December 13, 2024 • 9 mins
Robert Weintraub writes a weekly Bengals column for Cincinnati Magazine. We talked Tee Higgins, the Bengals' offesive line woes, cornerstones, and a bunch more,
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let's see if let's see if we could extend
the streak to three and then maybe four with our
guest after this Robert wi Rob Right Side Bengals column
every week for Cincinnati Magazine. Read it at Cincinnati Magazine
dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Robert, Hey Mo, it's been so long since we've talked.
I feel like you were with Sheldon Rankins and a
quarantined I see you somewhere and perhaps not available to
ever return to the airways.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So I'm s so glad you're back and glad to
be with you so well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you very much for saying that much appreciated. I've missed.
I've missed chatting with you. You know, the game itself
on Monday kind of took a backseat to what was
said after the game, and it's reignited the T Higgins conversation,
and I think it's done so from from angles that
aren't stale, which I didn't think was going to be
the case. If we talked about t Higgins again this year,
(00:49):
I'll put you in charge of the team just this once.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
What would you do with T Higgins.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's it's great that they're still feeding the content mission.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I mean, that's let's give him a shout out for that.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And I mean, listen, if Joe Burrow is willing to
get rid of some of that Batmobile money and give
it to the Higgins, I'm certainly all for it.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I mean, the question is at that point is you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Have to you know, trade into Batmobile for the Wonder
Woman Invisible.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Plane or that fan the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles drove
around horrible. Listen, it's such a great debate.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And it doesn't really get stale because you can definitely
see it from both sides, right, I mean, can Joe
Burrow in the offense function without t Higgins, Yeah, of
course they can.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I mean, he didn't play this.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Year against the Raiders and Burrow through five touchdown passes.
He didn't play against the Ravens won those games. He
threw for four touchdown passes. You know, he's had great
stats without Tea out there. And Joe Burrow and Jamar
Chase are who they are regardless of who else is
out there, they'll still get things done. However, there's you know,
other things that I here.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Definitely Tea helps you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He's going to be by far the highest paid free
agent if he hits free agency this year for a reason,
he's highly valued around the league.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
He's gonna have badmobile money one way or another.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And you know, when you see Mike Tomlin compare him
to Shaqui O'Neill because.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They have to keep fouling him every time they throw
the balls away.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I mean, you know, it's gonna be a loss at
the Bengals will Field in one way or another.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There's no question about that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And you know, I think more to the point, it's
almost like, what does T Higgins want? We never really
think about that, and it's got kind of gotten lost.
And I think more important than what even Joe Burrow
said with his treasure Kat Graham after the game, was
the fact that he fired his agent, the dreaded David Mulligetta.
You know, I mean that that to me, said Volumes,
(02:38):
which was that, you know, is what is the agent's purpose.
Is it to get the guy the most money, like
Scott Boris, or is it to do right by his client.
It seems to me like lost in all this is
T Higgins wants to stay in Cincinnati more than just
the usual player X says he wants to stay with
the team that drafted him, and yeah, who can blame him.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Maybe he doesn't want to be the number one guy
pulling down the huge, huge stalary of having all eyeballs on.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Him catching passes from Drake May and not Joe Burrow, right,
I mean, Or maybe it's a scenario where he's just
you know, much more comfortable playing with his friends. The
Bengals always stressed, you know, kind of family and friends.
It's like a cell phone plan that got working down
there at Pey Course Stadium. But in this case it's
definitely true. And you know, they'll be able to afford
(03:22):
to pay to Higgins, whether it's even just on a
franchise tag next year, and still address some of their
gaping holes that they have elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Maybe not all of them.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
But you know, if you look at the free agents
outside of the T Higgins that are going to be
around and available, it's not a murderer's row that they're
going to all of a sudden, you know, turn this
team around and get eleven new starters on defense, for example,
or nine or four even you know, it's going to
be the same middling group that you're hoping that a
new defensive coordinator, perhaps, he said under his breath, might
(03:53):
you know, have better success with and you know, defenses
in general tend to be more much more valuable than
offense from year to year. I think, you know, Cincinnati's
identity is totally based in their passing game and not
just Burrow the chase, but the variety of weapons that
are available. And you know, there's nothing wrong with leaning
into that. And we always say, you know, what's what's.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
A team's identity? You need to have an identity and
letting you know, a big part.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Of the identity walk out the door and another player
that you drafted and developed and you know, for once,
actually works out and is at the top of his
top of the league in his position. You know, the
Bengals WI let guys like that walk out the door before,
and it sends a bad message. I think to have
it continually happen in this case, I think everybody wants
(04:38):
a different result this time around, and it might not
be easy.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
But I think they're really working hard to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And you know, I think for once we should we
should be glad about that.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah, I would, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
On the long list of things they have to do,
this offseason, is they have to make the offensive line better.
