Bengals Booth Podcast: That's The Way

and in depth analysis from Dave Lapham. And this week's fun fact segment is with Amani Bledsoe, who tells us how he got the nickname Moose in high school. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the cordless drill.

I am the world's least handy person. I can change a light bulb and fill my gas tank and that's about it. But every now and again, I'm forced to do a minor project around the house, and what I do, my cordless drill, which I mostly use as a screwdriver, always seems to make the job ten times easier and fifty times faster. It almost makes me want to tackle more do it yourself projects. Almost. Now, Let's get the

Sunday's game. On Friday afternoon, when the Bengals put out their final injury report for the week, the news was grim. Not only was Joe Mixon out for the second straight week with an injured foot, but three starting offensive linemen were down left tackle Jonah Williams, center Trey Hopkins, and right tackle Bobby Hart. And just when you thought things couldn't get worse, on Sunday morning, about ninety minutes before kickoff, left guard Michael Jordan joined the list due to illness.

E gads. Joe Burrow, who was tied for the NFL lead in sacks going into the game with Carson Wentz, would be playing behind an offensive line with four dudes that didn't start the previous week. It didn't seem to bother him. I'm the Bengals opening drive. Burrows ready catches the ball. Three man rush aid in coverage, Burrow rolling right, cocks the arm, flings it deep downfield, all leaping catch

and it'll town at the sixty yard line. Te Higgins going airborne, going up and over former Bengals first round draft pick Jonathan Joseph to haul it in. Not only a great played by te Higgins, but the ball is unbelievably thrown to the tiniest of windows by Joe Burrow. That led to a Randy Bullock field goal and an early three nothing lead. But on that drive, left guard Shack Calhoun, starting in place of Jordan, made a couple of mistakes and the next time the Bengals got the ball,

Quentin Spain took his place. Spain was signed as a free agent this week and practiced for the first time as a Bengal on Friday. Here's Zach Taylor. We knew q was gonna be ready. He's been here for twenty four hours. Now, you gotta be ready. You gotta go

play ball. And they got him up to speed and he bought in, and you know, we just we got him in there earlier and then maybe we anticipated and just needed his presence in there, a big body, and he did a great job all those guys did a great job and just couldn't be prouder of that entire room. When Tennessee got the ball for the first time, quarterback Ryan Tannehill marched the Titans right down the field first

and goal from the eight. Tannehill fakes to Henry looking left receiver covered, scrambled right, Stars taking the end zone. Tercepted in the end zone by Jessee Bates. Nice up, Bengals take the ball back. In addition to his huge giant Jesse Bates had eleven tackles and earned his first game ball in a Bengals uniform. Yeah, I think it definitely's temple. You know, our offense did a really good job of you know, going down there, driving the ball down,

kicking a field goal. You know, our defense had over back against the wall and we got a turn over. It was a bend like you're doing the limbo, but not break kind of day for the Bengals defense. They gave up two hundred eighteen rushing yards seven point five per carry, and two hundred thirty three passing yards, but the Titans failed to turn all of those yards into points. This will be a fifty three yard field goal try

for Stephen Gostkowski, whose career long is sixty two. He's got the wind at his back, but Darius Phillips is standing below the goal post just in case there's a return opportunity on this windy day. The kick is up and hits the right, up right, and it's no good. That missed field goal gave the Bengals the ball at the forty three yard line, and they drove fifty seven

yards to score. A pass interference call in the end zone on former Bengals first round draft pick Jonathan Joseph set up their first TD, first and goal at the one. Burrow in the gun with p Rhyan to his left. Burrow hands it off to p Rhyan Samaj p Ryan his in touchdown Bengals As Cincinnati goes up by two scores. The Titans answered with a ten play touchdown drive consisting of nine runs and one incomplete pass. Tannehill gives it to Derrick Henry, Andy muscles his way into the end

zone for the Titans first score. Derrick Henry finished with one hundred twelve yards on eighteen carries, and that TD made the score ten to seven Bengals with six o four left in the half, The Bengals kept the ball for all but thirty two seconds of the remaining time. Fourth down in five at the Tennessee forty three tightly bunch formation for Cincinnati. Burrow is ready for the shotgun snap. He's back to throw now, scrambling to his right, plants

his foot fires down the middle of the field. Pagans has the coach at the twenty yard line of Tennessee. The Bengals have their issues, but converting on fourth down is not among them. Would you believe that Cincinnati is twelve or thirteen on fourth down tries this year? That twenty two yard strike to t Higgins set up another score. They come to the line with forty seconds left and a half third down in less than a yard. Burrow in the shotgun gives it to Bernard TiO right up

the middle, head into the end zone. Touchdown Bengals. He has Giovanni. Bernard flashes up the middle for a twelve yard TD. Nothing fancy there, boy, I mean, come off the ball, Come off the ball inside, big boys. We got an offensive line to the saying we can play football too. Seventh teen seven Bengals at the half. Here's Geo on the play. Of the offensive line. My hats are off to those guys because they worked their off my bed, they worked their tails off. So they just

they deserved that win. And they went in and obviously with minimal experience, and they showed out today. A scoreless third quarter meant that the Bengals took the lead to the fourth quarter for the sixth time in eight games. This time they added to it. Bernard in the backfield to the left of Burrow. On third down and one at the Tennessee seven, Burrow fakes to Bernard throws into

the end zone, touchdown, Tyler Boy. The Bengals score in the red zone and lead to twenty three to seven red zone touchdowns on third down, third down touchdowns in the red zone or killer and that was the Bengals second third down red zone touchdown of the day. Here's Joe Burrow. It's really a four point play, and we talk about that all the time. You know, if you don't get it, you take a field goal. But if you get it, you know you have a chance to

score a touchdown. And so we stole eight points there. It wouldn't be a twenty twenty Bengals game if they didn't make you bite your nails. In the fourth quarter, first and goal from the nine, Tannehill will look to throw from the pocket. His pass caught at the six.

A j Brown spinds away from both Mackenzie Alexander and Will Jackson and runs it into the end zone for a Titan's touchdown that made a twenty four to fourteen with eleven and a half minutes to go, but a forty nine yard kickoff return by Brandon Wilson led to a forty four yard touchdown drive Joe Burrow rolling right, quick throw caught by Gio five for the pylon touchdown Bengals. As Joe Burrow connects with Giovanni Bernard and the Bengals lead.

Here's back to sixteen. It was another good day for Giovanni Bernard filling in for Joe Mixon. Fifteen carries for sixty two yards and a touchdown, three catches for sixteen yards in another score, and outstanding work in blitz pick up as Burrow was not sacked for the first time all year. Here's GEO. Wherever I can help my team win, I want to be there, whether that is pass block, and they asked me to pass block every single play. I'm I'm gonna be that guy. They asked me to

run the ball every single play. I'm obviously gonna be that guy. I just want to be able to do whatever I can do help this team win, and we got that w today, which was huge. A touchdown pass from Tannehill to Corey Davis made it thirty one to twenty, a low snap preventing the Titans from adding the extra point.

With an eleven point lead and roughly six minutes to go, the Bengals caught a huge break as a Burrow interception that would have given the Titans the ball in the red zone was wiped out by a pass interference penalty on Malcolm Butler. It would have been understandable if Zach Taylor decided to put the kibosh on any more pass attempts, but on third and six with two o eight to go, he showed trust in his rookie quarterback. He's gonna throw it up the sideline, bat shoulder, throw odd and take

comes down with the ball on the Titan sideline. It's a catch and that should be coffin now. That was one of a career high seven catches for Tate, who had four all season going into the game. He comes in here every day just waiting for his opportunity and everything we asked him to do. And I told him on Wednesday, I said, I didn't realize you only had four catches. We got to get you more involved because

you've earned every opportunity that you should be getting. And he goes out there and on the play of the game makes the most difficult catch we've had all season, and Chris the first down that wins us the game, and that just speaks Tod and that just speaks to kind of what this what this team is going to be going forward. Burrow finished twenty six for thirty seven for two hundred forty nine yards and two touchdowns, with no picks and a passer rating of one six point seven.

The quick passing game helped neutralize the pass rush as Joe is only hit twice. You know, we had to do that this week. I think we were in a unique circumstance. Four new guys in there to a line, and I think they played great, but we had to help him, and we got the ball out fast and ran the ball efficiently and did what we needed to do behind a makeshift line. The Bengals scored thirty one points and held the ball for nearly thirty six minutes.

After the games, Zach Taylor singled out the starting center. Billy Price got a game ball because Billy Price is about everything that we want our players to be about. You know a guy who came in with expectations. He has never wavered from that. His opportunity hasn't always been exactly what he thought it was going to be, but he comes in with a smile in his face every day, goes to work, encourages everybody. What can I do to get better playing a scout team? Do you play guard?

You need to be played center? Do you want me to start in this game? And his personality never waivers for one second and just couldn't be happier for for Billy Price because he's earned this opportunity and you never know how things are going to shake out. But um just really proud of the person, the man he is and the player and our guys can learn a lot from Billy. The final score Cincinnati thirty one, Tennessee twenty. Here are Zach Taylor, Jesse Bates, and Joe Burrow. This

is the expectation, you know, they're they're happy. We're excited. We earned this. We needed it, especially going into a buy because these players have done everything we've asked him to do and the reward hasn't been in the wind calm. They needed it. But but to say that anyone is shocked it would be would be untrue. I don't think a lot of people expected us to win a day. Um, you know this locker room knows that, and we don't

really care. Honestly, it's all about us and like I said, we're going to continue to build on what we're building here on the foundation. It's all about us. So excited for the future. This is a lot of them and am going into the bye week. Much needed bye week by the way, Um, you know we needed the win today. Is feel good about ourselves and able to enjoy these

next couple days and kind of relax. Why is it a much needed by week for you guys, injury wise, body wise, everyone just needs to get their mind right. You know, we have a chance to rattle off a lot of wins here in the last part of the season. It starts in Pittsburgh and that's gonna be a big game. You know, I'm excited to play that one, but I'm going to enjoy this bye week first. What are you

gonna do in the bye week? Absolutely nothing. The Bengals hit the halfway point of the season with a record of two five and one up next after the bye the only undefeated team left in the NFL the seven and oh Steelers, who beat Baltimore twenty eight twenty four on Sunday. Pittsburgh does have a game next week at home against Dallas. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now let's get some postgame analysis from

my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. All right, we need you to put the performance of the offensive line into perspective because the left tackle Achemadenagy had played seven snaps before today. The left guard Quentin Spain practiced with the team for the first time on Friday. Center Billy Price was making his first start this year after failing to live up to expectations as a first round draft pick over the last couple of years. Right guard Alex Redman got cut

before the season. There was no interest from other teams, so he came back initially to the practice squad right tackle Fred Johnson, a disaster at guard, now back to his more comfortable position at tackle. You played professionally as an offensive lineman for a dozen years. How incredible was it that this hodgepodge of offensive lineman played the way they did. Never seen anything like it at any level peewee football, high school football, college football, professional, Never seen

anything like it. The circumstances that led to what you just described is almost incomprehensible. And the fact that you know, one couple guys jump, you know, a little jump because Joe Burrow is a master at the hard count. Joe Burrow will try to draw the defense offside with hardcounts all the time. And as an offensive lineman, that's hard. You know, you have to get used to that. You

have to have heard it. It has to be, you know, a repetition in your in your ear that you can, you know, react accordingly, and for these guys in precious situations third down to be able to hold their water as such, when Joe Burrows doing this thing, trying to draw the defense offside, and again there was there was a jump, a couple of jumps, but nothing's different. The way they operated was unbelievable, particularly Spain. I mean, you know, he's played in the league six years, so he knows.

He knows there's only so many ways you can block things. I remember a former teammate of mine, Mike Wilson, offensive tackle, the Bengals get traded in Seattle on Wednesday, started the game on Sunday, played the whole game, and I've talked to him about it after the game, I said, was it just a matter of another lineman saying this is we call it this? What did you used to us? We used to call this in Cincinnati? Okay, well here

it's this. So every time they break the huddle coming to the line of scrimmage, they translate to make sure that he had the right schematic in mind, based on in his mind, he's hooking that into what they did in Cincinnati until he was there a longer period of time. To handle all that and not make mistakes is incredible

up and down that line of scrimmage. To have so many variables, you know, five variables on every single play, for them to play like a fist, you know where they were better together, all five components were better together

than any one individual guy. Remarkable, remarkable effort by those guys, remarkable effort by the offensive line coaches both of them to get them ready to play, remarkable game plan to help them in protection, getting the bott of Joe Burrow's hands so fast, literally a lot of this in he catching the shotgun, it's out, it's out. I mean, defensive linemen are thinking, I mean, they don't need an offensive line.

I can't get there. If I get in a spurn of stance and he takes that shotgun step, I can't didn't get close to him before he's getting the ball out and hitting somebody with it. And it wasn't like that every snap, but a good number snaps. It was like that, and that frustrates the defensive line. So every component of it, I mean, take multiple bows. Every single person involved with that whole thing, the game plan, the people had executed it, the people that put together the

game plan, check check, check check. Everybody should get game balls. They should have you know, whole offensive units should get game balls. Well, somebody who did get a game ball was Billy Price, and head coach Zach Taylor was effusive in his praise for Billy after the game. He represents everything we stand for with his attitude and his work

ethic and stuff along those lines. He's basically played two games in a row now because Trey Hopkins left with about three and a half minutes to go in the second quarter last week with a concussion, Billy's played well. Is there a chance that Billy Price is salvaging his status as a first round draft pick now that he's back at center. It's work in progress, but it's heading in the right direction. Darrow going up and Billy Price handled it exactly the way you would want to handle it.

He wants to start. Everybody wants to start. Everybody's frustrated when they're not starting. Compare and contrast how Carlos handled his situation. Now he was a starter that was demoted. That's a little bit different than never getting a start. But you come in, as you know, the Remington Award winner at center, and you know the first round pick and all these things. I mean, you come in highly decorated. It's it's anticipated you're going to be the guy, and

then you're not the guy. What did he do? Went to the coaches? What do I need to work on? Where am I deficient? What do I need to do. No sulk and no moaning. Not happy, obviously, not happy, not satisfied, you know, working with the look squad, the scout team, working against the number one defensive lineman, give him the best look that he can give him, trying to improve his technique. And is he a work in progress still? Yeah? I mean everybody is he is, But boy,

his level of play has improved. I mean his confidence level is probably at an all time high now. And these guys, you're in the NFL for a reason, and sometimes when your confidence gets shaken, that's the biggest problem, the biggest component. I mean, to get your confidence back when you lose it can be tough. And I think Billy Price is getting that confidence back now. And the fact that you were able to maintain your confidence through the through the dark times, I think is big. And adversity.

How much more adversity could this team have had? There was not a starter, a week one starter anywhere in the offensive line. They still hang over thirty the Titans, Are you kidding me? Adversity builds character, Adversity reveals character. Adversity exposes character, both good and bad, and a lot of good character was exposed today, Let's get back to guard Quentin Spain, who as signed as a free agent this week, practiced on Friday, got in there early today

and played most of the game at left guard. He started sixty six games in his NFL career. He was good enough in buff full of last year that they gave him a three year, fifteen million dollars deal in March. Ultimately didn't work out in Buffalo. But do the Bengals have a new starting guard. He's six four, three hundred and thirty pounds, twenty nine years old, powerful physical. I mean some of the runs that were busted up the gut between between the tackles he and Billy Price, he

and a dentis. I mean when they were doubling, they were moving down lineman. The first thing you need to do on a double team is to move the down line, and make sure you do that. If you don't move the down lineman, you're being consumed by two linebackers in hog Heaven. If you're moving him now, the linebacker's good problems. A guy could be in my lap. I need to make a decision on what side I'm going to try to feel. I mean, it's a totally different football play

in that point in time. So, yeah, I mean Spain, and so something must have happened with Calhoun. I don't know if it's physical, but the coach is determined. He's in over his head. If it wasn't physical, he's in over his head. Let's put Spain in there. Spain's got

a lot of experience. We know Spain can play. And Spain went in there and played his off and everybody said after the game was communication, communication, communication, And there's how about how about Spain coming up to the into the huddle and he's got a rookie at left tackle and it's played, you know, maybe three offensive snaps at the tackle position, not the extra tight end and all that sort of thing. And then you have Billy Pricet center.

It's like, well, I need somebody to Billy translate for me, will you, because and now you're gonna have to translate for both of us. Although they say idenergy, one of his biggest assets is his intelligence. And man, they've got three smart tackles, they have two smart centers and intelligence.

Football intelligence gives coaches a lot of confidence. And uh, and I'll tell you that's a that's another thing that the Bengals have in spades, and it was proven today once again to be able to people just don't understand how hard that is. And you're you're going against a guy like Simmons, who's, you know, one of the premier players in the National Football League. You have to communicate everything right, execute everything right, you know, not not any

any false steps, any false movements, any false anything. And it's hard, man, it's not and you can't well, I guess you can. Spain walked off the street and did it. But he's got a lot of experience in other places. Though Jesse Bates got a game ball for his first quarter end zone interception. But I thought this was von Bell's best game in the Bengals uniform. He had an interception that unfortunately was wiped off the board because of

the pre snap penalty on Kyral Lawson. But it seemed to me that every time they threw it in the direction of whoever von Bell was covering, he was there. And his coverage has been a question marked, to put it nicely so far this year. But we know nobody works hard or he's in the building at like five in the morning every day, and he really did a solid job it's good to see hard work payoff because I agree with that. I thought of you his best

game as a Bengal, no doubt coming downhill. You know I wrote recognition, breaking on the ball, doing all the things you need to do. You know, two interceptions nullified unbelievable. Uh, it's it's almost it's almost in. There's so many things happened today with the offensive line. I don't think I've seen two plays like that in a short time frame, nullified like that. And then the bengalstore interceptions is nullified by passing their ferens. That was a crazy sequence of football.

But yeah, I think I think the safeties as a tandem, I think it shows what they can do. And the amazing stat to me that had been lost because they've been so bad in the fourth quarter defensively five out of the first sixth possession first possessions now by opponents, five out of the last six games they've gotten a takeaway. That's that's that's a hell of a way to start a football game. And you know that that gave the Bengals early momentum and gave them going into the fourth

quarter with leads. But then they were so bad in the fourth quarter. People, you know, it nullified what they've done in the quarters one through three to help get to where the team was in the fourth quarter. But it was good to get one today. And uh, this is the third game in a third first drive in a row they've gotten to turn over five out of the last six and then to finish it in the

fourth quarter with better performance. Auden Tate target had seven times, seven catches sixty five yards, one big third down catch after another. I'll tell you what, it's four legitimate receiving targets now because although aj Green didn't have a particularly big game, he's been great the last couple of weeks. More big catches today for for Higgins and Boyd and

now Auden Tate comes up big. You know, Tennessee had run a bunch of cover two, so I thought tight ends and running backs are going to be in big in today's passing game. You know they were. They were putting you know, seven, eight, nine in the box. I mean, Joe made a lot of his plays to the perimeter, to the outside and making accurate throws. And Auden Tate is so big and so long, six five long arms, you know, vice hands when he gets his hands in

the football, defensive backs can't separate him from it. And he made what seven targets, seven catches unbelievable. He was he had a perfect day. That gives Joe Burrow a lot of confidence. Joe Burrow, you know Tyler Boyd, He's got a lot of chemistry going with Tyler Boyd, got a lot of chemistry going with t Higgins. And you know Aj is doing what he's doing, and you add

this to the mix. I think I've you know, I've talked about it before back in the day when we had one of the best offenses, the best offense that I ever played on nineteen eighty one, eighty two. Kenny Anderson attacked through Lynde and finally the offensivecording what the game plans, attacked every part of the field, and every player came in when the game plan was being presented. What's he got me doing this week? That's what's starting to happen here. We expected to go out and score thirty.

We expected it. This team's starting to expect to go out and score thirty. And who's going to do it. How many guys are going to be involved? They can't take everybody away. Okay, this might not be my day because there Tilton covers me. But you guys, man feast, have a day and unselfish, you know, step up, make plays, multiple guys to do it. That's what the are off. This was all about. We had great guys executing it and MVP quarterback have a Rookie of the Year quarterback

executing it. Here to all these weapons, I'm telling you, man, their confidence second half of the season is going to be very interesting to see what level they take it to, because I don't care who they're playing. The rematch against Baltimore here is going to be interesting to me because they were embarrassed by the Ravens the way they played and only putting three points on the board be interesting.

That'll be a big barometer. And when they play Pittsburgh twice in the second half of the season against a really, really good defense, because now Tennessee's not that good defensively and a lot of teams they've hung thirty on is not really a big test defensive like Pittsburgh and Baltimore will be. That'll be the litmus test, and I'm very excited to see how they'll play against Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh after the bye and then Monday Night football here and

then finished the season against Baltimore. Trade deadlines Tuesday at four o'clock with Green, Tate, Boyd and Higgins. If you can get anything for John Us, the Bengals make that deal, don't they. I think they do. Gotta take Billy Price off the trade ball. The way he's playing. I mean, it's it's it's remarkable when when all hands are on deck, when all guys are healthy, they're gonna have so much

depth at the interior offensive line positions. M you know, again, everybody has trouble at the tackle position in terms of level of play, number of guys out there. There's a shortage of edge people offensively and defensively, tackles and pass rushes and the Bengals of no exception. But yeah, it's gonna be h It's gonna be very interesting, Dan, I mean, no question about it. I was amused when you asked Joe Burrow what he planned to do during the bye week.

Absolutely nothing. I'm telling you, Man, recharge the battery mentally, physically, every way you can do it. And it's it's great going into a bye week with I mean, the the betters, the gamblers, the point spread setters, they had it at like three and a half. Four all the offensive lineman changes happened and went to seven seven and a half, And I mean, sometimes sometimes it doesn't work out the

way you anticipate things. And kudos kudos to all these guys for stepping up and being part of a upset in the National Football League. But in my mind, there aren't really big upsets in the National Football League. But to beat this Tennessee Titan team by two scores, that's a job well done. I'll tell you what else is nice for Joe Burrow. He doesn't have to go, you know, sit in a hot tub for a week after this game. Hit twice, wasn't sacked at all, first time all year

he's not been sacked. He was getting hit an average of nine times per game, coming in two QB hits behind the makeshift offensive line. And I'll tell you the Houdini like effort he had to prevent a sack. I mean, every one of those offensive lineman should go up and kiss him on the forehead because it was a clean game because of his footwork and his making miss ability.

I'm telling you, everybody underestimates the athletic ability in new short space quickness and the jackhammer feat of Joe Burrow. I mean, the dude did it in the SEC and he's doing it in the National Football League. The guy can extend plays with the best of them, and man, he just sees the field. He's aj Green said last week or a week before a couple of times, and it's so true. It's one word and it says so much. He's special. There's no doubt Joe Burrow is special on

every level. You want to talk about, every category, every box you want to check, special, special, Special. This was a great weekend for me. Bearcats one, they're up to number six in the country, Bengals one badly needed second wind of the year, second win of the year, and we had very few Tricker treats. So I've got a gigantic bag of Reese's peanut buttercups and take fives that are merged with the ess like the Reeses. Take five. If you had that, you have not oh so good.

I'm gonna check that out. And while I'm thinking of special for Joe Burron, we're talking food, what about special? K Step up, Step up, give Joe Burrow. Call it special Joe, not special k How about giving him a little endorsement on cereal? Uh yeah, Halloween man, all all our extra candry candy. I would have loved my wife Lynn going to the grandkids. Come on, Land, You're better than that. For more on Sundays win Over the Titans joined Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday Night

from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. Now time for this week's fun facts segment, as you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts with defensive lineman Amani Bledsoe from the Sunflower State, born in Wichita, Kansas, before attending high school in Lawrence. Tell us a little bit about growing up in the Heartland, Amani and some of the things you like to do

when you were young. Growing up with five other brothers death pretty crazy, you know, growing up very competitive and all kinds of sports. I mean, Thanksgivings were even competitive. You've got Grandpa cashing passes on flag football, so I mean just things like that always get the family involved in some kind of competitive sport or activity. Five brothers, Where did you fall into totem pole? I am the second youngest. So yeah, at fifth so those big brothers

are beating you up. Yeah, Me and the youngest got it a lot, so I definitely made it's tougher, but learned a lot from them and helped us keep that competitive edge as well. We're doing fun facts with the Monty bled soell. I read you moved from Wichita to Lawrence in the eighth grade. That can be hard when you're young, was it for you? Yes? And no. I mean it's always tough leaving friends, but when mom gets a new job, you know, got to do what's best

for the family, you know. And made a lot of great friends and Lawrence and had a lot of great memories playing ball with them as well. So I mean, it's everything happens the way it's supposed to it for a reason. There are some high school highlights of you on the internet labeled Amani Moose bled Cell. How did you get the nickname Moose? And does anybody still use it? So? Some still use it to this day. It just when we initially moved to Lawrence, we didn't go to like

any of the Lawrence schools. Me and my younger brother Amery went to oscar Loose a little country school and one kid just call me Moose. One day, It's like, I call him Moose, and it's stuck ever since, through high school and a little through college. And so we'll see if it sticks here or not. I don't know. I mean, we'll see. So you were a highly touted prospect at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas, where the University of Kansas is located. So was there a lot

of pressure to attend KU? It was. I mean, you're right there at home. You know, you got your family there, your friends you went to school with, and you always have a great relationship with all the coaches from KUM, especially to have like Lawrence High tides or like born and raised and Lawrence. You know. But I mean, at the end of the day, I believe I made the right decision. A lot of praying about it, and everything

happened the way it's supposed to. So, yeah, we're doing fun facts with the Monty bled Cell. I'll say you made the right decision. You went to Oklahoma and you played with two Heisman Trophy winners. You went to the

Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the National Semifinal. What were some of the highlights of your entire college experience, you know, I would say, like just the intensity and competitive nature of like not even just like the game, the championship games, but like much of the practices you know, like iron sharp and irons, you know, like we're all helping each other get better, and you always in practice have great competition, great physical practices like throughout the week that prepare you

to play the way you need to play on Saturday. So I mean just that competitive nature in the tradition of OEU, you know, and winning championships and things like that. Monty, despite your excellent career, you went undrafted in twenty nineteen. Was that a big disappointment? Yes and no. Obviously you

have your goals. But at the end of the day, I trusted in God and stay the course, put my head down, went to work because I mean, at the end of the day, no matter what it is and what you do, it is not about where you start, It's about where you finish and how people are gonna remember you. So so trying to build on that and take a day by day to become a great player and just get two percent better each day. We're chatting with a Monty Bledsoe. You don't tweet very often, but

what do you do? It's usually to thank God. Were you raised in the church and is it important for you to share your faith? That's probably the biggest thing with me in my life is keeping God first and advancing His kingdom and just trying to be bold in my faith. You know, it can be a challenge at times, like getting into new places wherever you are with people, meet new people. But yeah, I'd definitely say my faith is the biggest thing about me on and off the field.

Just keeping God first, involving him and every little thing I can do in my life, whether it's just thanking him, waking up in the morning, just being on the field, thanking Him before I practice. It would be like before a series like just thank you, I can know the opportunity to play the game I love, so just having those little conversations with God and involving Him with everything in my life and things like that. We will finish up with a few wild card topics. Is we do

fun facts with a Mondi bledshow. Who is your favorite athlete of all time in any sport? And why? I'd probably said all the sports, probably Kobe because one of the big things with me is like keeping a strong mindset and like keeping a solid mindset and everything you do, And like one thing I picked off from him is like he's always had a strong mindset and whatever he does, whether he's winning, losing, or just being him, like, he

keeps a strong mindset and it's contagious to others. So I'm not this guy, but I mean leading by example. I try to do and creating and keeping a strong mindset and helping others when I can do. You try to have a Mamba mentality somewhere. Yeah, if you could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, world leader, etc. Who

would that be? And why? Probably Denzel Washington. I think that would be a fun one, just because I'm like, he's pretty great at what he does, and he also keeps a strong mindset and very inspiring all platforms and all kinds of people, whether he's acting or just out speaking to people. You know, Like he's had that tenacious mindset to be great at what he does and not be complacent at what he does as well. What do you like to spend your money on. I don't like

to spend much. I'm more of a window shopper, But when I do, it's probably food. I mean, I love my food. So there's any kind of food, whether it's like buying something cook at the house or just going to eat out here there you cook, do you have a go to dish? If you're trying to impress somebody. I can make some really good chicken parmersan a recipe I got from my older brother, kind of a family recipe. Now we got it down pretty good. Now, all right,

final fun fact for a money bloed cell. As I mentioned, you played with two Heisman Trophy winners at Oklahoma, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. My question pertains to Baker. What do you think of his acting in all of his commercials. It's definitely fitting because he's definitely a character. I mean, sometimes you don't know what you're gonna get out of him. But he's a funny dude. You got contagious energy, you know. But I think it's very fitting and very entertaining to watch.

As the broadcaster for the Bengals, I'm not allowed to like the Cleveland Browns quarterback, but I've got to admit he's really good in commercials. Yeah, I'll give them that. It's all I'm going to give them, Amani, this has been fun. You're off the hot seat. Appreciate the time, best of luck the rest of the year. I appreciate it, Dan, Bye. Thanks to Amani bleds and that's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to

you by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. 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 thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.