Bengals Booth Podcast: Slip Sliding Away

You'll get to know rookie linebacker Malik Jefferson. We'll discuss a wide variety of topics, including the time he met one of People Magazine's most beautiful women in the world on a recruiting trip. If that's not unfair recruiting, I don't know what is. All of that is straight ahead, But first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean.

It's the greatest invention since clocks that automatically adjust when you move from time zone to time zone. I traveled to Las Vegas for a little more than twenty four hours over the weekend for a UC basketball game on Saturday, then turned around and came back to Cincinnati for the Bengals game on Sunday. And it's really helpful when your phone and watch automatically adjust to local time. If only my body adjusted as easily. Now, let's get to football.

For just the fifth time in eight years, the Bengals had a starting quarterback other than Andy Dalton on Sunday. It was twenty five year old Jeff Driscoll, making his first start in one thou eighty days, going back to the two fifteen New Orleans Bowl, when he led Louisiana Tech to a forty seven twenty eight win over Arkansas State. With all due respect to the Red Wolves, they don't

have pass rushers like the Denver Broncos. Second down in fifty and the Bengals at their own twenty six, Driscoll catches a shotgun, snappy is back to throw, and he will be sacked back at the sixteen yard line by Shelby Harris the nose tackle that was the first of four sacks for Denver. And to make matters worse, A J. Greene suffered a non contact injury to his right foot on the play after struggling to get to the sideline.

AJ was taken off the field on a cart and appeared to be distraught as he covered his face with his hands. Aj had just returned to the Bengals lineup after missing three games with a toe injury. Here's fellow receiver Tyler Boyd. You know, he told us he was fine, he felt fine his Pakistan, and we thought he was ready to go. And what happened twin was just like and let us know, like the type of player he

is and what his heart is. Okay, I could imagine what he's going through, you know, because I know he wants to win, and we just had the type before we played his game, like let's go. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta make this push, we gotta, we gotta get over his hump and win these next games. In him going down kind of um made a lots of for us to do. We say what we're gonna do. The Bengals defense played well in the first half as the Broncos failed to score on their first four drives, but

penalties destroyed Cincinnati on offense. We're scoreless with six forty two remaining in the first half, shotgun snap, Jeff Driscoll with a three step drop, slaps at the ball and he will be sacked. Couldn't get it out of his hand and he's tackled at the twenty six yard line by Von Miller and Shelby Harris. That's what happens when you have a holding penalty and you're off schedule and you gotta you know, second and twenty. Now it's third

and even more than that. In the first half, Driscoll and company faced third and sixteen, third and twenty four, third and twenty five, third and twenty nine, and third and thirty five. Here's the Bengals QB. We've been saying all week, we gotta we gotta be good on first and second down, and you know there were some times there where you know, we were behind the sticks a little bit during the game. But um yeah, I mean when you're getting some third and long type stuff like

like we did today, it's tough. And I mean, at the end of the day, we just didn't make enough plays as an offense to get it done. And that's what really what it comes down to. The Bengals finished with a dozen penalties for one hundred yards and that's unacceptable. According to Tyler Boyd, sucks man, it's what tough penalties for one hundred yards? You nuver win Ever, sucks man. She's got to clean things up. I don't know if it was his cadence was done, everybody off or like

I said, the pressure was too good. They was getting jumps on it. But I mean we was trying to change everything up to help done. And you know it's I don't really know. He's got to watch the film see what we can correct. The Broncos finally capitalized on the Bengal sloppiness with less than two minutes to go

in the half case. Keenum under center, takes the snap, hands it off, Lindsay started right, cuts it back to the middle and goes into the end zone standing up touchdown Denver with one fifty six left and a half, and he does a mile high salute here in Cincinnati. After Philip Lindsay put the Broncos on the scoreboard, the Bengals answered with a scoring drive of their own. They had at first and goal at the Denverse seven with thirty one seconds left and the half when guess what

a penalty costs them? Ten yards and forced the Bengals to settle for a field goal try. It'll be a thirty five yard field goal try for Randy Bullock on a very windy day. Harris snaps it, Huber puts it down. The kick is launched by Randy Bullock and it is good and the Bengals are on the scoreboard with twelve seconds left in the half, trailing Denverse seven to three. Considering the steady stream of penalty flags, the Bengals were

