Bengals Booth Podcast: Shook Me All Night Long

Hi, get everybody on dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The should be all night long addition, as the Bengals extend their winning streak to four straight by beating the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football twenty four to eighteen. Coming up, you'll hear radio replays, locker room comments from players and coaches, and postgame analysis from Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun Facts Conversation, you'll

The end zone pot by IRV Smith Junior.

His first touchdown has a Cincinnati Bengal and the Bengals are on the scoreboard first.

Jordan Poyer was in coverage. You beat a good one. Joe Burrow put it up. What a drive.

Latavious Murray, a bigger running back, checks into the game. On first and goal, Alan fakes to him. Pump Fakes, runs toward the pylon and does a little taunting of Nick Scott as he cruises into the end zone. There are two penalty flags thrown late on the play. Now it's third down in goal from the two. Chase Alone out to the left, Boyden Higgins out to the right. Burrow hands it to.

Mixon and he will go flow into the end zone for a touchdown.

And here comes the jungle jump as the Bengals have gone back in front.

Shotgun snap Allen to throw. Pump Fakes fires a strike, intercepting Cam Taylor.

Brett picks it off at the thirty two yard line.

Big third down and seven play coming up. Trayon Williams in the game. He lines up to the left of Joe Burrow. Joe has the ball under pressure, dumps it off short caught. Drue Sample has a first down to the ten, the face to the pie line. He's in touchdown.

Beautiful Bengals Drew Sample catching a short pass from Joe Burrow and doing the rest on a twenty two yard TD.

Well he released late. He stayed in the block and then he released late, and as a result, the Buffalo Bills lost track of him.

First and ten at the twenty two percent Alan catches looking left, throw us over the middle.

Caught by kick Aid loses the football scooped up by the Bengals.

At the thirteen yard line. Hit the takeaway.

Nick Scott knocked it out and recovered it.

Bengals ball Now did the did the ground cause the fumble?

No?

The ball is out long before King Kaid comes to the ground.

Three forty two to go, third down and one in the red zone at the seventeen yard line. Alan has the ball looking over the middle, fires toward the end zone. Caught Stefan Diggs got behind DJ Turner and it's a Buffalo touchdown with three thirty two to go. Joe Burrow hands on hips, eyeballing the defense. Buffalo's showing pressure up the middle. The Bengals handed to Mixon gets away from an ankle tackle running toward the first down marker.

He's got it, wow and that his coffin.

Nails Bam Bam bam. And what he did was he made von Miller miss one on one von Miller Joe Mixon, he makes von Miller missed. What a play by Joe Mixon.

One more snap will do it. Once the clock is inside of forty seconds to go, the Bengals can snap the ball. They snap it with thirty eight seconds to go. Burrow takes a knee and the coaches begin walking toward the fifty yard line. Let the record show that in the head to head competition between Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, it is Burrow two, Allen nothing.

At the Bengals win.

They're fourth in a row, beating the Bills tonight by the final score of twenty four to eighteen. Here are some key stats from the win. Joe Burrow threw for a season high three hundred and forty eight yards with two touchdowns, no picks, and a passer rating of one oh eight point nine. T Higgins was his favorite target with eight catches for one hundred and ten yards unless

Big run. Basically under the ballgame at that point with that rush that you had, talk about it.

Yeah, man, they played pretty much double A gaps. They tried us, you know, pretty much zero blitzies. It was literally, uh, basically just me and Vaughn at that point.

I thought that.

Jonah sil you know, the edge well, you know, came crashing down on a h I don't know.

I think it was a seventh I don't know.

I think there was a linebacker maybe, but you know, I bounced out. It was me and Vaughn, you know, cho give him a joke, made a miss and got the first down. Wish I can go back and you know, get out of bound or fall instead of going out of bounds. But you know, we was able to get it done, man, and that's how that mattered.

So you mentioned that they were running double a gap on that snap. They did that a lot. Man. It was like they felt like they had to crowd the line of scrimmage and pressure you guys. And I thought a big part of your game tonight was blitz pick up.

