Mike Gesicki Final Interview After First Bengals Season
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00:00Excited you wanted to play with Joe. Yeah, you all of these things. Did it live up to that for you? Yeah, it sure did
00:06you know, obviously
00:08Outside of all that stuff was the expectation to you know, play in the postseason and you know all that kind of stuff. So
00:15that was really the only thing that we kind of fell short of but in terms of
00:19You know the opportunities and you know playing with you know
00:23The best quarterback in the league and incredible coaching staff and them, you know
00:27Utilizing me to the best of my abilities. It was cool because the last two years of my career. I just haven't been utilized
00:35And before that I came off
00:3773 catches for almost 800 yards and then it was like two years of just not
00:42being utilized the way that I was so to come here and
00:45You know have that opportunity again and kind of show that you know
00:49I'm still the player that I think I am and that I've shown in the past. That was that was cool
00:54So I'm grateful for it
00:57Performed well, not as well as you did this year and been able to churn that into bigger numbers elsewhere
01:03Is that where are you at with your head with that?
01:06Like is that still an idea or is it like look playing with Joe is pretty much a dream
01:10I'd rather not leave that. Yeah, I mean playing with Joe definitely is a dream. That's that's been incredible
01:15He's been an awesome teammate great guy off the field. Like it's been everything and more that I've anticipated
01:22But you know because of you know
01:25I came off a career year got franchise tagged so wasn't able to hit the market then and then
01:29Went to New England
01:31Wasn't utilized nearly as much as I anticipated. So then you know, my market was super low
01:39Not that I'm you know, the only not not that the only thing in my mind is making up money
01:43But like it's definitely a motivation or it's definitely, you know a thought process in my mind
01:48But you know, you have to take a lot of things into account
01:51You know, this place is awesome they welcome me with open arms
01:56and I'm super grateful for it like I
02:00will always no matter what happens like remember this year is a lot of fun and a
02:06Lot of relationships that I made that will carry with me for the rest of my career and the rest of my life
02:10You called Joe's a good teammate. I mean he was stomping for you just the other day in the postgame
02:15I mean he's saying we need to get Mike back
02:17Is that what's that mean when you hear that and how does that affect your you know your thoughts on things?
02:21Yeah, I mean I saw I was talking to my wife
02:24About it yesterday. I was like literally this time last year like this is what I wanted
02:28Like this is exactly what we talked about exactly how I envisioned it
02:32So to have him kind of banging the table for me a little bit
02:36it's
02:37it's been exactly how I drew it up and
02:41It's it wasn't just because of me
02:43It was a lot of you know moving parts and a lot of people that played a role into it
02:48And I give a ton of credit to you know Zach and the way that he has
02:53You know built this offense and the way that he utilizes everybody and I mean you look at the game last week
02:59Against the Broncos like Jamar went over 100 yards T went over 100 yards with three touchdowns
03:03I had 10 catches
03:05Andre would went over 100 yards if I didn't motion at the same time that somebody else motion that I didn't know they were motioning
03:11So I'd still owe him more dinners, and I've already given them the last week
03:15But like there's just so much production and like our running game with you know chase and last week with Khalil like
03:22The it's just been incredible and the way that the way that Zach gets everybody involved
03:28It's it's been awesome and Joe obviously the way that he just processes so quickly where I mean you can't fool him so like all right
03:36Hey, we're gonna take tomorrow in this play well alright. Well there goes T
03:39Okay like you know and now we're gonna use T as a decoy, and they're doubling Jamar like here comes Mike
03:45And okay here comes Andre and we're gonna hand the ball to chase and clean like
03:49There's just a lot of firepower, and he lies it perfectly you obviously thought highly of Joe when you signed here
03:55There's there anything about him that
03:57Surprised you that you were even more impressed with when you got here
04:00I mean he is as advertised honestly. He's done
04:06everything and more
04:08that I anticipated
04:10I
04:11Obviously knew about how well he could throw the ball, and you know everything talent-wise
04:18And obviously you have that success, and you have to have a really good understanding of what's going on
04:24But I didn't know he was gonna process information so quickly and you know know the defenses
04:29And how quickly you know things change and post snap and all that kind of stuff and he did an
04:35Incredible job because you know there's a lot of stuff in our offense that and the way that
04:39Guys get defended with you know Jamar getting doubled on you know just random plays here and there
04:44And you got to be able to see that quick and
04:46Defense are gonna try to trick us because they know how talented we are and that's gonna be their their advantage
04:51And you can't you can't trick Joe Burrow
04:55Expectation I'm sure there was team expectation that you guys didn't match this year
04:59How close do you think this team is though to getting to where you want to go?
05:03Yeah, I mean very close. I mean you look at
05:08Probably five different games throughout the course of the year where one play you know
05:13Obviously it's never just one play, but you can look back to one play that changes the outcome of of the game
05:20And you know one obviously one more win would have gotten us in
05:25but that's you know neither here, nor there, I mean it is it is what it is at this point, but
05:33I would say that the the coaching and the way that the culture is built and the way that things are run
05:38It's all done the right way like we're we're not far off and I mean it's easy to say when you're not in it
05:45But I think that if we were in it we would have made some noise
06:03You