September 9, 2026 • 36 mins
Mo broadcasting live from the Anthony Muñoz foundation
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bengals!
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bengals fans have waited all offseason for football, and it's
finally here. Can the Orange and Blacks start the season
fast and steal the win? Or will our beloved Bengals
be swashbuckled by the Buccaneers? Coverage begins Sunday morning at
9 a.m. Stream for free on the new and improved
iHeartRadio app or on ESPN 1530, the official home of
(00:23):
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's the Bengals and Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's up? Six after five. This is ESPN 1530 Mo Egger.
Thank you for joining us today. We're broadcasting from the
Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate here in Westchester at Topgolf.
The ninth year of this event. Everything tonight benefiting the
Anthony Munoz Foundation. And this is the ninth year we've
been out here broadcasting. And it's always awesome to get
(00:50):
a chance to sit here and chat with Bengals legends
like the two gentlemen here. And young child we have
up here now. The great Max Montoya. The great David Fulcher.
And the great Braxton Fulcher.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Look at that, man. Size 9 shoe. And he's only
19 months.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So we're thinking like class of what?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I'd say the 20, 20, 20, 2041 first pick of
the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Braxton Fulcher.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
Pretty good. Play anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, first you got to get that college and a
hill money.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Well, I think he's getting that right now. We're working
on that right now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Gentlemen, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Nothing much, man.
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Nice to be out here.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Hanging out.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Great to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Great to be with you guys. Great to be so
excited about the start of the season.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I am.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I think it's, you know, you look at some of
the comments, you know, people go now or never, blah, blah, blah.
Everybody wants to win. But I think they've put the.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Put the defense in place to make plays. We know
the offenses should make plays.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
If everybody does what they're supposed to do, we'll be
happy in February.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I'll be happy watching defensive players make tackles. Didn't see
that a lot last year. And I think we've got
some guys who can.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
That would be a big improvement. Really good to see
the defensive personnel bump it up a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, I think that defensive line, by bringing them in here,
will help.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Those young linebackers.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Because those young linebackers, when they came in here as rookies,
they were just happy to be in the NFL, like
we all were. And all of a sudden you start realizing, well,
I just can't run through that hole. I just can't
take off over there because I'm playing against the best.
But I think now that they've got those guys up front,
it will help them young players become better.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
More than anything, I want to see them get off
to a good start.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
A really good start.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I'm talking 4-1 or 5-0.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Playing from ahead.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, when you're playing ahead, I mean, you can do
a lot of things. When you're playing behind, you're forced
to do one thing. Now you want number nine to
throw the ball 50 times in the game to try
to get back to even, and you don't want that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And, you know, ideally for me, what they're trying to do,
what they've tried to do this offseason, plays itself out
during the regular season where they can have multiple identities,
have Joe operating under center, more play action, run it
more effectively, and then when they've got to put him
in the gun, we know what that looks like.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
Yeah. For me, I wish they didn't play him in
the gun.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Because I think when you're in the gun, you're trying
to run the football five yards deep because your tailback's
right there by the quarterback. And then everything else happens
to bring that defense up because they're.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
In the shotgun.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Or defense is going to drop back, they're in the shotgun.
They're not going to run the ball in the shotgun.
And for me, you're starting at five yards deep. You know,
when we had our offense and the great offense that
we had back in the 80s, them guys, you know,
Boomer was under the center and he'd turn around and
best play action, pass and Passer, I think, in football.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think in football. I didn't just say Bengals. I
said football.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
And what it does, it creates space between the defender
and the offensive guy because they don't know or they
do know what you're doing. And in this case, when
Joe is on the center, they're going to hand the
ball off to Chase Brown in the backfield, and they
can play action from there. But I think when you
get inside that red zone, you've got to compact things
(04:19):
and then make the defense– play to your doing, not
their own doing, if that makes sense.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
It does. It does.
Speaker 6 (04:27):
But I'm old school. I like smash mouth football.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Me too.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
So I think you really set it up with the run.
And then, like you say, you can do just about anything.
Play action, under center. Yes. But really, you've got to
have some running backs. We had James Brooks.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
Which is Ring of Honor this year.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Ring of Honor this year, yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Congratulations to JB.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Yeah, JB.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
We had Icky. We had some pretty good backs.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Stanford Jennings. Stanford, oh, yeah. Absolutely. And I'm not going to,
you know, Stanley Wilson.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
He was on the team.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
He was on the team.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Yeah, productive. We had some stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know what else I thought we had that was
really good?
Speaker 6 (05:04):
We had good balance.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
The balance of players.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
You know, when Max came out of the game, the
guy that was taking Max's position, the only difference was
Montoya on the back of the jersey and a different number.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
So everybody had a job.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So when you lost a guy or a guy moved,
the next guy in line knew what his job was.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
But I think that's what I liked about watching the
preseason play out was, like, we didn't watch the starters
all that much.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
Did they play?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
First game a little bit. But you saw backups. You
saw rookies. You saw draft picks. You saw guys who
were rookies that weren't draft picks. Like, that was the
fun thing to me. I think I know the starters
on this team are good. What I was wondering about is,
as the preseason plays out, do we feel better about
the depth? And the answer is yes.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, the depth that we've got right now is pretty remarkable.
But as a former player, and I don't know how
Max felt about that, I wanted to play in preseason.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Really?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I used to ask, yeah, because this is what I
saw during the week, Anthony and Max.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Right.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
All weekend.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I know I'm not going to go in there and
try to knock Max down or Max is going to
try to knock me down, but we still had a
job to do. But in preseason, you know, I'm not
saying play the whole game.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
No. Let me have a quarter or two, Coach.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Design 10 plays and whatever happens, if it's a 10-play drive,
I'm done.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
If it's a three and out, I got seven more.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
You really have to have that live action, I believe.
We're old school from way back. I think that's where
you really develop your game and your cohesiveness as an
offense defense is during the preseason games. If you can
at least play a quarter, maybe two quarters.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
It helps.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
And not only that, it helps you in game condition,
which is completely different from practice.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
What comes to mind when you watch how they practice
during camp now?
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Country club.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
I wish I was playing today. I'll say it.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
It's a country club.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
It is, man.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I mean, you know, these guys are wearing shorts. You know,
no thigh pads or knee pads. They got on shoulder pads,
but there is no, you know, the initial... O-line, D-line.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
You get all that.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
For us, DBs and safeties and those guys, I mean,
I'm playing man-to-man on the tight end, and I'm five
yards off. So I'm not getting in there trying to
beat him up, you know, unless LeBeau wants us to
get up there and choke him. But I need to
have that outside of doing it with my own team.
I want to do it with another team.
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Live action.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Live action, man.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Nothing beats live action.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I mean, you know, when I was a kid, I'd
go to Wilmington College to watch you guys with my dad.
And I remember watching the practice in the morning. And
going like, holy hell, that was unbelievable. My dad going, yeah, well,
they're coming back in three hours.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
And they're going to do it again.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And then you like relay that to the guys now
and it's like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (07:45):
What?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Did y'all really do that?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I don't think they practiced more than three days in
a row.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So they'll do like practice, practice, walkthrough. So they will
be on the field three days in a row. And
the first two days, again, by today's standards, for us
being there, pretty physical. Again, not 1988.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Full pads.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Later in camp, yes. And then you would get to
day three and it was a day off without being
a day off.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
It's like a Saturday.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
I thought every day was a day off.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
We look at football today when they got them shorts on.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
I saw T.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Higgins running a pattern the other day and I could
have swore you had on– it wasn't spandex, but I
thought maybe it was just some long, long.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Johns, you know, long underwear.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And I'm thinking, man, one knee touched together, somebody fall
on the ground and hit that knee or whatever, and
now these guys are done. And you can't practice 50%.
It's got to go 100 miles an hour every time because–
you're subject to getting hurt when you don't practice hard.
(08:51):
And I would rather be fully geared, practicing hard where
I don't have anything happening to me.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Day one of camp this year, we had not even
a fight, but a skirmish. Did you guys have a
lot of those?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
We had a few, especially with Tim Crumright.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
In the interior line.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
And not only just Tim, we had problems with Brooks
and Icky coming through the line of scrimmage, and we
just kind of like relaxed and ate. JB puts his
helmet right in your chest and knock you down and
didn't want to laugh at you.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
So all of a sudden, every practice became physical.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Because I did not want James Brooks to be pointing
at me or Icky to say something crazy. So we
had to practice physical not to hurt each other. But
I think it just got us prepared to play week one.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I like the fights. Dale, I like the training camp.
Speaker 6 (09:40):
Fights are okay. They don't really accomplish anything.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
It's fine.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
It tells me that there's a heatedness, a spiritedness to it.
I don't want anybody to get hurt. I don't want
the team to be broken up. But I do think
that is a sign of intensity and competitiveness.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A little feistiness is always good. But, yeah, it generally
doesn't accomplish anything but gets you tired because you're down
there wrestling each other and you still.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Got to practice. I wasn't trying to fight and practice.
I wasn't trying to fight in games.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We played the Indianapolis Colts here with Eric Dickerson playing
running back. And he come through the line of scrimmage
and Joe Kelly, One of Joe Kelly's hits.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Boom.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Knocked Eric's helmet off. And he got up, and he
going to try to get in Joe's face. And I went, hey, Eric,
don't do that, dude. Because that dude right there will
punch you. And sure enough, Joe went like this, hit
him in the chin. Referee didn't see it.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I said, ooh.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
Lucky he didn't get.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
I thought he was gone. They were really close, and
Joe just kind of went like that real quick. And
you could see Eric's helmet go back. And then Eric
got mad.
Speaker 8 (10:41):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
And I'm thinking. My money's on Joe.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Why would these guys try to fight with face masks on?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You know, you've addressed my biggest question about the sport itself.
Two guys will get into a fight. They're wearing helmets.
They hit each other in the face.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
That's why I don't fight.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, like, I don't like the stereotype of, like,
dumb football players, but that's the one where you're like, man,
I'm not sure those guys... We're at the top of
the class.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Unless you're Lyle Alzado and pull the guy's helmet off.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Pull the guy's helmet off.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
You remember that.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
That guy was in a different universe.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
He was a psychopath. To answer that question on the
fighting part of it, it's called competing. You know, somebody
got embarrassed or somebody got hit, somebody got pushed, and
they didn't like it. And then the big guy who
did it or the guy who did it is laughing
at you. And now when you go back in the huddle,
all I'm thinking about is, boy, number 65.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
He shouldn't have never did that.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Dirty rat.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And then when we went to L.A., we were down
at the Raiders. I mean, it was like night and day.
You had to work out on your own for the
Raiders because we didn't do no gassers after practice. I
lined up for gassers, and these guys were looking at
me like, what are you doing, dude? I said, we
can do some conditioning. No, dude, you're on your own.
I'm thinking, we didn't do that in Cincinnati.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
We had gassers.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
We had work after practice. Is that why you both
ended up there?
Speaker 5 (11:57):
I don't know. Not just him, me, him. Ricky Dixon.
Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You know, the guys and the simple fact that I
think the Raiders is the Bengals' farm club.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
Well, you know, when you get there, I don't know
what Al Davis told you, but he told me, Max,
just give me a couple good years.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
That's it. That was it. That's what he said.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
He said, just give me a couple good years. I
want a couple good years.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I want to see David Fulcher, the guy I played
against when he was in Cincinnati with the Raiders.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
And I said, you got it, coach.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
And I think that's his whole thought process. He's getting
a lot of older players that come there retire, but
give me a couple good ones.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
But do you think about how cool that is that
you played for Paul Brown and Al Davis?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Like you can't tell the story of the league without
in the first like five paragraphs mentioning those two men.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I mean, and I tell people one of the stories, Max,
when I left, since I went to the Raiders, I
was in the locker room and.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I wanted to go get me a Coke from the machine.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Well, it said 25 cents. So I put a quarter in,
and it just kept coming through. Now, back in Cincinnati,
you put a quarter in there. And I kept doing it.
It asked for another one. Yeah, Tim Brown comes up
and just hits it. Out comes the Coke. And I'm like, dude,
I've been standing there for five minutes, man.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
He said, we don't pay for nothing around here. And
I went, oh, did I just make it to the NFL?
Because in Cincinnati, we had to pay for everything. Commitment
to excellence.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Commitment to excellence, man. It's the Raiders, man.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well, you both are still Bengals to me.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Oh, no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely. Well, thank you guys very much.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
How does it make you feel to see the UCLA shirt?
You guys aren't in the same conference anymore.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Well, yeah, way back.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I got the same one at home that says Arizona State.
Speaker 8 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
And I almost wore it, and I said, no, I'm
going to wear this one.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Well, I'm so old that I played when it was
a Pac-8.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Pac-8, that's right.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
And then it became the Pac-10.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Pac-10, then the 12. Yeah, I was there at the
Pac-10 conference. And when they say Pac-8, I'm like, Pac-8?
What the heck is a Pac-8?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
But I do remember that, but now the Pac-12. I
don't even know what Pac-12 is. They canceled that, didn't they?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Well, they've revived it with other schools. UCLA on the
Pacific Ocean is in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which makes
all the sense in the world. Well, no, there are schools,
Stanford and Cal are in the ACC.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
You guys are in the Pac-10.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Even I lose track. Yes. Big Ten country, Los Angeles. Gentlemen,
thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Thank you for having us, brother.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Awesome to have the two of you with us. Anthony Munoz,
Foundation Topgolf, Tailgate, Sam Hubbard, scheduled to join us next
on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (14:29):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 8 (14:31):
Traffic.
Speaker 9 (14:35):
This is Football in the Natty, brought to you in
part by Skyline Chili on ESPN 1530, the official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Broadcasting from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate on ESPN 1530,
Mo Egger, and awesome to be joined by one of
the authors of one of the most iconic plays in
Bengals franchise history, Pride of Cincinnati, Moeller High School, Ohio State,
Sam Hubbard is here. What's up?
Speaker 5 (15:05):
How we doing?
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's good to have you here. I just asked you
off air, like today, it's the Wednesday. It's the Wednesday
before the opener. So it's like the first practice where
you guys are like specifically game planning for the opponent.
A year ago, you were freshly retired. Now you're a
year removed. Are you feeling different? Weird? Is it still
bizarre to not be preparing to play a game? What's
it like?
Speaker 7 (15:28):
I think last off season was a bit more bizarre.
My body was gearing up, you know, 20 years of, uh,
summer prep to go into training camp doesn't just evaporate
in one year. So last year I was feeling a
little bit weird. This year I'm settled in. I'm definitely
excited to watch. I feel like a fan. I'm excited
(15:49):
to see how the teams look week one, excited to
see the Bengals play.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Now when you watch, can you just chill out and relax,
or are you still watching it through the lens of
a player, of an active player?
Speaker 7 (16:02):
I think the Bengals specifically, I'm very emotionally invested because
I still know a lot of the guys, particularly the
coaching staff, Ted, Joe, defensive guys. But that kind of
fades over time.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Ohio State, when.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
I knew everybody on the team, feels a little bit different.
But I think I'll always be passionate about the Buckeyes
and the Bengals. But I want to see my friends
do well that are still playing.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
They get Dexter Lawrence, and you know firsthand, having played
with DJ, what it's like to have a dude that
the other team's got to send two to block. So
for guys like Miles Murphy, Boye Mafe, on the edge,
Cash's Howl is a rookie. How do they stand to
benefit beyond the obvious when you've got a guy like
Dexter Lawrence in the middle?
Speaker 7 (16:48):
I think everybody benefits. That's the one thing that, you know,
you can hide a lot of patches and holes in
your roster, but especially in the AFC North, if you
can't stop a and b gap runs i mean you
you're in trouble so that's one thing like you know
you can't make up for and the fact that he's
(17:08):
so savvy and so smart and such a vet i
think that you know him knowing where the slides are
going and talking to those edge rushers and freeing up
the backers there's just uh the the advantages of him
out there compound to other players in ways that a
lot of other positions it's not as big of an impact.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You played with miles murphy And his first two seasons
were a struggle. He's the first to admit that. Then
second half of the year last year, he looked like
a different player. And now, like, one of the things
I'm excited about is watching what year four may hold.
What was it like watching him last year?
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Yeah, I thought that, you know, when Miles came in,
he was, you know, the way he moved, it was
pretty wild to watch. And then, you know, my last year, 2024,
I think that was his second year.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Last year was his third year.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
He was really progressing well throughout camp, and I thought
he was going to have a big year. And then
right before our first game, he had a really bad
MCL injury. When you get those training camp injuries and
you miss a lot of time, it's really hard to
get back in your groove of conditioning and the skills
you've built. So that was a bit of a derail,
but I'm excited for him to have a healthy offseason,
(18:20):
have that momentum from last year. And I think he's
on a really nice trajectory to have a really good year.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And they draft Cassius Howell. And there's playing high major
college football, which you did. And there's going through your
first NFL training camp. And there's playing in your first
preseason game. But is there any substitute for what those
first snaps close to 1 o'clock on Sunday for a
rookie are going to be like?
Speaker 7 (18:42):
No, there's nothing that can replicate it. I just remember
how fast everything is. I think that the advantage for
Cassius is that he's got some players in front of
him and that they can give him a dose here
and there, pass rush, get situational here and there, and
that's how you get your feet wet. I had Michael
Johnson and Carlos Dunlap in front of me. All of
(19:05):
a sudden, Michael Johnson went down, and then I played
60 snaps after playing eight snaps week two.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
So you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
But that first game, I think just getting that first
one under your belt with not having to do a
full workload, you can kind of build on that. And
I'm sure he'll be active in special teams, which is
a whole other ballgame.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
What do you remember, like the 2018, which you guys
got off to a good start. Yeah. And the season
didn't unfold the way any of us would have liked,
but you guys started 3-1. I remember our last second
win at Atlanta. What do you remember about those first
couple of games where you're a new NFL player? You're
a rookie. Welcome to the NFL moments.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Yeah, I've had a lot of welcome to the NFL moments.
I mean, I can take this any direction. You Johnson
gets hurt. Well, actually, the first game I didn't play
until the very last drive. Everyone got tired on the
two-minute drive and they ran out of bodies and I
think they forgot and threw me in there, so I
got a few rushes. We ended up winning the game
(20:03):
and then the next week, Coach told me I was
going to be getting more snaps. Michael Johnson gets hurt,
and I end up playing like 60 snaps and had
a sack and thought I was going to be, you know,
this was easy. And week three we go to Carolina,
and I was, again, going to have a big workload.
And I missed a fumble. I missed a blocked punt and, like,
(20:26):
didn't play to my best. And I realized that the
NFL will humble you no matter what. And you need
to be on point every single week. And that's kind
of like the approach I took from then on. never
getting too high or too low because you're always going
to be brought down to be humbled by the NFL.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
There was, and you were among them, a group of
players who were here toward the end of Marvin's time
in Cincinnati and went through a real rough stretch, but
were there for 2021 and 2022. Go back to like
year one or two for Zach Taylor when he's trying
to establish a culture, trying to establish a tone. And
(21:05):
needing the buy-in of guys who had been here prior
to him. What was that period of time like?
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, that was, you know, it's Coach Taylor
came from the Rams. Lou came from the Giants and
the Dolphins. And, you know, they were both young coaches
developing their own playbooks. We had a young roster. We
had a lot of veterans at the same time. And
we kind of figured it out on the fly. I
think that the people that really embraced what they were
(21:33):
trying to build, stuck around, and we were able to
have some great draft picks. Joe and Jamar coming in
really can help things. So, and the free agent signings,
you know, sometimes you just have a great mix of
guys getting Vaughn Bell, Trey Hendrickson, BJ Hill, last second trade. Like,
some of those trades and additions just mesh perfectly at
(21:55):
the right time, and you pair it with Zach's vision,
Lou's vision, and... A bunch of guys that came from
winning programs, it really worked out. But it was not easy,
I'll say that.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
So we would admit it would be more fun to
be talking about this had you beaten the Rams. But
I so cherish that playoff run because you guys hadn't
won a playoff game since I was in the eighth grade.
Living here, you knew the drought. And you knew what
just winning a playoff game would mean to people. With
the benefit of some hindsight now, as you've reflected on
(22:28):
your career, what was that stretch in your life like
where you're a Cincinnatian helping the Bengals finally break through
and advance in the postseason and then remarkably get to
a Super Bowl?
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Yeah, I mean, I'm forever grateful for it. It's something
I will forever cherish. I still live in Cincinnati. This
is my home to be able to do that. But
going into even making the playoffs, I was– I felt
like I carried an extra weight on my shoulders, you know,
knowing the history, being a fan, when we were losing,
(22:59):
everyone that I had known my whole life saying, you know,
what's going on. And then to go to the Raiders
week one of the playoffs and, you know, win that game,
I remember looking around and, like, couldn't believe that this
had happened and everyone else had come from teams like
the Saints where they won games all the time. Joe
(23:20):
just won a national championship.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
It was business as usual.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
And I was trying to reiterate, like, no, you guys
don't understand what we just did.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And, you know, one thing led to another.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We kept winning.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
But, you know, I have endless stories of anecdotes or whatever,
special encounters during that month, two months, you know, from
my grade school on Montgomery Road, having every student put up.
94 sticker in the front yard, stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's just unbelievable. You know, the late Tom Browning, he
and I would talk about, like, you've probably met a
half million people who are in attendance for your perfect game.
So the rumble in the jungle or the Hubbard Yard
Dash or whatever we've decided it is, I don't know
what you like to call it. Obviously, it's still relatively recent,
but how many people have you met that have Either
(24:10):
told you they were there or told you where they
were and who they were with at that moment.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
I think it's the first thing people say to me.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I wonder what they would say to me. Every day?
Every day somebody's got a story? No, not every day.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
But when I meet a new person, they share what
that moment meant to them. It's really cool because they
were either, I was in the stands with my son.
It's our favorite moment in all football watching. But I
wonder what they would say if I never had that play.
I'm thankful that That was kind of just the football
gods smiling on the hometown kid. It's pretty wild to
(24:44):
think that that actually happened. I still go back and
watch it play from time to time.
Speaker 9 (24:47):
Do you?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I do, of course. And, like, what's the first thing
that you think of when you watch that?
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Probably everything that went into, like, you know, three weeks,
four weeks before that. I had a grade two calf,
missed two games, wasn't sure if I was going to play.
You know, just by the skin of my teeth came back.
didn't play that well, was just grinding it out, and
then had enough in the tank from years of training
(25:16):
and conditioning and just trying to do the right thing,
be in the right spot at the right time for
it to pay off like that.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
It's pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I'm sure it wasn't cool in real time, but now
that you're out of the game, is it cool that
your last play was catching a touchdown? Of course.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
In real time, that's not what you wanted.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 7 (25:35):
I didn't know it was my... play at the time
but you know you're you're in the offseason you're like
I don't know if I can top that should I
go back out there you know it's like you go
out on a high I got Joe's jersey in my
basement from that game I got the ball I got it.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
All yeah like what went into calling that like is
that I mean it's obviously something you can.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Practice yeah right yeah no that was uh that was
a year of development how that play come about and
credit credit to Zach you know I dealt with a
lot of injuries my last year and Still felt like
I wanted to help the team. This was a way
I could help the team. We needed a tight end.
He had cooked this up. We were looking for the
right look for weeks. It finally lined up, and we
(26:16):
were down at the time. Joe, running that play in
pregame practice, or actually just practice, we would just go
out there. I'd run the route, and he would always
tell me, you got to run it. Running hard, you know,
there's going to be a guy on you. I don't
think you're going to catch it. So he would throw
me like a bullet in practice. And sure enough, in
(26:36):
the game, there was a guy on my back. I
caught it. I think it was most of anything a
special moment between Joe and I. I saw him grow
up from a college kid to now become the leader
of the team. And just a really special moment between
two friends.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I think of players like you following in the footsteps
of Anthony. And it's cool that you're here. Like, to me,
Anthony Munoz is the gold standard of not just great players,
but guys who say, I'm getting involved and I'm helping people.
And I'm using my fame, my notoriety, my platform to
help people. And you have followed that with your foundation.
(27:12):
And so, you know, give folks an idea, sort of
post-playing career, what you're doing and what it's been like
to not just play for the Bengals as a Cincinnati kid,
but be a part of helping this community.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
You know, like you said, I'm from here, but from
the time I started playing for the Bengals, I always
viewed it if I was just, you know, remembered for
what I did on the field. When my time was over,
it had been a missed opportunity, so... I had a
great team around me off the field and established my foundation.
We have our Hubbard's Cupboards program where we have physical
(27:46):
cupboards in schools. We're in 40 schools this year, serving
over 18,000 kids, giving them hygiene items, school supplies, healthy snacks.
And it's something I dedicate a lot of my free
time to now that I'm not playing anymore. I do
philanthropy and was a finance major and other business stuff.
But my real passion is to trying to give opportunities
(28:06):
to people in Cincinnati like I had and hopefully inspire
them and leverage the opportunities I was given to do
something that will outlast the game.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, you're a credit to this town and a huge
part of Bengals history, but just a big part of
this community. And it's great that you're still here. And
there's a part of me that wishes you were still
playing because it was fun to watch you with a
good Bengals team, and I think they're going to be
damn good this year.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
I think so, too.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But you'll have fun watching it like a more educated fan.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
Just like me.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
I'll be there week one.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Sam, thanks so much.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
Yeah, thank you, bro.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
The great Sam Hubbard with us. It's 21 from 6.
This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530,
the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Traffic. From the UC Health.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Traffic.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
Stan Hoard. Join Dave Lapham and me for Bengals Game Plan. Tonight,
starting at 6 on the official home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Quarter to 6. This is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger broadcasting
from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate. On Wednesdays, we
chat with our friend from the Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. Kelsey
Conway covering the Bengals host of Beyond Sunday. And with
us now, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Hey, Mo, how are you doing?
Speaker 5 (29:40):
I'm well.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I just read you and Pat and your bold predictions
for the season, and I would like to talk about them.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
What do you got? I'm not going to give them
all away. I want folks to read it, but I
want to talk about two of them. One is yours.
One is Pat's. One I like. One I don't. Are
you ready?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Amarius Mims is going to be a pro bowler. I'll
one-up you. I think he's going to be all pro. Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Well, on Amarius Mims today, we actually had a chance
to talk to Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, and at
the end, right before he was done talking about the
Bucs and the offense, I said, who has been the
most improved offensive coordinator player including like the starters and
the players that see most of the reps from the
(30:27):
conclusion of the season last year to right now and
he answered pretty quickly and he said Amari is them
and he said that he does it because of how
highly he thinks of him and just he likes the
way that he's attacked this camp. They like his mentality
this year. He's healthy. He's got a new level of
(30:48):
confidence in him because he knows who he's playing next
to at guard and across the board when you talk
to multiple people here, everyone is glowing about Amarius Mims
and what he can be for the Bengals this year.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I can't talk about a tackle without asking about the backups,
and the good news is, from a Bengals perspective, if
that's your most glaring question, that's pretty good. Like, who's
the backup tackle at the same time? Boy, if either
of those dudes has to miss even a snap, I'm
not sure I have any confidence in who charges out
on the field to replace them. Should I feel better
than I do?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
No, I don't think you should. And we tried to
get an answer out of that. And, you know, I'm
not expecting the coaches to tell us who would be
the swing tackle at this point. But we did ask
and we got a no comment on who exactly is
going to be.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
There.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It'll either be Javon Foster or Jalen Rivers, in my opinion,
at this point, if it were to happen in game one.
I just don't think any of the new guys that
they have right now would necessarily be ready. So those
two names would be ones to keep an eye on
when I've asked about it. Those are two names that
I've repeatedly got when asked about that question.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
All right. Another bold prediction from the five that you
and Pat have right now at Cincinnati.com, and I believe
this is Pat's, that the Bengals linebackers aren't going to
necessarily work out to the degree that we would like.
I don't want to believe this, but I kind of do.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
That is, you know, of all of the questions, which,
as you kept saying, is a good problem to have, right?
The team has done so much on the defensive side
of the ball to eliminate questions at key positions. The
one real thing we haven't been able to gauge, and
you and I talked about this when I came on
your show before camp, is with the limitations on what
(32:37):
players can do tackling-wise, it's just... Yes, you can see,
are they moving faster? Is their recognition, is their communication better?
Are all of those things better? You've heard that from
Zach Sandler and Al Golden that it is better. But
at the end of the day, all anybody wants to
see is that those two are tackling better and that
those two are playing better. And you can't see that
(32:58):
until they take the field on Sunday against the Bucs.
So it remains the biggest question, in my opinion, that
this team faces at this point in the season. And
the good news is we'll find out pretty quickly if
that is going to be a question that's answered and
it has a positive answer or if it's going to
be the comment of the year, well, we knew this
(33:19):
was coming. Why didn't they do anything to address that?
And we won't be able to figure that out until
we see them try and tackle the Bucs running backs
and we see what they can do out on the field.
But As it was last year, everything is all positive
at this point, and you find out some of these
answers pretty quickly here when the game actually starts to
(33:40):
be played.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Three players on the injury report, each of them full
go today, Shamar, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. Is this
the healthiest they've been going into week one since you
started covering the teams?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, and I actually was just thinking that. I didn't
know if Jamar and Shamar would be limited on Wednesday.
It's not uncommon in the NFL for the first day
of the Wednesday to be when that's really their first
install day of the game plan for players to be
limited because Thursday is really their heavy day of practice.
(34:13):
And I think it's a really great sign that all
three players were full participants in practice today. It seems
like Jamar and Tee are going to be all good
to go. The only player that it seems that Zach
Taylor was unwilling to really give an extreme vote of
confidence as far as their availability on Sunday right now
is Jamar. He said that they want to see how
(34:35):
he responds throughout the week. I think that if he
is able to play, it'd probably be in a limited role.
I think that Cassius Howell is going to be the
player right now who's really their rotational edge player that
would probably get the reps over Shamar just simply because
he's only been able to practice for a week. But
I think it's a really positive sign that he was
(34:56):
a full participant in practice today. And you're right, this
is the healthiest the Bengals have been. In addition to
being healthy, this is the most drama-free well-cultured top-notch leadership
locker room that i have seen this team have since
2021 um it's giving and you know you've heard that
(35:17):
from a lot of people and mo you were down
here you've interviewed these players um every day during training
camp this team has A lot of guys of high character,
and Zach Taylor even talked about it, like the fact
that the three players who didn't get a contract extension,
you didn't hear a peep out of them. They practiced
every day. Everything about this from the injuries to just
(35:40):
the improved leadership, to the improved talent, to just the
camaraderie in the whole building, it's just setting things up
for this to be a really special season in Cincinnati.
And it's just been a really, really positive training camp
and preseason.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, it certainly was from my perspective as well. Can't
thank you enough. We'll talk to you next week, Kelsey.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Read Kelsey's work, Cincinnati.com. Check out the Beyond Sunday podcast.
And of course, read her. In the Cincinnati Inquirer. We
are done. A special thanks to the folks with the
Anthony Munoz Foundation for rolling out the red carpet for us.
They are always so awesome. All the former players we
talked with, absolute first class. Our thanks to Dave Abbott
for producing on site. Of course, Taryn Bland back in Kenwood.
(36:24):
We're back at it tomorrow in Studio 305. Have a
great night. Bengals game plan is coming up next after
we're done and then the season opener tonight, Seahawks and Patriots.
