Bengals Booth Podcast: Turn The Page

a trade. We'll replay a short portion of an interview we did with Andy late last season that hits home following his release, and I'll talk to the Bengals new quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher on Joe Burrow, Andy Dalton and how a summer handyman job as a college student helped him eventually wind up coaching in the NFL. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan,

travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you can add the latest edition of this podcast delivered rite to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or Podbean. It's the greatest thing since the Andy and AJ Dalton Foundation. As college students at TCU, Andy and his wife JJ decided they would start a foundation to help seriously ill

and physically challenge children and their families. Since then, they've paid for entertainment hubs for kids in multiple hospitals, hosted date nights for parents of seriously ill children where the Daltons entertain the kids while their parents are treated to an expensive dinner date. They've treated children to Christmas parties and trips to King's Island, and they've purchased medical equipment and provided financial relief to families that need it most.

In short, they've been incredibly generous with their time and resources. For more information about their foundation or to make a donation, just go to Andy Dalton dot org. My first year is the Bengals radio play by play announcer was Andy Dalton's first year at quarterback, and I remember reading a story in Sports Illustrated around the time he was drafted where an unnamed NFL coach said the following to Peter King, has there ever been a redheaded quarterback in the NFL

who's done really well? The coach asked, It sounds idiotic, but is there any way that could be a factor. He's right, it was idiotic, but I remembered that quote the first time I met Andy and saw just how red his hair is. That's why I decided to have some fun with it in his first preseason by calling

him the Red Rifle. The nickname certainly stuck. Andy's accomplishments were nothing short of remarkable, five straight playoff trips, the best winning percentage of any Bengals QB with twenty five or more starts, and the most completions and touchdown passes of any quarterback in franchise history. The only thing he didn't do was lead the team to postseason success, and I honestly believe that would have happened in twenty fifteen.

That year, his passer rating was a franchise record one oh six point three and the team was ten and two and the number one seed in the AFC playoff race when he broke his thumb. Unfortunately, the Bengals have not been back to the playoffs since last year. Before the season opener in Seattle, I asked the three time Pro bowler the following question, what are you proudest of? Yeah? I think anytime you can stay in one place for

a long time. I think that's one thing. We've really established ourself in Cincinnati from the time we got here, and so this is a place that we wanted to be, and we wanted to be here for a long time. So I think the first and foremost to be able to, you know, have success enough to where you know you're going to be in the city Cincinnati. I think that's

that's one thing. There's been a lot of accomplishments that have gone on since I've been here, obviously, like you said, the three the three Pro Bowls and different things, but I want to keep playing for for a while, so, uh, you know, hopefully we're kind in the middle stages of my career. Andy turns thirty three in October and should have plenty of good football left. It'll be interesting to see where he winds up. That's among the things I

discussed with my broadcast partner, Dave lapham Lap. What is Andy Dalton's legacy in Cincinnati. I think he's He's a clear cut case of a tale of two careers instead of a tale of two cities. I mean his first his first fifty seven or seventy six games, fifty twenty five and one. Unbelievable. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers the only quarterbacks that had more victors in him in that time frame his last fifty seven games twenty thirty six and one. You know, and there's as we know him, Marry the

reasons why. I mean, when he started out his career with those with those fifty wins and twenty five losses in the tie and Andrew Worth a left tackle, he at Aja Green, I mean, he had he had solid people around him, a solid situation. Jay Gruden was his offensive coordinator. They kind of grew together, and then at the back half of his career there was musical chairs at you know, a Merry go round a left tackle,

same type of scenario at offensive coordinator. I really think that he's a clear cut case of when you surround him with competent people, he'll give you a damn good performance and if you leave him out there in the lurch, you know, struggle. And that's the case with most quarterbacks. I mean, there's a reason for that old saying that they get too much blame when things poorly and not enough credit when things go well. In a normal year, even with his salary, he would have been easy to

trade for a draft pick. But this is not a normal year. Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Cam Newton, Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariota were all available to teams. Nick Foles as well, and the Bears pounced down him. It made for a difficult market for the Bengals in trying to trade him, it did, you know, and uh, there's no doubt in the game and musical chairs, there were too many quarterbacks and not enough chairs. The music stopped, and it was

it was a tough dynamic for sure. When whenever when all those quarterbacks saturated, they're saturated the market, you know, just but at that point in time was boy, you know, you know that nobody's going to give up draft capital and inherited seventeen point seven million dollar contract. That's that's there's no way that's going to happen. And there are Bill Bill Belichick's just sitting there. He was just waiting in the weeds. I mean, I'd hate to play poker

with him. He'll wait you out forever and keep a poker face the whole time. It will try me. You know, the fact that they didn't even draft a quarterback with all those picks they had that he felt like he was going to get a good shot at Andy Dalton when the Bengals terminated him, and down there in Jacksonville, you're think Jay Gruden and the Jacksonville Jaguars might be

thinking the same thing. So if there's a couple of couple of teams with a significant interest, you know, I think backup salary quarterback salaries are tops in the high three million dollar range. He might be able to generate a little bit more than that, but there's not a whole lot of starting jobs left out there, that's for sure.

After spending more than one hundred and thirty million unrestricted free agents, the Bengals don't have room under the cap for a seventeen point seven million dollar backup quarterback, especially as they try to extend aj Green and Joe Mixon. But they could have waited until Week one to see

if an injury created a need somewhere else. Why didn't they because of their respect for Andy, you know, I think that once the once the draft took place, and there were no no trades, you know, prior to the draft, during the draft, and right after the draft, I think at that point they realized the market was dry. Everybody had made quarterback decisions and nobody was going to do anything that was going to be uh, you know, would changed the landscape significantly. So at that point in time,

they wanted to do what's best for Andy Dalton. I'm sure Andy Dalton wanted to move on and try to find the best opportunity for him to extend his career. He still believes the starting NFL quarterback. And you know, stranger things have happened. But I mean, if he goes out there and it's totally dry and you know, and the BEng Wills say, hey, this is what we can afford to give you as a backup quarterback for a season, would you think about it. I mean, stranger things have happened.

I think the odds of that are minuscule. But it doesn't it doesn't close that door because you know, one thing that ain't Andy Dalton has done as he's done with everything in his career as a as a football player, as a husband, as a dad, as a brother, as a son, as a community member. Everything he does he does with class. Even he hasn't burned any bridges here. Um, So I think, you know, if something doesn't work out,

New England, Jacksonville, or wherever it may be. You know there the door's not slammed, it's not bolted, sud, but it would be. It would be a tough a tough pilled swallow, I think, a tough dynamic. But I do think the timing this is all about trying to do what's best for Andy Dalton to extend his career, because they feel like they owe that to him. Lap I'm sure Joe Burrow could have learned from Andy Dalton as

a veteran mentor slash sounding board. There are veterans out there, Joe Flacco, Mike Glennon, Matt Moore, Blake Bortles, and others. Do you see the Bengals possibly reaching out to a little older guy like that so that Joe Burrow could

have somebody like Bruce Gradkowski was for Andy. I think with Joe Burrow, you know, Jill Burrows older than a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL right now, and Bill Burrows had life experiences probably in terms of facing adversity, more than a lot of quarterbacks that are stars in

the National Football League have had the experience. I think his chronological age and his life experiences age I think make him ready, and plus the fact, when you look at it, everybody in the organization is a quarterback, including the owner. Mike Brown played at Dartmouth, Duke Telvin played at Colorado, you know, Zach Taylor, Coach Callahan, and a picture everybody everybody involved with Joe Burrow played the quarterback position.

So I think they feel they've got enough people to give them opinions and tutor them and all those sort of things. I mean, it wouldn't be bad to have a guy like that in the locker room, but in that quarterback meeting room and in the locker room. But you know, Tayl bar when I asked him about it on the press conference after he was drafted about how difficult it may be relationship wise with Andy, difficult or not, you know, his answer was just he hit it out

of the park, like he did all of them. So he'll deal with deal with it if if Andy's part of the picture, and he'll deal with it if it's just young quarterbacks in him. I mean, I think he's capable and ready to adapt and adjust it just about anything. I really do. You participated in events for the uh Andy and JJ Dalton Foundation. I know how much respect you have for him as a person, how big a part of his legacy is what he did off the field.

I think it's I think it's huge, you know. And I think that when when, um, you know, you talk

about does did Andy Dalton get his just due? You know, on the field as a quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengal as well, and from a national perspective of really, nobody in Cincinnati is gonna they're just due, But even on a local basis, I'm not sure that necessarily he got his just due from what he did, you know, as a quarterback on the field, and maybe even you know what he's done off the football field, because it is

it is remarkable. It is amazing to watch him interact with with the people and how they look at him because of the way he's affected their lives in such a positive way. I mean, giving them a beacon of hope, you know, a beacon of light. It's it's just, it's it's man, it's it's humanity at its highest level. There's no question about it. And he should be extremely proud

of that. I know he is. I know his wife JJ is and and I know that he was very, very appreciative of all the people in Cincinnati that rallied around is his efforts with respects to the foundation, and not only here in Cincinnati, but down in Dallas Fort Worth as well. So I'm sure he'll he'll probably continue with things that he's done here in Cincinnati, but if he ends up in another location, I'm sure I'll have

to split the pot. Count sure it will do something wherever he ends up and continue in his hometown area Dallas Fort Worth as well. Lap and I did a lengthy interview with Andy for one of our radio shows in late November, right after he got his starting job back after a three game benching behind rookie Ryan Finley. He promptly led the team to a win over the Jets, ending their eleven game losing streak to begin the season. I've edited that interview down to about five minutes that

seem appropriate following his release. You're a man of faith and a family man. How important of those two components for your life been in dealing with what you've been dealing with here? Yeah, it's been the biggest thing for me. You know, I think I was saying earlier when it first happened, I was just bitter, didn't like I wanted to not be the same person that I've been wanting to choose to, you know, not help out, just sit in the meeting and get through the rest of the

season and then let it go on on. But it's like, that's not who I am, that's not who I'm called to be. It's um now, I'd be choosing to be somebody that I'm not. And so you know that weighed on me heavy and um and and for then I was just like, just be yourself. You know, God's gonna honor whatever. If you handle this the right way, God's gonna honor you. And um, you know, I felt like

that's how I had to I had to be. I know, I told everybody well right when it first happened in the team meeting, like I'm gonna be the same guy I'm you know, don't don't feel awkward around me. It's gonna be It's gonna be okay. You know, I'll get through it. Um. But uh, you know, and I felt like I was that way even on game day. I felt like I was giving suggestions, trying to help right out as much as I could, and uh, you know, trying to help this team win. Yep, we're visiting with

Andy Dalton. There's an old saying you don't appreciate someone or you don't appreciate something until it's gone, and you haven't been gone. But after you were taken out of the starting lineup, it seems to me there was an outpouring of appreciation and respect that I'm not sure that you got when you were leading the team to the playoffs five years on a road Did you feel that

long overdue? Yeah, you know, I have received a lot of support and so, um, you know, it's it's kind of a weird spot to be in, you know, when you're uh, you know, felt like, you know, I didn't deserve to to not be playing, but you know, I guess I understood a little bit what Zach was trying to do, but I mean I didn't agree with it

and all that kind of stuff. And then, um, yeah, a lot of people have supported me through it, and um, yeah, I think that's it's it's been cool to see, you know, there's people that gave to our foundation and in different things like that, and um, I mean we'll always take that and we'll be able to help so many kids and families with with that kind of stuff. But it's always nice when you have the support of the city

around you. I know, Um, your your situation, that the conversation you have with Zach so and I know you know you weren't real happy. There was even talk about just go ahead and trade me. In your mind right now, you're not just playing for the Cincinnati Bengals evaluation, you're playing for thirty one of the teams. To take a look at what Andy Dalton's all about. After having been sat down, come back? What's you got? I mean, what kind of what kind of a intestinal ford? What's this

guy all about? All the way around? Is that pretty accurate? Yeah, I mean I understand the situation that we're in and and everything, and so you know, I'm I'm trying to put the best stuff out there that I can. Um, you know, if if that's for here, then grade if that's for somewhere else, I mean, that's it's all to be determined to going forward. But you know, my whole goal is to win and win right now and win some of these last games, and um, you know, I

think that's the most important thing right now. How frustrating was it because players were coming up to me and stay lap four teams and we win these last two games. How frustrating was it to you to be on the sideline thinking if I was in the football game, man, I mean, can you let that kind of enter your thoughts or do you have to kind of keep them out? Now? I think for any competitor, you want to you feel like your skill sets should be able to help the team.

And um, you know, for me, regardless of the situation, I'm going to be confident in myself and know that, Okay, there's some little things that I feel like I can do that that that can help us win. And you only get that through experience. So for Ryan, Ryan was getting great experience in those those three weeks and this stuff that he's gonna take with for the rest of his football career. And he's gonna understand like he went

against some really good defenses. I mean, you go against the Ravens, the Steelers and uh you know some of the blitz stuff that that that that Polygy can do in Oakland. Uh, So I mean he's gonna just the best. Um, the best thing for you is experience and playing in the game. So you know, when you've played for nine years and you understand and you've seen so much. I felt like there's little things that that I can do to definitely help this team and help this team win.

We've kept here for one more minute than promise. This is my last question. Lap. You're not allowed to have anybody. I got one more. I got one more, good one. I think you're tied with Kenny Anderson all time touchdown passes. I know you don't play for numbers. You're trying to win championships, but it felt to me like your Cincinnati story couldn't end the way it did, having your starting spot taken, being tied in the record book, there's there's a chance here for a happy ending. Yeah, you know,

it's one of those things. It's like, well, am I gonna get in that last game? Let's get one more touchdown pass just so I have bragging rights over Kenny. But you know, who knows what's gonna happen. I think that's one thing that through these last several weeks is I truly have had to trust in God's plan for my life, for my career, my family and all the stuff that goes into it, and so you know, hopefully we can score a lot of touchdowns and hopefully that

record gets broken. Dalton broke Ken Anderson's franchise record for career touchdown passes with this strike that week, first and ten at the seventeen of the Jets, Dalton fakes a hand off from the pocket, throws over the medal Oh it is caught for a touchdowne by Tyler Boyd. Andy Dalton threading the needle between two New York Jets defenders and with that touchdown pass, the red rifle stands alone career touchdown pass number one ninety eight in his NFL career,

more than any other quarterback in Bengals history. They both wear number fourteen. Kenny Anderson, Andy Dalton, And I'll tell you what this throw is unbelievable. I mean, threading the needle. You have a defender dropping back underneath coverage in a safety over the top, and Andy Dalton said, I trust Tyler Boyd. I'm gonna zip it in there. And literally, if he was an inch either way, it would have

been incomplete. But man, great catch by Tyler Boyd maintained possession for that record breaking touchdown pass to be of that variety certainly far from mundane. That was one of two hundred four touchdown passes in Andy's nine years with the Bengals, and that's seven more than anybody else. Before we get to the next segment, here's a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals pride to the next level this season with an official Bengals fan package from

Prime Sport. Now time for my conversation with Dan Pitcher, who was promoted to quarterbacks coach in January after Alex van Pelt left to become the offensive coordinator in Cleveland. Dan, you're from Courtland, New York, about a half hour from Syracuse. You played quarterback for your hometown college, Courtland State, and your initial connection to the Bengals was another Courtland State alum, former offensive line coach Paul Alexander. Explain how that relationship developed. Yeah,

it was really fortunate for me. Paul had come back to campus and it was during one of their off seasons and he had come back to visit. He did a little presentation, um, you know, for for some of the students, and then he also spent time with the football program. I think he may have crossed passed with

our head coach at the time, Dan McNeill. I can't remember for sure if they were teammates or maybe they just barely missed each other, but you know, so he spent time with coach McNeill and met with the captains

at the time, which I was one of them. And he's got some summer home on Skinny Outlas Lake, which is about twenty five minutes from Courtland, and he needed some help in the summer doing some work on his property, just you know, power washing his deck and cutting down trees and throne rocks around and stuff you do when you're twenty one in college looking to make a little

bit of money. So I did that for him for a couple of summers with a couple of my teammates and was able to kind of strike up a good relationship and he helped me get into the business. So, in addition to being an excellent Division three quarterback, your hand man skills at Paul Alexander's summer home ultimately helped you get a job in the NFL. Uh Yeah, I mean, I guess I didn't mess up as Deck's too bad.

We're talking to Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The best player in Division three college football gets the Gagliardi Trophy, the Division three Heisman. You were among ten finalists your final year at Courtland State, So don't be modest. Give me a scouting report on former Courtland State Red Dragons

quarterback Dan Pitcher. Short, slow, but smart, I think would probably be the one liner I would say I was able to have success, probably because I put a lot of work into it, and I studied a lot and for the most part made made really good decisions on the field. But there was nothing nothing about me athletically that scared anyone. I don't think I'm a Syracuse grad. I mentioned that Courtland, New York, is close to Syracuse. Were you a fan of the Orange and football and

basketball growing up? Yeah, Yeah, I was. I think for a period of time there. My dad had a couple of basketball season tickets, and I can remember the mcmab days and the don't that place would be rocking with my the you would come in there and there were some very some crazy games. The coach Pascaloney was the head coach, I believe at the time. And so yeah,

I grew up a big time Syracuse sports fan. We're talking to Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher, your first job in the NFL was actually as a scout with the Indianapolis Colts right out of college. What were some of the more valuable things that you learned on the scouting side of things. You know, I learned how to study players,

you know, really and in all different positions. You know, my background had been in the quarterback position, so you're naturally exposed the offensive skill positions and and kind of what makes guys UH successful in those areas. But you know, there's a lot of other positions on the field that you know, I've never really known what to look for and what made a good defensive tackle, you know, or what made a what made a good UH strong safety

versus a free safety. So you know, there was different things positionally that I was able to learn, and then I think I also benefited me greatly that I was able to kind of learn, um the business of the NFL in terms of roster construction, salary cap all the all the factors that go into the decisions that get made on a daily basis. Bengals coaches are heavily involved in scouting in the weeks and months leading up to

the draft. Did that scouting experience come in handy for you as you were evaluating Joe Burrow and the other quarterbacks this year. Yeah. Yeah, I think it kind of has every year since I've been here. Um, you know, because you do from you know, from the day of the season ends until the draft. That's it's a good bulk of what we do here. And Sattie and I

think it's a good thing. You know, we were We're fortunate that we get input into the process and that our opinions are are valued by management and by Duke and his staff, and it's definitely something I drawn. The Bengals hired you to join the coaching staff in twenty sixteen. You've worked with wide receivers and quarterbacks in the past, and as I mentioned, now you are the quarterbacks coach.

This past season. Zach Taylor puts you in charge of game management, and you really studied ends of halves and ends of games correct, correct, it was. It was really a great experience for me, you know that Zach kind

of gave me that role. So essentially I would I would just every week study situations that occurred across the league, and then really leading up into the role, I kind of studied the prior year of all the different end of half, end of game, two minute, four minute situations, and just the decision making process that goes into things like, well, when do you call timeout versus when do you hurry up to the line and try to get another playoff all the clocks running, or you know, there's all sorts

of different things that come up. You know, when when might you decline a penalty you when otherwise it might you know, you just naturally think, oh, we want to accept that penalty. Well, there might be cases where the implications that it has on the clock would lead you to want to decline the penalty. So there's just all sorts of little rules things that go in there and all the things that you have to factor into making decisions very quickly on game day that can have an

effect on whether you went or lose. Let's go back to the Miami game, next to last game of the regular season. You're down by twenty three in the fourth quarter. Andy Dalton throws a touchdown pass to cut it to sixteen with six eleven to go, and when Miami got the ball back, you started calling timeouts immediately. You called one with six or two to go, You're out of time out to about four minutes to go. Was that specifically the result of you studying when do you timeouts

at the ends of games? Uh? Yeah, I think it probably played played a pretty large role in those decisions. I know Zach was was was looking for my input and those parts of the game, and he, you know very much would would listen to the suggestions that that that we made. UM. You know, we also had UM Sam Francis, who's a analytics UM guy with US and Cincinnati, was tremendous help to me and he was sitting right next to me on game days, so he would kind

of help with those decisions as well. But yeah, you know, really at that point in the game, it just it becomes about maximizing the value of your timeouts, and so when you're trying to get the ball back, you want to use timeouts in situations where you have a high likelihood of preventing the team from converting a first down,

and so it becomes a little strategic. You can be a little more, um, it can vary a little more in terms of when you use them when there's more time left on the clock and when you're still in a two score game like that, you're really in your inform in a mode even though there's still six minutes less than the game, just because of how many points

you still need to score. Bill Belichick seemed to expose a loophole in the rules last year with an intentional delay of game followed by an intentional false start because you can't have back to back intentional delay of games, and then the Titans used it against Bill Belichick in the playoffs. What would your reaction when he did that and did the team go over it the next week? Well, uh, you know, to be honest, it's it's something that has happened a lot in the past in NFL games. It's

you know, we were we were well aware of that strategy. Um, you know, prior to the season, we talked about it with with with coach Simmons, and unfortunately we weren't ahead in many games in the fourth quarter where we could have used it to our advantage. But it's it's something we you know, we were aware of and just really never came up in terms of us being able to use it. But I think they're talking about, if they haven't already, the Competition Committee maybe maybe closing that loophole.

But it was it was something we knew could potentially happen, and it was. It wasn't all that surprising to see it. We're visiting the Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. We are doing this interview one week to the day after the selection of Joe Burrow number one overall in the draft. Of his many impressive qualities, what's at the top of the list for you? Well, I'll kind of go in two different categories as a as a as a player,

just his physical skill set. The easiest one is his accuracy, but I even look a little bit more at his ability to manipulate the pocket and extend the play. I think he has tremendous natural feel, pocket presence, spatial awareness to where he can do things that just come very natural to him. With a lot of chaos around him. He remains calm home and he can escape. He can move within the pocket and still deliver the ball. It's

something that really jumps out at you. And then the other thing I would just look at it just um his intangible is his makeup. He's an intense competitor. He has a big picture perspective that's uncommon for rookie quarterbacks and he's capable of handling a lot mentally, and so that that bodes well for his development going forward. Leading up to the draft, the team took advantage of every zoom call opportunity it had to talk with Joe, and you were involved in that. What did those zoom meetings

typically involve? Well, we use them mainly isn't a valued of measure? So we're really this is kind of across the board, not just with Joe, but you're you're, you're you're teaching them some uh specific things to our offense and then kind of asking him to teach it back just to test the ability to process to routine to recall that stuff. Um. So that's a pretty standard process.

And you know you're watching tape, you watch some of LSU tape, you watch some Bengals tape, and and in there too, you're trying to get to know the person, um And it's not easy to do when you're doing it via the internet, but you try to have just some personal conversations get to kind of know how how he ticks. And I think we're able to do that

pretty well. Dan, You're only thirty three years old, and if Joe is the starting quarterback has anticipated your career as a quarterbacks coach is going to align with his career as a starting quarterback. What does that mean to you? Well, I know how hard I'm going to work, and everything I've learned about Joe suggests, uh, He's going to be

the exact same way. And so it's it's comforting to um to know, you know, as a young coach with a with a young player, that he's wired the way that he is, and you know, in terms of big picture, you know what it means career wise, I'm not really concerned with that right now. I'm concerned about really getting Joe and and Jake and Ryan, you know, in the best position they can be in to play their best football. And when you're doing that, you don't have much time

to think about other stuff. How difficult is it going to be for Joe to prepare for his rookie year without a typical offseason program. Yeah, it's It's definitely a new element that we're not used to having to navigate, and so it'll be tough. Just how tough, you know, I don't know that anybody can say right now, because we don't know how long this is gonna last and when we'll be able to get back together, so we

can't worry about it. We just have to put together a structure that gives gives all of our guys a great chance to be successful. And then whenever the physical reps do come back, we got to take advantage of every single one of them because they will be fewer than they have been in the past. A couple more questions for Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The Bengals have decided to release Andy Dalton to give him the opportunity to sign on with another team. What are your biggest

takeaways from working with Andy for a few years? Good player, an even better person. He's been outstanding with me, you know, just getting to know him over the last four years, and you know, working closer and closer with him every year. Got great admiration for his character, for his professionalism, how he's approached his role, and how he's prepared for his role and been able to have success over a long

period of time. Obviously, none of us are satisfied or happy with the lack of wins in the recent couple of years, but you know, and he's done everything that he could have done. Um and um um, I'll always be an Andy Dalton fan. I hope wherever he goes he continues to have success, just not against the Bengals. And uh, you know he's he's going to continue do great things. He's a he's a really good person. Um. He's made a lot of impact in the community that

has nothing to do with football. So I think I had a ton of respect for him. Last thing for Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. In the last year, I've heard Zach Taylor refer to you as a superstar and as a rising star. Describe your relationship with the boss. Well, it's often nice him to say those things. I don't I don't know about either of those characterizations. But Zack's

been great with me from the beginning. I had met Zack maybe one time before he got the job, and he has given me responsibility and treated me with a type of respect that I probably hadn't even earned when he yeah here. So I'm very grateful for that, and I just want to do the best job possible so that we all can have success. Appreciate the time, best of luck and your interactions with Joe Burrow and the other Cincinnati quarterbacks and look forward to seeing you face

to face when that's allowed again. Thanks to I appreciate it. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and 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 thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast