01-11-2022, 12:26 PM
(01-10-2022, 07:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I tried to google it and can't find anything like that.
Got a link?
BTW funny you mention CJ because when I searched for "Bengals hanging out together" I found this comment from 2017. . . The trio of Jake Kumerow, C.J Uzomah, and Ryan Hewitt were standing off to the side hanging out together as people milled about. Early on in the night, the players had taken over the couches and were all hanging out together, in ways that we as fans don’t normally get to see.
There was an article on the home page referencing Quentin Spain talking about how the o-line did not hang out together or eat together or any of that stuff. He got the group to go out to weekly dinners. They don't have an archive, so search for it yourself if you want.
On edit: Here's a link to basically the same article.
Chemistry key for improving Bengals’ offensive line (springfieldnewssun.com)
Quote:Spain sees a big difference in the offensive line this year and attributes part of that to his push to do more bonding as a group outside of work.
When Spain arrived last year, he was surprised to find the guys weren’t really hanging out once they left Paul Brown Stadium for the day. He understood COVID-19 might have impacted that, but he thought players could have at least met for dinner at each other’s houses. He said he asked center Trey Hopkins why he wouldn’t want to do more of those things, and this year, Hopkins agreed it was a good idea.
“It started from then,” Spain said. “It started clicking ever since. I’m like, how am I supposed to trust you and can’t even hang outside of football? I understand it’s work, but what we do outside of work, it’s a bond.”
“It was a big difference from last year. We hang out and do O-Line dinners and talk about stuff. We all have been the same family wise, so we can all play on the field together. I know that Trey, Jonah (Williams), they’ll have my back. If there’s something in the B gap, they’ll be right there for me. It’s chemistry.”
Spain said the linemen go to dinner every Thursday and they each get to take a turn picking the restaurant and picking up the tab. Right tackle Riley Reiff was the first to choose and picked Jeff Ruby’s. Spain took the group to Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse.
This week it was Fred Johnson’s turn. The players inform the restaurant a week in advance that they will be coming – linemen aren’t easy groups to feed.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he can see a difference in the offensive line chemistry and the correlation to the unit’s improved performances this season.
“All the great lines I have been around have been that way,” Taylor said. “They spend a lot of time with each other. They have the weekly dinners. There is a culture within the culture there in that O-line room. It’s something I have been around my whole life, Frank has done a great job with that. I hear it firsthand because I share a wall with that room, so I hear it over the course of the week whether I like it or not. We’ve always had good leadership in there. That’s one of the things Riley has done a great job kind of coming in and pushing over the top. You had good veterans, Xavier, Q, Trey Hopkins and Jonah is in his third year now he’s really playing ball. You get that 10-plus year vet like Riley who is in there and pushes the whole thing right along piggybacking off what some of the other guys had already been establishing. We have a lot of young, impressionable rookies, too, we had to bring in the mix. They were right there and you could kind of form them the direction you think it needs to go from a culture standpoint. I have been really proud of how that room has evolved over the course of the season and it does show with some of the synergy they have in that room.”