Have a great night. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
Traffic.
Bengals!
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bengals fans have waited all offseason for football, and it's
finally here. Can the Orange and Blacks start the season
fast and steal the win? Or will our beloved Bengals
be swashbuckled by the Buccaneers? Coverage begins Sunday morning at
9 a.m. Stream for free on the new and improved
iHeartRadio app or on ESPN 1530, the official home of
(00:23):
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's the Bengals and Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's up? Six after five. This is ESPN 1530 Mo Egger.
Thank you for joining us today. We're broadcasting from the
Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate here in Westchester at Topgolf.
The ninth year of this event. Everything tonight benefiting the
Anthony Munoz Foundation. And this is the ninth year we've
been out here broadcasting. And it's always awesome to get
(00:50):
a chance to sit here and chat with Bengals legends
like the two gentlemen here. And young child we have
up here now. The great Max Montoya. The great David Fulcher.
And the great Braxton Fulcher.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Look at that, man. Size 9 shoe. And he's only
19 months.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So we're thinking like class of what?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I'd say the 20, 20, 20, 2041 first pick of
the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Braxton Fulcher.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
Pretty good. Play anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, first you got to get that college and a
hill money.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Well, I think he's getting that right now. We're working
on that right now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Gentlemen, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Nothing much, man.
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Nice to be out here.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Hanging out.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Great to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Great to be with you guys. Great to be so
excited about the start of the season.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I am.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I think it's, you know, you look at some of
the comments, you know, people go now or never, blah, blah, blah.
Everybody wants to win. But I think they've put the.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Put the defense in place to make plays. We know
the offenses should make plays.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
If everybody does what they're supposed to do, we'll be
happy in February.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I'll be happy watching defensive players make tackles. Didn't see
that a lot last year. And I think we've got
some guys who can.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
That would be a big improvement. Really good to see
the defensive personnel bump it up a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, I think that defensive line, by bringing them in here,
will help.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Those young linebackers.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Because those young linebackers, when they came in here as rookies,
they were just happy to be in the NFL, like
we all were. And all of a sudden you start realizing, well,
I just can't run through that hole. I just can't
take off over there because I'm playing against the best.
But I think now that they've got those guys up front,
it will help them young players become better.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
More than anything, I want to see them get off
to a good start.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
A really good start.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I'm talking 4-1 or 5-0.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Playing from ahead.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, when you're playing ahead, I mean, you can do
a lot of things. When you're playing behind, you're forced
to do one thing. Now you want number nine to
throw the ball 50 times in the game to try
to get back to even, and you don't want that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And, you know, ideally for me, what they're trying to do,
what they've tried to do this offseason, plays itself out
during the regular season where they can have multiple identities,
have Joe operating under center, more play action, run it
more effectively, and then when they've got to put him
in the gun, we know what that looks like.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
Yeah. For me, I wish they didn't play him in
the gun.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Because I think when you're in the gun, you're trying
to run the football five yards deep because your tailback's
right there by the quarterback. And then everything else happens
to bring that defense up because they're.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
In the shotgun.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Or defense is going to drop back, they're in the shotgun.
They're not going to run the ball in the shotgun.
And for me, you're starting at five yards deep. You know,
when we had our offense and the great offense that
we had back in the 80s, them guys, you know,
Boomer was under the center and he'd turn around and
best play action, pass and Passer, I think, in football.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think in football. I didn't just say Bengals. I
said football.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
And what it does, it creates space between the defender
and the offensive guy because they don't know or they
do know what you're doing. And in this case, when
Joe is on the center, they're going to hand the
ball off to Chase Brown in the backfield, and they
can play action from there. But I think when you
get inside that red zone, you've got to compact things
(04:19):
and then make the defense– play to your doing, not
their own doing, if that makes sense.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
It does. It does.
Speaker 6 (04:27):
But I'm old school. I like smash mouth football.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Me too.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
So I think you really set it up with the run.
And then, like you say, you can do just about anything.
Play action, under center. Yes. But really, you've got to
have some running backs. We had James Brooks.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
Which is Ring of Honor this year.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Ring of Honor this year, yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Congratulations to JB.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Yeah, JB.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
We had Icky. We had some pretty good backs.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Stanford Jennings. Stanford, oh, yeah. Absolutely. And I'm not going to,
you know, Stanley Wilson.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
He was on the team.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
He was on the team.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Yeah, productive. We had some stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know what else I thought we had that was
really good?
Speaker 6 (05:04):
We had good balance.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
The balance of players.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
You know, when Max came out of the game, the
guy that was taking Max's position, the only difference was
Montoya on the back of the jersey and a different number.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
So everybody had a job.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So when you lost a guy or a guy moved,
the next guy in line knew what his job was.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
But I think that's what I liked about watching the
preseason play out was, like, we didn't watch the starters
all that much.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
Did they play?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
First game a little bit. But you saw backups. You
saw rookies. You saw draft picks. You saw guys who
were rookies that weren't draft picks. Like, that was the
fun thing to me. I think I know the starters
on this team are good. What I was wondering about is,
as the preseason plays out, do we feel better about
the depth? And the answer is yes.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, the depth that we've got right now is pretty remarkable.
But as a former player, and I don't know how
Max felt about that, I wanted to play in preseason.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Really?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I used to ask, yeah, because this is what I
saw during the week, Anthony and Max.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Right.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
All weekend.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I know I'm not going to go in there and
try to knock Max down or Max is going to
try to knock me down, but we still had a
job to do. But in preseason, you know, I'm not
saying play the whole game.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
No. Let me have a quarter or two, Coach.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Design 10 plays and whatever happens, if it's a 10-play drive,
I'm done.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
If it's a three and out, I got seven more.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
You really have to have that live action, I believe.
We're old school from way back. I think that's where
you really develop your game and your cohesiveness as an
offense defense is during the preseason games. If you can
at least play a quarter, maybe two quarters.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
It helps.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
And not only that, it helps you in game condition,
which is completely different from practice.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
What comes to mind when you watch how they practice
during camp now?
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Country club.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
I wish I was playing today. I'll say it.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
It's a country club.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
It is, man.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I mean, you know, these guys are wearing shorts. You know,
no thigh pads or knee pads. They got on shoulder pads,
but there is no, you know, the initial... O-line, D-line.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
You get all that.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
For us, DBs and safeties and those guys, I mean,
I'm playing man-to-man on the tight end, and I'm five
yards off. So I'm not getting in there trying to
beat him up, you know, unless LeBeau wants us to
get up there and choke him. But I need to
have that outside of doing it with my own team.
I want to do it with another team.
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Live action.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Live action, man.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Nothing beats live action.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I mean, you know, when I was a kid, I'd
go to Wilmington College to watch you guys with my dad.
And I remember watching the practice in the morning. And
going like, holy hell, that was unbelievable. My dad going, yeah, well,
they're coming back in three hours.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
And they're going to do it again.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And then you like relay that to the guys now
and it's like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (07:45):
What?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Did y'all really do that?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I don't think they practiced more than three days in
a row.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So they'll do like practice, practice, walkthrough. So they will
be on the field three days in a row. And
the first two days, again, by today's standards, for us
being there, pretty physical. Again, not 1988.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Full pads.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Later in camp, yes. And then you would get to
day three and it was a day off without being
a day off.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
It's like a Saturday.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
I thought every day was a day off.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
We look at football today when they got them shorts on.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
I saw T.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Higgins running a pattern the other day and I could
have swore you had on– it wasn't spandex, but I
thought maybe it was just some long, long.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Johns, you know, long underwear.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And I'm thinking, man, one knee touched together, somebody fall
on the ground and hit that knee or whatever, and
now these guys are done. And you can't practice 50%.
It's got to go 100 miles an hour every time because–
you're subject to getting hurt when you don't practice hard.
(08:51):
And I would rather be fully geared, practicing hard where
I don't have anything happening to me.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Day one of camp this year, we had not even
a fight, but a skirmish. Did you guys have a
lot of those?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
We had a few, especially with Tim Crumright.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Of course.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
In the interior line.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
And not only just Tim, we had problems with Brooks
and Icky coming through the line of scrimmage, and we
just kind of like relaxed and ate. JB puts his
helmet right in your chest and knock you down and
didn't want to laugh at you.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
So all of a sudden, every practice became physical.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Because I did not want James Brooks to be pointing
at me or Icky to say something crazy. So we
had to practice physical not to hurt each other. But
I think it just got us prepared to play week one.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I like the fights. Dale, I like the training camp.
Speaker 6 (09:40):
Fights are okay. They don't really accomplish anything.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
It's fine.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
It tells me that there's a heatedness, a spiritedness to it.
I don't want anybody to get hurt. I don't want
the team to be broken up. But I do think
that is a sign of intensity and competitiveness.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A little feistiness is always good. But, yeah, it generally
doesn't accomplish anything but gets you tired because you're down
there wrestling each other and you still.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Got to practice. I wasn't trying to fight and practice.
I wasn't trying to fight in games.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We played the Indianapolis Colts here with Eric Dickerson playing
running back. And he come through the line of scrimmage
and Joe Kelly, One of Joe Kelly's hits.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Boom.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Knocked Eric's helmet off. And he got up, and he
going to try to get in Joe's face. And I went, hey, Eric,
don't do that, dude. Because that dude right there will
punch you. And sure enough, Joe went like this, hit
him in the chin. Referee didn't see it.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I said, ooh.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
Lucky he didn't get.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
I thought he was gone. They were really close, and
Joe just kind of went like that real quick. And
you could see Eric's helmet go back. And then Eric
got mad.
Speaker 8 (10:41):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
And I'm thinking. My money's on Joe.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Why would these guys try to fight with face masks on?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You know, you've addressed my biggest question about the sport itself.
Two guys will get into a fight. They're wearing helmets.
They hit each other in the face.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
That's why I don't fight.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, like, I don't like the stereotype of, like,
dumb football players, but that's the one where you're like, man,
I'm not sure those guys... We're at the top of
the class.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Unless you're Lyle Alzado and pull the guy's helmet off.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Pull the guy's helmet off.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
You remember that.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
That guy was in a different universe.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
He was a psychopath. To answer that question on the
fighting part of it, it's called competing. You know, somebody
got embarrassed or somebody got hit, somebody got pushed, and
they didn't like it. And then the big guy who
did it or the guy who did it is laughing
at you. And now when you go back in the huddle,
all I'm thinking about is, boy, number 65.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
He shouldn't have never did that.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Dirty rat.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And then when we went to L.A., we were down
at the Raiders. I mean, it was like night and day.
You had to work out on your own for the
Raiders because we didn't do no gassers after practice. I
lined up for gassers, and these guys were looking at
me like, what are you doing, dude? I said, we
can do some conditioning. No, dude, you're on your own.
I'm thinking, we didn't do that in Cincinnati.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
We had gassers.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
We had work after practice. Is that why you both
ended up there?
Speaker 5 (11:57):
I don't know. Not just him, me, him. Ricky Dixon.
Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You know, the guys and the simple fact that I
think the Raiders is the Bengals' farm club.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
Well, you know, when you get there, I don't know
what Al Davis told you, but he told me, Max,
just give me a couple good years.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
That's it. That was it. That's what he said.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
He said, just give me a couple good years. I
want a couple good years.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I want to see David Fulcher, the guy I played
against when he was in Cincinnati with the Raiders.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
And I said, you got it, coach.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
And I think that's his whole thought process. He's getting
a lot of older players that come there retire, but
give me a couple good ones.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
But do you think about how cool that is that
you played for Paul Brown and Al Davis?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Like you can't tell the story of the league without
in the first like five paragraphs mentioning those two men.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I mean, and I tell people one of the stories, Max,
when I left, since I went to the Raiders, I
was in the locker room and.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I wanted to go get me a Coke from the machine.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Well, it said 25 cents. So I put a quarter in,
and it just kept coming through. Now, back in Cincinnati,
you put a quarter in there. And I kept doing it.
It asked for another one. Yeah, Tim Brown comes up
and just hits it. Out comes the Coke. And I'm like, dude,
I've been standing there for five minutes, man.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
He said, we don't pay for nothing around here. And
I went, oh, did I just make it to the NFL?
Because in Cincinnati, we had to pay for everything. Commitment
to excellence.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Commitment to excellence, man. It's the Raiders, man.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well, you both are still Bengals to me.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Oh, no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely. Well, thank you guys very much.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
How does it make you feel to see the UCLA shirt?
You guys aren't in the same conference anymore.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Well, yeah, way back.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I got the same one at home that says Arizona State.
Speaker 8 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
And I almost wore it, and I said, no, I'm
going to wear this one.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Well, I'm so old that I played when it was
a Pac-8.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Pac-8, that's right.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
And then it became the Pac-10.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Pac-10, then the 12. Yeah, I was there at the
Pac-10 conference. And when they say Pac-8, I'm like, Pac-8?
What the heck is a Pac-8?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
But I do remember that, but now the Pac-12. I
don't even know what Pac-12 is. They canceled that, didn't they?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Well, they've revived it with other schools. UCLA on the
Pacific Ocean is in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which makes
all the sense in the world. Well, no, there are schools,
Stanford and Cal are in the ACC.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
You guys are in the Pac-10.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Even I lose track. Yes. Big Ten country, Los Angeles. Gentlemen,
thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Thank you for having us, brother.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Awesome to have the two of you with us. Anthony Munoz,
Foundation Topgolf, Tailgate, Sam Hubbard, scheduled to join us next
on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (14:29):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 8 (14:31):
Traffic.
Speaker 9 (14:35):
This is Football in the Natty, brought to you in
part by Skyline Chili on ESPN 1530, the official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Broadcasting from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate on ESPN 1530,
Mo Egger, and awesome to be joined by one of
the authors of one of the most iconic plays in
Bengals franchise history, Pride of Cincinnati, Moeller High School, Ohio State,
Sam Hubbard is here. What's up?
Speaker 5 (15:05):
How we doing?
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's good to have you here. I just asked you
off air, like today, it's the Wednesday. It's the Wednesday
before the opener. So it's like the first practice where
you guys are like specifically game planning for the opponent.
A year ago, you were freshly retired. Now you're a
year removed. Are you feeling different? Weird? Is it still
bizarre to not be preparing to play a game? What's
it like?
Speaker 7 (15:28):
I think last off season was a bit more bizarre.
My body was gearing up, you know, 20 years of, uh,
summer prep to go into training camp doesn't just evaporate
in one year. So last year I was feeling a
little bit weird. This year I'm settled in. I'm definitely
excited to watch. I feel like a fan. I'm excited
(15:49):
to see how the teams look week one, excited to
see the Bengals play.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Now when you watch, can you just chill out and relax,
or are you still watching it through the lens of
a player, of an active player?
Speaker 7 (16:02):
I think the Bengals specifically, I'm very emotionally invested because
I still know a lot of the guys, particularly the
coaching staff, Ted, Joe, defensive guys. But that kind of
fades over time.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Ohio State, when.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
I knew everybody on the team, feels a little bit different.
But I think I'll always be passionate about the Buckeyes
and the Bengals. But I want to see my friends
do well that are still playing.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
They get Dexter Lawrence, and you know firsthand, having played
with DJ, what it's like to have a dude that
the other team's got to send two to block. So
for guys like Miles Murphy, Boye Mafe, on the edge,
Cash's Howl is a rookie. How do they stand to
benefit beyond the obvious when you've got a guy like
Dexter Lawrence in the middle?
Speaker 7 (16:48):
I think everybody benefits. That's the one thing that, you know,
you can hide a lot of patches and holes in
your roster, but especially in the AFC North, if you
can't stop a and b gap runs i mean you
you're in trouble so that's one thing like you know
you can't make up for and the fact that he's
(17:08):
so savvy and so smart and such a vet i
think that you know him knowing where the slides are
going and talking to those edge rushers and freeing up
the backers there's just uh the the advantages of him
out there compound to other players in ways that a
lot of other positions it's not as big of an impact.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You played with miles murphy And his first two seasons
were a struggle. He's the first to admit that. Then
second half of the year last year, he looked like
a different player. And now, like, one of the things
I'm excited about is watching what year four may hold.
