Cincy 360 w/ Austin Elmore -- 10/7/25

Austin talks Bengals OL, trading for Joe Flacco, takes your calls, and more. Plus, he chats with Joe Danneman and Mo Egger on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Line Chile sincey three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored
in part by Skyline Chile. Stop by Skyline Chile through
a three way or chee Coney Today feeling good, It's
Skyline time. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hi, Hello and welcome in Cincy three sixty right here
on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. My
name is Austin Elmore, with you today twelve to three.
We'll turn things over to Moe Egger after that.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Mo.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
We'll be live at Oakley Greens this afternoon for his show,
as he normally is on Tuesdays. Looking forward to talking
to Mo. Phone lines are open five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. That's the phone number to talk
about anything you want to talk about. There are two
big stories right now. Number one it is what Nick

(00:54):
Crawl had to say to the media yesterday. We touched
on it briefly during the show yesterday but didn't have
a chance to really get into it. I'm gonna go
bullet point by bullet point and react to what Nick
Kral had to say yesterday and how that might shape
the future of the Reds and most importantly this off

(01:17):
season for the Reds. This is a big off season
for the baseball club now, because the question I've asked
and I've wont answered to it is, yes, there's a
sense of accomplishment within the clubhouse, and I have no
problem with that. Altogether. They did something, they made progress,
they went to the postseason. That's a good thing. However,

(01:41):
is there a sense of accomplishment inside the organization in
the front office? Does the organization feel a sense of
accomplishment because they shouldn't and they've got some big decisions
to make. I don't know that we fully realize just
how much turnover there is going to be within the
players on the field and how much turnover there might

(02:03):
not be in the organization as a whole. We'll get
to that. Your phone calls welcome on that as well.
And Zach Taylor yesterday hinted at the idea that there
would be potentially a quarterback change, didn't say for sure,
did talk about play calling, but basically said it's a

(02:24):
fair question. We've got to evaluate what we do from
here on out with the quarterback position. Zach was asked
about his play calling and whether or not he will
retain those duties, and we've got to react to that
because this is where the season is officially teetering. And
you know, addition, like on a normal day, a normal week,

(02:45):
a normal season, you look at it and say, okay,
they're two and three. They're the first team out of
the playoffs in the AFC right now. The opponents that
they have coming up on the schedule are like a
combined eight and twenty six or something ridiculous like that.
This season is not over, It's very much alive. But
you can't help but remember the quarterback play over the

(03:07):
last three weeks and just how bad Jake Browning has been.
It is hard for me to fathom somebody else playing
that position worse than Jake Browning has played it for
the last three weeks, whether that person is Brett Rippen
or Sean Clifford or Mike White. And oh, by the way,

(03:28):
it's not going to be Mike White. Bengals announced earlier
today they made a roster move. They released quarterback Mike
White from the practice squad. They re signed Howard Cross,
the defensive lineman that was with them all throughout training camp.
He's the undrafted free agent out of the University of
Notre Dame. He played in one game for the Bengals

(03:50):
earlier this season. He was inactive for three others. He
was waived last Friday, so Howard crosses back on the
practice squad. Mike White is not. I don't think that
was the quarterback decision anybody expected the Bengals to make.
I mean me personally, I thought Mike White was probably
the guy who gave you the best shot to win,

(04:13):
just because he's got some experience and maybe just maybe
that's enough to operate the offense, especially with Jamar Chase
and T Higgins. I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy for
thinking that, but the Bengals are not going to do that.
If you're wondering about Mike White in his career, okay,

(04:35):
he is a sixty one percent passer, not great for
two and forty seven yards, nine touchdowns, thirteen interception. That's
over the course of fifteen career games played eight with
the Jets, six with the Bills. Or she's six with
the Dolphins and won with the Bills. So obviously those

(04:55):
numbers are not fantastic. They're just about on par with
Jake Browning. I don't know that you're gonna find somebody
this week to come in and play against the Green
Bay Packers and feel confident about them being much better
or much worse than Jake Browning. But my whole thought
process is it can't possibly be worse than Jake Browning.

(05:19):
And I think we have to take a deep look
at the locker room in this situation, because it's my
opinion that if Zach Taylor continues to put Jake Browning
out there, he'll lose the locker room because those guys
know Jake can't play, and he and they're in the

(05:40):
film room with him, and they're in the film room
as an offense. Together, they all see the plays and
the moments and the opportunities and the calls that Jake
is supposed to be making, the throws he's supposed to
be making, and he's not doing it. He's making the
wrong decision. They all see that together, and I think
it would be human to around and say, Okay, well,

(06:02):
can't somebody like doesn't somebody know how to make those throws?
Doesn't somebody know the right way to operate the offense?
Is that somebody Mike White, is it, Sean Clifford, is
it Brett Rippon. I don't know. The Bengals appear to
be looking outside the organization obviously now with Mike White gone,
maybe they're going to sign somebody else. I don't know

(06:25):
who the options are that are realistic. They almost never
trade in season. Last year was the big exception when
they went and got Khalil Herbert. That was out of desperation.
Do they feel like they're in a desperate spot right now?
I don't know. Are you gonna go trade for Andy Dalton?
Probably not, although maybe that makes the most sense. I

(06:50):
don't know. Nobody would be overly excited about that. But
can you plug Andy Dalton in and he at least
gives you a chance? I feel like he could not
that Andy's been fans fantastic in recent memory. But we're
just at this spot for the Bengals, the crossroads of
confusion and frustration, and you don't really feel like you

(07:11):
have any options. Who are you supposed to sign, who
are you supposed to trade for? And why can't you
get the Jake Browning from twenty twenty three to show
up in twenty twenty five. To me and I talked
about this yesterday, it feels like there is a clear
mental block with Jake Browning. Something is not going right

(07:36):
upstairs for Jake Browning and this has led to an
complete unraveling of his ability to play the quarterback position.
And so how do you build up that confidence? How
do defenses attack you to make it worse? We'll get
into some of that a little bit later on. An
hour from now, less than an hour from now, Joe

(07:58):
Daneman from Fox nineteen is going to join us and
we'll get his thoughts on what Nick Carl had to
say yesterday. We'll get his thoughts on the Bengals evolving
quarterback situation and how they choose to go about it,
and we'll see what else Joe's getting into or getting
up to. So yeah, that's pretty much it. I think

(08:22):
Scott Saderfield talks a little bit later on today, so
we'll try to get some of that for you as well.
Was announced the other day Bearcat's gonna be playing a
night game at Oklahoma State. That's going to be an
eight pm kickoff for UC and never feels like they
play night games at home. Always feels like they play
night games on the road. I know Bearcat fans are
itching for a nip at night and they should be.

(08:44):
That's a cool atmosphere. It gives you an advantage. I mean,
it's just the perfect time of year to do that.
You obviously want that against a big twelve opponent. Haven't
been able to get that yet. Hopefully that comes down
the pike soon. If you missed it yesterday, Bearcats twenty
sixth just on the outside looking in in the ap
top twenty five. Assume if they win this week, they

(09:05):
will be right back in the conversation and right back
into the top twenty five for the first time in
a while. So we'll get a little bit from Scott's
Saderfield coming up. Andrew Whitworth had some stuff to say.
Andrew Whitworth was on the Pat McAfee show yesterday alongside
Ryan Fitzpatrick. They talked about the Bengals. They talked about

(09:26):
their offensive line, about their quarterback play, all of that,
and we'll get a little bit from uh Andrew Whitworth
about that as the show goes along as well. Five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty is the phone number. Last night was a

(09:47):
highly highly entertaining Monday night football game between the Jacksonville
Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs. Jacksonville was down fourteen
to nothing in the second quarter. They came back to win.
In thirty one twenty eight. Trevor Lawrence made some big plays.
There was a ninety nine yard pick six by Devin

(10:07):
Lloyd on Patrick Mahomes which turned the game over. Travis
Hunter was all over the place. Brian Thomas Junior was
making some plays again, had a big thirty three yard
reception late in that game. And Trevor Lawrence did it
with his feet, which we saw a lot of that
when he was in college at Clemson. His ability to
move the chains a little bit. It kind of feels
like Liam Cohen has given him the green light to

(10:30):
just make something work with his feet and that's opened
up the Jags offense a little bit there. Patrick Mahomes
twenty nine to forty one, three hundred and eighteen yards,
one touchdown, one interception. Travis Kelcey had seven catches for
sixty one yards and a touchdown. He was targeted eight times,
also had one bounce right off of his face, which

(10:51):
is always funny when that happens. I don't know about you,
but it's always funny to me when that happens. So
Jacksonville now four one and undefeated at home. Kansas City
now two and three and one and two on the road.
Major League Baseball last night it was Game two of

(11:12):
the NLDS between the Dodgers and the Phillies and Game
two of the NLDS between the Cubs and the Brewers.
It was the Dodgers beating the Phills four to three
in Philadelphia. The Dodgers have a two game lead. They
are up two to zero in that series, and the
Phillies were threatening late but just couldn't get that big hit.

(11:33):
They also bunted with a runner on second and in
first and second and they bunted. Never bunt. That's how
I feel. Phillies are down two games to none in
that series. And Milwaukee. This was a fun game. So
top of the first inning, Saya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs,

(11:54):
three run Jack. Chicago is on top. Bottom of the
first inning, three run Jack. I believe it was Andrew
Vaughn for the Milwaukee Brewers. So immediately they're tied three
to three, and it was later on a three run
home run by Jackson Schurio to give Milwaukee the lead.
They ended up winning the game seven to three. So

(12:15):
Milwaukee is up in that series two games to none
as well. So both those teams and the best of five,
the Cubs and the Phillies on the verge of being swept.
I don't know about you. I don't know what's customary
for Reds fans, But for me, I find myself rooting
against the Brewers. Have no real beef with the Brewers

(12:37):
other than I'm annoyed by how good they are. I
should part of me wants to root for the Brewers
to win so that I can hold it over the
head of the Reds, to say, hey, see what you're
supposed to look like. That's what it's supposed to be,
right there. Small market team, smallest market in baseball, smaller
payroll than you, but they have everything so buttoned up.

(12:58):
They can go toe to toe with anybody in the
National League and they can win ninety seven games in
a season. That's part of me wants to hold that
over the head of the Reds. Then the other part
of me is like, I don't want those guys to win.
Screw them. That's what part of me thinks, and I
would there's at least some likable guys on the Cubs.
I don't find much of Milwaukee's team to be likable.

(13:19):
Maybe that's just me. Meanwhile, American League Division Series continues
this afternoon. It's a four toh eight first pitch from
Detroit as the Tigers host the Seattle Mariners. That series
is tied at one game apiece. The Tigers one game
one and then lost Game two when Trek Scuball started.
So that's a tough pill to swallow for Detroit. They

(13:41):
are back home in the Motor City for that one.
Back home are the Yankees as well. They are trailing
the Toronto Blue Jays two games to none in the
American League Division Series. That game is at eighth eight
PM tonight, first pitch from Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are
actually favored in that game minus won sixty. Are the
odds Seattle favored in the American League or in the

(14:06):
first game at minus one thirty five. Everybody plays tomorrow
if if necessary for Blue Jay's Yankees, but Cubs, Brewers
at five, Phillies, Dodgers at nine, Tigers, Mariners at three
tomorrow in the American League Division Series. So I'm riding

(14:27):
solo today, which means if you call in I got
to put you on hold if I'm talking, and I'll
get your calls during the break and figure out who
you are and what you want to talk about. Five one, three, seven,
four nine fifteen thirty is the phone number. I also
last night talking about Trevor Lawrence how good he was,
and I have the question up on my Twitter. I'm

(14:48):
gonna retweet it right now for everybody to see because
I was at the gym this morning and I saw
Trevor Lawrence shirsey, you know, one of those T shirt
jersey things. It made me think, is Trevor Lawrence officially back?
Or has he finally arrived? You can go vote at
that pole question at Audio more Au t y E

(15:09):
L M O r E. Right now, sixty four percent
say he's finally arrived. We'll see about that with Jacksonville.
And if you were wondering about Lebron James and that
big teaser that he had last last night, it was
just an ad for Hennessy. So, I mean, I was
thinking Lebron would do something like, hey, this is my

(15:31):
last season. Everybody tell me how great I am for
my final NBA season. But it's just an ad for Hennessy.
So Lebron continues to go and get his bread, and
I don't blame him for that. So that was the
big update with Lebron James NHL opening night, I believe
is tomorrow NBA not far after that. Report surfacing this

(15:52):
morning that Giannis antintem Kompo has been trying to get
traded to the New York Knicks. The Bucks and Knicks
have been talking about that. I don't know if anything
is going to happen there. So five on three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty, that's the phone number talking Bengals, talking Reds,
talking to Joe Daneman, talkbacks and all that. By the way,

(16:13):
I did choose two winners for talkbacks from the week before,
which would have been September the twenty sixth, and last
week which would have been October the third. We'll figure
out what I'm gonna do with this week as well
as if you if you have not been paying attention,
I am off on Thursday, Friday and Monday because I'm

(16:34):
going to Green Bay to watch the Bengals and Brett
Rippen or Sean Clifford or Jake Browning or some other
guy play quarterback. But it's not about the game. It's
about the experience. That's what I keep telling myself anyways,
So we'll figure out how want to approach things. When
it comes to the Cincy Church gift card, things are

(16:55):
a little bit hectic, as you might guess, So we'll
take a break, we'll come back, we'll continue the conversation.
A Football in the Natti next on the Home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (17:05):
Now your chips, this.

Speaker 5 (17:07):
Is Football in the Natti, brought to you by Postman
Law on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official Home of the
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 6 (17:19):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yes, that NFL films music getting you fired up? I
can't even say it with a straight face. Are you
excited or anticipating the Bengals game this weekend or are
you dreading it? I think that'd be a good question
for Jake Browning. Hey, are you excited to play this

(17:42):
week at lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers or
are you dreading it? You might be dreading it because
of Micah Parsons. Unless you've been living under a rock,
you know, the Packers acquired one of the pre eminent,
if not the best pass rusher in the National Football
League in my Ia Parsons prior to the season from

(18:02):
the Dallas Cowboys, and he has been immediately productive, even
in limited snaps. He was nursing a back injury kind
of coming into the season, and he was really on
third downs and big passing downs for the most part
to start. He's kind of worked his way in and
the Packers had a bye week this past week, so
you know, right after tying Green Bey or right after

(18:23):
tying the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, they have a
bye week, and so Parsons, I'm sure feeling pretty good.
Got some numbers for you from our friends here at
NFL Pro. Parsons leads all Packers defenders with twenty six
pressures this season. That number twenty six, despite already having
a bye week, is still the third most in the NFL.

(18:48):
Since twenty twenty, the Packers have had five different occasions
where a player recorded eight or more pressures in a game,
and Parsons has accounted for two of them since joining
the team. He's also aligned on the left edge on
seventy snaps this season, which is forty three percent of
his snaps, and on the right edge eighty eighty one snaps,

(19:10):
which is fifty percent of his snaps. That means on
forty two percent of or on fifty percent of his snaps,
he's going up against Orlando Brown Junior. Orlando Brown Junior
has allowed a thirteen point three percent pressure rate, the
tenth highest in the National Football League while he has

(19:33):
been pass blocking, while right tackle Amarius Mims, who's on
the other side, as you know, has posted a ten
point eight percent pressure rate that's the twelfth highest among
right tackles. So that goes into the idea of how
are teams going to attack the Bengals with Jake Browning
at quarterback and really with anybody at quarterback. Let's say

(19:57):
going into Sunday that it's Jake Browning, because I'm at
the point now where I'm not really convinced that it's
going to be anybody else. I feel like we would
have heard from it by now now Tuesdays or the
day that typically players come in for visits and you
figure out if you're gonna sign them or not. Workouts, visits,
the whole nine yards, and it will get an email

(20:18):
later today from the NFL with all the transactions, unless
it gets leaked before that that the Bengals have signed somebody.
I'm assuming right now that the plan is to go
forward with Jake Browning because the Bengals probably feel like
they don't have any better options. Okay, so if you're
the Packers, how do you prepare for Jake Browning? Well,

(20:40):
based off watching him play, what do you know? He
holds the ball for too long, he tries to force
it into tight windows. He can't read and react quick
enough to efficiently operate the offense. So your options with
pressuring him are either, Okay, we can blitz him and

(21:00):
put our defensive backs on an island with Jamar Chase
and t Higgins and hope they win and try to
force Jake into some bad decisions. Or we can drop seven.
We can drop eight. We can just make him hold
onto the ball and we know he'll make some bad
decisions and we can probably get pressure with four or
get pressure with three. Because the Bengals offensive line is

(21:24):
so bad. Talked yesterday about those PFF grades from the
Bengals offensive line, specifically when it comes to pass blocking.
There was one guy over forty six in PFF grades. Now,
you say whatever you want about PFF grades, whether you
like him or not, But Orlando Brown Junior had a
twenty nine point four, Dylan Fairchild thirty eight point eight,

(21:48):
Ted Kerris forty point three, Jalen Rivers forty five point one.
Amarius Mims had a seventy point eight pass blocking grade.
So if I'm Jeff Halflee, the defensive coordinator of the
Green Bay Packers and maybe the next head coach of
the Cincinnati Bengals, I don't know, but if I'm him,
I'm saying we're gonna drop seven. We're gonna drop eight.

(22:10):
We're gonna let Micah Parsons get to work. We're gonna
destroy Orlando Brown Junior and that rookie left guard. We're
not gonna have to send pressure at all, and we're
gonna make Jake Browning beat us. You know the other
thing they're gonna do. They're gonna come up and take
away the quick game. They're gonna take away everything short.
They want to force Jake Browning to have layered passes

(22:33):
over the linebackers into that second level of the secondary.
They'll probably run a lot of that too high shell
with those two safeties deep and force Jake Browning, who
has been completely inaccurate so far this season, to make
some big time throws to drop them in the bucket,
those whole shots. As we've talked a lot about with

(22:53):
Joe Burrow in the past, that gap between the flat
defender and the deep safety in that middle part of
the field on the sidelines right and then the middle
is typically open, but you've got linebackers patrolling that middle
of the field, the deep middle. Do you have enough
time to get somebody there? These are the things that

(23:14):
Dac Taylor is going to be tasked with because Green
Bay is going to keep everything in front of them.
They're going to try to take away that quick game.
They're gonna try to jam Jamar Chase and t Higgins
with help over the top, and they're going to try
to get home with three or four. That's the game
plan against the Bengals. That's it. It's pretty simple, right,
That's how you defend them. Make Jake Browning beat you.

(23:36):
And if I can come to this conclusion just by
watching the film, what do you think Jeff Hafley, the
defensive coordinator of the Packers, is going to come up
with after having an extra week to prepare for this
vaunted Bengals offense. So you know why that's effective why
is it effective to go about defense that way when

(23:58):
trying to defend the Bengals offense because they can't run
the ball. Rewind to the beginning of the season when
I said, what the key to the Bengals this season
will be that they can run the ball, not that
they should, not that Chase Brown's gonna get fifteen hundred yards,
not that he's gonna get thirty carries a game. It

(24:21):
has to be that they can run the football. It's
October seventh, and they can't. Now you go back to
those run blocking grades, they're much better than the pass
blocking grades. Except for Dylan Fairchild. You get a thirty
seven point one, Carris fifty four, Brown Junior fifty five,
Rivers sixty, and Mims sixty three. So that's mildly better.

(24:44):
And I think it's fair to say that the run
game has looked a little bit better over the last
couple of weeks, but again there's very little production there
because the Bengals cannot run the football, and the teams
that they are going on up against do not, at
any at any level respect the Bengals run game. They

(25:06):
can do whatever they want on defense and not worry
about it. Because their front four can handle any Bengals
offensive lineman, because their front four is faster and stronger
and more physical than any Bengals offensive lineman. And because
most of the time the Bengals are running out a

(25:26):
shotgun and prior to the snap tip their hand quite
a bit. Whether that be with the splits of the
offensive lineman, the stands of the offensive lineman, the movement
of the running back in the backfield. We've talked about
all this stuff in the past. The Bengals offense and
specifically their running game is completely broken and without that,

(25:48):
teams don't have to respect it, which means they can
just clamp down on what you do best and the
rhythm that you want to get your quarterback into early
and you never let them establish it. And so he
sits back there and he holds onto it, and he
holds onto it and he holds onto it. If the
Bengals went any semblance of success this week against Green Bay,

(26:08):
not only do they have to run the football and
run it effectively. Jake Browning cannot be afraid to check
the ball down and keep the drive moving. He's got
to be able to do that quickly. Snap, where's the defense,
where's my checkdown, Let's take that, keep it moving Eventually,

(26:29):
that should open some things up. But Jake a couple
of weeks ago, turns the ball over way too much
and over corrects against Denver, then checks it down too
much and is not taking any aggressive shots down the field,
and when he does, they're inaccurate, and then overcorrects this
week against the Detroit Lions and is just reckless with

(26:55):
the ball, completely inaccurate with the ball and can't make
the right decisions and is too late on his checkdowns.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere with Jake
Browning to where the offense can at least sustain a
driver or to and give their defense a chance. But
that's how Green Bay is going to defend them, I'll
tell you that right now. And they're gonna be not
worried at all about blitzing or getting pressure or defending

(27:22):
the run because the Bengals offensive line is such an
I sore and so soft and not physical by any
stretch that teams feel like they can own the line
of scrimmage and therefore own the game based on how
they defend the Bengals offense. That's football, and the Natty
will take a break, We'll come back. Your phone call
still welcome. Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.

(27:44):
You can also tweet it me at Audie Elmore. That's
au t y E L m o r E will
take a break of me back. This is the Home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (27:55):
You've been listening to football in the Natty on ESPN
and fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Loegar reality is they're probably not good enough.

Speaker 5 (28:11):
He dissects the local sports scene.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
They're not consistent enough.

Speaker 5 (28:14):
The way up fourth grader dissects.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Across not reliably.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
Moeger Today at three on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
The thirty ESPN fifteen thirty. This is since he three
to sixty. I'm Austin. No more phone lines open. Five
one three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. Talking Bengals. We'll
get into the Reds a little bit later on as well.

(28:44):
Joe Daniman will join us from Fox nineteen. That's in
about twenty minutes from right now. But right now, we
go to the Vones. We go to our friend John
in Boston.

Speaker 7 (28:54):
John, what's up, good Afternoon, Austin, you're doing a great job.
I admire the fact when you host the show long
fantastic job. That's the toughest thing to do in radio
and TVA plus.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Thank you, man.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (29:06):
Absolutely well deserved. I wish I could give the Cincinnati
Bengals offensive line an A plus right now.

Speaker 8 (29:12):
They are at about an half, not an incomplete than
a a F.

Speaker 7 (29:16):
And I still think that's the source of all the problems,
the lack of creativity on offense. You know, if the
quarterbacks are sitting duck, he's going to get hit. Maybe
move them around a little bit in the pocket. On
some boots, it's tougher to hit a moving target than
sitting target. And that hasn't seemed to cross the coaching
staff's mind.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
I will say we saw that a little bit more
against Detroit, and I made a mental note of that.
I was like, Okay, Jake Browning is at least getting
out of the pocket a little bit. That happened more
than once. It probably needs to happen more than what
it did against Detroit.

Speaker 7 (29:50):
But you're right, oh, without questioning, when nine comes back,
you've got to do that more with him.

Speaker 9 (29:56):
You know let him.

Speaker 7 (29:57):
I don't know where the narrative is that he can't
oh vi'sus sensational athlete and can move on the ground,
and he throws better than anyone on the run. So
it's like, what have they been watching? Maybe something differently
than we've been watching. But again, the offensive lines on
the play that he got hurt, you had four defensive
linemen at his legs, at his lower extremities within one

(30:17):
point three seconds of a snap. That doesn't seem even
physically possible. Even though in the Super Bowl run Austin
right in twenty twenty one, tend to see sacked them
nine times in the division around they still won. Riam
sacked them seven times. They almost won the Super Bowl.
Like I saw Bill Belichick, who I've always thought was
slightly overrated. It was more Tom Brady than Belichick. But

(30:37):
Belichick one of the things he was so great at
is when you would go head to head against the team,
he would identify the key defensive player and take him
out of the game, like you're going against Aaron Donalds.
And the Super Bowl seven seasons ago, the Patriots and
gained him. He didn't even know he was on the field. Meanwhile,
you know three years later he should have been the
MVP of that Super Bowl Againstincinnati, because you have to

(30:58):
prioritize if this guy's not going to beat us, you
have to be flexible week to week. And it just
goes back to coaching. And again for the four in
the time, I'm going to mention Scott Peters, but I
still I'm not sure how he's.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
A job in the NFL. But until you decide.

Speaker 7 (31:12):
To go spend money on coaches, not just the head coach,
but on the assistant coaches and build a real staff,
you're going to be at a deficit no matter what
the team looks like. And know we all agree the
team is basically a great quarterback, a great wide receiver,
and a bunch of other guys.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. I mean, there's been
opportunities in the past. We talked about Bill Callahan, the
offensive line coach that was in Cleveland for years and
is now in Tennessee with Brian Callahan and widely regarded
as the best in the game, and how he never
got to Cincinnati while Brian was here was confusing. And
you know, some of the other guys that have come
out of out of the Eagles. I'm blanking on the

(31:46):
Eagles offensive line coach. His name right now, his name
is Jeff something. But the way that they build and
develop and just basically manufacture offensive lineman out of a
factory there, and understanding the t h that you're looking
for and the guys you're trying to draft and the
production level that they had in college and all that,
and how you can turn that into a good offensive lineman.

(32:07):
I'm with you. And then on top of that, matching
the player's skill set to the scheme. And you know,
we've talked in the past about how, you know, the
protections don't often match what the play is. And the
play you're referencing about Joe Burrow getting hurt, it was
a quick slant to Jamar Chase on the outside, and

(32:28):
the offensive lineman are dropping back like it's a seven
step drop, and before you know it, they're allowing people
into the lap of Joe Burrow. So, who knows, maybe
that was a miscommunication and you know they got the
wrong read. But oftentimes it feels like the protections don't
match the design, and that's a major issue.

Speaker 7 (32:47):
Doesn't even plays that I recall look like a screen,
like half the lineman thought it was a screen, you know,
letting the defender penetrate, and then go forward to set
up the screen and there's no screen. So I mean
they practice. What's the whole mechanism with that? In terms
of coaching, and again a lot of it does come
back to coaching. You still need players. I mean, Bill

(33:08):
Callahan's the offensive line coach now in Tennessee and they're
not really availing themselves too well, so they don't have
the talent. You still need the talent, But the elevator
is the coach, especially on that in that position, Austin,
I really believe after the head coach, the most important
coach on a on a team is the offensive line
coach because that really sets the.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Tone for you.

Speaker 7 (33:27):
Look at Jared Goff. Jared Goff's a really good quarterback.
I think he's a favorite to win the MVP right now.
He plays with such an ease because he knows he's
gonna have time to throw and everything's gonna work out
for him.

Speaker 10 (33:38):
He's not gonna get drilled.

Speaker 7 (33:39):
He's gonna get sacked. And these guys can survive sacks,
you know, when they get the win knocked out of.

Speaker 9 (33:44):
Them and get it.

Speaker 7 (33:45):
They can't survive when people are smashing into your you know,
achilles tendon and causing your total rupture. That's that's not
a good thing. So that's that's the crust of the
problem and the way to way to fix it does
not just spend on players, but spend on coaches and
development and have a bigger staff to get the most
out of these guys.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
I agree with you one hundred percent. John, Thank you
for the phone call. Man, appreciate it anytime, Austin have
a great dake. That is John in Boston. And Yeah,
we've talked seemingly endlessly about the Bengals offensive line over
the years and how they just can't seem to figure
it out, whether it's drafting, developing, retaining. You'll hear from

(34:24):
Andrew Whitworth talking about that. It's just it's it's hard
to understand. And he brought up the offensive line that
was in front of Joe Burrow in the Super Bowl.
I had forgotten about this. I looked it up while
John was talking. The Pro Football Focus grades from the

(34:44):
Bengals starting offensive line in Super Bowl fifty six. Jonah
Williams had a forty one point four, Trey Hopkins had
a fifty point nine in Spain had a twenty point three,
Hakeem Identergy a twenty six point zero, and Isaiah Prince

(35:11):
a two point four two point four. It's amazing they
even got to the super Bowl. It's amazing they were
one block away from potentially winning it with that deep

(35:32):
ball to chase down the sideline. I've been thinking about
that Super Bowl a lot this week and really this season,
ever since Burrow went down, because there's this quote from
Dan Campbell when they lost the NFC Championship Game a
couple of years ago. I think to San Francisco after
the game, Dan Campbell, brutally honest as he always is, said,

(35:56):
this might have been our only shot. That's no way
for like, you would never think to think like that
in the immediate aftermath of a devastating loss. But it's true.
Just because you get to the super Bowl doesn't mean
you're guaranteed to get back, or just because you get

(36:16):
to the AFC Championship Game doesn't mean you're guaranteed to
get back. In that mindset by Dan Campbell, we often
talk about his mindset when it comes to fourth downs
in the aggressiveness, whatever it's it is an organizational mindset
from the top down in Detroit that we are going
to be in aggressive pursuit of a championship no matter what.

