Bengals Booth Podcast: Oops, They Did It Again

Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know an undrafted rookie out of Vanderbilt who made his NFL debut a few weeks ago, Alan George. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycorps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at

paycorps dot com. 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 inexplicable Hot Streaks. I am a mediocre pool player. In fact, I might not even be mediocre. But recently, my wife Peg and I went out to a bar and decided to play pool.

I don't know how it happened. I don't know why it happened, but for some reason, I got white hot and played like I was Minnesota Fats in his prime. Bank shots, sharp side pocket shots that required Joe Burrow accuracy, you name it, I did it, and the game was over in record time. Peg wanted a rematch. I told her it would have to wait. I am not going to spoil the memory of that performance for at least

another week. Now, let's get to the radio replays from the Bengals' latest thrilling win over Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Second and goal from the Kansas City four, eight fifty four left in the first quarter, Burrow runs a quarterback draw shoe, sacing toward the end

zone and waiting for the touchdown signal. There it is touchdown Bengals as they go seventy five yards to begin the game, and Joe Burrow runs it in from the four third down and eight from the Kansas City twelve boyd motions. He lines up in the slot to the left with chase out wide to the left, Higgins out to the right. Burrow throws a sling Higgins, we didn't catch get it. He breaks the tackle, he extends the ball. Touchdowns pangals as the Bengals score touchdowns on their first

two drives. And Gee Higgins, big strong body, full grown man not not only does he box people out and out jump people from the football high point the football. It's six four two twenty pounds or so. That run after catch was as good as you're gonna see. Mahomes in the gun, McKinnon to his right. Three receivers in a cluster out to the left. Mahomes catches the shotgun, snap throws, but Kennon catches, and he runs into the

end zone for the Kansas City touchdown. Yeah, McKinnon was wide open from jump Street Burrow under center fourth in less than a yard fifty one seconds left and a half p Ryan behind him, and running back Burrow touches his helmet, Sama j p Ryan gets closer. He might be pushing Joe Burrow here. Burrow gave it to Trent Taylor and he's tackled for a loss. Carl Carlos Dune Lab of all people Carlos Dunlap hits the gap and

crushes the Bengals on a goal line stand. Mahomes walks up to the offensive line, now backs up into the shotgun. Skymore goes in jet motion out to the right. They handed off the checkout. He's got the first down, He's got a touchdown, spinning his way up the middle of the field and into the end zone for an eight yard fourth and goal from the three. J. G. Smith Schuster goes in motion. Mike Hilton follows him out to

the right. Mahomes back to throw pump fakes, running up the middle of the field, leaps forward, loses the ball into the end zone already what they call it touchdown. He had held the ball over the goal line before it was punched free and it's a touchdown for Kansas City. Mahomes waiting for the shotgun snap, he catches, He looks, He throws his sidearm throw caught over the middle. Jermaine Pratts will bring down Travis Gusley. The ball comes out.

The Bengals have it yes head midfield. Jamar chases in the backfield next to Burrow. Burrow wants to throw short pass caught at the five, Chris Evans into the end zone, touchdown Bengals. Cincinnati takes the lead with eight fifty four to go. The play clock is at four. Mahomes is ready, stomps the right foot, catches the shotgun. Snap, here comes the uh Mahomes wringing his tackle. He sacked brought down by Joseph Osai at the thirty six. It's fourth and six.

Will the Chiefs go for the long field goal? He'd be about a fifty four yard or if they do, he and they will from fifty five yards away, trying to tie it low snap handled, The kick is on its way. No no get, no good. He missed it, and the Bengals will get the ball at their own forty five with three nineteen to go. Listen to the crowd here at pay Course Stadium. Burs in the shotgun. Two receivers left, one out to the right. Zach Taylor jesting wildly to get Tyler Boyd to go in motion.

He does. Burrow drops back to throw, wants to throw his pass over the pool. His car by tea heading in traffic at the fourteen, and that his coffin nail damn bam. Joshua Williams. Welcome to the National Football League. You had great coverage by man, but Tee Haggins was just better and Joe Burrow through him a perfect ball. Tee Haggins makes the play. And as for the play call by Zach Taylor, in the words of Bill Raftery onion, Yeah, gutsie.

Whoa gutsie to say the least, of course, it's much easier to make gutsie play calls when they are being executed by Joe Burrow. The Bengals quarterback, who turns twenty six next Saturday, went twenty five for thirty one that's eighty one percent for two hundred and eighty six yards, with two touchdown passes, no interceptions, and a passer rating of one twenty six point six. He also ran for forty six yards and a touchdown. His favorite target was

Jamar Chase. After missing four games with a hairline hip fracture, Chase had seven catches for ninety seven yards and talked to Dave Lapham after the game. Jamar Chase, He's back. So what was it like out there? Man? Take us through it? How was your conditioning? I mean, I know you're shaped like crazy. Oh my god, yo yo, I was so tired all that dog. It was good to be back, don't you know what I'm saying? Um t I and Stan was doing a good job of getting me out of the game when they see me tired.

