Bengals Booth Podcast: One Last Time

and Dave Lapp them will join me for postgame analysis. Plus, in this week's fun Facts interview, you'll get to know quarterback Jeff Driscold. Among other things, we'll discuss the three years he spent living in Japan between the ages of eight and ten. All of that is straight ahead, but first, 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 on iTunes or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since stores that will wrap the gift. I do some things well, but rapping presence is not on the list. No matter how hard I try, a Dan Horde wrapped gift always looks hideous. So thank you to the stores that make my presence look nice and neat. Now let's get to football. The first time the Bengals faced Cleveland four weeks ago, the Browns were unstoppable in the first half, scoring on their first four drives to

take a twenty eight nothing lead. That was not the case in the rematch, as the Browns punted on their first two possessions and did not score in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Bengals didn't exactly capitalize. Driscoll wants a shotgun, snap, stomps the right foot, catches the snap, drops back, that's hit, fumbles the football and it's recovered by the Bengals at the forty nine yard line. Joe Schobert with a sack to dislodge the ball from Driscoll, and Giovanni Bernard fell

on the bouncing pick. The Bengals finished the first half with minus fifteen yards passing. You heard me, minus fifteen, and once the Browns started to click offensively, they scored on five straight drives. Duke Johnson lining up to the right of Baker Mayfield. Here's a law for Najoku. He high points the ball and pulls down the touchdown. That was the first of three touchdown passes for the first pick in this year's draft, Baker Mayfield. Here's Bengals rookie

Sam Hubbard. You know he talks a lot, but obviously he backs it up and the way to get them to quiet down and beat him, and that's what we gotta do. One of the reasons Mayfield is thriving is the creative play calling of new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens. And he dipped into his bag of tricks the next time. The Browns had the ball first and ten from the thirty, the Browns leading seven nut thing. Here is a double reverse and now Landry wants to throw guns it deep

down field. It is gone man Calloway running inside the ten and he will be tackled at the seven yard line. Make that Perryman on the catch. A double reverse and Jarvis Landry stepped into a deep ball and gunned it with a left hand way down field for the completion to Preshad Perryman. Jarvis Landry's option pass went for a sixty three yard gain. Here's Will Jackson. They did a lot of trickery plays which we knew he was gonna get.

We knew he was gonna get that. It's crazy, but it's a great pass and it's set up the brown second touchdown. Mayfield fakes a handoff, rolls to the right, sprinting toward the sideline, throws and it is caught for a touchdown. Fells with a touchdown catch one of the three tight ends. Baker. Mayfield sprinting down the field pumping his arms, and the Browns have taken a thirteen nothing lead.

Oh Baker Bayfield bought time, bot Time bought time. Cleveland missed the extra point, but kicker Greg Joseph made his next attempt, a thirty seven yard field goal with ten seconds left in the second quarter that made the halftime score sixteen nothing. Here's Marvin Lewis. When you get a position, then we're gonna make the play. Because we didn't make the plays early in the game. That's what I said at halftime. As they've had they made all the plays.

We're gonna make some place. There was only one scoring play in the third quarter, and the Bengals didn't make it. Mayfield holds up his left fist before catching the shotgun snap his pass caught over the middle. Higgins, racing inside the ten the five, extends the ball in his left arm toward the pylon and it is a touchdown for

the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals trailed twenty three nothing going to the fourth quarter, and their first objective was to avoid being shut out for the first time since the two seventeen season opener at home against Baltimore. A fifty one yard attempt Harris to snap, Hubert to hold. Here comes the kick. It's got the distance and it is

yes good, So the Bengals avoid the shutout. As Randy Bullet connects from fifty one yards away, they are booing here in Cleveland because the Bengals have managed to score. Cleveland answered with a field goal to make a twenty six to three midway through the fourth quarter, and it certainly didn't look like the Bengals would have a chance to win, but to their credit, they made it interesting. Drisco waits for a shotgun snap, Billie Price ready fires

it back. Drisco back to throw good pocket throws toward the end zone. Usama leaps and pulls it in. It's a Bengals touchdown with four fifty six to go. Jeff Driscle's touchdown pass to Cjuzama made it twenty six to ten and one minute later, the Bengals came up with a big play on special teams. Here comes the bullets blocked by Clayton Fetulum, and the Bengals are going to take over for the twenty three yard line of Cleveland. As Clayton Vegulum named a first alternate to the Pro Bowl.

