Hi, get everybody on Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth podcast. The ooch Things agoon to get easier. Addition, as the Bengals lose a tight one in Jake Browning's first NFL start, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers sixteen to ten. Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from
players and coaches, and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll get to know a Bengals newcomer in twenty twenty three whose father played the same position for seven years in the NFL. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Cattering
Health the best care for the best fans. Scattering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since beer vent calendars. You're probably familiar with Advent calendars, which are used to count down the days
of Advent in December. They are typically large rectangular cards with little doors, and you open one up to see what's inside every day leading up to Christmas. Well, now there's something called a beer vent calendar, where you open the door in a large box and find a different beer for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. We got one from Higher Gravity, a bar and bottle shop with two locations in the Cincinnati area, and I
am looking forward to our Christmas countdown. Now, time for the radio replays from day's six point loss to the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomorrow line from an old advertising campaign. Today, the Cincinnati Bengals find out what Ken Browning do for you as quarterback Jake Browning makes his first NFL start nearly five years after his last college start,
a Rose Bowl matchup against Ohio State. Today it's the Bengals against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it is time for the pigskin to fly. Here in the jungle. Warren Inted, running back on third and two they handed to him. Warren does not get the first down. The ball comes out, the Bengals pick it up. Turner's running it back, fastest man of the combine this year, and he gets tackled at the thirty nine yard line by a tight end Connor Hayward. The ball was punched out on the run
by Jalen Warren. This will be a forty one yard the old goal attempt for Chris Boswell. No kicker in the NFL has been better this year than Boswell. He's eighteen for nineteen and now he's nineteen for twenty. The kick is right down the middle. His only miss this year was wide right from sixty one yards away, and he was.
Good from fifty six and the penalty went from sixty one.
And he missed.
This kickoff fielded on a bounce. Travon Williams running back to the thirty sideline forty forty five hand tackled just shy of midfield by Miles killer Brew. Pittsburgh kicked it low and it didn't bother Travon Williams at all. Fielded it near the two and ran it back forty five yards, his longest kickoff return of the year. Play action fake to mix and throw deflected, still caught by Jamar Chase
on his feet at the Pittsburgh thirty twenty five. Mixing down there to block and Chase gets shoved out of bounds at the sixteen yard line. Sometimes better to be lucky, been good. In this case, Jamar Chase is both caught the ricochet and then used his great speed to turn
that into a thirty one yard game. Browning fakes a handoff, rolls left his pass caught at the eleven sample toward the end zone touchdown Bengals true sample, knocking over Bowling Pins on his way to the end zone as he catches his second touchdown of the season and gives Cincinnati the lead. Browning has the ball five man rush. He throws it deep for Chase.
What a catch.
He was blanketed by Joey Porter Junior. Threw it right over his helmet and Jamar Chase made the catch down to the twenty one for a twenty five yard game. Browning catches the shotgun snap quick pass interceptive. Jamar Chase tackles Trenton Thompson at the twenty one yard line after the red zone pick for Pittsburgh.
Can he pick.
It is under center on first in goal from the five. The Bengals lead seven to three. It's a handoff, notje Yes bouncing it wide to the left. Touchdown Pittsburgh is a penalty flag down.
That's a hold in the perimeter that's gonna be nullified and penalizing.
There's no foul for holding with over the players a touchdown.
Wow, pick up that talking to picking up that flagged.
Browning back to throw screens. It caught by mix and he has Kappa in front, runs to the forty forty five fifty Pittsburgh forty Steelers thirty five and he goes out of bounds. They're gonna mark him out at the thirty six. So the screen to Joe Mixon results in a thirty nine yard game and the Bengals aren't dead yet. With two forty to go, Adam Minas snaps it. Here
comes the right footed kick and it is good. So the Bengals make it a six point game, and now we'll see if they can recover an on sidekick to give themselves a chance for a miracle victory. Mcpheerson again adjust the football straight up and down on the tee. He's about two steps away. He approaches the ball, now changes sides, gets ready to kick it from right to left. He kicks the top of the ball, It bounces and it's grabbed by Pickings and Jake Browning's first NFL start.
The Bengals manage one touchdown and one field goal, They turned it over in the red zone and they lose despite holding the Pittsburgh Steelers to sixteen points by the final score of sixteen to ten. We start our postgame analysis with the Bengals starting QB. Jake Browning. Stats were pretty good. He completed seventy three percent of his passes and threw for two hundred and twenty seven yards in
a touchdown. That's the good news. But Jake held on to the ball for two long on some third down plays leading to sacks, and his red zone interception on third and seven at the eighteen yard line when the Bengals had a seven to three lead in the third quarter was devastating. Here are the most interesting things that Browning had to say in a postgame news conference.
Some ups, some downs. Definitely not my best game. Just try to keep fighting. I think starting with the first drive kind of getting settled in. Felt like there were times where I was settled in. I felt like there were other times where I needed to play better, but it was not up to my standard of how I would have liked to play.
You talked all week.
About the aggressive how do you go out your manage the line between.
The push the ball and making them play.
I think that's always kind of hard to snow until you watch the tape, and it's hard to give a generalized answer. I think there were somewhere it was good to be aggressive, and I think there were somewhere you know, could have just checked it down and maybe not taken some sacks. But I think part of me getting back into the groove of playing and stuff like that is is kind of figuring out like, Okay, where is that line for me? And where is that line h in
this offense? And what what is that line I need to play on in order to give us the best chance to win the game.
Your reaction was exactly what.
Yeah, Yeah, I think I just made the decision too early in the play, like let the play play out and let seventeen decide if he's going to cover the curl or cover the guy in the flat, And I kind of made the decision without really reading it out to OK, hey, let's just get the ball. They're very soft on Jamar. Let's just get the ball to him, get forward, get three. This is going to be a game that comes down to you know, it's not going to be a shootout.
And so.
You know, that was kind of my thought process, and in hindsight, I guess, play out the play and read it out, don't just see something pre snap and kind of make a decision.
I mean after I mean, what.
You last start is what the roller bowl? When you have I.
Means, yeah, I mean I think that's a little bit of a cop out. Uh for me to sit here and say that, you know, any any interception was because I haven't played in a while, Like it's a cop out. I think I can read out that play and make the right decision.
Is too early to get a sense of what is the biggest thing you'll build upon going.
Forward from today?
Uh yeah, probably a little too early. I would say. There's just some things like maybe that don't show up on tape, like kind of learning all right, here's what it looks like to start a game, and and I think figure out where that like I said, where that line is I'm playing aggressive, but then also knowing that this isn't going to be a forty two to forty five games, So taking some of those sacks, uh, when you're trying to make the play end up hurting in
some field position stuff. And and I think just the overall experience I will build from and being able to see myself on tape and critique it pretty hard will be good for me too.
Say you waited so long for this moment?
Yeah, now, sure, can you appreciate that?
Or it does the.
Longest color over it? Yeah?
I think you know the nex twenty four hours maybe or at some point it will not feel like just pissed that we lost. Maybe it'll take a year or two, but yeah, I think just lost a close game where you feel like you didn't play your best and we didn't play well enough on offense and only gave up sixteen points on defense and we lost.
And so.
Yeah, I think that's kind of my primary thought in my head.
As Browning pointed out, the Bengals only gave up sixteen points and that's usually good enough to win. But the Steelers went up and down the field, running for one hundred and fifty three yards and passing for two two sixty eight. That equals four hundred and twenty one total yards, ending Pittsburgh's fifty eight game streak of finishing with fewer than four hundred. Every other team in the NFL had at least four four hundred yard performances in the same span.
Tight End Pat Fryarmouth, who had only played in five games this year because of a hamstring injury, was the star of the show with nine catches for one hundred and twenty yards. Kenny Pick had finished with a passer rating of ninety seven point eight, and his career passer rating and twenty two previous starts was seventy seven point seven. Mike Hilton had eight solo tackles, including two for losses, and I spoke to him in front of his locker, Mike.
The Steelers obviously changed offensive coordinators this week. Was their offense much different?
Not too much?
They were definitely an only thing I will notice that they did throw over the middle little more than they'd done in the pass and they caught us in some mad spots, and you know, something supposed to plays over the middle of the field.
Pat Fryermouth has missed much of this season. He does not have the statistics he would normally have, but he looked healthy today and obviously he hurt.
He did.
