Bengals slot receiver Andrei Iosivas is having a breakout season, but he's still searching for a memorable and yet cheap touchdown celebration.
So this week he celebrated the longest catch of his career in Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson's weekly conversation, where they hit on such topics as Olympic second-guessing, TV viewing, journals, competitions with his Ivy League athlete girlfriend, and how he's barely scratched the surface of his talents in his emerging role.
The Conversation:
GH: What does Andrei Iosivas do on his day off?
AI: My recovery starts Monday, so right after our meetings I have a guy from Atlanta come in to work with me. He's really good. He helps with a lot of soft tissue stuff.
My true day off, Tuesday, I sleep in with no alarm, which is my favorite part. Then I hang out with my girlfriend. I go get massaged. I go take my Epsom salt baths, and then I go eat Vietnamese food with my girlfriend after for dinner. And that's pretty much it.
GH: Are you watching anything these days?
AI: My girlfriend and I like to watch reality TV and there's this new one called "Love is Blind," that we really like. They actually just came out with a new season, but the new episodes are every Wednesday, so we watch "The Office," to hold us over in the meantime. She's never watched it before, so we have the same sense of humor, so it's a good time.
GH: How many times have you watched it?
AI: Four or five times. It was my comfort show in college.
GH: Who is your favorite character?
AI: Obviously, Michael's great, but I love Dwight. Dwight's just hilarious. Such an interesting character.
GH: Your girlfriend, Logan Harlock, is also a former great Ivy League athlete who played volleyball at Columbia. Do you guys compete, or ever have debates about who is the better athlete?
AI: We compete at everything. We have worked out together a couple of times. She has great hand-eye coordination and she's six feet. Her brother played basketball at Colorado and was the starting point guard there. I think she would have been a great track athlete, but girls volleyball is very time consuming.
GH: Do you listen to any podcasts?
AI: No, not necessarily. I journal sometimes, but I don't really like listening to podcasts.
GH: You journal? Kind of like a diary?
AI: What I'm feeling, or sometimes if I'm feeling weird, I just start writing. Sometimes if things are bothering me, or if I'm feeling overly anxious about something, it's just good to write it down.
GH: Is it just for you or do you let anybody else read it?
AI: No. That's just for me.
GH: You're no longer just the red zone guy. You've busted out the last couple of weeks with your two longest catches.
AI: I think the red zone stuff was just kind of like an anomaly. Everybody loves to score touchdowns, but that just so happened to be what I did, I guess, at the beginning of my career, I'm versatile all over the field. I get open everywhere. So it's just where ever the ball finds me.
GH: How has your role expanded since say, the Kansas City game? Since Tee Higgins has been back?
AI: We have all our offensive weapons back. It's just get open when the matchup is the matchup we want to attack. Then you have to get open and make plays. That's when the ball will come to me. I stretch the field, as well, vertically. So it's either get the defense flatfooted, they throw it over to me, or, if not, then they throw it to the guys underneath.
GH: You had the longest catch of your career last Sunday against Baltimore down the right sideline on a 39-yarder where you reached back. Were you the primary guy there?
AI: Either me or Ja’Marr (Chase) was going to get the ball there. They were doubling Ja'Marr and the other safety was kind of in the middle of the field. So Joe (Burrow) kind of looked the safety off and hit me.
GH: Did he underthrow it or is that where he wanted it?
AI: On the field, I thought he threw a moonball, which he did. But after watching it, he seemed to be getting pressure in his face so he just kind of had to put it up there and just hope I made a play. Yeah, I contorted my body to kind of hold both the defenders off and just stay in-bounds.
GH: He's been unbelievable, hasn't he?
AI: He's great. I mean, he's been playing amazing. He's having an MVP start to a season at this point.
GH: I guess that throw is one of the reasons. He really seems to trust you guys. That's a trust throw, right?
AI: Yeah. That was a third down, so it was a big play. Our receiving corps, I mean, throw it up to me, Tee, or Ja'Marr and we'll get a big play out of it, or a PI, or something.
GH: Ja'Marr and Tee have had some great catches, but I don't know if there's been a better one this year than the hellacious one you made in Carolina in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. The 29-yarder down the middle where you got sandwiched and still held on.
AI: Those are the catches that have to be made in those situations. It was a good ball from him, too. And I was able to catch it, you know, kind of not with my body, but kind of corral it in instead. Like turning, using my hands. I kind of just corralled it in. I knew I was going to have to take a shot there.
GH: When do you know, 'I'm going to take a shot?'
AI: There are certain coverages you know where the defender is going to be most likely coming from if you get the ball. So that was a cover two look, and I was right down the middle, so I knew that the closest safety was to my right. I kind of expected if I got hit, to be hit there.
GH: That's a big-league play. I mean I know you've got seven touchdowns on 31 catches in your two seasons, but that almost seemed like a welcome-to-the-NFL moment. Like, yeah, you're are in the mix on offense.
AI: That was one of my favorite plays of the year so far. I think my welcome-to-the-NFL moment happened like a bunch of times on special teams last year. Guys running full speed at you. But that was one of my favorite plays for sure.
GH: Two weeks in a row now you guys have scored at the end of the half.
AI: That two-minute drill is when we really put pressure on the defense, and that's where some of the shots can be taken.
GH: They seem to be gaining more and more trust in you.
AI: I know a lot of the offense, and so they can throw me in wherever they need me. I have the starting role locked in and I can run for days, so if someone's tired, I'm usually the guy who stays in.
GH: You guys are using double the number of tight end sets that have in the past, but it still looks like you're getting your snaps with 76% and 79% the last two games.
AI: I'll be in there because I'm a good route runner and pass catcher, but I also have started to take more pride in my blocking, and I thought I had a really good blocking game last game. You never know if I'm in there if it is run or pass. I think that helps, too.
GH: Is there anything that inspired you to work on your blocking?
AI: To get this offense going, every detail matters. Understanding gap schemes and knowing who to block and all that kind of stuff really helps the run game get going and that helps the pass.
GH: Chase and Higgins dig out blocks, so that must help set a tone at receiver.
AI: We all take pride in our blocking. I think that's something that's cool about our receiver room.
GH: As a national contender in the heptathlon at Princeton, did you watch the decathlon at the Olympics during training camp?
AI: I wasn't able to watch much of it live, but I definitely got to see some of the guys that I competed against in college and see the highlights, so that was cool.
GH: Did you have What Ifs in your mind?
AI: Sometimes I think about that stuff. Some of these guys were the guys I was competing against in college, and I was right there with them and I wasn't training like that and I was still fourth in the nation. The guy who got first in that meet (the NCAA heptathlon) got second in the Olympics. Our point differential wasn't very large. It was a super competitive meet. So I can only imagine what would have happened if I trained full time. But I like football more.
GH: You could have been on the podium.
AI: I think so. If went full time I would have beat them in college, too. The heptathlon is just the indoor version of the decathlon. My freshman year, I wasn't very good. My sophomore year, the outdoor season got canceled. Junior year, I fractured my foot, and then senior year I was training for the combine, so I really had no time to do the outdoor.
GH: Do you think you've even scratched the surface?
AI: Not really. I think that this is really just the start. I have big aspirations in my own mind of goals that I want to get, but I think that's just me being consistent every day, working every day, and just knowing what to work on. That will eventually take me to those really big goals that I have set for myself.
GH: What are your goals?
AI: Be a top receiver in the NFL because I know I can do it. I think I have the physical prowess, the mental prowess, but I just have to take every step one day at a time.
GH: Is the Pro Bowl a goal?
AI: Oh, definitely.
GH: Do you any statistical goals?
AI: Statistical goals are kind of hard, sometimes. I think my goals are more targets. Sometimes the stats don't show how well you played. You know how football is. My goal for this year is just every game to put out great film and just show that I'm open all the time, show great skill in route running, and just have my film. There are a lot of mouths to be fed on this offense.
GH: You had one for catch for 39 yards and no touchdowns Sunday. But it's a heck of game because you blocked, got a big chunk play that set up an absolutely must-score in a shootout, and got praise from the head coach for running a route that set up Ja'Marr's 41-yard touchdown at the end of the half. But not a great game for fantasy players.
AI: It's funny. You'll get comments or DMs (on X) saying, 'Win me my fantasy game' and none of the players really care. For fantasy, I'm probably not doing the best the past week. But in terms of my film, like being open, I think I've been doing pretty well.
GH: You got fined for your bow-and-arrow touchdown celebration in Kansas City, but you won the appeal. Don't guys do it all the time? I've seen quarterbacks do it on first downs.
AI: The NFL is weird about that kind of stuff. I think they try to really crack down on it. But that one was really like, not violating at all.
GH: Have you decided on a celebration? You haven't done one since, right?
AI: No, I haven't done a real celebration. I scored a touchdown in the Washington game, but I kind of did just a little dance. I was still scarred from the fine, so I wasn't sure what to do.
GH: Do you think even think about that? Do you think about getting a signature celebration?
AI: Definitely I do. I'm still thinking, but that's always on my mind for sure.
GH: How popular are you in your home state of Hawaii?
AI: If I was walking around, people would definitely know me. If go out to a bar or something, people would ask for a picture or something. People are really, really respectful there. It's nice.
GH: Did you go back at all during the offseason? I know you spent a lot of time training in Atlanta in a real commitment for this season.
AI: Yeah, but only for two weeks. I didn't really go out much. I would just go to the beach and hang out with my friends.
GH: During the broadcast of the Monday night game against Washington, they were showing some pictures of you on the beach. Did you catch some grief from your friends?
AI: I think they had a waterfall pic of me when I was in high school or something. People were asking me what that was about. They're like, why would you send that picture in, bro? I'm like, 'Dude, they took it off my Instagram. I don't even know why they put that up.' People were like, 'What the hell is that? What was on my screen?'
