September 10, 2024 • 38 mins
Paul and Mo put a bow on the Bengals Week 1 loss, Tee Higgins status for week 2, Ja'Marr Chase and More!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Bengals battle the Chiefs. Coverage begins Sunday at noon
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Bengals.
Here we go, what's up? It's four after three ESPN
fifteen thirty on molegor. Thank you for joining us, Thank you.
We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in west Chester, Sholsey Drive.
Very easy to get to right off I seventy five.
(00:22):
We're here at a different beat ubs every Tuesday. I
just I just shot a video with it. I haven't
posted yet because well, because our friends at bud Light
have given us this awesome Bengals cooler, which I use
the word awesome and I don't use that liberally, so
to speak. It is really cool and you can win
(00:44):
it if you're here, but you got to get here.
Beat ups in west Chester. We ended up having last
week for our first stop in Blue Ash, an awesome crowd.
We had Bengals tickets to give away last week, which
means somebody got to go watch that game on Sunday
on bud Light's dime. We've got a really cool so
to speak, and some other bud Light prizes to give away.
We've got buy one, get one half of traditional Wings.
(01:07):
We're here, Toll six bud Light Specials. Come on out
and join us. We're here with our buddy, Paul Danner
Junior Fromthathletic dot Com. The Growler Podcast latest episode Balds
Don't Line dropped earlier today. What's going on? Not much.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's good to be back out here.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And you know what's funny this this west Chester area
right here. The last, I believe, the last time the
Bengals were playing Kansas City, I landed and went directly
and slept at this Marriotte across the street.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Really, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
It was.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It was all a very weird scenario. No, it was.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We were driving back. We were I was driving back
from Pittsburgh or something like that. But it was a
late night game and I stayed there because I was
doing something the next day right up in this area.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I was like, you know what, and I even
go home, I'm just to stay.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
This Marriotte right here. It was lovely stay. They had
nice soft beds. It's a great place to be. It
wasn't Kansas.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
City's everything Okay at home, it was. It was great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
It was just easier. Just trust me, trust that it
was easier.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
But it's I've stayed in some Cincinnati area hotels in
my life, and it's it's it's not because life is
going well on them, so like what's going well? Life
was going well.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I believe we actually had a family function up here
the next day. Made more sense for me to make
sure I got my sleep rather than go home.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know it is you wake up and they get
you up early.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yes, it's easier to make sure you got your sleep
and meet you out at I understand that.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But anyway, anyway, this is my old stomping ground.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
It is.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm a Northern Burbs guy.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Originally you are, Yeah, just stop, I key on the
way here, thought about it, thought about it, was going
to get pick up a speed at Swedish Meatball and
then move on.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But you know, I why would I do that when
I was coming here?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I could have some of the wings.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's right, very good, all right, we have a lot
of ground to come.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Jeez, believe were here, you know, like not here here
like in this place for the fan base and everyone
mentally already you.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Know, I just I go back to a week ago.
We were so excited that there's gonna be a game
to talk about actual football like a scoreboard and a
result and the ins and outs in the particulars and
the strategies and the players who excelled and the guys
who maybe left a little bit to be desired. I
guess we do have that. And and but there was excitement.
And you know what, there's no way they lose, no
matter what. We'll be sifting through the through a win.
(03:25):
And yet boy, here we are you talk about the
air coming out of the balloon. This is this is
that we.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Would talk about it in this like, you know, almost
impossible tone.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Of I I mean, imagine if they lost, how terrible
that would be?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Right, Like, well, you know, he's sure it'll be like
well needed mc pherson to kick a field goal at
the end to eke out one, and they the offense struggled,
And that felt like the worst case scenario when you
just looked at everything working against New England, all the
continuity the Bengals had Burrow with a full camp, I mean,
a home everyone's an orange. What could possibly like, there's
(04:03):
just no way that a team with an offensive line
running into each other, a quarterback situation where they're like,
well this one guy's better, and he the rest of
the rosters so bad. We're not gonna play him because
we're worried about that, right, No discernible receivers to talk
of are going to come in on the road in
(04:24):
an opener and actually be able to beat you. But
they executed the game plan that they had in front
of him and.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Often went I just.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There's so many different areas where you say, oh, that
was the worst case scenario with the Bengals that you know,
there's three different paths of things that you worried about
in all of them.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Deserve You're lucky, you haven't plenty of time.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Deserve full hours to dive into right now because everything
that really could have gone wrong, and that's how you
end up losing a game that you just couldn't lose,
you had no business losing, and you do, you just
you just crush the spirits of everybody that was so
excited to be to be back and to take this
(05:15):
all in your on its first ride immediately, and it's
just it's it's crushing.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah. Up until the moment where Zach Taylor chose to
punt on fourth and five in the fourth quarter, I
was I had it written man I had it planned
out of my head. Win is a win, survive in
advance style. Points don't matter. It's preseason for everybody. Hey,
look at the Ravens lost, Like I had it ready
to go, Like you'll all, it's just about get the
(05:41):
dub and move on, right, get yeah, just don't you
can't give it back, just move on and then uh,
well the game unfolded the way it did toward the end,
they punt it, which we can talk about, we did
talk about in your podcast New England and sure as
they never touched the football again. And like I think,
there's we all have done it a tendency that we
(06:03):
all have to lump the three opening week losses in
with each other. This is different. This feels because of
the quality of the opponent, because of maybe the noise
surrounding the team toward the end of the week, questions
about Joe that I think are a little more difficult
to answer than perhaps a year ago and two years ago.
Like this feels. Maybe it's the exasperation with the previous two.
(06:26):
This feels not like it's going to totally sidetrack the season.
Not that they can't recover, because they can and I
do believe they will. But this, to me at least,
feels different.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I think it feels different because what you're talking about
with Joe Burrow feels different because you don't the same way.
This injury feels different. It feels different than the appendix. Certainly,
it feels different than the calf. These were known quantities
and it's the same thing we've talked about throughout the
(06:58):
course of this offseason, and that's why any nervousness about
this return was gonna elicit different emotions and deeper fear
because this is not temporary.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We just have not dealt with this. And that's the
same way.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And you go back to a guy who referenced his
own football mortality in the other like this is this
is fans coming to grip with that conversation when you
see what it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Can look like, we we just don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
You have to see I've kind of said this in
the beginning, when when at every point everyone wanted to
be like, oh yeah, it's all good, right, it was
always gonna be okay a process.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Can you get what's he looked like in camp?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
What's he looked like in that second third week in
camp when he's trying to play against the Bears and
the Colts and footballs and and he was checking all
those boxes, but there was still gonna be a be
boxes of taking hits, dealing with mentally taking hits and
then throwing the football, which was part of what caused
last year, and the volume in usage that's gonna come
(08:04):
over the course of a season, and when the competitiveness
kicks up a notch and he has to lean into
who he's always been and where is that at. This
could just be you need more volume to judge it. Yeah, no,
I it's hard not to because you said this a
bunch and it's true, like you have to go there,
(08:24):
like you can't watch that and say, I'm not gonna
think about the fact that this guy had this risk thing.
It does require volume to better judge it. We do
need to see it in different scenarios and him go
out there and play differently.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But yeah, it looks and feels.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Different than the last few years because the uncertainty around
this issue looks and feels different. You can take this
team having the world's worst run defense and being unable
to cover and even have bad offensive line play.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
As long as burn looks.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Good, right, you can always put the pieces together.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And it's it when when Burrow isn't good, you have
cracks in the foundation, your basement.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Is boeing, you know, and you're like, we've knocked.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The house down.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Is the house going to be okay?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Because we just paid a lot for this house?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That in that delicits different emotions and it makes it
feel different.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
What's the the appropriate response to that game? Because you know, fans,
we get emotional about it. The emotion lends to extreme reactions.
As somebody who certainly understands what it's like to be
a fan, but steps away from the emotion a little bit.