He's one of the better young tight ends in the game, and they try to featu him as much as possible, and like I said, they had a good game plan for him to work the middle of the field and it has he says doing that though.
It seemed like third downs in the third and fourth quarter were really the key to the game. They converted several in a row, and I'll give Kenny pick a credit. He made some good throws on those plays.
Yeah, this just you know, them playing good ball early early in the first half, we were getting off the field on third down, and second half they just kept their drives going and kind of put us intel spots to where we couldn't get off the field and kind of came back to bite us. So, you know, that's something we got to go back over the field and look at and see where we can make corrections.
What'd you think of Kenny's performance, because he threw a couple of deep balls that were really right on the money.
Yeah, you know, he's a good quarterback. You know, he made throws when he needs to, he escapes the pocket wheel and he just does what he needs to do for their offense. And you know today he had a good day and you know they gotta go win. So co rest of.
Them, what's your mindset after this game now that you guys have fallen to five and six.
Uh, just continue to keep going. I mean, we got a tell thee going out in Jacksonville on Monday night. But you know, it's the opportunity for us to turn it around and you know, try to try to get things on positive noble.
Now, let's hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent three minutes with lap after the game.
So it's the first thing that I'd like to know is what the hell did they tell you when they picked the flag up on the holding call? That's all I mean. It affects the play, grabs, turns them around, spins them around, they score a touchdown right off that at the point of attack, they throw a flag and pick it up. What was their explanation on that.
They saw holding and then one of the other officials said it wasn't holding, so they just discussed it and they picked up the flag.
That was that was a tough one to say the least. Did Pittsburgh. I mean, that's a good defensive football team. Obviously they don't do anything differently. Did they play more man than zone then you thought, or anything like that.
Early in the game, they played a lot more man, you know, trying to put pressure on us to take away the run and make us throw the ball in the rain a little bit as a game win. They mix it up kind of the things that we'd seen it on tape, and nothing was such surprise. That's what they did to Cleveland last week. Early in the game, backup quarterback played a lot of single high and try to make him go win. And I thought our guys
handled it really well. I thought the first half we played the type of game we inventioned it was going to be, you know, I think I think key situational things that popped up were, you know, we had a chance to kind of pin him down there with the punt under the two minute morning in the first half and maybe come away with some points there if we'd get in to stop and so we got to capitalize on that. And then coming out the second half we get in the red zone, we got to come away
with points not a turnover, and then there's opportunity. You know, we we punted the ball down to the eleven and we can't let him out on the first run. So I think just as a team, we got to really assess all three units. We got to do a better job capitalizing. It might just be one situation a game that we got to be better at. And that's really what it came down to today.
Third down, they converted it like a fifty percent clip and I think at one point, I know it was too nine and they get all four of their sacks on third down, they got the red zone interception on third down. You know that that was a big difference in the game, was the third down situations when.
Yeah, those are all part of the situations we talked about, you know, and you got to be great in those areas. And again it's it's no surprise that the game ends up being a one score game and the team that was a little bit better in those areas wins the game.
So the running game obviously left a lot to be desired. How tough is that with a quarterback with this first NFL start, going against that defense and facing that kind of situation.
Yeah, we we just we didn't get enough normal down places, and that part of that is running the ball better and throwing the ball better and getting first tallensd We put ourselves in a position to do that. Obviously, it's a tough sledding going against that front sometimes, and they try to take you out of your eleven personnel runs by playing base to eleven, so you got to throw the ball, and so of course you get big people, and so again it was it was a challenge. We
got to find more production there. We're going to play them here in a couple of weeks, and that's something we're going to have to assess and be better at.
What about field position overall, I mean Treyvon had the big kickoff returning to cave you a pretty short field and you capitalized on that for a touchdown. Overall, how did you see field position unfolding?
Yeah, I thought there was a few more opportunities we could have capitalized on, and it went about the way you thought in terms of how it shook out. I don't think he either time either team was really a huge disadvantage that the kickoff return obviously led to points for us, and so just moments like that with hidden yardage. Those are big moments in the game, you know. And
I thought Jamar made some good plays for us. I got us some chunk plays as well, and stepped up when we needed them too, And unfortunately we just didn't get enough of it to get.
Us the one.
They're tied in farm Youth that had missed a good part of the season with injury. I mean, that dude's a weapon.
He is.
You know, He's been a good player and he can win some one on one matchups. And again we'll see him a couple of weeks there. We gotta do a better job.
The rematch in Pittsburgh is four games away. The Bengals have a Monday night road game next week at Jacksonville, followed by home games against the Colts and Vikings, then road games in Pittsburgh and Kansas City before finishing at home again Cleveland. Right now, all six of those opponents
would make the playoffs. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future Proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level and by Kettering Health, the best Care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time for the radio guys recap.
They are celebrating their new offensive coordinators in Pittsburgh as the Steelers come to Cincinnati and beat the Bengals sixteen to ten. How big of a factor do you think that was? Because the Steelers wound up with four hundred and twenty one yards of offense and average more than six yards of play.
I think they're fortunate in that they're being promoted to that position at the expense of Canada's firing coincided with farm youths coming back and being available to them. He was huge, huge, I mean, the weapon in the middle of the field was there the entire game. And the numbers, the numbers speak for themselves. I mean, I think he had well over one hundred.
Yards receiving nine for one for one.
Twenty that's pretty impressive. And early in the game, I mean twenty four yard completion, twenty nine yard completion, his first two catches for fifty three yards. I mean that got them off and running. So I think that was another common denominator. The Bengals were hope full of minimizing explosives and Pittsburgh Steelers were able to get too many.
Again, Kenny Pickett through for two hundred and seventy eight yards, no touchdowns. He never seems to throw touchdowns, but he didn't throw any interceptions. He set the Steelers record for consecutive passes without a pick. But I've got to hand it to the guy because he threw about three deep balls that were outstanding in this game.
Yeah, he really did. I thought he I thought he played his best football game year overall. He's not a big touchdown guy. He's not a big interception guy. I mean he he does take care of the football. And I think people thought he was being a little bit too conservative at the quarterback position. I think that might have been another thing that he was told by the co coordinators. Air it out a little bit, take some shots. We're good. We're okay with that. You know, we're never
gonna make any unless you throw it. And if it doesn't work out, we have a defense that'll, you know, back us up. So don't be afraid to take some hits down the football field. And when he did, and he hit one, he hit one right away. It's like, going to do this a little bit more.
The Steelers ran for one hundred and fifty three yards. The Bengals ran for twenty five and eleven carries. I can't figure it out. Why is this running game so ineffective?
That's a great question. I mean, start the game out, Okay, we're gonna be big, physical, two tight ends and a sixth offensive lineman. We're gonna we're gonna get up there and mash here. Well, I end up throwing the ball out of that look. And they didn't go back to that look all that often, although they did have the sixth offensive lineman in there some you know, with another tight end, but you know, and it was a low
scoring game the entire game. They had the lead, you know, a good, good part of the game, and just didn't get back to running the football. Established in the running game, Joe Mixon has had pretty good games, averaged seventy five yards a game over the ten games of his career. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he needed seventeen yards to get to six thousand. He ended up with sixteen. He couldn't
even get there. So it's it's crazy how how well the Pittsburgh Steelers made the Cincinnati Bengals one dimensional with a rookie quarterback, and the Bengals goal was to make Pittsburgh one dimensional with a quarterback who had been struggling, and one succeeded and the other didn't.
Jake Browning's numbers were okay, nineteen for twenty six, two hundred and twenty seven yards, one touchdown, one very costly pick, and a ninety six point two passer rating. But those stats don't take into account decision making. Some of the times he held onto the ball too long, some of the times he didn't throw it away when he should have. Things like that were really costly.
Yeah, and I know, I know that third down. All the sacks came on third down, you know, and his interception came in the red zone on third down. So one team was dynamic on third down, that being the Pittsburgh Steelers. They made money on the money down. The Bengals went bankrupt on the money down. I mean, they
had all kinds of issues. Pittsburgh was like fifty percent for the game, I think on third down, and the Bengals were I know, at one point it was two for nine, two for ten and all the all the problems they had on third down, that was just that was a critical part of the football game. You got
to give you gotta give Pittsburgh credit. They made made plays when they when they needed to, particularly on third down, and Jake was trying to I think he was probably thinking, K, third down, we're plunting the football anyway, let me hold it a little bit longer. Well, that's fine, but if it's not there, you know, don't take a seven eight
yard sack and change the hidden yards. You know, even more so because sacks that end up affecting the hidden yards as well as you know, exchanging punts and that sort of thing. I can understand, you know, during the flow of the game. Okay, third down, let me just wait and see if this unfolds the way I'm thinking. I thought Pittsburgh did a pretty good job. Early in
the game. They were playing a lot of man, a lot of pressure packages with man coverage behind it, and then looked to me like they started playing a little bit more zone and mixed that in a little bit. So I thought they did a pretty good job mixing and matching on that side of the football as well.
The Bengals have the front seven back from a defense that's been very good. It's stopping the run. But this year, for the most part, it has not been very good. It's stopping the run. It happened again today one hundred and fifty three rushing yards. Nijie Harris wound up with ninety nine in the game. I mean, we've heard these things over and over again, tackling cutback runs. At some point, do you just say, this year it's just not a very good run stopping unit.
Yeah, I mean it's it's It's one of those things you can talk till you're blue in the face and show tape all you want about. Okay, look, you got to stay in your gap. I mean, you can't cheat and try to help somebody else. They're going to hit your gap and try to It's whenever things are going badly, you have guys that try to do too much to rectify the problem, and that only compounds it. It doesn't rectify it. That compounds the problem. And you see it
over and over and over again. But your natural instinct as a football player is not Okay, well we're getting smoked over there, but I'm just gonna stay right here and I'm going to take this guy on, and you don't feel like you're in any factor in the game, in the in the snap, in the game, so your instinct is to shed and go make a play and help your teammates, and sometimes mistackle or whatever, and not
the problem starts to compound itself. Mistackles at the point of time, and then it cuts back to where you're supposed to be and you're the final part of the problem. So it just it compounds itself and until you, you know, take a look at it after the game, it's like, oh, man, why did I do that? But your natural football instinct is to try to help alleviate the problem, help your teammates, and sometimes that's the worst thing you can do.
I thought last year was Mike Tomlin's best coaching job. The year after Roethlisberger started terribly wound up finishing a game over five hundred. I don't know how he's doing it this year. Three games over five hundred. Then they have been outscored for the season.
It is remarkable, it isn't. I mean, this is the first game where they should they outgained somebody. When they've been out gained ten times and one six of the ten. That's that's almost like, how does that happen? It happen, And it's not like the Bengals turned it over left and right. Now, it's critical where they turned it over and how they turned it over was was critical, but you know Pittsburgh had a red zone turnover as well, so that kind of, you know, cancel each other out.
He just believes that if he can stay within a score himself, his coaching staff, his players are going to finish the game better than you do. I don't care who he's playing against. He just feels like we've been together for a long time. We know exactly how this is going to unfold, and you know, we know what's acceptable, we know what's not. They're just so confident and their ability to get that done that it almost it almost
he wills victories. He like he wills the Pittsburgh Steelers just by his presence and the fact that he's done it, not just a couple on it over and over and over again, year after year with the same type of formula. I mean, it's like it's a self fulfilling prophecy. It's amazing.
Do you feel like this season at five and six is like unveiling more weaknesses than you thought that the Bengals had. I mean, going into the season, I didn't really see many weaknesses on the roster. Now I'm thinking, well, they probably need a little of this, they need that. I'm wondering now that if they have a few more areas of concern than I would have thought.
Yeah, I think I think that. You know, sometimes when you take a good shot, like in a boxing match, you take a shot, it affects you for you know, a few more rounds before you can finally compose yourself. And I think, you know, things that happened early on,
like you know, Joe's injury. Early on, they staggered, and then he comes back from that and he starts to play well, and they know what they've got, and they go on a four game winning streak, you know, and then and then they get they get hit in the mouth by a hot quarterback and their defense has issues, and then all of a sudden, the confidence starts to wane. And the next week you gets you get smoked again defensively, and now it's like, how do we get that confidence back?
Because now our quarterback's done for the year. So it's just like man it's a fifteen round actually, in this case, a seventeen round fight. Seventeen games, so you know, you take standing whatever counts and try to come back, make sure you don't get tko or kod. And sometimes it takes a little bit too long to recover, and before you know it, you've taken too many shots and man, you're you're down too many points in the fight to outpoint the guy. So now you've got to try for
a knockout, and then you might get knocked out. There's a lot of similarities there.