(36:39):
And that's what Campbell did in that an FC Championship game,
and he understood in the immediate aftermath, this might be
our only shot. That has to be the mentality of
the Bengals front office. That has to be the mentality
of every single person in that organize. We have Joe

(37:02):
Burrow this year, and this year alone might be our
only shot, and Burrow continues to get hurt because they
don't have that mindset. Hey, here's the most important figure
in the history of the franchise not named Paul Brown.
We should do everything in our power to protect him.

(37:25):
We've got to give him everything he needs so that
he can take us from where we are to where
we want to be. And you know, and the Bengals
should know this because they've had some great quarterbacks in
the past. Ken Anderson he got there once, Boomra Siason,
he got there once. Carson Palmer obviously not at the

(37:49):
same level as those other two or Burrow, but was
a legitimate franchise quarterback. And Burrow he got there once.
These quarterbacks don't just grow on trees. They don't just
crop up out of anywhere, out of nowhere. You still
have to build around them so that you maximize the

(38:13):
window that is their career. The Bengals failed with Palmer
to an extent, they failed with Dalton. We know that
they ultimately failed with Boomera Sizon, and they failed with
Ken Anderson as well. Surely the mistakes of the past
won't carry on to to this quarterback. Right and yet

(38:39):
here we are six years into Burrow's NFL career and
we're still having this conversation. How is that possible? We'll
take a break. This is Sincy three sixty on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Thirty is back on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sport station.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Welcome back to since He three sixty, ESPN fifteen thirty.
I'm Austin Elmore. Coming up in about five minutes from
right now, you'll hear from Joe Daniman. Joe's gonna stop
by Joey d from Fox nineteen as he is every
single Tuesday, joining us to talk Reds, to talk Bengals,

(39:31):
to talk a little bit of everything, and I'm looking
forward to what Joe has to talk about. What he
has to say, and I'm sure hell he starts the
interview with something kind of off the wall. We'll see
what he's got. Some other NFL headlines before we move
on to our number two Texans GM Nick Cassario said
that Joe Mixon is unclear to return this season. Mixon's

(39:56):
been dealing with an injury and it was originally thought
that after the first four weeks while he's on IR
he'd be able to reopen his window and come back.
He said they will have clarity on mixing over the
next few weeks on which direction it would go regarding
the quote duration of the year. So a really strange

(40:17):
situation with Joe Mixon there, to say the least. Looking
ahead two next week in the National Football League, the
schedule is interesting. There's a lot of weird games. There's
another Monday night doubleheader. It's Buffalo at Atlanta and Chicago
at Washington. Now I get the Bears Commanders, that's like

(40:39):
the rewind of that rematch it at Hail Mary game
last year. But you've got New England at New Orleans,
the Chargers at Miami, Arizona at Indianapolis. Denver and New
York play in London at Tottenham Hotspa. Another international game.

(41:01):
Thursday night game this week is Philly at the Giants.
The Eagles are in a weird spot right now. Maybe
a get right game for them. Tennessee is at Las Vegas.
San Francisco at Tampa. That's gonna be a great one.
Sunday Night next week is Detroit at Kansas City. That'll
be a fun one already. I'm a little surprised by this.
The Chiefs are two and a half point favorites in

(41:23):
that game. I'm a little surprised by that. By the way,
if you're wondering about the Bengals, Green Bay still favored
by fourteen and a half over under in that game.
Forty four and a half for Bengals at Packers four
to twenty five PM is the kickoff right here on
ESPN fifteen thirty. All Right, we'll take a break, we'll

(41:44):
come back. We'll talk to our guy Joey d After that,
talkbacks football in the Nattie, we'll get into some Reds conversation.
An hour three you'll hear from Andrew Whitworth and Zach
Taylor and so much more. This is the home of
the Bengals since E three to sixty. Hour one gought
to you by Skyline Shiley on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
WCKY, Cincinnati.

Speaker 11 (42:06):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
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Free never sounded so good, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
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Speaker 1 (42:17):
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Speaker 2 (42:33):
Hi, Hello and welcome in our number two of Sincy
three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty, brought to you by
Cincy Shirts. By the way, I've chosen two Cinci Shirts
winners from the last two weeks when I was derelict
in my duties, and I have submitted their information. We're
going to try to give away another one coming up
this week, as well as Cinci Shirts gift card that

(42:53):
is and Cincy Shirt's a proud sponsor of Hour two
and always an Hour two. Do we get to talk
to our guy Joe Danoman from Fox nineteen Joey d
as they call him, Joey d what up?

Speaker 9 (43:08):
Okay Audie?

Speaker 3 (43:08):
Wait?

Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, go ahead? Yes, uh huh okay.

Speaker 9 (43:12):
So I'm on the sideline shooting the game Sunday Bengals
and lines at pay Course Stadium. And when your first
name is the same name as the celebrity quarterback in
that city, you get pretty used to hearing your name
and ignoring it because you know they're not talking to you.
I hear someone from the stands yelling Joe repeatedly, and

(43:36):
in my brain I'm thinking, well, they're talking about Joe Burrow.
Then I think about it more. I'm like, Joe's not
on the sidelines? Are they talking to me? And the
guy finally says hey, Danniman and I turn around and
this guy had made his way down.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
To the front row.

Speaker 8 (43:49):
He looks right at me and goes Gee.

Speaker 9 (43:54):
And on a Sunday at pay.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Course Stadium, that is hilarious. Did you go to the
wrestling when it was here that I don't even know
what it was or where it was, but I know
it was here.

Speaker 9 (44:06):
Did you go down Friday night? It's SmackDown. I did
not get to go because Friday night is one of
the most important days of the week for a local
TV guys that couldn't make it.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
H Let me start with Burrow actually is do you
have any indication on when he may return to the sidelines,
if he will return, is he going to be in
the booth? Is there any has he been around? Do
we know anything about that?

Speaker 9 (44:29):
This is a great question because we're standing in the
Bengals locker room yesterday and here comes Joe walking in.

Speaker 8 (44:38):
I said walking.

Speaker 9 (44:39):
He had a walking boot on, and I turned to
the other media members to ask them if this was new,
because I was in LA during Bengals open media time
last week and was not around to see if Burrow
had done that yet, because the last time I sold
Joe he had a cast on and was using a
scooter post surgery to get around the Bengals locker room.

(45:01):
So to see him in a walking boot walking was
different for me, and I asked around and most everybody
I asked to the same question that they said they
had not seen it, and I kind of gathered that
no one saw him last week at all, So that
seemed to be a new development, that Joe was up
and walking around in a walking boot where he is

(45:22):
on Sundays. We don't know he wasn't on the sideline,
no one had eyes on him inside of a suite.
I'm assuming he's somewhere at the stadium when the Bengals
play home games. I'm sure he's trying to keep a
low profile for multiple reasons. But to see him walking
around in a walking boot yesterday was different. And that's

(45:44):
the latest update I have on one Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
As for the person who is manning his position in
the meantime, Jake Browning didn't play well on Sunday. Zach
Taylor seemed to leave the door open to potentially making
a change. How do you see this playing out before
Green Bay on Sunday?

Speaker 9 (46:05):
I think if we're going to handicap this, I think
the favorite is going to be Jake Browning, just because
the options in house I don't believe are good enough
to convince the locker room that someone else gives them
a better chance of winning. Sean Clifford's been here for
what a month and is on the practice squad, so
I don't think he's an option. So the options are

(46:27):
Jake Browning and Brett Rippon, and I believe that both
Zach Taylor and the Bengals players believe that Jake Browning,
and this is a hard sentence I'm sure for Bengals
fans to hear, give them gives them the best chance
of winning, not just this week, but going forward. Now
there's a separate discussion to have about should they look

(46:48):
outside of the organization to bring someone in. Quite honestly,
to this point, you're wondering if it's getting too late
because the amount of time it would say to get
someone here, get them up to speed, at them ready,
the Bengals still going to be afloat and have a
pulse for the second half of the season. Given the
fact that even though the AFC is wide open, if

(47:08):
you fall to two and five, which this team is
staring at with two hard opponents coming up the next
two weeks, I just wonder if it's going to be
too late for this team to bring in somebody. And
there's also the other argument you can make about investing
in what kind of feels like a lost season already
without Joe Burrows. So to answer your original question, I
would be stunned if anybody else besides Jake Browning on Sunday,

(47:33):
I truly believe of the options that are in the
building he gives them the best chance of being successful.
As much as people think that Jamar Chase and t
Higgins or offensive weapons take your favorite one might be
losing faith in Jake Browning, they continue to publicly back him.

(47:54):
The mood in the vibe I get from them is
that they still believe they can play competitive football with
him from talking to them both Sunday and seeing them
yesterday as well. So I think Jake brown is going
to be the guy until that changes. I will be
surprised if somebody else is out on the field this
coming Sunday or any time in the future.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Do you think it's more detrimental to the culture of
the locker room to keep running Jake Browning out there
if he continues to perform that way, or to just
kind of have this carousel of quarterbacks trying to find
something or does it not matter if you lose, you
lose and it doesn't matter.

Speaker 9 (48:34):
Yeah. I think there becomes a breaking point with everybody
that if it becomes so non competitive, you've got to
do something just to do something different. I mean, that's
the reality of sports. Sometimes sometimes it's a change just
to make a change. And it's felt like we were
at that edge on Sunday against the Lions, and Zach
Taylor even acknowledged that yesterday when speaking at his press

(48:57):
conference that he felt it, how could you not field
inside that stadium? The fans urging a change. Now, I
remember being a young kid going to Bangalis games at
Riverfront Coliseum or at Riverfront Stadium, excuse me, And I
remember being part of the crowd that was starting an
Eric Kresser chant. They get Eric Kresher into a game

(49:21):
and it worked, and they put Eric Kresser in and
on his first pass he threw a pick, and you
got to be saying, what are we doing? So sometimes, yeah,
the decisions have to come from the coaches, not necessarily
the fans. And again I go back to the fact
that even though, and this is the discussion Austin, is
why is Jake Browning not performing like he did two

(49:43):
years ago? Because we have the baseline of this guy
being somewhat successful, playing good enough football for this team
to win games. Now, I would encourage people to go
back and look at the twenty twenty three season and
the games he played, and see the games he had
success in and the games he did not have success in.

(50:04):
He did not have success against the Steelers in two games,
he did have success against non playoff teams playing with
backup quarterbacks, and the Bengals won those games. So the
other part of this problem is that Jake Browning has
been thrown into what is the most difficult part of
the Bengals schedule, where he's playing nothing but playoff teams

(50:25):
and he's playing either elite defenses or elite offenses that
he has to try to keep up with. And this
is not an excuse for Jake Browning, because even if
you are playing elite defenses, it has to look a
lot better than what we've seen from his three starts
so far. But Jacksonville's four and one, and he was
functional against Jacksonville, and he made mistakes, but he also

(50:47):
made plays. And that Jacksonville is going to be a
playoff team and it looks like they might be somewhere inside,
Jake Browning is a guy that can't help this team
be competitive against good teams. The question for Zach Taylor
then becomes, how do you get better at Jake Browning?
How do you get in the Jake Browning of twenty

(51:09):
twenty three, In twenty twenty five and that is the
urgency for this coaching staff to figure out very quickly,
otherwise what's already spiraling might go down the drink.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Zach had kind of loosely mentioned Sunday about play calling
and how he puts a lot of that on himself
as well. I don't know if I would necessarily agree
with that. He was then asked again about it yesterday
and said he will continue to call plays. Where do
you think Zach is at right now with all of this?
And I guess trying to manage because there were plays

(51:44):
to be had and they didn't make them, and Jake
specifically didn't make them. So how does Zach deal with that?

Speaker 12 (51:51):
Like?

Speaker 2 (51:51):
How do you get from I'm calling the right play
but you're not executing it to trying to make a
player better? Like how do you you know what I'm saying?
Like I don't even not ask the question because it
feels like it's such a weird situation.

Speaker 9 (52:03):
Well, it feels like almost fansap and decide what side
they're on that Who's to blame? Is it the quarterback
who's not seeing it, or is it the play caller
who's not getting the quarterback into the right place to
be successful or is it the head coach that's not
getting the quarterback ready throughout the week given that he's
an offensive minded head coach for him to play his

(52:23):
best football. I think we have to go back and
understand that Zach Taylor is not a young head coach.
This is his seventh season doing this in Cincinnati. At
this point, he knows how to manage his week. He
knows how to delegate this week his week. You can
argue given the results that without Joe Burrow, that he
has to elevate his game, but I don't think it's

(52:45):
going to change. And so I think the idea of
Zach Taylor in play calling becomes a bit of a
moot discussion. Certainly, it's one that's debatable amongst fans, and
they should debate it because that's what we do when
we watch games and we observe games and we talk
about it is deciding who did well, who deserves blame,

(53:07):
and everybody can decide for themselves, whether it's Zach Taylor,
whether it's Jake Browning. But he does everything intentionally, he
being Zach Taylor with the idea of.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Oh uh, oh, Joe, we have breaking news, and if
you have to get off. If you have to get
off the phone, I understand. Ian Rapaport of NFL Network,
Joe is reporting that the Bengals are trading for Joe Flacco.
Joe Flacco. Okay, Joe fun Joe Danoman. Get ready for

(53:47):
people to be yelling Joe again. Uh. Your immediate reaction,
Joe Dannoman to the Bengals trading for Joe Flacco.

Speaker 9 (53:57):
My immediate reaction is Joejoe Flacco. We talked about the
ramp up time it takes for quarterbacks right to come
in here, learn a system, and then be competitive on
the field. Joe Flacco, to me, accelerates that timeline of
giving them a new option because he's been in the
league so long. It also, to me tells me what

(54:20):
the Browns think of Joe Flacco that they would trade
him in division.

Speaker 8 (54:25):
But certainly you have to.

Speaker 9 (54:27):
Credit the Bengals for right understanding the situation, reading the AFC,
seeing there's still an opportunity to be competitive going forward.
So the fact that they're going out and being proactive
and getting a guy and taking a shot, to me,
at least at least tells the fan base they're trying.

(54:49):
They're trying something here and not just beating their head
against the wall with Jake Browning playing bash football.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
Yeah, And I was looking earlier this morning because I
was trying to think if they go go and get somebody,
would it be somebody who has played Green Bay already
this season, just in the event that he's needed. And
he has Joe Flacco earlier this year in a thirteen
to ten win for the Browns over the Packers, was
twenty one of thirty six for one hundred and forty

(55:16):
two yards, zero touchdowns, one interception. I guess is he
the favorite to start?

Speaker 8 (55:25):
Boy, that's the question.

Speaker 9 (55:26):
That's the question, right, Can they get this guy ready
in a matter of four or five days to play
in Green Bay. I'm not going to say no. I
think certainly the easy answer would be, Okay, the Bengals
have this distretch right of two games and however many days,
what ten eleven days? And then you get the mini

(55:47):
bye week after the Thursday night game to get Joe
Flaco out there. If you're trading for Joe Flacco, you're
trying to maintain a level of competitiveness in a year
where some of the contenders might be a little bit down.
Baltimore's one and four and plays the Rams this coming Sunday,
So they're staring at possible one in five start in
the face the Kansas City Chiefs, who I thought looked

(56:08):
really good last night. And Patrick Mahomes looks like himself. Athletic, fast, young,
he looks like that. Again, They're two and four, possibly
if they lose against the Lions this coming Sunday. So
there are some contenders that we expect that are down.
And so there's a shot here in the AFC that

(56:30):
if you can get to nine wins, nine wins might
be enough. And once you get past this two game stretch,
the Bengals schedule opens up with some winnable games. There
could be seven or eight wins on the Bengals schedule.
So yeah, that's going to be the question starting tomorrow. Right,
is Joe Flacco going to be ready in tie for
the Bengals.

Speaker 8 (56:50):
To go to Green Bay? I think so.

Speaker 9 (56:52):
The fact that he's played enough football, I think the
Bengals could be able to cater an offensive game plan
around him. Look at your Jamar Chase and your T Higgins,
and you've seen what this guy does with weapons down
the field. It's got to be fun. It's different, and
to me, it just shows the fan base and the
locker room that you're willing and trying to do something

(57:14):
to keep this season afloat because there's still twelve weeks.
We're still twelve weeks of football, and if nothing else,
this shows people that they're at least trying.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Yeah, I think back to twenty twenty three, similar situation.
Cleveland has their quarterback go down in November and they
turned to Joe Flacco and he rips off four wins
in the last five six games, very similar to what
Jake Browning did in that same stretch of time for
the Bengals. So I guess if you can't recreate the

(57:43):
magic with Jake Browning from twenty twenty three, you try
it with Joe Flacco. So it is a sixth round
pick going to the Bengals, I guess, according to these
different reports. So all right, that pretty much sums it
up that the answer to all the questions we've been
asking was answered right there while we were on the air. Joe,

(58:07):
it was a pleasure to share the airwaves with you
during that announcement.

Speaker 9 (58:12):
Can I say this, though.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
You can say whatever you want.

Speaker 9 (58:14):
Now, now they're getting maybe the NFL's most immobile quarterback
behind an offensive line that I think might be the
root of all the problems.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Yes, you think about a problem that has happening.

Speaker 9 (58:29):
Right now with the Bengals offense, whether it be the
run game, whether it be the quarterback play, whether it's
Joe Burrow's injury. It's an offensive line simply that has
not been good enough from day one at the start
of the year. And now now you're adding Joe Flacco,
who is probably the most immobile quarterback in the NFL

(58:51):
and putting him behind that offensive line. To me, that's
a little bit scary. But but you use the word,
use the word magic, that the magic he had in
Cleveland and leading them to the playoffs, and the magical
run of all the plays he made down the field
with Amari Cooper. You're trying to find something that adds energy.
Then this will add energy. The Bengals are back in

(59:12):
the conversation now, National Leitue people are going to be
talking about them today. Whether Joe Flacco can be ready
to play on Sunday or not. Certainly there's going to
be energy inside the Bangles locker room with this team,
trying to give them something to go to h to
recreate something here in the middle part of the season.
But yeah, when you think about it a little bit,

(59:33):
you start thinking about Joe Flacco and his inability to
move being behind an offensive line that has an inability
to protect its quarterback. Because to me, it's the reason
Joe's hurt, and to me it's the reason Jake Browning
hasn't played well. I think I think Jake Browning after
that Minnesota game started looking over both shoulders at all times,

(59:54):
wondering where the pressure is coming from, and it affected
his play. So that's certainly something that it goes along
with this conversation of bringing in Joe Flacco, a guy
that can certainly throw it, a guy who can certainly
read a defense, but a guy who can't move very
well in the pocket now behind an offensive line that
really can't protect him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
I'll leave you with this final question. As a quarterback,
would you rather be unable to throw or unable to move?
Because that feels like what the Bengals are choosing between here.

Speaker 8 (01:00:22):
Yes, isn't that great? Certainly I'd rather be un Joe Flacco.

Speaker 9 (01:00:26):
Side that if you block here here's the thing in
the NFL, right, if it's a running back or a quarterback,
if you block it up, it has to be executed.
And that's the one thing Joe Flacco can do. If
you block it up and give him a shot, he
can rip a throw and execute a play. So, uh yeah,
I think the Bengals are going to try to bang
on that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Yep. I'm right there with you, Joe. Thank you so much.
We'll talk to you again next week.

Speaker 9 (01:00:49):
That was fun, Austin.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
Just do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Actually, you know, I'll give you a chance. What do
you got coming up? What do people need to know
about you and your coverage of the Bengals. Joe Flacco
going to come down and join the live show this week,
that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:01:01):
Can you imagine he's got nothing to do, come on
down and yumping up with a couple of local TD
guys in front of a live studio audience. Evan McPherson
tomorrow night. Evan mcpheerson is a very, very fun guest.
So we'll have him tomorrow night at Newport and then
Sunday all weekend long. I'll be in Green Bay with coverage.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Make sure that you ask Evan how sore he was
after being at the bottom of the pile of the
on side kick, because you know, he didn't get a
lot of contact, and I would imagine about that he
felt a little. That was my favorite play from Sunday
because Evan McPherson was fighting. He didn't care. He was
going after it and I appreciated that. Joe, thanks so.

Speaker 9 (01:01:36):
Much to recreate that tomorrow night at Bengals. Now we're
gonna have a live on side kick tutorial from Evan.

Speaker 8 (01:01:43):
See y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
I love it. Thanks Joe. That is Joey D. Fox nineteen. Joe, Okay,
there it is. The Bengals have traded for a quarterback.
Charlie Goldsmith puts this on his social media. This was
a twenty twenty two quote from Zach Taylor on Joe Flacco. Quote.

(01:02:06):
I see a guy who has seen everything. He plays
with confidence, poise, and plays on time. He can make
any throw, Charlie continues. Flacco threw some picks this year,
but he generally operates the offense and is accurate. The
under center play action game is something to work with.
Charlie continues. The Browns also benched him. He wasn't able

(01:02:29):
to hold onto the starting spot in Indianapolis last year. Either.
Is this the most aggressive in season trade in Bengals history?
The alternative would have been pretty hard to sell. That
comes from our friend Charlie Goldsmith. All right, we'll take
a break. I'll get some more information. Actually, I do
believe I have the the trade details here in front

(01:02:51):
of me. All right, So the Bengals are receiving Joe
Flacco and a sixth round pick. That sixth round pick
was originally the sixth round pick of the Detroit Lions.
In exchange, the Bengals are sending a fifth round pick
to Cleveland. So it is Joe Flacco and a sixth

(01:03:15):
for a fifth from the Bengals. This will be the
seventh NFL team that Joe Flacco has played for. It
will be the third AFC North team for him. It
is the first time that the Bengals have ever completed

(01:03:35):
a trade with the Cleveland Browns. You may remember that
they tried to trade AJ mccerron to the Browns several
years ago, but the Browns screwed up the paperwork and
it did not go through. So there you have it.
Joe Flacco is the guy. Five three, seven, nine fifteen

(01:03:59):
thirty is the phone number. Let's do talkbacks in their
normal spot as we always do, and we'll get your
reaction to the Bengals trading for Joe Flacco. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:04:16):
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Pressed the microphonentcord your message us then, and don't please
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Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
I will play the talkbacks on my screen in just
a moment in case you missed it. Breaking news, the
Bengals have traded for a quarterback. They are trading for
two thousand and eight eighteenth overall pick in the first
round from the University of Delaware, Joe Flacco six foot six,
two hundred and forty five pound big fella. So far

(01:05:18):
this season, in a couple of games with the Browns,
Joe has thrown for eight hundred and fifteen yards, two touchdowns,
and six interceptions. He has a QBR of twenty seven
point six. It's thirty first in the NFL. You might
imagine who's thirty two. I don't know. You might imagine.

(01:05:39):
In his four games so far this season, Flaco against
the Bengals was thirty one of forty five two hundred
and ninety yards, one touchdown, two picks. In a forty
one seventeen loss to Baltimore, against that terrible secondary, Flaco
was twenty five of forty five for one hundred and
ninety nine yards, one touchdown, one pick. In the thirteen

(01:06:01):
to ten win over Green Bay, Flacco was twenty one
of thirty six for one hundred and forty two yards,
no touchdowns, one pick, and in the loss to Detroit
last week or two weeks ago, Flacco was sixteen of
thirty four for one hundred and eighty four yards, no touchdowns,

(01:06:21):
two picks. He was sacked twice by the Bengals, twice
by the Ravens, twice by the Packers, and three times
by the Detroit Lions. As a whole this season, he's
completing fifty eight point one percent of his passes for
an average of five point one yards per completion. This

(01:06:45):
is by no means an elite quarterback that they are
acquiring here, however, for a pick swap at that sheep price.
And I mean it when I say, surely they can't
be worse. Surely he can't be worse than Jake Browning.
That's what I'm going off of.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
You talk about the idea of it being a difficult
week to come in and get ready and play the
Green Bay Packers, it's also made harder by the fact
that the Browns played in London last week, like two
days ago, they played in London, and so Flacco returning
back from London is pretty amazing. Okay, all right, let's

(01:07:31):
do talkbacks. I'm gonna play him in reverse order so
we get the immediate reaction from the Joe Flacco news.

Speaker 14 (01:07:38):
I wouldn't doubt it. If Placo started Sunday against the Packers.
How hard can it be to pick up Zach Taylor's
elementary offense. He'd probably get that in a day and
a half.

Speaker 4 (01:07:47):
What a day.

Speaker 8 (01:07:48):
Man.

Speaker 14 (01:07:48):
If he had to ask me what quarterback in the
league would the Bengals trade for, I never would have
thought it'd be Joe Flaco.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
I wouldn't either, I really wouldn't. And according to Diana
Russini of the Atha. She says the Bengals internally discussed
different options at quarterback, and she is told that the
team never called the Giants about trading for either Russell
Wilson or Jamis Winston. So take that with what you will. Wait,

(01:08:15):
who are we signing?

Speaker 9 (01:08:17):
Joe Namath? Sweet?

Speaker 12 (01:08:18):
No, name it?

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
Joe Montana awesome?

Speaker 15 (01:08:22):
Wait no, Joe Siveman.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Yes, wait now Joe Joe Flacco.

Speaker 16 (01:08:29):
Oh my god, I take back everything I've ever said
about Mike Brown.

Speaker 4 (01:08:34):
Let's go.

Speaker 17 (01:08:38):
So we need help at quarterback. And their answer to
that is to ask Cleveland. Okay, uh yeah, sure, I
mean they know how to identify quarterback. Tell right, let's
take one of the guys that yeah they cast off?

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
Yeah yeah, I think that pretty much perfectly sums it up.

Speaker 18 (01:09:04):
Still repping the nattie out here in sunny hot zone.
And what up, Oddie, I'm confused. Wacko Flacco?

Speaker 19 (01:09:10):
Real talk.

Speaker 18 (01:09:11):
We just signed Wacko Flacco from that team up north.
They must be desperate because we're desperate too. And I
don't know about this. I don't know if he's the
answer or not, but I know one thing. JB six
stinks and looking at JB nine in that boot man
hurts my feelings.

Speaker 4 (01:09:25):
Man can't wait till.

Speaker 12 (01:09:27):
He get back.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
We saw miss Joe Burrow.

Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
Wacko Flacco. We really got wacko Flacco.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Oh no, wacko Flacco.

Speaker 8 (01:09:37):
What's up off this Joe in Baltimore. There was a
time here, not too long ago, when this city was
wacko for Flacco. Whoa, I guess now it's Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
We are wacko for Flacco.

Speaker 8 (01:09:49):
I don't know how it's gonna go. But whatever they're trying.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Who they that's true. I can at least understand that
they are trying. They may not be making an educated guess,
but they're making a guess.

Speaker 12 (01:10:05):
I just heard the news about the Bengals trading for
Joe Flacco. Yeah, oh my god, they're gonna get this
guy killed. Say your prayers, Joe, good luck, buddy.

Speaker 20 (01:10:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
When you look at the advanced statistics Joe Flacco career
statistics under pressure from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty five,
it's not good. It's actually quite bad. It was especially
really bad this year. Okay, it's the Lord.

Speaker 21 (01:10:39):
We're getting Joe Flaco. Hey, that's better than Jake Browning.
Do you know if he's going to start right away
or do we have to go through another week of
Jake Browning? Please say no, I'd rather have Joe.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
Hard to say, it's really hard to say. It just
depends how you know he he shows up and what
he can do and how he takes to the offense.
I'll know, I have no idea.

Speaker 20 (01:11:10):
dB fifteen otder So's coach Zach Taylor says that Joe
Flacco can make all of Rosen there's nothing he hasn't seen. Well,
in my opinion, I don't know if he can throw
from his back because that's probably where he's gonna be.
What the Bengals offensive line, and they also said he
likes to do He's good from the play action. Well,

(01:11:31):
does Zach Taylor have any play action plays in his playbook?
Just wondering anyhow, Whude go Reds go Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
You know, it's actually funny about that. I saw statistic
the other day. Joe Burrow last year about twenty five
percent of his dropbacks were play action pass. Jake Browning
has been about thirty five percent, so ten percent more
often play action pass. Now that's not usually under center
which is a big difference.

Speaker 15 (01:11:58):
But you know, I was watching that game last night,
and as good as it was, I was starting to
think Trevor Lawrence was just a more mobile and adultant
until he gets off the ground and runs in for
a game winning touchdowns. So kodos to him for that.
No shot at Andy, just a thought about Trevor Lawrence
and Joe Flacco former Super Bowl winning quarterback granted thirteen

(01:12:19):
years ago, but definitely probably a upgrade over Browning. Let's
see how this plays out now. Flaco is only one
team away from playing for everybody in the air season.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
Or yes, yes he is. Maybe he replaces Aaron Rodgers
next year.

Speaker 22 (01:12:34):
Hey, Austin, with the addition of Flacco, Taylor is going
to have to change the offensive scheme and play calling.
Otherwise he's gonna only bury himself. He's got no one
to blame now but himself.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
Whoda. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
I think that that becomes really interesting because if the
idea is to operate the offense that I swear man,
and I know Tony made a breakdown of this on
his social media, like, there are plays that were there
and Jake Browning didn't make the throw and every time
he wasn't pressured. He had time and he knew how
to make the decision you're banking on. Joe Flacco can

(01:13:08):
make the throw. He knows where to go with the ball,
He understands the leverage of the cornerback, where the safety's at,
whether he can or cannot fit the ball in, how
quickly he can get the ball down to his checkdown. Like,
at the bare minimum, you're just saying, Okay, this guy
can operate the offense better. Then you start building around
what he's good at, which is play action under center
that sort of stuff. Now, does Joe Flacco make you
a better running football team?

Speaker 23 (01:13:30):
Though?

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
Probably not?

Speaker 24 (01:13:31):
But you know, hey, Austin, it's Jim and having heard
just now about the addition of Joe Flacco, I'm double dipping.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
This is not vanilla.

Speaker 24 (01:13:43):
I don't want vanilla on my double dip. I want
thirty one flavors with sprinkles and nuts and syrup.

Speaker 4 (01:13:51):
This is a pwce ulanimous maneuver.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
I can honestly say I have never heard that word
puce and puce.

Speaker 8 (01:14:02):
This is DJ.

Speaker 14 (01:14:04):
Just heard the news about the Bengals trading for Joe Flacco.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
Man, if that isn't Bengal.

Speaker 20 (01:14:11):
Like, you know, let's take a forty year old statue
that somebody in our division is willing to give away,
and that's.

Speaker 24 (01:14:19):
What we're gonna do to move forward.

Speaker 19 (01:14:21):
What a freaking joke that is?

Speaker 8 (01:14:25):
The circus will.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Continue, Listen. I understand, and I'm especially bothered by the
fact that they didn't even reach out to the Giants
about Russell or Jamis. I'm bothered by that. I think
you should be bothered by that. However, I will not
criticize them for trying something because you and me and

(01:14:50):
anybody who has two eyeballs in a brain between their
ears knew that Jake Browning couldn't continue as the quarterback.
Just couldn't happen. It was awful. I mean, think of
all the terrible quarterback performances over the course of this
franchise's history that you've witnessed. Jake Browning delivered one of
those on Sunday, one of the worst ever. So you

(01:15:16):
can't just stand pat with what you've got.

Speaker 4 (01:15:18):
You can't.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
It's just not going to happen now, not going for
at least Russell or Jamis. I think that's a miss.
I disagree with that mindset, but you at least have somebody,
and I can appreciate that. Well, see how it works.
It's too early to tell what exactly is going to
mean and how it's going to work.

Speaker 4 (01:15:41):
I hear you.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
It's way too early to be that upset because I
literally cannot believe that Joe Flacco is that much worse
than Jake Browning. Maybe he will be, and maybe I'll
be wrong, but I can, if nothing else, appreciate the effort.
We'll take a break, we'll come back with football in

(01:16:03):
the NATI. This is the funniest season ever. I love
the Bengals on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:16:13):
Really, this is football in the NATI, brought to you
by Bud Light on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals. That is, the Bengals
earlier today acquiring in a trade with Cleveland quarterback Joe Flacco.
According to Jay Morrison and Jay always has these stats,
these Nuggets, the last time the Bengals acquired a player

(01:16:47):
via trade with a division opponent was nineteen seventy two.
They got Hall of Fame wide receiver Charlie Joyner and
linebacker Ron Pritchard from the Houston Oilers in exchange for
running backs Paul Robinson. He was a beast and Fred Willis.

(01:17:10):
That's the last time there was an intra division trade,
obviously the first time the Bengals and Browns have traded
with each other since the Browns returned to the NFL
in nineteen ninety nine. They of course tried in twenty
seventeen to trade AJ mccerron to the Browns for draft compensation,
but the Browns failed to file the paperwork in time.

(01:17:32):
That's when Hugh Jackson was the head coach of the
Cleveland Browns. I really want to hear your response to this,
your reaction five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty.
That's the phone number. Albert Breer from Sports Illustrated ways
in he said, every chance you have to get in
the playoffs with someone like Joe Burrow at quarterback is gold.

(01:17:55):
And so if Joe Flacco gives Cincinnati a shot to
sneak into the depleted AFC bracket with Burrow back in
the saddle, then the price here is a steal. And
that's the exact point. And that goes back to what
we said earlier in the show, when talking about Dan

(01:18:16):
Campbell what he said about the Lions after they lost
the NFC Championship game, this might have been our only shot.
You have to understand and recognize the significance of your situation,
and when you have a great quarterback, you have to
do everything in your power to make it happen. And unfortunately,

(01:18:39):
the story of Burrow's time in Cincinnati has been that
they are reactive instead of proactive. And so they've reacted
due to the Burrow injury and the bad offensive line.
So why they got Dalton Reisner and Lucas Patrick and
the whole just over and over and over again. The
Bengals have been reac active instead of proactive. But here's

(01:19:04):
the thing, man. It's Tuesday, October seventh. The Bengals are
two and three and they are one spot out of
a playoff spot. They're eighth. The team above them, the
Patriots are three and two and on the Bengals schedule,
Denver three and two, already played them. Jacksonville is next.

(01:19:26):
They're four and one.

Speaker 8 (01:19:27):
You know who.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Their one loss came to the Bengals. The Chargers are
three and two and have come crashing back down to
earth Pittsburgh. We talked yesterday. Baltimore is still the betting
favorite to win the AFC North in Pittsburgh three and one,
and you got Pittsburgh coming here on a short week
next week, Buffalo four and one. They showed their flaws.

(01:19:48):
Number one seed in the AFC right now is the
Indianapolis Colts. The AFC is wide open, dude, wide open,
So why not go for it.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:20:01):
Is Flacco the best move compared to Russell Wilson and
Jameis Winston. Probably not, but they're at least trying. And
most people sat here and said, oh, the Brown family
doesn't care, they won't try, They're happy with Jake. Blah
blah blah blah blah. Well they made a move. Is
it the right move? We don't know yet, but they

(01:20:21):
made a move. Let's go to Chad downtown, Chad. What's up?

Speaker 8 (01:20:26):
Yeah, Well, he hits the nail on the head here.

Speaker 25 (01:20:28):
I'm happy they made a move, but I'm assuming this
was probably the cheapest available that they could make, because
the fact that they didn't call New York Giants I
think is a joke, because let's not care. So that
you said too, Joe Flacta is gonna be running for
his life. He's not mobile, So I don't know unless
Zach Keller's going to change his play calling, I don't

(01:20:48):
know what they thought this they're gonna achieve by this. Now, Yes,
they had to make a move, so give him crad
for that, But again, we all know that this is
probably the cheapest available out there, and what giants, well,
they don't know.

Speaker 8 (01:21:00):
They don't even bother to call him.

Speaker 25 (01:21:01):
I'm happy they made a move, but that we really
think you read the status is he's gonna be much
more improvement than Jake Brownie. I don't think so. Jake
Brownie can run. Joe Flacco cannot, so he's gonna be
running for his life. So I'm assuming this is gonna
work out. Egg on their face.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
Yeah, I hear you, Chad, and I appreciate your weighing in,
and I thank you for the phone call. It's yeah,
it might. It might end up with them with egg
on their face. Or maybe you know, we've seen Zach
Taylor piece some things together with depleted rooms and position
groups before, and they found a way to put it together.
Maybe that's what they're trying to tap into a little

(01:21:37):
bit here. I feel like Jake Browning's a lost cause.
After the way he's performed and what mentally he seemed
to be going through on the sideline yesterday. I feel
like Jake's a lost cause. Joe Flacco, you at least
have a chance. Is it the right move? We don't know,

(01:21:59):
but it's a move. Let me take a break, let
me come back. We've got more phone calls to get through.
Get to five, one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
Right here on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:22:08):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
SOI UK continues on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:22:30):
Welcome back since e three to sixty, ESPN fifteen thirty,
taking your calls. Immediate reaction to the Bengals trading a
fifth round pick to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for
a sixth round pick and quarterback Joe Flacco. Let's go
to Phil in Oakley. What's up, Phil?

Speaker 8 (01:22:54):
So I heard about the.

Speaker 26 (01:22:55):
Joe Flaco trade and I'm like that.

Speaker 8 (01:22:57):
My hope is, what did we trade to get Joe Flacca, Like,
did we trade Duke Tobin? If I'm really on board,
I best the case.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
Yeah, I think a lot of people would sign up
for a Duke Tobin trade.

Speaker 8 (01:23:12):
You say that like it didn't happen.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
No, No, Duke is still here. Duke still works for
the best.

Speaker 8 (01:23:19):
Flipstick on a pig, my friend, lipstick on a pig.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
Phil, thank you, and I listen. I think, in my opinion,
we got to turn the heat up on Duke Tobin.
We do, we should. Duke Tobin has failed repeatedly for
the last twenty years. I think we viewed Duke as
kind of insulated from everyone else because he doesn't have
the official GM role. He doesn't talk to the media.

(01:23:45):
I mean, it's it's I give a lot of credit
to Kelsey Conway last year, who like followed Duke Tobin
to the Senior Bowl just to try to get a
chance to talk with him and did some really good
reporting down there like that, and and I'm sure she
had to jump through a ton of hoop just to
get to Duke. Duke doesn't talk.

Speaker 4 (01:24:03):
Duke.

Speaker 2 (01:24:03):
It feels like is in with the ownership, in that
inner circle, and it feels like he can do no wrong. Well,
part of life is you screw up and you're not
good at your job, and you have to answer for that.
And it happens a lot in the NFL where people, executives,
player personnel, people fail repeatedly, and especially when they fail

(01:24:28):
repeatedly with quarterbacks good enough to get you to the
Super Bowl, that they lose their jobs. Now is Duke
should he be fired? I don't know. Probably not. Let's
see how he handles the rest of this window with
Joe Burrow, or if you're like Phil, you're ready to
move on from him right now. I would understand that too.

(01:24:48):
But I do think we should be a lot more
critical of Duke Tobin. He's a lot of times out
of sight, out of mind. Well, it should be front
of mine because his hand in building the roster has
led to where they're at. Let's go to Marlin on
the west side. What's up, Marlin?

Speaker 10 (01:25:06):
What up, Addie?

Speaker 9 (01:25:06):
How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:25:07):
I'm all right, man, all right.

Speaker 19 (01:25:10):
So, after thinking about it for a minute, I think
I'm gonna go against the grain a little bit.

Speaker 27 (01:25:14):
I think that this actually might be a good thing
for the Bengals.

Speaker 19 (01:25:19):
I think our offense is gonna instantly become more of
a timing thing because we know that you know, Joe
can sling it.

Speaker 10 (01:25:28):
We know we can put the ball where it.

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
Needs to be.

Speaker 10 (01:25:31):
The big question is gonna be how much time that
he has.

Speaker 8 (01:25:35):
But let me ask you, this is this offensive line.

Speaker 10 (01:25:40):
Worse than the one in twenty twenty one when Joe.

Speaker 28 (01:25:42):
Was sacked seventy times?

Speaker 2 (01:25:44):
No, I don't think so.

Speaker 19 (01:25:46):
Okay, So with that being said, I think as the
season goes, just like in twenty twenty one, they got
a little better.

Speaker 28 (01:25:53):
They stopped giving up so many sacks.

Speaker 8 (01:25:55):
Over that twenty twenty two when we went eight games
in a row without sacks.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
Uh, I want to say that was twenty two. But
still I get what you're saying.

Speaker 19 (01:26:05):
I think this might be halfway a good thing. I
think he's better than Jake Browning and the guy still
got a can. I'm excited to see how the offense
is going to be rand if Zach's going to change
up some stuff, maybe a little bit quick to throws,
barb receival screens, tight end screens.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
I mean, I'm yeah, right, But well, you mentioned a
good point, Marlin about the ability to throw the deep ball.
Joe can throw the deep ball, and when you have
the threat of Jamar Chase or t Higgins on the
field with a quarterback that can actually make that throw,
defenses have to respect that. Now, obviously you have to
protect him long enough to be able to make that throw,

(01:26:44):
but that at least is something that defenses have to
keep in mind.

Speaker 8 (01:26:50):
I agree.

Speaker 19 (01:26:51):
I think I think we may be pleasantly surprised, but
only time will.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
Say I hope we are, Marlin, thank you for the
phone call, and yeah again. It now comes down to
Zach being able to build an offense around the skill
set of Joe Flacco. And he mentioned twenty twenty one.
One of the big parts of that run at the
end of twenty twenty one was that they unlocked the
run game. I think specifically about that game in Las
Vegas where they played the Raiders where they were just

(01:27:18):
kind of stuck in the mud offensively and they couldn't
really get the run game going, and they finally broke
the damn in the second half in that game in
Las Vegas and Joe Mixon went crazy and the Bengals
won that game, and it felt like they started to
get some momentum. Can they at any point break the
dam in the run game anytime soon, and if so,
Joe Flacco can operate the offense with a viable run game.

(01:27:41):
Let's take another phone call. Let's go to Jim in Milford.
What's up, Jim.

Speaker 10 (01:27:45):
I think I'm drunk on hopium because you know, think
of Joe Flacco and all his experience and what he's
going to bring to the hobble. He's gonna bring calmness,
he's gonna bring stability, he's.

Speaker 9 (01:28:02):
Going to bring.

