had available, the knowledge that they had, our resources that they had, right. But it has to stop somewhere, you know, and those those you know, bad cycles have to stop somewhere and it's the access to that education, It's the access to those resources. And if I'm able to, you know, after everything I've learned, all my experiences, be able to come and bring that back

to my hometown city. And that's that's that's what I feel like, you know, I'm called to do. All Right, a few wildcard categories with Michael Thomas to wrap this up. You answered this one actually early, but you can elaborate now. Your all time favorite athlete in any sport and why. Definitely growing up it was Michael Jordan hands down, you know, like like I mean like it was. It was just like everybody else. It was almost like sickening, you know, like how I felt the bottom growing up. Just a

mistique about him, obviously, you just talking about sports. The unblemish six you know what I'm saying, six six titles and on six tries. But that work, acted that that drive, that will to win, you know, challenging teammates and stuff

like that. I don't think the last dance changed my view that much because after being a professional athlete myself, I know what it takes and sometimes you do got to challenge of teammates and leadership styles are different, but yeah, So I'd say that just just that will to win and just finding a way, just finding a way to get it done. Aside from acting. Do you have any other hidden talents? Nah? Man, I'd say acting probably is

that that that one hidden talent um. But you know now, it's just trying to be the best father I can be, still learning on the fly. I got three young kids and trying to figure out how to be a good husband and my wife Like, that's that's about it. What are you terrible as Oh? I'd probably say I'm terrible at cooking, but that's something I am going to work at, you know, Like I think my wife would appreciate it as well, just to help out a little bit. So

I'd probably say cooking. You are one of three Michael Thomas's in the NFL, including a current teammate. Have you ever been confused for the other two? What that's on a daily basis? I promised. If I look up my phone right now on Instagram on Twitter, I'm getting called slant boy yo, Like why Yo, when are you gonna be available for the for the Saints? I drafted you

in the first round. Man, Me and me and me and my nickname is normally Mike T. But he his nickname is Mike T too so and he was here first, so I can't even go by Mike T now right, So we call each other twin. You'll see us do our little little acknowledgement and celebration every day. But you know, I love his personality. It's funny. We crack jokes every day in the locker room, but that's on a daily basis at this point. And I'll probably I'll give you one more. The worst part was a couple of years

when I was with the Dolphins. I think Nike was doing like player cards or something like that and giving every single player. You get your own player cards, you can sign them, give them out to you know, like uh, at your at your youth camps and events and stuff. Right, I opened up my pack. Oh yeah, Dad, you already know what this is going. I opened up my pack and it was a box, of course, full of Mike Thomas for the Saints. I said, I took the social media.

I made a video on my teammates laughing at me in the locker room. I said, no enough enough, you know what I'm saying, like, no, no, no, this has to stop. Somewhere, you know. But it's funny. It's a great name, obviously, but no, it's cool to have a teammate with the same name as Year and we just feed off each other. It would be nice to get a paycheck from the saint that you are on the same That's what I said. I am waiting. That's what

I'm waiting for. It's like, give me that check. It saints Nike, Jordan, whoever my name's on it, Dan, and disease for me. So that's what I'm waiting for. I hope it happened. Last thing, this is kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, religious figure, whoever that might be, who would that person be, I'd probably say at this point Jackie Robinson. I played

him acting in a history fair and then performances. Ask him I think was sixth grade and everything he stood for, not just breaking a barrier, you know, color barrier in baseball, but you know, just just the mindset he had to have to go through that at that time, still go out there and the pressure of going to perform and you know, be a young African American male, you know, with that much weight and you know, how did he

deal with it? Obviously I've had my things I've had to deal with in my career, right, so I'd probably want to, you know, have a conversation with him regards with dinner, you know, drink whatever, you know, and just just just talk about that and just talk about life. Tremendous answer, and this has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for your time. Best of luck the rest of the year. It's been fun for me too, man,

Thank you. I hope you agree that Michael J. Thomas earned a spot in the Fun Facts Hall of Fame. That's going to do it for This episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us.

I'm Dan Horde. Merry Christmas and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.