I think Round twelve in Jacksonville next Monday night.
Round twelve in Jacksonville. And that's not going to be an easy, easy situation either. I mean they're in a dogfight. They're in a dogfight for their division and the playoffs and everything that goes along with it life in the NFL. DAN, it ain't easy, right.
It certainly isn't. Jack him Go by the Way is eight and three after beating the Texans twenty four to twenty one. That means the Jags have opened up a two game lead in the AFC south over Houston and Indianapolis. Now time for this week's fun Facts Conversation. Where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with tight End IRV Smith Junior. You are from New Orleans, one of my favorite places in
the world to visit. What do you love about your hometown and what do you miss when you're not there?
Uh?
In New Orleans it's one of a kan It's like nowhere else in the world.
I truly believe. You know.
We known for our food, so I gotta go. I gotta go food number one, and I like the fish. I miss my family on there. So those are probably probably three to three of the things.
New Orleans is obviously the home of the Saints and the Pelicans and the Sugar Bowl. They frequently get Super Bowls and Final Fours and things like that. Did you ever have the opportunity to attend any of those type events.
I never got to attend the Super Bowl or anything like that. I got the attend a few Saints games when I was younger, and when the Super Bowl was in New Orleans, I went to like the NFL experience and stuff like that with my friends. I was in high school, so it was super cool. But you know, New Orleans is a city. We love our football we love our sports and it's something that we pride ourselves on.
Or if my math is correct, you would have been seven when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Were you impacted in any way?
My family was. I was actually living in Arizona. My family they came all came down from New Orleans and stayed with stayed with us, and it was pretty wild.
My cousins is going to school.
With me, and and it was it was definitely something that was a tragedy, uh in the city. And you know, it just shows the resilience of the of the people in New Orleans. And you know how tough we are, how how do people bounce back? And my uncle actually he he stayed. I know many.
People that stayed in and helped save people.
And and and things like that. My uncle he owns a boat dealership in New Orleans, so he was riding through the city saving people on airboats and stuff, getting them out their addicts.
So, you know, that was that was a scary, very scary times.
But you know, I'm glad that, uh, you know a lot of people the city was able to rebuild and bounce back.
We're chatting with IRV Smith Junior. Your dad Earth's senior. It's also an NFL tight end, first round draft pick out of Notre Dame, had a great NFL career. You were really young when he played. What have you learned from others about IRV Smith Senior as a player.
Yeah, you know, just as a kid growing up. I don't really remember too much watching for my dad. So the the memories that I have from him playing ball and stuff is from from his friends, from his old teammates, and from watching some of his films. So, I mean, my dad he was he was definitely he was fast. That's why I got a lot of my speed from great hands, great physical blocker. And he always tells me he wished he would have played in this in this time time of football because.
You know back then there it was a lot more ground and pound.
So you know, he he was a great a great player, great leader, a great teammate and you know, somebody that that his coaches and.
Teammates can rely on.
So you know, I try to model my game after that, and you know, take take anything I can from him.
What former teammates did you meet?
I've met a lot of his former teammates, Willie Roath, I mean it goes, the list goes on. I mean he played for for eight years in the league and for a Notre Dame, and so just growing up meeting so many different guys that he played with and just hearing all the different stories.
It's amazing.
Did having a dad who played in the NFL make that your dream?
Yes, it definitely did.
Just growing up seeing his football is around the house, his helmets around the house, I put his helmets and stuff on. Any any questions, like any anything like that I could pick his brain on about football, I would. And I just play Madden and stuff all day, playing video games when I wasn't at school or at practice, basketball practice.
Just trying to learn the game as much as I can.
You played college football at Alabama. What was Nick Saban's recruiting pitch?
Coach Saban?
He was.