Speaker 10 (01:28:04):
All those good things that you want in a quarterback.
And think of the receivers that he has to throw to.
I don't know if it's hope. I don't know if
I'm drunk on it or whatever, but I think he
could do some damage. I think he's got a really
good chance of having this team at nine and eight

(01:28:25):
rather than four and thirteen or whatever we are going
to end up being.

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
So I don't know, man, Yeah, isn't it better to
have hope than anything else? Like hope is at least
something to get you in front of your TV or
in front of your radio on Sunday afternoon. If you're
a Bengals fan, Hope is worth something.

Speaker 10 (01:28:49):
You know, I don't really want to put do you know,
if he's starting right away like this Sunday or what unclear.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
I think we'll hear from Zach again tomorrow and maybe
have a better idea of them.

Speaker 10 (01:29:02):
But I mean, all his years with Baltimore, he's got
to be familiar with the Bengalis language or at least
what they do in certain situations. But I don't know, man,
all that experience. I mean, if I was an employer
and I went out and I could find an older
guy with experience and a skill set, I'd be sold

(01:29:24):
on him. I'd be like, yeah, let's give you a shot.

Speaker 12 (01:29:27):
Man.

Speaker 10 (01:29:28):
You know, so all these all these haters, all these
non believers, you know, all these guys calling up on
your radio station, unless it's Jesus himself a quarterback, they're going.

Speaker 12 (01:29:39):
To be like ooh.

Speaker 10 (01:29:40):
I mean, it's just like, come on, man.

Speaker 2 (01:29:42):
You know, Jesus had plenty of haters himself, Jim. People
forget Jesus had haters too.

Speaker 8 (01:29:48):
This is true. And you know he was bad in
the pocket too, Jim.

Speaker 2 (01:29:55):
Thank you, I appreciate it. That's that's good stuff. We
didn't get a little Jesus humor in here. I think
I'm gonna be calling on Jesus. Bengals need help. I
need help. Everybody needs help. Let's take a break. Your
phone calls continue next reacting to Joe Flacco, Joey fur
does that work?

Speaker 4 (01:30:14):
I don't know?

Speaker 2 (01:30:15):
Since he three sixty, do.

Speaker 4 (01:30:16):
You enjoy staying active? But minor aches and PI.

Speaker 1 (01:30:19):
Subs since E three to sixty of Bound Cincinnati from
Cincinnatis puntered in part by Pinstation EASTCA Subs, handcrafted hot
grilled subs, fresh cut fries and lemonade. It's all about
good taste. Pennstation East Coast Subs order online today. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Hi, Hello, welcome in our three Since E three to
sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty, we've had a slight change
of plans because the Bengals have had a slight change
of plans. I'm Austin Olmore with you for another hour,
about forty minutes from right now. We'll check in with
Moegger for quick hits. We'll get his reaction to the
news of the day. In case maybe you're just getting

(01:31:02):
in your car, just turning on the show The Bengals
have traded for quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns.
Your reaction five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty
to that move. Let's go to Madisonville talk to Jack Jack.
What's up?

Speaker 9 (01:31:22):
Hey?

Speaker 8 (01:31:22):
What's up Boston?

Speaker 12 (01:31:24):
Hey?

Speaker 29 (01:31:24):
Look, all I was going to say is there was
a couple of callers ago. The guy was talking about
how Flaccos and mobile and at least Browning can run well,
at least Flacco can read a damn defense.

Speaker 8 (01:31:35):
I mean what we saw the last three weeks. I'm sorry,
I mean Jake Browning.

Speaker 29 (01:31:38):
I don't know what happened to him from two years ago,
but he's not an NFL quarterback. He can't process a
defense at all.

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
Yeah, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I'm right there with you.
And the way that he played on Sunday against Detroit,
to me was it was the final straw. It just
it didn't make sense. He was the basics that he
wasn't able to complete in reading a safe if you're
reading leverage or checking the ball down or you know.
The interception to Alex Angeloni was especially egregious, and he

(01:32:07):
made the wrong decision on multiple RPOs. There was just
some sort of mental block for Jake that he couldn't
get passed. He was crashing out on the sidelines. I
don't know that he could have recovered from that. I
really don't, at least not now. Maybe down the road,
but not right now.

Speaker 10 (01:32:23):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 29 (01:32:24):
I agree. I'm not sure he's even on an NFL
roster next season the way, but I know it's only
three games.

Speaker 28 (01:32:29):
But man, I mean, so.

Speaker 10 (01:32:31):
I'm excited about Flacco.

Speaker 28 (01:32:32):
We'll see what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:32:33):
Yeah, Jack, thank you for the phone call. I mean,
there's no reason not to be excited because your team
is trying to win. Is it gonna work? We don't know,
But I do agree with our guy right there, Jack,
because Jake Browning couldn't play the position anymore. And now
you might be saying, well, Joe Flacco, that's not that
big of a difference, right Maybe maybe not, But I'm

(01:32:58):
telling you that was one of the worst quarter back
performances I've ever seen. And it's no disrespect to Jake Browning,
but whatever he had, he lost. And when you get
to a point where you can't do the basics, that's
an issue. When on an RPO you choose to throw
it to t Higgins who's completely covered, and not hand

(01:33:19):
it off to Chase Brown, who adds a hole the
size of a Rumky truck in the middle of the field.
Or when you do give it to Chase Brown in
a stack box and don't throw it to Jamar Chase
who has blockers. When you can't do the basics of
an RPO, that's an issue. I have a feeling Joe
Flacco could probably figure out which one to throw to there,

(01:33:41):
and that doesn't require the offensive line protecting him for
an extended amount of time. Let's go to Glendale and
talk to Brian. What's up, Brian?

Speaker 26 (01:33:50):
Hey, Austin, how you doing, Bud?

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
I'm hanging in, Hey, I got a question.

Speaker 26 (01:33:55):
Then I'll have a comment afterwards. Budget other than Joe
Flack go, do you know if we were looking at
anybody else as far as quarterback, like Jameis Winston or
my god, Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (01:34:10):
Diana Russini of The Athletic reported that the Bengals did
not reach out to the Giants about Winston or Wilson.

Speaker 26 (01:34:20):
Okay, it just looks like I was just looking at
all three of those contracts and believe it or not,
which you probably will believe when I tell you, if
you don't already know, Joe Flacco was obviously the cheaper contract, Yeah,
of three of them. And it's just, you know it
just we're trying to put a professional NFL team together
with kmart players and it's just it's frustrating as a

(01:34:42):
season ticket holder. One of your callers was talking about
hope and Joe Flacco bringing stability and calm to the huddle,
and he's right, he does do that, except all that
is before the snapping of the ball. And if this
past week's indication, like the safety that we had, is

(01:35:04):
any indication of the blocking that we're gonna give Joe Flacco,
you can't throw the ball from your back.

Speaker 8 (01:35:10):
So I am hopeful, but cautiously hopeful.

Speaker 26 (01:35:16):
Appreciate you man.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
Yeah, Brian, thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it.
And yeah, I think that's fair to be cautiously hopeful now.
And they're different quarterbacks, they're different styles. Adam Schefter just
while we were talking on the phone to Brian there
reporting that the Bengals would like Joe Flacco to be
ready to play Sunday at Green Bay. This is the

(01:35:39):
quote from Schefter, Bengals would like new QB Joe Flacco
to be ready to play Sunday at Green Bay versus
the Packers. The veteran Flacco is expected to be a
quick learner, so maybe that's why they go Flacco. And yeah, sure,
you can say it's cheap, and you're right. It is
the cheapest of the contracts probably out there, and that's

(01:36:02):
part of the Bengals identity without a doubt. However, it
also is a veteran quarterback who can probably pick up
the system quicker than most people would be able to.
Who come in and can you put together a game
plan as simple going into Green Bay as hey, throw
it to number one and throw it to number five?
And how can Zach Taylor create those plays?

Speaker 4 (01:36:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:36:27):
I mean, am I gonna say? They're fourteen and a
half point favorites Green Bay? Nobody's expecting them to go
in there and win the game, no matter who the
quarterback is, unless it's Joe Burrow. But but he said,
under them, it's still I think better than Jake Browning.
Let's go to Independence. Let's talk to Mike. Mike, what's up?

Speaker 27 (01:36:49):
Hey, how you doing by it? I'm good man, well,
it's my buddy's uh pitch his birthday today. He made
a wish and it was Joe Black.

Speaker 3 (01:36:57):
Oh it came true.

Speaker 9 (01:36:58):
So there's that.

Speaker 27 (01:37:01):
I think he does bring experience, especially in the division,
playing with different teams, and in division he knows the
other teams. He can pick up your offense quickly. He
can make all the throws. A lot of Jake Bryans
throws were under thrown a little bit. He's trying to
throw it downfield so he can make those throws to
give them some time. He's not gonna make these predetermined
reads before the ball snap. He's gonna go to the

(01:37:23):
progressions at the time again and find out, you know,
the best option, check downs, whatever may be. I think
he's gonna be a good opposite for us. So, you know, short,
short time to learn here this.

Speaker 8 (01:37:33):
Week, then he can do it.

Speaker 27 (01:37:34):
I think we can get a win with him back there.
Che getting a little bit of time, get creative with
some blocking h some kind of teams that we can
come up with. Gives the ball a little longer, little
some more time and actually good I'm hopeful.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
Yeah, I think another part of the offense that we
may be forgetting about is is the idea of the
tight ends because Noah fense has had a solid season
so far. Mike Gesicki showed up a little bit for
the first time, and Joe Flacco has a history of
working with tight ends and I think that's maybe a
part of the offense that hasn't yet been unlocked so
far this season, and I think that could be a

(01:38:06):
good thing.

Speaker 27 (01:38:08):
And also, Trey Brown's assistant GM really smart guy. I
like him a lot. Hopefully if things go south with Duke,
we can bring up promote Trey and from with Dan,
probably the desk dogs for them anyway, but I we'll
see what happens.

Speaker 2 (01:38:22):
That's a good idea, Mike, Mike, thank you. I appreciate it.
And Trey Brown is a guy who has has been
looked up, has been interviewed and potentially nearly left several
times due to interest from other teams across the NFL,
but has remained with the Bengals. Again, I don't see
Duke leaving anytime soon, but if the Bengals could find

(01:38:44):
a way to, I don't know, promote Trey Brown to
something like that, I don't know, perhaps, and I don't know,
there's a lot I don't know. If you can't tell,
Let's go to Richard in Liberty Township. What's up, Richard?

Speaker 8 (01:38:58):
Hey, They're awesome.

Speaker 30 (01:38:59):
How are you today?

Speaker 2 (01:39:00):
I'm all right, man? What's on your mind?

Speaker 4 (01:39:02):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:39:03):
A couple of things.

Speaker 1 (01:39:05):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:39:05):
The question I've really got is what happened with Jake
Browning in twenty twenty three? He was he was decent
and and you know, it's like, it's like, did he
just quit working out? Did he forget about throwing a football?
Did he not watch a film since then?

Speaker 3 (01:39:23):
You know?

Speaker 8 (01:39:23):
And and the other thing I'm thinking is Joe Burrow
wasn't exactly lighten it up this season before he got
hurt either. So I mean, is it is it coaching?
Is it the scheme?

Speaker 9 (01:39:34):
Is it?

Speaker 8 (01:39:35):
Did Callahan bring so much to the table they're missing him?
I mean, what do you think it is?

Speaker 2 (01:39:40):
Well, I definitely don't think has anything to do with
Brian Callahan, because after he left, the offense exploded last
year and was fantastic without him. I do think coaching
plays a role. I think for whatever reason, there's a
mental block with Jake. And you know, again, as I
said that, there were plays to be had on the field,
last week and the week before, uh for the Bengals,

(01:40:01):
and Jake Browning just flat out missed him. So I
don't know how else to say that he was not
doing or seeing and playing the position the right way.

Speaker 8 (01:40:14):
Well, he said the throw to hanselone he was the worst.
To me, The worst one was on the out route
where he threw it inside and I'm like, you know,
a high school quarterback makes that. A kid from Sydney
High School makes that.

Speaker 2 (01:40:26):
Bro Uh, I don't know. I definitely not a kid
from pick with Sidney. We struggled to make any throw.
But Richard, thank you for the phone call. Yeah, man,
I hear it. That's that's what I want to know.
That's what I want to know, is like, what changed
for Jake Browning and how do you change it back? Well,

(01:40:49):
the Bengals don't have the ability to just wait for
Jake Browning to figure it out because of the nature
of the rest of the lead. You look around right
now and you feel like, Okay, the AFC North is
still there, The AFC as a whole is still within

(01:41:09):
our grasp. Joe Burrow might be able to come back.
By the way, In case you didn't hear it, an
hour ago talking with Joe Daneman on this radio station.
Joe Flacco or excuse me, Joe Burrow in the facility
this week with a walking boot on. Previously was it
a scooter? Obviously a couple weeks post surgery. Now, if

(01:41:33):
everything goes perfectly Burrow returns at the end of this season,
that's fine. There's no Burrow returning if the season's not
worth playing, right, So give yourself a shot. As long
as Burrow can play, and as long as you even

(01:41:55):
have the option of potentially playing Joe Burrow in the playoffs,
you have to try to go for it. And again,
all I'm asking for is that the Bengals be aggressive
in their pursuit of a championship. They have been oftentimes

(01:42:15):
reactive and not proactive. Right now, this is a reactive move.
They probably should have been proactive after the first Jake
Browning stinker.

Speaker 4 (01:42:25):
But here we are.

Speaker 2 (01:42:27):
Now, how can you turn this into something? How can
you fix Jake Browning? And how can you get Joe
Flacco to operate the offense to the point where your
defense is not starting in terrible field position every week
and your offense can sustain a drive and you can
at least give yourself a chance in some of these

(01:42:48):
games rather than being down three touchdowns in the blink
of an eye. That's what it comes down to. And
you still have Jamar and t as good as anybody
on the outside. Defenses still have to respect that. We
got another Richard. Hello, Richard? What's up? Richard? Are you there?

Speaker 24 (01:43:11):
Hello?

Speaker 9 (01:43:12):
Hi?

Speaker 2 (01:43:13):
What do you want to talk about? You're on the air?

Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
Well.

Speaker 16 (01:43:16):
I gotta say that if they feel like, if anyone
feels like Flacco's gonna benefit from playing with the Bengals,
then I mean, come on now, Jake Browning least could
possibly get away from anybody. Flacco was playing behind the
Browns offensive line, and I think we all agree is
better than the Bengals offensive line. I think that's even
with the third string left.