What was it like watching him last year?
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Yeah, I thought that, you know, when Miles came in,
he was, you know, the way he moved, it was
pretty wild to watch. And then, you know, my last year, 2024,
I think that was his second year.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Last year was his third year.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
He was really progressing well throughout camp, and I thought
he was going to have a big year. And then
right before our first game, he had a really bad
MCL injury. When you get those training camp injuries and
you miss a lot of time, it's really hard to
get back in your groove of conditioning and the skills
you've built. So that was a bit of a derail,
but I'm excited for him to have a healthy offseason,
(18:20):
have that momentum from last year. And I think he's
on a really nice trajectory to have a really good year.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And they draft Cassius Howell. And there's playing high major
college football, which you did. And there's going through your
first NFL training camp. And there's playing in your first
preseason game. But is there any substitute for what those
first snaps close to 1 o'clock on Sunday for a
rookie are going to be like?
Speaker 7 (18:42):
No, there's nothing that can replicate it. I just remember
how fast everything is. I think that the advantage for
Cassius is that he's got some players in front of
him and that they can give him a dose here
and there, pass rush, get situational here and there, and
that's how you get your feet wet. I had Michael
Johnson and Carlos Dunlap in front of me. All of
(19:05):
a sudden, Michael Johnson went down, and then I played
60 snaps after playing eight snaps week two.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
So you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
But that first game, I think just getting that first
one under your belt with not having to do a
full workload, you can kind of build on that. And
I'm sure he'll be active in special teams, which is
a whole other ballgame.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
What do you remember, like the 2018, which you guys
got off to a good start. Yeah. And the season
didn't unfold the way any of us would have liked,
but you guys started 3-1. I remember our last second
win at Atlanta. What do you remember about those first
couple of games where you're a new NFL player? You're
a rookie. Welcome to the NFL moments.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Yeah, I've had a lot of welcome to the NFL moments.
I mean, I can take this any direction. You Johnson
gets hurt. Well, actually, the first game I didn't play
until the very last drive. Everyone got tired on the
two-minute drive and they ran out of bodies and I
think they forgot and threw me in there, so I
got a few rushes. We ended up winning the game
(20:03):
and then the next week, Coach told me I was
going to be getting more snaps. Michael Johnson gets hurt,
and I end up playing like 60 snaps and had
a sack and thought I was going to be, you know,
this was easy. And week three we go to Carolina,
and I was, again, going to have a big workload.
And I missed a fumble. I missed a blocked punt and, like,
(20:26):
didn't play to my best. And I realized that the
NFL will humble you no matter what. And you need
to be on point every single week. And that's kind
of like the approach I took from then on. never
getting too high or too low because you're always going
to be brought down to be humbled by the NFL.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
There was, and you were among them, a group of
players who were here toward the end of Marvin's time
in Cincinnati and went through a real rough stretch, but
were there for 2021 and 2022. Go back to like
year one or two for Zach Taylor when he's trying
to establish a culture, trying to establish a tone. And
(21:05):
needing the buy-in of guys who had been here prior
to him. What was that period of time like?
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, that was, you know, it's Coach Taylor
came from the Rams. Lou came from the Giants and
the Dolphins. And, you know, they were both young coaches
developing their own playbooks. We had a young roster. We
had a lot of veterans at the same time. And
we kind of figured it out on the fly. I
think that the people that really embraced what they were
(21:33):
trying to build, stuck around, and we were able to
have some great draft picks. Joe and Jamar coming in
really can help things. So, and the free agent signings,
you know, sometimes you just have a great mix of
guys getting Vaughn Bell, Trey Hendrickson, BJ Hill, last second trade. Like,
some of those trades and additions just mesh perfectly at
(21:55):
the right time, and you pair it with Zach's vision,
Lou's vision, and... A bunch of guys that came from
winning programs, it really worked out. But it was not easy,
I'll say that.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
So we would admit it would be more fun to
be talking about this had you beaten the Rams. But
I so cherish that playoff run because you guys hadn't
won a playoff game since I was in the eighth grade.
Living here, you knew the drought. And you knew what
just winning a playoff game would mean to people. With
the benefit of some hindsight now, as you've reflected on
(22:28):
your career, what was that stretch in your life like
where you're a Cincinnatian helping the Bengals finally break through
and advance in the postseason and then remarkably get to
a Super Bowl?
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Yeah, I mean, I'm forever grateful for it. It's something
I will forever cherish. I still live in Cincinnati. This
is my home to be able to do that. But
going into even making the playoffs, I was– I felt
like I carried an extra weight on my shoulders, you know,
knowing the history, being a fan, when we were losing,
(22:59):
everyone that I had known my whole life saying, you know,
what's going on. And then to go to the Raiders
week one of the playoffs and, you know, win that game,
I remember looking around and, like, couldn't believe that this
had happened and everyone else had come from teams like
the Saints where they won games all the time. Joe
(23:20):
just won a national championship.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
It was business as usual.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
And I was trying to reiterate, like, no, you guys
don't understand what we just did.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And, you know, one thing led to another.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We kept winning.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
But, you know, I have endless stories of anecdotes or whatever,
special encounters during that month, two months, you know, from
my grade school on Montgomery Road, having every student put up.
94 sticker in the front yard, stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's just unbelievable. You know, the late Tom Browning, he
and I would talk about, like, you've probably met a
half million people who are in attendance for your perfect game.
So the rumble in the jungle or the Hubbard Yard
Dash or whatever we've decided it is, I don't know
what you like to call it. Obviously, it's still relatively recent,
but how many people have you met that have Either
(24:10):
told you they were there or told you where they
were and who they were with at that moment.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
I think it's the first thing people say to me.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I wonder what they would say to me. Every day?
Every day somebody's got a story? No, not every day.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
But when I meet a new person, they share what
that moment meant to them. It's really cool because they
were either, I was in the stands with my son.
It's our favorite moment in all football watching. But I
wonder what they would say if I never had that play.
I'm thankful that That was kind of just the football
gods smiling on the hometown kid. It's pretty wild to
(24:44):
think that that actually happened. I still go back and
watch it play from time to time.
Speaker 9 (24:47):
Do you?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I do, of course. And, like, what's the first thing
that you think of when you watch that?
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Probably everything that went into, like, you know, three weeks,
four weeks before that. I had a grade two calf,
missed two games, wasn't sure if I was going to play.
You know, just by the skin of my teeth came back.
didn't play that well, was just grinding it out, and
then had enough in the tank from years of training
(25:16):
and conditioning and just trying to do the right thing,
be in the right spot at the right time for
it to pay off like that.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
It's pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I'm sure it wasn't cool in real time, but now
that you're out of the game, is it cool that
your last play was catching a touchdown? Of course.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
In real time, that's not what you wanted.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 7 (25:35):
I didn't know it was my... play at the time
but you know you're you're in the offseason you're like
I don't know if I can top that should I
go back out there you know it's like you go
out on a high I got Joe's jersey in my
basement from that game I got the ball I got it.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
All yeah like what went into calling that like is
that I mean it's obviously something you can.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Practice yeah right yeah no that was uh that was
a year of development how that play come about and
credit credit to Zach you know I dealt with a
lot of injuries my last year and Still felt like
I wanted to help the team. This was a way
I could help the team. We needed a tight end.
He had cooked this up. We were looking for the
right look for weeks. It finally lined up, and we
(26:16):
were down at the time. Joe, running that play in
pregame practice, or actually just practice, we would just go
out there. I'd run the route, and he would always
tell me, you got to run it. Running hard, you know,
there's going to be a guy on you. I don't
think you're going to catch it. So he would throw
me like a bullet in practice. And sure enough, in
(26:36):
the game, there was a guy on my back. I
caught it. I think it was most of anything a
special moment between Joe and I. I saw him grow
up from a college kid to now become the leader
of the team. And just a really special moment between
two friends.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I think of players like you following in the footsteps
of Anthony. And it's cool that you're here. Like, to me,
Anthony Munoz is the gold standard of not just great players,
but guys who say, I'm getting involved and I'm helping people.
And I'm using my fame, my notoriety, my platform to
help people. And you have followed that with your foundation.
(27:12):
And so, you know, give folks an idea, sort of
post-playing career, what you're doing and what it's been like
to not just play for the Bengals as a Cincinnati kid,
but be a part of helping this community.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
You know, like you said, I'm from here, but from
the time I started playing for the Bengals, I always
viewed it if I was just, you know, remembered for
what I did on the field. When my time was over,
it had been a missed opportunity, so... I had a
great team around me off the field and established my foundation.
We have our Hubbard's Cupboards program where we have physical
(27:46):
cupboards in schools. We're in 40 schools this year, serving
over 18,000 kids, giving them hygiene items, school supplies, healthy snacks.
And it's something I dedicate a lot of my free
time to now that I'm not playing anymore. I do
philanthropy and was a finance major and other business stuff.
But my real passion is to trying to give opportunities
(28:06):
to people in Cincinnati like I had and hopefully inspire
them and leverage the opportunities I was given to do
something that will outlast the game.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, you're a credit to this town and a huge
part of Bengals history, but just a big part of
this community. And it's great that you're still here. And
there's a part of me that wishes you were still
playing because it was fun to watch you with a
good Bengals team, and I think they're going to be
damn good this year.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
I think so, too.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But you'll have fun watching it like a more educated fan.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
Just like me.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
I'll be there week one.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Sam, thanks so much.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
Yeah, thank you, bro.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
The great Sam Hubbard with us. It's 21 from 6.
This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530,
the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Traffic. From the UC Health.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Traffic.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
Stan Hoard. Join Dave Lapham and me for Bengals Game Plan. Tonight,
starting at 6 on the official home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Quarter to 6. This is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger broadcasting
from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate. On Wednesdays, we
chat with our friend from the Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. Kelsey
Conway covering the Bengals host of Beyond Sunday. And with
us now, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Hey, Mo, how are you doing?
Speaker 5 (29:40):
I'm well.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I just read you and Pat and your bold predictions
for the season, and I would like to talk about them.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
What do you got? I'm not going to give them
all away. I want folks to read it, but I
want to talk about two of them. One is yours.
One is Pat's. One I like. One I don't. Are
you ready?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Amarius Mims is going to be a pro bowler. I'll
one-up you. I think he's going to be all pro. Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Well, on Amarius Mims today, we actually had a chance
to talk to Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, and at
the end, right before he was done talking about the
Bucs and the offense, I said, who has been the
most improved offensive coordinator player including like the starters and
the players that see most of the reps from the
(30:27):
conclusion of the season last year to right now and
he answered pretty quickly and he said Amari is them
and he said that he does it because of how
highly he thinks of him and just he likes the
way that he's attacked this camp. They like his mentality
this year. He's healthy. He's got a new level of
(30:48):
confidence in him because he knows who he's playing next
to at guard and across the board when you talk
to multiple people here, everyone is glowing about Amarius Mims
and what he can be for the Bengals this year.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I can't talk about a tackle without asking about the backups,
and the good news is, from a Bengals perspective, if
that's your most glaring question, that's pretty good. Like, who's
the backup tackle at the same time? Boy, if either
of those dudes has to miss even a snap, I'm
not sure I have any confidence in who charges out
on the field to replace them. Should I feel better
than I do?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
No, I don't think you should. And we tried to
get an answer out of that. And, you know, I'm
not expecting the coaches to tell us who would be
the swing tackle at this point. But we did ask
and we got a no comment on who exactly is
going to be.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
There.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It'll either be Javon Foster or Jalen Rivers, in my opinion,
at this point, if it were to happen in game one.
I just don't think any of the new guys that
they have right now would necessarily be ready. So those
two names would be ones to keep an eye on
when I've asked about it. Those are two names that
I've repeatedly got when asked about that question.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
All right. Another bold prediction from the five that you
and Pat have right now at Cincinnati.com, and I believe
this is Pat's, that the Bengals linebackers aren't going to
necessarily work out to the degree that we would like.
I don't want to believe this, but I kind of do.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
That is, you know, of all of the questions, which,
as you kept saying, is a good problem to have, right?
The team has done so much on the defensive side
of the ball to eliminate questions at key positions. The
one real thing we haven't been able to gauge, and
you and I talked about this when I came on
your show before camp, is with the limitations on what
(32:37):
players can do tackling-wise, it's just... Yes, you can see,
are they moving faster? Is their recognition, is their communication better?
Are all of those things better? You've heard that from
Zach Sandler and Al Golden that it is better. But
at the end of the day, all anybody wants to
see is that those two are tackling better and that
those two are playing better. And you can't see that
(32:58):
until they take the field on Sunday against the Bucs.
So it remains the biggest question, in my opinion, that
this team faces at this point in the season. And
the good news is we'll find out pretty quickly if
that is going to be a question that's answered and
it has a positive answer or if it's going to
be the comment of the year, well, we knew this
(33:19):
was coming. Why didn't they do anything to address that?
And we won't be able to figure that out until
we see them try and tackle the Bucs running backs
and we see what they can do out on the field.
But As it was last year, everything is all positive
at this point, and you find out some of these
answers pretty quickly here when the game actually starts to
(33:40):
be played.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Three players on the injury report, each of them full
go today, Shamar, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. Is this
the healthiest they've been going into week one since you
started covering the teams?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, and I actually was just thinking that. I didn't
know if Jamar and Shamar would be limited on Wednesday.
It's not uncommon in the NFL for the first day
of the Wednesday to be when that's really their first
install day of the game plan for players to be
limited because Thursday is really their heavy day of practice.
(34:13):
And I think it's a really great sign that all
three players were full participants in practice today. It seems
like Jamar and Tee are going to be all good
to go. The only player that it seems that Zach
Taylor was unwilling to really give an extreme vote of
confidence as far as their availability on Sunday right now
is Jamar. He said that they want to see how
(34:35):
he responds throughout the week. I think that if he
is able to play, it'd probably be in a limited role.
I think that Cassius Howell is going to be the
player right now who's really their rotational edge player that
would probably get the reps over Shamar just simply because
he's only been able to practice for a week. But
I think it's a really positive sign that he was
(34:56):
a full participant in practice today. And you're right, this
is the healthiest the Bengals have been. In addition to
being healthy, this is the most drama-free well-cultured top-notch leadership
locker room that i have seen this team have since
2021 um it's giving and you know you've heard that
(35:17):
from a lot of people and mo you were down
here you've interviewed these players um every day during training
camp this team has A lot of guys of high character,
and Zach Taylor even talked about it, like the fact
that the three players who didn't get a contract extension,
you didn't hear a peep out of them. They practiced
every day. Everything about this from the injuries to just
(35:40):
the improved leadership, to the improved talent, to just the
camaraderie in the whole building, it's just setting things up
for this to be a really special season in Cincinnati.
And it's just been a really, really positive training camp
and preseason.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, it certainly was from my perspective as well. Can't
thank you enough. We'll talk to you next week, Kelsey.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Read Kelsey's work, Cincinnati.com. Check out the Beyond Sunday podcast.
And of course, read her. In the Cincinnati Inquirer. We
are done. A special thanks to the folks with the
Anthony Munoz Foundation for rolling out the red carpet for us.
They are always so awesome. All the former players we
talked with, absolute first class. Our thanks to Dave Abbott
for producing on site. Of course, Taryn Bland back in Kenwood.
(36:24):
We're back at it tomorrow in Studio 305. Have a
great night. Bengals game plan is coming up next after
we're done and then the season opener tonight, Seahawks and Patriots.
Have a great night. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
Traffic.
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