Bengals Booth Podcast: Sunday Best

Dave Lapham. And this week's fun facts segment is one of my all time favorites. If you are not already a fan of Mike Daniels, I promise you that you will be after hearing our conversation. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,

Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies. I hate raisins I particularly hate raisins that ruin a perfectly good oatmeal cookie. You take a bite hoping that those little dots are chocolate chips, only to be fooled yet again by the presence of the evil raisin. Well, this past Saturday, my good friend Megan Coffee brought oatmeal cookies to the UC football game that did, in fact contain chocolate chips instead of deer droppings,

I mean raisins. Megan's cookies were fantastic. So if you bake and ever consider making oatmeal cookies, do everybody a favor and go with chocolate chips instead of raisins, because very simply, raisins ruin everything. Now let's get to the game. It couldn't have started much better for the Bengals. His Cincinnati's defense got a takeaway on the Jaguars fifth play. Minshi throws over the middle. He batted up in the

air and intercepted. Jesse Bates deflected it, Jordan Evans intercepts it, and the Bengals will take over in Jaguar's territory at the forty three yard line. But typical of the first three games of the season, the Bengals failed to capitalize they gained three yards in three plays and had to punt. It turned out to be Kevin Huber's only punt all day. The second time the Bengals got the ball, they drove into the red zone before stalling and calling on Randy Bullock.

He has made eight out of nine field goal tries this year. We all remember the miss, unfortunately, the snap and the kick. It is up and it is good, and the Bengals score first with two forty one left in the first quarter here at Paul Brown Stadium. The

three nothing lead only lasted for about two minutes. Quarterback Gardner Minshew, who came out to warm up about two and a half hours before kickoff in a sleeveless T shirt to show off the guns, a crop top to show off the abs, and a backward baseball cap to accentuate the mullet, gave Jacksonville the lead first and ten from the eleven yard line. Minshew, under center, takes the snap, fakes a hand off to Robinson, throws it toward the back left corner of the end zone. Chark is there,

touchdown Jacksonville with the Jags up seven three. The Bengals answered with an eighty eight yard drive that brought them within inches of the goal line. From an eye formation, Burrow under center, he fakes a handoff to Mix and he throws it toward the back left corner of the end zone in his cause. No picked off took it away from sample Are they saying that he did take it away? The officials are discussing it in the back left corner. It's an interception. Miles Jack came away with

a ball. Jack came away in coverage with the football. It was a lousy call by me, and it's easy to second guess the play call as well. Third and goal inside the one, and rather than a quarterback sneak or a Joe Mixon run, Burrow's pass was picked off. Here's Zach Taylor third and goal in the inchyard line. You know you kick yourself. Well, we gotta make that point. You know, that's a fifty fifty point that we gotta make. And so we left a lot of points on the

field best for sure. But that was the last drive all day where the Bengals were trying to score and didn't. After Jacksonville field goal made it ten three, the Bengals found the end zone for the first time one o three left and a half, the Bengals down by seven points. Burrow extends the hands, catches the shotgun snap, swings it right, got by Mixon to the five board touchdown Bengals, Mixon flying over an attempt at tackle as he makes it

to the end zone to potentially tie the game. Randy Bullock did tie it with a pat but Jacksonville was able to drive seventy three yards in fifty three seconds with no timeouts remaining, and kicked the field goal to lead thirteen ten. At the half, the Bengals were down by three, but confident. According to Joe Burrow, you know, we knew that if we executed the way that we're capable of, then they weren't gonna be able to stop us. And you know, we just kept that mindset and we

talked about it at halftime. We were the only ones that had stopped ourselves all day, So we came out on the second half and performed the way that we were supposed to. The first drive of the second half when seventy five yards on just five plays first and ten at the thirty four yard line for Burrow and company, Joe's under center takes the direct snap from Hopkins hands it off to Mixing, big time, hold to the right, twenty five sideline, twenty fifty, Yeah to the pilot, touchdown,

big goals. That thirty four yard run was Joe Mixon's first rushing touchdown of the year. Alex Redman, who got his first start of the year at right guard, enjoyed the view. I mean it was awesome. Joe played his heart out today. I think Joe plays its smart out every every single game. You hand that guy the ball and he's scratching, you know, every in she could get,

he's gonna get. So playing with Joe, playing with you know, Joey Burrow, guys like that, I mean, I tell this scene could be a real good and Mixon wasn't finished, as he scored again roughly four minutes later. Now Burrow will line up in the shotgun, even though it's third and less than a yard, He'll hand it to Mixing Mixon bursting to the end the five touchdown, Joe Mixon

and the Bengals hits third of the day. I'll tell you what, two rushing touchdowns, one touchdown receiving Joe Mixon coming in with no touchdowns on the year, not even halfway through the third quarter. He's got three today. Mixon finished with twenty six carries for one hundred and fifty one yards and two touchdowns, and had six catches for thirty yards and another TD. All of that after being listed is questionable because of a chest injury, and he's

not even sure how it happened. I don't know. I think I'll slipp wrong. I was slipp wrong. Came to work and then I don't know, it was like I couldn't breathe heard to run, like I walked through and then I ended up going to the hospital. I was in the hospital for about like three hours yesterday, late last night. So, like I said, I didn't know if I played and then this morning and see how I felt, and you know, doctors loved up on it, and I was able to go out there and make some things work.

Could you not breathe or did you have a pulled chest or did you pull so I just I don't know. It just seemed like someone was squeezing. I don't know what it was. But I mean I felt great today out there running. I mean, at first, it was like I don't know how it's gonna be, you know, I went out there and just gave him all man for my teammates, and like I said, everything was up in the air, but you know made it happen and it

wasn't Jess Mixing. The Bengals finished with two hundred five yards on the ground, more than doubling the average of seventy nine rushing yards in the first three weeks. Same places we've been running. You know, It's just guys were really dialed in this week to the details and we almost went overboard with that stuff to make sure that we sent that message to our guys that it's going to take all of it. It's not just the old line,

it's not just the running back. It takes everybody. And the guys really bought it in, had a tremendous week, did a lot of extras on their own to help prepare for this game, and this is what the payoff looks like. In addition to the two hundred five rushing yards, Joe Burrow had exactly three hundred passing yards to become the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least three bills in three straight games for the first time in his career. Burrow wasn't sacked, although the

Jags were credited with five quarterback hits. You know, the old line played really, really well today. They've taken a lot of heat the last couple of weeks, and you know, I was super happy for those guys to have the game that they did today, and they're going to continue to build on it. I know they are. Thought the offense wanted a tremendous job today. You know, they kept

him clean. They had some great blocks in the run game, tight ends as well, receivers as well, just all the things that we talked about correcting last week coming off the field against Philly. I thought our guys were so dolled in this week as our best way practice we've had in two years here. The energy was tremendous. Us you guys took up to the field and made it count.

The Bengals final three drives ended with Randy Bullock field goals, meaning if you take away kneel downs at the end of each half, Cincinnati scored on its last six drives. Hubert extends the right hand, catches the ball, puts it down. Randy Bullocks kick is good, and the Bengals have a thirty three to twenty two lead with one forty six to go. A Jacksonville field goal made it an eight point game. With eight seconds on the clock, Cook ready

to attempt the on side kick. It's the roller straight ahead. The Bengals fall on it at the forty five yard line. Giovanni Bernard is there and that is coffin nails bam. The final score Cincinnati thirty three, Jacksonville twenty five. Here's Jesse Bates on win number one. It just feels really good. I mean, we spent a lot of time away from our families. You know, you put a lot of stuff into this. You know, our bodies don't feel good after some games. But you know when you're and it's not,

it's not worth it. It seems like it's like dawmn, like we need to win. You know, you play this game to win, um and you know, to support your family. Uh So, you know, having that first win in the locker room, I think it helps our belief capacity continue to go up and we're gonna build on that. Do you feel like this was a game y'all had to win? Was just feel like a must win game for y'all. Giving the start and win kind of what's to come to season? I think every game, I mean there's a

must win. Uh, but yeah, this one, I mean, we we've been so close. Every game has been in one position, one possession game. Um. And Josh Bonds had a hell of a speech last night about adversity. Um. You know you speak about you know Randy uh, mister field goal to going over time week one came back. I mean he's probably four for tonight. Um. Our old line played a hell of a game. Um. You know, our defense,

we have to continue to be consistent. Um. So yeah, I mean all around, as a whole organization, we're getting better. So I feel really good. As for Joe Burrow, he received the game ball after his first that FL victory. There's a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun, but you know, it's one It's one game. There's twelve more. So you know we're gonna enjoy this for five hours and then come back to work tomorrow, correct the mistakes

and move on to Baltimore. Burrow, by the way, was wired for sound during the game by NFL Film, So we'll have some great content to look forward to this week on Bengals dot Com and on shows like Inside the NFL and NFL turning point. Now time for some postgame analysis from my broadcast partner Dave lapham Lap. How sweet it is the Bengals get their first win of the year thirty three to twenty five over Jacksonville. And let's give credit where credit is due. The Bengals offensive

line has been mocked. They have been ripped from coast to coast. Well today, three hundred passing yards, two hundred and five rushing yards, and thirty three points on the scoreboard. Very true, and hats off to them. They did a hell of a job. But as a form alignment, you know, my thing was this is the test because played against some pretty good defensive lines and they have had their issues and they've gotten crushed as a result because they

haven't won a lot of the matchups. Well, this was, in my mind the test because these guys were lesser. So if you can't perform well against these guys, where the heck are you? And then when Josh Allen went out, you know they were even lesser than that. So I'm I'm proud if I played in this game. I'm proud as a former offensive linement. I'm proud of the way

they've played. But the reality says, here we go now to Baltimore, back in the from the frying pan, from the fire, right into the from the frying pan, right into the fire. I should say, you know, you're back at Baltimore. Indianapolis has a good defense. The NFL is the NFL. It's tough, and I'm not saying Jacksonville's a bunch of scrubs, but I am saying that they did not have the front seven that the Bengals had been playing against. You know, with the Chargers, they're they're good upfront.

They have multiple Pro bowlers up front. You know, Cleveland's got a good rush with Miles Garrett and Philadelphia's good player. These guys didn't have anybody like that and other guys to complement it. So it was hopeful of a good performance and got better than a good performance, got an outstanding performance from the offensive line. You know, you throw it for three hundred, rusher for over two hundred, and you're real balance in your play selection. Balance the key,

I mean, instead of one dimensional. They allowed you know, Zach, as a play caller said during the game, you can close your eyes and just like pin the tail and donkey and wow, let's call that one. I mean, it's like they're so easy to call plays when your offensive line is playing like that. Plus the other thing we talked about multiple times Dan during the week and during

the game play action pass. Instead of just teeing off and not having any respect for the run fake in the play action pass, they actually had to legitimately say WHOA does he have the ball or not. It's much easier to throw the football when it's play action passed. The pass protection light year is different, and then even drop back protection becomes easier as well. It's trickled down.

That's very, very positive. We did an interview on Friday with former Bengals quarterback j. T. O'Sullivan and we discussed the number of hits and sacks that Joe Burrow had taken through the first three games. Fourteen sacks, roughly thirty quarterback hits. He said his words, that is unsustainable. Well, vastly different today, and yes, you're right, the quality of opponent's a huge factor. But no sacks and I believe three quarterback hits. Maybe it was four, but that's okay.

That is sustainable. That is sustainable. And I think one of the hits came out of pocket, you know, when he created and extended on his own. So when you do that, you are on your own. There's nothing the offensive line can do for you there. So they he got hit a couple of times when the offensive line quote you know, it was their responsibility as such. Yeah, so, I mean the level of execution once they once they got out of their own way, I mean, it was

so frustrating. The first quarter and a half. It was like they had well over five hundred yards and probably should have had fifty points or close to it, in the high forties anyway, and you know, didn't come close to that number because they were making mistakes, taking touchdowns off the board by penalty, by miss execution, you know, not you know, sample not being able to catch the ball cleanly, ricochets off his face mask and Miles Jack's

able to make a playoff of it. So they knew, they knew that they could, you know, push around this Jacksonville Jaguar defense. It was just a matter of taking themselves off their schedule. Like we said so many times, if that's what Joe Mixon looks like with a chest injury, maybe we need to hit him in the chest before every game. What a weird situation. He wasn't on the injury report on Friday, and after the game we learned out why. We learned why. He said he thinks he

heard it sleeping. I mean that's what he said in the postgame news conference. Actually had to go to the hospital for tests to his chest on Saturday, but was able to play and played incredibly well. Twenty five carries, one hundred and fifty one yards. That's his second all time highest rushing total, six catches thirty yards, including a touchdown, three tds and all so out of kind of are set of circumstances, he produced big time. I don't know

the position it was in when he was sleeping. I mean, I've had my arm fall asleep. I've had different things like that happened, but yeah, store neck, maybe my shoulder a little. I've never woken up with like, you know, some sort of a he felt like, he said he couldn't felt like he couldn't breathe easily. So he must have fallen asleep and a scrunched up, awkward, awkward position.

But you know, fortunately there was no structural problem. They wanted to obviously, what they did was, and Paul Sparling is noted for this. Paul Sparling errors on the side of caution. I mean, if there's any if a player says I'm having difficulty breathing, you go right, particularly a coronavirus. You come into a trainer and you say I'm having a tough time breathing and I might have slept funny,

you don't take any chances. I guess with coronavirus you'd taken to the hospital and run some tests and make sure that everything's okay. So I think part of it is, you know, the times that we're in it's it's different in a lot of ways. And if I'm a player and you sleep right, you do wait up and it's like having a hard time breathing. I mean that that can you know, play with your mind a little bit, I guess, But ultimately, you know he was fine as

we saw. I mean he was delivering, he wasn't accepting hits, he was ditching them out. I mean, he was lowering his squaring his pads up, lowering him running over people. I mean that was Joe Mixon in his finest. The offensive line more times than not allow him to make first cut down the football field, he caught the ball smoothly, caught the ball in stride yards after catch. You know, he scores in the air, scores on the ground more than once. Blitz pick up was sound. He was, you know,

crushing people in that area. Blitz peck of Joe Mixon played a complete football game and maybe he needs to sleep awkwardly before the Baltimore game. In Baltimore, it's really hard to evaluate an individual offensive lineman until you go back and study the tape. But obviously Alex Redman makes his first started right guard after some really shaky play over the last couple of weeks by Fred Johnson and

Billy Price. And without looking at him specifically, you look at the overall numbers at five hundred plush yards in thirty three points and figure, all right, maybe he wasn't great, but it was certainly an improvement. Yeah, and again now you have to go Apple's top apples. Who was he playing against? And because and I liked his answer in the presser after the game, I asked him how tod it go? Not very good? He was self deprecating, and I like that because you know he knows he has

miles to go before he rests. He knows he's not a finished product right now, but what he gives them is a physicality he you know, he had a connection obviously with Tray and Bobby, like I thought would be the case. You know, it wasn't a foreign situation out there. They weren't looking at each other like what are we gonna do when this twist happens or when this linebacker blitz or whatever. They had all of that and Tray and Bobby, who were both very intelligent. They know the play,

they know the structure of the play. They know everybody's assignment on every play, not just theirs. Alex Redman felt like I'm between two football men'ses. I got no issue with my assignments. I just identifying defenses and everything else. And that's a very very comforting feeling to a guy that missed all a training camp, you know, because of injury. So physically where was he he You know, he knows

he still has to work on that. Mentally, he had those guys, those book ends on either side of him taking care of any questions, any concerns there. So all positive, but man, when he goes to Baltimore, a little bit different inside than what he faced today, for sure. Any thoughts on throwing to Drew sample in the back left corner of the end zone on third and inches are third in goal from inches away, Yeah, I mean I was. They were hammering Joe and they're pretty good at that point.

I would have gone up and over with him, you know, and you know, if I didn't get it, I'd do it again on fourth down. But you know, the play was there. I mean, Joe threw a good ball. Drew just didn't see it fast enough. It Hitn't right in the face mask and ricketchhet off that and then it was you know, moving around. They felt like he never had a secure possession of the ball. Miles Jack took it away from him when he was totally secure with it.

So there was no you know, shared possession of the football, and that's what you have to have for it to be a defensive offensive touchdown is simultaneous possession of the football, and in their opinion, because of the ricochet effect, there wasn't. So yeah, I mean I would hindsight's always twenty twenty, but I were to run the rock at that point in time, for sure, you were first guessing that calling that second. Guessing that call, the Bengals held Jacksonville to

eighty nine rushing yards. Now is only twenty attempts, so that's still four and a half yards per attempt, But that's about one hundred fewer rushing yards than the Bengals had averaged on defense going into the game. It's nice to have a lead where the opponent is forced to put it in the air. You're exactly right, Dan. It's also nice to eliminate a forty one yard rush with a holding penalty so they self DESTRUCTI because now you look at one hundred and thirty yards rushing and it's

a much different dynamic. You have running back well over a hundred yards rushing and it's like, oh jeez, I still can't stop the run. One hundred and thirty plus n back a little guy gets you know, over a hundred Offensive Player of the month. So one play, one holding penalty gets the run game off the hook. So what you have to do is you have to study the tape when you win or loose. Study the tape. All right, what happened in that play? Why did it

bust for forty one? Okay? How significant was the hole? The hold was a big deal at the point of attack and all ba blah blah blah. But still you have to you know, hit your gaps, fit them, get off the blocks, make plays. So even when you win football games, you still have to evaluate the tape with the utmost critical eye because you're trying to improve each and every game. A couple of things I'm looking forward

to hearing this week. Number one, I want more details on the Josh Bynes Saturday night's speech that apparently really helped motivate his teammates. Jesse Bates made a point of talking about what a great job Josh Bynes did in some sort of team meeting on Saturday. You know, in my mind, it's almost like a Rocky speech. Instead of a Rocky movie, you show a team to motivate him, it's a Rocky speech. Up gets a guy that it was a good college program won a national championship. And

I'm undrafted on a national championship. I'm undrafted. I you know, I go to the NFL and you know, and scratch and claw and make a team and hang around and gosh, I'm on a Super Bowl winning team and I'm bouncing around. I get cut, you know, half a dozen times, and I still want to continue in my career. And here I am a college free agent in my tenth year

in the National Football League. And so he's like a built in Rocky Balboa story that you can present to your team and living color, you know, instead of throwing on a movie. And I think I think it had a big effect on a lot of guys. I mean, this story is a good one. And he's a great speaker, and he's a great guy. Great speaker, great guy. Yeah, he's he's the real deal. You know, he'll he'll make plays,

who makes the mistakes. His value in that linebacker room with all those young linebackers, who that's a big, big plus because you have a guy that does it the right way, knows what it's supposed to look like. All the young linebackers think of him as football and CycL Encyclopedia Britannic. He has an answer for everything. I mean, he's got a lot of value and a lot of intangible value. The other a big thing I'm looking forward

to hearing this week. Joe Burrow is Wired for Sound Today by NFL Films, so on Inside the NFL on Showtime on the NFL Turning Point Show on sound FX and the Bengals website will be getting all of this great content. We're going to hear what he was saying on the sideline, what he was saying in the huddle. I love the job that NFL Films does with that, and it's going to be really cool to hear Joe Burrow miked up in his first NFL win. I agree.

I bet if there's going to be some nuggets, some great stuff, and we'll find out what he actually said to Joe Mixon when he broke the huddle before he threw that little sweet pass, because I want to leave that in the field. Hey, NFL Films has it wired. It might not be left on the field, But I think what we're gonna find is this young guy does have a lot of football IQ man. He sees a lot,

he understands a lot. You know, he's telling he's telling his teammates things that you know, like a five year of veteran, you know, would be telling his teammates, not a rookie in his you know, in his fourth game, talking about a guy that should be Vessel already for retirement in the National Football League. The things that he's talking about and the things that he sees. He has

an exceedingly bright future. There's no question. Four games into the season, the Bengals have gone to the fourth quarter with the lead three times in four games. They could very easily be three in one. What can you do? They're one, two and one, and now it's about to get really tough. You mentioned at Baltimore next week, then

at Indy, then Cleveland the Browns are playing great. Then Tennessee, a team that went to the AFC Championship Game a year ago, after a bye week, a road game at Pittsburgh. So the next five are going to be brutal, going to be brutal, and three division matchups in the next five, you know, I mean, and you've already lost a division game, so it's time to really buckle up. You don't want to. You don't want to be, you know, out of it

before just before between Halloween and Thanksgiving. You don't want to be out of it in terms of the division. With four or five division games in the books and you haven't won one of them, and you're struggling, you know, with just one victory. You want to you want to build on this. You don't want it to be a one hit wonder. You want to you want to be a snoop foul for people down the road, and um,

hopefully they'll they'll play. They still have not played a game, Dan where all three phases have totally been complimentary and they've avoided mistakes, avoided, penalties avoided. You know, battists, every everybody, every team is going to have a play that's not executed correctly. And that's that's that's understandable. They get paid too. I mean they make plays and all that, but the penalties, you know that, the assigned mistakes, all that that stuff.

You can't have a myriad of those. You know, you can, you can maybe live with less than a handful, but if you're into your second handful, you got problems. I will wrap up this conversation with two words, coffin nails. Bam bam, I am. So it's on to Baltimore next Sunday. The Ravens are three and one after beating Washington thirty one seventeen. Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in the win. Now time for this

week's fun facts segment. I've been doing this segment since two eleven and this week's version is one of my all time favorites as you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts of Bengals defensive tackle Mike Daniels, who has been making life miserable or NFL offensive lineman since two and twelve. Mike, if I were an old lineman, I think you would be the last person in the league I would want to face.

Describe yourself on game day. No, I'm really mean? Why? Frankly, No, I mean and focused and I'll just try to play the game as physical and as violent as I possibly can while maintaining my defensive responsibility. Are you trying to demoralize the guy on the opposite side of the line. Absolutely, And if it happens, and that's just a bonus, that's just my mentality when I when I step onto the football field, completely different person from who I am, you

know in everyday life. When I step on the field, to say, it's a certain mentality that I have to approach the game with. We're doing fun facts with Mike Daniels. NFL films must love you because you are tremendous When you are miked up, do you turn it up a notch when you're wearing a mic, or do you talk NonStop regardless? I actually tone it down when I'm wearing a mic. That way, the sensors and the network they

don't have too much work to do. But when I wear a mic, I'm aware I have a micro on, so I kind of tone it down a little bit. If anything. Do you enjoy watching those segments back after you've been miked up? I definitely have a lot of fun with it because it's nice to see what other people see. And I think it's I phone with it, you know, and I phone when I watch any guy who who's playing a game, you know, with that amount of passion that they can't help but express it verbally

beginning during and after the game. We're talking to Mike Daniels. The last line of your Wikipedia page mentioned your interest in the Japanese cartoon genre anime, and I thought to myself, that's cute. Three hundred pounds NFL tough guy likes cartoons. But then I watched a twelve minute documentary He Was Anime, where you and your parents describe the impact that that art form has had on your life. What did anime do for a teenage Mike Daniels. It definitely helped me

be comfortable with who I am. I didn't necessarily fit in with a lot of my peers growing up, so watching a lot of the protagonists in the various shown in anime, in particular, they always had to overcome obstacles to achieve a very significant goal, and for me, it was to be a start on my high school football team, then get a Division one scholarship, then be a starter on my Colo team iwa then get drafted, then become a starter, then go to the Pro Bowl, and now

it's get back on the field and show that I'm still a really, really great football player. So I definitely can relate to the protagonists, and that's I was able to relate to them from the time I was eleven up until now. You have referred to yourself as a dork with muscles. Is there a message there to do your own thing? Absolutely? You have to be comfortable on who you are. You have to be comfortable in the

person that God made you. You have to love that, and you can't let people make you feel bad or feel embarrassed because you may not just want to go with the crowd because the same people that are that are having fun at your expense, so to speak. If anything, they're jealous because they're not comfortable on who they are and they just want to fit in so badly, so they'll do that instead of pursuing what they truly love in life. And when you don't pursue what you love

in life, you miss out. You miss out. You might be a great artist, you might be great at music, you might be a great sanitation expert. Who knows. But when you're trying to visit the two as you trying to fit in with what's popular, what was happening with the crowd is doing, then you'll never be able to achieve what you really want in life. And that's just that's just unfortunate. So be yourself for Drink Fund Faction with Mike Daniels. You're from Blackwood, New Jersey, not too

far from Philadelphia, and describe where you grew up. Where I grew up is right outside of Philadelphia, So that Philadelphia area is definitely a I mean Phillys of sports town all the way. All of these stadiums are right near each other for all the for professional sports teams,

So it's a really good sports area. So sports was going to become part of my life where I wanted to wanted it to be or not, and thank god I did wanted to be because they love football out there, track, wrestling, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, of course, you name it soccer like it's it's a field,

hockey gotta lead boxing week. It doesn't matter, man, we are a sports that that area, that South Jersey Philly area is definitely a sports hub man, and you feel it when the Eagles are doing well, you feel when they're doing bad. Same applies for the Flyers, the Sixers, and the Phillies even as far as the arena lead with the Philadelphia soul. You know, the the area definitely

embraces its sports and it's extremely competitive. People talk about Florida, Texas, California, Ohio, New Jersey, especially at South Jersey area is extremely competitive with sports, extremely competitive from the time guys are kids up until they're adults. They're obviously college football programs that are too far away, including Penn State and Rutgers. But you chose to go to Iowa. How did you wind up there and what were your first impressions of Iowa City,

Penn State, and Rutgers Temple. Nobody one of me Iowa they did, so that's that's where I went. That was my only scholarship. We have a We had a coach, Daryl Wilson, who was from the South Jersey area, and Iowa historically has always gotten some New Jersey guys from the late seventies of until now. So you know, I was kind of just fell in line with that one. Uh, Iowa Cities is you know, it's it's a it's a

it's a football place. Man. They love the Hawk guys there. Man, I'm so thankful that I was able to go to college there and play football there in the University of Iowa. They're blocking the streets off that the town is like almost shut down except for the bars. Man. I mean, it is a rocking atmosphere. I've played in some NFL stadiums that did well, a few NFL stadiums actually that didn't come close to having the same type of energy that Kinneck Stadium holds on Saturdays. So I loved it there.

I definitely love playing football there. Speaking in places that love football. You were drafted by the Packers and spent your first eight years in Green Bay. What did you enjoy most about playing there? Uh, it was very similar to Iowa. I'm talking about streets getting blocked off on game days. Uh, bars a pack man and it's just a football town. And I definitely definitely with my time there.

I'm thankful that I was able to play there. And everybody comes to play, you know, against the Green Bay. They always say like the atmosphere is crazy. It's definitely crazy, so it was really cool. One of the time honored traditions, going back to Vince Lombardi, is to borrow little kids bikes to get from Lambeau Field to the practice field during training camp. Did you enjoy it and at your size,

were you ever worried about damaging a kid's bike. So my rookie year, I actually broke a kid's bike, and that was definitely something. I think I might have broke another one in my fourth year. So I always made sure I went to find a high school kid or a middle school kid who had like a mountain bike or something like that, because I kept riding little kids bikes. Unfortunately, sometimes I made a little kids bike and help hold

the handlebar while while they rode their bike. But it was definitely a really cool tradition and I'm glad they do it in Green Bay. How did those little kids react when you broke their bike? Oh? Man, they were honored. They loved it. They man, the th was the coolest thing in the world. I remember a few years later, you know, he's a little bit older. He actually came to an autograph sign and had a picture of me carrying his bike, and I said, oh, yeah, this is great,

this this is really good. So they they they they loved it. They really loved it. A few more fun facts with Mike Daniels. You and your wife have been extremely generous, Mike with your time and your money in terms of giving back. Is there a cause that means the most to you? I have a heart for um everybody, you know, whatever calls we're getting in involved in, whether it's a book bag drive, a women's shelter holding, the camp for children, it's we're we're we're all for it.

And right now, one of the causes that I'm definitely involved in his New Souls inc Incorporated, based out of consulting in Camden, New Jersey right now. And what they do is they do it. They do a right of things, Uh, bringing Christmas gifts to um a lot of children who are living in very financially underprivileged situations. They remember they did an ice cream drive where they running out and ice cream truck and just handed out free ice cream.

They do shoe drives, hence the name New Souls. They do a sneaker drive, so I'm definitely involving them. They'll be my calls my cleets form. I called my cleets this football season, and I definitely love the work that they're doing. Describe the significance of the date August third, the significance of dad. August third is my first three children were born on that date. It's definitely a very exciting day in the Daniels household. And they're not triplets.

That's August third, three different years, three different years, No triplets, no twins. All right. Final fun fact for Mike Daniels. This is putting you on the spot. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, who would that person be. It's funny. It's probably had to be three comedians, George Carlin, Dick Gregory and Simbad. I'd have to meet

those three guys. There's three comedians who definitely were definitely very honest about the current state of affairs or whatever is going on. So though, those are three people who I would love to meet or have met. You love comedy clubs. I've always been a pretty big stand up comedian or a fan of stand up comedy. Brother, I could see you doing it. Someday. You'll have to get up on stage. Bill Tomatoes at me, man, I'm not that's not that funny. You could put together a good

ten minute set. I appreciate your time. This has been fine. Best of luck this year. Thanks very much. Have a good day. How great is Mike Daniels. Here's hoping he makes a speedy recovery from the elbow injury he suffered at practice last week. The best case scenario is that he's back in three weeks. Here's a quick reminder to join Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday night from six to night on seven under WLW. That on Wednesday night, I'll join Lap for the Bengals Game Plan

Show from six to eight on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the official hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast