Bengals Booth Podcast: Walking On Sunshine

from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Then, in this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know a guy who made a huge play in Saturday's win, linebacker Clay Johnston. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy football game, downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play, and by on Location,

the official hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit on Location exp dot com for exclusive access to the biggest events in the NFL all season long, including Super Bowl fifty six. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the build up when your favorite

team advances in the postseason. One of my favorite things about the NCAA Basketball tournament is that if your team wins a couple of games and makes it to the Sweet sixteen, you get to savor it for several days leading up to the next round, and if your team wins two more games and goes to the Final four,

you get to do it again. Well, that's what we have to look forward to this week leading up to the AFC Championship game, and who knows, if the Bengals win again, we could get to savor the two week build up to the Super Bowl. Sounds awesome, doesn't it. Now let's get to Saturday's win at Tennessee. The game could not have started much better for Cincinnati. Ryan Tannehill under center on first and ten double tight ends in

for Tennessee. Play action fake Tannehill count it neintercepted by Jesse bay first play of the game, and Jesse Bates, who intercepted Ryan Tannehill last year, picks him off on the very first play of this playoff game that gave the Bengals the ball at the Titans forty two. But Cincinnati's first play didn't go very well either. Burrow back to throw under pressure, spinning, twirling and sat for a

three yard loss at the forty five yard line. Last year, in Burrow's third NFL game, he was sacked eight times by the Eagles. The Titans top that with nine sacks on Saturday. Here's DJ Reader on his quarterback. He's tough, has gone league though. Man, He's tough, just gritty. I love it, I love I love about him. He's super tough guy. You know, he doesn't complain. He goes out here and does his job. I really appreciate Joe. One play after the sack, Burrow threw a short pass the

Joe Mixon turned into a twenty one yard gain. The Bengals reached the Titans twenty before settling for a field goal. Dry Huber, looking back at his young kicker, now turns his head, extends the right hand, catches the snap. The kick is on its way. It yes, good him. The Bengals are on the scoreboard. First, they turned the Jesse Bates interception into the field goal by Evan McPherson. The Titans had the King Derrick Henry back at running back,

but failed to score on their first four drives. Meanwhile, another big play helped the Bengals double their lead. Three receivers right, two left, earl clapping his hands, screen pass caught by Chase printing away traffic forty far sideline fifty, chumped over a defender at the thirty five and goes down at the Tennessee Titans twenty eight yard lines. That was a fifty seven yard reception by Chase, roughly fifty

six of the yards coming after the catch. It led to a forty five yard field goal and a six nothing lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second, the Titans finally started moving the ball. A forty one yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to A j Brown led to the game's first touchdown. Now they're gonna go wildcat and snap it directly to Derrick Henry. He catches the snap, he runs left, squares up his shoulders, and runs it into the end zone for a three

yard Tennessee touchdown that tied the game at six. And when the Titans lined up for the extra point, the Bengals got penalized for having twelve men on the field. That gave Titans coach Mike Vrabel an opportunity that he couldn't pass up a chance to go for two from the one yard line. Ryan Tannehill takes the staff gives it to Henry get from behind by Clay Johnston. He did not get in the win, so the Bengals penalty helps as Tennessee goes for two and Henry gets tackled.

The Bengals responded with an eleven play drive that reached the Titans nineteen yard line, well within McPherson's field goal range, but a penalty cost him five yards, and what came next was even worse. Third down in thirteen, the Bengals need to get down to the eleven yard line. Burrow can't take a sack here. He's back to throw cocks the arm. Scrambling left, he gets sacked for a loss

of twelve yards. It could have been disastrous if their kicker wasn't Evan McPherson a fifty four yard try out of the hold of Kevin Hooper trying to give the Bengals the lead in the final two minutes of the half to snap the pot down the kick it has the distance, yes, yes, good wow money Mac from fifty four yards away and the Bengals have taken a nine to six lead. Here's Zach Taylor on his rookie kicker. I mean he's got he's got ice in his veins. There's not much to be said. You know, he's as

cool as it gets. You've got confidence that he's gonna nail it every single time he steps up there. Joe Burrow had the same number of sacks in the first half, five as Joe Mixon had rushing yards, and yet the Bengals led nine to six. On their opening drive of the third quarter, the Bengals finally got something out of their running game as Mixon carried four times for thirty four yards on a sixty five yards scoring drive. Bengals have taken more than five minutes off the clock on

this drive. They have it at the sixteen of Tennessee. Burrow under center, Mixon back into running back. It's a run to the right for mixing cuts back to the lefties at the team towards the pie round of the five high stepping into the end zone. Touchdown. Joe Mixon and my Bengals. Here's mixing on a great cutback that resulted in a sixteen yards score called stretch right, and all of a sudden I just remember them boys was running over the top the linebackers and safety that was

flowing hard. I put my toe on the ground, the number put my toe on the ground again, and I just backside. It was just like it was open, like a resie. I ended up going trying to explode and you know, gets it a zone and I was fortunate enough to find daylight and everything worked out on that play, and I thought that was a big difference in the game. The Bengals were up sixteen six, but a forty five yard run by Deonta Foreman put the Titans in position to answer with a score of their own first and

goal from the ten no passes so far. On this drive, Foreman stays in a running back. There's a pass the fuck that you intercepted by Hilton spreading from Tannehill in the cornerback is able to make the tackle. Mike Hilton, jumping up from his slot corner position, patting the ball into the air, intercepted it and ran it back to

the thirty nine. So the Bengals dodged a red zone bullet on Hilton's pick, but after a three and out by the offense, a forty yard pass from Tannehill to Brown led to a Randy Bullet field goal that made it sixteen to nine. Lead was down to a touchdown, and it soon disappeared. Joe Burrow under center, takes the staff, fakes a handoff. Barrow wants to throw his brest off the fingertips a p rhyne. It accepted on a deflection and the Titans will take over. Amani Hooker catching the

ricochet and Tennessee is going to have it. It wasn't Burrow's fault, but that ended his streak of two hundred nine consecutive passes without an i NT and it didn't take long for the Titans to capitalize. Tannehill drops back to throw, looking firing toward the end zone. H Brown comes down with the ball, touchdown Tennessee. There were two defenders there and Tannehill threat the needle to j Brown.

Brown finished with five catches for one hundred forty two yards and the teams went to the fourth quarter tied at thirteen. On the Bengals first drive of the fourth, they marched to the Titans thirty two, once again within McPherson's field goal range. Juche third down in three play here the Titans showing blitz Burrow ready empty backfield catches the shotgun snap in trouble. Burrow sat at the fifty

by Butt Dupree and eighteen yard loss. Unbelievable. That eliminated the field goal possibility and the Bengals had to punt. The Titans also drove into field goal range, but rather than letting Bullock try a fifty three yarder for the lead, Tennessee went for it on fourth and one at the Cincinnati thirty five. A couple tight ends in. They're gonna give it to Derrick Henry looking for a run. He's

he's tackle for a loss. The Bengals defense tackles Henry for a loss in two and Cincinnati will take over with seven fourteen to go. How about that? The Bengals put the ball in Burrow's hands with seven sixteen to go, but they simply could not protect for him. Burrow has the ball, he drops back. He got sacked for the ninth time, propped down at the Titans forty yard line.

The problem can is that when the defense events are pressuring the edges, Joe can't step up because Simmons and the defensive tackles are pushing me and cherry of blotton. It's not like the pressures just coming from one spot, there is no place to step up. And Simmons gets another one. Burrows sack nine times and hit an additional four. And they had a great plan. They had a great rush plan. I made a tough on us. It made a tough on Menia disguising coverages and and blitzes and

and everything. And they they switched it up the whole game. They didn't stick to one thing. They know one thing didn't work. They moved on to the next thing. And that was kept us on our toes. More accurately, it

kept him on his back. The Titans got the ball back with two forty three on the clock, needing only a field goal to win the game, but Joe Mixon a shared Tyler Boyd that things were going to work out, and Tyler was like, man, we can't too far to you know, go like this, And I'm like, man, just just believe, bro, just believe defense is gonna get us

a turnover. We're gonna go in overtime. And sure enough, literally one play later, literally one play later, we gotta pick thirty two seconds left, third down in five Tannehill ready for the shotgun snap. He has the ball, he's back to throw, looking, throws over the medal prob it intercepted. The Bengals have it half the forty seven yard line. Twenty seconds on the clock, and the Bengals will have the ball about fifteen yards away from Evan McPherson's long

field goal range. Ryan Tannehill's pass was tipped by Eli Apple and intercepted by linebacker Logan Wilson. Every game in the playoffs is gonna be close. It's gonna be a dog fight. That's just the nature of this league. Everyone's good when he gets to this point, and you just gotta find ways to win. The Bengals had the ball at their own forty seven with twenty seconds to go.

Burrow catches a shotgun snap blitz coming Chow with time throws for Chase got it and on a bounce at the thirty five of Tennessee fifteen seconds on the clock. That's enough to be within the long field goal range of McPherson. Eighteen seconds on the clock. Now, ideally you'd love to get about ten more yards and the Bengals have two time outs to work with. The Bengals ran it twice but didn't gain anything. They trusted McPherson to deliver from fifty plus after he went nine for eleven

from long range during the regular season. McPherson ready, from fifty two yards away. Clark Harris will snap it back to Kevin Hubert for the win. The snap, the put down, the swing of the right leg. It's on its way. It is good. Coffin nels Bam. That is unbelievable. Fifty four and fifty two with the gun. That is unrealisim right there? In? The Bengals advanced to the Final four. If She Chip Chip game, damn AFC Championship Game. It was the fourth game ending game winner of mc pherson's

rookie year. Yeah, that's a kicker's dream is to, you know, have the game on your shoulders and just to go out there and execute the way that we have all practice. You know. That's that's what I told Kevin right before the kick. I'm like, all right, we do this, we did this in practice, Let's do it one more time. And you know that's kind of what was going through my mind and all on you is just hit it, hit it clean, and it was going to get there.

His teammates like Joe Burrow, had no doubt that Nick Fearless would come through, Like guys unbelievable, he said. So he was talking to Brandon as he was going out to kick. He'd give a little warm up swing and he said, it looks like we're going to the AFC Championship right before he went out there to kick it. And when you have a kicker, I mean, we knew exactly what we had as soon as he walked into the building in camp, and we just saw how he

carried himself. You know exactly how a kicker is going to perform when obviously everyone at this level can kick through the rights, but it's how you handle yourself in the locker room that shows us that you have the confidence to go out there and make a kick like this and perform the way he did in a game like this. And we knew exactly what kind of guy we had in camp. And the Bengals know exactly what they have in Joey franchise. Here are Zach Taylor and

Joe Mixon. If I had the answer for why Joe Burrows good at what he does, then then I don't know. I'd sell that a bottle up and sell it. But um, he's just special that allows us to continue to call things the way we call because even after a sack or a negative play, you still feel like we're always going to get it back with the weapons that we got. Joe's ability to put it, put a hit behind him and move on to the next boy and find him

one of his his freak shows he likes to call him. Uh, you know, makes our job a lot easier to play callers. And that boy, Joey Be, he's a he's a bad he's a bad man to say the least. He's a bad man. And I'm just I'm so happy for him because he's been through Uh, he's overcome and U he was in a slouch with us. I mean it wasn't multiple years like me, Tyler and CJ. But he's been here,

he's he's witnessed it. And when I was on the sideline, probably about like ten fifteen seconds left, I believe when we took the ball back, Joey B went out there. And I'll tell everybody all the time what surprised me the most about Joe Burrow And at this point it's definitely not surprising because if he does it time and time again, is his poise under pressure. The final score Cincinnati nineteen, Tennessee sixteen. I'm still dreaming right now. To

be honest, I'm still dreaming. I feel like I'm on cloud I'm in the highest clouds you've ever imagine. I'm just I'm so I'm so blessed to be here, to be a part of this. I'm special, So thankful for my teammates, so thankful for the fans, for all the support they came down here. It's just man, Like I said, I'm on an all time high right now. Maybe not an all time high. After all, the Bengals are one win from going to the Super Here's Logan Wilson. That was like one of the first season that said in

the locker room. I was like, dude, we're one game away. One game obviously we got a big game in front of us, but um, it's a huge opportunity for us. The rallying Chris Sin's training camp has been why not us? But not be more? The captain spoke to the team the night before the game, and Burrows message was, it is us. I'm tired of the underdog. Narrative, and we're a really really good team. We're here, We're here to make noise, and no teams are gonna have to pay

attention to us. We're, like I said, a really good team with really good players and coaches, and we're coming forward. All the final thoughts, I'm one of the biggest wins in franchise history come from Evan McPherson and Zach Taylor. Our team's kind of creating our own legacy, obviously, and I think this, this Bengal team will be remembered forever um and just the excitement that we brought to the city of Cincinnati, I think is awesome. And this, I mean,

the city's on fire. They'll probably burned down tonight and then it'll it'll definitely and down next week, and then we'll have a We'll have a whole city, you know, fly out to fly out to California, hopefully in support us in the Super Bowl. So, like I said, we're gonna taking a one game at a time, go wherever we got to go next week, execute and hopefully come out with a win. This win's for everybody, you know, This wins for everybody's involved in this. I would imagine

there's some pretty good celebrations going back home. The orange in the crowd today was tremendous. I mean, it just felt like driving into the game. It was so cool to see so many Bengal fans that came down. Let's find a way to get them to either Kansas City or Buffalo. We'll find that out tomorrow. But we just got such a tremendous fan base that supports this team through thick and thin. Pappy, we're able to deliver some wins for him. The Bills in Chiefs meet at six

thirty on Sunday night. The oddsmakers say the Bengals will be a six and a half point underdog against either opponent. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. This year, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now time for postgame analysis with my

broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap. The Cincinnati Bengals are headed to the a FC Championship Game a year after winning four games, two years after winning two, amazing a two year record of six twenty five and one, and they're going to the AFC Championship game. I'm telling you, Dan, and all started with you and the Bear Cash. You know, going to that college football playoff man set a high bar. Bengals had to at least match it. So they are going to the final four here in the National Football

League playoff format and it's really exciting. I mean, these guys they truly believe. I mean, they think they're good enough to win a world championship. And I'm not going to sell them short. I mean they are extremely confident and I think they feed off the confidence to their quarterback and it's an earned confidence by the quarterback and the players know that it's an earn confidence and they feel good right now. And leave it to Joe Burrow

to send a new message. I'm tired of the underdog narrative. We are a good team with good coaches and we can win it all. Bingo. I mean that that says it all, and uh that that's what I'm talking about about. You know a guy who it's one thing to say it, but then you go it up, go out, and you back it up with supreme play and execution and toughness

and competitiveness. I mean, Joe Burrow get sacked nine times, really eleven, one get nullified by penalty and one get nullified by time time out, and get hit a myriad of times. I mean this this guy a good thing. He's young, because he's gonna be sore, and for him to and to just fight through all that. I think right in the middle of all those times being sacked, when he ran for that first down and dove head first to do it, and it's I don't care, I'm

giving my body up. We gotta make this first down. He wants to make sure he makes it not slide and have a count on an official to spot the ball properly. It's like, I'm going as far as I can and getting the ball out there as as far as I can get it out there, and I'm getting this damn first down and we're going to score. I mean that stuff is contagious. Teammates feet off of that stuff.

So when you have a guy that can deliver a good message verbally and then backs it up physically with a high level of execution on a snap by snap basis man the sky's the limit. Let's go back to the final minute of the game. The Titans have the ball. They're trying to make sure that the Bengals don't get the ball back, so they're not using their own timeouts. They were trying to go with the either we attempt

to kick to win it or nobody does strategy. But they throw a pass that gets deflected by Eli Apple and intercepted by Logan Wilson at the forty seven yard line with twenty seconds to go. An eighteen yard pass to Chase, who gets out of bounds, leads to the field goal opportunity from fifty two yards away for Evan nick Pherson. Yeah, and uh and Joe Burrow. There were times when he did get a good pocket and he had time in space, and when he has time and

space and can see the football field, it's deadly. It's deadly. And they ran cover two man and the place to attack that cover two is up. The sideline safety can't get there fast enough. From the middle of the football field, corner's gone underneath coverage. And they did it perfectly. I mean, Chase ran an extremely effective route and Borrow as usual puts the ball on the money. So it's it's uh, it's extraordinary. So many guys stepped up and made so

many big plays. All the interception, including the interception you know that, Uh that Mike hil Yeah, no, that that include Hooker. Yeah, every interception the Bengals had and the interception the Hooker had with Tennessee. They were all very big athletic plays. It wasn't just run of the mill, you know, easy interception hit you right in him. They had to do some extraordinary things to pick the football off, and other teammates in some instances were a part of it.

But Hilton, Hilton tipped it and caught it himself. I mean, he took the ball to himself. That's just an unbelievable play by a slot corner that understands the game of football at an extremely high level as well. Burrow passed for three forty eight. Jamar Chase had five catches for one o nine. He's played in two NFL playoff games. He's topped two hundred receiving yards in both of them.

No matter what opposing teams try to do to take away Jamar Chase, he's so good and his timing and rhythm with Joe Burrow is so good that you simply can't take him away. And the thing watching him, he's so fluid when he runs his routes, and he has gears that he shifts into and shifts down. You know, he down shifts and up shifts, and he is so effective and so talented. It's not just Hobby runs its

route his routes. What he does during the course of running those routes really puts a lot of stress and straining on a corner. I mean the way he can choke it down in the corner things all right, Well, boy, is he gonna plan a foot and get in and out of a cut and then he'll just accelerate again. His ability to stop and start, accelerate, decelerate, get out of a cut at the at the highest point of the of the route, and then just turning into a separation,

it's just he is extraordinary, and he's so strong. He's so physically strong. It's he's these two guys are going to be around doing something special for a very long time. And I look at the body language of the cornerbacks and safeties when when he'll make a play, and it's just like they're like, nothing I can do about that. This guy's different. This guy's like a unicorn. You know, he's a Martian. This guy's not normal. He's not a

human being. I mean that's that's and when you see that, when you see that kind of the shoulders slump and the head goes down and all that, it's like, man, he's got a Jamar Chase has him. I mean he has him exactly where he wants him, and he's gonna do anything he wants to do to him all day long. Derrick Henry the King was dethroned twenty kerries sixty two yards. His long run was nine. How did the Bengals shut

him down to the extent that they did. Well, I'll tell you that I thought the defensive game plan from Jump Street by Luana Rumo and the defensive staff was extraordinary. They were so aggressive. I mean they attacked the line of scrimmage. It wasn't catch blocks in two gap and you know they just they came downhill. I mean even the defensive lineman attacked the line of scrimmage. DJ Reader was phenomenal. DJ Reader owned Ben Jones. Ben Jones is going to go to sleep tonight closed his eyes and

one eyeball is going to see a nine. The other one's going to see an eight, and he's not gonna be able to sleep. I mean, he dominated him. And yeah, they just did a great job of re establishing the line of scrimmage on the two point conversion on the fourth and one, they knocked him backwards. They just knocked the line of scrimmage backwards. And that's that's exactly what

you want to have happened. I mean, they just played at such a high level, and I go, I gotta give him a lot of credit that that's the way the whole time the week when we talked about Derek Henry, I said, look, the thing with him, you can't let him get started. You have to make him make his first cut either at the line of scrimmage or behind it. They attacked the line of scrimmage to make him stop his feet and make his first cut behind the line of scrimmage. And they did it time and time and

time again. And he never really got that big thumping, you know, style of running and the big stiff arm and all that. He never got that untracked defensively. They took it away from him and I just he would blitz linebackers on run blitzes. Everything was aggressive, and you know, Derek Henry hadn't played, you know, since Halloween, so it's like, now, okay, don't let him get in a rhythm and just catch stuff and let them punch you and you CounterPunch and

you never attack, attack and make him. Oh, now, I don't trust my eyes on that. That cutback wasn't there. Well, I didn't extruct them to do that. I thought it was an extraordinary game plan to just attack it and make him make that big guy tentative, make him tentative mentally with his reads, and and then make him tentatively physically by making him stop his feet and make his first cut, you know, at or behind the line of scremers.

I thought that was a secret to it. Joe Mixon wound up with almost as many yards as Derek Henry. Henry had sixty two. Mixon had fifty four, six fewer carries for Joe Mixon, but the key for Joe just five yards in the first first half of very solid forty nine in the second half. That's exactly what I was going to say, Dan, when you look at the first half numbers. I mean, yeah, he had six rushes for five carries and he had won five yards excuse me,

five yards. Six carries for five yards and as long was five yards, so the other five yards got nothing at zero on the other five rushes and on the game. You look at it and he had fourteen for fifty four So you know, that's that's eight carries in the in the second half of forty nine yards. That's that's productive. You know, he busted the TV and touchdown run. So in the second half, Joe Mixon was a compliment, you know,

to the to the to the offense. And I mean in the first half five sacks, you're thinking, you gotta get the running game going. I mean, you just can't average less than the yard per carrying the NFL and not think that they're going to tee off on you. And they did. They teed off. The two sacks didn't count, occurred in the first half, should have been seven at halftime, and then got the running game going, but Tennessee still

teed off. I mean, they do have a they have a hell of a front four and they compliment each other well. And it wasn't just the edge guys but the edge guys, then the inside guys gave Joe nowhere to go. You know, the edge guys, you think about stepping up. Oh I can't. Now I'm going to try to bail and outrun them. You can't do it in the NFL. You can't bail and outrun these great athletes.

And he kept, you know, getting big chunks on his sacks, giving up big chunks of yards and Joe burrows heading up this game that the Titans also did a good job of confusing him. So some of those sacks, most of them are obviously on the offensive line, but there were a few where he had at least some time and couldn't find anybody open and then got zacked. I thought that Rabel. You know, he didn't leave anything on

the table. I mean, he had seven guys with the line of scrimmage a ton and was like, which four coming? And then he twisted with the four that were coming, and then he and then he never really brought more than four all year. He was bringing five, he was bringing six. And then on top of that, so that had the offensive line confused. And then on top of that, he'd mix his coverages. You know, he would he would disguise and uh and disguise multiple times and give him adjustments.

I mean, he was, he was on point, and I think that was probably not I guess Joe said confused. But to me, it made him the most hesitant I've ever seen him. I've never I've never seen Joe Burrow where he didn't trust his eyes. You know, it's like, I got this, I got this pre snap, I'm confirmative. Post snap. It's like I think I have a pre snap. Oh nope, I don't have it at all. On the post snap. I've never seen that before. So, you know,

hats off to Mike Rabel. But even with that said, Joe still put up numbers and a lot of it though, Dan, like you said at the end of the game, you know, Joe Burrow obviously a big factor in this game, but a lot of guys, you know, made plays for and help him. A lot of guys made great plays after the catch of the football. The fund started after the catch, with the run after cats in the yards that were accumulated, Chase cj. You know, Joe Nixon, you pick a guy.

Everybody made plays after the catch of the football. How much of this game comes down to this simple statement, the Bengals had the better quarterback. I think it's huge. Like we said, poor Ryan Tannehill first passed the game interception, first pass to the second half interception, last pass of the game for Ryan Tannehill with twenty seconds to play, interception. That's like you, good morning, good afternoon, good night, Ryan Tannehill, just wasn't your dame my man. Any thoughts Kansas City

or Buffalo at this point? Do you care? Do you have a preference who you think the Bengals would match up better against. I think they match up better against Kansas City because they know they beat him. I think Buffalo's defense is extraordinary, Kansas Cities is not extraordinary, and I think the quarterbacks kind of a wash. So I would rather see Joe Burrow operate against Kansas City's defense than that tandem as safety and the guys they have

with the Buffalo Bills, with that defensive football team. Their head coach is a defensive savant, Leslie Fraser is a great coordinator. He's getting head coaching opportunities. In terms of interviews, I think I'd rather see them go to Kansas City. Now I know Kansas City will be up in the bit because they lost to him, and the Bengals knocked him out of the number one seed and that was big. They just took it away from him. So there's gonna

be blood in the eye and all that. But I think the Bengals are confident that they can go out and execute and score points against the Kansas City Chiefs. Plus, you know, from a preparation standpoint, they already have all of that done. Now you can just tweak and fine tune and everything instead of starting over again with a team of Buffalo Bills. Haven't played him for a while,

you know. And but I'll tell you, Josh, and you know, Mahomes is great, but Dan, Josh Allen, that dude, he's a He is a total Unicorn's He's almost like, you know, he might be the first unicorn that ever walk the earth. He's that rare. He's that dude is a different breed of cat. And I the quarterback run package with him scares me. And then he you know, he's got such a howard here. It's like, you know, Mahomes is great, but I'm telling you, I think Allen might be a

little bit more scary. I'd rather go to Kansas City. All right, I'm just happy we're going to one or the other. Yeah, it's gonna be a fantastic week looking forward to an AFC Championship game. And like I said, you know when the game was ending, I don't care if we play him in Yugoslavia. I don't care who. It is the fact that you're going to the AFC Championship.

And like you said, Dan two and oh franchise unlost in the FC Championship game as well, get it done or on the win and to look ahead to what's next. Join Lap and Lance McAlister for Bengals Line Monday Night from six to nine on seven und WLW. This podcast is sponsored in part by on Location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit on location exp dot com for exclusive access to the biggest events in the NFL

all season long, including Super Bowl fifty six. Now time for this week's fun fact segment and my guest as a Bengals linebacker who tackled Derek Henry inside the one yard line on the tight He's failed two point conversion try. Time for some fun facts with Bengals linebacker Clay Johnson from Aballeen Texas Clay. For those who don't know, your dad was an NFL strength coach for more than two decades for five different teams. How did that impact you

and your desire to be a pro football player. I would say it was just he never forced anything upon me when it came to the football life or anything. I always had an inkling and a love for it, just because the game was so fun and it meant so much to me. But I will say just growing up getting older and older, like when he was with the Chargers something San Diego before they went to LA I remember in high school when I was kind of like, Dad, yeah, thin,

I'm gonna try to play college ball. He's like, I'll hope is must say hand son, if you if you want, but I'm not gonna force anything on you. So I asked him if you could help me, and I want to just come out here and work out with the rookies for two or three weeks. And so I go out there in man t Tay a bunch of rookies.

They're all out there freaking DJ Fluker from Alabama. I mean it was They made it so fun too, because we would compete and like these just competitions, and the more so running than anything, because I can freaking hang with him anywhere in the weight room. Wise when it came to weights, but I mean it was, it was definitely. It's been a blessing to just be raised by him and just see the atmosphere and just the culture that

he's always been around. When your dad is an NFL strength coach, do you start weight lifting and other forms of training at an early age or did you just do the normal athletic things that kids would do. Yeah, I'd probably just do the normal honestly. Like once again, he never forced anything on when it came to lifting. Honestly, I always had to bring up to him if I wanted to like kind of get in the weight room and stuff, So that was something I had to kind

of show. Interesting. He was a great father, not forcing anything upon. Man. I'm grateful for that. We're doing fun facts with Clay Johnston. When your dad worked for the Packers, he became close friends with Brett Farve. In fact, he was best man at Brett Farve's wedding. Describe your relationship with a Hall of Fame quarterback. He's just practically like a glorified uncle and just best bud of my dad.

I mean when he comes around, he's practically family and he's obviously I mean if you watch videos and he's a goofball and he's what you see is what you get. I mean, he's country guy, likes working outside. I mean, last time we drove up on him on his place, he literally he's weed eating his five million acre plot by himself. And my list is going to be a lot of weeding going on here. But he's a good man and I've always respected him. I love him, and

my dad and him, they are pretty close. It's funny that you referred to him as a goofball because I saw an interview where one of your college teammates used the same term to describe you. Is that a fair description of Clay Johnston? I would definitely say it's a fair description. Whenever it's a little serious and all this and that, I'd like to try to keep it a little light and just you know I am. I'm I'm a goofball myself in many situations, and so people got

to get to know me before they see that. But I would say that the vast majority they'd be like, yeah, Clay Clay's a goofy googer. Clay, you were a great high school football player at Wiley High School at Abilene, but before tenth grade I read that you were involved in a serious ATV accident. How bad were the injuries? Yeah, they were, they were pretty bad. I was I was driving a pretty much like a golf cart on steroids,

and I was very stupid at the time. I was just trying to be a goofball, but it ended up costing me a lot. I flipped it and it landed on my leg and I slid on concrete for about thirty yards with it, and then I just passed out. And so I was in the hospital for like four days. They had to do a skin GRAFD to cut skin out of my groin and put it there because it was just straight bone. Then they had to stitch all up.

So but by the grace of God, I I don't I mean, it's miraculous when you talk about it, like, I made it back for two days my sophomore year high school, and so it was. It was pretty miraculous. But um, that definitely was a very painful experience. Callie. That was that hurt man. All those surgeries it sounds brutal. After your great high school career, you went out and played college football at Baylor under current Carolina Panthers coach

Matt Rule. What did you enjoy most about your college experience? Probably just being around the guys. I'll be honest, I did not. I wasn't a massive fan of practice in college. We killed each other every day and that was a very painful experience. And I understand you got to do certain things in certain ways just in college, but holy smoked that those were probably some of the hardest days in my life under coach Rule. But it definitely taught

me a lot. But um, just being around the guys in the locker room, just like these guys in here. Just at a lot of people. I don't know what conversations are like in the locker room, and it's just like when you get close with guys, that's it's a huge blessing and it goes a long way. Doing fun facts with linebacker Clay Johnston. You tore your acl as a college senior, putting your draft status in jeopardy, but you did wind up being selected in the seventh round

by the Rams. Describe getting that phone call after what you had to overcome. Oh, it was awesome. I mean, I just it was one of those you didn't even care where you went as a kid growing up, and it's like you got drafted and meant something. And so when that when I knew it was legit, because there were a bunch of phone calls that weren't really legit throughout the whole draft process. And then when I heard it was this gym and the coaching day, I was

just like, this is amazing. I mean I was ecstatic. I was I was on cloud nine. That was probably one of the most excited I've ever been in my life. And I mean thankfully I'm here now, and I'm beyond thankful all these coaches have given me an opportunity to even play. From Darren l I mean, it's been a total blessing being around the culture, these guys in this team. I've been be ungrateful for that. So prior to last year, your rookie year in the NFL, you were one of

the featured stories on Hard Knocks on HBL. Did you enjoy the notoriety. I don't know about that. I mean it was they just text me like, hey, it's okay. If we kind of follow you around them the hard knots and like sure, man, and then I didn't. I didn't really realize what it was going to be when you had a camera at every angle whenever you walked to and you were miked up twenty four seven. So it was definitely a unique experience to say. But I

mean those people were good out there. They got a very good coaching staff, and I mean they have a solid culture as well, and I enjoyed my time out there. All right. A few wild card topics with Clay Johnston. Who was your favorite athlete of all time in any sport? And why? Wow, that is a very very tough question. Obviously, if it had to be family affiliation, I would say Brett far just because he's been so close a favorite athlete of all time. Man, Owe, it's so tough. I'll

just keep it simple. I'll go Brett far just because he's close to the family. Do you have any hidden talents? Do I have any hidden talents? Now, I'm honestly pretty much a bum. It's football and then I go home and chill. I'll tell you what I do have. I have like four limited edition Word of the Ring swords from the movies. They're like replicas. I'm a super nerd when it comes to those movies. Interesting, Yeah, it's weird, man, I'm a fanatic. I'm a goofball in that area as

Lord of the Ring Swords. All Right, you are the first person to share that nugget since I've been doing fun Facts interviews play. It sounds like you are a huge fan of the great outdoors. Is that the case, and what are some of the things you like to do. I would say that, I mean, I I mean as I want to keep on winning and helping this team as much as possible in my role that I have

whereever that is. But shoot, man, obviously it's a part of me too that Missus, Texas where my family has their house, And I mean, I do like being outdoors, whether that be looking at the sunsets and Texas or just shoot, man, if I'm if I feel like a bum, I'll just go outside and just start finding some work to do, moving rocks and all. Literally. As corny as that sounds, I've done that at our own little five acre plot. But yeah, I love being outside, that's for sure.

All right. Final question, and this one's deep. If you can meet anybody in history, actor, athlete, statesman, religious figure, whoever that person might be. Who would you want to meet? Oh, there's no doubt. I said you shoot with Jesus. I mean, I mean, And I know that sounds cliche because I'm sure a lot of people would want to meet the Son of God. But shoot, man, I disintegrate if I was in his presence because he's so freaking just holy. But that's a good answer. I'll stick to Jesus. You're

off the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of lunch this week. Oh heck yeah, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game, downloaded now from the App Store and Google Play and buy on Location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL. Visit on location exp dot com for exclusive access to the biggest events in the NFL,

including Super Bowl fifty six. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast, and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks so much for listening to the Bengals Boot Podcast