And Zach was doing a good job on the play calls and stuff too, so it was all around good. Yeah. I mean I figured, you know, because they told you, look, don't do anything, you know, get off of it, don't so, I mean, you go from like nothing to one hundred miles an hour. It's like, man, that's a that's a big shock to anybody's system. But you're a genetic Creek man. For you to be able to call out and play like you did tonight with all the time that you talk,

that's just unbelievable. Where does all this ability come from? I really don't know, man, I was so excited to come back today. I just I was really trying to hold all my energy, and that's probably what happened. You know. If I'd been too excited to play this game out of wasted all my energy being a pregame and locker room celebrating, then you know, I probably would have had that game. But I had saved all my energy for this game. So Somaje goes for over one hundred rushing,

you almost get one hundred receiving. I think that's balanced. I mean, that's that's what you need to do to beat good football teams. You guys have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs three times in less than one calendar year. What yeah, I mean, we're just doing a good job of executing at the right time, and and we gotta win a game in a full quarter. I guess the Chiefs it's it's unbelievable. And every game comes down to you know, it's like a three point game. It's like

making a play or not making a play. That's what it comes down to. Who asked the ball lasting who makes a play exactly. And we did a good job at that today. Me getting the first down, Somaja getting another first down, to Tea getting another first down. So that's constantly first down to keep the chains moving so we can keep the ball. And when you get your first down, Tee through a hell of a block for you to seal the edge and get you get you around the horn. And we talked about it many times,

just wide receiver corps, so unselfish man. They'll block for each other. It doesn't matter who's who's getting the glory of such. Everybody does their job right. It's funny because T went off on me today. I never never went off on me. So when T went off on me, I was a little struck because I was supposed to stay and falling bounds on a two minute drill and T looked at me and started going off. I didn't. I didn't expect him to do that. So that me.

You know what I'm saying, he caring and who wants me to do the right thing? And I need somebody to be on me like that. So good teammates, Well, it's good to have you back. Good to have number one back. And uh one final question. When you guys come off the football field and their mixing coverages up like that, who do you talk to? Do you talk to the receiver coach? Do you talk to Joe who gathers all the information the consensus to make the proper adjustments.

We talked to everybody pretty much, you know. We talked to Troll, we talked to Joe, and we talked to Zach sometimes. So like, I mean, everyone's gonna input on what's going on. We don't want to just tell one person, so we gotta be on the same page out there. Appreciate you, thank you, welcome back, Appreciate it. Jason was back, but Joe Mixon wasn't. He missed the second straight game after failing to clear concussion protocol. Awesome. I J P.

Ryan did. Was carried twenty one times for one hundred six yards and catch six passes for forty nine more. Here's Joe Burrow on p Rhyan. I'm so happy that he's taken this opportunity and done what he's done with it because he's one of those guys that you love being around, love being around every single day brings a juice so consistent, day in and day out. He's going to get you two or three if there's nothing there,

and that's that's valuable. Sabaj's one hundred yard rushing performance was the third of his NFL career and his first in a Bengals uniform. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, with more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. The Bengals made two huge defensive plays in

the fourth quarter that made their win possible. Bow First, Jermaine Pratt ripped the ball away from Travis Kelsey and then recovered the fumble with the Bengals trailing by four, The offense capitalized with a fifty three yard touchdown drive and took the lead for good on Burrow's touchdown pass

to Chris Evans. And then, after Kansas City drove to the Bengals thirty three with less than four minutes to go, Joseph Osi sack Mahomes on third down in three and the Chiefs missed a fifty five yard game tying field goal attempt on the next play. Kansas City never got the ball back. I caught up with Osai in front of his locker. It was it was scary for a second, because you know, I knew we had a spy player, So I knew I had inside or outside go, so I took. I chose to take inside, but he got

away from me. And you know he's so dangerous when he breaks pocket. You know he can he can throw from multiple different angles. So I was just trying to get him, get him back and get him back and saying get him on the ground just such as possible. So a little bit scary, but I'm glad I've never gonna get it done. So cam sample is two lockers over to the left. He said, ask you about the celebration. Yeah,

the first, the first one with the falcons. I went too crazy and then they were all me about it in meetings. You know, it was kind of funny. So I just overcorrected and I just turned around and hug my guy so that they thought that was funny. But you know what I mean, it's it's all as so a part of the game. To beat this team three times in this calendar year. What's that mean? It means it means we believe what we say. You know what I mean. They gotta play us, and um, we're gonna

keep going. We're gonna keep stepping and one win at a time, woman at a time is behind us. Now next game. Jermaine Pratt makes a point at practice to always talk about how it's about the ball. You gotta for us, turnovers, etc. It's fitting a strip and to recovery for share A big money pee, that's what we call him. So he came up, Hugh Shore us. We needed that, we needed that stop, and not only did he get the stop, but he's the ball away as well, so so we could have great feel position and we

went on too. I think we went on to put up points on that on that drive. So um, big play for us. He's a big key to our defense and we're lucky to have him. Where are you guys verbalizing it? Were you saying we need a takeaway? Of course we always we always say that we always need to take away every drive, either either three and out or we need to take away. So you know what I mean. It is what it is. No team had beaten Patrick Mahomes three times in a row in his

