Bengals Booth Podcast: Roller Coaster

and Dave Lapham will join me for postgame analysis. Plus in this week's fun Facts Conversation, it's a rare one on one chat with Bengals President Mike Brown. Mike doesn't do many interviews, but once or twice a year he's kind enough to sit down and share stories from his amazing life in football. I always get great feedback from listeners when we record a trip down memory Lane, and

I think you'll enjoy our latest conversation. All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's equipped reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since touch id. Touch id is the fingerprint recognition system that allows users to unlock Apple devices like iPhones and

make purchases on the iTunes store. So rather than having to type in a password, you just use your fingerprint. So if you're paranoid about having your password stolen or just lazy and like to turn things on with a touch of your fingertip, touch ID is a great invention. Let's get to football. From the day Zach Taylor was hired, Bengals fans have been frothing at the mouth over what

his offense might mean for Joe Mixon. After all, the Rams Todd Gurley averaged nearly two thousand total yards and twenty touchdowns in the two seasons that Zach was on the LA coaching staff. But on Sunday in Seattle, Mixon barely got the ball before leaving the game with a twisted ankle in the third quarter. Cincinnati's first seven plays of the season were passes, and Andy Dalton threw the

ball sixteen times in the first quarter. Tyler Eifert says Seattle's defense forced them to Yeah, I mean if you look at what they were doing, they were, you know, doing things to take away the Ronzo. Yeah, you end up passing the ball and we did it effectively. So we're just playing off what they were doing. So that's what the game dictated. By and large. It worked at least until the red zone. The Bengals second drive of the game lasted thirteen plays in seven and a half minutes,

but stalled after reaching the sixteen yard line. It'll be a thirty nine yard attempt from the left hash mark for Randy Bullock Park Harris will snap, Kevin Hubert will holl the snap, the put down, the swing of the right leg, and Bullocks kick is good. The Bengals took a three nothing lead into the second quarter, and in the first half. Their defense gave Russell Wilson fitz with a variety of looks, including five defensive linemen. Shot Penny in at running back for Seattle, Wilson fakes to him

being chased by Sam Hubbard. Russell Wilson nice sacked right back at the forty one yard line. Second sack for the Bengals. Carlos Dunlap had the first, Sam Hubbard with the second for a nine yard loss. Well he was outstanding. Cincinnati's run defense was as impressive as the pass rush Seattle averaged an NFL best one hundred and sixty yards on the ground last year, but only Mustard seventy two

in Week one. Here's Hubbard. Yeah, we wanted to stop the run, and defensively we're really stout and stop the run made him kind of one dimensional number one Russian attack in the NFL. Under however, many yards we held him too. I think it was just great execution. But you know, it comes down to a few plays, and that's how it is in the NFL. The bengals first big mistake came on special teams, a fumbled punt by Alex Ericson that gave Seattle the ball in Bengals territory.

It didn't immediately lead to a score, but it helped flip field position and the Seahawks soon took the lead. Wilson in the shotgun at the six hands it off to Carson, touchdown Seahawks. The extra point gave Seattle a seven three lead. It lasted all of three plays. The Bengals have it first and ten at the Seattle thirty three yard line, leave a hand at tu Bernardi pitches it back to Down, guns it down the far sideline,

but by John Rouse breaks the tackle. At the five and scores a Bengals touchdown, a thirty three yard Fleet Flicker touchdown to John Ross. How about that? John Ross finished with seven catches for one hundred and fifty eight yards. His previous career highs had been three catches and fifty two yards. Tyler Eifford says, it was only a matter of time. It wasn't surprising, you know, to the guy's locker room, because we watch him every day. Just the

way he runs. He's extremely talented, Like I mean, you can't even really describe it. So it was just a matter of time before he put it all together. And he did today and he used to continue to do that for us to play well. The Bengals had a ten seven lead and their defense was dominating. With one forty four left and a half, Seattle had not had a twenty yard play, but that changed when Russell Wilson hit rookie DK Metcalf for forty two yards down to

the bengals thirteen yard line. Metcalf is the genetic freak whose shirtless photo before the draft went viral. As somebody put it, his abs have abs. A few plays after his catch, Seattle was back in front fifty nine seconds left and a half, third down and seven at the Bengals ten yard line for the Seahawks, looking for a go ahead score. Two receivers to each side of the formation. Wilson drops back to throw, checks it down to a running back Carson, and he breaks several tackles and runs

