September 3, 2024 • 11 mins
ESPN's Seth Wickersham wrote an outstanding piece on Jake Browning and how his friendship with Joe Burrow has helped him solidify a place in the NFL.
Read the piece here: Bengals Brotherhood: How Joe Burrow and Jake Browning's friendship powers Cincinnati's title hopes
Seth joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Read the piece here: Bengals Brotherhood: How Joe Burrow and Jake Browning's friendship powers Cincinnati's title hopes
Seth joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty four season began.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, spike the ball in the back of the Zee.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Orange and Black kick off their run for the
Super Bowl against New England's paper.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Sixty three yards. The magic is bad.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Time for Jober or his boys to put on the show.
Rush the patch like an empty beer can get the
call from Dan Hood and Dave Lap. Coverage begin Sunday
morning at nine on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Lagals.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
All right, it's five after four. Excuse me, this is
ESPN fifteen thirty on my legor broadcasting Disappner from the
Buffalo Wild wins in Blue Ashes. Terrific piece came out
over the weekend on ESPN, written by Seth Wickersham, and
I'm kind of curious, and we're gonna get Seth on
here in just a second. But it's basically about Jake Browning.
(00:53):
Now think about this. Seth has covered the league forever.
He has written some of the most definitive pieces about
the new with Patriots you will ever read, and yet
decides to write a piece about a guy who is
a backup quarterback. And it's a really good, interesting look
at Jake his ascension from what he was about a
year ago to now a guy that I think we
feel like if he had to play the Bengals would
(01:15):
be at least okay. And I think more importantly his
working in personal relationship with Joe Burrow. If you have
not read it, I have tweeted it out or put
it out there on x at Mogar. It's easy to
find on ESPN dot com. It is a very good read.
And I've been a fan of Says for a long time,
so to get him on the show is very very cool.
(01:37):
I know you're busy, so I appreciate you joining us set.
First of all, thank you for writing a Bengals piece
from a national perspective that's not about Jamar Chase. It's
a welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Relief, my pleasure. Guys, thanks for having uh.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
I appreciate you coming on. So you sit down to
write a piece and do the work on a piece
on Jake Browning, who, maybe right now, because he's not
a starting quarter back for some might be a little
bit of an afterthought. What compelled you to to focus
on him?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, So the past two years I've been working on
a book on quarterbacks that will be out mercifully in
a year and so I've really been immersed in that
in that world. And last December, I was watching Monday
Night Football along with you know, sixteen million people whatever
it was, when you know, Jake got that his first
(02:31):
career start in primetime. He had obviously started the week before,
but this is his first career start on national television,
and you know, sent the Jaguars home with that overtime win.
And after the game, he was interviewed and he said,
you know, I've learned how to play calm. And you know,
my repertorial antenna went up when he said that, because.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Other quarterbacks noticed it. You know, they know how hard
that is.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That is something that not a lot of not a
lot of people can do.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And I wanted to know how how.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
He did it, how he was able to you know,
that he had gone five years without playing live.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Football in a you know, meaningful.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Games, and I wanted to know how someone who came
from his pedigree and had so much high school and
college success and obviously had been barely hanging on in
the NFL taught himself how to do that and how
he and what elements of that he was able to
take from Joe Burrow, you know, stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That Burrow himself had learned.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
That turns out that it's, you know, not just exclusive
to one of the game's best quarterbacks, but actually transferable
if you have the ability and the stamina to try
to learn it.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
You You've covered a lot of quarterbacks and a lot
of teams in this league, and you know there's always there,
always has to be a working relationship between the starting
QB and his and his backups, and you know it's
it's born out of respect and wanting the best for
the team. I don't know, and you could speak to
this obviously far better than I. I'm not sure there
are as many relationships like the one that you sort
(04:10):
of tap into with Joe and Jake around the NFL.
It seems and feels genuine, and so I was wondering
if you could speak to that.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, And I mean backups tend to fall into two categories.
