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He is the Bengals Hall of Famer who remembers the pain of losing two Super Bowls to Joe Montana and the 49ers, but Anthony Munoz is filled with belief that Joe Burrow and his Who Dey friends will deliver the first Lombardi Trophy to a city desperate to call itself Wincinnati.
“I love the confidence they have in their selves and each other,” Munoz told The Post, “and just the grit, man … the no give-up, believing they can win any day they go out and play.
“I love our defensive matchup with their team. I know Cooper Kupp is crazy and OBJ [Odell Beckham Jr.] is crazy, but I think we have the defense, and I’ll take our skill people over a lot of skill people in this league.”
Munoz would have loved playing with Burrow.
“I played for two great quarterbacks, I see a lot of similarities [to] Kenny Anderson and Boomer [Esiason],” Munoz said. “Joe is a great leader, very smart. … Everybody bought into his leadership, and they’ll run through a wall for him, and they love being a part of it. I would love just to be up there protecting him, and know that if you give him the protection, if you run block, you’re in a position to win games, and that’s why I’d love to play for Joe.”
They call him Joey Franchise for a reason. Or Joe Cool.
“Watching him in the huddle and taking the snap, I believe that every play he runs is gonna be a successful play,” Munoz said.
Munoz, arguably the greatest left tackle in NFL history, can’t forget losing Super Bowls XVI and XXIII.
“Painful,” he said. “I don’t think anybody hates to lose as much as I do. Both games were both in reach of winning, other than having the No. 16 for the 49ers [Montana]. … To get that close to winning, man, it tears you apart. Even now you watch the highlights and you say, ‘OK, are we gonna score on fourth-and-1? No. Is John Taylor gonna drop that touchdown pass? No, he still catches it.”
On the opposite end of the Ickey Shuffle craze started by Bengals running back Ickey Woods was Stanley Wilson, who was found the night before Super Bowl XXIII in a bathtub following a drug relapse.
“Sad,” Munoz said. “The biggest game in your football career, one of the most charismatic young men, one of the most talented … you see the disease, the strength of addiction and how it continued to grab him. It was like a bomb hit us the night before the biggest game in our careers.”
Munoz remembers the young Esaison as an instant leader.
“Preparation was huge for him, therefore he held us accountable,” he said. “I see these wristbands on these quarterbacks and I chuckle and say, ‘Boomer would have never needed a wristband.’ He could tell every guy, on every play, who to block, against every defense.”
He remembers Anderson as an amazingly accurate quarterback.
“You mention his name and it gets me upset ’cause he should be in the Hall of Fame,” Munoz said. ‘
Munoz is happy for Bengals owner Mike Brown, son of the legendary Paul Brown.
“Because they get slammed a lot,” he said. “This organization has taken their lumps over the years, playoffs with Marvin [Lewis] and [Andy] Dalton, no playoff wins since ’91 prior to this year. So there was a question mark: Does [Brown] really want to win? And then they hire a very young coach [Zac Taylor] and they struggle for two years, everybody’s saying ‘same old Bengals,’ here we go again. … They were willing to hire a young coach, and let him go for it and put things together, and here we are in the Super Bowl. I’m thrilled for Mike, because I think Paul Brown got a lot of credit deservedly for what he did for the game, the innovator, was successful early with this franchise, we went to two Super Bowls when he was here, so that’s why I’m excited and glad for Mike and the family now and for the organization.”
There is orange and black and “Who Dey” shouts these days everywhere Munoz turns in town.
“I tell people this is one of the best sports cities in the country,” Munoz said.
Munoz will be at Super Bowl 2022 promoting weight-loss supplement brand Hydroxycut and a Big Game Sweepstakes, should an offensive or defensive lineman score a touchdown.
Asked what the Bengals have to do to beat the Rams, Munoz said: “Keeping Aaron Donald off of Joe Burrow.”
The Bengals could have used Munoz for that thankless task. Still, he’s picking Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase as possible co-MVPs.
His prediction: “I’d say Bengals 28-24,” Munoz said.
Wincinnati.
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