NFL career. I don't know if you're aware of that. It doesn't sound like it. Uh, what what does that mean to you? I wasn't. I wasn't here for the first two, so you have to ask someone else. But I'm pretty sure it's it's exciting to them. He's a great player, possible, definitely a Hall of Famer. So I'm pretty sure everybody who was part of the team that did that. It's gonna be happy about that for sure. You were here for number three and made a big play. Congratulationship,

I thank you. I want to share one more postgame interview. Midway through the third quarter, with the Bengals trailing by three, Tyler Boy dropped an easy eight yard touchdown pass. In his seven years with the Bengals, do you ever remember Tyler Boy dropping a sure touchdown? I don't. It doesn't sting nearly as much when your team pulls out the win. Tyler, Congratulations, a phenomenal win. You guys beat the Chiefs three times in the calendar year of twenty twenty two. Nobody has

ever beaten Mahomes three times in a row. How satisfying is this win? I mean, at the end of the day, we have a great team. You know, we play collectively as a whole, and we take opportunity, we take advantage of opportunities, and uh, we're gonna continue to play like that because we're a force to be reckoning with. I'm sure you're bummed about dropping that possible touchdown pass. You had the most targets of any player in the league last year without a single drop, so we know it

almost never happens. Did it hit you in the helmet? Yeah? Man, I was just too relaxed when to play, you know, I usually just go go go catch it, and it just it got to me. It kind of got away from it hit me to face the mass. I didn't even touch my hands, So I was got to tighten up and just just always booked the ball in. Cousin hurt nearly as badly when the team pulls out the victory and you had some big catches in the in the win as well. Absolutely, you know this is a

big win. You know, it's a message. You're a statement, you know, not for us, but for everybody out there and not not believing in us, you know, because we still got the team and we still got the potential in the talent to go where we last left off last or so. I mean, it's a great win, but we got to win these conference games, the division games, and continue to roll. Right after the two minute warning,

it's third and long. Everybody's wondering to your run and try to kill the clock or do you try to throw a pass to basically end the game. I don't know if t was open, Joe somehow threaded the needle team made the catch. What were your thoughts on that play? Yeah, I think it could have win either or you know, so Marga was toting the ball right, but it was third and ten, So Zach, trust the guys we got. We got the best receivers in the league, and we got the best quarterback in the league. So let me

put the ball in our hands. You guys have kind of had this mantra lately. They've got to play us. I think the league is recognizing that you better include Cincinnati on the list when talking about the best teams in the league. Absolutely, you know, um, even though we got to arguably to probably the best with the toughest schedule in the league, we don't care about that because we are the toughest team in the league. I saw

we prechare ourself, you know. But at the end of the day, like I continue to say, we go out there and I'll execute the teams and continue to play polish and play poison, play fundamental football, and then we'll always continue to be on top. It's a great receiving group and you're the guy that leads it. Congrats on the win, Appreciate you. The Bengals move podcast is brought to you in part by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play, with tickets and signed merchandise up

for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. With the win, the Bengals remain in a tie for first in the AFC North with Baltimore. The Ravens eked out a ten nine win over Denver on Sunday after Lamar Jackson exited with a knee injury. Baltimore says it's not season ending, but it sounds like Jackson could miss some time. The Ravens next two games are on the road in the division, at Pittsburgh next week and at Cleveland the following week.

Now time for this week's radio guys recap la. We love our jobs, but some days are better than others. And that was about as fun as it gets. What a game. Another classic between the Bengals and the Chiefs. And I'm still processing the fact that they beat that team three times in one calendar year by a total of nine points, three times by three point victories. It's really quite incredible. I mean, when you look at this one,

No Joe Barrow does this thing. Throws for two hundred and eighty six yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, quarterback rating one twenty six plus. Pete Rhyin goes for one hundred and six on twenty one carries five yards of carry, and then Jamar Chase comes back seven catches on eight targets for ninety seven yards almost fourteen per with a long of forty. I mean they're balanced. They're difficult to deal with when when you've got all of that and

the opposite side of it. I mean, they shut down Kelsey, that was the big thing. He was the second leading receiver with fifty six yards. Valdo Scanning had seventy one. I mean, but I mean they Mahomes didn't throw three hundred yards. The Bengals have still to give up a three hundred yard passing day. Mahomes had six in a row coming into this football game. It's just a complete

team effort. Again, offense, defense, special teams. Everybody contributed, and when you're playing against a team as good as the Kansas City Chiefs, everybody does have to contribute. You have to play a complete game. There's no doubt. Let's talk about the coffin nails moment after the two minute warning. What was better the throw, the catch or the call by Zach Taylor, all of it. Man. I mean, you know, this team has what I think is a quiet confidence.