He was a great coach, great recruiter as well. Coach Burns out of he was a running back, running backs coach. He was from New Orleans as well, so he was he was kind of hard on me. I was actually committed at Texas A and M and I ended up decommitting. And you know when I decommitted, I hit up coach Burns and was like, you know, are y'all so interested? And you know, they for sure were, and coach Coach
Saban opened me with with open arms. He actually came to my high school, him and Coach Burns, and I was pretty historic, you know, just everybody from my school was kind of going crazy. And then when I actually got the band my offer Coach Burns, I came to one of my practices with like a camera recorder and basically just came recorded me the whole practice and then ended up bringing it back to Coach Saban and they offered me a few days later.
In your second year at Alabama, the Crimson Tide won a national championship and overtime victory over Georgia. What are your most vivid memories of that win?
That game was? It was amazing just all of the things that went into that. You know, it's a NAZA championship, last game of the year. So when when Tuwak went back and dropped that pass in the Smitty on that game win a touchdown, it was it was crucial and overtime, And what I remember most was after the touchdown, I'm running trying to chase after Smitty and I ran over
the cameraman. Uh, he had got in a way he was he was trying to get that shot and I just ran him clean over and I ain't looked back.
So that was That was one of my favorite memories.
Well, part of your job is getting pancakes, so you got one, that for sure. So after three years at Alabama, you declared for the NFL Draft. You were a second round draft picked by the Minnesota Vikings. So much hard work goes into that moment. What was your draft experience like.
Of my draft experience, it was it was the biggest blessing, you know, just just having my family all there with me, my friends, and you know, everybody that was there for me, supported me through through all of those years. And you know, I ended up falling out of the first round and uh, in the second round, I didn't really know who was gonna pick me in Minnesota. Ended up getting a call from Minnesota, and it was it was a dream from true.
You don't get to pick the team that drafts you, but you do get to choose the team when you become a free agent, and that was the case this past year when you signed with Cincinnati. Did you enjoy free agency or did you find it stressful.
I enjoyed it, you know, watching kind of watching film and stuff.
Last year when I was going through just going through the season and when free agency opened up, kind of got to pick which you know, got the pick which team I wanted to go to that was interested in. And Cincinnati coach Taylor he was he was hard on me, and you know, just let me know that you know that that this team they want me and I can. I can bring a lot and add a lot of value to this team and help help us win a championship. So, I mean that stuck out to me and I was
something that was true to my core. You know, I want to I want to win. I've always been a part of winning teams, and I wanted to come here and show that you know, I'm a winner and I can help this team win.
All right, let's do some wild card topics now with IRV Smith Junior. Who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport?
All time favorite athlete?
I have to go either Kobe Bryant or Carmelo Anthony.
Basketball guy.
Yeah, basketball. It's hard to pick out of those two. If I had to pick one and have to probably be Kobe.
Though I went to Syracuse. Carmelo would have been a good pick. But that's okay. What do you like to spend your money on.
I like to take care of my nephews. I like to play some video games. I like cars, things like that. I like to travel a lot, so I said in the off season, taking taking some trips with my family. I try to save money as much as possible. But you know, of course, uh, you know, you gotta you gotta spend a little, so say as much as I can, just taking trips and eating too.
Do you have a favorite trip you've taken so far?
Favorite trip? I went to Jamaica this off season. That was a lot of fun.
The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos. I like the I like the Islands.
I don't blame yet other than professional athlete. Have you had any other full or part time jobs. No.
I've been dedicated to to sports.
I mean that's been my grind every weekend, basketball tournaments, football games, stuff like that.
I was blessed my mom. She she put in.
A lot of work to bring me, be able to bring me to practices and games and stuff, and be able to support me so I could I could continue to follow my dream.
So no, never had a full time job. I you know, whatever I can.
And to help when I was younger, help earn a little money or you know whatever I could do, but not a full time job.
Is there anything very few people know about you? Such as a hidden talent, a phobia, anything along those lines.
For the most part, I love football, love basketball, I love sports.
I love to hang out with my family, like video games.
I like the fish, hang out with my girl, those type of things.
Last thing, and this one's kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, living or deceased athlete, entertainer, statesman, whoever it might be, who would that person be?
It have to be somebody real smart, I say, like Albert Einstein or something, or maybe Martin Luther King. I'd say Martin Luther King. That's number one.
Either way, would have been a very interesting conversation. I'm sure I appreciate your time. Best of luck the rest of the year, sir.
Thank you.
That's Church Smith Junior. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Core, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
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