December 18, 2018 • 43 mins
In the latest Hobson's Choice Podcast, Geoff Hobson talks with the Bengals' all-time leading scorer Jim Breech on some of the best moments in Bengals history.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another nineteen eighty eight podcast on Bengals dot Com.
Hotson's Choice. Very happy to have the Bengals all time
leading scorer, Jimmy Preach. Jim, thanks for joining us. Thanks
but for having me. It's my pleasure, especially on this day,
December seventeenth, the thirtieth anniversary of the field goalhood round
(00:25):
the world. You're overtime. Of course, it was overtime kick
to beat Washington in eighty eight in the last, the
last regular season game of the year that made you, guys,
I guess today they would call you the number one seed. Yeah,
that was we needed that. We were kind of banged up.
(00:45):
We needed a week off badly, and we had some
big plays on defense in overtime. It was a Williams
the sack as a sack fumble. I think Barney Bussy
may have recovered it, right, and then we kicked kick
the extra field goal right after that. But it was
(01:07):
really a chip blow Miller's twenty seven yard miss and
send it up for us that they could have won
the game with no time left, right, And I guess, uh,
And it was just looking at the stats, Jimmy, and
it was it was. It was like the fifteenth coldest
game in Bankal's history. Cold it was cold, it was.
(01:28):
It was twenty three degrees. But there was that little
wind whipping around right, Not a little wind, there was
a lot of win I remember warm ups on the river.
And then the ball was not going anywhere, neither of
us from forty yards it was blowing so far a
hard right, so it was injurious into the right neither.
Both of us were struggling to get kids. I mean
(01:50):
we were playing him outside the uprights, just to get
him in there. And that's why in overtime I thought
there was a chance he might have a shot. The
miss because it kept the ball in the right hash
and they had plenty of time. They could have run
another play, either to the left hash or to the middle.
I'm sure he said he was fine where he was.
But the ball went up and it got into the
(02:11):
end zone and it just took a right hand turn
it right into the upbreak and that was at the gun. Right.
That was with no time left. Right, Yeah, they took
it right down. They had they had the ball, We
had no time outs. They ran it right down to
three or four seconds and kicked it and it hit
the upbreak, So we were extremely fortune, said the least.
I guess it was that kind of year, wasn't it.
(02:33):
It was? Yeah, things, Yeah, things gonna work out when
things are going well. It seems like you your great breaks.
And yeah, that certainly worked out great. Now did you?
Was that? Did you? Was your kick? Was your overtime
kick which I think was twenty um? Was that twenty yards?
Was that going to the same direction as low millers? Yeah,
(02:53):
it was going in the same direction, and it was
on the right hash also and and actually they may
have called timeout. I can't remember which there was a timeout.
I say, I may have called timeout. And he asked
if he wanted to move it, and I said, now
I was. I was mentally I was ready right then.
So we kicked it from right there. And again, I mean,
twenty yards win wasn't going to be a huge factor.
(03:16):
And need seven yards. I think it's as choice. I've
maybe been thirty two, I think about it. But anyway,
the wind, it wasn't gonna be quite the factor. It
wasn't his Yeah, I mean you probably, but you probably
went to school on his kick out right. That helped
you figure out well, you know, yeah, there was no,
there was gonna be no messing around, just getting through
(03:37):
the figure out a way to get it through and
so he could go home and right it was. It
was funny because the wind was a huge factor in
that end, but he got past the fifty yard line
and you could barely feel it. So that was that
was really unusual for the stadium just particularly came in
one end, hit hit up on top and came back
(03:58):
down on the field, down almost down the field. In
this case, it was coming across the field a lot.
So that was that was different than what we normally
got in there. Win was and that was probably I mean,
you guys have been so good all year. You started
six and oh was it? Was it more? When did
you guys start talking about maybe whole field or was
(04:19):
it was it something that maybe didn't start talking about.
I mean you got I mean, see Buffalo came in
there and you guys hammered him in late November. Is
that when you maybe started thinking about trying to get
that week off. I don't know how much we guys
really talked about it. I mean, he just you know,
he's played one at a time, right, And I don't
(04:40):
know that we until right that last game. Now, if
we won that game, we had the home field. I
don't know the guys were I don't know that anybody's
really talking about a lot prior to that. I mean,
it's always stuff that's being talked about, but that was
the first game where we really and we went and
we're in. You know, we've got to we've got it.
(05:00):
So certainly worked over time and we were able to survive.
I think Jamie Morris, when you carry the ball in
forty three times that day, yeah, I think I think
it's still a record. I think I think, yeah, he
kept pound, kept pounding it, but we end up coming
out the end. That's Rudy Johnson almost caught him. In
two thousand and three. Rudy took it for forty three
(05:23):
carries one game. Um, Joe mix and may get that
in Cleveland this week. It's going all of a sudden,
they really like what happens when you get the ball? Yeah? Well,
plus I guess with the injuries too, you know, yeah, absolutely,
the exciting exactly, Uh why not? Why not? Yeah, he's
(05:45):
a big body, the ball, the uh in a breacher.
You're still a fan, I mean, you know, you're still
A big fan of these guys. You know, you're always
wearing myself. Yeah, I mean, uh, And he stayed in town,
and so many guys from that team, you know, very
very striking. How about how many guys stayed around town?
There are from the two super Bowl teams? We have
(06:07):
over forty guys that stayed that live here, and I
think I think part of it is because they were
the super Bowl teams and we're people talk about a lot.
You know, the two super Bowls, the Fleas Your Bowl,
a Washington game are ones that I find are the
ones that most talked about. Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to
(06:30):
see him. You know, the guys getting the playoffs, get
get them win the playoffs, go to a super Bowl,
and let them experience what we experienced in those two
seasons in the eighties, because there's nothing like you know,
when you're winning in Cincinnati, it's awesome. Kim. You're involved
with the NFL, uh, you know, with the alumni group, right,
So you're you're you're a kind of maybe explained that
(06:52):
the folks, what you what you do that for that
for that group. Well, I'm the chapter president a SIN
since the Night Chapter. The NFL Alumni group, and actually
we have about one hundred and forty guys in the
Greats and Sat the area. They're former NFL players. And
then also on Sundays for the Bengals, I set up
(07:15):
the guys that I sign autographs and so forth du
s week visits. So in a smaller version, I'm doing
the same thing with the Bengals, you know, sending those up.
So yeah, I'm involved. I think it's important, you know,
for our guys to be informed. I know what's going on.
There are some things out there available. Two guys who
(07:37):
they players trust, uh, the NFLPA for different different health
things that are out there, and I guess hopefully guys
take advantage of them when they're when they're in need. Well, Um,
I remember talking to you at the golf tournament that
you know, the annual golf tournament that raises money, um
(08:02):
for for for the group. Um, the pretty active chapter, right,
I mean it's it's it's it's pretty active. Yeah, we
did amount. We have good guys. Yeah, I think that's
one thing about Cincinnati and generally, you know, when I
was playing, we always had guys who went out and
then these guys get to still get out into the
(08:22):
community and involved in a lot of different events and
help can help the organizations raise money. And I think
the same. They've got some current players to do a lot.
So I think since I've been one of those teams
over the years and that a lot of guys get involved.
And you know, I think it's important for all of
us to be involved with our communities. We just uh
(08:45):
are probably more recognized in some ways because of being
former players or current players. But I think it's important
with your player or not to be involved because it
means kind of makes things happen, can't get things accomplished.
I get a lot of people getting into Yeah, you know,
you talk about the tradition here of some great players.
It's been great, great community guys too. I mean Kenny
(09:09):
Anderson and Anthony Munio's and Reggie Williams. Uh, you know,
three NFL Men of the Year right there, you know,
weren't also h one two. It was a different one,
but he won a Man of the Year one. I
don't think it was the um certainly deserved it. He
certainly he certainly could have got it. And you and
(09:30):
you too, I mean, and it almost seemed like you
and uh, we're talking about Doug Pelfrey of Courts, the
guy who he succeeded you is as the Bengals kicker
in nineteen ninety three. But you, I mean, he kind
of kept up right where you did, I mean, and
you never stopped getting into the community. Yeah, he says
he kind of learned from me. I don't know. I mean,
(09:51):
I think you can a good look around you and
see what's going on around you. It's kind of interesting
that one of the reasons I got involved at Lea
Steinberg was my agent and Lee one of the things
before you could become one of his clients, you had
to agree to do things in your community and give
something back to your hometown and your high school in
(10:13):
your hometown, and then to do things in the community
that we're in. So he really encouraged that and I
really didn't. I mean, you come out of college, I
didn't really know too much about doing things, uh, you know,
get involved in the community. And he was instrumental in that.
And really all of his players got involved done a
lot of things in their communities. Yeah. And of course
(10:37):
that Doug's Doug called the Kicks for Kicks for Kids
UH and UH, which which Shane Graham kept going a
little bit. He got he get involved all he a lot.
Shank Graham did a lot. Shane got involved. Yeah, Shane
did do a lot. And Shane got involved with us
A Kicks for Kids, but he had his own foundation
also did a lot. Kevin Huberg, Mike Newton have been
(11:01):
had been involved with Kicks for Kids. So yeah, the
guys have kind of carried on the kicking tradition of
getting involved in their communities. Again, I mean it's just
do the things that, yeah, where you can impact some people.
That's we were we were talking about kittting back at
an overtime game. We were you know, that's been one
(11:24):
of the hallmarks of your career, was the overtime. The
overtime kicks nine for nine, never missed one. Uh did
you ever come close to missing one? Jim? Now? Actually no,
they all were pretty much right down the middle, except well,
there was one of Kansas City against Kansas City didn't
block the kick in the third quarter somewhere and they
(11:47):
ran it back for a touchdown. The week before he
gets the Jets, they blocked want to run back. We
didn't spend a lot of time things like Google protection
at that point. Yeah, right, it was a lot different,
a lot different than his now, and so we have
some breakdowns every once in a while. And then it
(12:08):
happened two weeks in a row and when I went
out to kick the overtime field goal against them, I
think it was malware or something like that. I can't remember.
He was the nose guard for Kansas City. For Kansas City,
he came through and in the post game he was
(12:28):
talking about how it went. You can see it. When
the boat kick goes up, it goes right between his hand.
He's like, he's like four or four or five feet
from me and it goes right between his hands. And
he even said it he felt a skim off his helmet.
And I remember it didn't impact they were the ball
flew or anything, so if it did, it just grazed it.
(12:48):
But I remember going right between his hands. So that
was one who was pretty close. What was the toughest one, Uh, well,
that's a good question. Actually the one in Lao for
four hundred ninety yards that day. And Sam showed up
(13:08):
in the post game and is a towel, right, I
had actually pulled something my rib cage and I slept
on the dirt and warm ups and I eat, I
did something on my rib cage and it was just
killing me trying to kick. So that one just because
it you know, I was in a lot of pain.
It was probably the hardest one from that same point. Yeah, yeah,
(13:32):
I remember you saying you were thankful it wasn't on
the dirt, right, I mean, yeah, it's just you know
it totally. You know, you don't have baseball clates, so
that I don't really dig in like the baseball clates,
dig in with the metal cleats and sometimes you get
a good solid footing and sometimes the dirt kind of
slides out fromund you. So it's just made a lot
easier when it's on the you know, when it's on
(13:53):
the grass and you just don't run into that anymore.
Nobody's really playing in that. Well, that's not true that
the Raiders are still playing in the multi purpose stadium
right Well. Um, and that was in the big A
down in Anaheim, the one you're talking about the kick
against the Rams, and uh, being the great baseball fan
that you are, you probably could have recited who had
(14:15):
been on that, who had been on that, who had
turned the last double play on that in field probably
the last. I'm always I was always excited to be
around baseball. Yeah, that was I was. That was great
to be in the stadium there. Angels are kind of
close to my height there because they beat the Tigers
on They slipped the Tigers in a double header on
(14:36):
the last day of sixty seven and the Red Sox
were able to sneak into the Pennants. So I always
it was a double Dick McCall. Dick mccalloth hadn't hit
into a double play all year, and he ended the
season for go see to cannop to Don Mitscher for
a double play and ended Yeah, so I remember Dick
(14:56):
McCall had the most unusual fanning stance maybe history, right,
That's right. Um played for the Tigers most of his career.
But you know, Jimmy, you and I can get going
on baseball. We got to be careful there on that.
But but really, those those the field goals in Super
(15:17):
Bowl twenty three, I mean, the one that broke the
tie that wasn't an overtime kick, but that's got to
be the biggest field goal of your career. I would think, Yeah,
it was absolutely you know, he considered the game itself
being a being a super Bowl, and it was a
tie game, and you know the first kick. All three
of the kicks either put tis tied the game or
(15:38):
put us ahead. So they were all meaningful kicks, and
that last one, certainly putting us ahead with a little
over three minutes to go, was a big kick. Yeah,
it was kind of funny because I hit a few
balls the day before and I absolutely was in the
exact same spot of the that's where I hit the balls.
(16:00):
I had a few balls in before, and it was
in an exact same spot. My my plant spot was
even still there because that was because the last one
was a forty right, It was a forty yard yards
in the left cash. Yeah, you quite a bit of wind.
There's quite a bit of winding that in the stadium
that night. I remember warm ups the net got blown
out because the way that kick went was actually into
(16:22):
the wind. The net got blown out, got hung up
on the goalpost. So who we were kicking balls that
way and every ball was going in the stands and
when we ran out of balls that people weren't giving
them back. Now that but you said the day before,
that's uh, that is there any reason why you pick
out that spot. No, it just it just happened to
(16:44):
work out that way. Yeah, yeah, and that was a
you know we I didn't I didn't ask you about
butterflies and over time or at all. But did you ever,
I mean, did you ever get them? Did you? Did
you have butterflies that night? The thirteen thirteen and the
in the Championship of the World one. You know, if
I can, if I can just go back a few years,
(17:07):
My first few goal to win a game was in
college when I was at Cal. We were playing USC.
It was it was a freshman third game in I
had a thirty four yard or they were number one
in the country, and I pulled it left. And then
when I was at the Raiders, I had a sure
a few goal to tie a game and I bounced
it off of the upright and I had to do
(17:27):
some introspection and I realized I really wasn't nervous, so
it wasn't a nerves thing. But I realized I was
not focusing. I was thinking about everything but the kick.
I was thinking about what people were going to think
with my teammates, coaches, but they were going to write
what you might right or you know, I went to
(17:48):
put on TV and I finally dawned on me. I
got released and eighty by the Raiders, and I had
time to think about it, and I thought, you know,
I have any control over those other things. The only
thing I have any control over is the actual kick.
And so that's really my second game as a Bengal
(18:10):
was against the Baltimore Colts, and I had a field
goal to win the game, and I knocked it through.
And that was the first time I was able to
really put into play that focused on just the kick,
and it was amazing how it changed everything. And so
when I did go out for that kick, the one
thing that went through my mind was a story the
week before Tiger Johnson was telling where during nineteen eighty
(18:36):
two season as a strike here and so we had
the field goal I think the Super Bowl Tournament they
called it by nine games a year, and he was
coaching with Detroit Lions and they're getting they're playing the
forty nine ers and Eddie Murray's got a field goal
to win the game. If they win the game, Tiger
Johnson gives a twenty five thousand dollars bonus now and
(18:59):
those his seat pump making. That's probably a third of
the salary or something like that, maybe half a salary. Yeah, so, yeah,
Eddie missed the kick and he's standing there telling the story.
And if you remember Tiger, we'll get that little spintle coming.
And when he gets angry, and he was starting every
cast where you can. And the more he told the story,
(19:21):
that the anger he got, oh my gosh, he was
just by the end he was spitting all over the
place and he says, he's Eddie Murray everywhere. Just before
I go out on the field, that that story pops
in my head and I think, if I missed this kick,
Tiger is gonna be pissed. That's maybe that made you smile.
(19:46):
M Yeah, well I kind of it was beyond you know,
I just didn't think about once I got out. There
was before I went out. But yeah, I did give
me a little smile, a little chuckle. I also think
of you when I U when the Red Sox in
eighty six, Um, you know, one strike away? How many
(20:06):
times in Game six? And I think on the scoreboard
had flashed uh, congratulations World Series MVP bruce Hurst, which
turned out to which turned out to be a little premature,
but if there had been a scoreboard up there, there
might have been uh you know, before Joe Montana started
(20:28):
that last drive, that could have been a you would
have been the MVP. I think that. John Murder right
after the game told me that, and then Lapham has
told me a few times. You know, the Sport magazine
always did a preliminary ballot for the Hall of Fame
or for the for the MVP, and I guess with
(20:49):
the preliminary ballot, I was the MVP. And then Joe
Montana and Jerry Rice got a whole ball for that
last drive and everything changed from there. Yeah, they give it.
You never think about that at all, as you know,
whenever you want, I never dwell By'm not too much
my said John who who's right for CBS Sports, Right,
(21:11):
I've already tell a story that, yeah, Jerry Rice stole
his car that he would have been driving to high school.
So yeah, it's just uh yes, m I thinking it
bothers me more from a team standpoint, that we didn't
get the opportunity to experience, you know, that world. When
(21:32):
I look at my ring, I we have our beautiful ring.
It's his AFC champions right and it doesn't say world champs.
That would have been something that could ever take from
this would have been stunbelievable. I mean, that would have
been you know, I always call you the MVP is
super Bowl twenty two and a half, so yeah, times
I've seen it. I always turn it off right there,
(21:53):
So well you do after you yeah, not here we won?
He would you know, and you were the only uh
or I think you were the only guy to have
three kick free field goals of at least forty until
a couple of years ago. Well it was two, yeah, two,
two of at least forty, right, at least forty, and
then Garrett Hartley, Yeah, I kicked three. I didn't even
(22:17):
know I was the only one with two, right, and
then I found out Jake Gilli and I are the
only ones to have two in the second half of
forty yards a better? Yeah? How about that? Yeah, I
mean that's John pulling up what kinds of stands? Yeah? Yeah, Well,
it's uh, it's great, uh, Jim, that you gave birth
to a to a sportswriter. I think that's yeah. Tell
(22:42):
us a little bit about John Well, he's been right
for CBS Sports. He's one of their bloggers been doing
that for a number of years. He started, uh, he
started really covering college football and basketball a cow or
I went to school, which was was kind of cool.
And then he started covering the conference there out there
(23:04):
back twelve, and then they decided to h cover the
NFL and he got picked as one of the twelve
to do that out of seventy something and he got
a seventy two and he's been doing that ever since,
and so he really enjoys it. He does a great
job with it. Something you know, we talked a lot
(23:27):
about obviously, the NFL, and it's always interesting because he
comes up with some anecdotes and some statistics and crazy
stuff like whearing that neck are you getting? He said, Well,
you were always that way. I mean yeah, I mean
when you were playing, you know, because you were always
always a pleasure to stop by your locker and talk
to you, you know, because it was always, uh, I'd
always learned something new, usually about baseball. Well, Anthony and
(23:51):
I would sit around Anthony Marius and I would sit
around talk baseball, that beer boat, excuse me, books, design fans. Yeah,
and even him growing up in LA you think he
would have been a Dodging family, who's actually a Giant fans,
and we talk, we talk baseball at the time. We
really j right if we went to Red's Dream Week
in ninety three after uh that's ninety two season, We
(24:14):
went down there and just had a blast. Um talking
about teammates. Who's the best player you ever played with? Um, Anthony? Yeah,
and he's you know, I think he's the greatest player
has ever played his position, right, and from day you know,
from day one, his preparation and just everything he does
(24:35):
on the field and to his athleticism, to his you know,
just the mental side of his mental preparations, physical preparation,
everything about it. You know, just the way he played
and we just dominique guys and be the nicest guy.
He helped him up to the nice guy on the field.
But he is ultra competitive. It is really all guys
(24:56):
are who excuse me to a little bit for Pop.
Who is some of the okay, Jim, who are some
of the team Who who are some of the your
more memorable teammates? You know the guys you think surely
Tim crumb Ryan, Yeah, Krumy was from the day he
(25:16):
came into training camp, and yeah, the first day that
the veterans show up and we have they're doing it
and fourth grade always in Oklahoma, drill and Dave Remington
steps up the number one pick in the draft, you know,
the first pick for the Bengals that year, and he
figures the only way he's going to get noticed if
(25:36):
he goes up against Remington. So he jumps up against
Remington twice in a row and puts him on his back,
and he said he he told Rimy he's gonna be
his worst night there. And that's how it was. I mean,
he just he played one hundred He was one hundred
ten percent every player in practice, every play in the game.
It was just an amazing talent. I mean, let the
(25:58):
team and tackles fight times. And I remember him coming
off the field one time in Pittsburgh and he's like, God,
I'm kicking Webster's but I'm beating you know, he's a
westers or Wisconsin Micrepsters, Wisconsin guy. Jimmy's a Wisconsin guy yesterday.
Had kind of a friendly rivalry that way, and he
(26:19):
and he's just beating him and he and he says,
let's just score. Let's just score out what's going on,
and we're beating him pretty handily and said we're winning.
Say we're winning. Gun all he cared about, you know
the old ad. He just beat the guy across from you. Yeah,
well that's what he was doing, and they're going to
pretty pretty well. Yeah, Timmy, Jimmy would play. I mean,
(26:41):
he came out with a figure going sideways and they
keep it up, put it back, you know, they put
it back in, keeped it back up, and he was
right back out of the field. And I remember one
time he had a pool growing and his leg was
black and blue from his growing all the way down
to his ankle. And never missed, never missed practice. You
didn't well sit down to practice. You saw some pretty
(27:03):
good quarterbacks too. When you run there with Kenny and Boomer,
different the different guys, both winners. Absolutely well, you figured
the two Super Bowl years we had the MVP in
the league. That's obviously, yeah, says something I always thought
a guy, a guy, a guy who I thought I've
never got his due was James Brooks was unbelievable. You know,
(27:27):
if you think about it, I mean, it's what we
were doing back then, what some of the things Sam
was doing really is what they're doing today with two
different types of running backs, and they're utilizing them a
little bit differently. Beginning A lot of you think about it.
I mean JB goes for nine hundred and something yards,
(27:48):
Iky goes over in thousand. To have two backs right
in a thousand yards and for a team that threw
the ball as much as we did, that's pretty that's
pretty crazy. I mean, you saw that years where teams
ran the ball seventy percent of time, but yeah, we
probably threw the ball forty five percent, almost half and half.
(28:09):
And yet these guys are both going over nine hundred
thousand yards. Yeah, you know that will happen when you
get five yards to Caffyn, I think, I mean that's
one of the great offensive Yeah. Now for v Yeah
right right, I mean I mean, I mean that all
offensive line is one of the great great greats of
all time. Yeah, I mean, it really just shows. I mean,
control of the line of screamage is you can do.
(28:29):
You can accomplish so much you hang on to the
ball longer, keeps the other team off the field. You
can really he dominates, you just wear down a defense.
And it was an amazing experience. I think I think
we said some records, we had a four yards to carry,
like forty four straight games or something. Right, if you
think about it one game, you think that somebody would
(28:51):
be able to keep it from getting four yards to carry.
But it just didn't happen. You know, you look at
the you look at football today and what's the staples
of the game was cutting edge in Cincinnati in the eighties.
I mean the no huddle, uh call, the stuff at
the line is spimmage. Dick Labo was doing his own blitz.
(29:13):
I mean that's stuff the staples. Now, back then it
was unheard of. So it was like these guys, you know,
Sam was running like a twenty first century outfit in
nineteen eighty eight, it was. And he didn't even go
back farther than that. And think about the West Coast
offense with Bill Walsh started in Cincinnati, So yeah, there,
and I guess that probably is has more to do
with Paul Brown and what he did as an innovator
(29:36):
kind of just carried over to Bill Walsh and to
Sam and Dick Labou and you know, it was cincinnat
is a happening place when it came to the things
that have gone on Rance barred in the NFL. Right, um,
how about who's the who's the greatest kicker you ever saw? Oh? Man? Okay,
(29:57):
Morton Anderson was sensation well during the years, Mortin Arison,
Nick Lowery, We're probably Gary Anderson, We're probably the best. Yeah,
to get a syfuse guy. I'm glad to go a
syfuse guy in action. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
There's not many of them really accomplished much. I had
(30:18):
to throw one out there for you. Well, Dave Jacobs,
Dave Jacobs, I don't know if you ever I don't
know if you ever competed against Dave Jacobs. Jacobs and
I came out the same year and Gambert whether it was,
might have been eighty one. Buck Trump comes back from
doing the opening game that year in Cleveland. He'sa his breach.
(30:42):
I just saw the craziest kicker ever. So we come
because here's this kid, Dave Jacobs. If you remember Cleveland's
behind the bench in Cleveland, was this this vast amount
of yardage. So he actually literally kicked the entire game.
I said, he said, I bet he kicked five or
six hundred balls the whole game, The whole game he
(31:04):
kicked and kicked and kicked and kick. He goes, I
don't even know, I can walk to it. Later on
that year we play them and Steve Cox was their
kicker and he comes up to me. He goes, I
got and I think Dave Jacobs had been released by
that point. He tells the story about going to bed.
(31:26):
They fall asleep and he waits up but he's hearing
the sounds like whish and then a pause and then
wish wish boom. Here's this big. He turns the light on.
There's Dave Jacobs laying on the ground. He'd been practicing
his kicks in the dark. He followed through, hit the
(31:48):
corner of the wall and he had a black eye.
He's laying the ground, almost knocked out. So it's all
the metal side was always in the metal side Jacob's
head and unbelievable lay away one hundred forty pounds. Yeah,
just absolutely killed the ball. But the metal side got
(32:09):
to him. The was that the game the clock shiit this.
I think that's the longest field goal ever against the Bengals.
Was wasn't a yard He had a sixty yarder well,
and he had a sixty yarder Matt Barr hit from
fifty or fifty one and another one, and I had
four and the last one came I last play the
game and we end up winning twelve to nine. Oh wow,
(32:31):
how about that? Yeah, I had great games against Cleveland.
I think just you know the whole. I think it
really put me in good stead with Paul Brown because
he loved beating Cleveland. Oh, he loved Isaac I remember,
I remember. I mean Isaac was a personal nightmare for
the people up there. I mean I maybe half his
touchdowns were against them. Can you imagine Isaac in today's game.
(32:55):
It's just wonder would have been he would have done. So.
I think Kenny told me you would have been the
first pick in the draft. Yeah, I mean yeah. If
you remember in those days, if you got fifty passes
in a year, yeah, year. But there was only a
couple of guys that had over five hundred receptions. Yeah right,
(33:15):
But when he retired, there were there weren't many guys
with over five hundred. And then he's like Corrill came
along and as crazy offenses they were putting together in
San Diego and then other places. Yeah, I mean, Isaac,
I think I think Isaac's got his members, He's got
well I can't remember how it works out, but I
think he's got more yards per catch than John Stalworth.
(33:38):
And I think more catches than Lynn Swan, you know,
and yeah, yeah, several quite a few more catches than Swan. Yeah,
and yeah, and he had a lot of touches. I mean, yeah, career,
he really did. I mean, he was a guy. I mean,
you know, I think we can all agree that Kenny
Anderson and Kenny Riley ought to be in the hall,
and Isaac is a guy that should get discussed and
(33:58):
probably ought to be in. Well, the way I look
at it, if they make a rule that puts your
name to it, that's pretty significant. People. When I was
at the Raiders in seventy nine, and you know, the
referees come in and they always talk, don't come in
and talk about new rules for that year. Well seventy nine,
they came in and they talked. They talked, and I
(34:20):
remember this to this day. They talked about the Isaac
Curtis role, the five year roll, the color of the
Isaac Curtis role. And I remembered him because he had
been at Cow and guys talking about him at cow
prior to me after I got there and they talked
about Isaac and how I ambleutely fast. It was. And
the thing was Cal had him as a as a
(34:41):
running back and he transferred because he didn't feel like
he should be a running back, and he went to
Don Correll and saying Dad wasn't a bad guy to
go to. He was at San Diego State. He played
that year and they made him into wide receiver who
became a first round pick. So that was probably a
good movement expert. Yeah, he almost made the Olympic team
(35:02):
two and seventy two. You couldn't have. Yeah, it's a
sprinter on. Yeah, he decided not to go to the
Olympic trials, but as a freshman at college he won
the NCAA hundred maybe the ultimate I uh. Paul Kenny
Anderson would tell a story where Paul Brown would say,
you know, he would beat the crap out of everybody
(35:23):
in practice, but if Isaac came up with a tweak
or something like, I said, Isaac, go ahead, you set
this one out. You're all right, you know, just suit
this one out. He h. He wanted to make sure
Isaac could go you know, so he could such the field.
I think he will think about two out the Bengals
shoot Bob Trumpy. Yeah. Trump, he became more like the
(35:44):
way the tight ends are used today. I mean, yes,
he had I think he had a season we had
over twenty hours per cash right as a tight end.
That's just crazy. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of
things that happened in Cincinnati that are prevalent today that
we're you know, the seventies and eighties were being done.
And we also got the greatest overtime kicker too. You
(36:05):
can throw that in. It turned out, it turned out
pretty well, you know. It's it was. We were in
a lot of games, and when we had a lot
of close games, we're in a lot of games. We
actually lost some overtime games where I never got an opportunity.
Uh so. Yeah. Well, even though we didn't always make
the playoffs, I think every year but eighty seven, we
(36:26):
went into the last game right with a chance to
be in the playoffs. There's things fall your way. One
team loses, you win your game, and I think we
always won our game right. Unfortunately didn't always work out
on the other end. It did the only time it
really worked out was in ninety It was in nineteen
ninety at when you when you won and you had
to wait and it went the right right way. I
(36:49):
believe Houston bat Pittsburgh, I think in the Astrodaum, Yeah,
I think you're right at eighty nine. We played that
Christmas game on Monday night, yea and minutes, so that
if they win, they're in. If we win, we're in. Yeah,
and they end up beating us on a fourth down
play one hand to catching the back of the end
zone by their tight end and like guy only hardly
(37:10):
kind of any passes all year, makes it unbelievable play. Yeah, Kim,
do you think anybody will break your points record with
free in eventually? Yeah? I think they will. Somebody will,
Yeah it free agency and all that stuff. You know,
it's just just just a game. I think the one
thing that can impact it is uh with the you know,
(37:32):
since you have a salary cap and if a guy
isn't performing at an extremely high level, I think there's
a lot of teams will feel it's easy to just
kind of put the reach or just bring a guy in. Right. Yeah,
we're kind of a young guy that doesn't make kicks too,
so I think that that could be the thing that impacts.
But you get some guys that played a long time.
(37:53):
If you have a team that I think it's going
to feel like it's going to be good, you want
to you really want to experience guy in there that
kicks down to because you can look around the league
and how many big kicks have been missed this year
and it's funny, these guys are so good today. Bunch
is just amazing how talented they are. And you know,
they're much better than we were when I was playing.
(38:13):
Our arrow was ten percent better than there are in
the sixties in early seventies, and then they're they're ten
percent better than we were, right, And yeah, when it
comes down to making the big kicks, they're probably not
any better than we were, right, Yeah, so right, right.
I know you have an experienced guy, and I think
(38:34):
Randy's doing a great job. Yeah, I think he's really good.
I just hope they give him an opportunity to just
keep plugging away. And you know, I think all you
do is look around how many struggles, how many how
many kickers have been moved this year, and you got
guys kicking for different teams, and if you can get
if you can solidify that. I mean, you've got three
guys there with Clark and Kevin and Randy that I
(38:55):
think they could still continue to work together for a
number of years. And you're a guy used to like
the you know, you'd like to talk to these guys
when you get a chance. I don't know if you've
had a chance to talk to Randy at all, but
I know you were you were you were neuge and
Shane you would stop buy him talk. Yeah a lot,
not so much. I probably got to know Jake a
little bit more than Randy. Yeah, it's kind of Randy.
(39:18):
I told Randy, I said, you know, you and I
are kind of the same boat when I came to
the Bengals and uh, nineteen eighty one eighty and then
then that draft the next draft, the first kicker taking
that year was Rex Robinson out of Georgia. Yeah, and
then you know, Randy came finished out the season to
(39:38):
the Bengals and Jake Kelly was the first kicker taking
in the draft that year. Right, So we both kind
of went through a similar situation where I think people
assume that the drafted kicker was going to win the job.
In both cases, it wasn't the drafted kicker who won
the job, right, right, I think you know, the Bengals
have been criticized obviously for letting the young guy go.
(39:59):
You know, he helped the Eagles for the Super Bowl,
you know Jake we're talking about, and he had a
he had a big kick the other you know, he
had a uh, he had a chance I gets to
win it the other day he missed. But you know,
he's he's been pretty solid. But you know, I mean
they had a competition in Rady out kicked him and
I you know, I mean yeah, and you could debate
(40:19):
that anyway you want, but you know, I mean I
think Randy's done. I mean, I mean, I agree with you.
I think Randy, for the most bad, has done well.
I think they would have loved that Kim Jake, but
he he got beat by like fifteen percent each points, right,
And you know, Randy, if you think about he at
that year, but he had that sixty one yard or
(40:45):
that everybody remembers. And actually Jake missed like three or
four extra points and I don't think Randy missed an
extra point. So when you look at all that, Randy,
even though he didn't have as many attempts. I really
had a solid year, And he said, and he's he
strung a little bit a couple of times this year
on kicks over fifty. But you know he's an eighty
percent jakes right around eighty percent. Also, I think right right, Yeah,
(41:08):
I'd say one way. I mean I could talk to
you all day, you know that. But do you like
a new overtime rule? Do you like a new overtime
rule where you mean the fact that you get the
ball no matter what, and the fact that it's down
to ten minutes? Yeah, not really particularly do one thing
it may do is may may be a little more
(41:29):
urgency to it. But you know, I like it when
first if you go down and kicks do goal games over.
I like it makes you play defense, right, I mean
it's not like not like you don't get the you know,
just when I don't like I don't like college because
I think that's just crazy. But you get teams that
(41:49):
are tired and you're the twenty five, You're already you're
in scoring range. I do I like this better? Yeah
than the college is. It's fine. I mean if both
are and get the ball, it's fine. And yeah, so
as long as everybody knows where it stands, and you
know we do. In the past, guys have been I
haven't always understood, especially in this a Syracuse guy in
(42:11):
this building when Donovan McNabb I guess he was kind
of shocked that there was they didn't keep playing. Yeah
there was a Syracuse guy you thought I thought of it,
had a good career, even had a good career, though
he had a really good career. Yeah, that he didn't
know about it. Overtime, well, preacher, you knew all about it.
And uh five beta Kappa when it comes to overtime.
(42:32):
And we can't thank you not for having you know,
like I said, I could talk to you for forty
more minutes, but I'll spare you that, and uh, thankful
for this forty two forty and uh hope to talk
to you soon. And thanks for thanks for being on
the thirtieth anniversary of kicking him into the home field
advantage porch. Thanks for having me has been my pleasure.
And their congratulations on the book and everything. We'll be
(42:56):
giving it here soon. Yes, we'd like to say it's
in the mail. There you go, and I can't I
can't wait to read, and I'm excited to read it.
Really just I think it brings out too many memories
nothing else preach sure again, thanks a lot, and uh
we'll be talking to you again.
Welcome to another nineteen eighty eight podcast on Bengals dot Com.
Hotson's Choice. Very happy to have the Bengals all time
leading scorer, Jimmy Preach. Jim, thanks for joining us. Thanks
but for having me. It's my pleasure, especially on this day,
December seventeenth, the thirtieth anniversary of the field goalhood round
(00:25):
the world. You're overtime. Of course, it was overtime kick
to beat Washington in eighty eight in the last, the
last regular season game of the year that made you, guys,
I guess today they would call you the number one seed. Yeah,
that was we needed that. We were kind of banged up.
(00:45):
We needed a week off badly, and we had some
big plays on defense in overtime. It was a Williams
the sack as a sack fumble. I think Barney Bussy
may have recovered it, right, and then we kicked kick
the extra field goal right after that. But it was
(01:07):
really a chip blow Miller's twenty seven yard miss and
send it up for us that they could have won
the game with no time left, right, And I guess, uh,
And it was just looking at the stats, Jimmy, and
it was it was. It was like the fifteenth coldest
game in Bankal's history. Cold it was cold, it was.
(01:28):
It was twenty three degrees. But there was that little
wind whipping around right, Not a little wind, there was
a lot of win I remember warm ups on the river.
And then the ball was not going anywhere, neither of
us from forty yards it was blowing so far a
hard right, so it was injurious into the right neither.
Both of us were struggling to get kids. I mean
(01:50):
we were playing him outside the uprights, just to get
him in there. And that's why in overtime I thought
there was a chance he might have a shot. The
miss because it kept the ball in the right hash
and they had plenty of time. They could have run
another play, either to the left hash or to the middle.
I'm sure he said he was fine where he was.
But the ball went up and it got into the
(02:11):
end zone and it just took a right hand turn
it right into the upbreak and that was at the gun. Right.
That was with no time left. Right, Yeah, they took
it right down. They had they had the ball, We
had no time outs. They ran it right down to
three or four seconds and kicked it and it hit
the upbreak, So we were extremely fortune, said the least.
I guess it was that kind of year, wasn't it.
(02:33):
It was? Yeah, things, Yeah, things gonna work out when
things are going well. It seems like you your great breaks.
And yeah, that certainly worked out great. Now did you?
Was that? Did you? Was your kick? Was your overtime
kick which I think was twenty um? Was that twenty yards?
Was that going to the same direction as low millers? Yeah,
(02:53):
it was going in the same direction, and it was
on the right hash also and and actually they may
have called timeout. I can't remember which there was a timeout.
I say, I may have called timeout. And he asked
if he wanted to move it, and I said, now
I was. I was mentally I was ready right then.
So we kicked it from right there. And again, I mean,
twenty yards win wasn't going to be a huge factor.
(03:16):
And need seven yards. I think it's as choice. I've
maybe been thirty two, I think about it. But anyway,
the wind, it wasn't gonna be quite the factor. It
wasn't his Yeah, I mean you probably, but you probably
went to school on his kick out right. That helped
you figure out well, you know, yeah, there was no,
there was gonna be no messing around, just getting through
(03:37):
the figure out a way to get it through and
so he could go home and right it was. It
was funny because the wind was a huge factor in
that end, but he got past the fifty yard line
and you could barely feel it. So that was that
was really unusual for the stadium just particularly came in
one end, hit hit up on top and came back
(03:58):
down on the field, down almost down the field. In
this case, it was coming across the field a lot.
So that was that was different than what we normally
got in there. Win was and that was probably I mean,
you guys have been so good all year. You started
six and oh was it? Was it more? When did
you guys start talking about maybe whole field or was
(04:19):
it was it something that maybe didn't start talking about.
I mean you got I mean, see Buffalo came in
there and you guys hammered him in late November. Is
that when you maybe started thinking about trying to get
that week off. I don't know how much we guys
really talked about it. I mean, he just you know,
he's played one at a time, right, And I don't
(04:40):
know that we until right that last game. Now, if
we won that game, we had the home field. I
don't know the guys were I don't know that anybody's
really talking about a lot prior to that. I mean,
it's always stuff that's being talked about, but that was
the first game where we really and we went and
we're in. You know, we've got to we've got it.
(05:00):
So certainly worked over time and we were able to survive.
I think Jamie Morris, when you carry the ball in
forty three times that day, yeah, I think I think
it's still a record. I think I think, yeah, he
kept pound, kept pounding it, but we end up coming
out the end. That's Rudy Johnson almost caught him. In
two thousand and three. Rudy took it for forty three
(05:23):
carries one game. Um, Joe mix and may get that
in Cleveland this week. It's going all of a sudden,
they really like what happens when you get the ball? Yeah? Well,
plus I guess with the injuries too, you know, yeah, absolutely,
the exciting exactly, Uh why not? Why not? Yeah, he's
(05:45):
a big body, the ball, the uh in a breacher.
You're still a fan, I mean, you know, you're still
A big fan of these guys. You know, you're always
wearing myself. Yeah, I mean, uh, And he stayed in town,
and so many guys from that team, you know, very
very striking. How about how many guys stayed around town?
There are from the two super Bowl teams? We have
(06:07):
over forty guys that stayed that live here, and I
think I think part of it is because they were
the super Bowl teams and we're people talk about a lot.
You know, the two super Bowls, the Fleas Your Bowl,
a Washington game are ones that I find are the
ones that most talked about. Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to
(06:30):
see him. You know, the guys getting the playoffs, get
get them win the playoffs, go to a super Bowl,
and let them experience what we experienced in those two
seasons in the eighties, because there's nothing like you know,
when you're winning in Cincinnati, it's awesome. Kim. You're involved
with the NFL, uh, you know, with the alumni group, right,
So you're you're you're a kind of maybe explained that
(06:52):
the folks, what you what you do that for that
for that group. Well, I'm the chapter president a SIN
since the Night Chapter. The NFL Alumni group, and actually
we have about one hundred and forty guys in the
Greats and Sat the area. They're former NFL players. And
then also on Sundays for the Bengals, I set up
(07:15):
the guys that I sign autographs and so forth du
s week visits. So in a smaller version, I'm doing
the same thing with the Bengals, you know, sending those up.
So yeah, I'm involved. I think it's important, you know,
for our guys to be informed. I know what's going on.
There are some things out there available. Two guys who
(07:37):
they players trust, uh, the NFLPA for different different health
things that are out there, and I guess hopefully guys
take advantage of them when they're when they're in need. Well, Um,
I remember talking to you at the golf tournament that
you know, the annual golf tournament that raises money, um
(08:02):
for for for the group. Um, the pretty active chapter, right,
I mean it's it's it's it's pretty active. Yeah, we
did amount. We have good guys. Yeah, I think that's
one thing about Cincinnati and generally, you know, when I
was playing, we always had guys who went out and
then these guys get to still get out into the
(08:22):
community and involved in a lot of different events and
help can help the organizations raise money. And I think
the same. They've got some current players to do a lot.
So I think since I've been one of those teams
over the years and that a lot of guys get involved.
And you know, I think it's important for all of
us to be involved with our communities. We just uh
(08:45):
are probably more recognized in some ways because of being
former players or current players. But I think it's important
with your player or not to be involved because it
means kind of makes things happen, can't get things accomplished.
I get a lot of people getting into Yeah, you know,
you talk about the tradition here of some great players.
It's been great, great community guys too. I mean Kenny
(09:09):
Anderson and Anthony Munio's and Reggie Williams. Uh, you know,
three NFL Men of the Year right there, you know,
weren't also h one two. It was a different one,
but he won a Man of the Year one. I
don't think it was the um certainly deserved it. He
certainly he certainly could have got it. And you and
(09:30):
you too, I mean, and it almost seemed like you
and uh, we're talking about Doug Pelfrey of Courts, the
guy who he succeeded you is as the Bengals kicker
in nineteen ninety three. But you, I mean, he kind
of kept up right where you did, I mean, and
you never stopped getting into the community. Yeah, he says
he kind of learned from me. I don't know. I mean,
(09:51):
I think you can a good look around you and
see what's going on around you. It's kind of interesting
that one of the reasons I got involved at Lea
Steinberg was my agent and Lee one of the things
before you could become one of his clients, you had
to agree to do things in your community and give
something back to your hometown and your high school in
(10:13):
your hometown, and then to do things in the community
that we're in. So he really encouraged that and I
really didn't. I mean, you come out of college, I
didn't really know too much about doing things, uh, you know,
get involved in the community. And he was instrumental in that.
And really all of his players got involved done a
lot of things in their communities. Yeah. And of course
(10:37):
that Doug's Doug called the Kicks for Kicks for Kids
UH and UH, which which Shane Graham kept going a
little bit. He got he get involved all he a lot.
Shank Graham did a lot. Shane got involved. Yeah, Shane
did do a lot. And Shane got involved with us
A Kicks for Kids, but he had his own foundation
also did a lot. Kevin Huberg, Mike Newton have been
(11:01):
had been involved with Kicks for Kids. So yeah, the
guys have kind of carried on the kicking tradition of
getting involved in their communities. Again, I mean it's just
do the things that, yeah, where you can impact some people.
That's we were we were talking about kittting back at
an overtime game. We were you know, that's been one
(11:24):
of the hallmarks of your career, was the overtime. The
overtime kicks nine for nine, never missed one. Uh did
you ever come close to missing one? Jim? Now? Actually no,
they all were pretty much right down the middle, except well,
there was one of Kansas City against Kansas City didn't
block the kick in the third quarter somewhere and they
(11:47):
ran it back for a touchdown. The week before he
gets the Jets, they blocked want to run back. We
didn't spend a lot of time things like Google protection
at that point. Yeah, right, it was a lot different,
a lot different than his now, and so we have
some breakdowns every once in a while. And then it
(12:08):
happened two weeks in a row and when I went
out to kick the overtime field goal against them, I
think it was malware or something like that. I can't remember.
He was the nose guard for Kansas City. For Kansas City,
he came through and in the post game he was
(12:28):
talking about how it went. You can see it. When
the boat kick goes up, it goes right between his hand.
He's like, he's like four or four or five feet
from me and it goes right between his hands. And
he even said it he felt a skim off his helmet.
And I remember it didn't impact they were the ball
flew or anything, so if it did, it just grazed it.
(12:48):
But I remember going right between his hands. So that
was one who was pretty close. What was the toughest one, Uh, well,
that's a good question. Actually the one in Lao for
four hundred ninety yards that day. And Sam showed up
(13:08):
in the post game and is a towel, right, I
had actually pulled something my rib cage and I slept
on the dirt and warm ups and I eat, I
did something on my rib cage and it was just
killing me trying to kick. So that one just because
it you know, I was in a lot of pain.
It was probably the hardest one from that same point. Yeah, yeah,
(13:32):
I remember you saying you were thankful it wasn't on
the dirt, right, I mean, yeah, it's just you know
it totally. You know, you don't have baseball clates, so
that I don't really dig in like the baseball clates,
dig in with the metal cleats and sometimes you get
a good solid footing and sometimes the dirt kind of
slides out fromund you. So it's just made a lot
easier when it's on the you know, when it's on
(13:53):
the grass and you just don't run into that anymore.
Nobody's really playing in that. Well, that's not true that
the Raiders are still playing in the multi purpose stadium
right Well. Um, and that was in the big A
down in Anaheim, the one you're talking about the kick
against the Rams, and uh, being the great baseball fan
that you are, you probably could have recited who had
(14:15):
been on that, who had been on that, who had
turned the last double play on that in field probably
the last. I'm always I was always excited to be
around baseball. Yeah, that was I was. That was great
to be in the stadium there. Angels are kind of
close to my height there because they beat the Tigers
on They slipped the Tigers in a double header on
(14:36):
the last day of sixty seven and the Red Sox
were able to sneak into the Pennants. So I always
it was a double Dick McCall. Dick mccalloth hadn't hit
into a double play all year, and he ended the
season for go see to cannop to Don Mitscher for
a double play and ended Yeah, so I remember Dick
(14:56):
McCall had the most unusual fanning stance maybe history, right,
That's right. Um played for the Tigers most of his career.
But you know, Jimmy, you and I can get going
on baseball. We got to be careful there on that.
But but really, those those the field goals in Super
(15:17):
Bowl twenty three, I mean, the one that broke the
tie that wasn't an overtime kick, but that's got to
be the biggest field goal of your career. I would think, Yeah,
it was absolutely you know, he considered the game itself
being a being a super Bowl, and it was a
tie game, and you know the first kick. All three
of the kicks either put tis tied the game or
(15:38):
put us ahead. So they were all meaningful kicks, and
that last one, certainly putting us ahead with a little
over three minutes to go, was a big kick. Yeah,
it was kind of funny because I hit a few
balls the day before and I absolutely was in the
exact same spot of the that's where I hit the balls.
(16:00):
I had a few balls in before, and it was
in an exact same spot. My my plant spot was
even still there because that was because the last one
was a forty right, It was a forty yard yards
in the left cash. Yeah, you quite a bit of wind.
There's quite a bit of winding that in the stadium
that night. I remember warm ups the net got blown
out because the way that kick went was actually into
(16:22):
the wind. The net got blown out, got hung up
on the goalpost. So who we were kicking balls that
way and every ball was going in the stands and
when we ran out of balls that people weren't giving
them back. Now that but you said the day before,
that's uh, that is there any reason why you pick
out that spot. No, it just it just happened to
(16:44):
work out that way. Yeah, yeah, and that was a
you know we I didn't I didn't ask you about
butterflies and over time or at all. But did you ever,
I mean, did you ever get them? Did you? Did
you have butterflies that night? The thirteen thirteen and the
in the Championship of the World one. You know, if
I can, if I can just go back a few years,
(17:07):
My first few goal to win a game was in
college when I was at Cal. We were playing USC.
It was it was a freshman third game in I
had a thirty four yard or they were number one
in the country, and I pulled it left. And then
when I was at the Raiders, I had a sure
a few goal to tie a game and I bounced
it off of the upright and I had to do
(17:27):
some introspection and I realized I really wasn't nervous, so
it wasn't a nerves thing. But I realized I was
not focusing. I was thinking about everything but the kick.
I was thinking about what people were going to think
with my teammates, coaches, but they were going to write
what you might right or you know, I went to
(17:48):
put on TV and I finally dawned on me. I
got released and eighty by the Raiders, and I had
time to think about it, and I thought, you know,
I have any control over those other things. The only
thing I have any control over is the actual kick.
And so that's really my second game as a Bengal
(18:10):
was against the Baltimore Colts, and I had a field
goal to win the game, and I knocked it through.
And that was the first time I was able to
really put into play that focused on just the kick,
and it was amazing how it changed everything. And so
when I did go out for that kick, the one
thing that went through my mind was a story the
week before Tiger Johnson was telling where during nineteen eighty
(18:36):
two season as a strike here and so we had
the field goal I think the Super Bowl Tournament they
called it by nine games a year, and he was
coaching with Detroit Lions and they're getting they're playing the
forty nine ers and Eddie Murray's got a field goal
to win the game. If they win the game, Tiger
Johnson gives a twenty five thousand dollars bonus now and
(18:59):
those his seat pump making. That's probably a third of
the salary or something like that, maybe half a salary. Yeah, so, yeah,
Eddie missed the kick and he's standing there telling the story.
And if you remember Tiger, we'll get that little spintle coming.
And when he gets angry, and he was starting every
cast where you can. And the more he told the story,
(19:21):
that the anger he got, oh my gosh, he was
just by the end he was spitting all over the
place and he says, he's Eddie Murray everywhere. Just before
I go out on the field, that that story pops
in my head and I think, if I missed this kick,
Tiger is gonna be pissed. That's maybe that made you smile.
(19:46):
M Yeah, well I kind of it was beyond you know,
I just didn't think about once I got out. There
was before I went out. But yeah, I did give
me a little smile, a little chuckle. I also think
of you when I U when the Red Sox in
eighty six, Um, you know, one strike away? How many
(20:06):
times in Game six? And I think on the scoreboard
had flashed uh, congratulations World Series MVP bruce Hurst, which
turned out to which turned out to be a little premature,
but if there had been a scoreboard up there, there
might have been uh you know, before Joe Montana started
(20:28):
that last drive, that could have been a you would
have been the MVP. I think that. John Murder right
after the game told me that, and then Lapham has
told me a few times. You know, the Sport magazine
always did a preliminary ballot for the Hall of Fame
or for the for the MVP, and I guess with
(20:49):
the preliminary ballot, I was the MVP. And then Joe
Montana and Jerry Rice got a whole ball for that
last drive and everything changed from there. Yeah, they give it.
You never think about that at all, as you know,
whenever you want, I never dwell By'm not too much
my said John who who's right for CBS Sports, Right,
(21:11):
I've already tell a story that, yeah, Jerry Rice stole
his car that he would have been driving to high school.
So yeah, it's just uh yes, m I thinking it
bothers me more from a team standpoint, that we didn't
get the opportunity to experience, you know, that world. When
(21:32):
I look at my ring, I we have our beautiful ring.
It's his AFC champions right and it doesn't say world champs.
That would have been something that could ever take from
this would have been stunbelievable. I mean, that would have
been you know, I always call you the MVP is
super Bowl twenty two and a half, so yeah, times
I've seen it. I always turn it off right there,
(21:53):
So well you do after you yeah, not here we won?
He would you know, and you were the only uh
or I think you were the only guy to have
three kick free field goals of at least forty until
a couple of years ago. Well it was two, yeah, two,
two of at least forty, right, at least forty, and
then Garrett Hartley, Yeah, I kicked three. I didn't even
(22:17):
know I was the only one with two, right, and
then I found out Jake Gilli and I are the
only ones to have two in the second half of
forty yards a better? Yeah? How about that? Yeah, I
mean that's John pulling up what kinds of stands? Yeah? Yeah, Well,
it's uh, it's great, uh, Jim, that you gave birth
to a to a sportswriter. I think that's yeah. Tell
(22:42):
us a little bit about John Well, he's been right
for CBS Sports. He's one of their bloggers been doing
that for a number of years. He started, uh, he
started really covering college football and basketball a cow or
I went to school, which was was kind of cool.
And then he started covering the conference there out there
(23:04):
back twelve, and then they decided to h cover the
NFL and he got picked as one of the twelve
to do that out of seventy something and he got
a seventy two and he's been doing that ever since,
and so he really enjoys it. He does a great
job with it. Something you know, we talked a lot
(23:27):
about obviously, the NFL, and it's always interesting because he
comes up with some anecdotes and some statistics and crazy
stuff like whearing that neck are you getting? He said, Well,
you were always that way. I mean yeah, I mean
when you were playing, you know, because you were always
always a pleasure to stop by your locker and talk
to you, you know, because it was always, uh, I'd
always learned something new, usually about baseball. Well, Anthony and
(23:51):
I would sit around Anthony Marius and I would sit
around talk baseball, that beer boat, excuse me, books, design fans. Yeah,
and even him growing up in LA you think he
would have been a Dodging family, who's actually a Giant fans,
and we talk, we talk baseball at the time. We
really j right if we went to Red's Dream Week
in ninety three after uh that's ninety two season, We
(24:14):
went down there and just had a blast. Um talking
about teammates. Who's the best player you ever played with? Um, Anthony? Yeah,
and he's you know, I think he's the greatest player
has ever played his position, right, and from day you know,
from day one, his preparation and just everything he does
(24:35):
on the field and to his athleticism, to his you know,
just the mental side of his mental preparations, physical preparation,
everything about it. You know, just the way he played
and we just dominique guys and be the nicest guy.
He helped him up to the nice guy on the field.
But he is ultra competitive. It is really all guys
(24:56):
are who excuse me to a little bit for Pop.
Who is some of the okay, Jim, who are some
of the team Who who are some of the your
more memorable teammates? You know the guys you think surely
Tim crumb Ryan, Yeah, Krumy was from the day he
(25:16):
came into training camp, and yeah, the first day that
the veterans show up and we have they're doing it
and fourth grade always in Oklahoma, drill and Dave Remington
steps up the number one pick in the draft, you know,
the first pick for the Bengals that year, and he
figures the only way he's going to get noticed if
(25:36):
he goes up against Remington. So he jumps up against
Remington twice in a row and puts him on his back,
and he said he he told Rimy he's gonna be
his worst night there. And that's how it was. I mean,
he just he played one hundred He was one hundred
ten percent every player in practice, every play in the game.
It was just an amazing talent. I mean, let the
(25:58):
team and tackles fight times. And I remember him coming
off the field one time in Pittsburgh and he's like, God,
I'm kicking Webster's but I'm beating you know, he's a
westers or Wisconsin Micrepsters, Wisconsin guy. Jimmy's a Wisconsin guy yesterday.
Had kind of a friendly rivalry that way, and he
(26:19):
and he's just beating him and he and he says,
let's just score. Let's just score out what's going on,
and we're beating him pretty handily and said we're winning.
Say we're winning. Gun all he cared about, you know
the old ad. He just beat the guy across from you. Yeah,
well that's what he was doing, and they're going to
pretty pretty well. Yeah, Timmy, Jimmy would play. I mean,
(26:41):
he came out with a figure going sideways and they
keep it up, put it back, you know, they put
it back in, keeped it back up, and he was
right back out of the field. And I remember one
time he had a pool growing and his leg was
black and blue from his growing all the way down
to his ankle. And never missed, never missed practice. You
didn't well sit down to practice. You saw some pretty
(27:03):
good quarterbacks too. When you run there with Kenny and Boomer,
different the different guys, both winners. Absolutely well, you figured
the two Super Bowl years we had the MVP in
the league. That's obviously, yeah, says something I always thought
a guy, a guy, a guy who I thought I've
never got his due was James Brooks was unbelievable. You know,
(27:27):
if you think about it, I mean, it's what we
were doing back then, what some of the things Sam
was doing really is what they're doing today with two
different types of running backs, and they're utilizing them a
little bit differently. Beginning A lot of you think about it.
I mean JB goes for nine hundred and something yards,
(27:48):
Iky goes over in thousand. To have two backs right
in a thousand yards and for a team that threw
the ball as much as we did, that's pretty that's
pretty crazy. I mean, you saw that years where teams
ran the ball seventy percent of time, but yeah, we
probably threw the ball forty five percent, almost half and half.
(28:09):
And yet these guys are both going over nine hundred
thousand yards. Yeah, you know that will happen when you
get five yards to Caffyn, I think, I mean that's
one of the great offensive Yeah. Now for v Yeah
right right, I mean I mean, I mean that all
offensive line is one of the great great greats of
all time. Yeah, I mean, it really just shows. I mean,
control of the line of screamage is you can do.
(28:29):
You can accomplish so much you hang on to the
ball longer, keeps the other team off the field. You
can really he dominates, you just wear down a defense.
And it was an amazing experience. I think I think
we said some records, we had a four yards to carry,
like forty four straight games or something. Right, if you
think about it one game, you think that somebody would
(28:51):
be able to keep it from getting four yards to carry.
But it just didn't happen. You know, you look at
the you look at football today and what's the staples
of the game was cutting edge in Cincinnati in the eighties.
I mean the no huddle, uh call, the stuff at
the line is spimmage. Dick Labo was doing his own blitz.
(29:13):
I mean that's stuff the staples. Now, back then it
was unheard of. So it was like these guys, you know,
Sam was running like a twenty first century outfit in
nineteen eighty eight, it was. And he didn't even go
back farther than that. And think about the West Coast
offense with Bill Walsh started in Cincinnati, So yeah, there,
and I guess that probably is has more to do
with Paul Brown and what he did as an innovator
(29:36):
kind of just carried over to Bill Walsh and to
Sam and Dick Labou and you know, it was cincinnat
is a happening place when it came to the things
that have gone on Rance barred in the NFL. Right, um,
how about who's the who's the greatest kicker you ever saw? Oh? Man? Okay,
(29:57):
Morton Anderson was sensation well during the years, Mortin Arison,
Nick Lowery, We're probably Gary Anderson, We're probably the best. Yeah,
to get a syfuse guy. I'm glad to go a
syfuse guy in action. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
There's not many of them really accomplished much. I had
(30:18):
to throw one out there for you. Well, Dave Jacobs,
Dave Jacobs, I don't know if you ever I don't
know if you ever competed against Dave Jacobs. Jacobs and
I came out the same year and Gambert whether it was,
might have been eighty one. Buck Trump comes back from
doing the opening game that year in Cleveland. He'sa his breach.
(30:42):
I just saw the craziest kicker ever. So we come
because here's this kid, Dave Jacobs. If you remember Cleveland's
behind the bench in Cleveland, was this this vast amount
of yardage. So he actually literally kicked the entire game.
I said, he said, I bet he kicked five or
six hundred balls the whole game, The whole game he
(31:04):
kicked and kicked and kicked and kick. He goes, I
don't even know, I can walk to it. Later on
that year we play them and Steve Cox was their
kicker and he comes up to me. He goes, I
got and I think Dave Jacobs had been released by
that point. He tells the story about going to bed.
(31:26):
They fall asleep and he waits up but he's hearing
the sounds like whish and then a pause and then
wish wish boom. Here's this big. He turns the light on.
There's Dave Jacobs laying on the ground. He'd been practicing
his kicks in the dark. He followed through, hit the
(31:48):
corner of the wall and he had a black eye.
He's laying the ground, almost knocked out. So it's all
the metal side was always in the metal side Jacob's
head and unbelievable lay away one hundred forty pounds. Yeah,
just absolutely killed the ball. But the metal side got
(32:09):
to him. The was that the game the clock shiit this.
I think that's the longest field goal ever against the Bengals.
Was wasn't a yard He had a sixty yarder well,
and he had a sixty yarder Matt Barr hit from
fifty or fifty one and another one, and I had
four and the last one came I last play the
game and we end up winning twelve to nine. Oh wow,
(32:31):
how about that? Yeah, I had great games against Cleveland.
I think just you know the whole. I think it
really put me in good stead with Paul Brown because
he loved beating Cleveland. Oh, he loved Isaac I remember,
I remember. I mean Isaac was a personal nightmare for
the people up there. I mean I maybe half his
touchdowns were against them. Can you imagine Isaac in today's game.
(32:55):
It's just wonder would have been he would have done. So.
I think Kenny told me you would have been the
first pick in the draft. Yeah, I mean yeah. If
you remember in those days, if you got fifty passes
in a year, yeah, year. But there was only a
couple of guys that had over five hundred receptions. Yeah right,
(33:15):
But when he retired, there were there weren't many guys
with over five hundred. And then he's like Corrill came
along and as crazy offenses they were putting together in
San Diego and then other places. Yeah, I mean, Isaac,
I think I think Isaac's got his members, He's got
well I can't remember how it works out, but I
think he's got more yards per catch than John Stalworth.
(33:38):
And I think more catches than Lynn Swan, you know,
and yeah, yeah, several quite a few more catches than Swan. Yeah,
and yeah, and he had a lot of touches. I mean, yeah, career,
he really did. I mean, he was a guy. I mean,
you know, I think we can all agree that Kenny
Anderson and Kenny Riley ought to be in the hall,
and Isaac is a guy that should get discussed and
(33:58):
probably ought to be in. Well, the way I look
at it, if they make a rule that puts your
name to it, that's pretty significant. People. When I was
at the Raiders in seventy nine, and you know, the
referees come in and they always talk, don't come in
and talk about new rules for that year. Well seventy nine,
they came in and they talked. They talked, and I
(34:20):
remember this to this day. They talked about the Isaac
Curtis role, the five year roll, the color of the
Isaac Curtis role. And I remembered him because he had
been at Cow and guys talking about him at cow
prior to me after I got there and they talked
about Isaac and how I ambleutely fast. It was. And
the thing was Cal had him as a as a
(34:41):
running back and he transferred because he didn't feel like
he should be a running back, and he went to
Don Correll and saying Dad wasn't a bad guy to
go to. He was at San Diego State. He played
that year and they made him into wide receiver who
became a first round pick. So that was probably a
good movement expert. Yeah, he almost made the Olympic team
(35:02):
two and seventy two. You couldn't have. Yeah, it's a
sprinter on. Yeah, he decided not to go to the
Olympic trials, but as a freshman at college he won
the NCAA hundred maybe the ultimate I uh. Paul Kenny
Anderson would tell a story where Paul Brown would say,
you know, he would beat the crap out of everybody
(35:23):
in practice, but if Isaac came up with a tweak
or something like, I said, Isaac, go ahead, you set
this one out. You're all right, you know, just suit
this one out. He h. He wanted to make sure
Isaac could go you know, so he could such the field.
I think he will think about two out the Bengals
shoot Bob Trumpy. Yeah. Trump, he became more like the
(35:44):
way the tight ends are used today. I mean, yes,
he had I think he had a season we had
over twenty hours per cash right as a tight end.
That's just crazy. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of
things that happened in Cincinnati that are prevalent today that
we're you know, the seventies and eighties were being done.
And we also got the greatest overtime kicker too. You
(36:05):
can throw that in. It turned out, it turned out
pretty well, you know. It's it was. We were in
a lot of games, and when we had a lot
of close games, we're in a lot of games. We
actually lost some overtime games where I never got an opportunity.
Uh so. Yeah. Well, even though we didn't always make
the playoffs, I think every year but eighty seven, we
(36:26):
went into the last game right with a chance to
be in the playoffs. There's things fall your way. One
team loses, you win your game, and I think we
always won our game right. Unfortunately didn't always work out
on the other end. It did the only time it
really worked out was in ninety It was in nineteen
ninety at when you when you won and you had
to wait and it went the right right way. I
(36:49):
believe Houston bat Pittsburgh, I think in the Astrodaum, Yeah,
I think you're right at eighty nine. We played that
Christmas game on Monday night, yea and minutes, so that
if they win, they're in. If we win, we're in. Yeah,
and they end up beating us on a fourth down
play one hand to catching the back of the end
zone by their tight end and like guy only hardly
(37:10):
kind of any passes all year, makes it unbelievable play. Yeah, Kim,
do you think anybody will break your points record with
free in eventually? Yeah? I think they will. Somebody will,
Yeah it free agency and all that stuff. You know,
it's just just just a game. I think the one
thing that can impact it is uh with the you know,
(37:32):
since you have a salary cap and if a guy
isn't performing at an extremely high level, I think there's
a lot of teams will feel it's easy to just
kind of put the reach or just bring a guy in. Right. Yeah,
we're kind of a young guy that doesn't make kicks too,
so I think that that could be the thing that impacts.
But you get some guys that played a long time.
(37:53):
If you have a team that I think it's going
to feel like it's going to be good, you want
to you really want to experience guy in there that
kicks down to because you can look around the league
and how many big kicks have been missed this year
and it's funny, these guys are so good today. Bunch
is just amazing how talented they are. And you know,
they're much better than we were when I was playing.
(38:13):
Our arrow was ten percent better than there are in
the sixties in early seventies, and then they're they're ten
percent better than we were, right, And yeah, when it
comes down to making the big kicks, they're probably not
any better than we were, right, Yeah, so right, right.
I know you have an experienced guy, and I think
(38:34):
Randy's doing a great job. Yeah, I think he's really good.
I just hope they give him an opportunity to just
keep plugging away. And you know, I think all you
do is look around how many struggles, how many how
many kickers have been moved this year, and you got
guys kicking for different teams, and if you can get
if you can solidify that. I mean, you've got three
guys there with Clark and Kevin and Randy that I
(38:55):
think they could still continue to work together for a
number of years. And you're a guy used to like
the you know, you'd like to talk to these guys
when you get a chance. I don't know if you've
had a chance to talk to Randy at all, but
I know you were you were you were neuge and
Shane you would stop buy him talk. Yeah a lot,
not so much. I probably got to know Jake a
little bit more than Randy. Yeah, it's kind of Randy.
(39:18):
I told Randy, I said, you know, you and I
are kind of the same boat when I came to
the Bengals and uh, nineteen eighty one eighty and then
then that draft the next draft, the first kicker taking
that year was Rex Robinson out of Georgia. Yeah, and
then you know, Randy came finished out the season to
(39:38):
the Bengals and Jake Kelly was the first kicker taking
in the draft that year. Right, So we both kind
of went through a similar situation where I think people
assume that the drafted kicker was going to win the job.
In both cases, it wasn't the drafted kicker who won
the job, right, right, I think you know, the Bengals
have been criticized obviously for letting the young guy go.
(39:59):
You know, he helped the Eagles for the Super Bowl,
you know Jake we're talking about, and he had a
he had a big kick the other you know, he
had a uh, he had a chance I gets to
win it the other day he missed. But you know,
he's he's been pretty solid. But you know, I mean
they had a competition in Rady out kicked him and
I you know, I mean yeah, and you could debate
(40:19):
that anyway you want, but you know, I mean I
think Randy's done. I mean, I mean, I agree with you.
I think Randy, for the most bad, has done well.
I think they would have loved that Kim Jake, but
he he got beat by like fifteen percent each points, right,
And you know, Randy, if you think about he at
that year, but he had that sixty one yard or
(40:45):
that everybody remembers. And actually Jake missed like three or
four extra points and I don't think Randy missed an
extra point. So when you look at all that, Randy,
even though he didn't have as many attempts. I really
had a solid year, And he said, and he's he
strung a little bit a couple of times this year
on kicks over fifty. But you know he's an eighty
percent jakes right around eighty percent. Also, I think right right, Yeah,
(41:08):
I'd say one way. I mean I could talk to
you all day, you know that. But do you like
a new overtime rule? Do you like a new overtime
rule where you mean the fact that you get the
ball no matter what, and the fact that it's down
to ten minutes? Yeah, not really particularly do one thing
it may do is may may be a little more
(41:29):
urgency to it. But you know, I like it when
first if you go down and kicks do goal games over.
I like it makes you play defense, right, I mean
it's not like not like you don't get the you know,
just when I don't like I don't like college because
I think that's just crazy. But you get teams that
(41:49):
are tired and you're the twenty five, You're already you're
in scoring range. I do I like this better? Yeah
than the college is. It's fine. I mean if both
are and get the ball, it's fine. And yeah, so
as long as everybody knows where it stands, and you
know we do. In the past, guys have been I
haven't always understood, especially in this a Syracuse guy in
(42:11):
this building when Donovan McNabb I guess he was kind
of shocked that there was they didn't keep playing. Yeah
there was a Syracuse guy you thought I thought of it,
had a good career, even had a good career, though
he had a really good career. Yeah, that he didn't
know about it. Overtime, well, preacher, you knew all about it.
And uh five beta Kappa when it comes to overtime.
(42:32):
And we can't thank you not for having you know,
like I said, I could talk to you for forty
more minutes, but I'll spare you that, and uh, thankful
for this forty two forty and uh hope to talk
to you soon. And thanks for thanks for being on
the thirtieth anniversary of kicking him into the home field
advantage porch. Thanks for having me has been my pleasure.
And their congratulations on the book and everything. We'll be
(42:56):
giving it here soon. Yes, we'd like to say it's
in the mail. There you go, and I can't I
can't wait to read, and I'm excited to read it.
Really just I think it brings out too many memories
nothing else preach sure again, thanks a lot, and uh
we'll be talking to you again.
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