The “Ickey Shuffle” has been removed from storage and is back in the spotlight with the Cincinnati Bengals participating in the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.
The famous touchdown celebration dance performed by running back Ickey Woods was all the rage during the 1988 season and the ensuing postseason that ended with the Bengals falling to the Joe Montana-led San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Woods performed the step/hop routine in Cincinnati before a recent playoff victory over the Las Vegas Raiders and is prepared to do it again should the Bengals defeat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.
“It’s lived on,” Woods told reporters. “It lived a good life, and I’d never in my wildest dreams thought that something I did more than 30 years ago would still be relevant to this day. And I’m still enjoying it.”
Woods did the “Ickey Shuffle” during a GEICO commercial in 2014 and that renewed interest. Wherever he goes, he knows a request is coming.
“Every time I do something out in the world, people want me to shuffle,” Woods said. “I’m going to schools and teaching a new generation of kids how to shuffle.”
Truth be told, when Woods initially showed off his dance idea to his family and some teammates, they begged him not to do that during a game. Woods refined parts of it and unveiled it during an early October game in 1988 in which he scored two touchdowns against the New York Jets.
By the end of the month, T-shirts were being sold and it was a huge deal in Cincinnati and on its way to being the talk of the nation.
And thanks to the Bengals’ stunning success this season, the “Ickey Shuffle” is back in the limelight.
–Cincinnati left guard Quinton Spain isn’t thrilled with the rhetoric that the offensive line could be the cause should the team lose to the Rams on Sunday.
“Are we going to be the heroes or are we going to be the reason (we lose)?” Spain said on Wednesday. “We attack the game the same way. I feel like we have a great chance to pull it off. It’s going to be a dogfight. It is the Super Bowl so everybody is going to come with their ‘A’ game.”
The Bengals were viewed as having a below-average offensive line prior to the season and that tag didn’t dissipate due to quarterback Joe Burrow being sacked a league-high 51 times during the regular season.
Burrow has been dropped 12 more times in the postseason, including a stunning nine during Cincinnati’s 19-16 upset win over the Tennessee Titans in the AFC divisional round.
“People don’t know what’s going on,” Spain said. “They see a sack and they blame the offensive line. Nine times out of 10, it might not be the offensive line. What if the receiver’s timing wasn’t right? We all play a part. At the end of the day, we ignore the noise.”
–Bengals cornerback Eli Apple knows he will stare across the line of scrimmage and see former teammate Odell Beckham Jr. at some point during Sunday’s game.
Apple was on the same New York Giants’ squad as Beckham for parts of three seasons (2016-18). Beckham is now a receiver for the Rams.
“Me and O have a pretty good relationship,” Apple said. “He really taught me what to expect when I was a rookie. … Off the field, he’s a great guy and someone I can talk to.
“Even after I left the Giants, he’d see me and all was cool. … Now we are going to compete, I can’t wait. I can’t wait for that.”
–Bengals tight end CJ Uzomah (knee) missed practice Wednesday but coach Zac Taylor said the 29-year-old is making progress from the injury sustained in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“We have three more days of work to see where he’s at,” Taylor said on Wednesday. “He should get some work tomorrow.”
The Bengals are also observing the progress of right guard Jackson Carman, a second-round draft pick who started six games in the regular season. Carman is dealing with back pain. Hakeem Adeniji will likely start the game.
–Field Level Media