it to the pylon. It's a Seattle touchdown. Dray Kirkpatrick and Jesse Bates were in position to stop Carson short of a first down, but they failed in Seattle led fourteen ten. With fifty two seconds left in the half, the Bengals elected to be aggressive on offense and at least try to get a field goal, not exactly a Marvin Esque approach. With twenty seconds left and a half, John Ross dropped a pass that easily would have put

them in field goal range. In fact, it might have gone for a long score since two defenders ran into each other and toppled like bowling pins. But on the very next play, Ross made up for his drop. Seen seconds left and a half, the Bengals still need at least twenty yards. Dalton back to throw under pressure. He's gonna fling it deep down. Feel ball. It is caught.

I half. The Tens touchdown Bengals as John Roy reached up, made a two handed grab and ran it in for a fifty five yard touchdown with seven seconds left in the half. And he said, here's how I'm gonna answer. I'm gonna drop the easy one, and I'm gonna make a great play on the ball where the defenders in pretty good shape. I'm gonna make a nice leaping catch

and then make the last guy miss. It gave the Bengals a seventeen fourteen halftime lead, and it gave Ross the breakout performance that he and we have been waiting for because his coaching staff having confidence in you, given you more confidence in yourself without a doubt, without a doubt. I think that's what a lot of players lack sometimes, you know, And I didn't. I think they like me.

I can honestly say it now. I lost confidence in myself last few years, and you know, now I come in with a different mentality, and you know, I just kind of go out there and continue to believe in myself. It's been last year and you dropped that pass. Would you have found the bench instead of being in there to catch a touchdown pass? The next play most definitely, honestly, I mean I can honestly say that now. Um, you

know without a doubt. You guys seen it, you know, I could you just tell I can run my ROLESE is different when I lose confidence myself, you know, it's just it was just it's completely different now it might fee. After a big play on offense to end the first half, the Bengals made a big play on defense to begin the second. Seattle begins first and ten, ball on the

left hash at the twenty five yard line. Russell Wilson with a fake handoff, now passes to the running back that he faked two that's Carson, and Carson draft bodies forward. The ball comes out. The Bengals appear to have it. Trey Kirkpatrick has the football and yes it's a cencinive recovery at the twenty eight yard line. Huge play right there. It was the Bengals only take away of the day and they quickly drove to the Seattle twelve. We got

some light rain falling now here in Seattle. With thirteen thirty five left in the third quarter, second down in twelve as samaj p Rhine checks in, oh Dalton had the ball slip out of his hand trying to throw a screen and it's intercepted by defensive tackle Al Woods. I don't know if this light rains had anything to do with it, but the Bengals turn it over in the red zone. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. That was ruled a fumble,

not an interception. And it was the first of three straight drives in the third quarter where the Bengals could have scored and didn't. On their next drive, Randy Bullock missed a forty five yard field goal, and on the drive after that, the Bengals went for it on fourth and one in Seattle territory and got stuffed on a running play. They were piling up yards but not points. Here's Tyler Eiffort throughout the game. You know, I felt like we were we were doing a lot of really

good things. But you know, when the game's over, it's not how many yards you gained, it's how many points are on the board. The Bengals led seventeen fourteen going to the final quarter. To that point, Russell Wilson had not thrown a single pass to his top target, Tyler Lockett. That changed on the first play of the fourth quarter, tight end Bannett goes in motion four Seattle shotgun snap in a high one caught by Wilson, rolls out to

the right, looks back to the left. Was it deep down the middle of the field that has caught at the seven? No one, I'm running it in for the score? Is Tyler Lockett? How many times have we seen now? Tyler Lockett? First in twenty That forty four yard grab was Lockett's only catch and gave Seattle at twenty one

seventeen lead. The Bengals answered with a thirteen play drive that chewed up nearly eight minutes, but after having first in goal at the four yard line, holding penalty in a sack forced the Bengals to settle for a Bullock field goal that pulled Cincinnati within one. It was the third time in three tries that the Bengals drove into the red zone and failed to score a touchdown. Here's Andy Dalton, A couple opportunities we were down there and we weren't able to get done on the unfortunate fumble

on them, ball slipping out of my hand. You know, we had an opportunity there. And then you know in the fourth quarter when we were down there, we had to settle for the field goal. So you can look at those things right there and say, man, if we can just get one touchdown, that changes the game. The

Bengals defense forced to three and out. There's sixth of the game to get the offense the ball back, and with three and a half minutes to go, Zach Taylor faced a tough decision go for it on fourth and seven at his own forty four or punt pin the Seahawks deep in their own territory and try to get one more three and out on defense. Zach chose to punt, and Seattle was able to pick up a fir down with three straight running plays to basically put the game away.

The final score twenty one twenty Seattle. Here are Tyler Eiffert, Sam Hubbard, and Andy Dalton on dominating the stats but losing on the scoreboard. I thought we went out there and executed the game, playing pretty well, and we, you know, both sides of the ball played extremely hard. U defense came up with a lot of big plays, and you know, just down there in the in the red zone, we just got to find a way to to punch it in. But um, you know, there's a lot of good things

to take away from the game. Obviously disappointed that we didn't find a way to get it done. That's that's what good teams need to do, is find a way in the end to find a way to win. Yeah, I was really proud of the way we fought on both sides of the ball. And that's just life in the NFL, you know, comes down to one or two big plays, one or two points, one or two stops, and uh, I just think this is a right, you know,

place to build from. You know, you know, if we fight like that for sixteen games, we're gonna win a lot of football games. And uh, all I could say it's probably way we fought, but that's obviously disappointed loss. You know, there's a lot of things that we that we did well to day. You know, it's one of those it's unfortunate to leave this game with a loss because we you know, we fought till the very end. We you know, we played really hard on um, you know,

in all phases of the game. But um definitely something to build on this close one and uh you know, for us, we weren't able to make the one play that was going to get us over the tough for today. Zach Taylor's team is Zoe and One. The Bengals new head coach spend three minutes with Dave Lapham in the locker room after the game. I'm disappointed that we lost.

I'm not disappointed with where guys played. They fought their tails off and really in all three phases, probably the way they fought on the road, that kind of environment, adversity, it's raining, it's filed, and really thought they responded well. But you're right in the red zone. We didn't come

in there. We have enough points and um, when you're on the road against a great team like this, who's been one of the premier organizations over the last decade, you gotta score the points that you got a chance with and didn't get it done. The handling of the noise, your silent count unbelievable. The poison you got them to jump one time, never did it ever affect you, guys in terms of lost yards and penalty. It was incredible to watch that whole thing unfold. Proud of those guys.

I really thought both sides up front, offensive defensive lines play their tails off. That was a good front we played against on offense, dave Ard Connie is a maniac, and our guys just fought their tails off in defensive We put pressure on the quarterback all night, came up before sacks, secondaries, covering their tails off. Linebackers are playing great. It's one of the games you expect. It's gonna be a dirty game. You just gotta make a play to

win it. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done. I think Tyler Lockett only made one play. It was a big play, but I mean did a good job of minimizing him other than that one big long ball. Yeah, when you faced Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett, they're gonna make a big play at some point. I haven't seen many teams shut that out yet, and so you just gonna be able to weather that storm. And our guys did we

know there's gonna be diverseiting this game. They give up a play, we were still in a position to win the game at the end, and proud of the way that our guys responded. In the second quarter, they scored twice. You come back and you scored two touchdowns in les than two minutes. I mean, you score one time with forty seven seconds another time, like a minute and a half. I mean, boom boom the answer, and then when you

had to struggle, the defense would shut him down. No points a lot, I'm thinking, man, both sides have each other's back here. Yeah, I mean it was it was just a well fought game and our guys never got down. They would score and we'd go make a big play offense, we get stopped, and our defense we go out there and respond with a great play. And again that's just that's what we expect all year from these guys. So something to obviously a lot of things to build on here.

I mean, what was what was your message to the team in the locker room? Obviously you probably had some despondent guys laying it on the line like they did. We're gonna win a lot of games if we fight like that every week and to come on the road and overcome adversity like we did. Couldn't be prouder of them, and we're gonna win a lot of games playing football

like this. Honestly, I haven't seen Russell Wilson be as kind of I'm not I'm not saying he was gunjab but I'm saying disconcerted you know what I mean, he was a little bit on his heels and you don't usually see Russell Wilson like that. I you know, it's I just thought our defensive a great job applying pressure. And that's all we can ask of him. Five down lineman, coach, that had him a little bit buffalo for a while. You guys, game plan wise, you put it together big time.

