Bengals captain and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. is going through both nostalgia and what he calls "a new light," as he welcomes old teammate Joe Flacco, a guy he has known since he was 12 years old.

Add into the mix Brown's role as "The Great Pumpkin," as the Paycor Stadium Pied Piper, and he was kind enough to make time amid the whirlwind to talk to Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson about what it all means.

The Conversation:

GH: What a week. You put on one of your big parties for Bengals employees on Monday night and Joe Flacco walks in on Tuesday. Tell me about that Pumpkin Patch event at Burger Farms. The Bengals also put on a Halloween event at Paycor Thursday night for families.

OB: There isn't a ton of time in this league. There isn't often the initiative to make sure those types of things happen in the sport. To me, everybody in the building is just as important as the next man, and to be able to build a real championship culture it's important that we share those special moments together.

It's one of the reasons that I started doing it when I got here. My first year, it was just opening up the movie theater for a night during Christmas time. Last year, we started the Pumpkin Patch and we just did it again. We'll have that same Christmas event later in the year at the AMC in Newport.

GH: How many people did you have at the Patch? A lot of kids?

OB: Oh yeah. A pretty good turnout with players and everyone in the building. Somewhere around 400. All kinds of games, face painting.

GH: What was the most memorable thing you saw?

OB: So many things at this event. Probably seeing Samaje Perine’s three kids with face paint on. They were so fired up.

GH: How old are your kids?

OB: Four and one. Sonny is going to be two in December. Orlando Brown III is going to be five this year.

GH: How big is the five-year-old?

OB: He's probably about 4-foot-5.

GH: Does he know about football?

OB: He does. I try to have him in the locker room as much as I can when he comes to games. It's something that he really enjoys. I don't know if you remember last year, I had him in there on his birthday after we beat the Broncos.

GH: Great moment for you. I would imagine. Three generations of football right there.

OB: It was exactly that.

GH: He's getting to that age when you were Joe Flacco's ball boy.

OB: It's crazy to think about that.

GH: Has Flacco brought that up at all the last couple of days?

OB: No, I haven't even had a chance to really sit down and reminisce or reconnect with him on that level. It's been kind of all ball since he walked in the building. He's having to make sure that he's up-to-date on everything. I imagine we will have that conversation at some point. We've talked about this before. He remembers me and my dad being around a ton when he was a younger player.

GH: So I guess it's been all drops and protections and stuff like that when you've talked this week?

OB: Yep.

GH: Your first three NFL starts with him in 2018 in Baltimore don't really have any carryover. That was seven years and two kids ago.

OB: I'd be lying to you if I told you it was. That was so long ago in my career. And the systems are so different and unique. The only thing I can attest to is just how great of a leader he is, how awesome he is at doing his job. Moving in the pocket, getting the ball out, whatever is needed. He's a winner.

GH: We sat down and talked at your locker after the game Sunday. What would be the odds that Joe Flacco would be over in that locker 48 hours later?

OB: If you had asked me, I wouldn't have known. But if you had asked (director of player personnel) Duke Tobin and ownership, they might have had an idea. It creates it's own opportunities. I think Joe coming into the building brings good energy. He's a veteran presence, and he's been playing quarterback for a long time, and he has been a guy for a long time.

That in itself is extremely unique when it comes to the sport of football. To be 40 years old , man, 18th year, still rocking and rolling with an opportunity to come to Cincinnati and help put this organization and team in great position. I mean, it's special.

GH: What do you think he does for the offensive line? Do you guys have to change much?

OB: No, I just think it's important for us to continue to grow and take those next steps as a team, as a unit up front, and just develop our continuity. Continuing to play with our togetherness. To me, that goes with what's always been true about playing the position of offensive line. You're only as good as your offensive line. We're so close to being what we need to be to be successful. Joe's success rides on our success. If we keep him clean, good things will happen.

GH: Does it give a boost that management must think the division is there for the taking?

OB: For sure, for sure. I think it does give a boost to the locker room with his veteran presence, and just the struggles we've had a little bit offensively that have been tied to so many different people, and at the end of the day, we can only control what we can control.

Bringing in Joe Flacco, I think it definitely brings in, I don't know that it's a breath of fresh air, but new light, you know what I mean? Sometimes in these situations, and I've been there before as a football team, sometimes it's as simple as that.

I've been a part of it where they trade for a guy in midseason like Marcus Peters in Baltimore, and the energy that he brought in … We weren't in a bad spot necessarily, but it brought on a more positive energy.

GH: Can you think of anybody else?

OB: Melvin Ingram when I was in Kansas City, It brings just a new light. And I believe that was Melvin Ingram's last stint in the NFL. Just the positive energy of bringing in an older guy that's been around it, that knows what it takes. It creates its own uniqueness.

GH: The O-Line looked as if it held up for the most part last week against the Lions. What did you think overall?

OB: I feel like we played well. There are some plays in there that we all want back. We're all aiming for perfection. But I do feel as though that was one of our better games this year as a unit. From there, it has to grow into consistency. Just continue to grow that continuity.

GH: How do you think the rookie Dylan Fairchild is doing next to you at left guard?

OB: Dylan is balling in my opinion. You can't ask more from your rookie guard. I know that he was hurt last week, and he fought through injury. I know things didn't end great for him there at the end of the game. To have the toughness to fight through it, to go out there and put his best foot forward. I can't rave enough about him, and I'm very thankful, very thankful, to be able to play next to him during this time in my career and continue to help him grow. And we continue to be on the same page. A lot of great things will happen in the future on that left side.

GH: How has he improved since the opener?

OB: A lot. Just overall consistency, getting a better feel for what's going on in the game, and when to make the right decisions.

GH: He gave up the safety late, but he had also just come out of the medical tent.

OB: It was that important to him. That speaks to character and how important the game of football is to him and being out there to represent his family, all of us up front scratching, clawing and fighting play after play. It was important to him to finish that game. That says a lot about the guy, a lot about the character of the man. His future is very, very bright. Although things may not have gone as expected when he came back in from injury, I commend him for even making that commitment because I've seen a lot of guys in that situation tap out and not be willing to come out there and fight and scratch and claw.

GH: How do you think you're playing?

OB: I feel like I've had a rough stretch with the Minnesota game. I feel like that was one of my worst games as a Bengal. I think the Denver game I played well. I gave up that cheap-o sack where they got off the ball really well because of the play clock. Then Detroit, obviously the flea flicker sack fumble was a really hard pill to swallow.

Overall, there's always so much to strive for. I am a player that, for some reason, always got off to a slower start, and my best football is going to be played from October to February. I hate that sometimes those things happen to me, but it's been like that consistently throughout my football career.

I'm always going to be the same person. I'm going to stick to my fundamentals and up my efforts, all those different things. It hasn't been enough for us to win, and that's what's most important.

GH: When you got hurt midway through last year, people were saying it was the best you played as a Bengal.

OB: And to be honest with you, I wouldn't tell you much has changed since coming back from injury. I'm 100% healthy. I'm stronger. I feel even more confident in what we do and who we are as an offense, which a lot of times makes my job easier. It's all about keeping perspective when we talk about offensive line play. It's one of the very unique positions in all of sports.

GH: Have you got a good Flacco ball boy story?

OB: Nothing specific. I think that was his rookie year. Nothing really comes to mind about him. Just to tell you about that training camp where I would have the opportunity to clean some of the players' lockers, whether that be cleaning some of their dirty loops (for laundry). They had purple bags at the time, I remember that.

GH: Chase Brown was raving about how Flacco has just been spitting the play calls back.

OB: It's very impressive what he's able to do. That's who he is. He's Joe Cool, you know what I mean?

GH: That's what safety Jordan Battle said. "We've got two Joe Cools and they're both ice."

OB: I feel that.

GH: How has it looked on tape these two days? Is it weird to see him in No. 16 in orange?

OB: That is a little weird. 16. And orange.

GH: They talk about Tom Brady never having any receivers. Look at Flacco.

OB: He had Anquan Boldin. Steve Smith later in his career. Derrick Mason. That's really it.

GH: You hit it on the head. I just looked this up. In 17 years, Flacco has been on teams with five receivers who had at least 73 catches. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have a combined seven seasons of at least 73 catches. He's never had guys like this.

OB: No, he hasn't. And to be honest with you, a lot of quarterbacks haven't. I would imagine it's an exciting time for him, too.