How many current starting offensive linemen on this team right
now should be starting on the offensive line week one
next season?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Should be or will be?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Those are two very different questions.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I mean, listen, both tackles I think should and will be.
And that's a good place to start, right you know
that hasn't been the case in a lot of seasons
that we've talked over the years, So you know both.
I think Orlando Brown when he gets back to full
health and he was having a very good season, and
a Marius Mims is certainly trending toward being a very
good starting tackle in this league.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
So that's a good place to start right there.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Obviously, you got to make some moves on the interior,
specifically the guards.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Alex Kappa he's gone. There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
They probably should have gotten rid of him before this year,
really even but because of his contract, and he just
hasn't been the same player since he got hurt late
in twenty twenty two. That was a bad ankle injury.
He just hasn't looked the same since then. So that's
definitely one guy gone. I think Ted Carris he's had
a pretty good year actually pass protection. He's never really
been a great run blocker, but you knew what you
(05:59):
were geting with him. I think he'll play in some capacity.
The question really comes down to courtell Olson that the
other guard position. Are you going to be able to
sign somebody to replace both guards or draft one and
sign one that's going to be better and a guy
who has that much experience in the system as Volson.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I mean, you knew who he was coming into the year.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
He's actually turning upward, you know, and he's on a
rookie contract.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
He's had arrested development this year, no.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Question, And that should be the title of the Bengal
Highlight film. A lot of guys you thought were going
on or you knew what you were getting with them.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I've just not come to play this year.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And I think there's, you know, some possibility that you
might see some coaching changes there and get some different
results out of the offensive line too, But I find
it hard to believe that they're going to be that
big a wholesale changes.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
You could move Caris into the guard position.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Maybe and play Matt Lee, the guy they drafted this
past year out of Miami he's sort of a similar
player to Kars just without the experience obviously, and then
he's a good pass protector, a little light to be
a very good and effective run blocker, but you know
he fits their system, so that's a possibility.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
But you're still looking.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At Karas playing So I mean, you know, as much
as you don't want to hear it, it's probably everybody,
but but Kappa and four guys who played this year
are going to be out there again next year.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
It's just a question of them playing better.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I got like ninety seconds here. Who are the current
cornerstones of the Bengals defense.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Defense?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, you got Troy Hendrik Troy Hendrickson for sure,
and then you're maybe looking at Logan Wilson as a
semi cornerstone at least he may not be brooking brick
and mortar, but he's not Balsa.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It's like some many the other guys.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's about it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean, it's sad to say, but you know, they
used as.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Their free agent acquisitions guys who played well against them,
as the Bengals usually do in Sheldon Rankins and Gino Stone,
but they haven't played well against the rest of the league.
That's a problem. And you know, we've talked that knows
him about the credible step backward in the secondary and
injuries have certainly heard. I think if Dax Hill had
stayed on the field all year, you'd be talking about
(08:08):
him as a cornerstone. I think it's possible DJ Turner
was turning in that direction before he went down, and
you could look at him at you know, on the corner,
if not a stone, you know, in his second year.
So I don't think the covera's quite as bare as
we all think it is.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I think again that you know, these are.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Guys like a Cameron Taylor Britt.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Who've had success in this league.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I compare him, when I wrote about him in a
recent column, to like a Steve Sacks or Steve Blast,
a guy who all of a sudden can't pick up
the ball and throw at the first base for no
real reason. He was really good and then he was unplayable,
and it's hard to say why. And there's really, to
me no reason why he can't at least revert to
a semblance of his former star playing ability. So you know,
(08:52):
I don't know about cornerstones, but at least you can
have an as semblance of a functioning defense. And if
you do that with the same level of offense that
they've had this year's you know, that translates into at
least a team that can win you ten games and
get into the playoffs, which is really all they need
to do.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I'll be here next Thursday, so we get a chance
to actually chat back to back weeks.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
In a row.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, and we'll hopefully be coming up to in a
row victories.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yes, wouldn't Yeah, and and remaining and entering perhaps in
the hunt column because they weren't in it last week
in any of the major networks. So you know, you
never know, but you got to be in the hunt
column first before you can actually make the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
In the him too with a two percent chance of
making it
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Fine, yes, exactly, all right, man, thanks so much
Well, let's see if let's see if we could extend
the streak to three and then maybe four with our
guest after this Robert wi Rob Right Side Bengals column
every week for Cincinnati Magazine. Read it at Cincinnati Magazine
dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Robert, Hey Mo, it's been so long since we've talked.
I feel like you were with Sheldon Rankins and a
quarantined I see you somewhere and perhaps not available to
ever return to the airways.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So I'm s so glad you're back and glad to
be with you so well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you very much for saying that much appreciated. I've missed.
I've missed chatting with you. You know, the game itself
on Monday kind of took a backseat to what was
said after the game, and it's reignited the T Higgins conversation,
and I think it's done so from from angles that
aren't stale, which I didn't think was going to be
the case. If we talked about t Higgins again this year,
(00:49):
I'll put you in charge of the team just this once.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
What would you do with T Higgins.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's it's great that they're still feeding the content mission.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I mean, that's let's give him a shout out for that.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And I mean, listen, if Joe Burrow is willing to
get rid of some of that Batmobile money and give
it to the Higgins, I'm certainly all for it.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I mean, the question is at that point is you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Have to you know, trade into Batmobile for the Wonder
Woman Invisible.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Plane or that fan the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles drove
around horrible. Listen, it's such a great debate.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And it doesn't really get stale because you can definitely
see it from both sides, right, I mean, can Joe
Burrow in the offense function without t Higgins, Yeah, of
course they can.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I mean, he didn't play this.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Year against the Raiders and Burrow through five touchdown passes.
He didn't play against the Ravens won those games. He
threw for four touchdown passes. You know, he's had great
stats without Tea out there. And Joe Burrow and Jamar
Chase are who they are regardless of who else is
out there, they'll still get things done. However, there's you know,
other things that I here.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Definitely Tea helps you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He's going to be by far the highest paid free
agent if he hits free agency this year for a reason,
he's highly valued around the league.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
He's gonna have badmobile money one way or another.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And you know, when you see Mike Tomlin compare him
to Shaqui O'Neill because.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They have to keep fouling him every time they throw
the balls away.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I mean, you know, it's gonna be a loss at
the Bengals will Field in one way or another.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There's no question about that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And you know, I think more to the point, it's
almost like, what does T Higgins want? We never really
think about that, and it's got kind of gotten lost.
And I think more important than what even Joe Burrow
said with his treasure Kat Graham after the game, was
the fact that he fired his agent, the dreaded David Mulligetta.
You know, I mean that that to me, said Volumes,
(02:38):
which was that, you know, is what is the agent's purpose.
Is it to get the guy the most money, like
Scott Boris, or is it to do right by his client.
It seems to me like lost in all this is
T Higgins wants to stay in Cincinnati more than just
the usual player X says he wants to stay with
the team that drafted him, and yeah, who can blame him.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Maybe he doesn't want to be the number one guy
pulling down the huge, huge stalary of having all eyeballs on.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Him catching passes from Drake May and not Joe Burrow, right,
I mean, Or maybe it's a scenario where he's just
you know, much more comfortable playing with his friends. The
Bengals always stressed, you know, kind of family and friends.
It's like a cell phone plan that got working down
there at Pey Course Stadium. But in this case it's
definitely true. And you know, they'll be able to afford
(03:22):
to pay to Higgins, whether it's even just on a
franchise tag next year, and still address some of their
gaping holes that they have elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Maybe not all of them.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
But you know, if you look at the free agents
outside of the T Higgins that are going to be
around and available, it's not a murderer's row that they're
going to all of a sudden, you know, turn this
team around and get eleven new starters on defense, for example,
or nine or four even you know, it's going to
be the same middling group that you're hoping that a
new defensive coordinator, perhaps, he said under his breath, might
(03:53):
you know, have better success with and you know, defenses
in general tend to be more much more valuable than
offense from year to year. I think, you know, Cincinnati's
identity is totally based in their passing game and not
just Burrow the chase, but the variety of weapons that
are available. And you know, there's nothing wrong with leaning
into that. And we always say, you know, what's what's.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
A team's identity? You need to have an identity and
letting you know, a big part.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Of the identity walk out the door and another player
that you drafted and developed and you know, for once,
actually works out and is at the top of his
top of the league in his position. You know, the
Bengals WI let guys like that walk out the door before,
and it sends a bad message. I think to have
it continually happen in this case, I think everybody wants
(04:38):
a different result this time around, and it might not
be easy.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
But I think they're really working hard to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And you know, I think for once we should we
should be glad about that.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah, I would, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
On the long list of things they have to do,
this offseason, is they have to make the offensive line better.
How many current starting offensive linemen on this team right
now should be starting on the offensive line week one
next season?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Should be or will be?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Those are two very different questions.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I mean, listen, both tackles I think should and will be.
And that's a good place to start, right you know
that hasn't been the case in a lot of seasons
that we've talked over the years, So you know both.
I think Orlando Brown when he gets back to full
health and he was having a very good season, and
a Marius Mims is certainly trending toward being a very
good starting tackle in this league.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
So that's a good place to start right there.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Obviously, you got to make some moves on the interior,
specifically the guards.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Alex Kappa he's gone. There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
They probably should have gotten rid of him before this year,
really even but because of his contract, and he just
hasn't been the same player since he got hurt late
in twenty twenty two. That was a bad ankle injury.
He just hasn't looked the same since then. So that's
definitely one guy gone. I think Ted Carris he's had
a pretty good year actually pass protection. He's never really
been a great run blocker, but you knew what you
(05:59):
were geting with him. I think he'll play in some capacity.
The question really comes down to courtell Olson that the
other guard position. Are you going to be able to
sign somebody to replace both guards or draft one and
sign one that's going to be better and a guy
who has that much experience in the system as Volson.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I mean, you knew who he was coming into the year.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
He's actually turning upward, you know, and he's on a
rookie contract.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
He's had arrested development this year, no.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Question, And that should be the title of the Bengal
Highlight film. A lot of guys you thought were going
on or you knew what you were getting with them.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I've just not come to play this year.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And I think there's, you know, some possibility that you
might see some coaching changes there and get some different
results out of the offensive line too, But I find
it hard to believe that they're going to be that
big a wholesale changes.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
You could move Caris into the guard position.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Maybe and play Matt Lee, the guy they drafted this
past year out of Miami he's sort of a similar
player to Kars just without the experience obviously, and then
he's a good pass protector, a little light to be
a very good and effective run blocker, but you know
he fits their system, so that's a possibility.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
But you're still looking.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At Karas playing So I mean, you know, as much
as you don't want to hear it, it's probably everybody,
but but Kappa and four guys who played this year
are going to be out there again next year.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
It's just a question of them playing better.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I got like ninety seconds here. Who are the current
cornerstones of the Bengals defense.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Defense?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, you got Troy Hendrik Troy Hendrickson for sure,
and then you're maybe looking at Logan Wilson as a
semi cornerstone at least he may not be brooking brick
and mortar, but he's not Balsa.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It's like some many the other guys.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's about it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean, it's sad to say, but you know, they
used as.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Their free agent acquisitions guys who played well against them,
as the Bengals usually do in Sheldon Rankins and Gino Stone,
but they haven't played well against the rest of the league.
That's a problem. And you know, we've talked that knows
him about the credible step backward in the secondary and
injuries have certainly heard. I think if Dax Hill had
stayed on the field all year, you'd be talking about
(08:08):
him as a cornerstone. I think it's possible DJ Turner
was turning in that direction before he went down, and
you could look at him at you know, on the corner,
if not a stone, you know, in his second year.
So I don't think the covera's quite as bare as
we all think it is.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I think again that you know, these are.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Guys like a Cameron Taylor Britt.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Who've had success in this league.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I compare him, when I wrote about him in a
recent column, to like a Steve Sacks or Steve Blast,
a guy who all of a sudden can't pick up
the ball and throw at the first base for no
real reason. He was really good and then he was unplayable,
and it's hard to say why. And there's really, to
me no reason why he can't at least revert to
a semblance of his former star playing ability. So you know,
(08:52):
I don't know about cornerstones, but at least you can
have an as semblance of a functioning defense. And if
you do that with the same level of offense that
they've had this year's you know, that translates into at
least a team that can win you ten games and
get into the playoffs, which is really all they need
to do.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I'll be here next Thursday, so we get a chance
to actually chat back to back weeks.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
In a row.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, and we'll hopefully be coming up to in a
row victories.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yes, wouldn't Yeah, and and remaining and entering perhaps in
the hunt column because they weren't in it last week
in any of the major networks. So you know, you
never know, but you got to be in the hunt
column first before you can actually make the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
In the him too with a two percent chance of
making it
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Fine, yes, exactly, all right, man, thanks so much
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