in good shape. And when the defense forced to three and out on Denver's first possession of the third quarter, it looked like Cincinnati would get decent field position. Kasey Kreiter's long snap, shoulder high, right footed punt crushed Ericsson moving under it, catches it the thirty seven drops the football tries to recover his own fumble. Looks like Denver has it at the thirty three yard line of Cincinnati,

and that is the case. And that's a rarity. I mean, if there's one guy that Darrensi has confidence in, it's Alex Rickson catching the ball. It was Ericson's first fumble of the season. It was cutting against the wind um. He didn't hit it clean. So it was it was going the opposite way and I was just running up and um just kind of slip right through my arms and wasn't able to fall back on it. And UM, you know someone's gonna eat at me for until until

the next Sunday. Ask for sure. I mean you're a guy that never does that, So I guess that's got you mean you thry you know your deals reliability, Yeah, obviously, And UM, it just just anytime you let the team down, let you know, let your teammates down, and um, you know, hurt the team. You know, you obviously disappointed and um and as a as a man, a competitor, you know you want to make every play and um, but unfortunately

I wasn't able to do that today. Two plays after the fumble, the Broncos made the Bengals pay second down and seven at the Cincinnati thirty. After the fumbled putt, Keenum fakes a handoff, looks to throw He's gonna air it out into the end zone. Sutton goes up and Hall say and over Darius Phillips for a thirty yard touchdown catch. Ericson's fumble is the Bengals first turnover of the game. Less than two minutes later, they made their

second double tight ends in for Cincinnati. Driscoll turns right fakes to mix and being rushed, Lobs went deep down field, intercepted at the six yard line. Obviously, my poor decision when we were, you know, near the red zone to just lob one up out there. You know that that really hurt our football team. We hurt ourselves today and we didn't make enough plays of winter football game. Lebroncos down the other hand, did make enough plays, none bigger

than this play by Philip Lindsay. Here's a toss sweep to the left, Lindsay with blockers in front to the forty the fifty lookout. He is pulling away and that is going to be a sixty five yard touchdown run. Wow. Lindsay finished with a career high one hundred and fifty seven yards on nineteen carries. For the season, the undrafted rookie out of Colorado has rushed for nine hundred thirty seven yards and is averaging six point one a pop.

Here's Bengals linebacker Hardy Nickerson. He's dynamic. You know, he's underside, but he hits the hole, you know, as he as if he was a big guy. Um, you know, he's able to show in the gap and bounce out. So it makes it hard on on the whole defense in terms of we really got to play true to our gaps. But hell of a player. Um, you know, he's it's one of those things. You're scratching her head. Why didn't he get drafted. Not a lot of guys run like

that anymore either. It seems like everybody's kind of picking and trying to, you know, do the Levy on Bell type thing. And he just explodes one cut and he's he's fast. I think, um, last last week or a few weeks ago, they had him at twenty two miles an hour, so's he can run with the best of him. And uh, you know, he's very decisive, and he really hits the hole. The Bengals kept battling and answered Lindsay's long run where they're only touched out of the day.

Drift Goal fakes a handoff, throws caught by Cody Court the fifteen, He escapes attack, he breaks another, he takes it into the end zone, touchdown. Bengals on a thirty yard throw from Driscoll to Corps in Brandley Robbie miss to tackle Jeff Driscoll hit him, Bradley Robbie couldn't bring him down in Cody Corps makes some pain. That was the first career TD for third year receiver Cody Corps. It was twenty one to ten going to the fourth quarter.

In playing catchup against the Broncos is tough with the best one two pass rush duo in the NFL, Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. Shotgun snap, Driscoll gets hit from behind by Chubb, The ball squirts out Denver will recover at the twenty yard line, and that led to a Brandon McManis field goal that made the final score twenty four to ten Denver. The Broncos win their third straight even the record at six and six, while the Bengals lose for the sixth time in their last seven games.