(09:41):
What's what's the appropriate level of concern anger, what's the
appropriate level of patience? How should we react to that?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
You should you should react with a red flag in hand?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I mean I think that you're that's the first game
always teaches so much about how much was just bluster
and good pr and how much was was real people
being real. And obviously there was a lot of good
bluster and pr about what was going on with this
team and where they were at, and that's that was
(10:17):
the reality.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I mean, you can't look at it any differently.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
That that's concerning, right, there's also the logic side to
me of they've looked worse than that, and they've done
this over and over again.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Maybe this is just part of who they are.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I mean that that has legs, that's not that's not nothing.
I mean they do this every year, it seems like
for different reasons. And they did have a lot going on,
many of their own doing in terms of finding that
sort of rhythm.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
There's a lot of teams that laid eggs.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
In week one, and so that stuff can happen across
the board and it can be forgotten quickly in a
in a week, in three weeks, in a month, in
two months, like we've we've it's a long season. But
that was a very concerning starting point because they were
supposed to be, like I said, to open this well
(11:14):
above that level. The worst case scenario there being you
got to eke out a win at the end. You
should never get to the point where you have that
and then for your quarterback to be the reason why
you lose. Yeah, and all the things that go with
that with him from a health perspective, that's real. Like,
I don't I don't think that that's false or made
(11:35):
up or there's logic to say, no, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You should worry about it.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't think that there's reason to go all the
way to the dark place, uh yet, because that you know,
that's gonna take time to see how he adjusts. He's
adjusting to this thing too. But yeah, it's I think
that's it. It's it's you're very The concern should be high,
and you should be you should probably be kind of
(12:01):
nervous to see what the next two.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Weeks look like.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Because that's the word. Yeah, nervous. Yeah, that's the word.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
What if it's what if this is it? What if this?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
What if that?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What if that is is who it is right now?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Maybe what if that's been the case and they and
he can't really find ways to get past it and
work it out. Yeah, you're nervous at that because that's
a timeline. That's a that's a timeline that was put
into play.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
On Sunday, I was I was asked by somebody this
morning to describe my feeling, and I said, apprehension. I
think nervous is probably better. I think that clock's it better.
It's nervous. It's not fatalistic. Where well, ercos are going
to go seven and ten. But but I'm I feel
a lot of unease because what what that was? That
(12:44):
wasn't them just losing a football game? That was that
was the guy who's supposed to elevate everybody sinking themselves.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Sinking them Yeah, yeah, no I And and it's just
the one. It's there were so many any moments, and
as I went through and like my first thing I
wanted to do in my rewatch was just every every
Borough pass, but every Borrow third down pass, because they.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
All felt like white flags.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, Like, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Just not who he is as a player.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
He is, He's mister.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I don't think a third downsack even counts as a
sack because I'm willing to sit in there and take
it to make a play and to sit in there
and be like eh and check down and short of
the sticks and check down and check down. And then
the last one, you know, the coupde gras, where you're
just like, wow, that's unbelievable that that that's are you
(13:38):
seeing ghosts? Was it the hits you took early in
the game, speeding up your clock, and you felt like
you were worried about that, even though that never really
ended up kind of being an issue very much the
rest of the game. That something was very disconnected in
that moment for that guy, the personality that we know
to be making those types of decision on third down,
(14:03):
and specifically that last one where he looked like a
broken version of himself. Yeah, that to me is is
the wildest part of it. That's where you saw the
biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah. Paul has written a couple of very good pieces
in the aftermath What Happened on Sunday. Go get him
at the Athletic dot com and why Times dot com.
Obviously the Athletic has an app, and the postgame walkout podcast,
the Growler Podcast Today Balds Don't Lie with Me and Dave.
A lot of content a game. A game provided a
(14:33):
lot of content. There was a lot of content provided.
There's no doubt there was a lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Different places to go to that weren't all pretty.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah. I don't want to have to go back to
last Friday, but I think we have to.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We have to what a day, So we'll do that
when we come back.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
A lot to touch on with Paul. He's here till four,
we are here till six. Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester's
Scholsey Drive. Like two minutes off I seventy five awesome
giveaways thanks to bud Light nineteen after three o'clock on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station twenty five after three.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger at Buffalo Wild Wings
(15:09):
in Westchester. Our friends at bud Light have some awesome giveaways,
including the world's Greatest cooler. Come check it out five
dollars bud Lights on game days and and buy one
get one half of Traditional Wings all day on Tuesday
here at b Dubs, and like, this is my favorite
(15:31):
two all time Cincinnati professional athletes. Professional athletes are Barry
Larkin and Boomerasiason, and right across from where I'm sitting,
they have jerseys of both. It says if they knew
I was coming, It's is if they knew I was
going to be here those.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Is There is there a Charles Oakley, there is around
the corner.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I don't see Charles Oakley, don't I don't see a
Kenyan Martin. I don't see a Nick van Xwell, but
I bet you.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
If you start here you could find a Kenyon Martin.
There's a Sean ka Patrick.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
There's an Ohio Stay jersey that I think we could
swap that out and and put. But there is a
Sean Kilpatrick, Lakota West. Is that jab Refsnyder?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Who is whose jersey is that Lakota West?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I don't know who that is.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I'm curious.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I don't know. We'll send the Cracker staff. But there's
a Barry Lark and there's a Boomera size and then
and I hope those are well attached to the wall.
That's all gonna say.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's all I do. Did you like those? You know
these they have the it's the neon. Oh god, no,
the neon. No God, see jerseys k that they they
went to the Big East. That was the year they
went to the Big East title game against Louisville.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So they were those in twenty twelve. There was a
four year stretch where they decided in March to where
let the most hideous things out, including in fifteen, the
year where Larry Davis was the interim coach. Yeah, sleeves,
Oh yes, Sean Troy Copaine makes the game tying bucket
at the end of regulation wearing sleeves. Sleeves were doing
those are hideous. Yes, big a Bearcat fan as you'll
(16:58):
ever meet. Those are all.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
It's the unfortunate part because some of the highlights from
that particular run are fantasy.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Chastics, great awful cashmire right against Georgetown at the quarterfinal.
They they thump Syracuse in the semi final, they play
in the Big they make the Sweet sixteen most recent
Sweet sixteen appearance, and they're wearing what looked like bad
child's pajamas.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Ye, and now you get to relive that.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, but they do have Barry And then it makes
me happy. I feel like we've kind of glossed over
the t Higgins injury. And when I say we, not
you and I I feel like, Okay, he's not going
to play on Sunday, period, And that's not what I'm
worried about. Is he not going to play this Sunday?
Is he not going to play in the coming weeks? Like?
(17:44):
What is the short term impact of this? And then
for him, a guy who's hurt a lot at least
that's his rep what is this going to mean moving forward?
And then you have the people who are arriving at
the conclusion that he's not hurt eye like you I'm
not willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I don't really have a whole lot of patience for that,
only because of this. If you're T Higgins, and he
has done everything right in terms of showing up, playing,
trying to get his body into the best condition as possible,
caring about being out there, knowing how important playing seventeen
(18:23):
games is, in specifically.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Knowing how important not being cast.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
As the guy with the hamstrings all the time. I mean,
this is his six hamstring situation in five years plus
one at Clemson. It's dogged his entire career. He's doing
everything to try to avoid that. The idea that he'd
be like, hey, everybody, I got a hamstring because of
some contract leverage thing in cahoots was I mean, come
on that this was this, more than anything that could
(18:51):
have happened, is the worst thing that could have happened
to T. Higgins because he is trying to avoid this,
desperate he doesn't want to be in some situation where
he has to make the decision about how does my
hamstring feel versus being wary of it, reaggravating it or whatever,
and soft tissue stuff like this. I mean, there's just no,
(19:14):
there's no way to truly know. I mean, it's it's
the heart. It's the same way as the calf stuff.
You think you're back, you think you feel great, and
you get out there and you hit a gear one
time and pop, it's it's just it reaggravates, and it's
it's it's so it's frustrating for that reason. It it
returns throughout seasons. For this reason, it's why the NFL
(19:35):
is doing everything they can to work lower extremity injuries
out of the equation because the vast majority of them
happened in two different times. They happen right at the
beginning of camp and right at the beginning of the
regular season, when guys go to the next level before
they're properly ready, and then if they don't happen, then
though they they typically don't really happen, they're at a
(19:55):
much lower rate. That's so frustrating for Tea Higgins because
now he knows he's gonna have a year that's going
to be in the back of his mind and it's
so much a part of what you wanted to get
rid of. So you hate to see that. When will
he come back, I don't know. But this is the
situation that we talked about with him and really will
it will be and if something like this would have
happened with Jamarshes too, where you're just you're not gonna
(20:15):
push yourself that one extra it's always you rightfully have
the right to say I need, I want one more week,
and you deserve that.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
If that's just the situation.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
And so I feel like I don't know, We'll we'll
know a little bit more Wednesday, because it was so
fresh on Friday. He wasn't out on the rehab field
at all. You're saying, okay, is that very bad? Or
is that just him being distraught over the fact that
he woke up and it was killing him?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
So where's he at? Is he already on the rehab field?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
There's there was some door left open, I think by
Zach Taylor yesterday. But I don't think anybody really knows
what this stuff until you get to.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Later in the week. It's just unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You feel for Tea, yeah, because he has tried to
do it all the right way despite the team devaluing
him and just wanted to go out there and have
a full healthy season and play great and to be
so close to it, feeling like he's as as good
as shape and best prepared for a season as he
was in entire life.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And that happened right before as brutal.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, I mean I listened to people on Thursday and
much more so on Friday jump to the conclusion that
this isn't real. And my take was, if you've watched
T Higgins, you know he deserves better than that. Yeah.
Number one, what incentive does he have to not play? Right?
(21:41):
What incentive is there for him to not play? Number two?
As you've referenced watching that dude drag himself back onto
the field against Kansas City last year week seventeen. That's
not a guy who's gonna fake an injury on the
friday before the game. The guy who signed his franchise
in June, the guy who played in the preseason opener,
(22:02):
the guy who's gone through all these training camp practices,
the guy who has been dogged by the same injury.
In terms of just the discourse around it, I felt
like te deserved and deserves so much better. Yeah, And
I feel for him. I feel for the team because
obviously they could have used you know, all go T
Higgins on Sunday. But I feel like that conjecture. I
(22:26):
understand why people do it, but to really advance it
is really unfair to him.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, I don't he did.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
He deserves better than that, for sure, And it would
have been different if he would have been doing things
similar to what Jamar was doing right where he wasn't
participating and he.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Was and all that just I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
And through it out his entire career he's been he's
been trying to trying to do the right thing. I
feel like he's eventually he will come back and he'll
play and he'll play great, and he'll be in having
everybody thinking of him differently with the bottom line is
like this was the evaluation when when the Bengals were
(23:08):
looking at Tea's big picture, it's that you love.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Him when he's on the field.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You just have consistently seen the nagging thing at some
point of every season. And to his credit, though he's
played through stuff. He's played in the postseason. He's played
great in the postseason. So he's been there when you
felt like you really needed him. But availability, if you're
weighing one versus the other, if you're weighing some really
(23:33):
hard decisions. Yeah, sends you in the direction of saying
locking up long term is something you shy away from.
I really do one hundred percent believe that is the
reason that he does not have a long term deal
is just because of his nagging injury history. I think
that that is a hard thing to go all in on,
(23:54):
more so than some of the other issues that maybe
you can get.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I don't remember which publication it was, but it was.
I think it was ESPN and spent the summer ranking
the top ten at every position, and Tea was very
much on the outside looking in. Number one, there's a
ton of great wide receivers in the sport, including one
on his own team. Number two. It came with the
attachment of like, let's see if he can play seventeen
games and play great those seventeen games this year, and
(24:19):
so it's there. I sense league wide, this doesn't help.
I still think.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
He'll get paid, Like I don't think sure. I don't
think it will hurt him from making plenty of money.
And I mean someone's gonna pay him, and someone's gonna
be willing to give say, give me eight hundred and
five snaps or T Higgins. Yeah, my team will be
just fine, like you know, but that's when you're when
you have another option like the Bengals do and other
(24:48):
things they're considering. I really do believe that that was
really it, that that's even more reason why you feel
for Tea. But people, again, if he plays fourteen games,
you know, no will even really think much about that.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I do have to ask about three players who played
on Sunday, plus Jamar Chase who played on Sunday and
a guy who didn't. We have a lot to get
to between now and four. That is a lot to
get Yeah, we're Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester, twenty five
away from four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Since away from four o'clock, Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester
(25:23):
and Sholsey Drive, buy one, get one half of traditional
Wings and the bud Light Cooler and so much more.
We are here till six o'clock. Paul Danner Juniors here
for another twenty minutes or so. Do you want to
do Jamar Chase? Now we're talking about a few other things.
We have like ten minutes, a few other things and
then give me some space for jamorrow. Let's start what
(25:45):
do we make of Joe Mixon's big day with the
Houston Texans tody carries?
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, I mean, look, you give him thirty carries in
an offense that suits him.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
There's a reason Houston traded for him.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
They think his style fits what they wanted to do,
and it is some old, little bit more old school.
It's kind of what Zach Taylor on the offense was
doing in the run game before they changed everything a
couple of years ago and went to the shotgun downhill
stuff that they do now, if you like, doesn't fit
mix as well. And you saw why. Joe's pretty happy
to be there. He of course took a requisite shot
(26:17):
or two.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You knew that was coming.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You knew that was coming, and and good good for him, man.
I mean, like the one one thing someone in the
building told me after that trade was that he's gonna
do really well. They really felt like there was a
clear reason that Houston traded for him because he is
he is an ideal fit for their scheme. He just
wasn't an ideal fit for what the Bengals were trying
(26:39):
to do in the running game anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Fair enough, why were they so bad at tackling thirteen
miss tackles tackling Jack about a guy every time they
caught the ball, They sure did.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I don't know if that goes back to the physicality
of camp.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I mean, there's really very there's no starters.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Liveckling in all of camp, and they played one series
in the preseason, so they have not tackled. They haven't
had to tackle at all. Is that an argument for
them playing in the preseason more?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Probably? Right?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I mean, obviously, especially for especially from a defensive side
of the ball, if it's going to be this bad,
you know, the same way it was early last year.
It was the tackling was so bad, you either need
to be doing it live in camp in some capacity,
or you need to be playing the starters.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And this is just speaking from a defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
More in the preseason to get them more used to tackling,
because this is you know, let's let's hope for their
sake that it's not who they just are, because a
lot of it was them actually being in the right
spots and not looking. It was just one tackle happens
and off they go. Yeah, so I don't, you know,
(27:57):
hard to know for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
We've talked a lot about Joe Burns trust. He's got
to have trust in his guys. Did that evaporated for
Tanner Hudson.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I don't think so. I mean, I think you can
trust the Tanner hud Well.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I think you would think that Tanner Hudson isn't gonna
have a silly mistake like that one.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Again.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I mean, that was unfathomable crets. I mean the idea
that he's just gonna lift his arm up and celebrate
at the two yard line and crowd. I don't I
don't really know that said, I don't you know the
trust of him. He's still in the right place, he
still catches the ball, he's still quarterback friendly, all of
that stuff that matters there. Hold on the ball man like
(28:35):
that's It'd be different if it was an interception because
he ran the wrong way or turned.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
The this is it was such a silly air. I
think that. I don't think you lose trust because of it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Should uh should the Bengals give Ryan Rico a long
term contract extension for the next eight to ten years.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I think you tell Corey and Tim Crumrae, look, we
need you guys to hold off. We're just gonna go
he go into the ring.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
You tell Brad Robins, buddy, buddy, don't worry about You're
not gonna like what I would. Actually, it would have
been nice to have been sitting on the bench next
to Brad Robbins when Rico's punt goes up into the
air and maybe he wasn't even watching, he just saw
the ball go up and then just sail all the
way down to the other side. Every time, I would
have gone and cleaned out my locker as the rest
(29:23):
of the game unfolded. I'm gonna stick around for this.
You know, we saw this.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
So it's so funny because we were talking about that,
and I remember the day that he showed up and
was doing some of that in camp and people like,
why are you guys tweeting about this new punter guy?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And I was like, seriously, you should see what when
he was doing that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
And then though we spent the next couple of weeks
watching him shank half of it, picks kicks, so it
seems like that's kind of the thing for some weeks.
When he hits it, it's unbelievable. It's like and nothing
you've ever seen. But the consistency has been the problem.
So we'll see if the consistency continues. But yeah, it's
wasn't a great day to be Brad Robbins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
What's gonna happen with JAMR Chase?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
He's gonna play. I think he'll I think on Sundays
he should play.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Just fine. He's not happy and I get it?
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Can I I fine? So they work right up until
Sunday to get the deal done by all accounts, right,
but then they don't want to once the season starts. Right,
what's the difference between getting it done on Sunday morning
and today.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I think they feel like there has to be deadlines
for a reason, and they're just not going to draw
it out to once get the focus. If they're as
close as they got, as close as they were gonna get.
I think there's the reason deadlines exist. But there's also exceptions.
I don't think that they view it as an exception.
I think they view it as they tried neither team
(30:51):
neither is budging, and so punt next year.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
This ended up being in.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Retrospect, just like Justin Jefferson's was, but with contentiousness, but
with a show. Because this isn't Justin got close, but
they couldn't get it done, and then and both sides
ended up punting to the next offseason, and then then
got it done when he had two years left.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It wasn't as.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Public there last year, but it did happen in very
similar ways.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
What happened here is public.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
And Jamar not being thrilled with it, and it comes
in the same summer that Tea's not thrilled with.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It, and it ends up being, you know, kind of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
A nasty feel around it, and it feels and this.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Is this is what I said. I talked a while
for this on the walkout on Sunday. In the way
this all went down was this was the somehow they
managed to turn this a negotiation between two sides into
a lose lose. Somehow they manage not neither side one here, Yeah, okay,
(32:03):
you both lost. If you really got pretty close, as
Jamar said, if you really did have an offer that was,
in his view his words, a bend over backwards offer
on the table.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
They did that for you, and you said, you know what, I.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Don't want to do that because I want to have
more and you're willing to take on all the risk
that comes with playing in an NFL season where things change
for you. Ask Joe Burrow about that. You know, things
change for you. Ask Nick Chubb about that when he
deals with his injury. Ask anybody that's running into anything,
whether it's foreseen or unforeseen, or good or bad or
whatever off the field like stuff, life happens, man, things change.
(32:40):
And when you have a deal that is a bend
over backwards deal on the table for you and you
don't find a way to get that done, that's a
big risk. I don't think that's a risk worth taking.
I'm not in Jamar Chase's shoes. I've never had that before.
And on the other side, if you're the Bengals, you
(33:01):
have to get this done, if you're that close, whatever
it is.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
But the value that.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You think you're getting by playing this version of hardball
is not worth it for a team of stars that
you have now devalued all of them. You've told almost
every one of your best players, we don't think you're
as good as you think you are. And that has
been the case with some that have left, whether we're
talking about Jesse Bates and DJ Reeder or some that
(33:29):
are here in T Higgins and Jamar Chase, and Trey
Hendrickson and even Joe Burrow who had to go all
the way down to the wire to get his deal
where he wanted it to be. And maybe that's part
of how they negotiate. And it is business and it's
the NFL, and that's fine. Heck, even Evan McPherson took
the lowball offer.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
So it's just that stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
They're dance man, And each one you can rationalize, and
I can see reason behind it and understand all all
of it. But when you add them up, all those
dents equal one big wreck.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I think in the way.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
That everybody in the building is sitting there and say, well,
if I do everything right and I become a great
player here, I was drafted here, they leaved in me,
and I followed everything they wanted me to do and
became everything they could have ever wanted me to be.
They're gonna play hard ball with me and try to
and and it's gonna be a problem, and I'm not
gonna be able to get what I feel like I
deserve it, what I can get anywhere else. And I
(34:27):
gotta watch all the other teams get deals done with
all these players, every other receiver that wanted the deal,
got one except for t Higgins and Jamar Chase, all
these players the last weekend, I mean goodness, it was
like an onslought of people finishing off deals. Dax Prescott
gets sixty million dollars. I mean, you name it across
the league. I'm Friarmuth, you name whoever you want.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And the Ayuk thing took somebody weird twists and turns
and then but they still got it done.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
They still they still ended up getting it done. They
came to the middle and and and that's that stuff
just adds up. So from a Bengals perspective, just get it.
Just find a way to get it to the end,
you know, get it. Don't let this go on throughout
your whole season here and then have to go through
it again next offseason. Deal with all of it again.
It's just so because it's easier to rationalize the other
(35:13):
ones if you can say, well, it ended up going
to Jamar and.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Joe and everybody gets that, right, I get it. They're
the team, that's and that's that's the thing about it.
Like you said to me back in July, if if
if this doesn't results on I'm paraphrasing here. But if
this doesn't result in something happening, whether it's Jamar really
forces their hand, misses games and they cave, or they
just figure out a way to get it done moments
(35:38):
before the season opener, then what was the point and
and and so at what cost in terms of what
it tells the other players, what it may have done
for their preparation for the season opener, Jamar's headspace, Tea's headspace,
Joe's headspace, like all of them, Zach Taylor, like the
(35:59):
the potential lateral damage for a deal that was close
to getting done not getting done. It's not worth it.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It's not worth it. It's there's just no way it's
worth it. The money's there.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
They've made enough smart decisions, they're set themselves up nicely
enough with everything else they've done to be able to
do it that it may stretch some of their values
and value for the player and some of the precedent.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
And em little cut.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
It's just they have broken Joe and Jamar have broken
the precedent here and that should have been reflected and
the unwillingness to go there. There is big time ramifications
for that stuff. If you get that close. It's one
thing to be like, we're so far apart, man, let's
just do it again next year. But if you're telling
me that it was that close and you couldn't get
(36:44):
it to the finish line and now you're going to
go through all this after everything that just happened and
everything you got to go through next with this season,
that to me doesn't make any sense so that both
sides couldn't find it again.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I know I'm late, but then blow up your deadline
this one time, Like what what is the harm in
looking at today?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
They're off because they're not getting there.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
But if you're close, this isn't like the Bengals and
Jesse Bates where you could see it coming how it
was gonna end, or t Higgins you could see it
coming a year and a half ago how it was
gonna end. Like, all right, the season's underway. You mean
to tell me we can negotiate the morning of the
game and it's it's that's okay, But you can't negotiate
it an off after the first game of the season
if you're if you're indeed close, you could I mean,
(37:29):
if you can't do that, then to me, I just don't.
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean both sides. We were obviously willing.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
To kick it to next offseason and say, all right,
that's where it ends and and move Let's make a
decision and move forward. At some point there has to
be a deadline rather than continuing to come back to it.
I just it feels like that's been the thing where
this was it. This was our absolute last chance that
we're moving on.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
All right, Well we have to move on. What a
great place? This is just fantastic? Is not all I
wanted to do? Is not it?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Maybe next week? Maybe next week, next.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Week they'll go to Kansas City when and everybody will
be back on board. Yeah, absolutely happen. It'd be something sure.
Paul Danner Junior. Read him at The Athletic dot com,
ny Times dot com. Follow him on x at Paul
Danner Junior. Catch the podcast The Growler. Today's episode Balds
Don't Lie, Dave Nimitz and myself along with Paul and
Uh we'll talk to you next week. Thanks, thank you.
(38:25):
It's five away from four o'clock. We're at Buffalo Wild
Wings in Westchester. Here till six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati,
sports station, got me
The Bengals battle the Chiefs. Coverage begins Sunday at noon
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Bengals.
Here we go, what's up? It's four after three ESPN
fifteen thirty on molegor. Thank you for joining us, Thank you.
We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in west Chester, Sholsey Drive.
Very easy to get to right off I seventy five.
(00:22):
We're here at a different beat ubs every Tuesday. I
just I just shot a video with it. I haven't
posted yet because well, because our friends at bud Light
have given us this awesome Bengals cooler, which I use
the word awesome and I don't use that liberally, so
to speak. It is really cool and you can win
(00:44):
it if you're here, but you got to get here.
Beat ups in west Chester. We ended up having last
week for our first stop in Blue Ash, an awesome crowd.
We had Bengals tickets to give away last week, which
means somebody got to go watch that game on Sunday
on bud Light's dime. We've got a really cool so
to speak, and some other bud Light prizes to give away.
We've got buy one, get one half of traditional Wings.
(01:07):
We're here, Toll six bud Light Specials. Come on out
and join us. We're here with our buddy, Paul Danner
Junior Fromthathletic dot Com. The Growler Podcast latest episode Balds
Don't Line dropped earlier today. What's going on? Not much.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's good to be back out here.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And you know what's funny this this west Chester area
right here. The last, I believe, the last time the
Bengals were playing Kansas City, I landed and went directly
and slept at this Marriotte across the street.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Really, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
It was.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It was all a very weird scenario. No, it was.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We were driving back. We were I was driving back
from Pittsburgh or something like that. But it was a
late night game and I stayed there because I was
doing something the next day right up in this area.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I was like, you know what, and I even
go home, I'm just to stay.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
This Marriotte right here. It was lovely stay. They had
nice soft beds. It's a great place to be. It
wasn't Kansas.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
City's everything Okay at home, it was. It was great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
It was just easier. Just trust me, trust that it
was easier.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
But it's I've stayed in some Cincinnati area hotels in
my life, and it's it's it's not because life is
going well on them, so like what's going well? Life
was going well.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I believe we actually had a family function up here
the next day. Made more sense for me to make
sure I got my sleep rather than go home.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know it is you wake up and they get
you up early.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yes, it's easier to make sure you got your sleep
and meet you out at I understand that.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But anyway, anyway, this is my old stomping ground.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
It is.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm a Northern Burbs guy.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Originally you are, Yeah, just stop, I key on the
way here, thought about it, thought about it, was going
to get pick up a speed at Swedish Meatball and
then move on.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But you know, I why would I do that when
I was coming here?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I could have some of the wings.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's right, very good, all right, we have a lot
of ground to come.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Jeez, believe were here, you know, like not here here
like in this place for the fan base and everyone
mentally already you.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Know, I just I go back to a week ago.
We were so excited that there's gonna be a game
to talk about actual football like a scoreboard and a
result and the ins and outs in the particulars and
the strategies and the players who excelled and the guys
who maybe left a little bit to be desired. I
guess we do have that. And and but there was excitement.
And you know what, there's no way they lose, no
matter what. We'll be sifting through the through a win.
(03:25):
And yet boy, here we are you talk about the
air coming out of the balloon. This is this is
that we.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Would talk about it in this like, you know, almost
impossible tone.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Of I I mean, imagine if they lost, how terrible
that would be?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Right, Like, well, you know, he's sure it'll be like
well needed mc pherson to kick a field goal at
the end to eke out one, and they the offense struggled,
And that felt like the worst case scenario when you
just looked at everything working against New England, all the
continuity the Bengals had Burrow with a full camp, I mean,
a home everyone's an orange. What could possibly like, there's
(04:03):
just no way that a team with an offensive line
running into each other, a quarterback situation where they're like,
well this one guy's better, and he the rest of
the rosters so bad. We're not gonna play him because
we're worried about that, right, No discernible receivers to talk
of are going to come in on the road in
(04:24):
an opener and actually be able to beat you. But
they executed the game plan that they had in front
of him and.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Often went I just.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There's so many different areas where you say, oh, that
was the worst case scenario with the Bengals that you know,
there's three different paths of things that you worried about
in all of them.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Deserve You're lucky, you haven't plenty of time.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Deserve full hours to dive into right now because everything
that really could have gone wrong, and that's how you
end up losing a game that you just couldn't lose,
you had no business losing, and you do, you just
you just crush the spirits of everybody that was so
excited to be to be back and to take this
(05:15):
all in your on its first ride immediately, and it's
just it's it's crushing.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah. Up until the moment where Zach Taylor chose to
punt on fourth and five in the fourth quarter, I
was I had it written man I had it planned
out of my head. Win is a win, survive in
advance style. Points don't matter. It's preseason for everybody. Hey,
look at the Ravens lost, Like I had it ready
to go, Like you'll all, it's just about get the
(05:41):
dub and move on, right, get yeah, just don't you
can't give it back, just move on and then uh,
well the game unfolded the way it did toward the end,
they punt it, which we can talk about, we did
talk about in your podcast New England and sure as
they never touched the football again. And like I think,
there's we all have done it a tendency that we
(06:03):
all have to lump the three opening week losses in
with each other. This is different. This feels because of
the quality of the opponent, because of maybe the noise
surrounding the team toward the end of the week, questions
about Joe that I think are a little more difficult
to answer than perhaps a year ago and two years ago.
Like this feels. Maybe it's the exasperation with the previous two.
(06:26):
This feels not like it's going to totally sidetrack the season.
Not that they can't recover, because they can and I
do believe they will. But this, to me at least,
feels different.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I think it feels different because what you're talking about
with Joe Burrow feels different because you don't the same way.
This injury feels different. It feels different than the appendix. Certainly,
it feels different than the calf. These were known quantities
and it's the same thing we've talked about throughout the
(06:58):
course of this offseason, and that's why any nervousness about
this return was gonna elicit different emotions and deeper fear
because this is not temporary.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We just have not dealt with this. And that's the
same way.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And you go back to a guy who referenced his
own football mortality in the other like this is this
is fans coming to grip with that conversation when you
see what it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Can look like, we we just don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
You have to see I've kind of said this in
the beginning, when when at every point everyone wanted to
be like, oh yeah, it's all good, right, it was
always gonna be okay a process.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Can you get what's he looked like in camp?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
What's he looked like in that second third week in
camp when he's trying to play against the Bears and
the Colts and footballs and and he was checking all
those boxes, but there was still gonna be a be
boxes of taking hits, dealing with mentally taking hits and
then throwing the football, which was part of what caused
last year, and the volume in usage that's gonna come
(08:04):
over the course of a season, and when the competitiveness
kicks up a notch and he has to lean into
who he's always been and where is that at. This
could just be you need more volume to judge it. Yeah, no,
I it's hard not to because you said this a
bunch and it's true, like you have to go there,
(08:24):
like you can't watch that and say, I'm not gonna
think about the fact that this guy had this risk thing.
It does require volume to better judge it. We do
need to see it in different scenarios and him go
out there and play differently.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But yeah, it looks and feels.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Different than the last few years because the uncertainty around
this issue looks and feels different. You can take this
team having the world's worst run defense and being unable
to cover and even have bad offensive line play.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
As long as burn looks.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Good, right, you can always put the pieces together.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And it's it when when Burrow isn't good, you have
cracks in the foundation, your basement.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Is boeing, you know, and you're like, we've knocked.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The house down.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Is the house going to be okay?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Because we just paid a lot for this house?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That in that delicits different emotions and it makes it
feel different.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
What's the the appropriate response to that game? Because you know, fans,
we get emotional about it. The emotion lends to extreme reactions.
As somebody who certainly understands what it's like to be
a fan, but steps away from the emotion a little bit.
(09:41):
What's what's the appropriate level of concern anger, what's the
appropriate level of patience? How should we react to that?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
You should you should react with a red flag in hand?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I mean I think that you're that's the first game
always teaches so much about how much was just bluster
and good pr and how much was was real people
being real. And obviously there was a lot of good
bluster and pr about what was going on with this
team and where they were at, and that's that was
(10:17):
the reality.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I mean, you can't look at it any differently.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
That that's concerning, right, there's also the logic side to
me of they've looked worse than that, and they've done
this over and over again.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Maybe this is just part of who they are.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I mean that that has legs, that's not that's not nothing.
I mean they do this every year, it seems like
for different reasons. And they did have a lot going on,
many of their own doing in terms of finding that
sort of rhythm.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
There's a lot of teams that laid eggs.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
In week one, and so that stuff can happen across
the board and it can be forgotten quickly in a
in a week, in three weeks, in a month, in
two months, like we've we've it's a long season. But
that was a very concerning starting point because they were
supposed to be, like I said, to open this well
(11:14):
above that level. The worst case scenario there being you
got to eke out a win at the end. You
should never get to the point where you have that
and then for your quarterback to be the reason why
you lose. Yeah, and all the things that go with
that with him from a health perspective, that's real. Like,
I don't I don't think that that's false or made
(11:35):
up or there's logic to say, no, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You should worry about it.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't think that there's reason to go all the
way to the dark place, uh yet, because that you know,
that's gonna take time to see how he adjusts. He's
adjusting to this thing too. But yeah, it's I think
that's it. It's it's you're very The concern should be high,
and you should be you should probably be kind of
(12:01):
nervous to see what the next two.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Weeks look like.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Because that's the word. Yeah, nervous. Yeah, that's the word.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
What if it's what if this is it? What if this?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
What if that?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What if that is is who it is right now?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Maybe what if that's been the case and they and
he can't really find ways to get past it and
work it out. Yeah, you're nervous at that because that's
a timeline. That's a that's a timeline that was put
into play.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
On Sunday, I was I was asked by somebody this
morning to describe my feeling, and I said, apprehension. I
think nervous is probably better. I think that clock's it better.
It's nervous. It's not fatalistic. Where well, ercos are going
to go seven and ten. But but I'm I feel
a lot of unease because what what that was? That
(12:44):
wasn't them just losing a football game? That was that
was the guy who's supposed to elevate everybody sinking themselves.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Sinking them Yeah, yeah, no I And and it's just
the one. It's there were so many any moments, and
as I went through and like my first thing I
wanted to do in my rewatch was just every every
Borough pass, but every Borrow third down pass, because they.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
All felt like white flags.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, Like, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Just not who he is as a player.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
He is, He's mister.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I don't think a third downsack even counts as a
sack because I'm willing to sit in there and take
it to make a play and to sit in there
and be like eh and check down and short of
the sticks and check down and check down. And then
the last one, you know, the coupde gras, where you're
just like, wow, that's unbelievable that that that's are you
(13:38):
seeing ghosts? Was it the hits you took early in
the game, speeding up your clock, and you felt like
you were worried about that, even though that never really
ended up kind of being an issue very much the
rest of the game. That something was very disconnected in
that moment for that guy, the personality that we know
to be making those types of decision on third down,
(14:03):
and specifically that last one where he looked like a
broken version of himself. Yeah, that to me is is
the wildest part of it. That's where you saw the
biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah. Paul has written a couple of very good pieces
in the aftermath What Happened on Sunday. Go get him
at the Athletic dot com and why Times dot com.
Obviously the Athletic has an app, and the postgame walkout podcast,
the Growler Podcast Today Balds Don't Lie with Me and Dave.
A lot of content a game. A game provided a
(14:33):
lot of content. There was a lot of content provided.
There's no doubt there was a lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Different places to go to that weren't all pretty.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah. I don't want to have to go back to
last Friday, but I think we have to.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We have to what a day, So we'll do that
when we come back.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
A lot to touch on with Paul. He's here till four,
we are here till six. Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester's
Scholsey Drive. Like two minutes off I seventy five awesome
giveaways thanks to bud Light nineteen after three o'clock on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station twenty five after three.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger at Buffalo Wild Wings
(15:09):
in Westchester. Our friends at bud Light have some awesome giveaways,
including the world's Greatest cooler. Come check it out five
dollars bud Lights on game days and and buy one
get one half of Traditional Wings all day on Tuesday
here at b Dubs, and like, this is my favorite
(15:31):
two all time Cincinnati professional athletes. Professional athletes are Barry
Larkin and Boomerasiason, and right across from where I'm sitting,
they have jerseys of both. It says if they knew
I was coming, It's is if they knew I was
going to be here those.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Is There is there a Charles Oakley, there is around
the corner.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I don't see Charles Oakley, don't I don't see a
Kenyan Martin. I don't see a Nick van Xwell, but
I bet you.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
If you start here you could find a Kenyon Martin.
There's a Sean ka Patrick.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
There's an Ohio Stay jersey that I think we could
swap that out and and put. But there is a
Sean Kilpatrick, Lakota West. Is that jab Refsnyder?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Who is whose jersey is that Lakota West?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I don't know who that is.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I'm curious.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I don't know. We'll send the Cracker staff. But there's
a Barry Lark and there's a Boomera size and then
and I hope those are well attached to the wall.
That's all gonna say.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's all I do. Did you like those? You know
these they have the it's the neon. Oh god, no,
the neon. No God, see jerseys k that they they
went to the Big East. That was the year they
went to the Big East title game against Louisville.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So they were those in twenty twelve. There was a
four year stretch where they decided in March to where
let the most hideous things out, including in fifteen, the
year where Larry Davis was the interim coach. Yeah, sleeves,
Oh yes, Sean Troy Copaine makes the game tying bucket
at the end of regulation wearing sleeves. Sleeves were doing
those are hideous. Yes, big a Bearcat fan as you'll
(16:58):
ever meet. Those are all.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
It's the unfortunate part because some of the highlights from
that particular run are fantasy.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Chastics, great awful cashmire right against Georgetown at the quarterfinal.
They they thump Syracuse in the semi final, they play
in the Big they make the Sweet sixteen most recent
Sweet sixteen appearance, and they're wearing what looked like bad
child's pajamas.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Ye, and now you get to relive that.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, but they do have Barry And then it makes
me happy. I feel like we've kind of glossed over
the t Higgins injury. And when I say we, not
you and I I feel like, Okay, he's not going
to play on Sunday, period, And that's not what I'm
worried about. Is he not going to play this Sunday?
Is he not going to play in the coming weeks? Like?
(17:44):
What is the short term impact of this? And then
for him, a guy who's hurt a lot at least
that's his rep what is this going to mean moving forward?
And then you have the people who are arriving at
the conclusion that he's not hurt eye like you I'm
not willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I don't really have a whole lot of patience for that,
only because of this. If you're T Higgins, and he
has done everything right in terms of showing up, playing,
trying to get his body into the best condition as possible,
caring about being out there, knowing how important playing seventeen
(18:23):
games is, in specifically.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Knowing how important not being cast.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
As the guy with the hamstrings all the time. I mean,
this is his six hamstring situation in five years plus
one at Clemson. It's dogged his entire career. He's doing
everything to try to avoid that. The idea that he'd
be like, hey, everybody, I got a hamstring because of
some contract leverage thing in cahoots was I mean, come
on that this was this, more than anything that could
(18:51):
have happened, is the worst thing that could have happened
to T. Higgins because he is trying to avoid this,
desperate he doesn't want to be in some situation where
he has to make the decision about how does my
hamstring feel versus being wary of it, reaggravating it or whatever,
and soft tissue stuff like this. I mean, there's just no,
(19:14):
there's no way to truly know. I mean, it's it's
the heart. It's the same way as the calf stuff.
You think you're back, you think you feel great, and
you get out there and you hit a gear one
time and pop, it's it's just it reaggravates, and it's
it's it's so it's frustrating for that reason. It it
returns throughout seasons. For this reason, it's why the NFL
(19:35):
is doing everything they can to work lower extremity injuries
out of the equation because the vast majority of them
happened in two different times. They happen right at the
beginning of camp and right at the beginning of the
regular season, when guys go to the next level before
they're properly ready, and then if they don't happen, then
though they they typically don't really happen, they're at a
(19:55):
much lower rate. That's so frustrating for Tea Higgins because
now he knows he's gonna have a year that's going
to be in the back of his mind and it's
so much a part of what you wanted to get
rid of. So you hate to see that. When will
he come back, I don't know. But this is the
situation that we talked about with him and really will
it will be and if something like this would have
happened with Jamarshes too, where you're just you're not gonna
(20:15):
push yourself that one extra it's always you rightfully have
the right to say I need, I want one more week,
and you deserve that.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
If that's just the situation.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
And so I feel like I don't know, We'll we'll
know a little bit more Wednesday, because it was so
fresh on Friday. He wasn't out on the rehab field
at all. You're saying, okay, is that very bad? Or
is that just him being distraught over the fact that
he woke up and it was killing him?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
So where's he at? Is he already on the rehab field?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
There's there was some door left open, I think by
Zach Taylor yesterday. But I don't think anybody really knows
what this stuff until you get to.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Later in the week. It's just unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You feel for Tea, yeah, because he has tried to
do it all the right way despite the team devaluing
him and just wanted to go out there and have
a full healthy season and play great and to be
so close to it, feeling like he's as as good
as shape and best prepared for a season as he
was in entire life.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And that happened right before as brutal.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, I mean I listened to people on Thursday and
much more so on Friday jump to the conclusion that
this isn't real. And my take was, if you've watched
T Higgins, you know he deserves better than that. Yeah.
Number one, what incentive does he have to not play? Right?
(21:41):
What incentive is there for him to not play? Number two?
As you've referenced watching that dude drag himself back onto
the field against Kansas City last year week seventeen. That's
not a guy who's gonna fake an injury on the
friday before the game. The guy who signed his franchise
in June, the guy who played in the preseason opener,
(22:02):
the guy who's gone through all these training camp practices,
the guy who has been dogged by the same injury.
In terms of just the discourse around it, I felt
like te deserved and deserves so much better. Yeah, And
I feel for him. I feel for the team because
obviously they could have used you know, all go T
Higgins on Sunday. But I feel like that conjecture. I
(22:26):
understand why people do it, but to really advance it
is really unfair to him.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, I don't he did.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
He deserves better than that, for sure, And it would
have been different if he would have been doing things
similar to what Jamar was doing right where he wasn't
participating and he.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Was and all that just I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
And through it out his entire career he's been he's
been trying to trying to do the right thing. I
feel like he's eventually he will come back and he'll
play and he'll play great, and he'll be in having
everybody thinking of him differently with the bottom line is
like this was the evaluation when when the Bengals were
(23:08):
looking at Tea's big picture, it's that you love.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Him when he's on the field.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You just have consistently seen the nagging thing at some
point of every season. And to his credit, though he's
played through stuff. He's played in the postseason. He's played
great in the postseason. So he's been there when you
felt like you really needed him. But availability, if you're
weighing one versus the other, if you're weighing some really
(23:33):
hard decisions. Yeah, sends you in the direction of saying
locking up long term is something you shy away from.
I really do one hundred percent believe that is the
reason that he does not have a long term deal
is just because of his nagging injury history. I think
that that is a hard thing to go all in on,
(23:54):
more so than some of the other issues that maybe
you can get.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I don't remember which publication it was, but it was.
I think it was ESPN and spent the summer ranking
the top ten at every position, and Tea was very
much on the outside looking in. Number one, there's a
ton of great wide receivers in the sport, including one
on his own team. Number two. It came with the
attachment of like, let's see if he can play seventeen
games and play great those seventeen games this year, and
(24:19):
so it's there. I sense league wide, this doesn't help.
I still think.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
He'll get paid, Like I don't think sure. I don't
think it will hurt him from making plenty of money.
And I mean someone's gonna pay him, and someone's gonna
be willing to give say, give me eight hundred and
five snaps or T Higgins. Yeah, my team will be
just fine, like you know, but that's when you're when
you have another option like the Bengals do and other
(24:48):
things they're considering. I really do believe that that was
really it, that that's even more reason why you feel
for Tea. But people, again, if he plays fourteen games,
you know, no will even really think much about that.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I do have to ask about three players who played
on Sunday, plus Jamar Chase who played on Sunday and
a guy who didn't. We have a lot to get
to between now and four. That is a lot to
get Yeah, we're Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester, twenty five
away from four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Since away from four o'clock, Buffalo Wild Wings in Westchester
(25:23):
and Sholsey Drive, buy one, get one half of traditional
Wings and the bud Light Cooler and so much more.
We are here till six o'clock. Paul Danner Juniors here
for another twenty minutes or so. Do you want to
do Jamar Chase? Now we're talking about a few other things.
We have like ten minutes, a few other things and
then give me some space for jamorrow. Let's start what
(25:45):
do we make of Joe Mixon's big day with the
Houston Texans tody carries?
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, I mean, look, you give him thirty carries in
an offense that suits him.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
There's a reason Houston traded for him.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
They think his style fits what they wanted to do,
and it is some old, little bit more old school.
It's kind of what Zach Taylor on the offense was
doing in the run game before they changed everything a
couple of years ago and went to the shotgun downhill
stuff that they do now, if you like, doesn't fit
mix as well. And you saw why. Joe's pretty happy
to be there. He of course took a requisite shot
(26:17):
or two.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You knew that was coming.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You knew that was coming, and and good good for him, man.
I mean, like the one one thing someone in the
building told me after that trade was that he's gonna
do really well. They really felt like there was a
clear reason that Houston traded for him because he is
he is an ideal fit for their scheme. He just
wasn't an ideal fit for what the Bengals were trying
(26:39):
to do in the running game anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Fair enough, why were they so bad at tackling thirteen
miss tackles tackling Jack about a guy every time they
caught the ball, They sure did.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I don't know if that goes back to the physicality
of camp.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I mean, there's really very there's no starters.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Liveckling in all of camp, and they played one series
in the preseason, so they have not tackled. They haven't
had to tackle at all. Is that an argument for
them playing in the preseason more?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Probably? Right?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I mean, obviously, especially for especially from a defensive side
of the ball, if it's going to be this bad,
you know, the same way it was early last year.
It was the tackling was so bad, you either need
to be doing it live in camp in some capacity,
or you need to be playing the starters.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And this is just speaking from a defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
More in the preseason to get them more used to tackling,
because this is you know, let's let's hope for their
sake that it's not who they just are, because a
lot of it was them actually being in the right
spots and not looking. It was just one tackle happens
and off they go. Yeah, so I don't, you know,
(27:57):
hard to know for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
We've talked a lot about Joe Burns trust. He's got
to have trust in his guys. Did that evaporated for
Tanner Hudson.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I don't think so. I mean, I think you can
trust the Tanner hud Well.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I think you would think that Tanner Hudson isn't gonna
have a silly mistake like that one.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Again.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I mean, that was unfathomable crets. I mean the idea
that he's just gonna lift his arm up and celebrate
at the two yard line and crowd. I don't I
don't really know that said, I don't you know the
trust of him. He's still in the right place, he
still catches the ball, he's still quarterback friendly, all of
that stuff that matters there. Hold on the ball man like
(28:35):
that's It'd be different if it was an interception because
he ran the wrong way or turned.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
The this is it was such a silly air. I
think that. I don't think you lose trust because of it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Should uh should the Bengals give Ryan Rico a long
term contract extension for the next eight to ten years.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I think you tell Corey and Tim Crumrae, look, we
need you guys to hold off. We're just gonna go
he go into the ring.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
You tell Brad Robins, buddy, buddy, don't worry about You're
not gonna like what I would. Actually, it would have
been nice to have been sitting on the bench next
to Brad Robbins when Rico's punt goes up into the
air and maybe he wasn't even watching, he just saw
the ball go up and then just sail all the
way down to the other side. Every time, I would
have gone and cleaned out my locker as the rest
(29:23):
of the game unfolded. I'm gonna stick around for this.
You know, we saw this.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
So it's so funny because we were talking about that,
and I remember the day that he showed up and
was doing some of that in camp and people like,
why are you guys tweeting about this new punter guy?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And I was like, seriously, you should see what when
he was doing that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
And then though we spent the next couple of weeks
watching him shank half of it, picks kicks, so it
seems like that's kind of the thing for some weeks.
When he hits it, it's unbelievable. It's like and nothing
you've ever seen. But the consistency has been the problem.
So we'll see if the consistency continues. But yeah, it's
wasn't a great day to be Brad Robbins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
What's gonna happen with JAMR Chase?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
He's gonna play. I think he'll I think on Sundays
he should play.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Just fine. He's not happy and I get it?
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Can I I fine? So they work right up until
Sunday to get the deal done by all accounts, right,
but then they don't want to once the season starts. Right,
what's the difference between getting it done on Sunday morning
and today.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I think they feel like there has to be deadlines
for a reason, and they're just not going to draw
it out to once get the focus. If they're as
close as they got, as close as they were gonna get.
I think there's the reason deadlines exist. But there's also exceptions.
I don't think that they view it as an exception.
I think they view it as they tried neither team
(30:51):
neither is budging, and so punt next year.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
This ended up being in.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Retrospect, just like Justin Jefferson's was, but with contentiousness, but
with a show. Because this isn't Justin got close, but
they couldn't get it done, and then and both sides
ended up punting to the next offseason, and then then
got it done when he had two years left.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
It wasn't as.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Public there last year, but it did happen in very
similar ways.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
What happened here is public.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
And Jamar not being thrilled with it, and it comes
in the same summer that Tea's not thrilled with.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It, and it ends up being, you know, kind of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
A nasty feel around it, and it feels and this.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Is this is what I said. I talked a while
for this on the walkout on Sunday. In the way
this all went down was this was the somehow they
managed to turn this a negotiation between two sides into
a lose lose. Somehow they manage not neither side one here, Yeah, okay,
(32:03):
you both lost. If you really got pretty close, as
Jamar said, if you really did have an offer that was,
in his view his words, a bend over backwards offer
on the table.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
They did that for you, and you said, you know what, I.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Don't want to do that because I want to have
more and you're willing to take on all the risk
that comes with playing in an NFL season where things change
for you. Ask Joe Burrow about that. You know, things
change for you. Ask Nick Chubb about that when he
deals with his injury. Ask anybody that's running into anything,
whether it's foreseen or unforeseen, or good or bad or
whatever off the field like stuff, life happens, man, things change.
(32:40):
And when you have a deal that is a bend
over backwards deal on the table for you and you
don't find a way to get that done, that's a
big risk. I don't think that's a risk worth taking.
I'm not in Jamar Chase's shoes. I've never had that before.
And on the other side, if you're the Bengals, you
(33:01):
have to get this done, if you're that close, whatever
it is.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
But the value that.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You think you're getting by playing this version of hardball
is not worth it for a team of stars that
you have now devalued all of them. You've told almost
every one of your best players, we don't think you're
as good as you think you are. And that has
been the case with some that have left, whether we're
talking about Jesse Bates and DJ Reeder or some that
(33:29):
are here in T Higgins and Jamar Chase, and Trey
Hendrickson and even Joe Burrow who had to go all
the way down to the wire to get his deal
where he wanted it to be. And maybe that's part
of how they negotiate. And it is business and it's
the NFL, and that's fine. Heck, even Evan McPherson took
the lowball offer.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
So it's just that stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
They're dance man, And each one you can rationalize, and
I can see reason behind it and understand all all
of it. But when you add them up, all those
dents equal one big wreck.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I think in the way.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
That everybody in the building is sitting there and say, well,
if I do everything right and I become a great
player here, I was drafted here, they leaved in me,
and I followed everything they wanted me to do and
became everything they could have ever wanted me to be.
They're gonna play hard ball with me and try to
and and it's gonna be a problem, and I'm not
gonna be able to get what I feel like I
deserve it, what I can get anywhere else. And I
(34:27):
gotta watch all the other teams get deals done with
all these players, every other receiver that wanted the deal,
got one except for t Higgins and Jamar Chase, all
these players the last weekend, I mean goodness, it was
like an onslought of people finishing off deals. Dax Prescott
gets sixty million dollars. I mean, you name it across
the league. I'm Friarmuth, you name whoever you want.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And the Ayuk thing took somebody weird twists and turns
and then but they still got it done.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
They still they still ended up getting it done. They
came to the middle and and and that's that stuff
just adds up. So from a Bengals perspective, just get it.
Just find a way to get it to the end,
you know, get it. Don't let this go on throughout
your whole season here and then have to go through
it again next offseason. Deal with all of it again.
It's just so because it's easier to rationalize the other
(35:13):
ones if you can say, well, it ended up going
to Jamar and.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Joe and everybody gets that, right, I get it. They're
the team, that's and that's that's the thing about it.
Like you said to me back in July, if if
if this doesn't results on I'm paraphrasing here. But if
this doesn't result in something happening, whether it's Jamar really
forces their hand, misses games and they cave, or they
just figure out a way to get it done moments
(35:38):
before the season opener, then what was the point and
and and so at what cost in terms of what
it tells the other players, what it may have done
for their preparation for the season opener, Jamar's headspace, Tea's headspace,
Joe's headspace, like all of them, Zach Taylor, like the
(35:59):
the potential lateral damage for a deal that was close
to getting done not getting done. It's not worth it.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It's not worth it. It's there's just no way it's
worth it. The money's there.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
They've made enough smart decisions, they're set themselves up nicely
enough with everything else they've done to be able to
do it that it may stretch some of their values
and value for the player and some of the precedent.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
And em little cut.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
It's just they have broken Joe and Jamar have broken
the precedent here and that should have been reflected and
the unwillingness to go there. There is big time ramifications
for that stuff. If you get that close. It's one
thing to be like, we're so far apart, man, let's
just do it again next year. But if you're telling
me that it was that close and you couldn't get
(36:44):
it to the finish line and now you're going to
go through all this after everything that just happened and
everything you got to go through next with this season,
that to me doesn't make any sense so that both
sides couldn't find it again.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I know I'm late, but then blow up your deadline
this one time, Like what what is the harm in
looking at today?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
They're off because they're not getting there.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
But if you're close, this isn't like the Bengals and
Jesse Bates where you could see it coming how it
was gonna end, or t Higgins you could see it
coming a year and a half ago how it was
gonna end. Like, all right, the season's underway. You mean
to tell me we can negotiate the morning of the
game and it's it's that's okay, But you can't negotiate
it an off after the first game of the season
if you're if you're indeed close, you could I mean,
(37:29):
if you can't do that, then to me, I just don't.
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean both sides. We were obviously willing.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
To kick it to next offseason and say, all right,
that's where it ends and and move Let's make a
decision and move forward. At some point there has to
be a deadline rather than continuing to come back to it.
I just it feels like that's been the thing where
this was it. This was our absolute last chance that
we're moving on.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
All right, Well we have to move on. What a
great place? This is just fantastic? Is not all I
wanted to do? Is not it?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Maybe next week? Maybe next week, next.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Week they'll go to Kansas City when and everybody will
be back on board. Yeah, absolutely happen. It'd be something sure.
Paul Danner Junior. Read him at The Athletic dot com,
ny Times dot com. Follow him on x at Paul
Danner Junior. Catch the podcast The Growler. Today's episode Balds
Don't Lie, Dave Nimitz and myself along with Paul and
Uh we'll talk to you next week. Thanks, thank you.
(38:25):
It's five away from four o'clock. We're at Buffalo Wild
Wings in Westchester. Here till six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati,
sports station, got me
Mo Egger News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.