I think they're extremely confident, but there's not a lot of trash talk and all that sort of thing. And I think they handle, you know, their confidence in a very very likable way, except for opponents obviously, but I mean,

I think that they handle that so well. And for Zach to go for the win, you know, to go for the throat right there, you know, and it's over, and then have the confidence that his quarterback will make the right play, and then the receiver on the on the other end of it will will as well as big I mean, but I'll tell you a big thing in that football game, Trey Henderson checks out, he taps out,

he's tired. Incomes Joseph Asai and he's going against Orlando Zeus Brown, a hell of a player, beats him right away inside, you know, fresh legs, fresh off the bench, and he just he motored man and uh and he got He got Mahomes to step up in the pocket and retrace the steps, took us his feet out from under him and got that quarterback sack which led to the fifty five yard field goal, which was wide right.

I mean, that's we're talking about roster depth. We've talked about it, you know, with Joe Mixon down, with Jamar chased down, and even when guys aren't down, the fact that you can roll people in and have confidence rolling a bunch of guys in and Osi made a huge, huge play, no question. I'll tell you who's really happy, Tyler Boyd. He doesn't have to, you know, feel guilty for the first drop of the year, or one of the very few drops he's had in several years hit

him in the head, is that right? Yeah, it hit him in the face mask. I didn't look like it hit him in both hands though, too. It grazed off his face mask. So I mean to me, I guess he just didn't judge it right because it wasn't that difficult. I mean, he never really found it properly. I guess I'm thinking board he'd take your eyes off it. No, not if it hit you in the face mask, your eyes are right there. I guess it just got up on him faster than he expected because you couldn't find it. Yeah,

it just didn't concentrate as well. As they normally would, and you know, put his hands up there and goes right through and hit him in the head. Unbelievable. That's crazy because I mean, if there's one guy that Joe Burrow would feel confident throwing the ball to one hundred times lot of one hundred, it would be Tyler Boyd in a in a big play situation like that. But you know, credit credit the Bengals. They had some miscues. I mean on the big play by Carlos Dunlap, nobody

had an assignment error. He's unblocked, he's left unblocked. They're optioning off of him, and usually the defensive end when he's on block like that at that spot in the goal line, he's just you know, unsure it should I close? It is a run, you know what is this? And he just decided, you know, he's on accounted for up

the field. He comes and he won. He won. He guess right, If there's anything, if there's anybody that would do anything to avoid contact, though initially it would be Carlos and ripping up the football field is probably you know, he took a chance, he rolled the dice to make a big play, and if he had guess wrong, he would have looked. He would have been a goat. He guess right, and he was a hero for that, for that particular play. But if head gutting around him, they

walk into the end zone. But he uh, he made a decision that turned out to be the own decision that would have blown that play up, and he made it. Patrick Mahomes came into the game with a career passer rating of one oh five point seven, best in NFL history. One of the interesting things about it. His regular season passer rating is one oh five point seven. His postseason passer rating is one oh five point seven. The guy's unbelievable. The Bengals held him a little below that today at

ninety eight point two. Joe Burrow outplayed him twenty five for thirty one two hundred and eighty six yards, two touchdowns, no picks, passer rating of one twenty six point six, ran for more than forty yards, ran for a touchdown. We said it earlier in the week, when you take on the Chiefs, your quarterback doesn't necessarily have to have better stats, but he's got to match him to a certain degree, and Burrow legitimately outplayed him. He did and

he's done it three straight times. I mean he's been the victor in terms of not only the team winning the football game, but him matching up with a great quarterback equaling that effort or exceeding that effort. That's hard to do three times in less than a calendar year or so. Hats off to Joe Burrow. I mean, the way he his poise is spectacular, There's there's no question about it. And his patience is sometimes you have to have a hurried patience, and I know that sounds contrarian,

but you can't be overly patient. He has just enough patience where he takes it to the last instant and then makes the perfect decision at the last instant. It's incredible. The way he just strings the defense. He's gonna marna yo yo, and he strings them along as long as he possibly can, and then a high, high, high percentage of the time does exactly what he should do in that situation. It is mind boggling. Jermaine Pratt leads to

the Bengals in tackles this year. He made the play of the day defensively today, ripping it away from Travis Kelsey, then recovering the fumble. Is Jermaine Pratt the Bengals defensive MVP. I know we've got, you know, several games to go, so this is not a final decision. But to this point, is he the Bengals defensive MVP? I mean he's he makes the flash splash plays as well as, like you said, he's the leading tackler on the football team as well. Now,

Logan Wilson missed some time with the shoulder injury. I would not trade that Tannemal linebackers for any really in the National Football League. I mean, you know, the offensive line is playing so very well together. That linebacker group is playing so very well together, particularly those two, those two guys leading the way. But yeah, I mean you can make a case that Jermaine Pratt could be defensive MVP.

But what you like about this football team, you can throw a few hats in the in the ring, you know. I mean, it's not just one guy in a landslide kind of thing. Everybody's doing some things and a lot of things that are very very high level. They're they're a fun team to watch, There's no doubt about it. And man, they just they look adversity square in the face. And say, bah, better luck next time. Let me follow

up on the old line. Kansas City came in fifth in the the NFL and sacks more this year than they had all of last year. The only sack today was when Joe gave himself up at the two minute warning. Chris Jones was neutralized. They had a one hundred yard rusher. I mean the offensive line played a tremendous game today. They did. I mean, coming into the football game the Kansas City Chiefs, they were plus eighteen in the sack department.

And so they say that the Chiefs got two sacks, the Bengals had one, so they were plus one in that Bengals allowed one. Oh no, the Bengals were plus one. The Chiefs allowed two, the Bengals allowed one. So the Bengals go plus one in a situation where the Chiefs had accumulated thirty five and given up seventeen, and they were plus eighteen, which is, you know, third in the NFL. So that protection pressure ratio, they were dominant in it. And I thought that the Bengals stepped up, and I

thought the offensive line controlled line of scrimmage. You ever running back average five yards of carry, you have a quarterback that basically for a good part of the game, well into the fourth quarter, they have not allowed a hit, a quarterback hit, or a quarterback sack against that football team. And when you look at it, I think this football game came down to two things. The guy you had to deal with offensive Lewis Kelsey. They neutralized them. Guy

you had to deal with defensive was Jones. They neutralized them. So, you know, both sides from a game plan standpoint and the execution of the game plan standpoint, they took those two guys contributions and minimized them big time. So in twenty twenty two, the Bengals have owned the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, next week they've got to try to beat the team they can't beat, the Cleveland Browns. Joe's offer against the Browns, and he's undefeated against Patrick Mahomes. And who have the

quarterback's been with Cleveland Browns. That's the National Football League in a nutshell, it is gray z. But this football team's played at a much different level than they were when they went up to Cleveland. And they were playing well, but you know, and you have stinkers. They happen. Man, everybody was so upset. The stinker happened on national TV and primetime against that Cleveland Browns, of all people, knock him the river. You couldn't knock him in the lake

up there, but knock him in the river down here. Well, the Browns gave up a ton of money and maybe more gets the little of their soul and making the trade for Deshaun Watson. They gave up a ton of draft picks as well. Now we've got the first Watson versus Borough game coming up next Sunday. Yeah, and I bet the speed of the game was an adjustment for Watson.

It would not surprise me if they move him out of pocket and cut the field in half and allow him to make easy reads to one side of the football field instead of you know, having to look at it, particularly the way Lou and Rumo is mixing things up with quarterbacks that have played multiple games in the last seven hundred days, not like, uh, you know, Watson, who's played one game in the last seven hundred days. So

I think it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting. I think the the pressure packages, how how they're going to rush Watson and maybe try to make him play left handed That's what Loui and Rumo does so well. He makes teams play left handed. They take Kelsey away and make him play left handed. You know, they take away their their star player. They take away the quarterback strength and make the quarterback play left handed. Whether it's with

his feed or his throwing arm. You have to, you know, minimize one and make him make you beat you using the one that's not as good. He's in a Rumo has done an unbelievable job of putting together game plans, and I know his players appreciate it, respect it. I think he's the best thing since slice bread. And they want to go out there and play hard for him, and they certainly are. You know what I want to do tonight, go back and watch this game again. I'm

telling you, Instant Classic. It's the third Instant Classic in less than a calendar year against the same team. Unbelievable. So Cleveland comes to town next week looking to beat the bank Those for the sixth consecutive time and for the ninth time in their last ten meetings. Deshaun Watson made us return to the field on Sunday after sitting out for nearly two years, and the Browns one at

Houston twenty seven to fourteen. Watson was clearly rusty. He threw for one hundred thirty one yards with no touchdowns, one pick, and a passer rating of fifty three point four. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with all to Fiber. Finally, it's time for this week's fun Facts interview, where we get to

know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with cornerback Alan George from Andalusia, Alabama, small town in the southern part of the state, not too far from the Florida line. Describe Andalusia and what it was like growing up there. And Lousia is a very quaint city, super small, like less than nine thousand people. Um, everybody knows your business, whether it's good or bad. Uh. And that could be a good or bad thing. But it's a good place to raise kids to get like a

firm foundation. Not a lot of trouble goes on down there. Um, So I enjoyed living there growing up. There's there's it's a there's maybe like six to nine stops lights in the entire city. Um. So it's just kind of like a carefree, little little world because you're like thirty minutes away from the nearest interstate almost so um yeah, it's kind of like your own little world because you don't really get to see much of the outside world unless

you intentionally try and go out. How about shopping and stuff like that. How far did you have to go to get good gear and things like that? Yeah, there's like there's a couple, like we have these stores downe are called Hibits Sports. Um, there's just like a maybe like two two of them in the city. But other than that, if you're gonna like go big time shopping, as we like used to call it, you had to go to Dothan, which is like an hour drive away,

maybe like hour fifteen. So yeah, it's it's not like we're so secluded. We're so away, far away from everything we're visiting with Alan George, you are a four year starting point guard in high school. Was basketball your first love? Yeah, yeah it was. Um, it wasn't the first ward I played, because I played baseball. Um, but when I started playing basketball in fifth grade. I was just looking for something to get me out of Andalusia of sports wise, um,

and I thought basketball was my ticket. And I loved it completely because I didn't start playing football util later, so it literally took over my whole life. Everything I thought was one of the ball as life kids wearing like sleeves and headbands the class and stuff like that, and I really thought that was like, that was gonna

be my way out, but it obviously was not. What changed um my dad really I stopped growing um and my dad was like, son, you're either gonna be uh, You're either gonna be an average height um point guard or you're gonna be a big corner. And he's like, you, you can either stay out here and maybe maybe get a chance to go play like community college in basketball, or give yourself a good chance to make it pro and in football, because that's just how the game was

changing at the time with big, bigger corners. UM. So he kind of saw it saw to the future for me at a young age. So I very much thanking for that. Your dad is a wise man. We are talking to Alan George. When did colleges start to show an interest? Oh, that's a that's another one. Yeah, because I didn't start playing FOOTBA until I was fifteen. Uh, So I didn't get the typical fifteen year old star

in high school. UM, I didn't get that type of recruitment. Uh. Because a lot of people get their their recruit or their their offers and stuff like early junior year and stuff like that. But I didn't get my first offer until um second semester, like basketball season of my senior year. UM, I was just at lunch one day and I got a call from Jacksonville University down in Florida. And from that point on, I literally thought I was the top of it. I thought I was the creaming a crop

at that point, and I was my thought none. My stuff didn't stink at all, and it was it was just it was. It was good to be able to get noticed because, like like I said, not that many people ever get to make it out from sports. So I was happy to get at least one school. So you ultimately chose Vanderbilt playing in the SEC while also attending one of the most prestigious academic universities in the country. How difficult is it to balance football in class at Vandy?

It's it's by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. Um. It's you won't ever know

how it actually is unless you are in it. Um. And I can't even speak for like those who go to Duke or Stanford or Northwestern and stuff like that, but I can't imagine that there's just pretty similar to ours, so that maybe those are the only type of people who would really understand, because it's it truly is extremely extremely hard for especially for you're not You're not as as wise as you think you are whenever you're a

seventeen or eighteen year old coming in. So when you get up there and you have to make that crazy adjustment to time management, it's it's so so so hard. So I I think, I think myself that I got through it, and I think the university and my support system for everything that helped me get through. But it's

extremely trying. And if I had to go back, like knowing what I know now, if I went back to seventeen, there's no way that I would I could think that I would put myself through it because it really is so hard and I didn't know if I was that mentally tough to put myself through it. Honestly, let's specifically talk about football. We've all heard the old saying what

doesn't kill you makes you stronger. When you're at Vandy and you're playing in Alabama, LSU, Texas A, and n et cetera on a weekly basis, how tough is that knowing, quite honestly, going into the game that you're a long shot. Yeah, it's it's give and take. Really. You kind of listened to the outside crowd a little bit, and maybe some people use that as motivation, but it's it's kind of like a they're not playing and we are, so we have to be the ones to change the narrative on everything.

So we take it with a tip on our shoulder. Every game, whether we're the favorite, which might be never um, but whether the favorite or not, we're gonna go into the game with the utmost confidence. There's never a game that I went into or that anybody at Vandy that I know of went into and felt like, why are we even playing this game? We know we're gonna lose. We always thought that we had a great chance of winning.

We always felt prepared. UM. So we really don't take that much outside noise, and we just kind of worry about what we went on, what went on in the locker room, and like our preparation, it's get or baking stronger. Yeah. And I was telling people that here when I was in training camp, because they like to rag on me going to Vandy and supporting my college and I was

at the beginning of the year. I was telling them and we were two and old and stuff like that, and uh they were they were like, yeah, you went to Vandy. It doesn't really matter, but it I was like, it definitely made me stronger because going there, you don't always get to play with extreme high level NFL prospects

that go day one and stuff like that. So whenever you do end up making it to the other side and you are one of the ones that gets to go to the NFL, um it kind of I wouldn't say it makes you more comfortable, but it definitely lightens your load because you're not used to playing with so much help everywhere. Um So, whenever I got up here and I was like, dang, my d line is superior,

Like they get after the quarterback my offense. I know if I get them the ball, they're gonna score so it makes me, It makes doing my job a lot easier. I feel like it gives it just gives me a lot more confidence. So at Vanderbilt in twenty nineteen, you faced the LSU, the team that went on to win the national championship. Joe Burrow through six touchdown passes that day. He did it to everybody, So don't feel bad. What did you learn about Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase from

competing against them? I just learned they're different, And I mean that in the way like they're like different different, like they their preparation mentally is insane, and their chemistry together is also just off the charts. You can't really beat somebody once there, Once you have chemistry down, it's really unbeatable. Honestly. Um So, I that was a day that I took all the good things to learn from, but I just threw the rest out because it's not a memory that I even want to go back to.

I sometimes I just can't even think about it. Sorry to bring it up when we're doing fun Facts with Alan George. So in July, before you're finally you're a Vanderbilt, you got married to a Vanderbilt cheer leader. What was it like for the two of you to be married as college students? Yeah, um, I mean I'm On and Caitlin's relationship. Uh, definitely, it started spring semester my freshman year or our freshman year, and yeah, it just blossomed

into something that we could have never imagined. It was. We we went into it intentionally dating, and we both date with intentions, not to just have fun or just to have a companion and stuff like that, but it was with the intention to marry and we and we didn't know that. Um so it didn't come to our

surprise as a or to us. And going to Vandi at a private university of such a tight knit community, uh, it kind of forced us to be around each other more and advance and grow up faster than the normal twenty one year old. So um, I would say that that helped accelerate our marriage, or at least the engagement process. Uh So, a lot of people they used to like come joke in and be like, oh, you got married too young, You got married too young, You have no clue.

We just wait till you start living with her and stuff like that. But we were already kind of living to like like I know a lot of people say that, but we were already kind of living together at Vandy, and we were both away from our family in different states, so we leaned on each other a lot for like our independent nature. So it definitely helped us out. If anybody wants to know how you pop the question, they can watch it online. Describe how you set up kind

of a fake photo shoot and then videotaped your proposal. Yeah, I was, Um, so we had the COVID year that happened, and I was planning that year to propose. I knew I was going to propose that year because I wrote it in my notes. Um back in like twenty nineteen that in my phone, I wrote that I was I had to propose to her. At least I think I said, marry her by so and so so and so and I had a date then, But um, yeah, I was

planning to propose to her at the Mercer game. We had Mercer to play that year, and since she's from Beaufort, Georgia, I was like, Oh, this is a great game to get her family and friends to come up. She won't even suspect it. Maybe that you think they're coming up to see their friends play at mercer or something. Um. But I was like, dang, they just cut our schedule and we don't have mercer anymore. We're playing a SEC

only schedule. So I just started thinking fast on my feet and then she hit me up and she was like, hey, uh, we aren't traveling to all the away games this year as cheerleaders, but I want to get one more picture with you in our uniforms, just to do like a senior photo shoot. And I was like, okay, great. As soon as soon as she said that, I got the phone with her, and I was like, I started calling

all my teammates. I was trying to put it all together, and then yeah, it just worked out that one of my teammates he he was like starting his YouTube channel at the time, and I was very good friends with our photographer at Vandy and she, um, she was she was like Andrea the other teammates. She was like, Andre, can you um just act as if you're you're trying to learn how to use your cameras and she just got it for your YouTube channel. And I told Caitlin

I was I was like, she's uh. I was like, Eric is gonna be filming us or shooting for us. But Andre is gonna just be there trying to learn from her. He's just like an apprentice, and she was all in for it, and so he didn't suspect anything. So when we got out there on the field, we stayed the whole thing, and Erica helped out a lot, and she told her to turn around and flip her hair, and I was just sitting there right behind her. So it all worked out really great. I recommend checking it out.

Easy to find on the internet if you search for Alan George's proposal or something along those lines. Are you a big goal setter what you just shared about writing down that you planned to propose. Do you write down long term goals and things like that? Yeah? I do. I do try to live in the moment as much as I can, but when it comes to things that are way down the line, or I feel like they're way down the line, I do end up trying to trying to I'm a big list maker. I make a

lot of lists. There's so many lists on my phone, so I do kind of chart out things, and my wife also helps me out with that a lot. She's a huge planner. She loved the plan so we have like a year, like a life plan all the way up to like twenty thirty. So just to trying to kind of give us a base so where we're headed, and need to introduce you to my sixteen year old son. He could use some goal setting, trust me. So you

signed to the Bengals as a college free agent. Did you expect to get drafted and when that didn't happen, why did you sign with Cincinnati? Yeah? I did. Uh, I did expect to get drafted. Um And a lot of people might hear that as a surprise or something. But I just believe in myself to the utmost high. And I just when I came out, I was I was told my coaches at Vandy like I'm doing this for me, and you can believe in me or not. I'm gonna bettle myself to win and if it doesn't

work out, then it doesn't work out. But there's not gonna I'm not gonna leave any room for the what ifs, like what if what if I didn't or what if I did go out this year and stuff like that. So uh yeah, I just I just fully bet it. I bet on myself to win and come out on top and when it didn't happen on draft day, I had all my friends there, um big room and the top of my apartment complex, and it was just like it was probably one of the most sad days of

my life. Um because I just I, like I said, I fully invested in myself and my wife did also, and we were all the way up and then when no one called, um because I talked to like seventeen sixteen teams all leading up to draft day. People are asking for my numbers and stuff like that so they can reach me. Uh, and then none of them ended up contacting me and my agent. So I just I kind of just my dad said, I held it together

really well because I didn't. I didn't really show a chink in the armor at all, but inside I was just killed. And um, I kind of rolled onto the very last Like as soon as the last draft pick went across the screen, my agent called and he was like, all right, well, we got these teams set up, so these teams set up, so it uh, it didn't it didn't go the way as planned, but um, God made away and that's all I could really ask for. You

signed with the Bengals. He had a great training camp, he played almost every snap in the preseason, and then you made your NFL debut in Week nine against Carolina. Can you describe the emotions that went through your mind and your heart as you got to make your NFL day deal. I was just thinking, like, dang, I'm about to run out in the field in the black jersey at first, because I was like, we were white all preseasons, so I was just super naive. I guess in the moment,

I was like, hey, we haven't won the black. They haven't seen me in the black at all. I haven't even seen myself. So I was just happy to be out there rocking the black jerseys. Um. And then when I finally got out onto the field, everything just kind of it didn't feel like super preseasonist, but I definitely felt more comfortable just in that setting instead of just standing on the sideline street clothes or something like that.

I felt like, I, oh, man, this is where I belong because I truly do feel that I belonged out on the field, UM, and so I just I just want to help out in any capacity really, whether it be on actual defense or on special team. So, um, I'm here to help. I'm here to serve. I'm gonna give my effort, my best effort every single time I'm out there. So I just take every single play, whatever snap, however many snaps I get. If I get one snap or if I get eighty, I'm gonna be I'm gonna

be thrilled, and I'm gonna give all I got. All Right, a few wildcard topics for Alan George to wrap things up. Do you have any hidden talents? I'm I'm I'm learning ASL right now. UM. I've been learning the sign language since I was maybe my mom, she's she kind of got us into it. She's a teacher and she got us into it, um whenever she was getting her her masters. And it's just kind of something that I fell in

love with. And I'm pretty pretty adept in it, I would say, but not anywhere where I need If I if I was surrounded by a harder hearing people or anybody that was deaf, but they probably would just make fun of me because I signed, I signed super slow right now. But I'm still learning um. But then other than that, I guess I just play a lot of video games. UM. And I love Call of Duty a lot. Uh,

And I was about. I was like on the semi pro amateur UM level for a good bit, like almost about the turn pro when I was fourteen years old. Um uh so I was. I was pretty serious about playing competitive call of duty for a long time, and now East Sports has taken off to a level that we did not imagine it back then. So I just wonder like, maybe if I would have stuck with that, maybe I would have been professional in two things and that would have been kind of like a Bow Jackson

story or something like that. Well, I think it worked out well for you, but maybe someday you can go back and turn pro and East Sports. Who is your all time favorite athlete in any sport and why? It's probably super cliche, but I would just have to say Lebron.

Um love Lebron and everything he stands for. Really, he's I can't imagine having that much pressure on me when I was when I was eighteen years old, having the whole world watch you since you were eighteen, and you just really don't make the like super super wrong moves off the court and on the court. So, I mean, he's been criticized obviously for like things like maybe going to the heat and stuff like that and starting these

super teams. But when you judge his character, I feel like there's really not any flaws, which is it's kind of hard to even wrap your mind around that that somebody that's been media glorified since they were eighteen, that you can't really find any flaws or some dirt or bad articles on the news and stuff like that. So I just I'm also looking at him for his character and off the field than on the field. What do you like to spend your money on. I'm pretty frugal.

I would say my wife is She's probably gonna hear this or or reading, and she's gonna be like, yeah, he does it. He hates any type of money being spent. He looked at the bank account every day and if something goes out, he's he's complaining about it. But I would say I like to spend money on. I really do love to spend money on shoes. I kind of calmed that down once I started dating Caitlin Um because I just realized it was bigger than me. Um. But whenever we do have kids down the road, I can't

wait to buy them shoes I buy. I get Kaitlin a new pair, I think two pairs of shoes every year. Um went for a birthday and then went for Christmas. So I just try to I just I love buying shoes and whether they're for me or anybody else. All right, final fun fact, This one's kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, who would that person be? Oh, my goodness, gracious, I think I'd go with Martin Luther

King maybe pick. I just want to pick his pick his brain about how he dealt with what he dealt with and how he how he could even have the mindset to deal with it that way, because you could have went you could have went with it in so many different avenues. Um, maybe just sit down and have lunch with him one day or something. That would be so cool to just talk with him for like an hour and just kind of soak up as must knowledge

and information that I could. So I would say him if I had to do it off the cuff or on the spot, and then I would just say him it's an excellent answer. This has been fun. I appreciate your time. Best of luck the rest of the year. Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by

Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs by pay Corps, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. 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 or Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to the Bengal Spoof Podcast. Mm HM