I thought the five down lineman, I thought your screen package offensive it was a big time. I'm really proud of our coaching staff. They got these guys ready to play and and we knew it was going to come down to the last drive. Like I said, we didn't get it done, but couldn't be prouder of the coaches in all three phases of the plans they put together. Coach came literally within one play of you know, shutting

some people up and shocking a lot of people. And I know that, and that's not the reason you play the football games. You play the football games to win football game. But man, like you said, the effort can't be questioned. That's a great sign. That is, that's that's Unfortunately, we wanted to be one of no and said I win one, but we got a chance to come back next we can redeem ourselves. The Bengals finished with four hundred and twenty nine yards of offense only two thirty

three four Seattle. That means they outgained the Seahawks by one hundred ninety six yards and lost. The stat doctor Doctor Richard Winer tells me there have only been two games in Bengals history where they outgained the opponent by more than one hundred ninety six yards and lost. In eighty seven, they outgained Houston by two seventy seven and lost, and in seventy eight they outgained Oakland by two forty

seven and dropped one to the Raiders. Now time for postgame analysis, and I started by conversation with lap by talking about the statistical dominance in an l the NFL can be heartbreaking, and this one was exactly that. You know, if the games are decided by yards, it's a bloog, but it's sided by points unfortunately, and the Bengals just

didn't make enough plays in the red zone. I mean, they got there a few times and get stopped on Down's no points fumble ball because out of Andy Dalton's hands, no points. You know, mister forty five yard field goal. Those those are the kind of things that in a one point game you just can't give opportunities away like that. And you know, Wilson and Lockett, they're big play wall Over them only made one play, but it was a huge play. I mean it's a touchdown pass to put

them in the lead for good. And you know, unfortunately a mistakes made and they capitalize. So there are a lot of things to build on though. You know, I like the way that the resiliency has showed. Offense defense had each other's back. You know, the offense defense would would allow Seattle score. Offense come right back in the second sport and score twice, once in forty five seconds, once in a little over a minute. I mean, it was crazy, come right down the field with big plays

and score. And even when they scored the Locket's test and they went right down the field again and settled for field goal in the red zone, but they did score points. So they would always respond. I liked that response. When the offense had problems or special teams had problems in the defense on a short field, they held it to nothing. So you know, each unit's kind of supporting

each other and you can build something from that. But obviously, you know, bitterly just pointing they had a really good game plan. The five defensive lineman package cost some issues to the Seattle Seahawks, There's no question about it, and you know, you just wish that could have held on and when a game would have shocked the NFL, that would have shocked the NFL world for sure. Andy Dalton

completed thirty five passes. That's a career high. He threw for more than four hundred yards for the first time in his NFL career. But the running game wasn't there, averaging about two yards per carry. Was that strictly Seattle's defensive approach, I think, I think that's a big part of it. And as a result of that, they really took advantage from the screen game. You know, of the four hundred yards, I'd say one hundred plus was probably in the screen game, somewhere in that range. I'd say

at least one hundred. No GEO had thirty five or whatever was on one screen, and I know there were tight end screens or other screens. I feel pretty confidently at least one hundred yards, so to me, you know, it's a short pass, you get offensive lineman out in front blocking. It's kind of a hybrid, you know, run slash pass kind of thing. And I think it was what they were doing to stop the run. They were vulnerable the screen in the Bengals took big advantage of

him in that screen pass package. So that's something that other teams are going to look at and Seattle's gonna have to make adjustments on. But Seattle's gonna do what they do. I don't think they're gonna worry about it. They're still gonna play defense the way they play it. But I was really impressed with Zach's game plan. I was really impressed with a loose game plan on the defensive side of things. And you know, guys played so hard. Carlos played hard. Sam Hubbard was a meniac out there.

His hair was on fire, he was all over the football field. A lot of guys played tremendous effort. And I think that's the thing as you look forward, the effort that they gave today is gonna lead to a lot of a lot of wins for him. I mean, if they go out there and play as hard as they played on this football field today, they're gonna win games. Ten tackles, two sacks for Sam Hubbard. Let's talk about John Ross back in the city where he played his

college football. Seven catches, one hundred and fifty eight yards, more than a hundred better than his previous career high for yardage. It was the full John Ross experience rience. He had a couple of drops, including one that would have been a huge game, but he gives that. They gives the Bengals that big play weapon that they were

seeking when they drafted him number nine overall. He ran that shallow cross and a couple of Seahawks picked each other off, and if he catches it, he may turn it up field and score, if not definitely in field goal range. But the very next play he comes back and Indy Ross goes deep to him and he beats the safety in a safety place at Portly, but John

Ross takes advantage of it they score a touchdown. So I remember distinctly saying asking Zach Taylor at the end of last week, you know what's the one thing that's that's there's unconditionally you have to have in a football player to play for Zach Taylor, He said, mental toughness. So you know, John Ross shields some mental toughness. He could have mult powdered, you know, groused about dropping that pass.

