Monday Morning Cheerleader: Tara Willson of the Cincinnati Bengals

By Steve Mazzucchi
Esquire
September 14, 2009

As the 2009 NFL season kicks off, we get the inside scoop on the incredible ending to the Bengals-Broncos game from an almost-Ph.D. who has prowled Cincy’s sidelines for nearly a decade.

For anyone who’s ever chanted “Who Dey,” the finish to yesterday’s Bengals-Broncos battle was simply crushing. With twenty-five ticks left and Cincy clinging to a seconds-old 7-6 lead, cornerback Leon Hall tipped a desperate pass from Denver quarterback Kyle Orton. The ball landed in the arms of unintended receiver Brandon Stokley, who raced 87 yards for the game-winning score. Shortly afterward, we grilled Tara Willson — a surfin’, rock-climbin’, doctorate-pursuin’ Ben-Gals captain — about tough losses, the Bengals’ portrayal on HBO’s Hard Knocks (“I think it’s accurate. What you see, that’s Chad.”), and life after pom-poms (“I’ll finish my Ph.D. in cancer and cell biology next year. I hope to run my own lab one day and work on either colon or breast cancer research. I’m kind of the nerdy one on the team.”)

ESQUIRE: What a heartbreaker of a game. Take us through the emotional roller coaster of the ending.

TARA WILLSON: After Cedric Benson’s touchdown in the last minute, we were totally psyched. It feels different in the stadium this year. With Hard Knocks and the changes the team has made, we were so hopeful. When that ball landed in Stokley’s arms, and he ran right across the goal line, waiting to go into the end zone, it just took the wind out of me. And then our sound guy plays two or three songs back to back, and I was like, I don’t even want to dance right now.

ESQ: You had to keep dancing?

TW: Oh, yeah. I have a little sheet in a fliptop wristband — just like a QB — and I call the different dances out to the girls in my corner of the field. It was really hard to keep smiling. The crowd was so loud, we had the hardest time hearing each other the whole game. And then when that happened, it was silent. I could have whispered to the girls.

ESQ: Besides Laveranues Coles dropping just about everything thrown his way, what do you think the problem on offense was?

TW: I felt like we were on for the most part. Ochocinco and Carson were hooking up fine. Carson was moving around in the pocket. Andre Caldwell had a good game. We didn’t play it safe on third downs. But I don’t think anyone expected Denver’s defense to step up and punch through the line as much as they did. Our defense did a fairly good job, too. We knocked down a lot of passes and we didn’t have too many penalties. Orton had 243 yards and a touchdown, but he only had about 160 and no touchdowns before that last play.

ESQ: Chad Ochocinco had five catches for 89 yards. Do you think he’s finally happy to be in Cincy?

TW: Chad’s Chad, and he loves to talk. But he seems like more of a team player this year. As much as we hated to lose TJ Houshmandzadeh, I think Chad will have a really good season. He had some good yards after the catch today — Marvin’s been pushing that. Chad’s been fairly quiet this preseason, and I think that’s a good thing.

ESQ: A lot of people have picked the Bengals to make the playoffs this year. What does the team need to do to make those predictions accurate?

TW: Um, score more touchdowns (laughs). The team’s motto this year is “Fight Back.” Maybe this is a good thing that they were so close. Maybe it’ll make them more hungry to fight back and dig in and score touchdowns and get the running game going and keep the line strong and the defense hyped, and be ready to rock and roll.

ESQ: You mentioned Hard Knocks. Was it really a good idea for a team that finished 4-11-1 last year to invite a bunch of HBO cameras in to film their preseason?

TW: I was surprised that the team signed off on it. But they’re not afraid to show anything. It’s almost in a way more interesting to do a show with a team like the Bengals, and the seasons we’ve had. How does a 4-11-1 team come back for 2009? I think it’s helped the team — and the fans here in Cincinnati. For fans to see how hard everyone has been working, they get closer to the players. Those are the guys you cheer for every Sunday. I get chills when I watch the show, because there is so much connection for me after eight years on the squad.

ESQ: In your first seven, the Bengals’ overall regular season record is 48-63-1 and they’ve only once finished with a winning record. Is it hard to stay optimistic?

TW: No. I’m supposed to be optimistic, I’m the cheerleader, right? It’s not as fun when there are no fans in the seats in the fourth quarter. But we have wonderful opportunities to do things for the troops and the community — only 10 percent of our time as cheerleaders is spent on the field. But it’s always exciting. I still get goose bumps when the team runs out of the tunnel.

ESQ: Million-dollar question. You guys going to the playoffs this year?

TW: I don’t like the way you’re laughing when you ask that. Yes we are! I feel confident. Fight back! That’s what we’re gonna do.