Jonathan Allen, the veteran defensive tackle of Pro Bowl fame who has two sacks in his first two games as a Bengal, is channeling those days as a youth when he summered in Cincinnati as he preps for Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) in Pittsburgh.

When Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson sat down with him this week, Allen opened up about how he grew up on the Bengals-Steelers rivalry through his many Cincinnati relatives and how one game still hangs with him.

He also delved into how Bengals defensive coach Jerry Montgomery mirrors his mentor, former Alabama coach Nick Saban, as well as how Dexter Lawrence II impacts a locker room like Hall-of-Famer-to-be Adrian Peterson, and why he's so happy living here in his adopted hometown while playing in defensive coordinator Al Golden’s scheme that gives the defensive line the freedom he covets.

The Conversation

GH: Your mom and dad grew up here. Did you ever vacation in Cincinnati?

JA: I would come here for the whole summer when I was in middle school.

GH: I guess the relatives talked about the Bengals and the Reds.

JA: Oh my God! I mean, we watched the Bengals. I went to Reds games. We watched the Bengals. I still remember, growing up, the rivalry between the Steelers and Troy Polamalu. I still remember the first time the Bengals thought they were going to go to the Super Bowl and Carson Palmer tore his ACL on the (second) play of the game on that deep pass.

GH: You still feel it.

JA: I mean, that was the year that you really thought Cincinnati had a chance.

GH: Now going to Pittsburgh this week …

JA: Just being able to be a part of this rivalry …  something I grew up watching.  It's really cool for me. I'm really excited.

GH: You remember 10years later? 2015? By then you were at Alabama playing for Nick Saban.

JA: Yeah, then it was pure college football. I don't remember that game specifically, though. But one thing I do know about this division. It is a physical division. I am so excited.

GH:  My favorite game of all-time in 2009 in Pittsburgh. The War of 18-12.

JA: What a game.

GH: The only touchdown was a Bernard Scott kick return.

JA: Wasn't BenJarvus Green-Ellis here?

GH: He was.

JA: That was my favorite running back growing up. I loved him.

GH: Why?

JA: I don't know. It was probably the way Chris Berman would always talk about him. "The Law Firm."  I don't know why that's always stuck with me. T.J. Houshmandzadeh. All those guys.

GH: And it's funny. You end up here for your 10^th season with a team you believe can win.

JA: I would have never imagined that the happiest place I would have been in the last five years would be Cincinnati.

GH: What's happened the last five years?

JA: When you're not winning, that's always tough. The last couple of years in Washington, besides the year we went to the NFC Championship Game. It was tough. We weren't winning. Went to Minnesota, not that we were losing, but the expectations were really high and then just all the moving. It was just a lot.

So you come here and have coaches that allow you to just play your game. Defense is playing well, we're having success. The environment, the city's great, and really welcomed in. It's been awesome.

GH: You said that Minnesota just didn't fit last year, right?

JA: The thing that's tough about Minnesota is that it was probably one of the most talented teams I've ever been on, and we went 9-8, which isn't terrible. But I mean, when you go all in to make a late run in the playoffs and you go 9-8, it's just disappointing all the way around.

GH: Plus, you've said the scheme didn't fit you.

JA: It was one of those things where you had to play your role. The defense played well. It was just unfortunate that we had all the injuries between the quarterbacks going in and out and we weren't able to really find a rhythm there.

GH: They didn't seem to let you go up the field. That's what you do. Although, I did see you drop a few times Sunday.

JA: The thing about our defense is, man, since they let us go so much, play free, that when we do drop, and we do blitz, it's very impactful. It's very impactful.

GH: Is that what you like about the scheme?

JA:  I love it.  I'm a big fan of letting the D-line go. Now that puts a lot of onus and pressure on us. Four-man rush, the coaches are trusting us to get there. We've been getting there. So it's been fun. It's been really fun.

GH:  Bengals defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery tried to recruit you to Michigan out of high school. What's the difference between Jerry the recruiter and Jerry the NFL professional coach?

JA: Absolutely nothing. Always tell people Coach Montgomery is the D-line version of Coach Saban. Super high expectations, super detail-oriented. Great motivator of men, hard to play for.

GH: How did he recruit you this time?

JA: It was funny. I was talking to Coach (Zac) Taylor, and once I found out JeMo was here, I was like, man, I've always wanted to play for him. His track record for what he does for defensive tackles in the league speaks for itself. He kind of recruited himself.

GH: Had you guys kept in touch?

JA: He coached me a couple of times in the Pro Bowl. Whenever we played each other, we always re-connected.

GH: You quote Saban a lot. He was obviously big influence on you, right?

JA: I think the thing that's so impressive about Saban is he's so process-oriented. The results are important, yes, but it was all about the process. I always say, you meet five to 10 people in your life, at least in football, that change your life and the way you think.

Coach Saban is one of them. Adrian Peterson was one. Alex Smith was one. Just being around certain guys like that who are just like the greatest to do what they've done. There's a lot to learn from them.

GH: What do you think of Zac as a head coach?

JA: I love it. I think he does a great job taking care of the guys. I think on offense, he's a great offensive coach. I've been very happy to play for him.

GH: Now you can be part of the rivalry. You go down there, Aaron Rodgers on the other side, and you've seen him before.

JA: There's no such thing as a bad NFL player. There's some NFL players that need a specific scheme to thrive. There's some NFL players that can thrive in any scheme. So you always respect every opponent you play, and especially a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who at any moment you know can pop off. For us, I think it's just making them uncomfortable. Stopping the run. That was a huge factor in last week's game. We're trying to do that again. Stop the run. Make sure we make him as uncomfortable in the pocket as we can.

GH:  The Carson Palmer game you remember. Any other Steelers game?

JA: That's the one that comes to mind because I was a Rams fan to myself, but I would always watch the Cincinnati games.

GH: Do your relatives talk about this rivalry?

JA: Oh my God, that's all they do. They love it. They love it. I have so many relatives that I haven't talked to in a long time reach out and they're just full of so much excitement.

GH: Are they all over, from Westchester to Cincinnati?

JA: I probably have between 15 and 30 relatives just living in the area.

GH: Has it been tough because some guys say there can be distractions playing in a hometown?

JA: It might have been worse when I was first in the league. But now going into year 10, and playing for Washington, I went to high school in the area, so I kind of had an opportunity to already figure out how to handle situations like that. It hasn't been too hard. I've got to give my family credit. They've been awesome.

I know it's crazy. The whole family's from here. I live like seven minutes from my aunt. Just happened to randomly choose a place in Westchester, and she lives right down the road. See her almost every other day. Live in the same neighborhood.

GH: What are the odds?

JA:  Very slim. My wife picked the neighborhood.

GH:  But you picked the Bengals not because you spent some time here as a kid, right?

JA: I wanted to win. I think in this league without a quarterback, you don't have a chance. And then once I realized they had Coach Montgomery and Coach Golden, it was a pretty easy decision for me.

GH: You grew up in Northern Virginia. Was that about the time your dad was a nuclear biological chemical warfare specialist in the Army?

JA: After he retired from the military, he started working for the government in D.C. So I moved up to Northern Virginia.

GH: Something you wrote on NFL.com about five years ago, which was tremendous. About how you had challenges with your mom and dad splitting when you were small and ended up going with your dad, and how you got heavily involved with charities in D.C. when you were playing for the Commanders.

JA: Especially in the D.C. area. It's a tough place. D.C. doesn't get the same funding as a state, even though they have a higher population than like three or four states. So there are no school buses, all the kids have to take public transportation. So little things like that. I try to do anything I can to help out, give back and share the love of God.

GH: Any causes in particular that you've embraced?

JA: I think the hardest part when you're in the NFL, there are so many things you want to help out with. There are so many organizations, so many people you want to help, and you just have to kind of specialize to make sure you make an impact. For me, I just decided that I would like to help kids if I had to choose just one.

GH: You wrote about how much of an influence your father has been.  What did you take away from him during upbringing?

JA: He's probably the hardest worker. Besides that, just the most straightforward and humble man I've ever met. Not just trying to live by daily. Just very selfless. I probably say that's the biggest thing. He'd do anything for his children, for his kids, and I try to do that for my family now.

GH: Your wife is Hannah and your daughter Eleanor is almost two. Have you adopted your dad's ways with Eleanor?

JA:  My dad was just so present. At the time, as a kid, you don't realize what your parents sacrificed. You just don't know. And now that I've become a dad, I can only imagine what you sacrificed. So I try to make those sacrifices for Eleanor. No matter how tired I am after a game, after practice, I'm going to get on my hands and knees and crawl around, roll around, and do all the things she wants to do.

GH: What was your dad's reaction when you signed with  the Bengals?

JA: He was excited. He was definitely excited. He always says, "I'm glad that I can be a Bengals fan again," because obviously he's going to be a fan for whatever team I play for. He said it's super fun to be able to root for the Bengals again.

GH: Where's he living now?

JA: He lives still in D.C.

GH: Has he made any trips here?

JA: He came to the first game of the season. He's going to go to this game too.

GH: Can you tell it's kind of a special week.

JA: For sure, for sure. This gives me Commanders- Cowboys vibes, just because that's the division I was in for so long, and that's a special game in that division. So this is already like, okay, I can see the intensity from the fans to the coaches' preparation. This game just feels different.

GH: I'm sure you'd like to etch your name in the rivalry.

JA: For me to play my best brand of football, I can't go out there focusing on trying to make plays. It's about doing my job and doing it at a high level. And if I do that, I make all the plays that want. For me, as a D-lineman, I really try to keep it simple. I really try to dominate the run with the light box, make sure that we can play two-shell high or whatever we do. I don't know what they do back there. And then on the pass, I've got to make the quarterback uncomfortable, push him off the spot, and do the dirty work. That's our job.

GH: I have to ask you about Dexter Lawrence II, the man playing next to you.

JA: I think the thing that's so great about Dexter is as great of a football player he is, he's even a better teammate. You know what I mean? I think we all have stories of players who are really great off the field, but in the locker room, they're okay. Not bad, just okay. Just the way he elevates the locker room, the meeting room, the film, everything. I feel like that's something that's special and rare to come by in this league, and I've been around a lot of great players. But not everybody has that impact to the way they work, to the way they just carry themselves. It really does affect the whole team.

GH:  Who are some other guys you've played with like that?

JA: Adrian Peteron. I've never seen a guy at 32 years old working that hard, and it just makes you wonder, like, wow, I couldn't imagine what he was like when he was young in this league. We all see him, but to see a guy at 32 years old outwork everybody day in and day out, that is a special guy.

GH: You guys seem to have the AFC North formula. With the defense and special teams playing big roles.

JA: Amen.  I always say when you play on the road, you've got to pack your defense, but it's been a really great start to the season. But that's all it is. A start. We were 2-0 here last year, and the season didn't end the way we wanted it to. I think for us it's trying to block out as much of the noise, good or bad. Coach Saban always calls it rat poison. You can't fall for it. You can't focus on it because it's a week-to-week league. You know, one week you play well, you're on top of the world. Next week you don't play well. You suck. I think for us it's about being as consistent as possible and continue to get better.

GH: The Steelers have that aura. Pittsburgh. That blue-collar smash-mouth deal going. You guys seem to have that personality.

JA: I definitely think we do. Now it's just another opportunity to build on what we've done so far and continue to get better.

GH: Anything I should have asked you that I didn't ask you? Or is there something else you'd like to say?

JA: God is good. God is so good. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here.