He didn't even came right back and scored. And then from that drop pass on he just continued to show confidence and build his game. So hopefully that's a good sign of things to comb. It's pro football, they're getting paid. There are no moral victories. But to come to Seattle the first game of Zach Taylor's coaching tenure, I would play the Seahawks for the most part and play them to a one point game. I think the Bengals had to come back with a lot of confidence from this.

Do you agree, I really do agree, And I was duly impressed with how the offense and offensive line in particular handled the silent snapcount. You know, when we were doing radio together this week, I said, you know, I think that Seattle they're gonna get Seattle once, and I don't think they're gonna jump. They're not gonna have any

penalties out. They had none. They were clean, and they did get Clowney to jump, although I think Tyler Boyd it was a little bit a bit debatable, but I was unbelievably impressed because it was a din in here. You could look a look next to your teammate and just see mine, you know, a mouth moving, no sound, and guys handled it and handled it unbelievably well. So I think that's another thing. They're not going to go into loud a stadium than this on the road, and

they've got this under their belt. They worked on it so hard, beginning a training camp and started in meeting rooms, in the cafeteria, on the football field. That's all they were doing because they know they were playing the Seattle Seahawks and the crowd noise out here, and it was amazing what they got done. Up Next to the Bengals the home opener as they host the forty nine ers on Sunday at one o'clock, we want to remind you that you can hang out with lappin me and meet

Bengals players at our radio shows this week. On Wednesday night from six to eight, we'll be at game on a sports tavern on Chevy at Road for the Bengals Game Plan Show, and we expect to have Sam Hubbard joining us for one hour. Then on Friday afternoon from three to six, we'll be at Buffalo Wings and Rings in Mason, just down the road from King's Island for the Bengals pep Rally show. A player will join us in the final hour and we usually know who it

is by Wednesday. Hope to see you on Wednesday or Friday or both. Now time for this week's fun fact segment. I've done several over the years with Bengals President Mike Brown and always find our conversations really enjoyable. I think you will too. Time for another round of fun facts with Bengals President Mike Brown. Your father loved golf. As far as I know, you never have really played. Why not? I think golf skips generations. He used to did in

our family, my kids, Katie, he loves playing golf. Troy's a good golfer. Paul. He played for a while and said, no Moss. They used to torture him, Troy and Katie, because I guess his swing was just right. He went on to other things. But it's a wonderful activity for people in old age or middle age. It's especially good. I wish for that reason that I had stayed with it. I played when I was very young, but I'm probably one of those guys who never broke a hundred or whatever,

and so I went onto other things. Mike, if my math is correct, you were ten years old when your father became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and for the next ten years, the Browns advanced to the championship game of their league every single year. So between the ages of ten and twenty, basically your team was playing for a championship. Can you describe those years from the perspective of somebody who was ten to twenty years old? For me, it got to be the expected thing. Our

team was good, it was at the cutting edge. The team had great players, ran off a wonderful record when that I'm proud of to this day. And I think back in those days and when the day came that we lost in the championship game, I remember my high school basketball coach telling me the next day that the sun would come up and I should just bear up under the disappointment. But those were great teams, great times, great memories in your mind, And this is a difficult question.

What were your father's greatest qualities as a head coach? Oh, he was one of those guys who could cut to the core of an issue faster than other people. He just had a mind that worked that way, and he was imaginative. It wasn't something that he wore you out with, just why shouldn't we do it this way? And so they did. And there are all sorts of examples, from the face mask to the radio and the helmet to well the draw play. That was always a favorite story

of mine. The Browns played a game and Donald Graham, the quarterback, ran into Marion Motley as he came back to throw the ball. I think Motley ran the wrong play and the ball popped out of Otto's hands and Marion looked up and snatched it, and then he looked and saw an opening, and he ran through the opening. And the next day my father with his coaching staff

looked at the play on the movies. That's how they did it then and said, you know, I think this might work as a regular play, and so they modified at some and that's how the draw play came into pro football. He could see things, make something out of it, and organize it so it worked. It was just a gift he had. You have never pulled the plug quickly on your coaches. Does that have anything to do with