Speaker 5 (01:43:36):
Tackle and he lost his job there.

Speaker 16 (01:43:39):
I mean, if he lose his job playing for the Brownies,
I know the Bengals have a lot better weapons, but I.

Speaker 8 (01:43:45):
Mean he's not gonna have time to pass with the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:43:49):
Yeah, I think that's a fair criticism, Richard, And thank
you for the phone call. Yeah, I mean, the Browns
offensive line is better than the Bengals, and the Bengals
offensive line stinks, Flacco not mobile, historically, not great under pressure.
These are detractors. What do you put more value on
the ability to read a defense and throw the football

(01:44:12):
or the ability to escape the defensive line and escape pressure.
Kind of comes down. That's what it comes down to
for the Bengals right now. Russell Wilson had some complete
brain dead moments as well. Jameis Winston is the definition
of peaks and valleys as a quarterback. Bengals probably look
around at all these different options and say, okay, well,

(01:44:33):
can we get a steady hand of Joe Flacco?

Speaker 4 (01:44:36):
We know what he is.

Speaker 2 (01:44:37):
Maybe we can build around a faulty offensive line and
create opportunities to get the ball to the playmakers.

Speaker 8 (01:44:45):
Can they.

Speaker 2 (01:44:48):
That's what it comes down to, right your phone calls
continue five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty, Next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:44:56):
Now your Chenda one covers the Bengals Like esp fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 1 (01:45:03):
Cincy three sixty is back on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:45:19):
Sincy three sixty, ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore taking
a d tour on the plan for the show today
and talking Joe Flacco in the Bengals. The Bengals trading
for the veteran quarterback Joe Flacco from Cleveland earlier today,

(01:45:41):
and uh, here's the stat for you. EPA per dropback
according to Next Gen Stats, that is, expected points added
per time you drop back to pass. Jake Browning is
dead last in the National Football League zero excuse me,

(01:46:01):
negative zero point four to four points per dropback. So
they're gonna be going from the worst quarterback in the
NFL to the second worst. Joe Flacco is negative zero
point four to one. Now, I know some people roll
their eyes at the advanced metrics like expected points added
per drop back from next Gen Stats, but it is

(01:46:24):
just another lens through which to look at the Bengals
quarterback situation. Flacco not great, Jake Brownie not great. Bengals.
Let's see what happens. Let's go to Cincinnati. Let's talk
to Mike. Mike, your reaction, Hey often give me more elmore.

Speaker 28 (01:46:42):
I didn't know if you liked that nickname, so I
don't know if I should keep calling you that. But
I had a friend who I played high school soccer with,
growing up and his last names Elmore, and I'm mad
at myself for never thinking of that nickname.

Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
I've been called worse, so it's all right, like it
like I'm.

Speaker 28 (01:47:01):
Asking for more. But anyhow, I like the idea of
Joe coming in because, to be honest, I couldn't watch
last week because the week before that was so bad
with Jake and it's like a train wreck. You know
it's gonna happen, And I mean, I've been a lifelong fan,
but I just don't want to watch that. And it's

(01:47:23):
like he cares too much and everyone likes him, and
I feel bad for the guy. It's just almost like
he needs to go on a heater and go get
drunk and just forget his name and everything and just
just wake up and just realize it's not that big
a deal. It's just a game. Go out there, have
fun and do what you can do. But he's taking
it too personally, I think. And but anyhow, at least

(01:47:44):
with Flacco, it will be entertaining again for at least
a week and hopefully for the rest of the season.
But you know, I really think they should have made
that change. Like when you and Tony were saying or
maybe Tony was saying, like the very first week after
the Jacksonville game, when we saw Jake have so many struggles,
we should have I mean, I mean, even when Joe

(01:48:07):
got injured, we should have probably signed another quarterback who
could do it, who's been proven, like a Flaco.

Speaker 2 (01:48:13):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. Yeah, exactly, And thank
you for the phone call. And that's the thing is like, Okay,
Burrow gets hurt, Browning comes in, throws three interceptions, but
they find a way to win. Let's go get a
guy that's not Brett Ripping so that we're prepared if
a Jake Browning stinks or b if Jake Browning gets hurt. Instead,

(01:48:33):
the Bengals are like, we got Mike, right, Mike White
and Sean Clifford and Brett Rippon, Jake's our guy. Well,
come to find out, Jake stinks worse than bad. But
now there's nobody that you feel like you can turn
to that would be any better than Jake Browning again,
reactive instead of proactive. At what point will the Bengals

(01:48:57):
learn their lesson? And who knows, maybe the works. Let's
go to Chiviot and talk to Dennis. What's up Dennis, I'm.

Speaker 8 (01:49:05):
Calling about black those situations.

Speaker 4 (01:49:07):
Yeah, hit me. I love it.

Speaker 8 (01:49:10):
I think it's fabulous.

Speaker 7 (01:49:12):
If you go after James Winston, he throws their subce
uh huh Russell Wilson, but Joe Blacko throws them.

Speaker 8 (01:49:20):
But Joe Blacko's more experienced. Blacko's got an arm like
a rocket. And I don't believe he's never had a
Jamar Chase Natti Higgins.

Speaker 4 (01:49:31):
When he's playing.

Speaker 8 (01:49:32):
When he took the brown to the playoffs, he didn't
have what we have on the offensive weapons.

Speaker 2 (01:49:36):
Sure, that's that's fair. Maybe I have a great.

Speaker 3 (01:49:39):
Offensive line, but.

Speaker 2 (01:49:44):
Yeah, you've got to be buried in Browning. Yeah, that's
that's how I feel as well, Dennis, And thank you.
And and again, like that little EPA stat would tell
you that he's just slightly better than Jake Browning. And
admittedly I haven't watched enough Joe Flacco to sit here
and think, okay, uh, here all the things that you
know have gone wrong, and here's how bad he's been

(01:50:04):
in comparison to Jake Browning. I look at that game
Week one against the Bengals, Okay, and Flacco threw two picks,
both of which were drops by his wide receivers tipped
into the hands the Bengals defenders. Then on a big
fourth down conversion, hits Harold Fannin in the hands and
it's dropped. Bengals get the ball back. Those type of

(01:50:26):
plays and oh, by the way, Flacco had the Browns
in position to win that game before Andre Schmidt missed. Okay, now,
just watching that game against a poor defense like the Bengals, Okay,
if he can do that against below average opponents, in
which the Bengals have some of those coming up on

(01:50:46):
their schedule, then you feel pretty good about the problem
is this week it's Green Bay good defense, really good defense,
not going to be easy, Pittsburgh solid defense, Jets defense
not great, Bears defense not great, Baltimore's defense one of
the worst in the league, Miami's defense terrible, Arizona not great. Like,

(01:51:08):
there are opportunities to be had here. I think if
you asked Joe Flacco, would you rather throw to who
is that dude that Harold Fannin and Jerry Judy or
would you rather throw to T Higgins and Jamar Chase?
I think I know my answer there. Let's go to Alexandria.
Let's talk to Chris. What's up, Chris?

Speaker 8 (01:51:28):
Hey, Audi, thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 2 (01:51:29):
Man, thanks for calling.

Speaker 8 (01:51:31):
Hey, you're holding down the fort. Great, it's a big day.
What did coach Gene Hackman say in the replacements? Winners
always want the ball?

Speaker 3 (01:51:37):
M I like that.

Speaker 4 (01:51:39):
I like that a lot.

Speaker 8 (01:51:40):
Love underrated baby. Hey, you know I'm your classic Bengals fan.
I've sworn off.

Speaker 2 (01:51:47):
Of them more times than I can count.

Speaker 8 (01:51:49):
My family had tatting tickets from the first season, and
after the fourteen season, we lost to Denver and then
we went up to Pittsburgh, lost to them, backed into
the playoffs, went up to Indianapolis, lost to them, and
I was like, that's it. Can't do it again. I
Am not walking back into that stadium until they win it,
until they win a playoff game, because I'm not going

(01:52:09):
to be more committed to winning than they are. Then
the next season was the big meltdown against against the Steelers,
and I was laughing because I was like, oh good,
I'm not there. I don't have to watch that. But
you know, I picked up some family that have become
Bengals fans along the way, and they bought some tickets
to the game last week and they really wanted me
to go, so.

Speaker 27 (01:52:29):
I was like, all right, I'll go.

Speaker 8 (01:52:31):
I'm like, oh, man, I take the bad one. This
is a really hard, hard team to watch. And again
it was this is two days ago walking out of
the stadium, like I can't watch any more of that.
It's so hard when they're not even good, when they're
not functional, it's so hard. And I'm like, I'm not
going to go. I don't wait to watch the game
this Sunday against Green Bay, And all of a sudden,

(01:52:51):
here comes too Flacco and I'm like, well, I mean,
let's be honest. Here, he played the AFC or pretty
much his whole career, right, a lot of it now, AFC,
his whole career, AFC North. He knows what we're doing
over here. He's familiar with the team. I didn't see
anything from Winston and Wilson that led me to believe

(01:53:12):
they were any better. You've got to be thinking what
you said, Like you kept talking about Fanning earlier, Like yeah,
say he's thinking about Chase and Higgins. But you know
he's got to be thinking, man, I got no offense.
I got Mike Kasiki, I got guys that I can
get the ball to I know what they're doing on
of offense. I don't have you know, he can throw
the long ball, but you saw Jake Browning this week.

(01:53:34):
He was just throwing it up in the air. I mean,
just saw it. I think we have we have a
chance with this guy. And because he's only two years
younger than Zach Taylor, maybe he'll have some mind is
you know, maybe he'll bring something we haven't seen yet.
So you know, I'm gonna watch because you never know.
But the last thing I'll say, I and dominate the

(01:53:54):
whole day. But the last thing I'll say is that,
you know, I like the move. It's surprising. I think
Zach Taylor is really stubborn. And I thought for sure
they were just going to keep running around out. I
really felt that one. And I think they're really saying here,
like our scene is still alive. And then we go
all the way back to that fast start and it's like, man,
imagine if we didn't have those two wins on right now, Yeah,

(01:54:17):
like we still have a season still here. We've got
a guy now that can run the offense. I don't
think we have a prayer, but I think we have
way more of a prayer now than I thought six
hours ago.

Speaker 2 (01:54:29):
Yeah, yeah, Chris, I agree with you, and thank you
for the phone call. And I think when you look
back to the offensive situations that Flacco has been in
at the start of this year, not great with Cleveland
and with their weapons, and I think they're slowly getting
better and you're going to see that as those rookies

(01:54:49):
continue to take shape. Last year in Indianapolis are really
not a great offensive situation. Jonathan Taylor, Hurt, Michael Pittman,
Alec Pierce dealing withinuries as well. Like you know, that
offense and that offensive line was an issue in Indianapolis
in twenty twenty three. The Browns were not great offensively either,

(01:55:09):
but Flacco put up some really good numbers and they
had some big time performances. So this is gonna be
the best offensive situation that Flacco is is going to
be in and has been in for a while, all right,
maybe going back to early on with the Jets when
they had those two young wide receivers and even then,

(01:55:32):
you know, I understand Flacco is not great with the Jets,
but still, I mean, it is at least an upgrade
in talent for Joe Flacco. In terms of the talent
around him. Again, we don't know how it translates. Let's
go to Blue Ash, Let's talk to Coop. What's up, Coop?

Speaker 3 (01:55:52):
Well, we got ourselves a pure pocket passer man. There's
just something I trust about Flak is yep.

Speaker 8 (01:56:02):
I have no idea and actually how this is going
to end up.

Speaker 3 (01:56:05):
What I do know is that apparently he has one
of the highest IQ's out of any NFL player. Now
it's it's not going to be a written test on Sunday,
but but that might help with the processing. I guess
it gives us a shot. Maybe maybe I think it'll

(01:56:26):
be marginally better and maybe we can sneak in, just somehow,
some way.

Speaker 8 (01:56:32):
It's a shot.

Speaker 3 (01:56:33):
It's not much of a shot, but it's a shot.

Speaker 2 (01:56:35):
It's a one chance. Is better than a zero percent chance,
isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:56:40):
That's right, that's right now. What I find really interesting too,
is that you know, Zach had this never ending faith
in Browning.

Speaker 2 (01:56:50):
I mean, he really believes in it.

Speaker 3 (01:56:52):
I mean he was willing to go out into traffic
for him to stand in the middle of the highway
to defend him.

Speaker 8 (01:57:01):
That didn't take long.

Speaker 2 (01:57:03):
I think that tells you just how bad that performance
was against the Detroit Lions, don't you.

Speaker 3 (01:57:07):
I don't think he ever had faith. I think it's
just all bs obviously.

Speaker 2 (01:57:12):
I mean, just be honest.

Speaker 8 (01:57:14):
We hope he does well, we're rooting for him.

Speaker 3 (01:57:18):
You did not have never ending faith for the guy.

Speaker 4 (01:57:20):
That is a joke.

Speaker 3 (01:57:22):
That's what bothers me to be honest with you.

Speaker 2 (01:57:24):
Okay, Why does that bother you?

Speaker 3 (01:57:26):
Because I like honesty and when you come and when
you tell me something, when you tell me it's raining
and you're pissing all my leg I don't like that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:35):
Is it worse to.

Speaker 12 (01:57:40):
You?

Speaker 2 (01:57:41):
Thank you, Coop? I appreciate it. I mean, I think
there's two ways to look at that. Number One, Zach
could actually have believed what he said. That could have
been like, yes, I have unwavering faith in Jake Browning
and he could have meant every word. Is that more
concerning than if he was lying to you? Because I

(01:58:04):
get it. If you're lying, you're trying to build the
guy's confidence, You're trying to get him hyped up. You're
trying to make him believe that, yes, he can do this,
and maybe you're lying to everybody in front of you.
In the media room and all the fans by saying that.
But you're doing it for a good reason, which is
to try to give your quarterback some confidence. Or is

(01:58:26):
it more concerning if he's saying that and he truly
believes it and he knows how bad Jake Browning had been. Now,
I don't think Zach's going to get up in front
of everybody tomorrow and say that he has unwavering faith
in Joe Flacco to learn the offense. I don't think
that's going to happen. But he's going to get up
and talk about how experienced and great Joe Flacco is

(01:58:48):
and how he's seen everything in this league, and he's
seen the Green Bay Packers earlier this season and they
needed to do something different. And I can at least
respect being able to say, Okay, Jake Browning thing didn't work,
Let's move on. I just wish that they would have
done it with maybe a better quarterback, and maybe would
have done it a month ago. But instead here we are. Uh,

(01:59:09):
let's take a break. More phone calls when we get back.
ESPN fifteen thirty when you suck Goodwill just a few
minutes away from checking in with our Guy Moegor quick
hits next segment, which means we have a couple of
minutes for the final phone calls of the day, reacting

(01:59:30):
to the Bengals trade acquiring Joe Flacco. Let's go to Burlington.
Let's talk to Mike. What's up Mike?

Speaker 8 (01:59:38):
Hey, buddy, how are you? I appreciate you taking my call.

Speaker 2 (01:59:41):
Thanks man.

Speaker 30 (01:59:44):
I woke up this morning, no hope, heard the news.

Speaker 2 (01:59:47):
I got a little hope. Yeah, I wasn't gonna watch it.

Speaker 8 (01:59:52):
Now I have to watch it. They're going They're gonna
suck me back in. But I kind of feel bad
for Flacco. I mean they also the line's not gonna
block for right. I mean, can't you just see.

Speaker 30 (02:00:03):
Him dropping back, throwing a pass and next thing you know,
you see like the Undertaker or something coming across the
screen the throat slash and saying, you know, rest in peace, Flaco.

Speaker 8 (02:00:15):
I mean, I got, I got a little hope.

Speaker 4 (02:00:18):
I didn't think.

Speaker 30 (02:00:19):
I didn't think Taylor could do it. You know, you
would think that Jake Browning has to make it. Pictures
of Zach Taylor.

Speaker 4 (02:00:25):
That's why you keep.

Speaker 8 (02:00:26):
Playing who Knows Bud? But uh, I got a little hope.

Speaker 2 (02:00:30):
And uh who, I guess yeah who indeed, Mike, thank you.
It's almost like a car accident where you you can't
look away, you know you're not supposed to, but you
slow down and you look at it anyway. That might
be what Sunday in Green Bay is going to be, Like,
let's talk to Darryl in Batavia. What's up Darryl?

Speaker 23 (02:00:49):
Hey, Audie?

Speaker 7 (02:00:49):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (02:00:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 23 (02:00:51):
Like why did we even go and bother getting two
other quarterbacks? I know one never actually played in the league,
but like it, and why didn't we try him?

Speaker 2 (02:00:59):
Yeah, that's a good question. I thought that Mike White
should have been brought up to the active roster before
last week, and I thought they should have tried to
put him in the game. I thought he was at
least deserving of a shot because of how bad Browning
had been. But again, it goes back to the mindset
of the Bengals, like they never think about, oh, well,
what happens if Jake stinks or if Jake gets hurt.
They don't realize, Okay, well, Brett Rippon and Mike White

(02:01:20):
and Sean Clifford, those guys aren't the answer. And that's
the problem with the mindset of the team building. And
again I look at Duke Tobin on that.

Speaker 8 (02:01:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 23 (02:01:28):
So I'm I'm not from here. I'm from Georgia, so
I'm used to teams not doing well. The Braves in
the nineties.

Speaker 2 (02:01:35):
I was gonna say, the Braves won the World Series
like four years ago.

Speaker 23 (02:01:39):
Well, but I'm talking about back in the eighties. They
all stay well.

Speaker 8 (02:01:43):
Yeah, at least in Georgia.

Speaker 9 (02:01:45):
I got you.

Speaker 23 (02:01:46):
Yeah, I mean we had the nineties and you know,
I just I want to see the team win and
I'm tired of seeing them do the same stupid thing
over and over.

Speaker 2 (02:01:55):
I'm with you, Darrel, You're not alone. Thank you for
the call. I appreciate it. Let's wrap things up with Ross.
Excuse me Don in Ross? Hello, Don?

Speaker 4 (02:02:03):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (02:02:04):
Hey?

Speaker 8 (02:02:05):
Audie? A couple of quick things on Browning. We saw
it in spring or in training camp and and preseason.
He was awful. You know, all all Dez had to
do was show up and have a decent game and
he would have replaced him. So it wasn't a surprise.
With Flacco. You know, the best thing is he went

(02:02:26):
through all of training camp, he started a couple of
games in the league. He's fresh and at least active.
So so he's got that going for him, which is
kind of nice.

Speaker 2 (02:02:38):
Yeah, you're not pulling some guy off the bench who's
barely played. Yeah, good point.

Speaker 8 (02:02:42):
Yeah, and he's not coming off the couch. Lastly, like
you said with I would have brought up White last week.
And I don't think they can stop here. They need
somebody else because because browning and ripping ain't ain't a
backup option and Blacko's kind of glass. So I hope
they're still looking.

Speaker 2 (02:03:02):
Yeah, I'm right there with you, don and thank you,
and I appreciate the call. And that's the thing. Can
they continue to be proactive or will they be reactive?
You know, tomorrow on the show, I'm gonna play some
clips from Andrew Whitworth on Pat McAfee and talk a
little bit maybe about what Zack has to say and
some other stuff. I ultimately though, can the offensive line

(02:03:23):
play better? And can Joe Flacco play marginally better? You know,
the Minnesota game unraveled due to turnovers. It was over
in a blink of an eye. Okay, the Denver game
shot themselves in the foot repeatedly with penalties. Detroit, the
turnovers again killed them I don't think it's crazy to say,
like the Bengals could have been a lot more competitive

(02:03:44):
in those games if they didn't let things unravel. Can
Joe Flacco at least stabilize the offense? Can he stabilize
the penalties? Can he stabilize the turnovers? And then just
see what it looks like after that, maybe then they
have a chance. We'll take a break, we'll come back.
We'll check in with Moe Egger ahead of his show.
It's Quick Hits next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (02:04:06):
Cincy three sixty continues on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.
It's time for Sincy three sixty Quick Hits on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 4 (02:04:18):
Looking for Mo.

Speaker 2 (02:04:18):
My sources have located Mo at Oakley Greens in Oakley,
where he's getting set to do his show this afternoon.
Some are calling him Mo Flacco. Hi, Mo, oh wow,
Mo Flacco. What do you think?

Speaker 6 (02:04:33):
You know, Joe Flacco and I are pretty close to
the same age, so you know, maybe maybe it works,
Maybe it works.

Speaker 2 (02:04:40):
What was the first thought that entered your mind when
you saw Joe Flacco traded to the Bengals.

Speaker 6 (02:04:46):
Yes, dude, I'm a talk show host. Yes, what do
we always say, be good or be interesting? Yes, this
is a this is gonna be It's sure interesting. Like, honestly, god,
my first thought was okay, cool, like there's a storyline,
because the storyline of Jake Browning or Brett Rippin or

(02:05:06):
some other cunny thumb quarterback wasn't going to be interesting.
This is interesting and take that part away from it.
I'm not opposed to it. You had to call at
the top of the hour, who I think put it?
And I'm kind of paraphrasing him here, but it was
like mobility, who cares? Can he read a defense? Can
he hit an open guy? Can he tell you where

(02:05:26):
the other team's safety is going to be? Like Jake
Browning couldn't do any of those things. This was like
remedial quarterbacking and he failed it. So Plus I was
told when Joe Burrow got hurt, MO, it's not the
offensive line, it's hero ball. Here's this is why I
struggle sometimes because I have a hard time keeping up
with the narrative because for like four days all I

(02:05:48):
heard was, yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (02:05:49):
It's not the offensive line.

Speaker 6 (02:05:50):
Joe Burrow, he's too much of a brat he's playing
hero ball. He wants things his way. So wait, wait
a minute. Now we're back to the offensive line is
not very good. So I'm sure this is gonna have
moments where we go, holy crap, this is awful. But
it's better than what they were doing, and I'm suddenly
more interested in the game.

Speaker 2 (02:06:11):
On Sunday, how would you explain Jake Browning from twenty
twenty three to the Jake Browning we've seen for the
last couple of weeks. It's just like, not even remotely
the same player, no confidence, looked like he was having
a mental breakdown on the sideline. You can't go forward
with that.

Speaker 4 (02:06:26):
Guy, can't.

Speaker 6 (02:06:29):
I saw from Jake Browning these three games what I
thought we were gonna see two years ago, and what
I was pleasantly surprised, because look, dude, he was undrafted,
he hadn't played before. Like I was thinking then like
this is gonna be a mess. And then it felt
to me like the coaching staff got him ready and

(02:06:49):
Jake rose to the occasion and played fine.

Speaker 4 (02:06:52):
What has happened this year?

Speaker 6 (02:06:54):
Like, sure, Zach Taylor's taking a ton of heat, he
deserves it, fine, but just Jake Browning is it's been horrible.
You could not have maintained any credibility or tried to
maintain any credibility and move forward with him as the
starting QB. And so yeah, man, this is going to
be tough ask for Joe Flacco. He has played against

(02:07:17):
this opponent before. He has done a quick study before
where he was signed to the Browns practice squad and
then two weeks later was running their offense in a
game that counts. My expectations aren't huge, but this I think,
with Jake Browning playing quarterback against a good NFL team,
you have zero chance of winning. I certainly don't think

(02:07:38):
they have a great chance of winning, but I think
they have a better chance with Joe or a whole
lot of other people than they would with Jake Browning.
To me, that's the story here, a QB that I
think had earned some faith. They showed him that faith,
and he let them down.

Speaker 2 (02:07:53):
What about the report that the Bengals did not call
the Giants about Russell Wilson or Jamis Winston.

Speaker 6 (02:08:00):
I don't know that we're ever gonna get the answer
as to why, but it's interesting to me because I
think those would have been fine options as well, look,
I mean Jameis Winston is buried on a depth chart,
so you know, no other NFL team right now seems
interested in making him the backup.

Speaker 4 (02:08:14):
And yeah, man, that would have been interesting as well.
I don't I don't know. I don't know what the
answer is.

Speaker 6 (02:08:19):
I'm intrigued because I probably would have preferred Russell Wilson. Yeah,
I might have even preferred Jameis Winston. So the fact
that they didn't call is is interesting. But you know,
whoever they acquired, you were gonna go okay, Like Russell
Wilson's lost his starting gig in three cities in three years.

(02:08:40):
Jameis Winston is a third stringer for a reason. Like
they could have acquired anybody and you could have cut
into it. They weren't gonna go trade for Baker Mayfield.
They weren't gonna trade for Josh Allen. They weren't gonna
go you know what, we can pull off an in
in division deal. Now, maybe Lamar Jackson's hamstring is okay,
we can pry him away, like they were going to

(02:09:00):
go get a compromise quarterback, either because of age or
lack of experience, or a skill set that doesn't match,
or a guy who just simply his best years or
whatever it was. They were gonna get somebody who you
could instantly look at and have doubts because that's just.

Speaker 4 (02:09:16):
Where things are.

Speaker 6 (02:09:18):
But I want somebody who can learn the offense quickly
and throw the ball to Jamar Chase when he's open,
and I believe Joe Flacco can do that. I trust
this offensive line in front of no quarterback Joe Burrow
has some mobility. I mean, like Joe Flacco's too immobile
for this offensive line. This offensive line's a disaster. Show

(02:09:39):
me the quarterback that's not going to be in harm's way.
And if it's one of these other dudes where they're
constantly having to run and constantly having to scramble, well,
then guess what the passes are going to be incomplete anyway.
Show me somebody that when he's protected, can see number
one is open and throw it to him and tell
you where the safety's gonna be, and diagnose the blitz
and tell you what the other defense is going to do,

(02:10:01):
and get himself up to speed with his team's offense
as quickly as possible.

Speaker 4 (02:10:04):
And I think they've done that.

Speaker 2 (02:10:05):
Pared Oakley Greens this afternoon, three to six. What do
you got coming up on the show?

Speaker 4 (02:10:09):
All Joe all the time? Oh, all Joe Flacco all
the time.

Speaker 6 (02:10:12):
Let's go Finally, I've been waiting my entire life to
watch the Bengals with.

Speaker 4 (02:10:17):
A super Bowl winning quarterback lead. Then.

Speaker 6 (02:10:19):
Oh, and so they're going to do that on assuming
he plays at lambeau Field, which seems to be the
safe assumption.

Speaker 4 (02:10:24):
They're going to do that on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (02:10:25):
Do you know the only other quarterback in the Super
Bowl era to start a game for both the Bengals
and the Browns in the Super Bowl era?

Speaker 6 (02:10:36):
It's a good one, is it? Let me ask you,
this is it since the new Browns in ninety nine.

Speaker 4 (02:10:44):
Or before they moved on?

Speaker 2 (02:10:45):
Since the new Browns in ninety nine?

Speaker 4 (02:10:47):
Since the new Browns Josh Johnson?

Speaker 2 (02:10:49):
No, good guess. Jeff Driscoll.

Speaker 4 (02:10:52):
Jeff Driscoll, Yes, he started the game for the Browns.

Speaker 2 (02:10:55):
Uh, yeah, I believe this is I want to say
this might be same season.

Speaker 8 (02:10:58):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:10:58):
Adam Schefter tweeted it. Who knows if it's actually true,
but at Jeff Driscoll one of those. But you know,
Jason Campbell played for both he did.

Speaker 4 (02:11:08):
Did Jason Campbell ever have to start here?

Speaker 2 (02:11:11):
I think he did. I think he started a game
against the Browns once that I was at. I don't
know who knows whatever. I can't trust Chefter, He's a
Michigan man. Anyways, Uh mo, thank you. We'll be listening
this afternoon.

Speaker 4 (02:11:24):
All right, Austin.

Speaker 2 (02:11:25):
Thanks, there's Moe Egger three to six at Oakley Greens
in Oakley. Should be a good day, go hang out.
You know, Oakley Greens is not all outdoors. They got
a beautiful indoor set up as well, great food and
drinks and uh great radio on the air from three
to six this afternoon as well. Thank you so much

(02:11:46):
for listening to today's edition of SINCY three to sixty.
I'm gonna get the podcast posted here shortly with the
interview of Joe Daneman or talkbacks and the show in
its entirety. You can find everything you might have missed
on the iHeartRadio app. Just search ESPN fifteen thirty. You
can add ESPN fifteen thirty to your presets. It works

(02:12:07):
like a radio on your phone. Do that on the
iHeart Radio app. Leave us a talkback for tomorrow as well.
Mo Egger is next You've been listening to since E
three p. Sixty on the Home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 11 (02:13:24):
WCKY, Cincinnati. Make us the number one pre said on
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Speaker 2 (02:13:36):
Jed Ready, Cincinnati,