Man.

You were outstanding in blitz pick up.

Yeah, man, I thought that. You know, me and Trey did a hell of a job. You know, I wish I could go back on one and you know, technique wise and you know, clean some things up. But for the most part, I definitely felt like, you know, we honed in and handle business and you know, got a few pancakes and you know, pretty much was holding up firm in the pocket.

Man.

So Joe was delivering dimes and everything was coming together. So he's gotta keep building on that and keep going getting better.

Joe, You're on a four game winning streak and you've scored not only in the first drive in every single game, but the second drive, your first two drives and all four wins. You guys just score touchdowns. What what does it mean to get off to a fast start like that?

Yeah, I mean pretty much over here, that's what we preach, you know, start fast and finish faster when it comes down to it, Man, I thought that the guys that the hell of a job honing in on the game plan, crowd. They played a great part of it, you know, with the momentum and things like that.

But when it come down to.

It, we just got to keep building and keep capitalizing on you know what teams give us. Like I said, I feel like, you know what, the potential that we got in this here locker room. We got the potential to be the best and literally every stat you know in football, from from offensive defense, and when it comes down to it, we just got to keep on getting better, honing in on a game plan and doing what we gotta do. Keep stacking these wins, and they are, every

And finally everybody said, oh, you know the tight ends. I don't know the Bengals tight ends. Are they good enough? Tight Ends played their asses off tonight. The tight end position stepped up running backs, receivers, a bunch of receivers made plays, you know, not just Jamar who made plays himself as well, but that that passed to Tyler Boyd on on your final drive. How big was that? Yeah?

I thought TV came a huge on that hell of a play? Uh, how's the hell of a play? Paul Bozak. You know, we pretty much executed, you know, all the way.

Around, all eleven of us.

And uh, when it comes down to it, when you're executing, great things is gonna happen. And that's just what it is. Man. But I'm excited.

About you know this, big dug.

We're going to celebrate today tonight and come tomorrow, you know, Uh, get the kinks out, learn from the drawing boards, go back to the drawing boards, and get ready for Houston. Man.

Defensively, Mike Hilton had ten solo tackles and the Bengals won the turnover battle to nothing. Jermaine Pratt forced to fumble that was recovered by Nick Scott and Cam Taylor. Britt came away with his third interception in the last four games. I caught up with Cam in front of his locker. Two games for you against the Buffalo Bills. Two picks off Josh Allen describe the one you had tonight.

It's so crazy.

It was the same defense and I baited him.

Man, I just gave him two steps downhill thinking I was gonna go for the outing. We knew he's He's a guy who trustes on more than you know, any dB to ever touch the ball. So you know, I just you know, use my athletic ability most definitely to track the ball and go back and you know, play the play enough bade ball.

You know he was gonna try to get.

The whole shot in which he always does. And you know, we see no film film Gona Lie.

Gabe Davis didn't have a catch, Stefan Diggs didn't get to one hundred yards. They've got some great weapons, and by and large he shut them down pretty well.

To him, I'm supposed to have, you know, Just like that, I feel like anybody would play, you know, and I'm line up on them or DJ or Mike or Cheatah, anybody on the back of him. I just feel like, you know, we we we're so close and tight knit right now. I don't feel a lot of people, you know, running by us, you know, getting by us.

That was a huge play and obviously the force fumble by Germain and the recovery by next Scot was huge insight the ten. How significant did you feel that play was?

I think that was one of the mainsor you know, turning points. I feel like we always are turning points in our games, and you know, you could just you know, pinpoint them. And I believe that was the one right there, you know, going down to score and you know we had to nut up to shut up basically, and you know when it we always say yards are ecle points. It's gonna come back to that always, you know.

And we hit a four straight wins, including back to back wins over the forty nine Ers and Bills, two of the best teams in the NFL. How do you feel about the state of the Bengals right now?

It should be lit right now. We got a lot of football to play though, so yeah, you know, you could be lit right now. But Monday we back here.

What'd you think of the atmosphere tonight with the striping, the jungle and the whole deal.

I think I can say it was lit now. It was crazy, man. We and got some of the guys are talking about it, you know, just MS Maris, But you know the words in black, I color coordinated. It would they read to take the time to do that, man, and it so man, I think it was, you know, intimidation thing. You know.

The game A great show.

Congrats, thank you so much.

So the Bengals have won four in a row. The only team in the NFL with a longer current winning streak is Jacksonville at five in a row. Now time to hear from head coach Zach Taylor, who spent about three and a half minutes with Lap after the game.

So, I gotta ask you about this four wins in a row. You haven't scored on your first drive on you just scored in your first two drives and all four of those victories. I mean, how big is that?

It's big to get that momentum early in the game, put pressure on the other team where they can feel what type of game it's going to be. Oser, defensive, tee off you know, when they've got that type of lead, and it makes the game easier to call for our guys and freeze it up, let us and be a little more aggressive on offense.

So when you work so hard on your first few plays, you know you have an idea what you might want to call for your first two drives. When it works out like that, how rewarding is that?

For rewarding, you know, and our guys they understand what's coming at him. Those are things that we walked through and talk about great, great detail, so they can preview it really the night before and they come out and they do a great job executing it.

You much maligned tight end position was large today.

They were awesome, you know, and all those guys contributed. James Casey does a great job getting that room ready and answering the bell when their numbers called, and then they all did that today.

Joe didn't even target Jamar Chase until this thirteenth pass attempt of the day. Was that my design? Or was it they were just taking Jamarrow away? Or did you really want to get others involved because you knew what Jamar was going to do.

No, there were things where he was the primary, you know, and the type of coverage dictated the ball had to go away from him. And so the credit to them. They did the good job. They keep you all balanced. They throw a lot of different things at you. They'll pressure you, and they're not afraid to contest you. So it was difficult to predict where the ball was going to go. You just kept calling it and jo just finding the open receiver.

They blitzed a ton. I mean that double A gap. Seemed like every snap they were lining up in the double A gap and sometimes coming with everybody and sometimes not put Was it a higher percentage than normal or is that the way they played it all year?

They pressure you, you know, they're not afraid to do it. And so again our guys were ready for a lot of the different looks that we were going to get. They do a great job changing it up, and so you just got to stay in your toes.

The whole game. Joe Mixon talk about how big a factor he was today.

That was the way he finished that out was big time, you know, and he had some harder and run. It was never easy. So in four minute drill, you know, you can't block them all. It's cover zero, it's the last play of the game. And for him to find a way to make that last guy miss get that first down was enormous.

I thought, well, you know, maybe the alongside kick. I don't know. I mean, because Joe Burrow the way he's playing, I don't know, maybe if they kick it to the Bengals, just take a knee and the in the game. That's the way it turned out. That throw to Tyler Boyd though unbelievable call by you, Tyler Boyd executed it. Talk about that play.

Yeah, it's a player guys believe in, you know, and you really don't want to start with the first and ten run that gets, you know, yards, because that's what they're anticipating. So you wanted to put yourself ahead of the sticks and let our guys you know, finished off from there. And so again great protection, great throw, great route by TV.

And so it's good to see you played a clean game last week. No penalties on the offense, clean game this week, no gifts, no giveaways, two takeaways plus two. It's big.

The turnover battle is huge in games versus really good opponents like this. You got to find a way to win it, you know, and plus two usually guarantees your victory. And so that was good to see that our guys been just that way.

Today uncharacteristically, and it had to be frustrating to you. The stretch of penalties and down this the end of the second quarter had to be frustrating for you.

It was tough. You know, there was two of them, one of one of them. Will have to watch and see again, you know, on the scramble. But you know there's some things that we got to I got to get the call on better so that we can have some urgency, get into the line at the ball snapped and help our guys out.

Coach, appreciate it. You got your team playing really hard. Joe Burrow's back. There's no doubt about that. I mean, everybody around the league is looking to say, uh oh, Bengals are back. Bengals are back, no question about it. Thanks Coach, Thank you.

The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time for the radio guys recap that before the trade deadline, a lot of folks were speculating that the Bengals would

Yeah, they really did. It was good to see on a national stage to boot you know. I mean, I think it takes a lot of pressure off off of the players that position group, and they work hard. Their coach works hard. He gets them ready. They're absolutely on point with respect to assignments, not making mistakes, not doing anything to hurt, you know, the football team from a negative standpoint. And today they stepped up and made plays.

Let's go back to the beginning of the game. They score on their opening drive. Four straight games of the touchdown on the opening drive, and then they followed up with another touchdown. Third straight game that they've done that, and going back four games, they had a field goal on their second drive. So four straight games where they score points on their first two drives. I don't ever remember that happening before.

That's that's unbelievably impressive, and it just takes such a load off the defense. I mean, you know, when when the offense is playing like that, it it makes uh, doctor Lou's scheme addicts even even more difficult. I think it gives him so much freedom. He can do a

Defensively, the Bengals get a couple of huge takeaways. The first one was Cam Taylor Britt with the interception off Josh Allen three picks in his last four games. Also had one in the playoff game last year in Buffalo. Am I being way premature to think that Cam Taylor Britt is the top corner on this team and one of the better young corners in the league.

I think he's I think he's making a move in that area. I think he feels like he is, and that's what you have to have. You have to have that kind of confidence, You have to have that kind of belief that you can make that sort of contribution for your football team. He's a physical guy, and he brings the emotion, the enthusiasm, and he bothers receivers. He gets in their heads. There's no question about it. He's

Second takeaway great teamwork between Nick Scott and Jermaine Pratt. Nick makes the jarring hit to send Dalton Kincaid head over heels, and as he's upside down and coming to the ground, Jermaine, who's always obsessed with coming away with the ball, punches it out and leads to the fumble recovery.

Yeah. I think probably the biggest reason the game ended up the way it did is they were plus two and that gave them an opportunity to hold onto the football, run more snaps, burn more clock. I mean, they almost had the ball for a full quarter more than the Buffalo Bills did thirty six minutes and thirty eight seconds to twenty three twenty two. I mean, thirteen minutes in sixteen seconds. That's pretty impressive against the team. The caliber of the Bills and the turnovers had had something to

I guess if there are a couple of negatives tonight, the running game wasn't very good, and they did have far more penalties than usual they did.

They had a stretch there or on into the second quarter. Three straight penalties just took them out of a scoring opportunity. They left meat on the bone. There's no doubt about it. They could have they could have hung thirty on them easily, maybe into the mid thirties if they had finished everything, every opportunity that they had. But they finished enough of

The game's kind of weird in the sense that they won by six. There was some tension at the end, and yet I never felt like there was a chance they were going to lose the game, Am I not? No?

I don't think so. I felt the same way. You know. It's like as if you keep that two score lead, you know, until there's like eight minutes or so to go in the game, you think, I just don't see a team the caliber of this team, you know, blowing

When you get the ball back with three and a half minutes to go and the other teams down by six and they never get the ball back, that's got to be a tremendously satisfying feeling.

No question. I mean that four minute drills in those situations are hard to run. But when you make a play, when you pick up over three first downs in one play, now it's all of a sudden that four minute drill has become much easier. I mean, you flipped field position, you picked up the third of a football field on one snap. That's that dog will hunt right there.

All right, four straight, five out of six. The Houston Texans coming up next with a rookie quarterback who put on a show. Four hundred and seventy yards and five touchdown passes for CJ.

Stride today. It's amazing. You know, I'm watching that game a little bit, and his throwing motion is so compact, it's so short, and I mean he stays in a tight pocket. I mean he's a fearless kid, and he's very accurate with the football obviously, and they're no joke. I mean he's he's on a stretch He went into the game with just one interception on the season. I don't think he threw any today. I mean five touchdown passes, no picks. This guy's putting together some numbers that are crazy.

League game winning touchdown pass with six seconds to go after Baker Mayfield ha thrown me when to take the lead with forty six seconds to go. That's incredible.

It is no timeouts. I think it was four plays, four throws, the one to the sideline, the deep ball of the sideline where his receiver, you know, drag, the drag, the left toe, And I'm thinking, how can you give up that play? They have no timeouts. How can you not funnel action back to the middle. Why would you give up the sideline play like that? But he threw a very accurate football and took advantage of a very very tight window.

It's good to be two games over five hundred, it really is.

How about the asc North, everybody's two games over five hundred, you said earlier, if the playoffs were to start tomorrow, everybody be in right.

Yes, I believe so. I think Cincinnati vaults ahead of Buffalo on the a totem pole, and that I'll double check, but I'm pretty sure that as of right now, of these seven teams that would make the playoffs in the AFC, you've got all four of the AFC North teams.

Everybody in the AFC North at least two games over five hundred. That is well done by the division. Some of a gun they swept this weekend, swept the action unbelievable.

After double checking, I was correct. The four division leaders in the AFC right now are Kansas City, Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Miami, and the three wild card teams are Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. There's obviously a long way to go. Cleveland and Baltimore face each other in Baltimore next week, and Pittsburgh has a home game against the three and five Packers. Now time for this week's fun fact segment, where you

The closeness of the community, the willingness to be there for your neighbor that's not family, I would say, just the environment alone, and then ultimately, just like I said, the people in the city and in the community. And I think the sign is accurate. It's a great place to call home. I love being from Pineville, Louisiana.

You went home during the Bengals bye week to have your number seventy four jersey retired at your high school. Can you describe what that meant?

A dream come true? I remember I was talking to my girlfriend before we went down there, and I was like, there's only one jersey in the facility that I used to walk in every day that was retired. And I used to look at it every day and be like, why not me? And then also looked at it as you know, more motivation and inspiration for myself to, you know, shrive to be better and take take this football the sports serious and see where it can take me.

We're visiting with Cody Ford. You're a big band, the six three, about three hundred and thirty pounds. Were you always the big kid in the neighborhood?

No, maybe one of the taller kids, But I didn't surpass two hundred and forty pounds until I would say junior year of high school, and then kind of hit a little spark. Junior year, I gained about twenty thirty pounds, got to two seventy, and then the next year I was the biggest kid in school.

When it came time to go to college, you traveled about seven hours from home to go to the University of Oklahoma. You became an All American there. In your two full seasons as a starter, the team went to the College Football Playoff both times. Your quarterback won the Heisman both times, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. What did you enjoy most about playing at Oklahoma?

The locker room, The guys in the locker room, especially the O line room.

We u.

I mean there's guys that don't play in the league today, some that didn't even get a chance to play in the league, and I think we talk every day. The brotherhood that we built there is just bar nine. I don't think. I mean a lot of guys speak highly of their locker rooms, but I know me and the guys in the O line room and other positions as well, put great pride in the you know, being a tight

You had a great career. You also earned your degree in three and a half years. Where academics always important to you.

I'll just be honest, I wouldn't say important. It wasn't the top of my list. I know it was the top of my parents and my grandparents list. But once I got there, I had my career. And then when it was time for my last season of football, I said, well, I'm not leaving until I get my degree. So I pushed myself to have my degree by the time the

We're chatting with Cody Ford. You were selected early in the second round of the twenty nineteen draft by the Buffalo Bills. Describe your draft experience.

Long, exhausting, exciting, humbling experience, But I don't know. It was a great, great experience, great memory, great moment, and you know, everything I had done up until that point was it was all paid paid off. And the first night being in the draft room expecting my name, hoping my name to be called that night and then it not happened was probably the most humbling piece of my career up at that point. That was a long day.

I grew up a little bit south of Buffalo, so I know all about the weather. Since you're from Louisiana. With the heat and humidity, how did you find the snow in western New York?

Not friendly? I remember the first time it snowed, I didn't have a shovel, I didn't have a brush for my car. I didn't have a heavy coat, which I should have been prepared for. But I remember I opened my door and the snow was probably about three inches above the base of the floor, and I was like, holy you know that was That was insane id never I've never seen snow before that, So yeah, it wasn't friendly.

This past offseason, you became a free agent for the first time, and you reached out to your former Oklahoma teammate, Orlando Brown Junior with an idea before the start of free agency. Explain what happened.

I knew he was going to be up. I knew there was going to be a lot of teams that wanted him, and I knew that him being the guy he is, he wants to go to a winning program, a great program and play for you know, guys or played with guys that you know have the same motivation and same mindsets as him. And being on the outside looking in, I've always looked at Cincinnati as that. I told him early on. I was like, man, let's go to Cincinnati, because I mean, at the time, it wasn't

Describe your friendship with Orlando.

I would consider him more than a friend. He's like a big brother than me. From the first week I stepped on the campus at Oklahoma, he was all the little things, from two big things. He was like, this is how we practice, This is what coach expects from you. This is what the team expects from you. And then you know, he was like, this is this is where we eat at, this is do you want good food? This is where you go in. And then he's like

We're doing fun facts with Cody Ford. You post on Instagram from time to time, and most of your posts include the hashtag our ip Papa, which is a tribute to your late grandfather. Tell us about him and your relationship.

Me and him, we were best friends growing up until literally until the day I left for college. There's a point in my life where me and my mom had to go live with my grandparents for some time, and I think that's when we really kind of bonded together. And I think that's when I really started to look at him as not just a grandfather, but a friend, a male a male figure in my life that I want to represent and strive to be, and as a father, husband,

So you just referenced your girlfriend Tianna on cutdown Day, many of us were introduced to her. She has more than one hundred thousand followers on TikTok. She posts some very entertaining videos and she posted one on cutdown day where the two of you are in a car as the clock hits four o'clock and at that point you know you have officially made the Bengals roster. It was really touching. What did you think of that?

That one?

That's That's another another humbling experience I've had with my time in the league, because being that I'm going into my fifth year, I've seen people who you would expect to make the team get cut, and I've seen people that you wouldn't expect to make the team get make the team. And you know, just with the late concussion that I had not putting any film on the in the last preseason game that day, and that last hour or so was very stressful. I had never been in

They literally rang in the background, which was amazing. After seeing that video, I've looked at a few of her other TikTok videos. She's bubbling with enthusiasm, while you typically played the straight man and often looked mildly annoyed. Are you in character or is that real?

Both?

The annoyance is just a show. And I told her that and then like, we folso a positivideo about that, and she knows, Like the beauty of it is that she knows what's real and not real as far as how I act on camera. She also knows that I hate the camera, so she she she expects it sometimes and uh, she's aware of it. But at the same time,

Well, she is a talented content creator. You play a very good straight man. What do you like to splur.

John unnecessary things? Clothes, shoes, bags, more so just because I didn't grow up with the finer things. Now that I have the opportunity to afford it responsibly, I do have my moments while I go splurged. But I was just those three things kind of And then House of Decord is kind of my big thing too, like will art comfy seatings like bean bags, chairs, and then probably my gaming system is what I splurge on quite a bit as well.

All Right, final fun fact for Cody Ford, and this one is kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, living or deceased, athlete, entertainer, statesman, who would that person be.

I'm gonna have to say Michael Jackson. No, no, I'm switching at Bernie Mac. I love Bernie Mac. I think he's the greatest comedian of all time. And he's also one of the smartest, smartest men. You know, with his quotes and stuff and just the way he lived his life, you could tell you he was you know, he knew he was that guy, and that's the way he lived. But yeah, I wish I could meet him and just sit in the room and laugh all day. That would be my.

Guy, Cody. This has been fun. It's great to have you in Cincinnati. I appreciate your time and best of FUFT the rest of the year.

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

Thank you.

That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet design to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by kettering health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health