For what it's worth, teams with five and seven records only make the playoffs four percent of the time. Here's Alex Erickson at some point of you know, it's not even about that, It's just about you know, being professional, being a competitor, and um, you know he was doing your job and no matter what your record is, and um, it's just up to you to perform, and if you don't,

you know, obviously there's gonna be consequences. So we just got to focus on our jobs and just you know, be professionals and prepare and get ready to just play the Chargers and get a win. In his first career start, Jeff Driscoll finished twenty five for thirty eight for two hundred and thirty six yards with a touchdown, pass, an interception, a loss fumble, and a passer rating of eighty point six. Here's offensive lineman Trey Hopkins, who started a guard for

the first time this year. I was very impressive and I thought I did great. Um dri was the guy. I mean love him since he's been here, and I think he really stepped up and he really took charge of the huddle and he kept God's positive, kept Gods on the same page, and and really displayed a level of leadership that you you need and you expect from

from a starting quarterback. He won't have to wait one thousand and eighty days to start a n drift Go will be under center next Sunday in Los Angeles against the Chargers. Now time to bring in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham for postgame analysis, and we begin with a dirty dozen the Bengals twelve penalties and you just can't have it. I mean, you know, physical mistakes, holding, you know, hands placement problems on returns and special teams, hand placement problems,

illegal blocking the back, holding, those kind of things. Defensively you know too, hands e those happen. But the mental mistakes, you know, jumping off sides, false starts, illegal formations, those kind of mental mistakes. It's just now you're talking about, you know, a lack of focus, a lack of commitment. You know you have at this stage of the season, you can't be committing those kind of mental errors, and and they're starting they're starting to really become an issue.

In the first half, they had six consecutive third down conversion opportunities that average nineteen and a half yards per conversion attempt because of penalties. You can't do that. I mean against this team with those two pass rushers, you never want to be more than third and four and they're third one. They were third and sixteen, third and twenty five, third and thirty nine, third and seventeen. Come on, now, you know you have to stay ahead of the chains

on these guys. You have to make it a makeable third down situation. It was just abominable, you know what they were doing. They were giving themselves no chance whatsoever. I mean, the Denver Broncos defense is good enough to beat you. You can't put yourself on your schedule two and say, Okay, we're gonna make it easier for you to beat this Denver. We're gonna play right into your hands and we're just gonna let you t off and thump us. Because that you know, that's exactly what you

put yourself into. Ten of the thirteen third down opportunities at one stage of the game were for eight yards or more. Denver had two of twelve the or eight yards and more. Because Lindsay's boom, he's pounding it. If he's not busting it for you know, fifty yard touchdowns, he's getting six eight, you know, making it second and four, second and two and then third and short. That was

a difference in the football game. You know, one team set themselves up for third down situations when they got there that they can and Burt and the Bengals got there. Are far too often in situations that they had no business being in and they couldn't convert them. Lap has The season spirals in a bad direction for the Bengals. Two guys stand out to me for really busting their tail even as things are going poorly, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mix and Boyd had ninety seven receiving yards in

Sunday's loss, Mix in eighty two rushing yards thirteen receiving yards. Yeah, I think both guys are are setting a good example, you know. I think their effort, their enthusiasm. You know, Joe the unbridled joy for the game. Tyler Boyd's the same way. You know, he relishes an opportunity to make plays. The dude is tough man. He'll go over the middle against anybody anytime, anywhere, take a hit, go to the ground.

The ground will cause another hit on him. He's just I mean the catch he made caught the back half of the football had a very like shocking drop. I mean, it never happens. Tyler Boyd just doesn't drop the football, but it happens to everybody. Everybody's a human being. But man, both of those guys care care. There's no quit in either of them. And more more guys should should look at themselves in the mirror and say, am I given

the effort that those two are given? If I'm not up the anti because those guys, Joe was almost inconsolable um after the game. You know, he would trying to excuse himself, going to get his mother at the airport and didn't want to talk much about the game. But when he did talk, he was he was crushed, crushed and you know, you know he'll he'll bounce back. And you guys, you know, on both sides of the football, guys have to step up and start establishing an energy level.

The guys have to meet. Sam Hubbard, I think is trying to do it as young guys. Sam Hubart's trying to step up and be a leader and that's good to see. And you know, Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd young leaders. That's what this football team needs. The next class of guys, the next group to show themselves as leaders. And it's easy to lead when you're winning. True leaders. You know, it's like, what are you doing? The camera's not on you, What do you do when nobody's watching.

These guys were leading final numbers on Jeff Driscoll and his first NFL start twenty five for thirty eight two hundred and thirty six yards, one touchdown pass a thirty yard at to Cody Core, one interception, passer rating of eighty point six. How do you do? He was lamenting the interception, you know, he focused on that. When I talked to him, he said, you know, a bonehead play I made when I just threw it up there. You

know I can't do that. I really heard our football team and he you know, it was a tough situation. Naked bootleg was not Chubble was not fooled by whatsoever. He's pressure on him and he off his back foot as he's fallen away. He just puts it up there and overthrows his intended target and it's an easy, easy interception.

But honestly, I felt like in the first game as a starting quarterback in the NFL, there would be an interception or a play like, oh geez, that's a rookie mistake or you know, an an experienced mistake, and I was hoping it wouldn't be that many of them. And there weren't that many, but there weren't any big plays to overcome it. Just you know, you could think the Tyler boy catch a couple of plays by Tyler Boyd.

He and Tyler Boyd have a chemistry. They've already they've already formed a pretty pretty incredible bond that's going to have to stay that way because AJ Green looks like, you know, it could be an IR candidate. I mean, Andy Dalton went on AJ Green the way he limped off the field and then cart it off the field once he going to be able to play again. By the time he's able to play, the season will be over. So um, you know, Tyler Boyd and Jeff Driscoll, that's

going to be the combination. And then Joe Mixon still gave, you know, tremendous efforts, so they do have like a triplet's that they can you know, hang their hat on hopefully and uh and see how it finishes. But I thought, overall, considering a lot of the circumstances he was put in, he was also disappointed in the fact that they didn't take advantage of that turnover when Hardy Knickerson Junior stripped it out of there and Jill fell on top that

they didn't do anything. But you know, and then obviously, you know, have the ball at that at midfield, and then all of a sudden, you know you're third down, You're back inside your twenty yard line. You know, just ultimately throwing the throwing the drive and reverse. You know, those are the kind of things you just can't have. So some of it, very little of it was all his fault, he contributed. Man, he had way too much help.

He had a lot of guys instead, instead of trying to do a little bit more for him, they were doing less and putting him in a tougher situation, putting too much burdened responsibility on his shoulders. Last thing, following up on AJ Green, he's the iceman, coolest guy in the room. Rarely sees wild displays of emotion, whether it's celebration or disappointment, But boy, what a sight to see him head buried in his hands, crying as he exited the field on a cart with a team on its

way to a five and seven record. It shows how much AJ Green cares. AJ Green is all in. You know, I don't think you're going to find a superstar that cares about his teammates and cares about the welfare of his organization more than AJ Green. Most superstar are just all in it for them. He's all in it for everybody. And that's what makes aj Green so so unique and so special. I mean, you know, AJ Green is the kind of guy that every dad wish that he'd marry

their daughter's that he's that kind of guy. And you know, we say it all the time, but in this case, it's this on exponentially as great a football player as he is, and he is walking into the Hall of Fame in a first ballot. You know, he's might as well buy real estate in Florida and WHII is going to be in every Pro Bowl. He's even better guy, better human being. He was raised right. He's a great husband, great father, great teammate, great member of the community. AJ

Green's one special dude. Thanks Lap. Now time for this week's fun facts segment, where you get to know the person under the pads. In this case, it's one of the Bengals two third round draft picks this year. Time for some fun facts with Bengals linebacker but Leak Jefferson from Mesquite, tax not too far from Dallas, the so called rodeo capital of Texas. Tell us a little bit about where you grew up and what you're into as a kid. Musque is a It's a great town. I

love it. It's a very small community. We've made up of five different high schools, so we're all kind of relatives when it comes to anything we do outside of you know, when we leave Musqui. You know, growing up, we always used to be around each other at basketball, football, baseball. We always knew who the league guys were in the town, and so it was really cool growing up. We just all hung out with each other. Speaking of brothers, you have two older brothers. How much older and how tough

were they on their kid brother? I had won that thirty and I had won that twenty five, so they were really tough on me. I barely got any breaks with them. Everything they did I had to do, especially workout wise, and that's what kind of made me, you know, who I am. And of course our dad was very tough on us, so I would get the same treatment they got, but it was very I could appreciate my brothers more than anything because they did give me a lot of tools for life, skills and of course my

physical abilities. Tell me a little more about your dad, What did or does he do for a living? My dad's an architect. He's worked that many many years and planning a retiring soon. So congrats his long longevity with that, because without his sacrifice, I mean a lot of things that wouldn't happen in my life wouldn't have happened. So he's a great, great guy. He's my life mentor. He tells me everything, even though we argue about things. I

have my own opinion, has his own opinions. I like how we can be, you know, have our opinions and of course solve them like men. And I appreciate the respect he gives me. We're doing fun facts in the league, Jefferson. There have been books, TV shows and movies done about high school football in Texas. Was it like that at

poteat high school? Of course, we had all the crowds and every rivaly game, people would love to come see us because not only myself, but I had two other teammates that were highly highly recruited out of high school, and so people come to watch us play. And my time in my school, I was probably the first person. I am the first person to go pro athletically and make an active roster, so I put that step in stool.

So Hopefully we have some guys in the future that you know, follow my path and or aybody comes to the to the highest level of football. You won the bud Kiss Award in high school top high school linebacker in the country. Dick bud Kiss showed up at your high school to give you the award. Was that a surprise. Yeah.

I had a feeling though. People can't hold water, so I had a feeling he was going to be coming, and it was really really cool to have that guy there, and you know, people didn't know much about them, but super legendary. I was hoping to get it in college, but you know, things with their own ways, and you know you have to learn and grow from that stuff. You were a highly talented recruit. Did you enjoy the process or was it exhausting? Actually it was a mix.

You know, it's times where you just you know, want to put your phone down and talk to your family, be around your family. They want to talk to coaches because you knew half of it wasn't real. They just want to be honest with you. They you know, trying to feed you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear. So it was very tough. Especially financially going places with the rules and regulations. I wasn't able to bring both of my parents, so the places

that were farther I really considered. I really didn't get the opportunity to get the full look at them and visit the university like I wanted to. But I think it was a very fun experience overall, and I really enjoyed it. One of those more distant schools was UCLA, and I read on your visit that you met actress Kerry Washington aka Olivia Pope on the TV show Scandal, one of People Magazine's most Beautiful Women in the World.

Tell me about that. It was really my mom. We didn't get the thought to her much because she was with some kids that day. Respectfully, we were like, that's perfectly fine. You know, I'm not being into going up to, you know, famous people and you know, going out of my way to just especially when they're doing something to bother them, because I do that sometimes, you know, but I don't mind it. But the realm is different. They

get it everywhere she goes. But my mom was able to speak to her, and I took a side picture of them just talking. But I never got to actually meet her, but it was really cool being around her. Yeah, so more exciting for your mom than you. Yeah, very excited for my mom. She was very polite to my mom. Was I am with the kids and once I take one picture, more people are gonna come. And I was like, Okay, I completely understand that. So it was really cool experience stuff.

Still we're doing fun factions with Malik Jefferson. You went to Texas where one of your mentors was a former Longhorns linebacker who's from here, Jordan Hicks, who went to Lakota West High School. Tell us a little bit about your relationship with Jordan. You know, Jordan, it was actually the first person I met going into UT. I remember it being my sophomore year. I showed up to a UT game unofficially and I went to the locker room and he gave me a pair of gloves and I

was like, oh, man, appreciate it. Like he was hurt at the time. He had tour as Achilles and he was on the car, but he gave me his girls and forever since then, I looked up to him like a big brother and I appreciate his mentorship, his advice that he's given me, especially throughout all this process, because it's very tough. You gotta have people who know what you're going through to be able to get through it. So he's a very big mentor of my life and

I still consistently talk to him. How did he react when you were drafted by his hometown team? He just thought, we congrats. It wasn't even big, you know, reaction or anything like that. But hopefully in the all seasons we can link up. You know, he has the family and the new baby now, so congrats to him. Malake left Texas with one year of eligibility remaining, and you put out a thank you video when you announced that decision that included some sign language. How much do you know?

I'm pretty fluent in it. I can sign. I actually have dreams about doing sign language that hey, that's a sign that you know what you know what you're doing. Actually you kind of know the language. So I try as much as I can to practice, especially like sometimes when I'm in meetings, I'm in there spelling stuff. I always thinking what it is in sign language. It's a lot of the stuff is the stuff we already know as kids. It's just little things that you know, you

gotta get used to doing day to day lives. There's different kinds of stuff. But it's a very fun language to learn, and the people I've met just doing that is incredible. When did you learn it and why did you choose to learn it? I learned it a year and a half ago. I really started my in the sophomore year and just kept practicing and then took the classes of course. And you know, I had took in Spanish classes before. I wasn't really grasping it. It's more

of a process. I wanted something I can actually grasp and make an impact and influence with. So I did American Sign Language and met some great friends. Got friends everywhere now. So it's a really good experience. Have you do something. But it's a radio interview, so it wouldn't work out very well. You got invited to the NFL scott In Combine and we've all heard the horror stories about being poked in product, etc. But I read that you enjoyed it. I did not enjoy it. I read incorrectly.

Apparently it feels like it's not a process for the player because you sit around for four days after you've done masters amounts of trainings the weeks before your training every day. You're not used to just sitting around interviewing, especially training your mind or just just torturing your mind with the things you're seeing and the exposure and the less sleep you get. You don't train for that. You train to get more sleep and be ready to work out the next day. So having four days off before

you actually work out what was my biggest issue. A lot of people get hurt from that stuff. I think it should be you fly in first, you work out that next day, and the end you could do all the interview process and stuff like that, so God can be able to perform at a high level without being exhausted or at tired. So I think that is something they should definitely change because that will help the performance of athletes instead of you know, because the comma is

really and make a break situation. Either do good, you do bad, or you don't do it. So I think it's definitely something to help out the players. If we're gonna continue to do that process, it should be something like that, all right. A couple more fun facts for Bengals linebacker Malik Jefferson. You were the fourteen deck of the third round this year the so called Pizza Hut pie pick three point one four. You were supposed to get free pizza for a year, but you went through

your stash before the year was up. Is that what happened? I see? The thing is I had some friends and family members, you know, people ask for things, and I'm like, yeah, you know, I get a free pizza whatever. They always call me, Can I get a pizza? Like okay, I like he's getting out of hand. But at the same time, I was like, you know, I'm really not using the pieces all the time because I got to beat healthy,

watching my diet things like that. So I was like, okay, here go, here go, and I give them to people and let them do it. But I ran out, But then Pizza had actually sent me some more. So anytime I run out a parent that I think I can get more pizza cards. But they, you know, they've done a pretty good job with that, all right. I was worried that there's some fine print that we weren't aware of. No fine print. They're really good with that. I really

appreciate them, all right. Last thing from Malik Jefferson. Are you familiar with the term die as steam? No? You and Michael Strahan and David Letterman have that in common. If I'm saying it right, that is the gap between the front teeth. You've got a magnetic smile lights up the room. But did kids used to kid you about the gap between the front teeth? Yeah? Yeah, I was thinking about doing actually some invisit line in the future. But you know, mom kind of I get the smile

from Mom. It's it's her gap. She has those clothes. I was like, that's not fair. You have your clothes and I'm still open, but you know, it's it's a it's a beautiful thing. Everybody tells me when I'm not smiling, it's something wrong, and so try it's best as I can to put a smile on my face and you know, show people happy. I am, Hey, you do have a smile that lights up the room. I genuinely mean that, and I appreciate your time very much. Best to luck

the rest of the way. I appreciate it. And that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod being and give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been awesome in five star ratings. Help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.