Is a special teams ace blocked the coal quit punt and the Bengals take over deep in Brown's territory. Clayton Vegelum says Sam Hubbard deserves the credit for the block punt. We schemed it up pretty well, and it was really it all happened to the Sam. You know, Sam beat the snapper across his face and took the PP out of it. All I had to do is run forward and take the ball off his foot. So it was a great plan and then with Sam and then just it is a great execute play. The PP, by the way,

stands for personal protector. And three plays after the block punt, the Bengals found the end zone again, two receivers to each side of the formation. Second down in goal from the Cleveland three yard line, Driscoll catches a high shotgun snap in trouble. Scrambling left throws into the end zone touchdown Sean Ross running along the back line of the end zone, and the Bengals have scored back to back tds. Now, if they go for two, they could make it a

one score game. They could pull within eight if they can convert a two point conversion. Paul Is placed at the two yard line. Driscal Is under center, takes the snap, fakes to mix and looking throws. It is got by Cody Core for a two point conversion and the Bengals pull within eight with two minutes and fifty six seconds to go. Man, where is this been? The Bengals were down by eight with two fifty six to go and

no timeouts remaining. Marvin Lewis elected not to go for an onside kick and the Bengals never got the ball back. At a short pass by Mayfield to tight end David Najoku, Jesse Bates gambled and tried to make a diving interception. It didn't work. Najoku turned it into a sixty six yard gain down to the Bengals three yard line, and the Browns elected to run out o clock for an eight point win. After going one and thirty one over the last two years, the Browns improved to seven seven

and one. They also swept the Bengals for the first time since two thousand and two, the year before Marvin Lewis became head coach. The Bengals are assured of finishing with a losing record and in last place in the AFC North. Here's Joe Mixon. It was very frustrating. Man. I've never been a part of a losing program, and you know, I'm never gonna get comfortable with being a part of it. At the end of the day, man,

you only take it for what it is. This year building, you know, try to get better, get ready for next year. But I mean, we still got another week coming up. Like I said, it's a big one, man, But I promise you we ain't gonna be in this for long. And that's mixing. By the way, finished with sixty eight yards on seventeen carries to go over one thousand yards for this season, despite facing a Browns defense geared towards stopping him. You seen how it was. I mean it's

nine ten man, bucks. I mean, I'll still was busting out there. So I mean it's it's hard, you know, to get through that, but you know, you can only hope to contain me. You're not gonna stop me, j which is a diminish the accomplishment of having a thousand yards that it came in the game in a loss. I mean, I told you I don't care about the individual stats, so we can't get to win. I I mean, I don't give it down with some players, I wouldn't

buy that. With Mixon, I absolutely do. For the second straight year, the Bengals will go into the final game of the season facing questions about the future of Marvin Lewis. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Sunday that if the Denver Broncos fire head coach vans Joseph, he is expected to emerge as a candidate for the Bengals defensive coordinator job and potentially eventually the head coaching job when Marvin decides he has had enough of coaching again. All of that

was according to Adam Scheff. The Bengals have not said anything about Marvin's status Following the game. Carlos Dunlap was asked about the only head coach he's had in nine NFL seasons. When you have three straight losing seasons, obviously it's very frustrating. You get the questions about Marvin Lewis, what is your confidence in him returning next season? I don't know. I mean, this is the professional football league. A lot of things happen. You know, everybody's making business decisions.

I have confidence in the football team and the players that we have here that we can do what we need to do. We've been there before, so you know, you can make arguments anyway, but you know, I just want to get back to it, whatever it takes to get back to where we started off here, the habits that we created. I want that feeling back, and today is not the feelings. Regardless of the head coach. Next year, you feel like this team is built to win again.

Say what, regardless of the head coach, you feel like the team is built to win again if we have the players on this team to do whatever we need to do. I'm not in charge of deciding who it is. We've done it with the coast that we have and we played hard today, So you can look at it and spending all kinds of different ways as you want to. I just know that we have the talent in this locker room to do it, and we've done it with the coaches that we have here as well, So it's

not my decision to make. I just want to get back to it. However, we need to get back to it now. Time to bringing my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for postgame analysis and we start with a depleted Bengals offense, managing just two hundred and nine total yards multiple times mentioned during the course of the game. I mean, it was like the Bengals weren't a sword fight with a pocket knife, you know, in terms of weapons the Browns had available to them and as opposed to weapons the

Bengals had available to them. And uh, it took it took a little too long for the Bengals to open it up a little bit and get some things going. I gotta give credit though, to CJ. Zama and other guys for you know, fighting to the finish and showing h you know, showing that they're they're not going to quit no matter what. CJ. Zama playing with a badge shoulder.

As we said, Dan for quite a while. It was good to see him get rewarded with some players because you know, it was tough for him out there physically, I'm sure unlike the first meeting, between these two teams. The Bengals defense stopped the Browns early in the game, but once the Browns got rolling, much like that first game, they had a stretch where they marched right up and down the field. Yeah, I mean the second quarter belonged to the to the Cleveland Browns. You know, they've outscored

the Bengals sixteen nothing. I think it was in that second quarter, maybe sixteen three in the Bengals put Browns put up sixteen points to second quarter. Bengals put put up eighteen points in the fourth quarter of the football game or something like that. But at any rate, the Bengals second quarter has been their achilles heel. They've allowed two hundred points in the second quarter. Now with this adding today's total to it, and I mean they've scored

one hundred and fifteen. That's pretty good. They've been outscored by eighty five points, allowing two hundred points in one quarter. Fifteen games, fifteen quarters, they've allowed two hundred points. It's almost incomprehensible. It's really mind boggling. And that's what's put them in the eight ball. You know, many times down the stretch here after that four and one start, the Bengals had minus fifteen yards passing in the first half. What did they do in the second half to at

least get something going? Yeah, I think I think part of it was, you know what Greg Williams decided to do. I mean, when when he was going eight and nine guys in the box with one safety deep, you know, he had ten guys, you know, within five yards of line screamings because a lot of times with one receiver's playing press coverage, everybody's up there tight, so it's like they were operating in a box in a closet, And

that's how the Bengals were kind of playing. And then he started, you know, with a comfortable lead, he changed his mindset a little bit and uh, loosening things up in the Bengals by formation, loosen some things up, and they took advantage of some opportunities that were presented. I will have to say, though, honestly, in eight quarters of play, Baker Mayfield's maybe the most accurate quarterback I've seen this year.

I mean, some some players were there wide open, but other plays he made unbelievable throws and his receivers rewarded him with great catches, and you know, I asked Marvin about all the all the Gadget plays, uh, you know the coach Kitchens had and he said, you know, we worked against all of them. You know, they they'd seen them all on tape. It was nothing that was a big surprise. They just got out executed. And when you think about it, they were in position to make plays

on a lot of them. But you know, Landry made as good to throw as any quarterback can make. He threw the ball on the money. They threw it as far as he could and it was a strike. It was it was dropped into perfect spot. So got to give the Browns credit. You know, they made plays and the Bengals didn't, and they won the football game. Beast wide receiver arms since Bahabbit sent out Yeah, I'm telling you he just he did. He can he can chuck it in the lefty too. I mean he's like a

snake stabler of of of wide receivers. It was in Michael Vick, you know, throwing the ball. It was it was impressive to watch that play. But they you know, Cleveland's a good football team. And eight quarters they didn't allow a quarterback sack. They didn't turn the football over I'm gonna win you a lot of football games. They'll go hand in hand. When you're not getting consistent pressure from the quarterback, He's not gonna put the ball in jeopardy.

In Baker Mayfield didn't. He had time envisioned to top rate, and when you give him that, he's deadly. He puts the ball in tight spots. Next week, season finale in Pittsburgh has been flexed from one in the afternoon to four twenty five, and it's become a must win game for the Steelers just to make the playoffs. After losing to the Saints on Sunday, Pittsburgh is a half game behind Baltimore in the AFC North and a half game behind both Tennessee and Indianapolis in the battle for the

last wild card spot. Those two teams face each other next week, so unless they tie, the winner is guaranteed to finish ahead of the Steelers. Therefore, for the Steelers to make the playoffs, they have to beat the Bengals and hope that the Cleveland Browns can upset the Ravens in Baltimore. It's hard to believe, but the Steelers could miss the playoffs. They were six two and one before dropping or out of their last five games. Now time for this week's fun facts segment, where you get to

know the person under the pads. In this case, it's the twenty five year old that took over at quarterback when Andy Dalton broke his thumb. Time for some fun facts with Bengals quarterback Jeff Driscoll. Your hometown has listed as oviatoh, Florida, near Orlando, but you moved around a lot as a kid, right, Yeah, So my dad was in the Navy, long military background, both grandparents in the Navy. Dad in the Navy, and so he was stationed in Jacksonville I was born, and then his final tour was

in Japan. So I lived there when I was eight, nine, ten, and then he retired in Ovido, which is right outside Orlando. Tell me a little bit about that experience in Japan. Did you live on a naval base where you know, apartment with a family. How did that work out? The waiting list to live on There was two navy bases

in the town. We were in Sassebo, and so we had to live off the base for about a year and a half and they called him chose each and had their own neighborhood and it was called a chow and and we lived in a house for you know, about a year and a half, and there was a high school bus stop right outside our house, so we would always see the Japanese kids when they were getting out of school and stuff in their uniform. So it

was different. But you know, I enjoyed it, but definitely happy to move back to the back to the States, for sure. We're doing fun facts with Jeff driscoll. Your dad signed you up for a little league, which is like a full time job in Japan, and he says you towered over the Japanese kids so much that they called you Godzilla. Was that the case? Yeah, I was a little bit bigger than the other kids my age there.

And like you said, full time job, we practiced. I mean, like I said, eight nine and ten years old, we practiced from nine to five on Saturday and Sundays with an hour lunch break. So it was a wild different animal over there. No wonder the Red Sox drafted you with that kind of work ethic, Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So I got burnt out a little bit there, all right, I know you're not going to do it for me here.

But can you still sing Silent Night in Japanese? I can say it, but like you said, I'm not gonna do it. I can. I don't know if it's right, but from what I remember that those are the words. But like you said, no chance I'm singing it. With your dad's naval background, safe to assume that discipline was pretty strict in the Driscoll household. Yeah, I mean no, I'd no more, no less than you know, most other

kids my age. And you know, I think my dad did or my parents did a did a really good job of instilling disciplined and values like that when me and my brother were young. So I'm sure that had to do a little bit with the navy and how he was brought up as well. Your brother, Jason was a college quarterback, had a great run at Florida Atlantic a couple of years ago. They won eleven games, they won a bowl game. How competitive were you two guys

as kids? Yeah? Very competitive. You know, like any other older brother younger brother combination. You're always gonna compete in everything. And the big brother is gonna beat up on a little brother a little bit, but it's only going to help him out in the long run. And yeah, Jason had had a real nice career at FAU and you

enjoyed his time there or visiting with Jeff Driscoll. You became the starting quarterback at your high school as a ninth grader, had a great high school career, National Player of the Year your senior year. I'm trying to picture what recruiting must have been like when you are one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country. It was crazy, you know, you see all this stuff on Instagram and social media now with all these kids who have boxes and boxes and boxes a mail and offers

from people that they never talked to. And you know, I kind of had that same recruiting story, and you know, you don't really know when you're that age, you don't really understand it, and you think it's really cool, but at the end of the day, you know you want to go to somewhere that fits and you can. You can only play for one team, so it doesn't matter how many you get, and you just got to make the most out of your opportunities. But yeah, the recruiting

process was nuts. I picture the first few letters being awesome, and then just the whole thing becoming overwhelming. Yeah, I mean you definitely hit it on the head. You know, the first letter you get, you think you're going there, and that's not how it played out. But it definitely got to be a lot, and I was ready for it to be over, to be honest with you. You committed to Florida to play for Urban Meyer and then he left. He resigned cited health problems. Eventually year later

wound up coaching at Ohio State. But I mean one of the reasons why you choose the school, I assume has a lot to do with the coach. When that happens, how tough is it? Yeah, I mean it's tough. You know, they they spend a lot of time with you and your family, and you know, you kind of get to know him as people, and then you play for somebody else. It's tough, but that's I mean, that's the business of it.

And you know, maybe as a seventeen year old kid, you don't understand that, but when you look back on it, you know, you totally understand that that things happen and you move forward and you know it worked out just how it was supposed to. So your sophomore year, you lead Florida to eleven wins and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. The team was ranked number two in the country at one point that season. The following year, emergency appendeck to me prior to the season broken leg in

Week three. How did those setbacks impact you? The appendicitis that wasn't a big deal. That was surprisingly only a couple of days in training camp, So it was an awesome job of the doctors diagnosing that getting a fix as soon as possible. And then the broken leg was was tough. You know. I was, you know, coming off a decent year and feeling comfortable going into my junior season, and yeah, I ended up breaking my leg and getting a red shirt year for that year. But it was tough.

But that happens in football, you know, every year somebody that happens to, you know, a bunch of people. So you just have to be able to, you know, not let it get you down and be able to come back and respond. You walked off the field with a broken leg, I did. I did. I don't know how smart that was? Not very I thought I'd be a tough guy at the moment, but I don't know how smart that was. You finished your college career at Louisiana Tech Rust in Louisiana through for more than four thousand

yards your senior year year. What was that season like getting that opportunity and taking advantage of it. Yeah, it was awesome. I got there and they're on the quarter system there, so I think it was February, which was February March. It was the first day of spring spring practice, so you know, have to having to learn everything all at once, and it was it was awesome. The people there made it really fun. The coaching staff, the players,

and the people in the town made it awesome. And then you know, us playing pretty well made it fun too. We had some really talented players, guys that play against in the league, so that that was really really special season, and you know, I'm happy that it worked out like it did. Jeff, for those who don't know, you are under contract to two professional sports teams, the Bengals and the Boston Red Sox. Explain how it happened. You've told us on radio shows before, but people might be listening

now that haven't heard that explanation previously. Definitely got a little bit overwhelmed, not overwhelmed, but a shock in my junior junior year in college. You know, I was watching the draft of my phone because I had a bunch of buddies that we're going to get drafted. And you know, when you're in the twenty whatever round in the MLB draft, picks are flying off the board left and right. So

you know, I see you, buddy get drafted. You know, text them whatever, go back in, look at the look at the tracker, and I see my name, and I was like, what in the world is going on And didn't know if it was real or I didn't know what was going on. And a couple days later, I got a call from them say, hey, you know, we drafted you. You know, and I thought to myself, why

would you draft me? I'm a football player, and that's what I told them, and they said, um, hey, just in case you ever want to play football, we wanted to be for the Red Sox, so I said, yeah, I'll sign, so, you know, not not looking to play baseball, but if I do, it has to be for the Red Sox. Kind of a cool trivia nugget. Yeah, no doubt. All right. Last thing for Jeff driscoll, you and your wife tarn became parents this year your daughter was born

earlier this season, how his fatherhood impacted you. Oh man, it's, you know, one of the greatest things that could ever happen to me, you know, aside from from getting married. That's the best day of my life. Um, and it's it's been awesome. You get to go home every day, good day, bad day, okay day, it doesn't matter. Um, you know, your family is happy to see you. And uh, you know, it just really puts everything else in perspective that the most important thing isn't in this building and us.

It just helps you keep it, keep it in perspective and m it really gives you a reason to go out and do what you do and h and provide for them. Well, put you're off the hot seat. Happy holidays, appreciate the time. Thanks Dan, And that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod being and give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated, and five star

ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, wishing you a merry Christmas and thanks for listening to the Those Booth podcast m