They either tend to be the kind of old sage
veteran who's been through a lot and seen a lot
of stuff and can essentially be that that therapist for
the starter, or they're like a young guy who's gunning
for the job.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And when Browning came into Cincinnati, he was neither.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I mean, he been on the practice squad and just
got cut, and you know he was he got signed
by the Bengals, and even though Zach Taylor told him
that they like to invest in their practice squad guys,
he was very jaded at that point in his career,
and I think that he was, you know, thinking like, hey,
(05:02):
I'm just going to show them what I know about
the Minnesota Vikings, who of course were the bengals upcoming opponent,
and hope that when they inevitably cut me as a quarterback,
they'll keep me on as a maybe they'll give me
a gig as like an entry level coach. So in
the quarterback meetings and in the defensive backs meetings and
(05:22):
in the meetings with all the coaches.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
He was just going through the Vikings roster.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I think he felt like he knew more about the
Vikings than anybody in the building. And he was really
just trying to help Burrow and that extended into the game,
and after the game, Burrow said to him, Hey, you know,
keep talking to me on the sidelines. You know, nobody
really does that. You know, they just kind of let
me do my thing, and you know, it was really helpful.
(05:48):
And that was interesting to me for two reasons. Number one,
that Brownie had found a way to make himself valuable
so quickly. But number two that Burrow was kind of
on an eye. And the more I learned about Burrow
through Jake Browning, the more I realize that a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Of that is by design.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yeah, it's you do a really good job of illustrating.
It's interesting, you know, from Jake's perspective. Seth Wickersham from
ESPN is with us. Read the piece on Jake Browning
at ESPN dot com. It is very much worth your while.
Jake takes over the offense for essentially the second half
of the season last year. The offense still functions, they
(06:31):
stay in the playoff hunt. There are a lot of
people watching him going, god, you know what, are there
really thirty two quarterbacks in the NFL better than him?
But it's not like he gets a chance to hit
free agency. He's back with the team that they have
no real interest in trading him because you know, his
position is important. And let's face it, Joe Burrow's got
an injury track record and Jake has not been shy
(06:53):
about like, I'm in a tough spot because unfortunately, look
at the guy that I'm behind, and yet he has
a desire that he wants to be a starter, a
belief certainly that he can be a starter. In your opinion,
is Jake Browning a starting caliber quarterback?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And you know his it happens every year, right where
a guy gets hurt, a backup comes on and not
only you know, proves to be competent, but kind of
shows a little magic.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And Jake was able to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And you know, again, a lot of it he got
from watching Burrow and stuff that Burrow had trained himself
to do. I'll give you know. I think one of
the things the Bengals do really well is they find
a balance between depending on.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Their quarterback and taking pressure off of it.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And there was a story that both Zach Taylor and
Jake Browning told me that I thought was fascinating, even
though on its surface it's very mundane.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And that's been in training camp a couple of years ago.
Browning was throwing timing routes. All the quarterbacks were.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Browning drops back to pass, the receivers slow out of
the break, and Browning holds onto the ball for a
beat waiting for the receiver to get his feet and
then throws it to him and doesn't think anything of it.
Later on that day, Taylor calls Browning into his office
and he pulls up a clip of the throw and
he says, I got to talk to you about this.
(08:14):
This is going to get you into some bad habits.
You know, you've got to throw the ball on time.
It's the receiver's job to be where he's supposed to be.
And Browning of course, is thinking, like, yeah, if I
had thrown that pass and it was intercepted, that's my
career right there. Like you know, backups are just so
conditioned to being beaten down that any mistake could cost
(08:37):
of their career, and Zach Taylor had had to learn that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Lesson himself when he was in Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It was a watershed lesson for him when he was
there on a similar type of route. And Taylor essentially
said to him, I know what you're thinking.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I know that you think this could cost you your career.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But I'm the head coach, I'm the play caller, and
I'm telling you I want you throwing the ball long time.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
That's the only thing that matters here. And I think that.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
It was.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Browning told me it was the greatest, you know, interaction
he's ever had with a coach, because here was a
coach who understood the stresses that quarterbacks put on each
other and on themselves, and that sometimes organizations and cities
put on themselves, and he was basically just trying to
remove that as best he could. And I think that
(09:26):
when Brownie got a chance to play, stuff like that
really came into play. In addition to watching Joe Burrow
prepare for games and essentially learning how to be a
vague vaguely sociopathic.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
That's well put it. It's remarkable we've gone from, you know,
a year ago at this time watching the biggest story
of camp was is going to be Trevor Simeon or
Jake Browning? And if it's Jake Browning, do you really
trust him enough to put him in the game? And
now he's a guy who has a feature written about
him by you on ESPN dot Co. I appreciate you
(10:01):
doing this on short notice. I love the piece. Huge
fan of your work. Means a lot that you came
on set.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Thanks so much, mind pleasure, have a great day, guys.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Most definitely Seth Wickersham. His piece on Jake Browning is good.
It's about Jake Browning, but there's a lot of Joe
Burrow in it and a lot about the relationship between
Joe and Jake that you will like. It's a quarter
after four on ESPN fifteen thirty. We're broadcasting this afternoon
first of eighteen stops at Areo Buffalo Wild Wings. We're
at the Blue Ash location today, which is extraordinarily easy
(10:31):
to get to. Get off at the fire for Rhodex
at I seventy one. You could be here within a minute.
We've got plenty of ice cold bud Light. We've got
buy one, get one half off Traditional Wings. Our friends
at bud Light have given us tickets to the game
on Sunday, Bengals Patriots. If you want to go, you
could do one of three things. You could go and
pay a lot of money on the secondary market. You
(10:55):
can get up and go downtown on game day and
buy tickets from one of those weird people holding a
sign that says tickets They're on Third Street. Or you
can come here and win them and enjoy an ice
cold bud Light and hang out with us. We're here
till six o'clock, So come on out and when you
get off work, enjoy an ice cold bud light. Here
(11:15):
are Buffalo wild wings in blue ash More on the Bengals.
If you're wondering, no, Jamar Chase has not yet been signed.
I do want to make a Jamar Chase list, but first,
the Godfather is back. Dante Corleon cleared to play for you.
See that is a great development on a lot of
different levels. You'll hear what his head coach had to
(11:36):
say next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Station Nattie's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Centers
Twenty four season began.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, spike the ball in the back of the Zee.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Orange and Black kick off their run for the
Super Bowl against New England's paper.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Sixty three yards. The magic is bad.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Time for Jober or his boys to put on the show.
Rush the patch like an empty beer can get the
call from Dan Hood and Dave Lap. Coverage begin Sunday
morning at nine on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Lagals.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
All right, it's five after four. Excuse me, this is
ESPN fifteen thirty on my legor broadcasting Disappner from the
Buffalo Wild wins in Blue Ashes. Terrific piece came out
over the weekend on ESPN, written by Seth Wickersham, and
I'm kind of curious, and we're gonna get Seth on
here in just a second. But it's basically about Jake Browning.
(00:53):
Now think about this. Seth has covered the league forever.
He has written some of the most definitive pieces about
the new with Patriots you will ever read, and yet
decides to write a piece about a guy who is
a backup quarterback. And it's a really good, interesting look
at Jake his ascension from what he was about a
year ago to now a guy that I think we
feel like if he had to play the Bengals would
(01:15):
be at least okay. And I think more importantly his
working in personal relationship with Joe Burrow. If you have
not read it, I have tweeted it out or put
it out there on x at Mogar. It's easy to
find on ESPN dot com. It is a very good read.
And I've been a fan of Says for a long time,
so to get him on the show is very very cool.
(01:37):
I know you're busy, so I appreciate you joining us set.
First of all, thank you for writing a Bengals piece
from a national perspective that's not about Jamar Chase. It's
a welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Relief, my pleasure. Guys, thanks for having uh.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
I appreciate you coming on. So you sit down to
write a piece and do the work on a piece
on Jake Browning, who, maybe right now, because he's not
a starting quarter back for some might be a little
bit of an afterthought. What compelled you to to focus
on him?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, So the past two years I've been working on
a book on quarterbacks that will be out mercifully in
a year and so I've really been immersed in that
in that world. And last December, I was watching Monday
Night Football along with you know, sixteen million people whatever
it was, when you know, Jake got that his first
(02:31):
career start in primetime. He had obviously started the week before,
but this is his first career start on national television,
and you know, sent the Jaguars home with that overtime win.
And after the game, he was interviewed and he said,
you know, I've learned how to play calm. And you know,
my repertorial antenna went up when he said that, because.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Other quarterbacks noticed it. You know, they know how hard
that is.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That is something that not a lot of not a
lot of people can do.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And I wanted to know how how.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
He did it, how he was able to you know,
that he had gone five years without playing live.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Football in a you know, meaningful.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Games, and I wanted to know how someone who came
from his pedigree and had so much high school and
college success and obviously had been barely hanging on in
the NFL taught himself how to do that and how
he and what elements of that he was able to
take from Joe Burrow, you know, stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That Burrow himself had learned.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
That turns out that it's, you know, not just exclusive
to one of the game's best quarterbacks, but actually transferable
if you have the ability and the stamina to try
to learn it.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
You You've covered a lot of quarterbacks and a lot
of teams in this league, and you know there's always there,
always has to be a working relationship between the starting
QB and his and his backups, and you know it's
it's born out of respect and wanting the best for
the team. I don't know, and you could speak to
this obviously far better than I. I'm not sure there
are as many relationships like the one that you sort
(04:10):
of tap into with Joe and Jake around the NFL.
It seems and feels genuine, and so I was wondering
if you could speak to that.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, And I mean backups tend to fall into two categories.
They either tend to be the kind of old sage
veteran who's been through a lot and seen a lot
of stuff and can essentially be that that therapist for
the starter, or they're like a young guy who's gunning
for the job.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And when Browning came into Cincinnati, he was neither.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I mean, he been on the practice squad and just
got cut, and you know he was he got signed
by the Bengals, and even though Zach Taylor told him
that they like to invest in their practice squad guys,
he was very jaded at that point in his career,
and I think that he was, you know, thinking like, hey,
(05:02):
I'm just going to show them what I know about
the Minnesota Vikings, who of course were the bengals upcoming opponent,
and hope that when they inevitably cut me as a quarterback,
they'll keep me on as a maybe they'll give me
a gig as like an entry level coach. So in
the quarterback meetings and in the defensive backs meetings and
(05:22):
in the meetings with all the coaches.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
He was just going through the Vikings roster.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I think he felt like he knew more about the
Vikings than anybody in the building. And he was really
just trying to help Burrow and that extended into the game,
and after the game, Burrow said to him, Hey, you know,
keep talking to me on the sidelines. You know, nobody
really does that. You know, they just kind of let
me do my thing, and you know, it was really helpful.
(05:48):
And that was interesting to me for two reasons. Number one,
that Brownie had found a way to make himself valuable
so quickly. But number two that Burrow was kind of
on an eye. And the more I learned about Burrow
through Jake Browning, the more I realize that a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Of that is by design.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yeah, it's you do a really good job of illustrating.
It's interesting, you know, from Jake's perspective. Seth Wickersham from
ESPN is with us. Read the piece on Jake Browning
at ESPN dot com. It is very much worth your while.
Jake takes over the offense for essentially the second half
of the season last year. The offense still functions, they
(06:31):
stay in the playoff hunt. There are a lot of
people watching him going, god, you know what, are there
really thirty two quarterbacks in the NFL better than him?
But it's not like he gets a chance to hit
free agency. He's back with the team that they have
no real interest in trading him because you know, his
position is important. And let's face it, Joe Burrow's got
an injury track record and Jake has not been shy
(06:53):
about like, I'm in a tough spot because unfortunately, look
at the guy that I'm behind, and yet he has
a desire that he wants to be a starter, a
belief certainly that he can be a starter. In your opinion,
is Jake Browning a starting caliber quarterback?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And you know his it happens every year, right where
a guy gets hurt, a backup comes on and not
only you know, proves to be competent, but kind of
shows a little magic.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And Jake was able to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And you know, again, a lot of it he got
from watching Burrow and stuff that Burrow had trained himself
to do. I'll give you know. I think one of
the things the Bengals do really well is they find
a balance between depending on.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Their quarterback and taking pressure off of it.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And there was a story that both Zach Taylor and
Jake Browning told me that I thought was fascinating, even
though on its surface it's very mundane.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And that's been in training camp a couple of years ago.
Browning was throwing timing routes. All the quarterbacks were.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Browning drops back to pass, the receivers slow out of
the break, and Browning holds onto the ball for a
beat waiting for the receiver to get his feet and
then throws it to him and doesn't think anything of it.
Later on that day, Taylor calls Browning into his office
and he pulls up a clip of the throw and
he says, I got to talk to you about this.
(08:14):
This is going to get you into some bad habits.
You know, you've got to throw the ball on time.
It's the receiver's job to be where he's supposed to be.
And Browning of course, is thinking, like, yeah, if I
had thrown that pass and it was intercepted, that's my
career right there. Like you know, backups are just so
conditioned to being beaten down that any mistake could cost
(08:37):
of their career, and Zach Taylor had had to learn that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Lesson himself when he was in Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It was a watershed lesson for him when he was
there on a similar type of route. And Taylor essentially
said to him, I know what you're thinking.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I know that you think this could cost you your career.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But I'm the head coach, I'm the play caller, and
I'm telling you I want you throwing the ball long time.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
That's the only thing that matters here. And I think that.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
It was.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Browning told me it was the greatest, you know, interaction
he's ever had with a coach, because here was a
coach who understood the stresses that quarterbacks put on each
other and on themselves, and that sometimes organizations and cities
put on themselves, and he was basically just trying to
remove that as best he could. And I think that
(09:26):
when Brownie got a chance to play, stuff like that
really came into play. In addition to watching Joe Burrow
prepare for games and essentially learning how to be a
vague vaguely sociopathic.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
That's well put it. It's remarkable we've gone from, you know,
a year ago at this time watching the biggest story
of camp was is going to be Trevor Simeon or
Jake Browning? And if it's Jake Browning, do you really
trust him enough to put him in the game? And
now he's a guy who has a feature written about
him by you on ESPN dot Co. I appreciate you
(10:01):
doing this on short notice. I love the piece. Huge
fan of your work. Means a lot that you came
on set.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Thanks so much, mind pleasure, have a great day, guys.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Most definitely Seth Wickersham. His piece on Jake Browning is good.
It's about Jake Browning, but there's a lot of Joe
Burrow in it and a lot about the relationship between
Joe and Jake that you will like. It's a quarter
after four on ESPN fifteen thirty. We're broadcasting this afternoon
first of eighteen stops at Areo Buffalo Wild Wings. We're
at the Blue Ash location today, which is extraordinarily easy
(10:31):
to get to. Get off at the fire for Rhodex
at I seventy one. You could be here within a minute.
We've got plenty of ice cold bud Light. We've got
buy one, get one half off Traditional Wings. Our friends
at bud Light have given us tickets to the game
on Sunday, Bengals Patriots. If you want to go, you
could do one of three things. You could go and
pay a lot of money on the secondary market. You
(10:55):
can get up and go downtown on game day and
buy tickets from one of those weird people holding a
sign that says tickets They're on Third Street. Or you
can come here and win them and enjoy an ice
cold bud Light and hang out with us. We're here
till six o'clock, So come on out and when you
get off work, enjoy an ice cold bud light. Here
(11:15):
are Buffalo wild wings in blue ash More on the Bengals.
If you're wondering, no, Jamar Chase has not yet been signed.
I do want to make a Jamar Chase list, but first,
the Godfather is back. Dante Corleon cleared to play for you.
See that is a great development on a lot of
different levels. You'll hear what his head coach had to
(11:36):
say next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Station Nattie's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Centers
Mo Egger News
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