the way things ended in Cleveland. Well, it does. I experienced what that means to my father, and I'm sensitive to it. These are human beings that put their lives into this endeavor, and then when you go tell them that it isn't working, that's hard on them. It's hard on their families. It can be cruel. And if you have to do it, fine, but don't do it anymore often than necessary. One of the many things I enjoyed during the season is Sunday morning breakfast on the day

of a road game. It's you, your good friend Jack Schiff, usually Katie and Troy are there, and Dave Lapham, and it has evolved into the Dave Lapham story hour. Do you marvel at his storytelling as much as I do? Why else do I go to breakfast at Dave? Is wonderful and you're pretty good too. Don't down grade yourself, but we go there and have a delightful time. It is too bad they don't have a radio program. I

thought the same thing, because the conversation just flows. I'm not sure all that would be suitable for the air, but it's good times and I've always looked forward to that. We're doing fun facts with Mike Brown. Over the years, I've asked you about some pivotal games in Bengal's history, the Freezer Bowl, the two Super Bowl appearances, etc. I'd like you to reminisce about a few other games today.

December nineteen eighty nine Bengal sixty one, Oilers seven, the day that Sam Weish ran up the score on Jerry Glanville, including a field goal with twenty one seconds to go. That was Sam. Sam and Jerry had sort of an aversion for each other and it came to be that we had the dominant team and Sam chose to rub it in. That was his way of giving it to Jerry. Personally, I'm not for that kind of thing. I think it was wrong, but it was so long ago that I

had forgotten it, and I'm sorry that you had. November nineteen seventy five, Monday Night Football's first visit to Cincinnati, a showdown between Ken Anderson and O. J. Simpson. Ken pass for four hundred and forty seven yards. OJ ran for one ninety seven on seventeen carries. The Bengals win the game thirty three to twenty four. It really was a great game. Kenny Anderson's arm lasted longer than OJ's legs. But they just ran one play sixteen eighteen. It was

an outside play. If you gave him the inside, they took it. If you gave him the outside, they took it. And they knew how to block it no matter what you did, and they were good at it. But he was a great runner. Yes, there's all this history. It is enough to fill volumes about O. J. Simpson. But during the day when he was a player, he was a great player, and that game went back and forth. We couldn't stop them. They couldn't stop us. OJ woredown. We could keep going and we managed to win barely.

What do you think of Howard cose Hell. I have a strange thing to say about Howard Coachell. At one time there was a conference of newspaper editors in Cincinnati, and Howard Coachell was the speaker, And somehow I wonder why I got on the program two for a modest comment or two before he did the main talk. And I remember I was probably sweating through my shirt in anxiety, and I went up and I did my bit, and he was very kind after I had stumbled through whatever

it was that I was talking about. He just said something kind to me, and that wasn't the Howard Cosell the world remembers when they talk about Howard Cosell. But that's my memory of Howard Cosell, and it has always been part of how I think about him. September nineteen sixty eight, first home games in Bengal's history and first win in Bengal's history twenty four ten over Denver in

front of twenty five thousand fans at Nippert Stadium. We started out in Knippert Stadium and it was really quite exciting. I would have to tell you some of those games have mel together over the years, but I have fond memories of the games we played out there. The way they handled new teams back then was to make it as difficult on them as possible. We didn't have the players. We would go out and fight and scrap, and occasionally we would run into a team that we could manage

to hold our own. We came on quickly as a team. We were in the playoffs in our third year, which at that time was a world's record. Again, you had to start without the allocation of players. That subsequent expansion teams received, and I've always remembered those years fondly. I think we were a well coached team. We just had players that had to get up to it, and by our third year we had enough that we could manage. It was fun. Final thing, You're getting ready to start

a new season with a new head coach. What about Zach Taylor impresses you. He's a bright young guy. He's dedicated coaching. He is offensive oriented. I like that. I think my father was that way. I have never been a coach, but I like to think in those terms, and I focus on the offense first and foremost too. It'll be interesting to see if we can get things together and be the kind of team we want to be. We'll see how quickly that can come about. But I

think Zach has write ingredients. Always enjoyed these conversations. Thank you so much for your time. Well, it reminds me of Sunday breakfast. I'm glad to be here too. We need Lap him. Mike is absolutely right. If we could turn those Sunday breakfasts where he and Lap share stories about Bengals history into a radio show, it would be a huge hit. 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, stitch, your Google Play, Spotify or pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please give it a rating or leave a comment. Those five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast.