10/22/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And feathers Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Whether it's third touchdown pass.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The jungle will be a rock and it's Joe Burrow
at its Bengals take on Jalen Hurts Sunday, eating touchdown
thang Go. Burrow and his boys continue their winning ways.
The Orange and Black defense ground Phillies burd heck Go
get the goal live from Dean Hoard and Dave lapat.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Is Copper Nail.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I am Bam Bam coverage John Sunday morning at nine
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
What's up, Good afternoon, my Leger esd N fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
It's five minutes after Lee and Locke.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I am a thrill that you are here. We are
in Middletown at Buffalo Wild Wings and it is gorgeous
out we are inside. We've got a lot going on
here at Buffalo Wild Wings. Uh. We've got buy one,
get one half all traditional Wings. We've got bud Light specials.
We've got the six for nineteen ninety nine deal. We've
got tickets to the game on Side Day Bengals v. Eagles.

(01:02):
We're giving them away. We've got other bud Light swag.
We've got the Bengals golf hooty thanks to bud Light.
You want to win the tickets? And every week when
we give away tickets, well, how do I win the tickets?
What do I need to do to win the tickets?
I want to win the tickets. Awesome, You can't win
them if you're not here. Once you're here, once you
sign up, there are no guarantees. This is an above
board contest. We're not taking brides, but you cannot win

(01:24):
if you're not here, and so get here, sign up,
have a cold bud light. I will warn you when
I said this to Austin Elmore, if you are joining
us from maybe south of town, and you're driving up
by seventy five, it's a big revenue enhancement day, I
guess here in the state of Ohio.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
So keep your.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Speed to a minimum, so to speak. We are here
until six o'clock. We are just moments away or minutes
away from seventy five, and the folks here have been very,
very hospitable. We have a lot to get to today.
Typically when we go to Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesdays, typically,
no matter where we are in Tuesdays, whether it's in
studio or at beat Ups were joined in person by

(02:00):
our friend Paul Danner Jr.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Who covers the Bengals for the Athletic dot Com.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
He is the host of the Growler podcast, the latest
of which Balds Don't Lie, dropped a short while ago.
Go get that, as we say, where you get your podcasts.
He couldn't be with us in person, but he is
kind enough to still join us over the telephone. And
he's with us now, Hi, Paul, what's up? Well?

Speaker 4 (02:22):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I'm at Buffalo Wild Wings. That couldn't be any better?
How about yourself?

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, I mean can't be much better.

Speaker 5 (02:29):
I'm sad that I'm not here hanging out with you.
Faith to faith, But I'll do my best to make
it still feel like I am. I'll do everything I
can to maybe that maybe my takes can be as
hot as the wings.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh, very good, very good. Well let me ask you this.
To start through five games, some said Bengals might be
the best one in four team ever? Right now? Are
they the worst three and four team ever?

Speaker 5 (02:59):
Has an unbelievable away playing in a way that doesn't
go with the result, right, Like, they play.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Great and lose and.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
They seem to play bad and win, So it makes
it very hard to uh to make conclusions, to draw
conclusions properly.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
To that that said, I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
I think that they've sort of been a team that
they went and played What are they? What are we
talking about Carolina? Right we're talking about the Browns.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
We're talking about Daniel Jones. Is anybody inspired? Is anybody
like really feeling great?

Speaker 5 (03:34):
Because those are your three wins right now. This team
is has a lot of potential, and they've shown a
lot of things that have been good in a lot
of places, but right now, like they're a team that
has those three wins.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
And that's why I love this game Sunday.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
This is a great opportunity to go out and really
beat a good team, a team that is at a
very similar They're kind of the NFC Bengals, They're very
similar to the Bengals in a lot of ways, and
go beat a team that is another quality team to
really get the belief going and go beat a good.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Team at home, get your season rolling the right way.

Speaker 5 (04:14):
I think it's a true we always talk about with
measuring stick games, barometers, any number of devices that you
could use to measure things. I feel like this is
one of those you can really kind of get a
feel for maybe what direction this season is about to
go for this team.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
So at the top of everybody's mind are the offensive issues,
and we're going to discuss them. But they were I
don't want to say a garbage time touchdown, but they
were a late touchdown away from having back to back
games where they held the opposing team to fewer than
ten points. And you could say, well, it's the Giants
and it's the Cleveland Browns. Relative to what we saw

(04:51):
the defensively from the Bengals prior to those two games,
I think that's pretty significant. Has the defense gotten significantly
better or they just taken advantage of opponents were awful.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
Well, I think there's a couple of different things here.

Speaker 5 (05:06):
For one, let's let's talk about what the output they've
allowed has been this year.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Now.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
They had that two.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
To three week stretch after Kansas City where they were
without DJ Hill and Shayla Sheldon Rankins, and they have
still had Jackson and Murphy. We documented that pretty well,
But think about it. I mean, they if you take
the games against the Commanders and the Ravens, which we've
clearly seen can score.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
On just about anybody out there.

Speaker 5 (05:34):
Both of those played with some depleted defensive line groups.
You've got a team that's given up sixteen, twenty six,
twenty four, seven.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
And fourteen.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
I think that's probably the level that you would have
thought them being at right before.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
The season started. That you just said, that sounds about right.
That's like the kind of group that they probably have.

Speaker 5 (05:54):
Now, how do they they need to be better and
make a few more plays against those high end groups.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
We'll see if that can be the case.

Speaker 5 (06:01):
Again, another great reason like the Sequels game that has
the receivers.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
In the running game that they do.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
But I just I feel like this is a better
representation if they can make bad offenses look bad, and
I think really good offenses might be able to make
them look bad.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
So that what a middle of the road defense kind
of looks like.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
And they need their young guys to get better and
take in as send for them.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
To be anything other than an Oka defense.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
We knew that.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
Before the season started, didn't We have?

Speaker 5 (06:29):
This season was gonna be about how many of those
young players they have on that defense can go from
being young prospects to productive pros. We still are kind
of figuring that out. They're getting their opportunities, but so
I think they're probably about where we thought they would be.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
They just they caught a couple of buzz saws without.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
Any any of the tools that they needed against Washington
and Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
If I would have told you when they were carting
Geno stoneof wearing an air cast that he would be
labeled day to day less than twenty four hours later,
you would.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
Say, what, Yeah, you don't usually see air cast?

Speaker 4 (07:08):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (07:08):
I don't think I've ever seen in my entire time
covered league someone go off on a cart with an
air cast and then they walk past me.

Speaker 4 (07:16):
A half hour later, I was walking into the locker room.

Speaker 5 (07:22):
You know, Stone just he wasn't going fast, but he
was just walking, nothing special on his leg, just walked
right past me, And thought, is that the same guy?

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Is there? Like a thund double situation? What is going
on here?

Speaker 5 (07:35):
And so, yeah, I mean, that's incredible that we're even
having even entertaining the idea of him potentially playing against
the Eagles this weekend is pretty pretty shocking.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, pretty remarkable, and uh and good for him and uh,
and good for the team. I jumped into the podcast
late today. I admittedly haven't had a chance to listen yet,
but I do want to touch on something that that
you and Jay Morrison were discussing when I jumped in,
which was what's happening at tackle right now? Because Orlando
Brown came out of the game, we had a chance

(08:09):
to watch Cody Ford and I caught the tail end
of the conversation. And and when you guys were I
couldn't wait for the subject to change because you were
scaring me. How worried should I be about what the
Bengals are at tackle?

Speaker 6 (08:21):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
And I guess how worried should I be about Orlando
Brown's health? Uh?

Speaker 5 (08:27):
You know I've heard anybody it's been a Bengals fan
for any amount of time that calf injuries they just
come and go and you never hear about them again.
You know, no worries, they don't linger, they don't kill
the first month.

Speaker 7 (08:40):
Of a season or anything like that.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
I don't initially go right to to calf injury and
start thinking about how you can't rush that thing back
too faster.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
It can end up learing all year. And Orlando it
has just been such a huge part and a.

Speaker 5 (08:53):
Really underrated part of what has been going well for
them offensively this year.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Because he's been so soiled they're on that left side.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
They haven't had to give tons of attention with chips
and all the other stuff that.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
That you will need to with quote Cody Ford play.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
I think that okay. I I don't think that it's
gonna be debilitating for them.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
As long as Cody Ford and a Marius Men stay healthy.
You know.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
The the problem is there is a big drop obviously.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
From Orlando drawing to Cody Ford.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
But the one you're gonna see behind Cody Ford is uh,
you know, if it's off a bridge into the Ohio River.
I mean it's you're you're talking about the guy they
plucked off the Falcons practice squads, Andrew Suber.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
You're talking. I guess we've glad.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
We've got a Coker now here, uh from I mean
they just signing their practice squad and that guy Devin Cochrane,
who you probably enjoyed during such things as preseason Game
number three.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
H It's it is, it is not.

Speaker 5 (09:56):
It's hard to believe the way they've been depleted at
that position and if seven guys on their injured reserve
list right now and three of them are tackles, so
and and they have their top guys, and you love
the starting five right now. But something that we applauded
them for and felt like had been one of the
stories of the preseason was man that death really came

(10:18):
along on the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
You feel good about that.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
You like Jackson Kirkland, You like the idea of having
Trent Brown in the wings. Of course, you love what
you saw from Mims and yeah, Matt Lee, guys.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
Turned out to be something pretty good. You could move
on from.

Speaker 5 (10:32):
Jackson Carmen and Trey Hill doesn't need to make the team.
He's really turning the page that whole death thing. And
now here you are like, I don't know who's stupor
you just you end up you end up in this
spot where.

Speaker 7 (10:48):
You're it's just it's really.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Unclear what would happen and how bad it would look
if you, uh, if you have an injury that happens
to Mems or Board right now, or or you know,
who knows something that would maybe happened to Orlando as
he tries to work his way back or maybe come
back too early.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
So that's a concerning thing, is what.

Speaker 5 (11:06):
Would happen if you saw anything happen to your you know,
your top two or I guess so the third one
in now with Cody.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Paul Danner Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast
for a few minutes with us I'm at Buffalo Wild
Wings in Middletown. When you're wondering about the disappearance or
maybe the re emergence of the third receiving target, that's
a first world problem. I'll kind of lump the other

(11:34):
guys at Wide Receiver into the mix of tight ends.
A few weeks ago we were talking about how boy,
you're really seeing the depth of this offense and the
wealth of options and they've got a thousand tight ends.
That feels like it's dried up. Now, you know again,
Jamar Chason T. Higgins have been productive. You're always going
to look for those guys to make plays first. And

(11:55):
yet there is a as you put in your piece
of clunkiness to this offense. And as long as that
is the case, you're looking for other options. You're looking for.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Other guys to step up and do things.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I take a lot of us hope early in the
season that there would be players capable of doing that,
and yet in recent weeks that really hasn't been the case.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
Why well, I think that part of it has been
they have featured those guys the key in Jamar because
they've seen a little bit more man to man, and
the moment that happens, we know what they're looking to do.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
I mean, they're looking to find those guys win in
one on one. That's what they have. For the most part,
that hasn't been terrible.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
I don't know why, but because I thought that early
when things were really going, one of the things that
we were applauding so much was, gosh, the usage of
all the tight ends and you can't just.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Double Jamar and team now. And that's what it.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Is because teams knew that they could come in and
they always could just go double double and take those
guys off the board. For you, you got to be
able to beat them other ways, and it felt like
they were doing that in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
I don't know whether it's circumstance.

Speaker 5 (13:03):
I don't know if it's if it's scheme, I don't know,
if it's the defensive line winning too fast.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
And so you're not getting to those other parts.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
But it just doesn't feel like there has been a
desire to get the other pieces involved. And that makes
me sound stupid, like because that means you're just not
throwing the tea in Jamar as much, and that's pretty idiotic.
But I mean it's still a point that I just
think they're just so much better and there's so.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
Much more dynamic when they are.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
Getting some explosive plays and finding ways to get those
other guys involved to keep the defense thinking about that
and not just.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Being ce Jamar Fike.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
And if that's working all day and you're racking up
tons of points and it looks like the Washington game
or the Carolina game or whatever, they keep doing it,
but those games look different.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Those games had a different feeling.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
And they need to get more explosion happening in the
running game consistently and not go a half where nothing pops.
And so I think that they've got to figure out
ways to get that stuff going, to get their rhythm
going and not be so reliant on Key and on
Jamar to be the reasons that the offense gets that
early rhythm that they seem unable to get glass stew leaks.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Evan McPherson's first two NFL seasons, he was money, which is,
you know, he's got a nickname, money Mack. First two years,
he missed two field goals from beyond fifty yards. That
includes playoffs where he was perfect. The last two seasons
ten of seventeen, you know, one of them obviously mitigating
circumstances with the bad hold by Ryan Rico. And I

(14:37):
think we are all still very happy that Evin McPherson
is the kicker, but there's a part of me that
feels like they're you know, when they drafted him and
early in his run here we talked about how his
presence gives them a weapon, but it can impact your
play calling, both from the standpoint of maybe being a
little bit less aggressive and sometimes maybe being a little
bit more aggressive.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
But you have that as a weapon.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
This guy, I can bang home kicks from fifty to
fifty nine and maybe even further. And that was the
case the first two years and hasn't quite been the
case the last two. Are they leaning on him a
little bit too heavily to make kicks that I think
over his first two seasons we kind of took for granted,

(15:22):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Think so kicking can.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
I mean, kicking can be consistent and unstable at times.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
And you know, I was more impressed last year that
Evan never meant to kick any kit inside of fifty.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
I think you you go outside of fifty, and I
think that you account him to make those for sure,
And I don't think that that should necessarily change.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
You work through stuff, but you just want.

Speaker 5 (15:50):
To know and feel that your golden when you do
get inside of that.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
And so when you see a mysth happen there some
of the stuffing's happened over fifty.

Speaker 5 (15:58):
I think the combination of that being a little different
raises an eyebrow.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
This year, I.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
Still think he has a he's so good in the
clutch and has been. I still think that you counting me,
he's hit some big kicks this year.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
I just think that that can be a little circumstance
show on.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
I'm gonna need to see probably more evidence before I
start saying that relying on him too much, or.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
They should start changing their strategy or be a little
more nervous.

Speaker 5 (16:25):
I mean, you're inherently going to be a touch more
nervous because he's seen some failure recently, but I still
feel pretty confident that Evan to be the type of
guy that can straightened out and have the kind of
runs that that we've seen him have the majority of
his career.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Here all right, I wish you were here, but nonetheless
awesome to have you on the phone.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
And we'll talk next week.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, sounds great. Appreciate it, man, you got it.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Paul Danner Jingier covering the Bengals. Forth Athletic dot Com
catches podcast The Growler Podcast, the latest edition today. Hear
that or balls Don't Everything? Okay, there're Mike, you're watching
Woody Woodpecker. I think balls Don't Lie part of the

(17:11):
Growler podcast.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
That's the one that I'm on. I just I'm making
sure everything's all right.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's twenty two minutes after three o'clock at Buffalo Wild
Wings in Middletown. We are here until six. Jim Kelly,
color analyst for UC football, is going to join us
a little bit after four o'clock. You see getting set
to play Colorado on Saturday evening, a match up against
Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter. And it's interesting a team that

(17:40):
is not being talked about nearly as much but has
actually improved and I think obviously provides the Bearcats with
a very tough opponent on Saturday. Plus it's Tuesday, so
we talk with our guy, Sean Sayed the Stats and
Schemes podcast sumer sports dot Com breaks down the tape.
He'll talk Bengals Browns and Bengals Eagles with us coming
up in two hours five twenty two hours from right now.

(18:02):
Our phone numbers are five one, three, seven four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight sixty six, seven oh two, three
seven seven six. We are here till six o'clock at
Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station forty seven minutes after three o'clock.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
This is an ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Were at Buffalo Wild Wings in beautiful Middletown, Ohio, close
to uh I seventy five. When you get off work,
if you're in the area, come on out hang out
with us. We've got bud Light specials. We also have
easy for Me today. Also have tickets to a Sunday's
Bengals Eagles tilt at the venue originally known as Paul
Brown Stadium. Remember it's a white Bengal game. So you

(18:43):
gonna wear white, So find a white jersey if you
win the tickets, or just paint your chest white or something.
If you missed yesterday's Tony and Mo Football Show, go
get it on the iHeartRadio app. Also get them to
the podcast page of ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. I
think we I think we successfully threaded the needle yesterday.
I thought Yesterday's Tony and Mo Football Show was good.

(19:06):
Not because I was necessarily a competent broadcaster, because we
know that never happens. But I thought we struck the
appropriate balance that I feel like a lot of others
struggled with of it's great that they won the football game,
and from where they were at one and four to
now three and four, that they still have a lot

(19:27):
of work to do. This game on Sunday is going
to be really, really difficult. Bengals are two and a
half point favorites, but still, this is a The Eagles
are a tough matchup for everybody with the way they
play offense. But if they haven't pulled themselves off the mat,
they've at least started to stagger a little bit.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
They're off.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Whatever analogy you want to use, and that's good. I mean,
I can't imagine what it would feel like today talking
about the Bengals at two and five, in particular at
in the end aftermath of the Steelers winning and playing
really well on Sunday, and then what the Ravens did
last night, which don't let the final score a fool you.
That game was not as close as the final margin

(20:09):
would would indicate. And you're now.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Two and five.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
You've lost ahead to head game to the Baltimore Ravens.
AFC North hopes out the window. They're still hanging by
merely a thread, but they at least exist. And so
they did win these last two games. And it's hard
to win. It's hard to win in the NFL. But
I also think, you know I did this when they

(20:32):
were one and four. I said, let's apply some context.
This offense is good enough that the losing won't continue
if the offense continues to.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Play the way it has. Well, here we are two
weeks later.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
The offense hasn't been very inspiring at all, and yet
they have won a couple of games. So now the
question becomes, not only can they get these next two,
but that Baltimore game, like the Ravens are on fire
right now offensively, I'm not convinced they're very good on
the defensive side. Marlon Humphrey got hurt last night. As

(21:05):
of three point thirty this afternoon, I have not seen
an update on him. But you know, we've talked a
lot about get to that Baltimore game and then use
it as a jumping off point. But to use it
as a jumping off point offensively, they've got to be
better than they have been, and you could, I think
you could acknowledge that and talk about it and explore

(21:26):
maybe some of the solutions, and even perhaps find people
to blame, which there's been no shortage of. Well, at
the same time appreciating the victory. You know, my point
on social media on Sunday night was like if you can't,
if you can't find a way to enjoy victories, then
like this whole being a fan of a team thing

(21:46):
doesn't seem like it's that much fun. I think sometimes
there's an unwillingness to separate the emotion from the more
logical part, which the more logical part is this team. Offensively,
it's not just that it has to play better, it's
that what we're talking about has kind of turned into
a recurring theme, and that's the long stretches of lack

(22:10):
of productivity, the long stretches where they either can't move
the ball or can't find the end zone. They were
basically shut out in the first half against the Cleveland Browns.
Charlie Jones on special teams gave him a touchdown to
start the game. Basically shut out for a half. The
barometer for the Cincinnati Bengals is not supposed to be

(22:30):
the Cleveland Browns, the New York Giants. It's supposed to
be the teams that they're either gonna have to play
in the playoffs or the tougher teams on their schedule
they're gonna have to beat in order to get to
the postseason. Not scoring for an entire half offensively is
not gonna work. Twenty nine, twenty eight away from four
o'clock guests free till the top of the hour. Five win,
three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty will get you in

(22:52):
eight sixty six seven h two three seven seven six
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(23:14):
Cincinnati Sports Station SINCY three sixty with Tony Pike. Do
you want to move on the dot to keep going?
And Boston Elmore? I think you contingent. Let me keep
going there.

Speaker 8 (23:24):
Sincy three sixty tomorrow which twelve noons on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Cincinnatis. Sports headlines are a service of a Kelsey chevrola
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There are slow news days, and there are slow news days.
Not a ton in the way of local sports headlines.

(23:52):
Bengals players off today. Eagles in town on Sunday, game
at one o'clock live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Bengals did
make a ross today. They have signed tackle Andrew Coker
to the practice squad. They have waved dominic Davis. Coker
is a six foot seven, three hundred and fifteen pound
rookie from TCU who was signed by the Raiders as
a college free agent back in May, was cut by

(24:14):
Las Vegas at final cuts. Was not with an excuse
me an NFL team during the first seven weeks of
the regular season, so Andrew Coker tackle signed to the
Bengals practice squad. Bengals and Eagles Sunday at one pregame
coverage on ESPN fifteen thirty begins at nine am, and
we are looking forward to that UC football. The Scott

(24:36):
Sadderfield Radio Show is tonight's You'll Hear That on seven
hundred WLW. Dante Corleone named a semi finalist for the
Jason Witton Man of the Year Award. He is one
of twenty players to make the list. The finalists will
be named on Monday to some of the sixteenth and
the winner announced on February the twelfth during a ceremony

(24:58):
at at and T Stadium.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
This is award presented.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Annually to a student athlete who has demonstrated a record
of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity, and sportsmanship both
on and off the field. Obviously, Dante had a tough offseason,
dealing with the blood clot uh for a while it
felt like his season and maybe even.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
His career were in jeopardy. He missed the first game.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
He has come back and he has played at a
very high level for the Bearcats, who are at Colorado
State on Saturday night. Jim Kelly will talk about that
game with us coming up in uh just about twenty
five minutes. Five point three seven nine fifteen thirty is
our phone number. I got some thoughts on UC football.
I want to get to a little bit later on.

(25:41):
And a question for the folks who have decided to
share with the world that they're not going to watch
the World Series because it's the Yankees and Dodgers, it's
big markets, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
We'll do all that coming up.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
In just a bit. You miss sports headline, though, No.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Give me a local sports headline. What do you got?

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Deuce McBride, the Knicks return to night to action.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Deuce mcbrid the next to return tonight New York is
a little bit thin dealt with some injury precious that
she is gonna miss some time. The Celtics are getting
their rings. I've never actually experienced this, but I gotta
think it's a lot of fun when your team goes
in the night that the other guys get their rings,
and you kind of spoil the evening. The new look

(26:20):
NIXT with Kat Karl Anthony Towns over under fifty four
and a half. Many books have them with the second
best odds to win the East. I think Cleveland's the
value play. But I can't wait. I can't wait Tarren
to see the guy on Twitter that has gone viral
who left his white a note basically telling her I'm
out tonight because I'm watching the Knicks.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yes, I thought that was you for a minute.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, my life. She just was wondering where her note was.
So yeah, we've got that tonight TNT broadcast final final
season for TFT carrying the NBA, So that'd be worth.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
Following as the season on folds.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yes, Deuce, Deuce McBride, Cincinnati's team, Cincinnati's player, high school Deuce,
and and the Knixt. So with the offensive issues you
know we discussed in great detail yesterday with Tony Pike,
we're kind of dealing with first world problems here, right
Like Joe Burrow is still playing well ish, He's not

(27:17):
making mistakes, he's not turning it over, not costing his
team anything. He just and I like, you watched Lamar
Jackson last night with one of the greatest Monday night
football performances I've ever.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Seen, and he just won once in a game that
they win.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
For the offense to look like that, now, that's Derrick Henry,
who you know, went a long time without carries. Last night,
at one point he had nine lugs for one hundred
and twenty two yards. But you just look at the
function of the offense and that's you know, it's a
it's a two time MVP. It's a good team, and
it's a team that offensively has been great really since

(27:54):
Week two in a game that they lost to the Raiders.
It just it looks like everything comes And I know
that's sort of a very overly simplistic, not really football
wonky way of looking at things, but just good. If
you didn't see it last night, go watch it. Just
it looks like everything is really, really, really easy, whereas

(28:14):
you watch the Bengals these last two weeks and everything
feels like a struggle even to get a to get
a first down. Now again, they've won the games, Joe
is not throwing picks all over the joint, but it
just it feels we use the word clunky a lot.
It feels clunky, it feels like it's harder than it

(28:37):
should be, and it also feels like from a weaponry standpoint,
we've gone from talking about the depth of a tight
end and all the different options they have in the
passing game to how Andrea Yoshabash should be able to
contribute to the things they could do with Chase Brown.
And we all love Chase Brown, and he's getting a
little bit more usage, but it feels like that is shrunken.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
A little bit.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
And that might be a two week thing and perhaps
on Sunday things open up a little bit. But what's
frustrating about it and why I think there's for the
most part, very fair criticism being aimed at the coaching
staff is this isn't the first time we've been talking
about such things. Two years ago on Tuesdays two years ago,

(29:24):
we were doing the show at quote another establishment, Paul
Dayner Junior and I and it's the first time he
and I had a conversation about clunkiness. First time I
think we used that word on this show. Why does
a team that has such a great quarterback such good weaponry,
Why this is two years ago when they won twelve games,

(29:44):
Why do they go through these long stretches of time
where offensively they just seem to spin their tires. That
was two years ago. We saw some of the same
last year. Early in the season. It was Joe's calf,
which was kind of problem. But you watch last season
and there were times where it felt like offensively they're

(30:05):
just a little stuck in the mud. You watch in
the last couple of weeks, in the first half of
that game on Sunday, they did not convert a first down.
They had nothing but punts after the Charlie Jones kickoff
return for a touchdown. In the grand scheme of things,
in a month from now, we might be talking about
how that you know, whether they had two non productive

(30:26):
games or low productive games, low output games against the
Giants and Browns, And it was an outlier set up
against the backdrop of a season where otherwise the Bengals
were awesome offensively. But that, to me is the frustrating
thing that for as much as they've improved the offensive line,
as much as we talk about how they have to

(30:49):
pay all these guys on offense, as much as Joe
Burrow has been the subject of acclaim from all over
the place, and for the most part, very deserving of it.
It still feels like just things don't come as easy
as they should, and they go through these long stretches
of time where they're just not very good. And sometimes

(31:10):
it happens, it wins, and sometimes it causes losses. But
it feels like it happens way too often. And so,
you know, I hear people yell and scream that, you know,
Zach Taylor should be fired. That's not gonna happen. Although
I do think if the team was deemed an underachiever
by the end of the season, it's certainly fair to
take a look at his role and wonder if maybe

(31:32):
it's time to move on from someone else. But the
chances are he's gonna be the guy moving forward. And
even if that's short a solution, they're not gonna fire
him in time for Sunday, and they're not going to
fire him in time to play the second half of
the season. They're not gonna fire him in time to
go play that game against the Baltimore Ravens. And so
the bigger question is, how can this team is currently
constructed with the coach who has been here and been

(31:54):
the primary play caller for six years, start performing at
a high enough level that they avoid going an entire
half where they couldn't convert a third down or going
an entire half where they don't score. If you do
that against Baltimore on the road, you're probably gonna lose.
And by the way, if you do that against the Chargers,
you're probably gonna lose. And if you do that against

(32:15):
the Steelers, say what you want about Pittsburgh and probably
gonna lose. If you do that on Sunday against Philadelphia Eagles,
chances are you're probably gonna lose. And so yeah, you
could say, well, the last two weeks are aren't a
good example of what this offense is, and it's the
better representation would be the first five weeks, or I

(32:38):
guess weeks two through five, when they were through the
roof and among the NFL's best teams in offensive efficiency.
And that's all well and good, except that what we
saw on Sunday with this unit, with this quarterback, with
the personnel largely the same, with this coach, with this
play caller, something we've seen before. The problem with Sunday

(32:59):
was it felt a little bit too familiar. The problem
with the offensive performance the last couple of weeks was
it didn't feel like that much of an outlier, even
if it came after all those weeks when they were
unbelievable on the offensive side of the football. And until
this team goes a long stretch of time, a long
stretch of time without the lull, the clunkiness, without going

(33:22):
an entire half without scoring, unfortunately, it's going to feel
like the ceiling for the team is relatively low. It
is twelve away from four o'clock. Jim Kelly's going to
join us at four oh five. You see at Colorado
on Saturday should be a lot of fun. Minuer Standing
is there's like a whole bunch of Bearcat fans making
their way to Boulder take on former Reds outfielders Deon

(33:42):
Sanders and his club on Saturday night for a ten
point fifteen kickoff. This is an interesting game.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
For a few different reasons.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
It's an interesting game because Colorado has turned out to
be pretty good. They throttled Arizona, bouncing back after a
loss to a pretty good Kansas State team. It's an
interesting game because the Bearcats have I think rounded in
the form nicely, although I'd be the first to admit
they probably should have won that game against Arizona State
by more points than they did. It's a UC team

(34:11):
that I think is having at least a degree a
surprising season. But it's also one coach coaching against the
guy that many wanted to school to hire instead of him,
obviously referring to Dion Sanders. So I'm gonna ask you
to do something in the four o'clock hour. We'll get

(34:32):
to it coming up right around four twenty that I'm
not completely convinced everybody is going to be willing to do,
and I'm not sure why. We'll get to that coming
up in just about thirty minutes. We're at Buffalo Wild
Wings in Middletown, Ohio. Also later on our guy Sean
Sai at sumer Sports and These Stats and Schemes podcast.

(34:54):
And if you're sitting out the World Series, that is
totally fine. But I'm gonna make a bet with you.
I'm gonna make a bet with you that I cannot
win that little bit. Later on on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, heaving away from four o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Buffalo Wild Wings or by the way,
they've got the six for nineteen ninety nine special two apps,

(35:19):
two andres and two fountain drinks for nineteen ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
You cannot beat that.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
And look what they're known for is in the name
of the place, right wings, Buffalo Wild Wings. So you know,
obviously they have great wings. But we do one of
these Buffalo Wild Wings show shows every week. I went
to the Buffalo Wild Wings by my house on Friday,
so like, I'm the guy when it comes to the
b dubs menu. So last week I got wings. This

(35:48):
week the All American burger. If you haven't had one
of the burgers here at beat Ups, you owe it
to yourself. Add bacon to it, top notch. You cannot
beat it. Folks got kind of quiet when I started
talking about food. Pretty good talking about football. They don't
care talking about food. And by the way, I cannot
blame them, so, uh, you know, just keep that in

(36:10):
mind when you swing by Buffalo Wild Wings, whether it's
the one here in Middletown or one in your neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Do whatever you got to do.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Eight sixty six, seven two three seven seven
six always works as well. A couple of weeks ago,
you see lost to Texas Tech, deflating defeat. Since then,
the Bearcats have held consecutive opponents to fewer than twenty points.

(36:37):
Not great opponents. UCF played very well against Iowa State,
should have won that game on the road, held that
team to thirteen points, albeit with the backup quarterback, and
then same with Arizona State. But in three of the
last four games they've held an opponent to fourteen points
or less. Sandwiched around that game against Texas Tech where
they gave up forty four. Now it's worth mentioning in

(36:59):
that game seven of the points came on a pick six. Nonetheless,
they have bounced back. They're five and two. They have
a chance to go into November Bowl eligible. They have
a chance to really thrust themselves into the thick of
the Big Twelve conference race. Perhaps most important, they have
a chance to hit the season over and that's before Halloween.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Can they do it? In Colorado?

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Jim Kelly, color analysts for UC football, will tell us
when we come back, we'll jump into the Bengals in
the four o'clock hour as well, We're here at be
Flow Wild Wings, Middletown on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Mistery,
what's up? Four minutes after four ESPN fifteen thirty Moegger
broadcasting it from Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
We are here till six o'clock.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
We just gave away a Bengals hoodie, a Nike golf hoodie.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
By the way from bud Light.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
We've got tickets to the game on Sunday, Bengals Eagles.
You got to get here between now and six o'clock.
I want to get right to our guests because he
is taking a break in the middle of a gig
and kind enough to join me. You'll hear him on
the Scott Saderfield Show. You'll hear him Saturday night. You
see in Colorado from Boulder kickoff at ten fifteen on
seven hundred WLW, the color analyst on UC football broadcast,

(38:14):
Our guy, Jim Kelly, Thank you so much for joining me.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Jim, what's going on?

Speaker 7 (38:19):
Hey, not much, mo I'm like you said here at
Breagcare at the Love of Farmers Market. Beautiful day out
of here, and all is good. All is good?

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Right now? Are the Bearcats. Good.

Speaker 7 (38:32):
They are, They really are. So looking at the Colorado
stats today, they come in averaging thirty two points a game, right, we.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Know that good.

Speaker 7 (38:42):
They are offensively well, if you go back and you
look at UC UP and you look at Arizona State,
guess what they were averaging thirty two and thirty three
points a game and the Bearcats held them to a
well under twenty points. So this defense has come to
life in the offense can score with anybody. The Bearcats
are averaging just a little over thirty. They were up

(39:05):
around thirty two to thirty three, but the last couple
of games they've been held down a little bit against
good defenses. But they are good. They are good. And
I got to tell you particularly, I know, you know,
we talked a lot about this early in the year
with the three three five defense and new defensive coordinator
Tyson Bite, and you know, teams that seem to run

(39:25):
at will against the Bearcats early in the season, they're
not having that success right now. And the Bearcats look
like they've figured out how to run this defense and
they're playing really really well defensively right now when their
offense isn't isn't killing them.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
It feels to me like on defense, and you and
Dan have talked about this during game broadcasts, and I
have chat out with some players about this. It feels
like there's a comfort level with the system that they're
now reacting instead of thinking, whereas early in the season
you could almost see them trying to figure out where
they needed to be, Are they in the right position,

(40:00):
who are they covering? That sort of thing, And it
feels to me like the light bulb switched on during
the bye week.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Is that a fair assessment?

Speaker 7 (40:09):
Oh, I would agree with you all the way coach
Saderfield said, And remember they lost to Texas Tech forty
four to forty one. He mentioned thirty to forty missed
assignments in that game, which was kind of right before
the buye and at that particular point in time, like
you just said, it seems like, particularly against uc UP
and then this past weekend it gets to Arizona State,

(40:32):
the light bulb came on and they just played really,
really well. And you hear the time, you hear the
term all the time in football, play fast, and that
doesn't mean just because you have speed that means you
don't have to think about things. You react and it's
just become second nature for you. And I think that's
where the Bearcats are with this three three five defense
right now. It took a while, but they're there now.

(40:53):
And you know, I'm not saying they're gonna, you know,
shut out Colorado by any means. This team can score
a will. But at the same time, if they can
hold them, you know, down to twenty twenty five points,
they've got a chance to win this football game.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
They really do.

Speaker 7 (41:07):
And you know, the answer to your first question is
they have become good. They really have. At five and two,
three and one in the Big Twelve, they're good.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
I also feel like, and look, it's not like they
execute two perfection offensively. They should have scored more points
I thought against Arizona State, but they can at least
come at you with a lot of different tools, a
lot of different weapons. We've talked about how good Joe
Royer is and that's an NFL tight end, and what
they can do on the running game, and then the

(41:36):
emergence of Tony Johnson in the slot complimenting what Xavier
Henderson can do, and so they're not always clicking on
all cylinders and maybe that'll come and perhaps it has
to come on Saturday. But I do feel like, and
this is more of a statement in a question, I
do feel like they've built an offense that has become
pretty difficult to prepare for.

Speaker 7 (41:56):
I would agree with you. You know, they've left a
lot of points on the field and everything. Not a lot,
but some points on the field and every game. And
I agree with you against Arizona State in particular, or
they could have put that game away a lot earlier.
And but all in all, uh, you know, to your point,
you know they absolutely the running game is great and

(42:18):
it's not just Corey Kinner right now, Soorsby had some
nice runs. Evan Pryor had the long touchdown run, and
then you get to the wideouts or you know, the
receivers will call it.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
You got you.

Speaker 7 (42:30):
You mentioned Joe Royer, He's come into his own. Xavier
Henderson was having a great year and all of a
sudden they started putting the safety over closer to him
than double it. Well that took him away, but it
opened up people like Tony Johnson or Joe Royer. So
there's a lot of weapons and you know, pick your
pick your poison on who you want to stop right now,
And I know, you know, the feeling today is Colorado's

(42:53):
going to do what they can to put people in
the box and stop the run. Well, I got to say,
you know, right now, you know, Shude or Sanders is
really really good, but Brendan Swersby's not far behind him.
He throws a really really nice ball. He does a
very efficient job of running this offense. He's got good
receivers and a lot of weapons to throw to.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Has he exceeded I mean, I think the answer is, yes,
he's exceeded your expectations. But but can you just talk
us through what you've seen from him relative to what
you thought you were going to be seeing.

Speaker 7 (43:24):
Well, I mean, I think it's like anything we really
didn't know. He you know, was a young freshman at
Indiana last year. He's played six games in his career.
He won one out of six. I believe, I think
he started seven games, but one out of six last
year he was able to win. And there's a lot

(43:45):
of people saw something. But think about think about the
big ten teams that went out looking for quarterbacks. Okay,
like let's just take one that we know pretty well, Wisconsin. Okay,
they didn't come after him. They saw him last year.
I don't know if they saw him, you know, play live,
but they saw him on film. They didn't come after him,
they went after somebody else. And from that perspective, you know,

(44:07):
I think he snuck up on some people. But I
have to give the Bearcat coaching staff a ton of
credit for being able to select this guy out of
all the different quarterbacks that are out there. And I
think if you look at percentages of players that go
into the portal every year, not necessarily number of players,
but percentages of position, I think quarterback would be number

(44:27):
one by by by far, you know, as opposed to maybe,
you know, wide receivers, sure in the numbers, because there's
three or four in every team. But at the same time,
they did a great job of finding Brendan sowersby recruiting him,
doing the things they needed to make him feel comfortable.
And I just you know, Scott Saderfield took a lot
of slack last year, earlier in the year, and maybe

(44:49):
rightfully so for the Pittsburgh game, you know, and I
don't know that that was his fault, but that's a
game they should have won. But that being said, this
team's come together very very nicely, and he's done it
in a number of ways. Good quality football players but
also good people that like to be around each other.
And it's you know, I think that's going to be
rarer and rarer in these days of the nil and

(45:11):
these days of the transfer portal where you even talk
about chemistry and team unity and things like that. But
somehow the Bearcats have been managed to do it, and
it's certainly held in them along this year.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
How do they fix their issues closing out halves, whether
it be in the kicking game or just the overall function.
For the games they've played in this year, they've missed
a kick at the end of the half. They had
the issue against Miami where Royer fumbled at the end
kind of a fluky play, but it's come back to
bite him twice. Is it merely a matter of make

(45:43):
the kicks? And then I guess along with that, is
there a kicking problem?

Speaker 7 (45:48):
Well, you know, we've seen Nathan Hawks who's the kicker,
performed very very well. We've also seen him even on
some short wins and an extra point and then of
course some longer kicks miss and you know you're going
to be down the stretch, you're going to be in
some tight games, and quite honestly, this could be a

(46:08):
you know, a thirty four to thirty one game this
week and it may come down to a kick. And
I think I don't want to say it's a problem
because he's shown that he can do it, but at
the same time, he's got to be able to do
it consistency, consistently, and I think we've all gotten to
the point when we watch the NFL kickers, they're so
daggone good anymore, you know, from long distances and as

(46:30):
far as their accuracy that we think everybody's that way. Well,
we saw this past weekend with Arizona State, you know,
two field goals that were absolutely kind of the ugliest
kicks I've seen in a long long time that they missed,
and not that.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
It would have won the game for him, but it
would have.

Speaker 7 (46:45):
Put him into the game, you know, and they had.
Anytime you're close like that, you've got a chance to
come back and win. So kicking is very important. And
Kenny Dillingham made a comment after the game about, you know,
having a tryout for kicker, and he regretted it came back.
I can apologize to the young kicker of Arizona state
that he shouldn't have said that, But I think it

(47:05):
just emphasizes the importance of the kicking game in the
college game, and the Bearcats are going to need that
down the road. So I don't know that it's a
problem because we've seen that Nathan Hoks can do it.
Whether it's a mental thing, whether it's a physical thing.
You know, that's up to you know, carry Combs in
the special team staff to try to figure out what's
going on with him. But you know, honestly, I think

(47:26):
he sooner or later this year is going to kick
one of you know, forty fifty some yards to win
a football game.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Yeah, I hope. So, I know you have a lot
going on, man, I appreciate you carbon had some time
travel safe to Boulder.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
We'll see you out there.

Speaker 7 (47:39):
Yeah, we'll see you out in the Boulder. Okay, Mo, Thanks,
I look forward to it.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
That's Jim Kelly.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
He's got the game with Dan Horde, Tony Pike, and
myself on Saturday night. You see in Colorado from Boulder
kickoff late night ten fifteen. Our pregame coverage will start
after the nine o'clock news and more tonight in the
Scott Sadeafield Radio Show from eight to nine on seven
hundred WLW. We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in beautiful middle Town.

(48:07):
It is a gorgeous day outside. We're having fun inside.
We've got buy one, get one half of traditional wings.
We've got ice cold bud light, We've got Bengals Eagles
tickets were given away. We've we've got a lot. But
you can't get any of it if you're not here.
So when you get off work, come on out and
hang out with us. And again, if you're going up
seventy five, certainly from where I was coming from, just

(48:30):
keep it, keep it within. I didn't get pulled over,
but I could have. The guy in front of me did,
and hopefully he had powers of persuasion. I haven't gotten
a knock on wood. I'n't gotten a speeding ticket in
sixteen years. It was in South Bend, Indiana, and so
it's been a while. But a lot of revenue enhancement,

(48:52):
and they don't like it when you call it that,
by the way, they get mad at me when I
you'll warn people revenue and egg revenue enhancement. Yeah, anyway,
just beat cool up seventy five and you'll be fine.
Then get here and hang out at Buffalo Wild Wings.
It's a quarter after four. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna ask you to give somebody a chance when we
come back on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (49:13):
No.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
This is football in Thenetti, brought to you in bart
by Modern Opus Methods, on the official home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Twenty two minutes after four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
We're a Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown where they've got
five dollars bud light talls every single I'm drinking a bottle,
but five dollars bud light talls every single day. Buy one,
get one half of traditional Wings because it's Tuesday, the
six for nineteen ninety nine deal as well. We're very

(49:47):
close to I seventy five here in Middletown, and the
staff here has been extraordinarily accommodating to us. We'll jump
back into the Bengals here in just a bit. And
if you have decay before a pitch is even thrown,
you know what, I'm not watching the World Series because
it's New York and LA and I resent those big markets.

(50:10):
That is fine, trust that is fine. But I got
a question that coming up a little bit later on.
You see is a four point underdog on Saturday night
against Colorado. This is I said before, this is a
really interesting game. It's an interesting game because it's two
teams that are having good seasons. There's obviously been a

(50:33):
lot of noise around Colorado that has quieted a little bit.
I think slowly Deon Sanders has not just built a
good team. I think his team has improved from when
a lot of people left him from dead when they
were sort of manhandled by Nebraska. And it's a UC
team that is quietly. They've moved on from the Pittsburgh game,
They've moved on from the Texas Tech game. These are

(50:55):
three to one teams in league play. In this game
on Saturday is going to factor into the Big Twelve race.
Not here to tell you that either team is going
to win the Big Twelve, but one of these two
is gonna have a four to one record in the
Big Twelve at the end of this game.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
It's a tough road environment.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Usual. He played in a really tough road environment against
Texas Tech, and offensively for the most part, functioned well.
They do have to play a better defensively. This is,
at least, for my money, the best quarterback that they
have played. I think it's gonna be a blast to
watch Travis Hunter, who I have a Heisman vote.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
He would get it right now. No knock on anybody else.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
But it's also, let's face it, this is Scott Sanderfield
coaching against Deion Sanders. And when Cincinnati needed a coach
after Luke Fickle left, everybody wanted Deon Sanders, and I
get it. I'm not gonna say that I wouldn't have
found that insanely entertaining is Deon Sanders. He's a walking
publicity machine. A lot of the pr that Colorado instantly got.

(51:55):
I mean, there were a four win team last season.
I'm not sure there was a college football program talked
about more. He was the sportsman of the year. They
went four and eight. A lot of that pr out
of that pub would have come to Cincinnati. That's not
a bad thing. And maybe Shador Sanders would be playing,
and maybe Colorado's team this year would be UC's team
this year, and everybody would be excited about coach Prime,

(52:16):
and you'd see him all over town and there would
be a pinache, there would be a glamour factor that
you're not.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Gonna get with anybody else.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
But they didn't hire Dion Sanders, and time will tell
if that ultimately was the right decision for Colorado, and
I guess along with that, if that was the right
decision for UC. Instead, they hired Scott Saderfield. And so
Scott Saderfield gets a chance on Saturday to coach against
the guy that a lot of people wish would have
been hired instead of him. It was interesting when they

(52:46):
hired Scott Saderfield, perhaps influenced to a degree by sentiment
in Louisville. I don't know that there's been a coaching
hire in any of the entities in town that has
been met with less enthusiasm. And I've been here for

(53:07):
a while now, and I don't know. I don't know
that I have seen a coach at UC or Xavier,
or a manager with the Reds or a coach with
the Bengals who and they were hired was met with
more of a shoulder.

Speaker 3 (53:22):
Shrug and in some cases downright anger. Maybe it was because.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Some folks weren't gonna like anybody who wasn't Deon Sanders.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Maybe it was influenced.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
By the fact that Louisville folks, a lot of Louisville
folks were ready to move on from Scott Saderfield and
told us and know on certain terms how much they
were ready for him to move on. But I think
because of that, you had a lot of fans and
I don't think the majority, but a lot who they
formed an opinion, and to this point they've been unwilling

(53:53):
to move on from it. And in some cases they
just want to be right about what their opinion was,
and so they're not giving UC's head coach a fair chance. Now,
look last year they weren't very good. So you might say, well,
he had a chance last season to earn our enthusiasm,
earn our support, get us to buy in, and that
didn't happen. But man, I know I did this last year.

(54:17):
I took a look at all the programs in the
country that had new head coaches. Very few of them
were successful in year one.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Dean Sanders himself was not.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Successful in year one, and so as the year unfolded
last year, I was asked often, are you giving Scott
Saderfield to pass?

Speaker 3 (54:32):
And my response was yes.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
I think it's never been more difficult to be a
coach in a new place in year one. And then
you add to it the guy he's replacing for my money,
Luke Fickle should have a statue. And number two they
won up a level in competition. The Big twelve is
just a better league. It's a bigger league, it's a
more athletic league. It's a more difficult league to navigate
than the American Athletic Conference. I'm not sure there's any

(54:55):
coach in the sport, especially now with the freedom of movement,
players could just jump before you even have a chance
to convince them that you can coach them successfully. I
think it's never been more difficult to be a year
one head coach. So I gave him a pass. I'd
give anybody a pass. I give Deon Sanders a pass.
So year two gets off to let's call it what
it was, kind of a rough start because of that

(55:17):
Pittsburgh game. Terrible loss, there's no getting around it. Awful
loss up twenty one third quarter, no excuse. You got
to win that football game. And I think that on
top of everybody's sort of built in lack of enthusiasm
caused a lot of people, if they weren't already out
on Scott Sanderfield, they decided I'm done. I'm not sure

(55:39):
that's fair either, especially in the wake of what's happened.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
They've won four out of five.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
They look like and play like a legitimate Big twelve team,
not a championship Big twelve team, not a team without flaws.
But they've come back from the pit game. Say what
you want about the Texas Tech game, they've come back
from that sort of had a weird, fluky ending with
the runoffs. They also stood toe to toe on the
road against what I think is a certainly an established

(56:08):
Big twelve school and a pretty good Red Raiders team. Uh,
the roster is pretty well constructed. They took last year's
team and from last year to this year turned over
the roster in a way that they've already exceeded by

(56:31):
two games last season's win total. They've got a chance
a chance to exceed even the most optimistic expectations for
this season. There are no off field issues. The team
has gotten better almost every single week. They've got a
quarterback doesn't this head coach deserve a chance. I'm not

(56:56):
here to tell you that I'm one thousand percent convinced.
You know, he's the guy to get him back to
the playoff or he's the guy that can put him
in the national championship picture. I don't know, but I
do think everybody deserves a shot. I think everybody deserves
a chance. I used to talk about this years and
years and years ago with Mick Cronin that I felt like,

(57:17):
before he got the program rebuilt, you just had people
who they were never going to give him a shot.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
And I never understood that, right.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
I never understood like you might be pissed about what
happened with the previous coach and how things went down,
but can you give this guy a chance? I think
this coach of this program this season deserves at least
some degree of open mindedness that you will allow him
to win you over. And I bring this up because
I feel like I feel like any any credit that

(57:48):
anybody wants to give him, or anything that you want
to say about the program and how they've played and
how the team has done. When we start to talk
about the coach and his role in it, the praise
often comes kind of begrudgingly.

Speaker 4 (58:05):
I just I.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Feel like there are a lot of fans who long
ago made up their mind, even before he coached the
game against US for UC, they made up their mind
on Scott Sadderfield, and they're willing to move on from it, don't.
I don't think that's fair. And I do think from
the end of last season to now, it's not been perfect.
You know, people get hung up on play calling, and
there was some play calls in that game against Arizona

(58:27):
State that I didn't love. But it feels like the
program is moving in the right direction. The team is better.
They've got an offense that I think is pretty well
put together, a defense that has improved. There's no sort
of effort related issue. He strikes me as a likable guy.

(58:48):
My limited experiences with him have certainly been positive. They
haven't allowed losses to turn into losing streaks. I think
that's pretty good. I think if they were to do
the Big Twelve Coach of the Year pol I don't
know that Scott Sadderfield would win it. It probably, I

(59:08):
guess be Kenny dilling Hammett at Arizona State, but he'd
be given consideration. Program was on really shaky footing going
into the Big twelve, new head coach, and it feels
like things have steadied just a little bit. He's got
more of a Big twelve looking team. It's a roster
that doesn't have any just wide open, glaring holes. I

(59:30):
am concerned about the kicking situation. I don't know, man,
Like I feel like there are folks who care about
UC football as much as I do, who just don't
want to give the head coach a shot, who just
don't want to give him a fair shake. I'll be
the first to criticize him when he deserves it, and

(59:50):
we've done it on this show, and we'll continue to
when when it's warranted.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
But I also think the praise is warranted right now.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Like I feel like any other which if any other
team in town has been with the exception of Mick
for some you know whatever it was sixteen seventeen years ago,
I feel like everybody else has been given a shot.
Everybody else has been given a chance. Right There are
some that thought Bengals should do beyond something better, more experienced, flashier,
beyond Zach Taylor. But I think everybody gave him a chance.

(01:00:20):
I don't know what Scott Sadderfield that that has happened.
And if they were two and five, i'd be the
first to tell you all right, but they're not. They're
five and two. They're playing well. They probably gonna go
to a bowl game. Before the season started, all I
heard was, well, best case they'll go six and six
and get to a bowl game. Now that feels like
worst case. They've improved from what they were. The team

(01:00:42):
is better. Those are things you want from any coach
or any coaching staff. Players have responded to whatever the
message is. That's that's a coach who's doing a good job.
I mean not perfect. Again, I'm not here to tell
you that Scott Saderfield will be on the sideline the
first time and you see plays in the expanded playoff.
But I do think for those who just decided I

(01:01:07):
don't like this guy, I'm never gonna be on board.
I wish it was Dion and if he held fire
set at the first sign of any trouble. I feel
like there's a lot of those folks that aren't allowing
the coach to win them over. And I think at
least to this point, and look if they lose, if
they get blown out on Saturday, we'll talk about the

(01:01:27):
coach's role in it. I think this head coach is
doing a good job, and I don't believe there's an
overwhelming number of fans that would say that sentence. I
think this coach is doing a good job. And if
he's doing a good job, well, then he's proving that
he was the right person for the job. We could
change our mind at the end of the season, maybe
we will. We could change our mind in a year,

(01:01:49):
maybe we will. But I feel like on a weekly basis,
when I want this team sort of gauge how people
are reacting to it, you have a lot of people
who are pretty reluctant to even say anything nice about

(01:02:09):
the head coach. By the way, extraordinarily good guy, not
like I hired some jo and we don't like his
coaching either.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
I don't know, man.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
It also really does seem to be a buy in
factor with these players that matters. So I know it's
kind of a long winded soliloquy if you will, but
can we give this coach an opportunity? And look, by
the way, if if they win on Saturday, they're gonna
be talked about a little bit more nationally, and maybe

(01:02:39):
that's the wind that folks are gonna need to, you know,
start talking about Scott's Saderfield a little bit more. Again,
there's there's there's believing. I'm not telling you telling you
to believe that this guy is ever going to approach
the level of success that that Luke had. But I
also feel like there's a closed mind in this with
Scott's Saderfield that I'm not sure is totally deserved. You're
you're a Louisville friend, or they're they're gonna be okay

(01:03:01):
if you go. You know what, maybe this guy is
the right guy, you see, and it didn't quite work
out the way things would have you would have expected
or hoped for it at Louisville. I don't know, man,
I don't think I'm in the total minority, but I do.
I do think there's a large chunk of the fan
base that just has decided we're never gonna be all

(01:03:23):
in with this coach. We're never gonna embrace him. And
not that they're rooting against him, but they'd almost rather
be validated than be happy. So I'm just asking, like,
can can we give this head coach just for Saturday?
If you want to they lose on Saturday, throw this
back in my face and throw it back in my face.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Can we give this coach a shot? Because I feel
like he's deserved it, and I a still feel like
in the face of a lot of public criticism, and
I'm sure understanding when he got the job, like I'm
not the guy they wanted. Has headled himself in a
in a pretty high class manner. I think he deserves
a fair amount of for what's happened this season. All
you can ask for is for a program from one

(01:04:04):
year to the next to get better and from a
team at the beginning of the season to improve those
things have happened.

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
What is there to not at least like, what is
there to at least not give.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
A chance to five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number on AX at Mulager. Sean
Sayed Stats and Schemes podcast on the Bengals and what
they're not doing right offensively, what they have done right defensively.
Coming up at five twenty. We are way late for
a break. We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown on

(01:04:37):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Sports Station now you've been listening to football in Thenetti
on the official home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Since So whether it's third touchdown pass, the.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Jungle will be a roucke and that's Joe Burrow at
its Bengals take on Jalen Hurts, seanby E touchdown. Bengal
Role and his boys continue their winning ways. So the
Orange and Black defense ground the Billies.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Word heck, I haven't.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Got the goal Live from Dead Horde and Dave.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Leftbat Is Copper Nail. I am Bam Bam.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Coverage Judge Sunday morning at nine on ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
I'm looking here on TV of the Paul Fine Bomb
Show is on Paul Fine bamb You had to tell
you quick story two thousand and three, I interviewed to
be his producer, Paul finebaumb Things worked out for him,
me not taking over that job things. One might argue,
we're still in the wait and see mode with me.

(01:05:41):
But anyway, he's interviewing Barry Switzer, the legendary former head
coach at Oklahoma obviously also won a Super Bowl with
Jerry Johnson's team of the Dallas Cowboys. He is being
named to the twenty twenty four SEC Legends Class. Ah,
Barry Switzer didn't coach in the SEC, and he played

(01:06:07):
at Arkansas.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Arkansas was not in the SEC.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
When he played at Arkansas. Like that is.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Like legitimately not a thing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
It's like voting Joey Vado into the Pro Football Hall
of Fame.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
He literally.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Vince Young is also on this. Vince Young, marvelous player,
a quarterback of the winning team in the greatest college
football game I've ever watched, the six Rose Bowl. Vince
Young at Texas was not in the SEC. Barry Switzer
and Vince Young are going into the SEC Legends Class,
but they never participated in the SEC. That doesn't I mean,

(01:06:44):
I know Oklahoma and Texas are both now SEC members,
but like it would make more sense even though it
wasn't the Big Twelve at the time, to put Barry
Switzer in the Big twelve, and maybe he already is.

Speaker 4 (01:06:54):
I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Anyway, Just those are the things that I think about.
Sports headlines were way late for this service to Kelsey Chevrolet,
home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life kelsey chev dot com.
Bengals have assigned a tackle by the name of Andrew
Cocher to the practice squad. He is a rookie from TCU.

(01:07:16):
TCU also not in the SEC. Right this would be
like taking Ladanian Tomlinson and putting him in the SEC
Legends class. Well, he didn't play a TCU asn't moved
to the SEC anyway, this would be like putting Andrew
Cocher in the SEC Legends class. Coker is a rookie

(01:07:37):
from TCU College free agencygnee by the Raiders back in May.
Was cut by Vegas on final cuts. Was not with
an NFL team during the first seven weeks of the
regular season. Cincinnati waiving defensive tackle Dominique Davis from the
practice squad, a player who last played for the Bengals
in twenty twenty two. Sunday's game kicks at one Pregame
cover GSPN fifteen thirty starts at nine am with a

(01:08:01):
bleary eyed Moegger and Tony Pike. You see football. The
Bearcats are getting set for for Friday Saturday's tilt against Oklahoma.
Dante Corleone has been named to the Jason He's been
named a finalist for the Jason Witten Man of the
Year Award. He is one of twenty players to make
the cut for an award that is presented annually to

(01:08:23):
a student athlete who has demonstrated a record of leadership
by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity, and sportsmanship both on and
off the field. I'm up for the iHeart Media version
of this Man of the Year Award. iHeartMedia be announced
next year. I think you have to vote, so if
you could throw some support my way. Scott's Sandlefield Show

(01:08:44):
tonight eight o'clock on seven WLW. Bearcats are four point dogs.
Excuse me on the road against excuse Me Colorado. Our
buddy Sean said Stats and Schemes podcast on the Bengals.
I'm gonna I'm gonna pose to him. I've never called
a play in my life. It's why I'm I'm normally

(01:09:05):
not the guy that if you turn on a show
and you hear somebody screaming about play calling, I'm not
as qualified to do that as let's say, a guy
like Tony Pike, who has not only called plays.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
But executed them.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
But I still have ideas, and my idea you might
call it kind of silly, but like I watched the
Bengals operate offensively, and I was thinking about this last
night watching the Ravens against the Tampa Bay defense that
isn't awesome, But like the Ravens just do what they
want and it comes easy. It looks not effortless, but

(01:09:37):
it just it looks like everything just comes easy to them.
And it helps to have Derrick Henry and it helps
to have Lamar Jackson. But like Rashad Bateman is streaking
down the field and they had guys wide open, like
Lamar was awesome last night, but there weren't a ton
of tight window throws in that game, and they just
obliterated Tampa Bay. And it got sad toward the end

(01:10:01):
because Chris Godwin got hurt and the coach, Todd Bowles
took a lot of unnecessary criticism for still trying to
win the game when his team was down.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
By ten points.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
But anyway, I'm watching the Ravens and maybe they're just better.
And quarterbacks won the MVP twice, maybe they're just better.
But then I watched the Bengals, and I typically don't
do this but I rewatched some of the game this
morning because I had some time in my hands. And offensively,
just it feels like everything is really hard, even when

(01:10:29):
they get first downs, even when they score it, just
it feels like it sometimes comes with more difficulty than
it should. And guys aren't that wide open. And there's
sort of a a jankiness to the end. I've used
clunky and janky today to describe it, a jankiness to
the offense. So my idea, and it might be really
silly and really stupid. Jermaine Burton dressed for the game

(01:10:52):
on Sunday, and maybe after he didn't dress the previous week,
they are sending him a message by dressing him. But
he was only on the field for the meal downs.
I don't know. Here's what I do know. The dude's
a top end athlete, played at two different SEC schools.
They drafted him in the third round. This isn't Andrea
Josavash nothing against Andre. This isn't some dude that they

(01:11:14):
took a Saturday draft flyer on from some no name school.
And maybe we can uncover a diamond in the rough.
Tremaine Burton's an NFL athlete now, Is he an NFL worker,
I don't know. Is he NFL mature, I don't know.
But he's an extreme athlete. If you're gonna dress him,

(01:11:34):
why can't you just put him on the field and three,
four or five times a game just tell him, dude,
runs straight down the field and if you beat your man,
we're gonna get it to you. And if you don't,
you're at least taking another man downfield. Like I don't
know that Andrea Jyosavash is doing that. I don't know
that any of the tight ends they have or doing that.

(01:11:56):
And you might say, well, it's an idea that's not
gonna work. It's not gonna work because you got to
run more routes than there's just the streak route. Yeah,
it's not gonna work because teams are gonna know what
you're doing with Jermaine Burton the moment you put him
on the field, that's fine, but what they are doing
isn't working. I can't emphasize this enough. In the first half,
you could say, well, they were feeling out. The Cleveland
Browns barely barely moved the football. They got the Charlie

(01:12:20):
Jones kickoff return, and then nothing but punts. So there's
a lack of productivity. There's also an operational thing that
you watch this team offensively and just there always seems
like t Higgins is being asked to just carry dudes
with him, and even Jamar Chase is being asked to
carry dudes with him. What if we took a guy

(01:12:40):
out of the picture by having that player chase Jermaine
Burton downfield, and if once or twice he beats that player,
do we trust him to catch a pass from Joe
Burrow The answer is no, then you screwed up the
draft choice that he shouldn't be on the team. In
the absence of that, I just the Ravens right now
are a measuring stick because offensively, and I guess you

(01:13:02):
could say the same thing about the Lions, but they're
in the other conference. Offensively right now, as great as
the Chiefs have been, it's not really happening with Patrick
Mahomes and that offense having a great year like that's
that's a standard. And by the way, if Russell Wilson
gets cooking in Pittsburgh, maybe an entirely different animal. But
I watch Baltimore and I go, all right, that's a
team the Bengals have already given up a billion points

(01:13:22):
to this season and lost head to head against That
game against Baltimore two weeks from Thursday might represent their
last chance to re enter the race. Maybe defensively, the
Bengals are better enough now that they could slow that
offense down, but can they keep pace they nearly did
in the first game. The offense that I've watched last
couple of weeks cannot. And so how do you have

(01:13:45):
a unit that looks a little bit more like that
where it feels like everything comes really easy. Maybe Jermaine
Burton's not the answer, but what's the harm in trying,
especially if he dresses like it's one thing? If well,
if we dress him, he takes up a spot like
he we're a uniform was on the field, but not

(01:14:06):
for snaps that counted. What's the harm in using him
occasionally for snaps that count? Because you're not getting anything
from andre Josbash right now, I'm not really getting anything
from any of the tight ends. Why not try somebody
else tive it away from five o'clock, I'm gonna run
that past, Sean sayed, coming up at five twenty. He
may laugh at me and tell me I'm a moron,
But that's that's happened plenty of times before. Five win, three, seven, four, nine,

(01:14:29):
fifteen thirty. On top of all that, we get sort
of a throwbacky type of World Series, which I'm excited for.
It's it's interesting what baseball fans say and then what
they actually do. We'll get to that coming up in
the five o'clock hour. We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown.
It's six away from five o'clock. We're giving away Bengals

(01:14:52):
Eagles tickets. We're giving away another Bengals golf hoodie thanks
to our friends.

Speaker 3 (01:14:57):
At bud Light.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
We've got five dollars bud Light talls. You've got buy one,
get one half off Traditional Wings. We've got me what
else could you ask for?

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
On ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
Sports Station, hockey fans, it'll be a fight of bangs
and betters.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
Joe Burrow, whether it's third touchdown pass, the jungle will
be a rocket.

Speaker 1 (01:15:17):
It's Joe Burrow at its Bengals take on Jalen Hurts Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Eating touchdown Bangal.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Burrow and his boys continue their winning ways. The Orange
and Black Defense ground Phillies Bird Heckmang get the call
live from Dan Horde and Dave.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Lappat Is Copper Nail. I am Bam Bam.

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
Coverage June Sunday morning at nine on ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
Here you go late start to the hour because I
don't know how to read it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:46):
Flock.

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on maleger broadcasting from Buffalo
Wild Wings in Middletown. I have not spent admittably a
ton of time in my life in middle I've spent
the majority of my life in the greater Cincinnati area,
four years driving past Middletown going to the University of Dayton.

(01:16:08):
So it is awesome to be the home of Brooklyn Decker.
And I mean, I don't know if Brooklyn's ever come
to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm not sure she's come to
Middletown recently, but she's from here. And we're at Buffalo
Wild Wings very close to I seventy five. We're here
till six o'clock. We've got a pair of tickets to
the game on Sunday, Bengals Eagles. It's the White Bengal

(01:16:30):
game and so if you want to win tickets, you've
got to join us here at beat Ubs. The butd
Light ladies are here coing around with a bucket of
bud Light. I don't think that's for me, but it
would be cool if it was. And we've got buy one,
get one half off traditional Wings. We've got the six
for nineteen ninety nine deal, two apps, two entrees, two

(01:16:53):
fountain drinks for just nineteen ninety nine. You cannot beat it.
You are good if you come on out to Buffalo
and now they're offering me, I got one, I got
a nice cold bud Lightham. Hand those to the other
folks beer. You can't beat that. So Buffalo Wild Wings
in Middletown, come on out and join us. Our buddy,
Sean Saya Ed Stats and Schemes podcast is gonna be

(01:17:15):
on our show in just about ten minutes. Rita's Monday
Morning mashup column for a summer sports will break down
the tape Bengals v. Browns talk about the Philadelphia Eagles
an interesting team and interesting game.

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
Philly was Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
You know, we heard a lot about the great front
the New York Giants had and how you know, there's
such a bear in past protection and they're so hard
to run the football against. Look, the Bengals admittedly don't
have anybody like Saquon Barkley, but they seem to not care.
On Sunday in the Saquon Barkley revenge game, he averaged

(01:17:51):
over ten yards of pop seventeen carries for one hundred
and seventy six yards. And now Jalen Hurts did get
sacked four times, so New York did win. At the
point of attack. He got sacked four times. I think
the number was eighteen dropback, so they pulled him in
the fourth quarter and Kenny Pickett was playing. Philly won
that game decisively, twenty eight to three. It's an interesting
Eagles team and an interesting Eagle season. First of all,

(01:18:14):
in the aftermath of their late season meltdown last year,
which made a lot of people wonder if it's time
to move on from Nick Sirianni, they gave away that
Week two game on Monday Night.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
Against the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
You might recall the game where Sakuan Barkley essentially dropped
what would have been the game clinching touchdown. Atlanta comes
all the way back and wins. A few weeks ago,
they were just destroyed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They
did not play very well in their win two weeks
ago against the Browns.

Speaker 3 (01:18:43):
That's the game where Sirianni got caught.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Yelling at fans, which I think if you're an NFL
head coach, I love it because I'm like weird and
different and chaotic. I don't know that that's the look
you want if you're an NFL head coach, where being
yelled at by fans is just part of the job.
And then they played really well on the road against
New York beat the Giants handily twenty eight to three.

(01:19:06):
So they come here with a four and two record.
Jalen Hurts has at times been a they call them
turnover worthy plays, a turnover worthy play machine. The interesting
thing about the Eagles, and I've thought about this a
lot today, Bengals got off to a slow start offensively

(01:19:27):
against the Browns. They scored their two offensive touchdowns in
the second half. I was on Paul and Jay's podcast
today and I asked this somewhat rhetorically. I got my answer.
It was actually the last game of the season last year,
a game that didn't mean anything. When is the last time,
or I guess better put, how many times over the

(01:19:47):
last couple of years have the Bengals led fourteen to
nothing at the end of the first quarter. It hasn't
happened in a game this season, and leading fourteen to
nothing at the end of the first quarter certainly doesn't
guarantee you anything, but you know there's in the second half.

(01:20:09):
On Sunday, Zach took a lot of criticism for not
going for the kill. We dove through the three different
possessions late in the game or third quarter, fourth quarter
yesterday where they had opportunities to deliver a knockout blow
and did midway through the third quarter when they they
called a run play on third and eight from the
Cleveland forty one. That was a play where Joe apparently

(01:20:31):
checked from a pass to a run.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
They end up punting away.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
Later on in the game, in the fourth quarter, eight
and a half to go, they get the ball on
their own end. They got a first down running the football,
then ran it three more times and punted. That didn't
bother me too much. The next possession did, where they
get the ball at the Cleveland thirty. They call three
run plays end up bringing out Evan McPherson for a
field goal try, and he misses one from fifty. But

(01:20:57):
the kill shot doesn't have to come in the fourth quarter.
The kill shot or a knockout blow can come early
in the game. So go back to this week Sunday.
Charlie Jones starts the game with a kickoff return for
a touchdown. Cleveland gets the ball. They immediately go three

(01:21:18):
and out. Cincinnati gets it back. They immediately go three
and out. Cleveland gets the ball. They miss a field goal,
and watching it in real time, I'm going, all right,
you're up seven zip. You have quieted the crowd. I
wasn't in Cleveland, but everybody that I have talked to
who was there said crowd was whipped into a frenzy.

(01:21:39):
With Nick Chubb coming back, Charlie Jones lets some of
the air out of the balloon. Cleveland lets more air
out of the balloon by missing the field goal. You
get the ball back at your own thirty nine good
field position. Here's a chance. Here's a chance to take
a bad team their best asset is they're running back
and tell them you're gonna have to play catch up.
Here's a chance to take the environment, which is already

(01:22:01):
kind of toxic with Deshaun Watson, to make it even worse.
And instead they gain a grand total of nineteen yards,
and they turn the football over on downs. Then in
the second quarter, punt punt, punt, punt, four punts. A
first quarter, a second quarter where you don't score an
offensive touchdown. So this game on Sunday, what are the

(01:22:21):
Eagles bad at scoring in the first quarter? Only NFL
team this season that hasn't scored in the first quarter
of a game. I got a defense that's playing well.
Here's what I'd love to see happen. Shut the questions
up about what you're doing offensively by taking advantage of
an opponent that starts slow every single week and jump
out on them fourteen zip. How many times over the

(01:22:44):
last couple of years have the Bengals started the second
quarter with a two score lead. How many times over
the last couple of years have they scored I think
they scored last season three times in seventeen games. Ten
points in the first quarter. That's ten point, that's a
touchdown in a field goal. So you know, we talk
all the time about Zach koaching scared in the fourth quarter.

(01:23:06):
I'd sort of like to see him let them hang,
so to speak, early in the game. And I think
this opponent you have on Sunday provides an opportunity because
they're awful early in games, So make them pay for that,
like even when they're at their best. You know, they
had to play against the Washington Commanders where Joe hit

(01:23:29):
Jamar downfield for a game opening score and you kind
of felt like, up here we go.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
Then the defense didn't hold up.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
It's under the bargain, so obviously you need the defense
to do it's thing. But lou Ana Roumo this week
gets an opponent that can't score in the first quarter.
So what do you do with that? You go, screw it.
Let's be a little bit more aggressive. Let's take a
kill shot in the first quarter. Let's do something early
in the game that's kind of aggressive and maybe dictate
how this game is played. I don't know, man, I

(01:23:54):
just they've won these last two games. We could break
down their offensive output from any number of perspectives. I
just it feels to me like there are a couple
of common themes that reared themselves on Sunday. The long
Laws where they don't score, and the slow starts, the
possessions in the first half of the game on Sunday,
punt turnover, on downs, punt punt, punt, punt, and as

(01:24:17):
a result, you let a bad team hang around and
it was a seven to six game at halftime. The
Eagles are a better team. Eagles are a playoff team.
Eagles might win the NFC East, but they're really awful
at starting games. Cool, let that trend continue and then
tell Jalen Hurts and Nick Siriani, you've got to play

(01:24:37):
the rest of the game from behind, because we've gotten
off to a fast start offensively. Sixteen after five o'clock
five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Sean Sayed Stats and Schemes podcast will be
with us coming up at five twenty. We get like
the anti small market World Series. I am thrilled. I'm
not thrilled for the World Series, but I'm excited for

(01:24:59):
this World Series for one basic reason. I'm amused by
the people who have told us almost instantly they're not
gonna watch because I'm gonna make a bet. I'll tell
you what that bet is. Coming up in twenty minutes
We're at beat Ubs, Buffalo Wild Wings, Middletown. Shan Sayat
Stats and Schemes podcast Next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:25:20):
This is Football Inninnatti, run to you in part by
blend Light and by Skyline Hilly on the official home
of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:25:32):
The World's worst at remembering that it's football in the
NATI and I start talking, and anyway it is. We're
at Beatubs twenty two after five, ESPN fifteen thirty. Our
buddy Sean Sayatt is with us Statston Schemes podcast and
author of the Monday Morning Mashup column for sumer sports
dot com and with us every single Tuesday, which is

(01:25:53):
what today is. It's good to have you, Sean. What's
going on?

Speaker 6 (01:25:57):
Nothing much, No, I appreciate it being on here as always.
I think, another exciting game to talk about for the Bengals.
I think we learned a little bit from Cleveland.

Speaker 9 (01:26:05):
And then you start to ask a few more questions
as you head into Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 (01:26:09):
All right, what do we learn?

Speaker 4 (01:26:12):
You know?

Speaker 8 (01:26:12):
In this game against the Browns.

Speaker 10 (01:26:14):
I thought that the Browns played more zone coverage than
maybe the Bengals were used to where the Browns want
to play a lot of man coverage and challenger receivers outside,
but you didn't see as much of that kind of
early on, but then Burrow was able to exploit man.

Speaker 8 (01:26:29):
Coverage later on.

Speaker 9 (01:26:29):
So unfortunately, a situation where you're not really able to
get the long game going a ton I think at
different times, and the Browns were able to just make
the offense feel a little bit stagnant, where eventually it
just it just becomes that kind of isolated outside Threw
situation that you know, the Bengals get.

Speaker 3 (01:26:45):
Just enough of.

Speaker 6 (01:26:45):
Obviously you get that special teams touchdown, so you know,
maybe not the most exciting day for the offense overall.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
No, that's one way of putting in it. It just
it felt to me, and it got better in the
second half. Like nothing nothing comes easy, right, I mean
there there weren't a lot of guys open, even even
the catches like t Higgins had a great day, but
he's he's dragging guys with him, he's breaking tackles and
this is maybe not the most fair comparison, but they
are division foes. I'm watching Baltimore last night and it

(01:27:15):
just it felt like everything just came easy. Even plays
that didn't work right, It just it didn't. It doesn't
feel all clunked up. And with the Bengals, it just
it feels like it's harder than it should be. Is
that mainly a function of what Cleveland's doing defensively or
is there some sort of schematic issue in play with
the Bengals specifically.

Speaker 6 (01:27:33):
I do think there's some sort of schematic issue at
play there because you mentioned the Ravens and the Ravens
over the last few years, you've seen Labar Jackson just
evolved with Todd Monkin in the last two years, and
now you see their offense the way they're running some
of their under center play action plays where it's not
just shots down the field. You're getting kind of receivers
open in different ways. You know, the Bengals they don't

(01:27:56):
really just do that as much, where you can succeed
when you have Burrow.

Speaker 8 (01:28:00):
Just throwing a chasse and Higgins on the outside.

Speaker 6 (01:28:02):
Now, I will say in this game, they had a
nice look where you get Burrow and it's kind of
like a full house, so you got kind of the
running back behind him in pistol and then two kind
of tight end bodies on the right and left side
of him.

Speaker 8 (01:28:13):
So you see a little bit of the flavors of it.
It's just not what the whole plane is built out of.

Speaker 6 (01:28:18):
Where For Baltimore, it feels like they're taking their incredible
quarterback skill set and pushing the offense in new directions,
where Cincinnati, I think.

Speaker 8 (01:28:27):
Is a little bit more of a stick of the
mud at times.

Speaker 3 (01:28:30):
All right, here's what I want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
You're a smart guy, I'm a dumb guy, and so
feel free to tell me if this is stupid. But
the Bengals drafted a guy in the third round this
past year, Jermaine Burt, who we know he can run.
We know he's an athletic freak. Maybe he doesn't know
the playbook, but they did dress them. They dressed him

(01:28:55):
for the game against Cleveland, and he only got in
when they were in victory formation. So I'm trying to
clear up some traffic. I want to take this guy,
who I know he can run in a straight line
and three, four or five times in a game. I
want to line him up and tell him, Jermaine, run
down the field and if you beat your man, Joe's
gonna get to the ball, and if you don't, you're

(01:29:15):
at least taking somebody downfield with you, and at the
very least it makes him, I think a little bit
more difficult to defend and might clear up some space
for the other guys. Am I being stupid here?

Speaker 8 (01:29:28):
I do think there's there's something to be said about it.

Speaker 6 (01:29:31):
Of course, you know, the coaches see what form Ur
Burton is like in practice.

Speaker 8 (01:29:35):
You know how much a think he's retaining.

Speaker 6 (01:29:37):
I do think when you have Case and Higgins who
really love to play outside, I do.

Speaker 8 (01:29:42):
Think that takes a little bit of the air out
of the thought.

Speaker 6 (01:29:45):
I do think when you move Case into the slot,
then you can maybe have more space for Burton, because
you know, if you're giving one guy an opportunity, that
nessitates that you're taking opportunity away from another player. And
I do do you think andre Josabash has shown the
ability to play out wide and in the slot at
different times, probably in a way that just gives the
offense a little bit more confident.

Speaker 8 (01:30:05):
So I do think there is something to be said
about it. He's gonna have to show it in practice.

Speaker 6 (01:30:09):
We've seen, you know that one really nice clip I
think it was against a Chief where he had that
sort of.

Speaker 8 (01:30:13):
Nice catch, But yeah, it.

Speaker 6 (01:30:15):
Feels like if they're yeah and you get that example,
and it's just we have the positivity where we look
at it, we're like, oh, we've seen it. When we
see more of it. But then you think about our
wat of the Bengals. Do they want to be a
team that wants to force you in tight and like
play a little bit where it's just chasing Higgins isolated
on opposite sides.

Speaker 8 (01:30:33):
But then when they get to some.

Speaker 6 (01:30:34):
Spread formations or maybe you get to some four wide
receiver looks, you know, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it
just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
Why has the production a tight end right up?

Speaker 4 (01:30:44):
You know?

Speaker 8 (01:30:44):
I do think that Burrow is gonna be a guy, and.

Speaker 6 (01:30:47):
He should be a guy that is consistently looking to
the outside.

Speaker 8 (01:30:51):
And it feels like he's looked to.

Speaker 6 (01:30:53):
Chase and defensive have done a bit better job just
making sure you get extra resources to Chase. So he's
turning to Higgins and it doesn't feel like things are
necessarily drawn up or the tight ends spot and he
doesn't have to be right when when you're pushing that
ball on the outside. But you know when we talk
about the Eagles there at offense that I think kind
of shares the same problem a little bit, where if
you're living by those outside shots, it's it's it's to

(01:31:15):
flooding sometimes.

Speaker 8 (01:31:16):
And I think that means that other players.

Speaker 6 (01:31:18):
You know, particularly on the inside over the middle of
the field, they're just they're just not going to see
the ball as much.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:31:25):
Defensively, Look, they've they've played two less than great offenses
the last couple of weeks, but this, this defense two
weeks ago was a train wreck among the worst in
the NFL. I think going into that Giants game, they
were dead less in Dvoa. Are they Are they better?
Have they improved or have they just lucked into bad opponents.

Speaker 6 (01:31:45):
I do think that the biggest right spot for me
when I'm watching, like DJ Hill, he's just a real player.
And that was something that you know, when we were
talking week one, I was like, Oh, I'm gonna have
to go on most show every week and complain about
this run defense. But you have a guy there who
he's really able to play there. You get some nice
reps from Chris Jenkins, So it makes me feel better
about the defense overall, again not saying it's a top

(01:32:06):
five unit, but you have better tackling. You have a
little bit just a better job setting the edge on
some of those runs than pushing the ball back inside.
You see that really nice discipline on a trick play.
And I'm just not sure if there's like a player
more important to kind of an overall team defense right
now than Trey Hendrickson. So I do think, like overall,
I just feel better about this unit I think over time.

(01:32:28):
So it can certainly be the opponent's where luck, I
mean the Browns. We all know about the Browns offense.

Speaker 8 (01:32:32):
Right we need even talk about them at all.

Speaker 6 (01:32:34):
I don't want to talk about them at all. But
tackling is tackling right like, it is an important important thing.
Where if I'm feeling better about that into your defensive line,
You're going to face a big test with the Eagles
run game. But it looks a lot better than it
did a few weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
Uh tell me, Look, I could I could look at
a Jalen Hurts, and I can look at Saquon Barkley
and AJ Brown and I could tell you, based on statistics,
they're going to be a low when you watch them
more critically, what issues will they present on Sunday.

Speaker 8 (01:33:05):
So they are absolutely a run the ball first team.
That is I think going to be their identity going forward.

Speaker 6 (01:33:11):
Where they even get into some snaps last week where
you get a fullback on the field where that's something
they did one time previously, they did it five times
in this last game.

Speaker 8 (01:33:19):
But they want to win the game up front.

Speaker 6 (01:33:21):
They want to plog it up inside and they just
want to throw icele ball shafts shots on the outside.
If you can force them into some of those third
and long situations, that's where their kind of scanatic creativity
just totally dips.

Speaker 8 (01:33:32):
Where I love watching their run game.

Speaker 6 (01:33:34):
But some of those expected past situations are are really
frustrating from the simplicity and how much it is reliant
on some.

Speaker 8 (01:33:42):
Of isolated outside throws, which.

Speaker 6 (01:33:44):
You know that that sounds like another team that we
know and love that we talk about every week. So
it's a funny little identity clash there where you have
a player in Devonte Smith who is an awesome route
runner who is really really good in the slot, but
they don't use them there a time, and then that's just.

Speaker 8 (01:33:58):
I think maybe a function of a few things.

Speaker 6 (01:34:00):
If you can force some of those third and long plays,
I would be a lot less scared than a team
that is, if they're on schedule, they're running the ball,
they get into that fourth.

Speaker 8 (01:34:07):
And one push the situation that it's just too hard
to stop.

Speaker 2 (01:34:11):
That awesome stuff. As always, Man, we'll chat next week.

Speaker 3 (01:34:15):
Thank you, as always.

Speaker 8 (01:34:16):
Appreciate it, Mom, talk to you.

Speaker 2 (01:34:17):
Then you got it.

Speaker 3 (01:34:19):
That's our guy, Sean sayed.

Speaker 2 (01:34:21):
Host one are the hosts of the Stats and Schemes podcast.
Go read his Monday morning mashup column. Read it on Mondays.
If you missed it, you can read it today sumer
sports dot com. Twenty nine away from six o'clock. You've
already told me you're not going to watch the World Series, which, dude,
totally cool. But I'll make a bet with you next

(01:34:42):
for Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
You've been listening to football in thenetti on the official
home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
Thirty Cincinnatis ESPN fifteen thirty twenty five from six Sports
Headlines the service of Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime power
train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to
yours for life kelseyshev dot com. I'm supposed to say this.

(01:35:14):
Bengals players had today off, coaches working on the game
plan for for against The Eagles front office was busy
signing a tackle named Andrew Kocher to the practice squad
from TCU. Taken by the Raiders as a college free
agent after the draft. He was with them during camp,
got cut and has been sitting on his couch for

(01:35:36):
the last seven weeks. I don't know if he's been
sitting on his couch. I'm gonna imagine he has spent
some time on it. Bengals cutting defensive tackle Domini Davis
from the practice squad. Bengals and Eagles Sunday at one
the games on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pregame coverage starts at
nine am. It's a white Bengal game. We've got some
white Bengals T shirts here from bud Light.

Speaker 5 (01:35:59):
Those.

Speaker 2 (01:35:59):
I'm a little bit too tall for those, so we
could give them out.

Speaker 3 (01:36:03):
I don't know what else do we have.

Speaker 2 (01:36:06):
Oh, Dante Corleone, the the Bearcat nose tackle who is
having a terrific season. Has been named a semi finalist
for the Jason witten Man of the Year war The
award goes annually to a student athlete who has demonstrated
a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity, and
sportsmanship on and off the field. Bearcats are at Colorado

(01:36:28):
on Saturday Night. Take it on the Buffaloes and Deon Sanders.
You know Deon Sanders Wh's to play for the Reds.
That game kicks off at ten fifteen. You'll hear it
live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Tonight on Fox Sports thirteen sixty,
the CBJ Hockey Columbus Blue Jackets are taking on Toronto
puck drops at seven point thirty. The Jackets are two

(01:36:49):
three and zero on the season so far, twenty three
from six. I have not heard this audio. Quincy Oliveri,
the former Xavier star, has made the Lakers on a
two way contract, had a terrific preseason. Sean Miller was
on our show last week and I was talking with
him about watching Quincy's highlights on.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
NBA TV.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
I'm as big a Bearcat fan as you will ever meet,
but we did have Quincy on the show and he
was a lot of fun to talk doing so good
for him. We root for the local guys to do well.
He gets a two way deal, Kenyon Martin. Now, if
you know anything about me, you know that I revere
Kenyon Martin. But Tarren wants us to play this audio.
This is from Gilbert Arena's podcast. Quincy OLIVERI was got

(01:37:39):
emotional because he got a chance to meet his idol,
Steph Curry when the Lakers played the Warriors in the preseason,
and I guess he cried talking about meeting his hero
and Kenyon, I guess has taken exception. We're taken issue
with that, and so I'm a little afraid to play this,
but Tarren wants us to. Here's Kenyon Martin, I guess

(01:38:01):
ripping Quincy OLIVERI, go ahead and play it.

Speaker 11 (01:38:04):
Thumbs up, young man, you made it to Yeah, you cry, Yeah,
you ain't win nothing news.

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
Nothing, no, no, no no.

Speaker 5 (01:38:13):
For him, this is the biggest moment because he didn't
think this moment was happening.

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
Was the fiftieth senion.

Speaker 11 (01:38:19):
Yeah, I get it could have been all of that
in a box together. The emotion of being there and
finally getting to see Steff I get it, yes, but
we play professional sports and Rice and I think it
was like that, Rice hold On, that's why he'sh He
went to Xavier one year.

Speaker 2 (01:38:39):
That's why he was the one. Why crime he went on, I.

Speaker 11 (01:38:43):
Don't give him he went to Xavier.

Speaker 2 (01:38:47):
Kenny Martin, I am very appreciative of whoever bleeped that, Tarran.
I don't know if that was you or the folks
who sent that out. So Kenny Martin is one of
my favorite Bearcat players of all time, one of my
favorite athletes of all time. As an adult, there are
very few athletes that I've had a chance to be

(01:39:08):
around that I kind of felt like a nine year
old kid. Kenyan is one of them. That's kind of
a bad take by my guy. Look, dude made the NBA,
realizes his dream come true, got a chance to meet
his idol in the process, and by the way, Quincy
wasn't drafted. That's a bad take. A year ago, Kenyan Martin,

(01:39:29):
I don't know what it might have been, the same platform,
and again I'm the UC guy. I'm the Kenyan Martin guy.
Kenyan Martin about a year ago at this time, was
on a show and he started crying talking about his
son being traded to the seventy six ers because that
was emotional for him.

Speaker 3 (01:39:46):
It was emotional for Quincy.

Speaker 2 (01:39:48):
And by the way, I hate to say this, like
I friends of mine are gonna get mad at me.
I love Kenyon Martin. Dude went one and three against Xavier.
He man of me for saying it, but like he did,
I no no one you want me to do so
love Kenyon bad take like Quincy Alaverry. Sorry, twenty away

(01:40:10):
from us, but please don't let that get back to Kenyon,
because I don't want to be like then. I get
ripped on his podcast and I got enough problems. I
think I'm free and clear of anybody being mad at
me right now. I don't need a new feud. I
don't need new beef. Thank you. Twenty minutes away from
six o'clock, we got a World Series matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:40:34):
That is a gift.

Speaker 2 (01:40:36):
This is a gift Dodgers Yankees. It's not a gift
to me. It's it's a gift to every newspaper columnist
in a mid market, small market major league town because
he could just write the column. See our team has
notes again. I said this last week, This is Bud
Seligg's legacy where he is convinced he spended his entire

(01:40:57):
time as commissioner, twenty plus years convincing everybody, well, if
you're not in New York or LA, your team has
no chance to win. And so now every newspaper columnist
is gonna take Yankees Dodgers and get a free column
out of it. And I'm all here, I'm all here
for anybody making your job easier. I've seen this, you know.
So Sunday night there was a lot going on. He

(01:41:18):
had a Sunday Night game, which for a while was competitive,
and then the Jets started being the Jets, and Russell
Wilson looked like it was twenty fourteen again, and that
game wasn't very competitive. And then there was the the
WNBA Final game, which was wrought with controversy between Minnesota
and the Liberty, and then the Mets and Dodgers played
a relatively anti climactic game. Six LA advances to the

(01:41:40):
World Series. And so for the first time since nineteen
eighty one, you have Yankees Dodgers, and you have a
lot of folks, especially in media, who talk about how
cool this is gonna be, because you know, maybe they
remember what it was like when the Yankees and Dodgers
played in the World Series in seventy seven and seventy
eight and eighty one and loved the big market. For me,
I'm excited for this because it's a it's a great

(01:42:00):
stage for big stars. You know, when shoey O Taani
was with the Angels, people would say, well, yeah, but
you never see his team play. He's got to be
on a bigger stage, none bigger than the World Series.
And Aaron Judge gets the stage of the World Series.
I love star power. This World Series has star power.
I personally love Mookie Bets, love watching them play. He

(01:42:22):
also helped TJ. Friedel get the ball back that he
hit for his first ever homer at Great American Ballpark
a few years ago, and so I've always been a
Mookie Bets fan ever since. But you get John Carlos Stanton,
then you get just these two loaded rosters of stars
that all I hear baseball fans say is like, gotta
promote the stars. Got to see the stars on the

(01:42:43):
biggest stage. That's gonna happen. And I'm here for it.
And I'm a baseball fan, so I'd watch the World Series,
no matter what. If you don't want to watch it,
or if somebody else doesn't want to watch it, that
never bothers me. But here's what I think is interesting.
As soon as we got Dodgers Yanks, a lot of
folks ran into their phones to tell us, without anybody

(01:43:04):
really asking, I'm not gonna watch. I'm not gonna watch.
I'm not gonna watch the two big coast markets. I'm
not gonna watch New York and LA where the owners
have bought the players, bought these teams and they've bought
league championships. And if that's your take, fine, here's my question.

(01:43:25):
Did you hang on to every pitch of Rangers versus
Diamondbacks because nobody else did? And I remember the storylines
being Diamondbacks, like could you name any Rangers?

Speaker 11 (01:43:41):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:43:42):
It was a relatively anonymous world series. And I don't
remember what the ratings were because I don't care. I like,
I think we focused too much on ratings. They're of
no interest to me, So why should I care what
Fox got for the World Series? But I'm gonna guess,
and we could make this wager if you're a guy
I had decided to run to Facebook or Twitter or

(01:44:03):
TikTok or wherever, and tell the world I'm not watching
the World Series. Be honest with me, you weren't gonna
watch anyway. You didn't watch last year, and I'm gonna
guess had this year's matchup been Royals versus Brewers, you
also wouldn't have watched. Like I think, I think baseball

(01:44:23):
fans are weird in this way where many will just
not admit I don't want to watch baseball if my
team's not playing, and by the way, that's completely fine.
I couldn't care less what anybody else watches. I think
baseball fans are often just looking for an excuse that
they could share instead of just putting it very simply
like if my team's not playing.

Speaker 3 (01:44:44):
I'm not watching.

Speaker 2 (01:44:45):
And by the way, I think that's most baseball fans,
and it's most people that I know who are baseball fans,
like I personally like Friday night Game one. Pike and
I are going to be in Boulder. We're big baseball fans.
I want to make sure I could watch the game.
Our power, interesting teams and by the way, franchises that haven't.

Speaker 3 (01:45:04):
Won in a while.

Speaker 2 (01:45:05):
LA hasn't won it a full series since Ronald Reagan
was president.

Speaker 3 (01:45:08):
The Yankees haven't won since.

Speaker 2 (01:45:10):
Five years before Derek Jeter hung it up, and I
don't love these teams. I'm rooting for the Dodgers. I'm
rooting for the Dodgers for two simple reasons. One, I
like Mookie Betts too. You hear our caller Mike all
the time, who has gone through a ton of health issues,
and if the Dodgers winning can make his life a
little happier than I'm all for it. But I'm amused
by the folks. And again, I'm completely on board if

(01:45:34):
you want to have a discussion about what baseball could
do to sort of change its business model or sort
of alter some of the economic inequities that exist. I
tend to believe that the best way for the small
market teams to compete with LA and New York is
to spend money they have. But fine, whatever, But what
I be willing to bet if you're the guy that
ran to social media to tell everybody I'm not watching,

(01:45:57):
it really wouldn't have mattered. It could have been Guardians, Mets,
it could have been Philly's Astros, which we had two
years ago and nobody watched.

Speaker 3 (01:46:09):
It doesn't matter who it is.

Speaker 2 (01:46:11):
We just don't want to admit Yeah, not that into
baseball unless the Reds are playing. And it's okay to
say that. If you weren't gonna watch Yankees Dodgers, would
you have really watched any other matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:46:26):
Did you watch last year? Chances are the answer is no.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
Fourteen from six o'clock, we're at Buffalo Wild Wings. If
you're in the area, we still have a few minutes.
We're gonna give away the Bengals Eagles tickets coming up
as soon as we get done, right around six o'clock
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station on Friday. And again, man,

(01:46:52):
like you don't what I want, I'm not the I.
There are other people who do what I do or
who have done what I've done, who will make you
feel bad for not watching something like that's your obligation. Like, dude,
it's sports.

Speaker 3 (01:47:04):
There are no obligations.

Speaker 4 (01:47:05):
I did.

Speaker 2 (01:47:06):
I find it interesting and kind of funny. The folks
who just I'm not watching you wouldn't have watched anyone,
Like nobody watched the Diamondbacks Rangers. No one. I mean,
I had been very free and willing to I watched
much of it. It's this time of year is a
little bit tricky. Baseball's kind of in a tough spot.
They're starting Game one of the World Series on Friday,

(01:47:28):
so they'll have, you know, the sports calendar to itself.
But then it's gonna go up against college football, which
I think is the nation's second biggest.

Speaker 3 (01:47:37):
Sport on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:47:38):
It'd be opposite Monday Night football with Pittsburgh playing the Giants,
I believe, And so that'd be next Monday, and they'll
get good numbers because of New York and LA and
there are some stars. But the World Series, call it
what it is, it has diminished significantly in stature since
I just I wonder how many folks who couldn't wait

(01:48:01):
to tell us they weren't watching Yankees Dodgers watched last
year when they were two quote unglamorous teams. Tomorrow on
the show, Chad Brendall's filling in, I'm off. I'm not
I'm working tomorrow night. I'm in flance from six to
nine down the hall and looking forward to that. But anyway,
you'll have a Chad tomorrow three to five thirty, a

(01:48:21):
short show. We have the first UK preseason broadcast at
five thirties, to just keep that in mind if you're
thinking ahead to next week. So it's back to back
home games for the Bengals Bengals Eagles, and the anticipation
is building here at Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown because
as soon as I say goodbye on the radio, we're
gonna be given away tickets next week our first repeat show.

(01:48:45):
We're back at Beachmont, east side of town. And the
Bengals played the Raiders a week from Sunday, So you
can win tickets to that game if you show up
to Buffalo Wild Wings beach Mont one week from today.

Speaker 3 (01:48:59):
So keep that. I didn't mind if you're on the
east side of Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (01:49:03):
This game on Sunday is this is if you were
doing what I was doing, which was you were looking
at the four games when they lost to Baltimore. You
were looking at the four games before they go to
Baltimore to play the Ravens for the second time, and
you were going, Okay, let's survive these four maybe four
and oh is doable, and they can go to Baltimore

(01:49:24):
at five and four.

Speaker 3 (01:49:24):
Worst case, you got to go win three of the
next four.

Speaker 2 (01:49:29):
This was the one that I think always looked like
it was gonna be most difficult. The Giants aren't great,
the Browns are a mess. The Raiders are gonna have
to pivot back to Gardner Minshew because Aid and O'Connell
has gotten hurt.

Speaker 3 (01:49:41):
That's the game.

Speaker 2 (01:49:42):
The Bengals are gonna be significant favorites in, although as
we know, that's certainly no guarantee that they win.

Speaker 3 (01:49:47):
The football game.

Speaker 2 (01:49:49):
This is the one, This is the one in that
four that you thought was the most threatening game, and
so it's gonna be interesting. The Eagles, we were talking
about this with Sean Saya. They don't reinvent the wheel offense.
They're it's not like they just handed off a billion
times and running up the middle and it's three yards
in a cloud at dust.

Speaker 3 (01:50:05):
They do some.

Speaker 2 (01:50:05):
Inventive stuff, But are the Bengals with a defensive front
that is as healthy and I think as a result,
as good as it's been all season, are they going
to be equipped to stop what the Eagles do on
the ground, both with Saquon Berkley and with Jalen Hurts,
And from a Philadelphia perspective, I know they've talked about

(01:50:26):
it a bunch this week in Philadelphia. What can be
done to unearth the offense in the first quarter of games,
because it hasn't been unearthed, so to speak, all year long.
We'll talk about that as the week moves on. We'll
have a lot of that for you on Thursday. We're
also going to go to Colorado on Thursday and talk
about the Buffaloes, plus a preview of the MLS Cup playoffs.

(01:50:48):
FC Cincinnati is getting set to take on NYCFC. That
is on Monday. We'll talk about that on Thursday. That
music means we are done. I want to thank the
staff at Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown for taking such
great care of us. Thank the folks at bud Light,
Thanks to my guy Rodney Simpson for producing on site.

(01:51:10):
Thanks to our guy Tarren Bland for producing back in Kenwood.
And we're done. Be at the Beachmont location next week
in for Lance. Tomorrow night, we're.

Speaker 4 (01:51:23):
Out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:51:24):
Have a great I was gonna say something, I forgot
what it was. Have a great night, and I'll talk
to you tomorrow night on seven hundred WLWF. Not here
Thursday at three oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports station. This report is sponsored by indeed dot Com.

Speaker 6 (01:52:00):
I'm

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