Bengals 1988 Yearbook

[Music] [Music] On January 22nd 1989 the Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in Joe Robbie Stadium Miami preparing to take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 23 no gym Scout ready all-pro 1v1 I'll write a letter for you okay all right let's go baby grant you're no longer a tenure now let's go Ricky Dixon number one get your best game together today okay everybody in Oklahoma's watching I think they have TVs there okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] anything else doing it start the first play the game just take your time getting ready and we got plenty of time we'll take it to you [Music] coming off a 4 in 11 season Bengals head coach Sam white was feeling the pressure I thought this pretty good chance they'd fire me we had so much pressure early on we had to win the Hall of Fame game I think we had to have a near victory in the team scrimmage the week before the Hall of Fame game in order for them to keep me another week I made jokes early in the year that I was on wrong with seven-day renewable contracts if we didn't make enough first downs that we're gonna make the change Sam I had to start with his personal discipline in other words I eat three meals a day at a normal time get the staff home by seven o'clock in the evening you think better when you get up rested and that was the starting point Sam's boldest new thought involved the reassigning of roommates we decided that some of the guys that played on defense really didn't spend enough time with the offensive players so we tried to put a black defensive player with a white offensive player and vice versa not to create brand new best friends but to create new friendships and better acquaintances so that when we got down to those goal Alliance stands everybody knew what was at stake and the other guys life and maybe have made us a little stronger team on opening day Sam's theory was tested [Music] four times the Phoenix Cardinals tried to score from inside the Bengals Ken yard-line but with the game on the line the stadium timepiece down to its final ticks the bengal defense persevere [Music] she's back to throw [Applause] the ball game is over the following week it was the offenses turns the poor man rush steps up on the pocket looks players it up field it is caught by the game he's at the 15 three boomer esiason touchdown passes put big points on the board [Music] but late in the game with the Eagles in the lead boomer needed some big advice let's go in that's all right radio drift left see swing crowd comes in motion to throw into the end zone touchdown right against the end line just before he was flattened touchdown to Tim McGee and boomer was really hip for the Blind Side and he is being helped to his feet a quarterback got clubbed in the face and the neck right there I think he's gonna live but that is a penalty boomer esiason did much more than survive the 1988 season Gabe was the NFL's most valuable player a man obsessed with victory after our four eleven season last year I was coming back on a mission so to speak my sights were set on one thing and one thing only and that was Miami and I wouldn't be happy unless I got there we've gone by out the work ethic you know much like John F Kennedy said don't ask what this team can do for you you know what can you do for this team [Applause] [Music] he's a star yeah I wasn't gonna call it that before the end of the season but then uh but if I don't call him that now and then people are gonna think I'm stupid again he's got a tremendous arm and once he's on that field the players respond because they know he's gonna put him in the right place at the right time over the seasons first six weeks that place was the winners column and the entire pass catching core was taking part in Week five they beat the Raiders for the first time ever outside of riverfront and Boomer Esiason couldn't help but feel a sense of vindication there are a lot of people that said that Coach was gonna be fired that I would be traded and that this team would fall apart I thank all those people that didn't give us and really a chance this year because that's what has really gotten us going - and getting us to the point where we are in week six the final ingredient was added to this explosive offensive mix and off ghost if he website he is out touchdown binky was through we're sitting around you know just joking around listening to some music yeah I said watch when I score tomorrow imma be as crazy dancing my mom said well you better not get out there and do that dance and when I scored I did the dance and it kind of like took off like wildfire I didn't I didn't expect it to take off like it did nor did the Bengals expect this second round draft pick to lead the conference in touchdown but with a big fast full-back factored into an already potent attack the Cincinnati Bengals could boast an offense without weakness [Music] goes in motion and Mathias against the poor man rushes back to throw though he goes borrowed out a feel there's any bug [Applause] and the Pangos get a 60-yard it's an Arab maturity that is on this football team now especially on offense most of us have been together for about five six years with the exception of icky woods we're not making the mistakes we know what it takes to win ballgames and as long as we can do that we can go a long way [Applause] he can throw the ball well but he's ripped it out of that pocket right and Eddie Brown Emma he came down riverfront stadium loves Cincinnati's six and Oh start and for sandwiches Bengals the best was yet to come [Music] number 30 rookie running back Elbert ickey woods shared his teammates dogged determination I didn't really start the first five or six ball games of the season and I gradually worked my way into the lineup and I started running hard because I had a mission really in the NFL to get up here and prove to myself that I could play at this level I just went in there and just I went crazy I just said oh this this is my opportunity so I have to make the best of it is League leading 5.3 yard rushing average came at the expense of whoever ventured into his path James Brooks averaged only 5.1 yards per carry but it was good enough for a trip to the Pro Bowl [Music] between them they rushed for 2,000 yards and they're 29 combined touchdowns were far and away the most by any running back tandem in football of course they did get a little help from their friends tackle Anthony muñoz a pro boater for the eighth straight year senator Bruce kazursky tackled Joe Walder guard max Montoya a Pro Bowler for the second time in his career guard Bruce rhymers the five principles in pro football's best offensive line their forte was zone blocking blowing off the ball and controlling the man in front of them giving Bengals ball carriers a choice of options their past protection wasn't bad either and they always gave that little extra effort which so often made the difference between success and failure [Music] what offense was just a part of this winning story bengal special teams also made key contributions such as this team record 98 yard kickoff return by Stanford Jenny the special teams honor roll included Ricky Dixon Barney bossy get Brady Carl Parker Jim Riggs punter Leigh Johnson and veteran wide receiver Cris Collinsworth but championships are won on defense [Music] turnovers usually result from total team efforts the 1988 Bengals defense had a knack for making them happen I think the one reason why the Turner was a happen because we have a lot of people flying around now instead of having two or three people getting to the wall when the ball is in the air everybody in the secondary is around the football [Music] and the balls on the ground you have all the eleven guys financed a football everybody's hitting now the balls bouncing I will instead of bouncing the other one going out the dear side Kristen goes back to throw the heading began up front with no stack old Tim from Ryan a former 10th round draft choice who finally was voted a long-overdue trip to the Pro Bowl surrounding from rai were some of the hardest-working least known defenders in football down lineman Eddie Edwards David grant and Jim scow pass rush specialist Jason buck can skip McClendon veteran linebacker Reggie Williams could still crumble quarterbacks Leon white Carl sander and Joe Kelly could clean up the rest [Music] those ARS gonna throw his back looked dumps it out [Music] free safety David Fulcher was one of two Pro Bowlers from the Bengal secondary cornerback Eric Thomas also made the grade and together with Solomon will cots and Lewis Billups they were the last line of defense on a defensive unit that engineered its own magical form of mayhem [Music] the play-action fake is back to throw [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] over the final three months of the regular season one game each month loomed as a must-win situation for the Bengals the first took place on October 23rd against the Houston Oilers we've been playing very tight-knit football this season our team's been closed there's been that family atmosphere that overused cliché that everybody tries to use but not everybody means it the second big game took place on November 27th against Marv levees red-hot Buffalo Bill [Applause] give us a ball up dick [Music] [Applause] but the biggest game of all was still become they've got a second down and nine looking at him right here boomer a play-action off to his left on December 17 the Bengals and Redskins went into overtime [Applause] [Music] at stake was the division title and home-field advantage right through the AFC playoffs [Music] [Applause] a great love for eternal love right now yeah you're ever gonna be broken it won't be another minute like this one guys we may top it but there won't be a first time like this one is let's don't forget this feeling let's don't forget that we're just getting started we're kicking it into the second half right [Music] Bango super - hello jiminy we got em all [Music] in the opening round of the playoffs the bangles round the ball almost at will on the Seattle Seahawks 72 yards for James Brooks 126 yards for ickey woods [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Seattle Seahawks managed just 18 yards rushing [Music] [Applause] Ronnie gave the ball the poacher in the Congo [Applause] great job man this is what happiness is about if we want to play for one more game [Applause] [Music] the following week the Buffalo Bills felt the sound and fury of Cincinnati's home-field advantage [Applause] these were men on a mission fingers are down [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] lines the water is being prepared for Sam [Music] watch was ready for you [Applause] but before Kings Island there was one more score to settle George so the wind must be blowing up that way it'll come down to Jennings at the 7th I'll fill it down to the 15 to the 20 [Music] [Applause] but on this day Bengals joy was tempered by unexpected hardships not to mention missed opportunities [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jim breaches third field goal gave the Bengals a fourth quarter lead unfortunately Joe Montana and the 49ers weren't quite finished [Music] [Applause] bill Walsh's team ruled the day but Sam watches Cincinnati Bengals came back further in one season than any team in NFL history these were proud men men of substance and character the 1988 Cincinnati Bengals men on a mission congratulations here's your's [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Go-BengalsDOTcom

Views: 30,194

Rating: 4.8734179 out of 5

Keywords: Bengals, Yearbook, Go-Bengals.com

Id: 1zMO1BM-7ic

Length: 22min 16sec (1336 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 24 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Mjdecker1234]

Just thinking, I was -10 year's old haha. Cool to watch these old clips though. Way different era of football

[u/Roubaix44]

This was a great time for Cincinnati in general. We went to the Super Bowl in January of 1989, then the Reds won the World Series in 1990. Whenever I’d travel and someone heard where I was from you’d always hear something along the lines of “Cincinnati? Great sports town.”

[u/forkface]

I was 24. I was depressed for a week after that Super Bowl.

[u/LucianFalcor]

Hell yah! Who Dey!

[u/BeardMorty]

With Burrow I believe

[u/[deleted]]

That’s the hard I was born

[u/TheRoosterFF]

Just watched all of the “yearbooks.” After watching the ‘81 yearbook all I can wonder is...... dude.... with the Cincy zoo right down the street, why the fuck don’t we have a tiger anymore!?!

[u/rio-flamingo]

My first Super Bowl game to watch, I was 5. This next year could be great if we make the right tweaks and build a brick wall i.e OL in front of Burrow. It’s not a coincidence that are last 3 franchise QB’s get there knees torn up. If we don’t address this now after Burrow joined the Palmer/Dalton club of destroyed knees then it’s just plain stupidity at this point. Just sayin 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/[deleted]]

It's so hilarious how vanilla these offenses were hahahahaha