Bengals Booth Podcast: What A Crying Shame

tight end Mitch Wilcox. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. Now 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 where you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since stat Guys, I try not to bombard the listener with a bunch of numbers during the broadcast, but I think a great stat at just the right

time really adds something. For example, when Justin Tucker kicked a fifty eight yard field goal in the third quarter to give the Ravens a three point lead, our Baltimore based statistician Brett Pisell immediately handed me a piece of paper pointing out that it was Tucker's seventy third consecutive field goal in the second half or overtime without a miss, an amazing stat. At home games, our legendary statistician Ben

Jarvis brad Ellis is constantly feeding us interesting info. So thank you to all the great stat guys that help enrich our broadcasts. All that math they took in school did pay off. Now let's get to radio replays from Sunday night's game in Baltimore. We pick it up about ninety seconds into the second quarter with the Ravens leading three. Nothing will be an empty backfield four, Lamar Jackson. He

drops back to throw, the pocket closes. Now he throws, caught by a wide open Mark Andrews, and he will cruise into the end zone. Trey Flowers was nearby, but Mark Andrews somehow got tremendous separation, caught the football and ran it in for the eleven yard td Von Bell and Trey Flowers are talking it over. How the hell can you let Mark Andrews get that opened in the rid zone like that? Du Vernagos in motion. They fake it to him on an end around. Jackson guns it

down field a high throw interceptives. Von Bell, who had two interceptions last week, comes away with another interception tonight. Two receivers left, one out to the right. Burrow drops back to throw, bouncing in the pocket, chucks in the middle, caught at the five by Hayden Hurst, driving twy MD zone extends a ball gtober touchdown. Bengals a nineteen yard strike Joe Burrow to Hayden Hurst, who comes back to

Baltimore and catches a touchdown pass. This is a forty yard attempt from the left hash out of the hold of Kevin Hubert. Rookie cow Adam Midas will snap it back to snap the catch to put down. The kick is up, It looks perfect and it is right down the middle to tie the game at ten. With four seconds left and the half. Burrows under center, turns left, fakes to mix and sets up to throw fires middle.

Intercepted by Patrick Queen, his former college teammate and he runs into the Cincinnati forty seven where he gets tackled. This is going to be a fifty eight yard attempt. Stout is the holder, the ball is down, the kick is up, it has the distance, and it is good. G o at greatest of all time. Yep. And I'll tell you what Stout did, what everybody was thinking. Just

bout to him, just bowed down to his greatness. The Bengals lining up to go for it on fourth and goal from the two, they trailed by three, empty backfield for Joe Burrow. He catches the shotgun, snap, rolls left, shovel pass incomplete. Now they just shoveled it right into the middle of the Baltimore Ravens defense and they were ready for it there, man, that was That was a tough sequence. Didn't even try to run the football first and goal for two yard line, never tried a run play.

One snap from twenty five yards away, Tuckers kick his up. It is good and Baltimore leads by six with ninety two to go. Burrow under center, mixing behind him, Mitch Wilcox goes in motion. Burrow runs a quarterback sneak. Wilcox pushes from behind. Here come the officials charging in. No signal yet, yere it is touch down night, Bengals. Burrows spikes the ball in the back of the end zone. The Bengals have tied it and can take the lead

on an extra point. With one fifty three to go, Justin Tucker will try to win the game straight away. The ball's right in the middle of the field, a forty three yard try. He normally makes these in his sleep, we'll see to win the game. With three seconds to go, Tucker is ready to snap to put down the kick.

Baltimore wins absolutely perfect by Justin Tucker. The Bengals score a touchdown with one fifty eight to go, but Lamar Jackson answers, driving the ball to the Cincinnati twenty five and setting up a forty three yard game winning field goal for the best to ever do it, Justin Tucker. The Ravens are alone in first place. They have ended their five game home losing stream, and they have defeated the Bengals tonight by the final score of nineteen to seventeen.

Before we get to postgame analysis, this podcast is brought to you in part by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play, with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app All right, let's get to the key sequence in the game that

everybody is going to be talking about. Trailing by three with about three minutes to go in the third quarter, the Bengals passed up an easy field goal that would have tied the game and went for it on fourth and goal from the two, a shovel pass to Stanley Morgan failed. Here are Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor on the decision to go for it. Yeah, I think you have too right there. You know, if you get seven points and really changes the game, So I think you

have too. We felt good from the two. Maybe maybe any further we would have just kicking it there, but you know, we felt comfortable with what we had called there. Obviously didn't work out. So and I'm not gonna say in hindsight you do it differently. Obviously we see that that point didn't work, and so you'd run a different play. But the way that we managed the situation, I thought

we'd go up seventeen to thirteen right there. Then our defense is playing really good keeping them out of the end zone aside from the one that they had, and we found a way to go win. Then there are the play calls on first and goal from the two, the Bengals through an incomplete pass for Hayden Hurst. On second down, they tried the Philly special where Tyler Boyd took a pitch on a reverse and was going to throw the ball to Joe Burrow but got tackled for

a twelve yard loss. A pass to Jamar Chase got those twelve yards back before the failed shovel pass on fourth down ended the drive. So why no running plays from the two yard line? It's a tough front. I mean it's it's a really tough structure of the front. So we felt good about some of the stuff we obviously didn't work. We took a sack on a specialty play and then just didn't quite get out how we wanted to on the shovel there on the fourth town play.

But I felt comfortable with our package going in to just hopesuly. When it doesn't work, it's you wish you were to done something dif Admittedly, hindsight is twenty twenty, but Joe Mixon carried fourteen times for seventy eight yards. That's five point six yards per carry. He was asked after the game about not getting the ball that close to the goal line. I mean, whatever, it's cart, that's on him. I mean, I'm just playing the cars as dolt, doing my job, and everybody else is, you know, come

through to execute. Did you think your success today we'll kind of help prove them that you guys should try test those fronts a little more. Maybe, I don't know. I mean, like I said, our players, we're doing everything and playing auto cars as dolt to us, and we just gotta keep on digging in getting better, and we're gonna hopefully get better and delivered the good news. The running game was better. The Bengals ran for one hundred and one yards and averaged four point eight yards per carry.

The bad news is that Cincinnati is two in three. Here are final thoughts from Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow, and Joe Mixon. It's just frustrating to lose. Um, it doesn't matter how it shakes out. You know, there's games that the offense may score a lot of points and we need to pick the defense up and vice versa. And um again, we knew this is a tough team. It's a tough environment. It's gonna be a tough, tough test. Come in here and get a win. We were close,

but but not close enough. And and we just have to learn from the things that each guy can do a little bit better, that I can do better, and and be able to rebound next week. Tough loss, it's frustrating, but uh, there's still a lot of football to be played, so we're not We're not going to panic. Obviously, I want to tune. The division is not ideal, but like I said, a lot of football to be played. Still going on a running here before the buy and still

got everything in front of us. Man, it's the NFL. It's hard to win up here. And um, you know, that's a hell of a team that we play, and we're a hell of a team as well. We're gonna get better. We just got to keep on building, coming to work and having an attitude that we got to attack the week, get better and you know, keep on playing. It's a long season. We got everything that we want ahead of us. We let one slip tonight, but who's

gonna keep on building getting better? Looking back, the Bengals lost to the Steelers by missing an extra point at the end of regulation, had a field goal and overtime. They rallied to tie the Cowboys in the fourth quarter and got the ball with two thirteen to go, but the offense went three and out and Dallas beat them with a fifty yard field goal. Now a similar heartbreaker in Baltimore. I talked to Jesse Bates about it after

the game. I'm sure it's got to be frustrating. All three losses have been on a game ending field goal. It's about as close as it can possibly be, right, Yeah, that's just how this league is. You know, the margin of air is really small. Usually these games come down to, you know, the last second, situational a type of plays, and you know, we're just on another side of tonight on the final drive. Knowing that they have Justin Tucker. His range is now literally the greatest in NFL history.

Does that impact how you try to defend that? Yeah? Um, you know, we had a conversation before we went on the field that all they needed was twenty to thirty yards, um, due to the kicker that they had, So um, you know, they got more than thirty yards. So something that we gotta uh you know, discussed as a defense. Uh. There's a couple of times, you know, these two losses two or the three losses, I think UM has came down to, um, you know, the defense being on the field last second.

So we gotta find a way to just you know, get off the field. UM. You know, I know it's it's tough. It's hard in this league with these you know, great athletes. You know, you got Lamar who, um who kept the ball a couple of times, so it's kind of hard to do that. Um, you know when you got to cover on the back end as well. So, like I said, it's we're doing a lot of good things. Um. Unfortunately our records two and three, we got a lot of football to play. Um, there's a lot of still

a lot of belief in this locker room. Can you describe how difficult it is to tackle Lamar? I mean you've got him sized up, the fundamentals are good, and he just wiggles and slip and slippery and it's just hard to get him down. Yeah. I think we did a really good job with you know, keeping them bottled in UM compared to other years. But yeah, I mean he's you know, one of the you know, the best

athletes that this NFL league has ever seen. And for him to be the quarterback and be able to touch the ball every single play, I think, um just I mean he can't can't do much about it sometimes. But uh, like I said early in the season, um excited for whatever the twelve ten weeks, whatever we got left. We will take it one week at a time. And um get this thame rolling. No, you guys have put a lot of attention on Mark Andrews and he was able

to get open on that the one touchdown catch. Just a good player making a play or a little miscommunication there or what happened, you know, think of a little bit of miscommunication a little bit on third Now. I mean, he's a good player. You know. We can't can't leave one of the best players wide open in that type of situation. But other than that, like I said, I think we settled down and I think we've given up

three touchdowns down on the season. So we got to continue to do that, continue to limit on the ears. Appreciate your time, Thank you jesting us so appreciate. Before we get to analysis from Dave Lapham, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.

Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. Now, time for the radio guys recap lap. The Bengals are two and three, all three losses on field goals at the gun Chris Boswell fifty three yards in the first loss, bred Maher fifty yards and the second loss Justin Tucker forty three yards in this loss. Those games, it's been like instant replay, slow start, fight back, wind up, alazing, absolutely.

I mean slow start is you know, the real big common denominator, you know in my mind, although you know in this one it boiled down to you know, the the fifteen play, seventy three yard drive, eight minutes plus off the clock and get no points. I mean that was crushing. And you know, first and goal to two yard line, you gotta you gotta figure out a way

to score a touchdown. And that because there weren't many touchdowns being scored, each team was deficient in that regard obviously, So when you had a chance to get one, you had to get it, and they didn't. First and goal from the two, first pass incomplete, first play, incomplete pass for Hayden Hurst, Philly Special loses thirteen. They get thirteen back back on a pass to Jamar Chase, and then

the shovel passed to Stanley Morgan doesn't work. You made it clear on the broadcast you would have liked to have seen at least a run during that sequence. I mean, I would have loved to have seen them just get up under center and run the football. On the game, they average four point to carry on twenty one attempts. Joe Mixon average five point six. P Ryan average five point seven. I mean, between the two of them, they

had seventeen rushes for ninety five yards. I would have liked to have seen at least one time handed off to one of them, see if you can smash it in there from the two yard lines some way, shape or form. But you know, the Philly Special Baltimore was all over that they weren't fooled whatsoever by that one, And in hindsight, if it could have been just thrown away and saved those yards that would that would have worked out well as well. But that's life in this division,

there's no doubt. And the number of possessions was kind of kind of intriguing too. I mean, in the second half, the Bengals had three possessions in the second half in Baltimore had four. I mean, you know, you were going on long drive after long drive. The Bengals had a fifteen and a thirteen play drive. The Ravens had a fifteen play drive themselves, and then a seven play forty five yard drive for the field goal. Once teams got the ball in the second half, they weren't giving it up.

It was crazy. What changed in the running game? Why did it work so much better after the first four series. I think, you know, just going north and south a little bit more gap blocking, looks, pulling lineman for traps and that sort of thing instead of right right now, the stretch running games not not operating in a very good efficiency. So you know, make the adjustment and you go to gap blocking, and you know, pin and pull if you want to try to get to the outside

instead of stretch. And I think with Pete, Ron and Nixon are shown that they're you know, they're pretty good, squaring their pads up and shoulder pads up and going north and south a little bit. Defense held Baltimore to nineteen points at home. You can't ask for really anything more than that, Ken you I mean, I don't. I thought. I thought they played decent football from start to finish. I really did, you know. I mean, that's Baltimore's lower scoring game of the season, and it's here at home.

But just obviously, you know, when the only tally seventeen, yourself, it's not it's not quite good enough. Too bad it came down, but it just could have been one more playmate on that last drive, you know, to put put iceing on the cake and come come out of it with a one point victory. It would have been great, but not meant to be. Jesse Bates expressed frustration over the fact that he feels two times now the defense had the chance to close out a game Dallas and

this game and couldn't get it done. Yeah, I mean, you know that that's the sign of a guy that's not going to point fingers and blame anybody but himself. You know, in the in the side of the football that he plays on it and that's you know, that's that's Jesse Bates. That's a class act, you know, in every sense of the word. Um. But in games like this, you can you can point to so many things that did come down to that. And you did have a lead and I couldn't couldn't hold on to it, but

boy could have had a lot bigger lead. There's no question about that. They're back to being a game out of first place in the FC North. I guess the good news is Baltimore is the only team with a winning record right now. Yeah, I mean, and obviously you've shown that you can you can certainly play with them. The tough thing is though you're owing two in the division with a two and three mark, that's not that's not an ideal situation because that becomes a very significant

tiebreaker if it comes down to that. So you want to get that. You want to get a division win as quickly as you possibly can. At this point, that's some sleep you do the same. Bengals head to New Orleans to face the two and three Saints on Sunday. Andy Dalton has started the saints last two games at quarterback, while Jamis Winston deals with a sore back. The Bengals

Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorps to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Finally, time for this week's fun Facts interview, where you get to know the person under the pads. Time for some fun facts at Bengals tight End. Mitch Wilcox from Tarpan Springs, Florida, not far from Tampa. So you're born and raised in

the Sunshine State. But are you really an Ohio State fan or were you an Ohio State fan growing up? Growing up? I was, Yeah, my dad went to Ohio State, and you know, my whole family is from Ohio originally, so I grew up being a Buckeye. But my mom went to Florida State, so you know, Florida sports and rooting for them too. But I was brainwashed up guy, for sure. So I'm sure while you were playing at USF, your dad rooted for the Bulls, But now that you're in the NFL, he's he gone back to being a

Buckeyes guy. Yeah, yeah, I mean he's still roots for the Bulls, but you know his heart lies with Ohio State. We're talking to Mitch Wilcox. You attended Tarpan Springs High School, which has one of the most unusual team nicknames I have ever heard, the Spongers. The Spongers explain the Spongers. So Tarpan Springs has a very um, a huge Greek population, and the spongers are the sponge divers that die for the sponges, you know, and they've they've made a you know,

a touristy, you know, attraction to go see that. And at one point, I think it was the sponge capital of the world. So that kind of just morphed into the Spongers, and you know, at one point it got like voted best mascot or something a while back. But so people will call us the sponges. It's not quite the Sponges the spongers. So I'll get it right. The Spongers is the mascot, a giant sponge. The sponge divers. We got a dive helmet and a spear gun. So

there we go. All right, we're doing fun facts with Mitch Wilcox. I read that when you were young, you slept with a basketball Is that literally the case? I literally slept with a football and a basketball. I had like one in each arm, you know, just in case a pickup game or a game broke out. So worked out well for you. As I mentioned, you went to USF, the University of South Florida, which is there in Tampa. Did you want to stay close to home? Was that

the key? Yeah? I think the the goal from early on was to stay close to home so my family and friends could come see me play. And the goal was to play early and often as well. USF was really good while you were there, and you set all of the tight end records, hundred catches in your career, eleven touchdown catches too, against the University of Cincinnati. I

saw those. What was the highlight of your USF experience on and off the field, I would say, just, you know, writing our own history as a team, you know, first first double digit wins in school history ever, you know, and just some of the connections that I've made with those players and coaches and just the games and the runs we went on was just it was great. Am I imagining things to to recall that you always seem to have a great game against UC. I mean, that

was that was That was the goal. It always have a great game, but it seemed like, you know, my number was called UC games and there was some good battles against them every time we're doing fun facts with Mitch Wilcox. So you finished this great career, You're one of the top tight ends in your class. You go to the combine and unfortunately, a terrible accident happened at the combine. There was kind of a confusion and a passing drill. You got hit in the eye, rough a

blood vessel in your eye. How difficult was that? Yeah, my draft process was not not good at all. Um, you know that was that was a tough day. Um, major setback. I didn't feel like I put my best foot forward at all. I didn't run well either, you know, I know him a lot faster than what I ran before that happened. And then that happened, and I was basically doing the entire rest of the combine with one eye and concust So, Um, that did not help me

at all and major setback. But you know, things work out for the for the best, and people who make the best out of what happens to them. You had a great high school in college career? Was that the first time that you ever dealt with a major setback like that? You know? Unfortunately, I have had a few setbacks over my entire career, and um, you know, that's something that's something that's I've I've faced before. Um so I feel as though I was a little bit equipped

to handle it. But still for a moment like that on you know, a national stage with everyone watching, it was just, you know, absolute worst scenario. But I told myself I was gonna, you know, pick myself back up and just keep grunning. And and I knew that I knew what I was capable of. And I always have known what I'm capable of, and that's I think I could play ball at a high level. We're chatting with

Mitch Wilcox. So you didn't get drafted, but a lot of teams were interested in signing you after the draft, and you wound up signing with Cincinnati. Why the Bengals best opportunity for sure, you know, roots in Ohio and best opportunity at hand, and so jumped on it right away. Any family still in Ohio. We have extended family here and you know, and then a bunch of family friends still and so a lot of family comes up for

the games. So you spent your first year a couple of years ago on the practice squad, and then last year you wound up playing a significant role, particularly on special teams, on a Super Bowl team. Describe your Super Bowl experience being out on the field, running out of the tunnel in the biggest sporting event of them all. You know, it was absolutely surreal. Um. I think some of our teammates and you know, still pinching themselves. You know that we really did that last year and we

really were we really were there. But um, you know, it's a moment I'll never forget. And but even even that us losing puts even that much more fuel to the fire for us to get back there and win it. So, um, we we are focused on that. Who did you have in the stands? It's so far. I had ten of my family members there and it was you know, it was a great group and UM was so thankful that I was able to share that moment with them. And

you know, something I'll never forget. All Right, some wild card topics for the former sponger Mitchell Wilcox, who's your all time favorite athlete? In any sport, and why not just because I have Ohio roots. But I've always loved Lebron. He's always been my favorite player just because her favorite athlete, because he's just so dominant. He's been so dominant, and just the way he plays a game with his fire,

and you know, just physicalness in any sport. I think you can appreciate when someone's just how physically physical lying someone you know? So, have you seen him in person? I've seen him play a couple of times, but not not too up close. But yeah, do you have any hidden talents? Hidden talents? I'd like to say I'm pretty good at ping pong, but other than that, not so much.

I'll tell you what you're If you are good in ping pong, it will certainly be shown in this locker room or two tables now and some really high level games going on. Yeah. Yeah, we get after it when we're standing like five or six feet back, just straight spiking it so it gets heated in there. All right, So good at ping pong. On the other side of things,

what are you terrible at? Terrible? Probably card games? You know, I always forget, like just simple card games, and I'm just like bad at it and I'm showing my hand or something or my you know, I just forget the rules, you know. I feel like that's something I never really bought into. All right, don't play for big money. That's my advice there. What do you like to spend your money on? Probably food. I'm kind of a foodie, you know.

I do actually do cook a lot. Myself kind of developed that a little bit, but I'm definitely a foodie and like to go out to some good dinners here and there. If you're trying to impress somebody what your go to dish, probably just cook them a fantastic steak. I know how to do it a couple of different ways, so probably probably a great steak. Can't go wrong there.

All right. Final question, This one's kind of deep. If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, politician, statesman, whoever it might be, who would that person be, Man, that's a tough one. If I could go back, I probably talked to Kobe and just pick his brain about just his mentality. Have like a one on one conversation with Kobe and just pick his brain about what was his thoughts during this time? Or you know, how did you approach a setback and what was his mamba mentality

towards things? That is an excellent answer. You're off the hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of luck this week. Thank you. That's going to do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast presented by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with to Fiber by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs, and by pay Corps,

the official HR software provider of the Bengals. 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 for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast